Ideas for Giants || D&D with Dael Kingsmill

[@CyberianWaste]

The true DM's dilemma: "This is a great idea, I wish someone else would run it so I can play it!!!!"

[@Jane_8319]

Oh god, *this*. Sometimes I wish I could just have clones of myself to play D&D with

[@MrEagle-fs1xt]

Yeah...

[@bigteej5821]

Run the game you want to play. It's thr closest you'll ever get and your enthusiasm will make it the best possible experience for your players

[@googleaccount-lm9uz]

“Oh boy here I go, I’m painting another picture! Hold on to your hats.” - the world’s most confident caricature artist.

[@PeacefulPagoda]

Giant: *shows up* Townsfolk: “Gosh diddly darn!”

[@squirtleknight8333]

The "oh golly" edit. 10/10

[@fhuber7507]

"Oh Sh dagnabit"

[@Scruffi]

I have this idea of a big-type giant who has kind of adopted a village like it's a miniature set, and treats it like a god game. Maybe he just doesn't speak the same language as the inhabitants and everything they say just sounds like Simlish to him. He could plow their fields, divert water for them, toss monsters into the center of town from time to time., and so on. From his point of view, he's playing a game, trying to get his villagers to level. From their point of view, they're being terrorized by a f>golly

[@brittanyolenick2252]

Heck, that is a really cool idea! Would you mind overly if I used that concept in my home game?

[@Scruffi]

@@brittanyolenick2252 Go for it! I don't know how you'd let me know how it goes, but if you can, I'd love to hear about it ]:)

[@brittanyolenick2252]

@@Scruffi I will pop a note into my binder to let you know~ I can place a reply to this comment, and you should probably see it. If not, I will see if I can find you on a newer video and ping you that way. Have an awesome day! \o/

[@Scruffi]

@@brittanyolenick2252 You too! have fun!

[@Caleb_Plehn]

You were in common form today. That is to say, your typical "rare" form. Very funny. "Or specifically, in the description that Matt Colville gives of the Corum books because I have not read the Corum books." had me dying. Bravo.

[@papayataco]

A favorite simple mechanical tweak to giants that I like is the ability for them to pick up creatures and throw them at each other. That makes them feel big.

[@CthulhusDream]

Took me a second to realize was "cold shirts" was lol, but really nice advice and theory crafting as always!

[@Bluecho4]

I like the houserule of making certain giant type enemies (some of them, like trolls or ogres, aren't really big enough that this is an issue) just have resistance to bludgeoning/piercing/slashing attacks that have a range of 5 feet, that are made from ground level. Simply because you can hack at a giant's ankles as much as you want, you're never hitting anything vital. You need either a ranged attack (bows, slings, magic, thrown javelins/handaxes, etc.), or a melee weapon with Reach (lance, pike, halberd, whip, etc.). Although if an attack crits against the giant, make the giant make a Strength saving throw to avoid falling prone, and while prone it loses its resistance (since you can attack more vital locations). Alternatively, a PC could try attacking from a greater height, like by jumping or achieving an elevated position (ledge, hill, _climbing the giant Shadow of the Colossus style,_ etc.). If you want more mechanical tricks to spice up the fight, maybe the giant is so large, their footfalls shake the ground where they stand. Anything standing within five feet of the giant needs to make Strength saving throws to avoid falling prone themselves. This happens whenever the giant moves, or when it uses one of its attacks (in multiattack) to do a stomp. Maybe the giant doesn't consider moving through enemy spaces to be difficult terrain, and instead any smaller creature whose space the giant moves through has to make Strength saves to avoid being damaged and knocked around. Simply because the giant is so big that can stride right through enemy lines. Another point: many giants in the MM can throw rocks as a ranged attack. Consider perhaps that the giant can make this attack with _people._ If it grapples a medium or smaller creature, it can throw them like a rock, dealing damage both to whomever gets hit AND to the person being thrown. That's another thing it can be doing during multiattack: in between hitting people, just pick one up, so they can be thrown later (or simply crushed, if the giant doesn't feel like dedicating a whole action to "throw rock").

[@c.mitchell2900]

I love the idea of there being different cultures of giants, more than I do the actual mechanical , power and size based thought process (Though this was a great dive into that). I'm very appealed to with the idea of some giants being solitary, intelligent creatures, who happened to have inherited large crops from "The old land" (For me the old land is just the time when giants owned the world), then theres ranger giants, who inherited powerful bows from the old lands, and hunt in forests for both nourishment and sport, while in large communities, and there being warrior giants who inherited sword and sheild from the old lands, and are the only giants still really interested in conquest, and then the giants who inherited magical hammers of forging from the old land, and are capable of making giant sized magic weapons. I just really like the idea of there being more to giants then "Thurgock hit you with big stick".

[@ryomaashikaga8798]

I think a youtuber named Mrrhexx is really good with his dnd videos about monster lores. He touches on the giants and their deep lore from 1st - 5th editions

[@c.mitchell2900]

@@ryomaashikaga8798 Oh, I've never heard of them, I'll Check them out!

[@ChemoshKamos]

Dale, you should have your brother co-host an episode!

[@Reformedhillbilly369]

This video was so inspiring for the campaign I've been running for the past few months. I went from not knowing what giants are like in my campaign to having it fully fleshed out in a way that I really enjoy. Thank you Ms. Kingsmill.

[@etepeteseat7424]

Dael literally just described the plots of the GBA era Fire Emblem games, except with giants.

[@tbs_Incorporated]

I never thought of hill giants as dumb. I've always thought of them as cruel and lazy - doing the absolute minimum to get by. There's *always* something weaker they can bully into giving them what they want at any given point and there's no point in doing or planning for more than that.

[@williamings773]

I see where you are coming from thematicly. But stat wise... they dumb, like real dumb. With a intellect of 5 they are lower than then apes, winter wolves, and worgs in the iq department. Best to bump them up a little.

[@Qmalvadore]

Just the other day I thought it would be a cool idea to add a regional effect to giants that made other creatures and things giant around them. So first you'll start seeing giant animals, giant trees etc before you actually reach the giant.

[@gagelong9608]

I love that you used the MCDM Warfare rules. I’m hungry for more juicy warfare units and how it effects the political landscape behind the players story.

[@broke_af_games9661]

Hahahaha "nutting this stuff out". You know, if you didn't draw attention to it I would have totally assumed it was just a common phrase from elsewhere. Loved the bad dubbing on your swears lol I second meeting your bro in a video. :D

[@patrickholt2270]

"Nutting" for thinking is uncommon, but familiar enough. From cockney use of "nut" for "head". Which I realise hasn't moved us out of double-entendre territory, but it can't helped. "Use your nut for a change you prannet" for instance. Of course the actual cockney rhyming slang for head is loaf. But loafing means lazing about, which is why nut gets used for the verb form of using your head. Mind you, getting to loafing and loafer from the slang for head implies that thinking can be interpreted as idling, which is perhaps how working class London of earlier times did interpret sitting thinking. Loafing like those toffs in their ivory towers. Words eh?

[@michaelminugh5357]

Well hell, you made ME want to run giants, and I always thought giants look superlame in D&D! I would add though that I think there's one thing you missed: Setting up a trap. Attack on Titan had a pretty sweet couple of scenes regarding this concept, but for my Savage Worlds I'm going to introduce some mega-mechs, and while you can destroy a sensor or smth the mech just can't be killed with normal attacks. So how do you kill it? Here's an example (world = post-apocalyptic with structures intact): First you take out some sensors to soften it up, then you lead it towards a valley where you've got a dam rigged with explosives, once they're set off the mech has to struggle with the flooding water and difficult terrain. Immobilized, you draw its attention with sentries set up to shoot at it from the north, as you descend from a skyscraper to the south. Land on its back, open the hatch, and get to work on those circuits. It's more about the planning, dealing with potentially unforeseen difficulties, and running it less as a combat and more like a heist in a movie. Don't restrict yourself to the game being played in real-time, play a mix of "when you were planning" and "now that it's happening", and if the plan is solid and rolls go well just let them OWN the scene. Don't add difficulties just because, let them be total badasses. Now if things go bad however, limbs will be lost, the injuries will be real.

[@RobinBaggett]

Love the idea of a singular, massive giant strolling from the deep and picking a mountain as its throne. Brilliant.

[@dfw_sleepypillz1007]

Going to so use that 'called shots on a giant' idea in this weekends game with my 'b' party - they love when I go outside the books, so I think an Army Bone Giant will do nicely. Between you and Matt Colville, my players are feeling the Mercer effect from all the great ideas and presentation. Rock on, much love, and on a side note - you should totally do an innuendo and blooper reel and monetize that sucker. Keep up the great content!

[@danleblanc01]

I've been running the same campaign every week for over three years, and I've announced that I need to take a break from it after we finish this arc. I was insistent that someone else DM for a couple months while I get to be a player - but now thanks to you, I'm itching to run a three-shot where seasoned giant slayers have to research, track, and meticulously plan an ambush for a truly deadly giant. Shadow of the Colossus is my favourite game of all time, and I've always longed to translate it to tabletop form and share it with my friends. I'm now determined to make this happen. Thanks for all the ideas and inspiration Dael!

[@mattsteele7619]

This allowed me to expand on a campaign idea I've had milling aroung the back of my head (extra points for guessing my other inspirations.) The gods who have been forgotten or are simply unworshipped slowly shrink. At their peak, they exist as a typical metaphysical god would. They are everywhere and everything. However, as time passes and thier following decreases, they must begin taking form, like the titans you have described. Eventually, they shrink to lesser giant kin and finally they are the size of a mere mortal. Thus, hunting giants is a culture all to itself, similar to a war-driven society.

[@sharondornhoff7563]

Interesting. I've played with a campaign-specific origin for giants that's essentially the inverse of what you're describing: rather than giants being races of their own, a giant is what you get when a humanoid tries to attain god-like power in the mortal world by linking their own essence with a natural force/element. The process is rare, forbidden, and increasingly prone to failure the more mighty the giant-type chosen. D&D's true giants successfully bond with dirt, stone, ice, flame, air, or lightning. Titans beat astronomically-high odds and bond with pure energy, becoming truly immortal; shaitans, their evil homebrew counterparts, bond with pure entropy. Ogres are humanoids who swear loyalty to a full giant and are imbued with a bit of their boss's power, including any elemental resistances the true giant has (i.e. frost ogres, fire ogres, storm ogres). Other D&D giantkin are either fey who just happen to be jumbo-sized (firbolgs, fomor), or are the freakish result of the bonding process going horribly wrong (ettins, athach, trolls, etc). Among other things, this disassociates giants' type from both alignment and intelligence, while making it more plausible for them to exist in the world without stripping whole continents bare to feed breeding populations for every type. It also gives them a lot more reason to be involved with non-giants, since they started out that way themselves and may still share interests, loyalties, or even family ties with regular-sized folks. The mythic "human hero marries giant's daughter" trope needn't involve any additional size-shifting magic, here. Giants of particular types do tend to fit their default D&D cultural motifs, but that's because of how and to whom each variety's version of the force/element-bonding ritual tends to become available. Hill giants are rural peasant bullies whom a hag worked the dirt-binding ritual on to cause trouble; stone giants are philosophical sculptors and masons who recruit apprentices; frost giants are barbarian raiders who slew other giants and looted the secret from them; fire giants are warlords, often dwarfs, who bond their blood heirs to the flame, but may also forfeit the secret to those who best them in battle; cloud giants are what you get when a clique of spoiled bored courtiers get ahold of a banned book on air-bonding; storm giants are self-proclaimed protectors who hand-pick a successor, purely because they like them. No titan or shaitan has been created in thousands of years, and it's unclear if any of them even remember their previous time as mortals.

[@IceDrake071]

As I listen to this I realize I’ve been more or less doing this within my Pokémon Tabletop United campaign. Medieval setting, giants are massive (I’m introducing their existence by having the players walk through an eye socket of an ancient skull, then realizing this wasn’t just a rock arch as they turn back and see the face), and the setting is heavily inspired by Welsh, Celtic, and Norse. Even use Bretonic for the ancient name of the giants. But the twist? The rapidly spreading empire are using Yveltal (which I believe is based on an eagle in Yygdrisil) to eat the ancient giant bones and spit them back up into a cocoon, filling them with dark magic that the moire uses to raise the ancient race of three eyed giants to do their bidding. Players have a few options they could pursue, one being awakening the ancient golem Pokémon created by the giants. Ancient man used these to fight back and destroy the giants originally. So there’s your ancient artifacts. Ironically one of my players worked Xerneas into her backstory, so there’s some potential for some “chosen ones” Her by Xerneas another by Yveltal. Or of course straight up warfare and gaining political allies or inciting rebellion within the empire. There’s lots more, but hopefully my ideas may spark someone else’s!

[@adamantineshining]

i'm so here for the rhys muffled yelling lmao

[@clone547]

I have always liked the way Norse Giants were portrayed. They seem to range from a little bit bigger than normal people all the way to mountain size. Many were shape shifters, could alter there own size, and could use magic. Look at Utgard-Loki for an example of what I'm talking about. He could make illusions that could trick gods, move his castle around, and make it invisible. He may or may not have been big enough for his glove to be mistaken for a cave (illusions make his size tricky to pin down). I feel like with a bit of the right motivation, he'd make a great BBEG, but is also a great side story as is. Dam, I'm supposed to be taking a break from DM'ing, and now I feel like planning a giant campaign.

[@r12895]

Thank you so much for this Dael. This has given me so many great ideas for my homebrews.

[@skullsquad900]

I kept the DnD Giant Lore; Stone Giants being the Politicians, Fire Giants being Master Adamantine Smiths, but made the Hill Giants just Giant Druidic Farmers. Obviously all of these are atleast 2x the size of those in the MM because, come-on, they're *GIANTS!* Unlike the Lore tho, mine retreated into the mountains where they live in a Norse/Roman Mountain Society.

[@Alefiend]

Great stuff. My issue with D&D giants has always been that they weren't, ya know, giant. Golly gosh!

[@bz7672]

"I feel left out" I lost it. Had to rewind after that cause I totally missed the next 20 seconds

[@marshallsonsteby3862]

Damage Reduction is amazing! I loved this mechanic in 3.5 and wish it would come back. Damage Threshold reminded me of this.

[@jeffreyelston5042]

OHhhh. Called shots. Ha that makes more sense. Giving a giant a cold shunt would be rather difficult in battle. GJ and TY. Really enjoying all the ideas.

[@NeflewitzInc]

Came into this thinking it'd be something silly, because I already have my own prejudices about how I like my giants, but you really won me over for some stuff. Especially liked the part about giants being a unit by themselves. I'm thinking a Giant Scout unit could be like 2 of the wild unarmored ones. It'd be interesting to see what a cavalry giant unit would be (giant's using elephants like skates?).

[@codyer121]

The dagnabit killed me

[@pyhriel]

These are nice ideas. I did something similar to what you suggest for your "lesser" giants. One thing I did was use damage threshold for giants to prevent them being wilted down by weak attacks. Which kind of helped me demonstrate why they could be a problem even for units of soldiers and all. So the players need to make sure that every attack is either a called shot on a weak point or a very impactful attack.

[@niklaswintren8985]

I'm so glad I put in a Giant threat in my Barbarian region; now the giants are menacing and the barbs are attack on titan slinging giant slayers! Great ideas :D

[@Galphanore]

The main thing this made me realize is that I have leaned too heavily on the default assumption that anything you fight must have health, take damage, and be able to die from being stabbed too much. Which is way more limiting than I realized.

[@brittanyolenick2252]

This is an awesomely timed video~ I am currently running a homebrew campaign that involves quite a few giants of various types and styles, so all of this inspiration is a big help! Have an awesome day, friend!

[@Xiatter]

Your ideas are fantastic. I needed a channel like this.

[@TsulaAngenati2292]

I had a raged odd idea for a group of characters in my campaign I’m working on- a coven of hags that are in truth, giants in magical disguises who help the adventurers free a cloud giant noble and eventually free a storm giant queen

[@redhood5264]

I've been subscribed for about a year now and I'm just realizing you have dead of winter on your shelf... nice.

[@MonarchsFactory]

It might legit might be my favourite game, it's so good - I'm still keeping my fingers crossed for other genre crossroads games

[@CyberianWaste]

@@MonarchsFactory I haven't gotten to try it, but have you heard of Gen7? It's a Crossroads game focused on an interstellar colony ship

[@MonarchsFactory]

@@CyberianWaste Did it come out?? I heard whispers and then just a whole lot of nothing

[@CyberianWaste]

@@MonarchsFactory It did! I didn't get to see what it entails, but they had a copy at my "Local Board Game Store" Had the same excellent artwork as DoW

[@EternalTotem]

Yaas. I love this. can't wait to use it on my players. I thought of the lesser giant do something like thunder wave or earthquake spell in a 20 or 25 cone. As the ground breaks and cracks as the giant slams its foot down or fist causing the field to change completely and making it hard for the players.

[@MikeKilo1969]

The concept you described is very Dragonlance’ish. The giants are the dragons, the artifacts are the dragonlance, and the armies are the armies of the other races (Which in itself is LoTR’ish). I like it, it’s familiar and cuddly!

[@-TyTy]

I recently found your channel, please keep up the amazing work. I love watching your videos!

[@mennorach]

Cool video with nice ideas. One thing to note about giants and even more so about true Giants is where they fall when they die. They might crush a castle under them or block a river with their carcass. It could also be an interesting adventure to go collect the giantslaying item from the body of the last giant that was killed with it.

[@cholulahotsauce6166]

IMAGINE if they swell up like dead beached whales and exploded into putrid chunks.

[@rawshark1611]

I don't know if anyone covered this in the comments yet, but your section on cold shots also highlighted something that I think is great about being a DM with "OP" units facing players. You're not playing a mindless NPC / Foe, the whole point is to play a sentient, self serving enemy. Particularly to differentiate it from computer games, but also to make RPG combat more interesting. And I feel, with creatures like you've outlined here, powerful opportunistic loners, any medium/large sized creature actually doing damage to something huge would give it some genuine pause. So what I mean is, a great role playing opportunity for a DM here, is to reward creative successful cold shots with horrified RP moments from the wounded giant, that are even likely to end combat, or pause it, due to the pure shock at; one, being injured at all (no doubt a rarity for a giant) and two, being injured by beings they were not taking seriously prior to this Think "man flu", but on a giant scale 😂 Many a battle from an epic tale has ended with a conversation instead of slaying "the beast", particularly when they are not mindless savages. I'm sure you were already thinking along these lines, but it makes the giant as much a solvable RP puzzle as it is a fightable stat block 😊

[@AlphaZedMinor]

I like the start of the campaign being the characters doing what they do, but then these earthquakes start happening, multiples in rows. The tiny village shakes a tiny bit. as time passes the earthquakes start intensifying. The concept is the giant is fighting and when 3000 tons is dancing on the disco floor, ike if someone kept lifting a destroyer ship and stomp it into the ground. There is no internet, etc, but eventually the party runs into refugees as they flee the decimation

[@fittyJackson]

Am I the only person inspired to make a quite proper giant-slaying knight that refuses to curse even when faced with 40 feet of roving death? Oh, dagnabit!

[@geoffdewitt6845]

This thumbnail is life, yo.

[@paulcoy9060]

I like to use a figure to define the monster, since I have a ton of figures from years of collecting. So one figure is a toy from the Swamp Thing cartoon called Skinman, and he looks like (to me) a Stone Giant Vampire. He's 4 inches tall, so he scales to be about 20 feet in-game, so he's a Large Giant. And when he starts using his Vampire powers to players who expect a plain old Stone Giant, and they freak out, that's what makes me enjoy being a DM

[@DMRaptorJesus]

What would be really terrifying in a war is a giant with something simple (to us) like a shovel or push lawnmower.

[@gabrielbaieel8073]

I like the idea of giant clans in which they are very diferent from each other.

[@csctnfire]

There was a giant fight in one of the campaigns I ran. One of the things I regretted the most was not allowing the giant to just move through medium and smaller creatures. It’s huge, it should be able to just step over them, ignoring their blades.

[@yvstinvs]

The Chain reference spotted!

[@MonarchsFactory]

I've been catching up ahead of the heist!

[@JeffersonMills]

Thank you for articulating what I have felt was wrong with D&D giants since 1st Edition, and for providing ways to spice them up! And you are so engaging to watch :-) Keep up the great work!

[@dustyprater7884]

Great video!! Keep up the good work, Dael!!😁

[@leonielson7138]

I think it was Shadiversity who did a video on what types of weapons Giants would use. He settled on armored boots to kick people with and scythes to cut people down like wheat.

[@adamkaris]

Which is good because i feel like most of the time he just settles on “its bigger/stronger than a human? give it a sword/long bow!”

[@cholulahotsauce6166]

I actually love the scythe idea. Gotta steal that if I find an opportunity.

[@greyclaymore]

You're a mad scientist! Love your ideas

[@hansolobutimdead]

Let's not forget, monarch's factory is a family show

[@christofferhougaard]

A thing I love to do is steal words, and most often wrote down a few words in giant and their meaning, so when I speak giant I can implement those words I stole from pathfinder kingmaker the word "Burba". Which I use as Humanoid. Or two legged being. Kinda like the word Kith from PoE.

[@SuperGamefreak18]

During your conversation about giants I started thinking about the cloud, storm and frost gaints, there's alot of different giants you're literally talking about. Though you may already know about but these are some pretty clever ideas that would be great sources of ideas

[@goose6752]

Time Bandits! That scene where the giant wades out of the sea wearing a ship on its head like a hat.

[@scottmcdivitt2187]

These are starting to sound like the giants from "The Silver Chair " 😁

[@MonarchsFactory]

Absolutely an influence!

[@thastygliax]

I've run a few fights with giants in BESM, which in its 3rd edition adopted size categories similar to D&D, but with a more open-ended scale (well beyond gargantuan and colossal). Armor reduces damage in that system, and scales with size, so called shots are critical to beating giants. It's a solo Greek myth campaign with my wife playing an archery-based hero, so keeping way, way out of reach is her go-to tactic. But giants are fast, and they throw HUGE things (just not nearly as accurately as her missiles). If one ever gets lucky, it might just one-shot her, so she's terrified of them despite her mad bow skills.

[@feildpres]

Could you also do something with respects to the giants as an elder/ancient race I know in a lot of folklore and fantasy stories that giants are the race of 'men' that existed before men did, the first and 'failed'/less favored sons of the god(s). I could see a DM taking this idea and running an adventure where the giants have returned (from across the sea or whatever) and are trying to wipe out the world of men and retake their rightful thrones anyway great video as always dude can't wait for the next one

[@kieransalmon9214]

The party reach the giants head after hours of climbing and creep inside its mouth. They have to reach its heart to kill it. The last dungeon of the campaign is the interior of the giant, the monster encounters it’s colossal antibodies and traps are floods of stomach acid and constricting airways. When they reach the heart, it crackles with energy that lashes out at the party, and is surrounded by lesser giants the king swallowed and charged with protecting it. Final boss battle commence! (Ripped directly from FFIV XD)

[@thecinemascribe]

I utilize both kinds of giants in my campaign. The large, mountain sized giants are called the Titans, and are the demigods of Giantkin. Then your more average giants (who are still rare and greatly feared) are still 25 - 30 feet tall, but not as imposing and/or unkillable as the titans

[@kindle9597]

Dael says era like ear-a, but Rhys says era like air-a. We can tell that their parents could name a kid like total badasses, but how did they teach them to talk?

[@marcm5207]

I really like the idea of true giants being so rare that they become actually unique creatures, each one withe their own quirks, M.O. and weak spots. It is an awesome idea for a campaign around them, like the one you propose. Lesser giants' concept is similar to that of the dragons in the monster manual: they are a species with their own culture and echology and interact with smaller races according to their individual character. I think both concepts but I'd rather keep them separated as the existence of lesser giants could dull a bit the effect of a true gigant. Aaaaand, just to let you know: your IG account is @daeldaily... similar but different ;)

[@shallendor]

Our 5E DM had us play as giants attacking a town in our campaign, it was fun playing as a Stone Giant killing townsfolk and destroying buildings!

[@beemoney19]

The language-censor gag is far funnier than the actual swear word. Good gag!

[@ciasteczkoimbirowe1160]

Usually I'm using giants as sort of unstoppable forces of nature, so it's always more like a scene from disaster movies. So far my players never even tried to fight, more like looking fast for the best way to run and survive the encounter xD fighting something like this is like trying to take on a moving fortress.

[@samchafin4623]

Warhammer Fantasy gave giants a quality called "tipsy", which meant that though giants were extraordinarily tough, and can smash ya to bits in one blow, they don't have very good balance, and if you can make them fall - well, we literally have a saying in English about big things that fall, so you get the idea.

[@scienceguy8888]

I've only ran a giant game once, and in that game giants were proto-gods/proto-fae, they were the literal embodiment of nature. My players were not expecting every giant to basically be a lv20 druid in addition to a super man.

[@ctberchem7303]

I've always thought Giants, ancient Dragons, Arch Devils and Demon Lords should be a whole separate class of monster, something only armies could defeat. I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who thinks this way. I don't care what level you are, such creatures should be terrifying. Saying that a 20th level character is approaching demigod status seems to belie the difficulty of reaching such a level. Defeating some 400 easy encounters doesn't seem to be worthy of becoming a demigod. I think if I were a mind flayer and ate brains, I would really like Dael's Brain.

[@cameronf5893]

I thought you kept saying "cold shirts" instead of called shots lol silly ears

[@politeghost6214]

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh

[@maewilkes8883]

I heard that too. Also, what is "called shots"?

[@cameronf5893]

@@maewilkes8883 called shots are when a character aims for a certain point on a creature's body. IE a head shot or an arrow to the knee

[@chedc28]

"Cold shuts"

[@filthiman]

I adore this woman, partly because of good ideas, partly because the jokes, and she's so darn cute too.

[@sebastiansilverfox6912]

If you take inspiration from Celtic mythology, the formorean were Giants with no prescribed appearance (more monsterous really). Have a big mission where the heroes set out to kill one hearing all these stories of how impossible it is etc. and then they finally face it. The battle is tough but they manage to scrape through. That's when they hear it cry out as it falls "Mama! Maaaamaaaaaa!" Was it their imagination? Surely this thing is collosal in size. Could it possibly have just been a baby? The ground begins to quake in massive pulses, several seconds each. The heroes run for cover. A near deafening bellow erupts around them as the world grows dark. Something has just blotted out the sun. The town they came to save... Where did it go? The land is flat. Suddenly, a massive boulder the size of a mountain comes racing toward the ground across the way. It lands with thunder and the earth trembles violently as it hits... But this is no mountain. It is the foot of... Something... Something so unimaginably large that "Titanic" would be an understatement. They can scarcely make out the shapes from thier size as two great hands lift up the giant they just killed. "Noooooooooooo!" the thunder seems to speak as the great bellow is heard. The heroes ears are ringing for hours after the encounter and it takes that long before any of them can speak, let alone hear one another.

[@greenhawk3796]

I gave a Frost Giant a Shield Throw instead of a rock throw. it was a dex save. I put 2 of 3 party members on death saves & when it was the Rogues turn he begged the Giant not to kill him as he went to the aid of the cleric. The Giant, walked over as the cleric was stabilized & crushed them both under his foot. At this point the party learned that I was running a groundhog day oneshot, & their whole experience started right back at the beginning of our session. The Jarl of the city had warned them not to go to the giants land. But the cleric, with 20AC ... at level 5, felt he would be fine, because "20AC is pretty high, & I have healing"

[@Gulronike]

Damage threshold I might change that if the damage is less than 16 then reduce it to 1. I like the idea of the giant brought down with tons of arrows. Even the biggest giant I would have local Hit Points. I like the idea of the giant reaching its hand into a cave to get the party and they can't kill it but maybe take off a finger or if high enough level the hand. I love the idea of every time it is mentioned it is missing a finger, toe, or eye that the party damaged. It gives a way to fight back, BUT it still gives the party the idea that it is dangerous. It took 200 hit points to take off a finger OMG!!! we are not killing that with a straight up conflict. Maybe the legendary sword but it could also get the party thinking and I think that is one of the best results. "Hey if we debuff him and hit him with that spell then buff the paladin with the magic sword then throw him then we could kill it."

[@crouchingmarker]

In my homebrew setting, the giants live in the remnants of a sky-borne civilisation created by the even-larger titans, but the flying city tech is failing. Every so often, one of the cities drops out of the sky and the giant population pushes whole civilisations out of their place. Orcs are perceived as a primitive, tribal people because their state-level political structures were shattered by the fall of one of these cities, pushing them south in extended family groups.

[@eyebite22]

Something you said gave me an idea. Heroes with powerful artifacts drive the giant off into the sea. But instead of him returning after hundreds of years what if that giant just keeps walking until he turns up in your lands. Your lands have never had giants and dont have the armies the other lands did. Maybe you start off in your land aiding a resistance movement. Then later you must travel to a far off land your people have never heard of to get assistance there and track down the heroes who stopped him before. It could even be 10 or 20 years later and they have retired.

[@parkerdixon-word6295]

So it's been almost a year, Dael, can we plz get that kraken video?

[@goodzillo]

I hate this video because I'm already a year into a heavily personalized Storm King's thunder/Tyranny of Dragons campaign and I love this take on the different kind of giants (Surtr the Fire Giant as opposed to Surtr, a fire giant), and it's way too late to shift gears. But I'm definitely going to take some inspiration from this.

[@OnycrestArkAngel121]

Damn, why I gotta be in love with this woman. She is so passionate and detailed on everything, ugh my heart.

[@sturmkind]

Hopefully the Ants will never unit and gather mighty weapons against us! XD

[@csyarr]

Dael, I love your videos, and this one was really good, but I noticed something. You upgraded your Ankylosaur mini on your bookshelf. And i couldn't stop thinking about how much I'd like to have your opinion on how you would run dinosaurs in D&D. I'm a huge dino fan, and I'm looking forward to my players encountering some, but I'm having a hard time finding a reasonable way to intermingle dinos with the high fantasy world I've created. Have you ever used them, and in what context? I'd love to hear your input on this. Thanks, and keep up the good work! You're my favorite D&D/mythology expert on KZbin! :-D

[@DunantheDefender]

Uhgod.... too.... adorable... can't repel firepower of this magnitude!

[@an8strengthkobold360]

I love the idea of an Ogre as an obstacle against a 1st level party. Not something that needs to be killed but maybe it has something they need or gaurds a gate they can get past. They fall into a nice category where a 1st level party *could* win but it's better to play to it's stupidity to trick it or use it's very simple motivations to bargin with it.

[@JeremySmith-ve2ur]

At about 11 minutes in I feel like youre describing bugbears well except the height

[@patrickholt2270]

If there had been giants, they would have been preying on us, or at least competing with us for Mastodons and Aurochs to hunt. So they would be in the category of giant mammals and giant Eagles which we wiped out before we could get agriculture and civilisation underway. The only way they would have survived into medieval history would be as tamed servants, a la War-Elephants, but doing more landscaping and wall-building in between wars. Very handy for digging cannals and diverting rivers while building dams. Which would be a fairly interesting alternate history. The tales of pre-dark ages civilsations being built by giants or cyclopeans would then be rooted in archaological truth. The lived reality would probably have been pretty miserable, like the classical slave civilisations and medieval feudalism was for most people. As a battlefield weapon, giants would be subject to the same kind of downside as War Elephants, but more so. They can lose morale, and you really don't want your giants rampaging back through the rest of your army in panic/sense of betrayal. Also, such big feets, relatively small arms, the foot odour could be a real problem for other soldiers, as could trench foot for the giants themselves. I reckon they would need a lot of downtime between fights to recuprate, as well as very careful handling in general. If a giant doesn't want to go where the general points, how you going to make him, without problematic issues arising? Charm spells? Maybe, depending on the intelligence. Patriotic speech-making? Depends what "his" country has been doing for him and his lately - which is a whole other interesting issue.

[@williamozier918]

A) Dale Kingmill based on your description of your favorite giants you must watch the movie Time Bandits now! B) In my headcannon as a DM I say that basically Hill Giants are the race of giants. Storm Giants, Fire Giants, Ice, etc, are the giants form of a magic-user/cleric who have received power from the giant gods, Surtur, Ymir.

[@mollywantshugs5944]

Another example of giants: God of War’s take on the titans. Those guys are literally so big that Kratos is dwarfed by a titan’s fingernails. It’s absolutely insane. IIRC there’s only one living titan in that series and in the first game you spend half the campaign duration exploring a massive temple chained to Kronos’ back

[@lucieeatssnekkers2756]

In my world there was a period known as The Age of Dragon Kings where the majority of Giants were slaughtered, leaving them as solitary creatures. Because of this, nearly every giant is unique in their resistances and vulnerabilities

[@Frivolitility]

Potions and poisons might be a good way to go when giant-hunting. What are the only tiny creatures that can kill us besides germs? Poisonous insects.

[@tobiasschwarzberger2267]

About the dumb Giants Point: I definetly agree that Giants should be intelligent, it just makes them so much more formidable and menacing. One Thing I like to do, however, is having them be a Little gullible. Simply because they have a hard time fathoming the idea of anyone being brave or stupid enough to try to lie to them. But if they do find out you tricked them, you are a dead man Walking. As is your immediate vicinity whenever the giant finds you.

[@3dartstudio007]

After hearing this, if I were to DM a game you were in... The giant would have a task that they had to fulfil probably as part of something from "Storm Kings Thunder" and while your party goes after the giant to "kill it" and "stop it" and all of those common D&D tropes we all know and love, a demi god from another plane would interfere and transpose your character and the giant's character swapping you. You would become the 80 foot tall golliath and the "giant" would become a normal sized human creature. For the next few sessions your party would either have to stop or slay you in some way, or you would accomplish your task and break the curse. Bonus XP if you fight and defeat another giant while at your giant size Double bonus if you fight and defeat (or tame) at dragon while at giant size TRIPPLE GAZONGA XP if at the end of the curse you and the giant fall in love AKA Shrek style and choose to remain a giant I LOVE that you make these shows talking about D&D, do please continue. It's MUCH fuel for the creative fires. ~:>~

[@danieledling4307]

Orc/Goblin army with a titan slave giant that have structures on it. Get the control rod.

[@O4C209]

"We make our choices and we live by them."

[@Knightmare_69]

where were you all my live. I would SO like to be part of one of your D&D sessions. They must be amazingly captivating. Love your content!

[@WhatsUpGazpacho]

Hell yeah! Great video