Wood Giant

One of the least of the minor giant races, a wood giant looks like an oversized wood elf: about 9 1/2 feet and 700 pounds, built with human proportions and so very slim for a giant. It is entirely hairless, eyebrows included. Its head seems too large, mostly thanks to a massive jaw, chin and mouth, and its ears sit high, nearly above the eyes. Skin is brown tinged with yellow or green.

Typical gear is leather or ring mail, a short kilt or baggy trousers, leather wrappings from ankle almost to knee over bare feet, and a bracer against the bowstring, all stained green and brown. Each carries a giant longbow and a two-handed sword in a steel-capped scabbard that doubles as a walking staff without hiding what it is.

They fight only in defense of themselves or friends, and prefer their huge, nonmagical bow: +1 to hit, 50% more range, and arrows over four feet long that deal 1d8. They never hurl rocks, and in melee they swing the greatsword one-handed. Percentile dice set each one's exceptional Strength (18/xx), worth +3 to +6 damage but nothing to hit.

Despite their height they move silently in woodland (-4 to foes' surprise rolls) and can fade into foliage so completely that it counts as invisible, visible only to those who can detect invisible things. Attacking breaks the cover, but with Dexterity 16 a wood giant can emerge, shoot and vanish again in one round, so its shafts appear out of thin air to anyone not already staring at its hiding place.

They resist sleep and charm 90% of the time and have 90-foot infravision. Their one magical gift is polymorphing into a generic member of any humanoid race from 3 to 15 feet tall, never a specific person, sometimes used to join a party and cheat it of its loot. Often 1d4 wood elves (60%) travel with them, or 1d4 dire wolves (30%), or both together (10%).

Their bond with wood elves predates both races' memory and may account for their elvish talents. They keep no lairs, camping under the stars or staying with the elves. Nine in ten met in the forest are male; females stay at camp or with the elves, and each bears just 1d4 young in a lifetime, raised in secret deep in the woods.

Any good elf is welcome, but other thinking beings mostly are not. They love fine gems and well-made magic items. Humans find them friendly but frivolous, in a hurry only to eat and drink a great deal of wine, while treants, who talk with them on occasion, think them foolish, irrational and sometimes obnoxious, yet fun to be around.

The heavy jaw houses huge grinding molars made for plants, not meat. They can digest roots and leaves humans cannot, and they especially love seeds and nuts.