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Breadcrumb

Hill Giant

Challenge
str
20
dex
8
con
18
int
6
wis
10
cha
6

AC 13 (natural armor)

HP 105 (10d12 + 40; bloodied 52)

Speed 40 ft.


Proficiency +3; Maneuver DC 16

Saving Throws Str +8, Con +7

Senses passive Perception 10

Languages Giant


Gullible. The giant makes Insight checks with disadvantage .


ACTIONS

Multiattack. The giant attacks twice with its greatclub.

Greatclub. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 18 (3d8 + 5) bludgeoning damage. If the target is a Medium or smaller creature, it makes a DC 16 Strength saving throw , falling prone on a failure.

Rock. Ranged Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, range 60/240 ft., one target. Hit: 26 (6d6 + 5) bludgeoning damage. If the target is a Medium or smaller creature, it makes a DC 16 Strength saving throw , falling prone on a failure. In lieu of a rock, the giant can throw a grappled Medium or smaller creature up to 30 feet. On a hit, the target and the thrown creature both take 15 (3d6 + 5) bludgeoning damage. On a miss, only the thrown creature takes the damage. The thrown creature falls prone in an unoccupied space 5 feet from the target.

Greatclub Sweep (1/Day, While Bloodied). Each creature within 10 feet makes a DC 16 Dexterity saving throw . On a failure, a creature takes 18 (3d8 + 5) bludgeoning damage, is pushed 10 feet away from the giant, and falls prone .


BONUS ACTIONS

Grab. One creature within 5 feet makes a DC 10 Dexterity saving throw . On a failure, it is grappled (escape DC 16). Until this grapple ends, the giant can’t grab another target, and it makes greatclub attacks with advantage against the grappled target.

Combat

The giant uses its greatclub and grabs opponents whenever it can. When it has a creature grabbed, it’s not always clever enough to focus its attacks on that target. The giant might surrender if it’s damaged by a particularly flashy magical effect while it’s bloodied .


Names

Drigdrackle, Garg, Hardscrabble, Kuglunk, Kurgan, Scrim


Legends and Lore

With a History or Nature check, characters can learn the following:

DC 10 As their name suggests, giants are enormous creatures, the largest of their kind standing over 30 feet tall. Though they look like large humanoids, they are an ancient people with close ties to the elements.

DC 15 Giants sort themselves into different clans, including hill giants , fire giants , cloud giants , and others.

Description

At 15 feet or taller and disproportionately broad and strong, hill giants loom high over most mortal creatures. Though the smallest of the giantfolk, hill giants inspire a full measure of terror. 

Fairy Tale Monsters. Hill giants feature prominently in many fairy tales, and with good reason. They’re imbued with the riotous energy of the Dreaming, and they’re as widespread in that lush fairyland as they are in the material world. Hill giants in faerie forests can hunt and gather happily, sating their enormous appetites on tremendous fruits that regrow the next day. 

Hill giants on the Material Plane bring with them some fairy magic. The land for miles around a hill giant’s lair tends to be unusually lush and fruitful. Nevertheless, a hill giant’s appetite always outstrips its environment. Some hill giants turn to farming or herding, while others demand tributes of food and wine from local villages. Still other hill giants range widely, stripping a land bare before moving on to another.

Literalists. Many stories feature a clever protagonist who outwits a hill giant. Hill giants are not quick thinkers, but their gullibility goes beyond this. Like many faerie creatures, hill giants are incapable of speaking a falsehood. They’re aware that other creatures lie, but they don’t have a knack for recognizing deception. When a hill giant finally realizes it has been fooled, it often flies into a murderous rage.

Behavior

1 Tearing meat from a rotting hippogriff carcass

2 Angrily smashing things, yelling curses against a creature that recently fooled it

3 Dragging a sackful of captive humanoids

4 Gorging itself on barrels of ale, pies, and livestock served by terrified commoners

5 Raiding a settlement

6 Crying

Signs

1 Filthy, musty smell

2 A distant, hoarse roar

3 Footprints of big, bare feet

4 An abandoned, giant-sized sack, filled with bizarre trinkets such as helmets, barrels, and uprooted berry bushes

Encounters

Hill giants thrive in any wild area not ruled by other giants. 

CR 5–10 hill giant ; hill giant with 1 or 2 dire wolves or ogres ; hill giant with 1d8 goblins or kobolds

Treasure 600 gp, 1,000 sp, cask of wine (250 gp), 3 potions of greater healing , bag of holding , gauntlets of ogre power

CR 11–16 2 hill giants ; hill giant chief with 1d4 brown bears or ogres ; hill giant with diplodocus , earth elemental , ettin , gorgon , or troll

Treasure 3 filthy tapestries (750 gp each if cleaned), 5 jet gemstones (100 gp each), mug of hill giant beer (acts as a potion of hill giant strength ), belt of hill giant strength

CR 17–22 3 hill giants ; hill giant chief with 2 hill giants ; 2 hill giants with 2 basilisks , manticores , or owlbears

Treasure 5,000 gp, 1,000 ep, amethyst necklace (2,500 gp), 2 vials of oil of sharpness, 2 mugs of hill giant beer (each acts as a potion of hill giant strength ), dragon slayer (greatsword)

CR 23–30 hill giant chief with 3 hill giants ; hill giant chief with 2 hill giants and 3 cave bears , dire wolves , gargoyles , or ogres

Treasure 6,000 gp, collection of 6 religious relics (2,500 gp each), portable hole , bag of tricks (tan), horn of Valhalla (bronze)

Monster Type Description

Giants look like immense humanoids, standing from 10 feet tall (like ogres ) to 30 (like storm giants ). Some giants, like trolls , have human-like shapes but monstrous features.