Giant, Mountain

Mountain giants are huge humanoids that live in remote mountain caverns.

Standing 14 feet tall and weighing 2,000 pounds, mountain giants are impressive foes. They greatly resemble hill giants. Their skin color is a light tan to reddish brown with straight black hair. The males have heavy beards but no mustaches, and they have large pot bellies. They are typically clothed in rough hides or skins and carry huge clubs as weapons. The stale reek of a mountain giant can be detected several hundred feet downwind.

Combat: Mountain giants always attack in a straight-forward manner, not by ambush or deceit. They love to get into a high, unassailable spot with lots of boulders. When in such a position, mountain giants rarely take cover, but stand in the open to fling their missiles. They can hurl boulders down on their opponents for 2d10 points of damage each. They can catch similar missiles 30% of the time.

In melee they use huge clubs that cause 4d10+10 points of damage, including their Strength bonus. These clubs are usually just large tree limbs or logs. They usually keep several such weapons around. Mountain giants are as strong as fire giants (22).

A mountain giant can summon and control other monsters. This summoning takes a full turn to perform and 1d6 hours pass before the creatures appear. A summoning results in either 1d10+5 ogres (70%), 1d6+3 trolls (20%), or 1d4 hill giants (10%), although the giant has no idea in advance of what he will get. The control is very loose, not absolute domination. The mountain giant can give a broadly defined command and the monsters obey as they see fit. The summoned monsters stay with and fight for the mountain giant, but they value their own lives over that of the giant. The summoned creatures stay with the giant until killed, sent away, or another summoning is made.

Habitat/Society: The home of a family of mountain giants is often in a large rock cavern in a mountain. Frequently there are unexplored passages leading out of the giants' home. They rarely have any interest in anything beyond their cavern. There is a 75% chance of summoned creatures acting as guards and underlings in the cavern.

The females and young are rarely seen, since they stick close to the cavern. Mountain giants are polygamous, usually one female living with several males. Three quarters of the young are male, which accounts for their low population. If two or more mountain giants are in a lair, there is a 50% chance of a female and a 25% chance of a child. Roll 1d4 to determine the age of the child. If it is a 4, it is a helpless infant or small child. A roll of 1-3 indicates older children or teens that have the Hit Dice, damage, and attack rolls of hill giants.

There is a 20% chance that one of the giants in a family is a shaman. Roll 1d6 to determine the level of spell use, 1-4 meaning 1st level, 5-6 indicating 2nd level. This shaman can cast from the spheres of All, Animal, Charm, Combat, Elemental, and Healing. He has an innate ability to find caves and cavern entrances within half a mile, unless these are magically hidden.

While only one family is found in a given lair, several families make up a loose tribe scattered over a mountain or range. Each tribe has a 3rd-level shaman as its leader. He presides over the extremely rare gatherings of the tribe and counsels those willing to travel to talk to him. The shaman always lives with a group of summoned monsters, but never with other mountain giants.

Ecology: Mountain giants are foragers and hunters. Their favorite food is mountain sheep. They also eat nuts, tubers, and other edible mountain plants. Nothing hunts mountain giants, but sometimes they pick the wrong cave in which to set up housekeeping. Since they tend not to fully explore all the back tunnels, nasty things from underground have been known to attack and devour sleeping giants.

Since these giants are neither good nor evil, it is possible to set up peaceful relations with them. However, they are suspicious of and reluctant to deal with outsiders.