Let's Read: The Dungeons and Dragons 5e Monster Manual!

[Hawkstar]

Barbarians get Advantage on Athletics, though, which is better on average at low levels and nearly the same at high.

Where? Their rage that is automatically ended if they fail to attack something (For example, by using their action to do something else) or be hit in a combat round?

[ShikomeKidoMi]

Where? Their rage that is automatically ended if they fail to attack something (For example, by using their action to do something else) or be hit in a combat round?

Shoving and Grappling are special attacks that use the attack action, check the combat section of the Player's Handbook. Therefore, using them sustains rage.

[TripleD]

The most interesting aspect of Frost Giants curiously isn't in the Frost Giant section.

Way back in the section on White Dragons, it said that Frost Giants will occasionally wrangle or outsmart White Dragons into submission. A Frost Giant with a "hunting dragon" (or at higher levels, a "riding dragon") becomes something quite different than a Frost Giant on its own.

[Shining Wrath]

Shoving and Grappling are special attacks that use the attack action, check the combat section of the Player's Handbook. Therefore, using them sustains rage.

That's still an ability that can be used only in combat and a minimum number of times a day. For example, if you are traveling through the mountains and want to climb 5 times per short rest, Expertise is much better than Rage.

The most interesting aspect of Frost Giants curiously isn't in the Frost Giant section.

Way back in the section on White Dragons, it said that Frost Giants will occasionally wrangle or outsmart White Dragons into submission. A Frost Giant with a "hunting dragon" (or at higher levels, a "riding dragon") becomes something quite different than a Frost Giant on its own.

There are many creatures that get more interesting if you give them allies and minions. Fey and spell casters come to mind; not so good at stand-up solo fights, but that's why they never engage in stand-up solo fights.

[SharkForce]

That's still an ability that can be used only in combat and a minimum number of times a day. For example, if you are traveling through the mountains and want to climb 5 times per short rest, Expertise is much better than Rage.

you shouldn't need a huge boost to climbing checks 5 times per short rest.

in fact, for the most part, if you're already strength-based and have proficiency, you should rarely if ever need more than that. by which i mean, stop trying to climb a sheer glass surface coated in oil, and look for something better to climb, because the modifier from being strong and proficient should typically be more than enough for most athletics skill checks, otherwise you shouldn't be using skill checks, you should be using magic.

[ShikomeKidoMi]

That's still an ability that can be used only in combat and a minimum number of times a day. For example, if you are traveling through the mountains and want to climb 5 times per short rest, Expertise is much better than Rage.

True, outside of combat, though I should also point out that a lot of athletics activities are covered under a Bear Totem ability (and it doubles your carrying capacity, which is handy if you don't want to invest in other-dimensional storage).

There are many creatures that get more interesting if you give them allies and minions. Fey and spell casters come to mind; not so good at stand-up solo fights, but that's why they never engage in stand-up solo fights.

Rakshasa come to mind. Though, they're not true spellcasters anymore, which I find somewhat annoying, but I'll get to that when we hit R.

At least Arcanoloths still have the ability, since it's in their name.

[Sharur]

Honestly, I love the Stone Giant. Finally, a monster with multiple attack options who actually has a valid choice between them. Rock to knock them down, or club them for more damage (with the multi-attack). I also love that they actually gave the stone giant's a longer reach due to their weapons (my table's house rules make reach more important) size. The neutral alignment is great, and a seeming rarity in this edition.

The Hill Giant does what it does; effectively is variant of the Cyclops (and I find it odd that the Cyclops is lower in the ordening, but the same size and a higher CR than the Hill Giant)

I'm disappointed with the Frost Giant. I was thinking that their rocks could do extra cold damage or something to change them up, seeing as the look like little iceburgs. Standard mook, and so pity so far up the CR food chain.

One thing I do like about the giants though is how they're all different alignments.

[Envyus]

Storm Kings Thunder does introduce something nice. Additional Giant Options. To differentiate them a bit more.
http://media.wizards.com/2016/dnd/do...antOptions.pdf

This preview is missing the Cloud Giant options. (The one with the name cut off are the fire giant options.)

CLOUD GIANT
Fling. The giant tries to throw a Small or Medium creature
within 10 feet of it. The target must succeed on a DC 20 Dexterity
saving throw or be hurled up to 60 feet horizontally in a
direction of the giant's choice and land prone, taking 1d8 bludgeoning
damage for every 10 feet it was thrown.

Wind Aura. A magical aura of wind surrounds the giant. The
aura is a 10-foot-radius sphere that lasts as long as the giant
maintains concentration on it (as if concentrating on a spell).
While the aura is in effect, the giant gains a +2 bonus to its AC
against ranged weapon attacks, and all open flames within the
aura are extinguished unless they are magical.

[Arimm]

Fire Giants
They are the big, bad warlords that live under volcanoes. The Fire Giants are just as aggressive as their frosty counter parts but are much more cultured, with some of the best smiths and martial-tacticians in all of mundus. This makes them foreboding villains, using both brain and brawn as they slash, burn ,and conquer.

Art:
This art certainly denotes character, the giant's eyes stare right at us as he holds his huge sword at the ready, prepared to crush you without a second thought.
Despite this something is off about the proportions of the piece, his hands are almost double the size of his head and if this image is to scale with the others than the fire giant is the shortest of all the giant's which doesn't seem right.
Overall, functional.

Purposes and Tactics
The Fire Giant's superior smithing abilities manifest in them having the highest AC of any giant and the second highest damaging melee attack, making them even better bruisers than most of the giants. They also, however suffer a lack of very interesting abilities other than the given fire immunity. I would definitely change some of the dice in their attacks to fire damage, describing their swords as flaming and their boulders as magma filled.
However I think it's more interesting to focus on their strategic abilities, giving you as the DM reason to have them using unusual and unexpected tactics. In their own lairs imagine them using their fire immunity to their advantage, hiding in and emerging from lava-lakes and filling rooms with magma to melt any trespassing adventurers. And for outside their own lands they should use fire as a weapon, setting everything aflame and transforming the battlefield into a hellscape in which only they can survive.

Fluff
This fluff gives a lot to work with. From conquering and enslaving nations to felling whole forests to fuel their fires these guys have a way to tick off anybody. There is a small issue though as because of their large strength it's difficult not to ask "why haven't they taken over the world already?" This makes it so they almost work better as begrudging allies rather than direct enemies.

Hooks:
A more chaotic giant than most has risen to power in the fire giant ranks, this new king has broken the Dwarf-Giant truce and begun and invasion of dwarven lands, can the party sneak into the giant stronghold, defeat this king, and reinstate the treaty?

An ancient red dragon has awakened and the party needs the fire giant's weaponry/expertise to defeat it, can they negotiate some kind of compromise or will this go south to the magma pits?

Elven lands are quickly being ravaged as swaths of forest are being chopped and taken to Mt.Ignon. The elves, lacking expertise in giant matters, call in adventurers to fight them off.

Verdict:
More developed and interesting than their frost giant counterparts but still arguably under developed and wanting of tweaking. Personally I like them

[Spellbreaker26]

Anyone else thinks the Fire Giant in the artwork looks a little like Ganondorf from Zelda?

[War_lord]

Yeah, first thing I thought when I saw the Fire Giant was "huh, Ganondorf".

As an aside, the giants are great example of the main problem with 5e's monster artwork, nothing in the illustration of the fire giant itself clues you into the fact that it's actually 18 foot tall.

[SharkForce]

i think it would be more interesting if fire giants were a source of armour and weapons to the other giants. you could have stone giants digging out the ore (to make room for more carvings and art) and trading it to fire giants for better weapons and armour (the stone giants work stone, but are not noted for being particularly good at crafting in other materials), and frost giants could be a source of leather (it seems most megafauna are related to cold regions... and when you need a source of leather suitable for a giant, i don't imagine a regular cow is going to do the job :P )

you could then have a sort of giant alliance that would make for a more interesting giant nation i think.

as another adventure hook, i doubt there are many more skilled in the making of giant armour and weapons than the fire giants... so any warlord looking to outfit an army of armoured elephants or giant apes could easily lead to a need to get in touch with fire giants and forge an alliance with them :)

[Shining Wrath]

i think it would be more interesting if fire giants were a source of armour and weapons to the other giants. you could have stone giants digging out the ore (to make room for more carvings and art) and trading it to fire giants for better weapons and armour (the stone giants work stone, but are not noted for being particularly good at crafting in other materials), and frost giants could be a source of leather (it seems most megafauna are related to cold regions... and when you need a source of leather suitable for a giant, i don't imagine a regular cow is going to do the job :P )

you could then have a sort of giant alliance that would make for a more interesting giant nation i think.

as another adventure hook, i doubt there are many more skilled in the making of giant armour and weapons than the fire giants... so any warlord looking to outfit an army of armoured elephants or giant apes could easily lead to a need to get in touch with fire giants and forge an alliance with them :)

I believe that in some fluff (Faerun) the giants were cooperative as you describe prior to their war with the dragons, but once their creator Anman abandoned them they fragmented.

[ShikomeKidoMi]

Despite this something is off about the proportions of the piece, his hands are almost double the size of his head and if this image is to scale with the others than the fire giant is the shortest of all the giant's which doesn't seem right.Overall, functional.

I wonder if they were attempting to make the Fire Giant resemble the proportions of a dwarf. I've seen that comparison made before.

[Millstone85]

I believe that in some fluff (Faerun) the giants were cooperative as you describe prior to their war with the dragons, but once their creator Anman abandoned them they fragmented.

After reading Volo's, I could have sworn the MM had been just as clear on the topic. But no, it is more vague, for example referring to ancient giant empires instead of a single great one.

Still, I really like the idea of storm giants as a ruling clergy, cloud giants as a more secular nobility, fire and stone giants as the craftsmen, and then frost and hill giants as the soldiers.

[GorinichSerpant]

After reading Volo's, I could have sworn the MM had been just as clear on the topic. But no, it is more vague, for example referring to ancient giant empires instead of a single great one.

Still, I really like the idea of storm giants as a ruling clergy, cloud giants as a more secular nobility, fire and stone giants as the craftsmen, and then frost and hill giants as the soldiers.

I said it once and I'll say it again, hill giants were the farmers of the giants until they lost their minds and the whole system crumbled to pieces with the economic and agriculture infrastructure. The only thing preventing the giants from rising again is their inability to recognise that they need to get their peasants in order.

[MeeposFire]

I wonder if they were attempting to make the Fire Giant resemble the proportions of a dwarf. I've seen that comparison made before.

This is essentially true. Fire giants were typically shorter than many other true giants but were stronger than some of those larger giants.

Here is an example and it also shows how they have dwarven looking traits.

[tsuyoshikentsu]

GUYS! By my count, we are more than halfway through the MM!

[Arimm]

GUYS! By my count, we are more than halfway through the MM!

WOO! Progress!

[JackPhoenix]

GUYS! By my count, we are more than halfway through the MM!

And we're also near the end of this thread... 50 pages is the limit, right?

[Regitnui]

Someone mentioned a 50-page limit in my Most Attractive D&D Males and Females thread, so I guess so. Start coming up with new titles, people.

[Spellbreaker26]

Start coming up with new titles, people.

Fantastic Beasts and How to Fight Them?

[ShikomeKidoMi]

Fantastic Beasts and How to Fight Them?

I was going to say, let's keep it simple and keep the title mostly the same, but that's too good to pass up.

This fluff gives a lot to work with. From conquering and enslaving nations to felling whole forests to fuel their fires these guys have a way to tick off anybody. There is a small issue though as because of their large strength it's difficult not to ask "why haven't they taken over the world already?" This makes it so they almost work better as begrudging allies rather than direct enemies.

Presumably because they keep ticking off everybody else.

[Shining Wrath]

Cloud Giants
Jack in the Beanstalk, Fee Fi Fo Fum, the time has come for the fairy tale giants! These guys live on clouds, or as high up in the mountains as they can get, have more innate magic than any other giants, get keen smell (presumably for the blood of Englishmen), and despite having the same CR as Fire Giants are definitely more dangerous if played intelligently. A well placed Control Weather can ruin a party. These guys are the nobility (as noted above) who rule over humans.

Art
Fangs? Seriously? And little suggestion of the flashy wealth a Cloud Giant should be showing. These guys should have BLING.

Purpose and Tactics
These giants should not usually be encountered in a grimy dungeon (unless they are passing through); they live in a palace, they have minions, and reaching their palace is an adventure in and of itself. In combat they have moderate (12) intelligence and high (16) wisdom, so using Misty Step to get next to the squishy people is a definite possibility. Being grappled by one of these guys would be No Fun; of course, the caster had better know Dimension Door at this level. They have a dangerous rock attack, and the ability to move about the battlefield. Making the party come up a long winding trail while the giant appears out of the fog, hurls a rock, and disappears again sounds like great fun. You want to fly directly to the palace? Like I said, Control Weather can really ruin your day, and since these guys rule over their domain, you should not be surprising them without considerable effort. With Cloud Giants, getting there is half the fun! Once you corner them they are less dangerous toe-to-toe than the Fire Giants, but that should not be easy.

Fluff
Nobility who rule over humanoids; sometimes benignly, sometimes not. Mixed alignment with a 50/50 chance, but fond of trickery; seekers and displayers of wealth, and inveterate gamblers who bet on events outside their control, there is so much to work with here!

Hooks
Cumulus has placed a large bet on the outcome of a succession dispute in the kingdom of Squabble. He can't intervene directly, that would be maug; but he can certainly hire adventurers for a small fraction of his bet to tilt the odds in his favor.

The tyrant Thunderstorm floats from place to place about her kingdom in her cloud-palace, raining (sometimes literally) destruction upon those who displease her and demanding so much tribute that the oppressed denizens must raid their neighbors to obtain enough gold. Can the party destroy this evil despot, and while they are at it, garner a kingdom's worth of loot?

The party needs a magical item to defeat an ancient evil. And they know where one is - in the palace of Horsetail the Giant! Can they bargain with the giant to buy or borrow the magical item?

Verdict
Except for that awful picture, this is a wonderful addition to the DM's toolkit.

[Bluepaw]

Wow, folks -- I'm just coming across this, and it's an incredible resource. Having read only a few pages worth, I'm not sure if this has come up already, so apologies for the repeat if so: is there a way to have the first post (of the next thread, perhaps) be full of links to each of the primary monster entries? That way, one could jump right to a specific beastie...

For real, though, this is a resource that should be saved. Some genius/saint with more time than I have could put together a document containing each of the main entries (properly attributed, of course!) and ultimately, when the end is reached, make a pdf: a full-scale, crowd-sourced commentary on the Monster Manual!

Food for thought -- if it hasn't already been thought a dozen times and dismissed for one reason or another?

[Spellbreaker26]

What Blue Dragons are to dragons, Cloud Giants are to giants. They're foppish and playful, but also capricious and unpredictable. They use the most indirect tactics of all giants, but still retain a huge amount of durability and strength.

Art

I like about 90% of the Cloud Giant artwork. Holding itself in a proud stance, good, and it's got clothing and jewelry instead of armour, good, now all it needs is some smug smile that's halfway between good and evil... and it nearly makes it? I think the problem is those little fangs, it really obstructs the view of the mouth. Apart from that it looks good; but the mouth is pretty important for expressing the character of proud creatures and this art just doesn't manage it.

Purpose and Tactics

Cloud Giants are much less durable than fire giants; they have a fair few more hitpoints but since they have such a lack of AC they come across as much more fragile; combined with their lack of fire immunity this means that cloud giants must be played a lot more cautiously.

Thankfully, you can play these guys much more cautiously! They have access to a bevy of control spells that allow them to pick apart and dismantle parties; they can use fog cloud and control weather to obstruct their opponent's field of vision, which gives the Cloud Giants an advantage since they can work off their sense of smell. Some of their other spells like Misty Step and fly make them hugely mobile and can really mess up a party that isn't prepared. Their speed and tactics belie their size. All in all, probably the most tactically unique giant.

In larger terms, their split between alignments lets them be used as quest-givers as well. Perhaps a Cloud Giant wants the party to acquire a particular relic or to help him indulge one of his hobbies? An evil Cloud Giant, on the other hand, will work much more indirectly than the other evil Giants, pulling strings and only getting stuck in if he has no other choice.

Fluff

Cloud Giants are dilettantes and fops, as much as that definition can be applied to Giants. Good or Evil, they're massively self-indulgent, each a griffon-fancier or a gourmand of some variety. With Storm Giants often aloof, they do the majority of organising of Giant society, and one gets the implication from the fluff that with the rest of the giants treating the Cloud Giants as top dog that they are increasingly resenting the Storm Giants final say. One of the most interesting little tidbits is their habit of betting on human wars and then match fixing, there is just so much potential there for stories.

Hooks

The Arhion League has suddenly turned their war with the Lizardfolk Free Cities around and now threaten to spread their tyranny across the entire continent. How have they suddenly been able to change the course of the entire campaign?

Cirrus the Collector wishes to add a Waxhoof Unicorn to his private zoo, but is struggling to capture one. Perhaps if a band of adventurers were able to succeed where he failed they would be richly rewarded?

Several Storm Giants have been assassinated, and the political stability of the Ordning is faltering. Who could possibly benefit from the fall of the Storm Giants, and would be bold enough to try and engineer it?

(Goddamn it, ninja'd. I'll debold the mini-titles so my thoughts will still be here, though.)

[Caelestion]

http://wrathofzombie.files.wordpress...torm-giant.jpg

The fire giant in that picture is 12 feet tall at most.

[Spellbreaker26]

Food for thought -- if it hasn't already been thought a dozen times and dismissed for one reason or another?

There is an index somewhere around here, but I can't find it. Give me a minute...

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showt...Monster+Manual

Here you go!

[War_lord]

Looking closely I think the "fangs" on that cloud giant are actually big lip rings.

[INDYSTAR188]

Ninja'd Cloud Giant write-up.

I thought you did a great job too! I never considered that cloud giant = jack and the beanstalk until I read the 5e MM. Such an awesome idea to use as inspiration for an adventure (full campaign?), and maybe the use of a bag o' beans as well?