The bigger they are...	-	The more, the merrier	-	Conclusion
Dragon	-	Monsters	-	Dragon 141

Giants and humanoids are the stock in trade of the Dungeon Master. They are
basic to the AD&D®games, far more exotic monsters in the various
reference books. Orcs, goblins, gnolls, giants, and the rest form the basic set of opponents for most beginning campaigns. Long before an adventuring group is ready to
take on drow and dragons, it is ready for a bunch of hobgoblins.
The problem with giants and humanoids is that their strengths are their weaknesses. Sound strange? Look at it this way: Giants have awesome fighting power, giving
and taking lots of hit points of damage. Humanoids can give and take less in combat,
but they come in great numbers. This makes these foes challenging for low to midlevel parties, but dull for higher-level groups. Once you reach a certain level of
magic-use and acquire a certain number of hit points and magical items, giants and
humanoids aren't challenging any more. Goblins and kobolds are the worst; with less
than one full hit die, they face fighters who get as many attacks per round as the
fighters have levels. Additionally, giants and humanoids are lumped together in the
giant-class category, against which rangers do extra damage. In the end, the most
powerful groups of giants and humanoids only delay a party, not challenge it seriously.
So what can be done about it? Are these races simply not credible challenges after
the party reaches a certain point? If you let that happen, the campaign will soon suffer from adventure inflation ? the unwarranted expansion of magic, treasure, and
treat that make so many campaigns dull. However, experienced DMs can use giants
and humanoids effectively throughout the adventuring life of the PCs? party, but it
takes knowledge of some tricks about DMing these monsters.

The bigger they are...

Giants are like the old naval descriptions
of battleships: eggshells armed with hammers. They are capable of dealing out
awesome damage, but they come few in
number. Thus, the first principle of using
giants successfully is to take advantage of
their long-range attacks. Most DMs play
giants as close-and-bash types. However,
most giants have special attack abilities
with hurling boulders or other missiles.

These abilities should be taken seriously.
There was a rather cocky wizard in my
campaign who was twice splattered all
over the side of mountain passes by giant-hurled boulders. He eventually learned not
to lead the charge on his  broom of flying.
While even the rather stupid giants love to
get up close and bash, it should be a point
of honor among giants to see who wins at
throwing contests. They may make bets
on their abilities in leisure times. When

engaged in an ambush or open combat,
they should almost always attempt to hurl
boulders before closing.

Giants should use their missile-hurling
capabilities in other ways. Giants may like
fortified gateways and ravines alike, since
attacking and defending from above are
among their most basic tactics. Note the
missile-fire cover and concealment adjustments in the  DMG,  page 64. Even under-
 ground, place giants on ledges and over

gateways (with rocks to throw). Smarter
giants can construct powerful artillery
weapons, which giants can pick up and
use the way humans use crossbows or
slings. Beware of giants with ballistas!

The second principle of using giants
successfully is to exploit their magical
talents and possessions. Remember that
some giants can have clerical abilities.
Giant shamans are more than most PCs
bargained for. With abilities running up to
7th level, giant shamans are a lovely edge
on the competition. Not every lair should
have a shaman, perhaps, but certainly
there should be a shaman for every tribe
of giants in a given area. This also
increases the amount of magic that the
giants have to use against their enemies.
Giant-size magical items should probably
be avoided, since they may eventually
wind up in the PCs? hands. Go for expendables, such as potions and scrolls, which
the giants can use up in healing themselves and fighting the party. And don?t
forget that certain giant types, such as the
firbolg, have innate magical abilities.

Third, take advantage of the giants?
home turf. There is no reason why a giant
lair should be easy to enter. Cloud giants
live on cloud islands or mountain peaks;
stone, fire, and frost giants live in often
equally inaccessible places with their own
dangers. In addition to making the PCs
overcome the difficulties of reaching and
entering the giants? lair, the DM should
remember that giants do not neglect traps,
guards, ambushes, alarms, patrols, and
locks. If a giant constructs a trap, it probably causes more damage than one made by
a man-size opponent.

Fourth, note that many giants have
powerful pets: spotted lions, hell hounds,
winter wolves, dire wolves, giant lizards,
cave bears, and so on. In addition, many
giants take slaves or live in cooperation
with other giants and humanoids (ogres,
orcs, etc.) who will fight if so ordered by
the giants. Nor do the giants always have
to be in charge. Giants can be found sharing their homes with dragons or else playing the roles of minions for a human
magic-user or cleric (or a vampire or lich).

Giants can be found in all sorts of circumstances, both as leaders and followers.
Fifth, keep in mind those special touches
that make for truly inspired refereeing.
After all, there is nothing sacred about the
statistics on giants. They can be tinkered
with. How about giant undead, such as
giant skeletons, giant zombies, giant liches,
and giant mummies? How about frost
g i a n t   berserkers?  How about Oriental hill
giants who have mastered martial arts and
can kick PCs like footballs? How about
firbolgs always approaching in man-size?
How about using  regeneration? ethereality? phasing?  lycanthropy? poison resistance due to large size? giant shades? The
possibilities are endless.

The more, the merrier

The first help to give humanoids is to
improve their lousy generalship. DMs
often use humanoids as cannon fodder. If
these humanoids are really trying to survive in a tough world, why do they fight
so stupidly? Humanoids have many missile
weapons and a level of civilization that
would seem to make them formidable
guerrilla fighters. Why not use them in
small raiding parties with missile weapons,
acid grenades, and stealth? When the PCs
invade the humanoids? home turf, the PCs
should encounter stiff resistance. A
humanoid lair, underground or aboveground, should be as well thought out and
heavily defended with traps, guards, pets,
patrols, ambushes, and fortifications as a
human town or castle. The humanoids
should fight tenaciously and intelligently
in their home?s defense. If the situation
becomes untenable, they should evacuate
with many vows of revenge. They should
not just keep coming and coming to be
ground into hamburger by the guys with
the  swords of blending, +3 (Oster).  One
must presume that the war chiefs are
intelligent battle leaders, and play them as
full-fledged NPCs.

Second, when they do go off to war  en
masse,  use the BATTLESYSTEM supplement rules for combat with large, organized companies of humanoids, which
gives them a greater advantage. A couple

of high-level fighter-types can stand and
chop humanoids all day long under the
normal melee rules, and they?ll hardly get
their armor scratched. But under the
BATTLESYSTEM supplement rules for
Character vs. Figure Combat, no PC can
wipe out a whole unit of humanoids that
fast, and in addition, the humanoids get a
realistic chance to overwhelm a character
that the humanoids probably can?t even
hit individually! If your players complain,
point out to them that the humanoids are
not just skirmishers; they are fairly disciplined, trained warriors engaged in a
battle maneuver. Thus, BATTLESYSTEM
supplement rules correct a deficiency that
many of us saw long ago, making mass
combat faster, more realistic, and better
for the underdog humanoids.

Third, humanoids also have shamans
and witch doctors. These spell-casters can
gather magical items, undead, and other
spell-casters to wreak havoc on a PC party.
Even if a hobgoblin shaman doesn?t have
many effective spells, the extra hit points
from being a shaman help him better
stand up to opponents.

Fourth, like giants, humanoids can also
be augmented by their subordinate relationship to an overlord, whether a magicuser or an outer-planes creature such as a
barghest. Other monsters, such as beholders, liches, and dragons, are sometimes
found as overlords to humanoid tribes

Fifth, humanoids are no more sacred in
their statistics than giants. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with a hobgoblin
with 7 HD ? although you ought to figure
out some reason why he rose so high.
There is nothing wrong with a tribe of
Oriental humanoids versed in martial arts
or using  ki  powers. Half-orcs that resemble their orcish parents could be found in
positions of leadership in an orc tribe.
Humanoid cavalry mounted on giant lizards, harpies, and even dinosaurs (as well
as the conventional worgs) is in order.
And finally, don't forget that finest of
humanoid pleasures: poison. Large doses
of poison in a campaign are generally
considered unfair, since too many ?zap ?
you?re dead!? situations are a poor means
of evening the odds with the high-level
players. On the other hand, blade venom
should be the forte of humanoids. Making
poisoned arrows and blades more common is one means of increasing PC respect
for the poor humanoids.

C o n c l u s i o n
Giants and humanoids can remain challenging opponents throughout a PC's life.
The problem is not with the monsters
themselves, but with Dungeon Masters
being unable to use them in more sophisticated manners. As long as we rely on
more aspects of these monsters than their
hit dice and numbers, we can keep using
them over and over again ? and never
run out of excitement.