Death giants are a race of giant whose souls are bound to the plane of Mabar, the Endless Night, but who have powers over the souls of other beings.[1]
Description[]
Death giants are around 15 feet (4.6 meters) tall and weigh around 2,000 pounds (910 kilograms), and they are typically gaunt of build. Their skin is dark gray or black and they cannot grow hair on their heads or body, similar to stone giants. They also have pointed ears, unlike most giant species. Their nails grow into hard ragged yellow claws and they have very sharp teeth. The souls they control form a thin cloud of fog that swirls around them, which manifest faces screaming in torment, fear, and agony.[1]
Abilities[]
The majority of death giant powers revolve around their ability to capture and control the souls of the dead. Any living creature within 15 feet (4.6 meters) of a death giant that is weak enough and cannot resist will be slain in a moment. Moreover, the soul of any creature that dies near a death giant is stolen, sucked away to join the mist around it.[1]
A captured soul becomes one of the giant's guardian spirits. The souls are bound by the giant's will alone. Affected creatures cannot be raised, resurrected, or reincarnated until the giant is slain, whereupon the stolen souls were released. The souls were insubstantial and could not be targeted, removed, or freed from the giant in any way, although they could be temporarily subdued by an attempt to turn the undead, though for no more than several seconds to a minute, in which time the death giant's associated abilities are suppressed. If another death giant is nearby when the original soul thief is slain, then the released souls can be taken by the new giant. Only in the most rare and special situations will a death giant choose to release a captured soul.[1]
The guardian souls give warnings of danger to the giant that controls them, helping them in battle or to avoid ambush or harm. The giant can also command the spirits to make a terrifying keening sound, which can drive those who hear it into a blind panic until they escape the noise and it still leaves them shaken for a full day afterward. Only a great force of will can resist it. Additionally, the souls allow a death giant to be healed by negative energy without affecting its ability to be healed by positive energy.[1]
Death giants are immune to fear and energy-draining effects. They also have innate spellcasting abilities that allow them to dispel magic, inflict terrible wounds, call down flame, and cause an unholy blight.[1]
Upon death, they cannot be resurrected by any means and, unless magical measures are rapidly taken, such as a soul bind spell or their soul being taken by another death giant, their souls are utterly destroyed a few seconds after their body dies.[1]
Combat[]
Death giants are both skilled melee fighters and powerful spellcasters. They will attempt to weaken foes with the screams of their guardian souls and their magic, then charge into the fray and attack with melee abilities. They are merciless in trying to slay the weakest opponents. But if it looks like the giant will lose, they will try to offer a truce, by bullying their opponents into accepting its terms, threatening the theft of the opponent's soul, or bargaining to release the soul of a slain ally.[1]
As with other giants, death giants are skilled at hurling rocks in battle. They can throw rocks of 60 to 80 feet (0.018 to 0.024 kilometers) in mass up to 120 feet (37 meters) with greater than normal accuracy. Furthermore, they can also catch rocks and like projectiles if ready for them.[1]
In battle, they typically wear banded mail armor and wield greataxes.[1]
History[]
Their ancestors were once a part of the great giant civilization of Xen'drik. But as their empire was destroyed by dragons and their own arrogance, these giants made a deal with an unknown but mighty power to guarantee their survival and preserve their empire. They chose to sell the souls of all their people for an unholy power. They chose poorly. The act bound the souls of the entire race and all their descendants to the plane of Mabar. While they gained powerful magical abilities, their souls were now doomed for destruction. They descendants have to now live with their folly.[1]
Society[]
Prokres reforges the ancient shard of arcane endowment.
Their arcane powers allow them to provide for all their needs magically and, as a result, their traditional skills and culture have severely decayed. They remain decent weapon- and armor-smiths, however, crafting these items so that they can fight in the violent "soul-trading" battles where one giant or group attacks another in an attempt to gain more guardian souls. But as valuable as souls are to them, they despise other creatures so much that they would rather avoid them.[1]
All other time is dedicated to finding a way to end the curse brought upon them by their ancestors—but without sacrificing the power it gives them. A few death giants have sought a means of freeing their souls from Mabar's clutches, so that they might instead enter Dolurrh, the Realm of the Dead, when their time inevitably comes.[1]
They are typically fighters, while clerics among them are rare.[1]
Death giants are encountered alone or in pairs, or in gangs of up to eight members.[1]
They speak the Giant language as well as Common.[1]
Religion[]
The gods of other giants apparently abandoned the death giants when they sold their souls, but a few death giants still venerate them regardless. However, most death giants with religious tendencies worship evil gods who do not care whether their followers' souls remain intact upon death.[1]
Homelands[]
Now, death giants dwell within the massive ruins of their lost nation, lying deep in the wildernesses of Xen'drik, with signs of its destruction all around them.[1]
While preferring their isolation, some death giants have ventured over the seas to the continents of Argonnessen and Khorvaire. At least two haunt the Mournland.[1]
Notable Death Giants[]
- Arakajda and Behkorr, death giant sisters who hunt in the Mournland for souls to take.[1]
- Prokres, a death giant in Xen'drik seeking to reforge the shard of arcane endowment[4]
Appendix[]
Appearances[]
Adventures
External links[]
- Death giant article at the Forgotten Realms Wiki, a wiki for the Forgotten Realms campaign setting.
References[]
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 1.23 1.24 1.25 1.26 1.27 1.28 1.29 1.30 1.31 1.32 Andrew Finch, Gwendolyn F.M. Kestrel, Chris Perkins (August 2004). Monster Manual III. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 54–55. ISBN 0-7869-3430-1.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 James Wyatt et al. (August 2023). Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants. Edited by Janica Carter et al. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 126–127. ISBN 978-0-7869-6898-5.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Mike Mearls, Stephen Schubert, and James Wyatt (2008). Monster Manual (4th edition). (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 120–121. ISBN 0-7869-4852-3.
- ↑ Keith Baker, Jason Bulmahn, & Amber Scott (2006). Secrets of Xen'drik. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 98, 100, 108–110, 114–115. ISBN 0-7869-3916-8.