Giants (Part 6): Stone Giant

Lore: Artists in the Dark

So long as they are left alone, stone giants are peaceful and quiet. They live in secluded cave networks found in isolated mountains. Here, in the dark, they work away at elaborate carvings. Most often, they can be found in the deepest and quietest caverns, which are considered sacred places.

Artistry is the most worthy virtue of the stone giants. They strive to create beautiful works of art from stone, and those who do the best are crowned the leaders of the tribe. They do this in the name of their god, Skoraeus Stonebones.

Don’t think them weak, though. Stone giants are quick and graceful on their feet. Those who are skilled in throwing boulders can rise in the ordning, encouraging the training of warriors. However, even in this there is an artistry.

Stone giants view the realm outside of their caverns as one of dreams. They see it as a false reality and act as one would in their dreams when they step outside. While here, they do as they wish without concern of the consequences. Promises made here need not be kept, murders not guilted over, and crimes inconsequential.

Few stone giants willingly live in this dream world. Only those low in the ordning dwell near it, serving as guardians or hunters for their tribe. Anyone who wanders too close will find themselves on the receiving end of a storm of boulders.

The lore here has some pretty interesting tidbits, it is pretty boring overall. You could make some fun stories about stone giants wandering out into the world and treating everything like a harmless dream. Or one about sneaking into their lair to steal a valuable work of art. But the options are all limited and fairly uninteresting.

Design: That Doesn’t Work

He looks like how I imagine myself in my seventies: grumpy, scrawny, and bald.

Honestly, this design isn’t doing anything for me. It just doesn’t seem fitting for this particular monster. It doesn’t look like an artist, it looks more like a ruffian. The only thing matching the word ‘stone’ here is the shade of its skin!

You’d think an artist would wear fine clothing or carry the tools of his craft, right? Well, apparently not. This dude is wearing torn, patched-up clothes, more naked than clothed. His natural muscles and giant club only make it worse. The lore hammered home the fact that these guys are artists, not warriors. Yet the design seems to disagree entirely.

That’s about all I have to say, really. It’s a very underwhelming and boring design. Worse yet, it doesn’t fit the lore given to the monster at all. Definitely one of the weaker ones so far.

Stats: Smash and Throw… But Sneaky!

The stats here are mostly the same as the last few. Big defense, big health, giant club and rocks. However, it does have two abilities to help it stand out.

The first is Stone Camouflage. This does exactly what you’d expect. It has advantage on stealth checks in rocky terrain. Perfect for setting up a surprise attack to scare the hell out of your players.

The second is Rock Catching. Have someone in your party who can throw stuff? Well, this guy can catch said stuff if it makes a DEX check with a DC of 10. By doing so, it takes no damage from the attack.

Despite those additions, this monster is still fairly boring. Once the surprise attack is over, it goes back to being a straight-forward slugfest. Slightly better than the last three in this regard, but not by much.

Placement

The stone giant is my least favorite of the lot so far. It’s lore is fine, sure. But the design is uninteresting and the stats are only slightly better than those that came before it. Definitely the weakest giant we’ve discussed so far.

With all that in mind, let’s put the Stone Giant on the Best of the Bestiary!

1. Beholder
2. Death Tyrant
3. Dragon Turtle
4. Green Dragons
5. Red Dragons
6. Blue Dragons
7. Black Dragons
8. White Dragons
9. Silver Dragons
10. Couatl
11. Behir
12. Aboleth
13. Bronze Dragons
14. Brass Dragons
15. Copper Dragons
16. Gold Dragons
17. Chuul
18. Chimera
19. Death Knight
20. Fomorian
21. Bone Devil
22. Dracolich
23. Faerie Dragon
24. Ankheg
25. Hill Giant
26. Empyrean
27. Efreeti
28. Dao
29. Cloud Giant
30. Drow (all four of ’em)
31. Shadow Demon
32. Marilith
33. Drider
34. Aarackockra
35. Azer
36. Demilich
37. Spectator
38. Marid
39. Cambion
40. Fire Giant
41. Animated Armor
42. Banshee
43. Basilisk
44. Yochlol
45. Bulette
46. Cloaker
47. Darkmantle
48. Doppelganger
49. Ghoul and Ghast
50. Ettin
51. Pit Fiend
52. Erinyes
53. Chain Devil
54. Bearded Devil
55. Barbed Devil
56. Spined Devil
57. Ice Devil
58. Djinni
59. Nalfeshnee
60. Glabrezu
61. Chasme
62. Barlgura
63. Horned Devil
64. Balor
65. Shadow Dragon
66. Vrock
67. Dretch
68. Goristro
69. Hezrou
70. Manes
71. Frost Giant
72. Duergar
73. Quasit
74. Dryad
75. Flumph
76. Planetar
77. Imp
78. Flameskull
79. Displacer Beast
80. Carrion Crawler
81. Rug of Smothering
82. Bugbear Chief
83. Bugbear
84. Vine Blight
85. Twig Blight
86. Needle Blight
87. Bullywug
88. Ettercap
89. Gas Spore
90. Cockatrice
91. Lemure
92. Solar
93. Deva
94. Cyclops
95. Centaur
96. Ghost
97. Fire Elemental
98. Water Elemental
99. Air Elemental
100. Stone Giant <——————-
101. Dinosaurs (All six of them)
102. Earth Elemental
103. Galeb Duhr
104. Flying Sword
105. Crawling Claw
106. Violet Fungus
107. Shrieker
108. Gargoyle