Giant-manned ships?

[Jergmo]

Is it plausible that a ship large and sturdy enough to man giants could be built?

I have this idea for frost giant (15 ft. tall, 2,800 pounds on average) raiders who rule a large island off of the mainland, but I'm not certain if their ships could be built. It doesn't need to be able to house a large number of them; ideally, at least 4-5 of them, but I'm not certain how much it would take.

[jmbrown]

I picture frost giants riding in on giant viking war galleys. Just take the normal size of a ship and double its size effectively multiplying its weight by 8.

[Jergmo]

So, it'd just be like a longboat around the size of a galleon or something?

[Ravens_cry]

I picture frost giants riding in on giant viking war galleys. Just take the normal size of a ship and double its size effectively multiplying its weight by 8.

And make it out of finger nails and toe nails (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naglfar).

[Innis Cabal]

Really? Just big giant ships for Frost Giants? Why not massive Iceburgs pulled by water dragons, or Dragon Turtles. That. Would be an epic ship.

[I_Got_This_Name]

Yeah, should work.

D&D Giants aren't that big. Sure, the square-cube law means that their legs don't work, but the strength of common building materials can still hold them up. They're nowhere near the size of trees, and adult humans don't fit on their dinner plates.

[Jergmo]

Really? Just big giant ships for Frost Giants? Why not massive Iceburgs pulled by water dragons, or Dragon Turtles. That. Would be an epic ship.

Because that wouldn't really work, plus, FROST GIANT VIKINGS!! :smallfurious: :smallcool:

[jmbrown]

So, it'd just be like a longboat around the size of a galleon or something?

Yes.

They can also carry their ships to the water. Read Vinland Saga.

http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/194/lolwhatomg.jpg

[HamsterOfTheGod]

Is it plausible that a ship large and sturdy enough to man giants could be built?
Plausible?

If frost giant vikings exist, so can they're giant ships.

Assuming you have the stats for ships in your game. Treat the giant rowed ships as large galleon/trimere syze ships and give them comporable speed.

The good thing for their enemies is that the giants are not likely to board. The bad thing is that...well...FROST GIANT VIKINGS SMASH!! :smallfurious:

[jmbrown]

Giants really aren't that big. They're not going to capsize the enemy ship simply by jumping on it.

[HamsterOfTheGod]

Giants really aren't that big. They're not going to capsize the enemy ship simply by jumping on it.

Er. Depends on the ship don't it? A 15 foot giant jumping onto a 50' foot long nao or cog is about the same as a man jumping onto a long a canoe. Doable. But not recommended.

Besides, why would the giants close if they have reach?

[erikun]

Besides, why would the giants close if they have reach?
Because they're a 15' guy jumping into a 50' boat, and it's fun to watch your opponents flounder in the water? :smallbiggrin:

[HamsterOfTheGod]

Because they're a 15' guy jumping into a 50' boat, and it's fun to watch your opponents flounder in the water? :smallbiggrin:

But then don't you flounder too?

Hmmm...One of the giant's would probably do it.

Jarl: Which wan yus is jumping on de boat den?

Giant Viking 1: Yah is fun. I do.

Giant Viking 2: Ja. Min svävare är full med ål.

Giant Viking 3: "Aweenda shmure shmorgy bordy bork, bork, bork!"

[KillianHawkeye]

This is an awesome idea! :smallbiggrin:

[awa]

technically Using real world logic frost giants could build ship big enough to hold them. but viking long ships the real ones used for raiding were pretty small and the nature of their construction put an absolute limit on their size if they wanted to be sea worthy. Almost any ship entirely crewed by giants would be slow and not particularly seaworthy becuase every thing would have to be over sized. now one way you could do this is just have a bunch of little boats instead of a dozen giant on one boat just make it fleet of over sized small boats. The real deciding factor is how good a ship builder are these giants european ships from the age of exploration were sturdy and sea worthy you would just need slaves/ allies to help with the rigging and such.

[woodenbandman]

Wouldn't it be "Giant-Gianted" ?

[Siosilvar]

Giant Viking 2: Ja. Min svävare är full med ål.

Your hovercraft is full of eels?

[HamsterOfTheGod]

Your hovercraft is full of eels?

My nipples explode with delight! (http://orangecow.org/pythonet/sketches/hungry.htm)

[Thurbane]

Stepehen Donaldson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Foul%27s_Bane) seems to think that giants make good sailors...

[Weezer]

^That is what came to mind when I first saw the title

[HamsterOfTheGod]

Stepehen Donaldson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Foul%27s_Bane) seems to think that giants make good sailors...

No, NO! Not The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. It burns our eyes, slowly. The tedious text eats away at our resistance. Until like a lame, blind leper, we stumble for the end, an end, any end...

[Pronounceable]

technically Using real world logic frost giants could build ship big enough to hold them. but viking long ships the real ones used for raiding were pretty small and the nature of their construction put an absolute limit on their size if they wanted to be sea worthy.

And technically, nature put an absolute limit on humanoid size. If giants can exist, so can their ships. Or chariots, come to think of it.

[bosssmiley]

And technically, nature put an absolute limit on humanoid size. If giants can exist, so can their ships. Or chariots, come to think of it.

Particularly Hill Giant Mammoth chariots. :smallcool:

[paddyfool]

A few awesome concepts for giants and their ships:

Ice giants: The giant viking longship idea sounds cool. It'd have to be built from pretty hefty trees, but it's a straightforward design. For combat between ships, the idea of ice giants using grappling hooks, followed by boarding etc., sounds shiny. Any ship manoeverable enough to evade them, they'd probably just throw rocks at.

Fire giants: Something more like a roman trireme, but forged from steel. Very rare, very dangerous, and in ship-to-ship combat could be intended to start by hurling incendiary projectiles and follow up with a ram-and-smash. Fire giants don't actually take damage from water any more than anyone else... but sailors would be few, far between, and would probably carry potions of water walking.

Hill giants, ogres etc. probably wouldn't bother with ships, although you might get the odd one on a large enough ship of an allied race, fulfilling a role as an elite boarding party/catapult. Stone giants seem even less likely to go to sea, but might adopt a similar role, or have some kind of barges etc. if they had to make short journeys by water regularly, assuming said water was too deep to simply wade across.

Storm giants, with their swimming and SLAs, have the least need of boats, but are also the best adapted to going to sea. Also, being huge makes a difference to what kind of ship they might need. With their quiet, reflective lives schtick, I could see one or two using a kind of scaled-up dinghy to travel in, but not really any kind of warlike vessel. If any other ship was foolish enough to attack them, they could either swim away (if it seemed too dangerous), or swim over and snap the other boat's rudder after distracting said boat with control weather, call lightning, chain lightning etc.

Cloud giants... maybe scaled up yacht-like ships? Probably very rare, and belonging to quite unique cloud giants or communities thereof.

Also, in addition to any ships crewed entirely by giants, you could have smaller ships crewed by slaves with a single giant to watch them (thinking particularly of ice and fire giants here).

[Lord Loss]

As for fiend folio's Shadow Giants (If that doesnt Exist, it's cuz i have the book in french. So Géant D'ombre = Shadow Giant) I mean the CR 18 ones would have warships with a permanent foglike effect following them... Gulps.

Frost Giants On Iceburgs, about to attack enemy ship

Jarl: We will give no mercy we will show no-

Giant 1: My feet are frozen stiff. I'm not able to move them. How do I attack?

Jarl Have Loko and Paki throw you then.

Loko: My arms are frozen stiff, I can't throw him, or use my sword.

Jarl: Well, Paki can drag him. He had an amulet of cold resistance, no?

Loko: Paki slipped and fell off near shore. Joki tried to tell you, but his mouth froze shut...

Jarl: Screw this, we're going home...

[Dhavaer]

As for fiend folio's Shadow Giants (If that doesnt Exist, it's cuz i have the book in french. So Géant D'ombre = Shadow Giant) I mean the CR 18 ones would have warships with a permanent foglike effect following them... Gulps.

Frost Giants On Iceburgs, about to attack enemy ship

Jarl: We will give no mercy we will show no-

Giant 1: My feet are frozen stiff. I'm not able to move them. How do I attack?

Jarl Have Loko and Paki throw you then.

Loko: My arms are frozen stiff, I can't throw him, or use my sword.

Jarl: Well, Paki can drag him. He had an amulet of cold resistance, no?

Loko: Paki slipped and fell off near shore. Joki tried to tell you, but his mouth froze shut...

Jarl: Screw this, we're going home...

Wut? They're frost giants, how can they freeze?

[Thurbane]

No, NO! Not The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. It burns our eyes, slowly. The tedious text eats away at our resistance. Until like a lame, blind leper, we stumble for the end, an end, any end...
Each to their own. My favourite novel series ever. *shrug*