Firbolg [Giant]

A firbolg looks like an ordinary human grown past 10 feet and 800 pounds. Long hair and great bushy beards are the fashion; skin is a normal pink and hair can be any color, most often red or blond. Their flesh is remarkably dense and tough, and they speak in a deep, smooth bass full of rolling consonants.

Thanks to intelligence and strong magic, firbolgs are the mightiest of the giant-kin. They can wield any large weapon but scorn armor and shields. Among human-made arms they like halberds and two-handed swords, either of which they can swing one-handed without penalty. Their own weapons are double-sized versions of human ones, and add the +7 damage of their 19 Strength; swung with both hands, these deal double damage plus that bonus.

With a hand free, a firbolg can knock aside as many as two missiles each round, and it may choose to catch large ones such as boulders or long-shafted javelins and spears. A bat or catch works on a roll of 6 or better on 1d20, a 75% chance. On the following round a caught weapon can be hurled back at anyone, at -2 to hit for the off-hand throw.

Every firbolg also has five innate powers, each once a day and only in a round when it is not fighting in melee: alter self, forget, fools' gold, detect magic, and diminution equal to a double dose of that potion. Each member of a group adds a cumulative 5% chance that one of them is a shaman of 1st to 7th level.

Wary and cunning, they have learned to fear and distrust humans and demihumans and would rather hide or bluff their way out of a meeting. Forced into battle, they act as a coordinated team and exploit terrain and circumstance with real skill. One encounter in ten is a large party of 4d4 on its way to an enclave.

Firbolgs live in out-of-the-way forests and hills, keeping their distance from most civilized peoples. With druids, elves and other fey they maintain a cool courtesy, asking little, offering little, and giving no offense. Strangers are approached cautiously, often by a firbolg disguised by illusion as one of the stranger's own kind. They never attack without cause, but they adore pranks, especially ones that part travelers from their treasure.

Life centers on the family clan of 4d4, often with a shaman whose level is 2d4-1 unless the DM chooses. Clans keep apart, living as gatherers and sometimes wanderers, in huge one-storey timber halls with thick walls and a central hearth that opens to several sides of the main room. Important decisions bring clans together in an enclave, held at least yearly at the fall solstice, if only to celebrate. Shamans run these gatherings and settle quarrels between clans.

Firbolgs take from the land and give back to it. They build their halls from the trees cleared around them and plant a small field, enough to round out their diet. Feats of strength are traded for food with peaceful forest and hill neighbors, and the rest comes from foraging and hunting within about 20 miles of home. Most meals hold only a little meat, but every great feast centers on a huge roast.

Plenty of creatures could kill a firbolg, yet none make a habit of it; forest beasts are weaker, and intelligent ones know better. Firbolgs steer clear of true giants other than storm giants and drive other giant-kin off their land.