Half-Giant

Nobody knows when or why humans and giants first produced these offspring, but half-giants have since spread across the desert world, most thickly near the silt sea's shores. Despite averaging 1,600 pounds, they keep much of a human's nimbleness. The face is human and rather glum, and the long, heavy hair is worn in a single tail or in braids, a style especially common among females.

They have no tongue of their own and most speak common, which in translation makes them sound plodding and repetitive. Humans joke that half-giants struggle with every idea, human, giant or otherwise.

Their size alone makes them dangerous. Unarmed they hit for 1d6, and with a weapon they add +4 to damage. Each has a 25% chance of a psionic wild talent.

For every 10 in a group, one is exceptional and usually takes charge. Such a leader has AC 6 (10), THAC0 15 and 5+20 HD, and strikes twice each round with weapon or fist. A settlement of 30 or more also has a chieftain and a psionicist (level 1d4+2), each with AC 6 (10), THAC0 13, 7+28 HD and two attacks a round.

Prized as hired swords and bodyguards, half-giants turn up everywhere, and that scattering has led them to form their own communities, often near other population centers. As a young race with little culture of their own, they readily adopt the customs and beliefs around them.

Even alignment bends to recent influence. When first met, roll 1d6 to see which half of the alignment is fixed: 1-3 the law/chaos axis, 4-6 the good/evil axis. Roll 1d6 again for that fixed value: lawful or good on 1-2, neutral on 3-5, chaotic or evil on 6. The same die then sets the temporary half. Reroll the temporary half each later meeting, and any unusual event may shift it.

Half-giants consume a great deal. Anything they own, weapons and armor included, takes double the material and costs correspondingly more, and their sheer bulk breaks things by accident. Thoughtful ones camp outside city walls to spare what lies within.

Though first bred deliberately, they can reproduce, unlike dwarf-human crossbreeds. Births are single, twins and triplets rare, at most once per year, and even the longest-lived seldom pass 220 years.