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View Full Version : How does half-giants normally look like?



S@tanicoaldo
2015-04-02, 10:53 AM
I have found a lot of information on stats but not on how they look like.

Some say they are huge, crude, deformed, ugly and stupid. Other say they are muscular, handsome, beefy and practically demigods.

What do you guys think about it? What is the appearance that comes in mind when you think about half-giants?

Slipperychicken
2015-04-02, 11:07 AM
I like the ugly and stupid interpretation, since it serves to balance out with their immense size. I also think they should be beefy and strong, but look more like country bumpkins than professional bodybuilders (let's face it, that look isn't natural). That is to say they'd be strong due to their size, but generally possess an "average" physique with enough fat to cover up their muscles.

Tl:dr I think they should look like andre the giant.

Mando Knight
2015-04-02, 11:09 AM
It depends greatly on the kind of giants that they're half of... using D&D 3.5 as an example, a Hill Giant is dull-witted and brutish, and so a Half-Hill-Giant would be similar, while the other Giants are of nobler, more intelligent stock, appearing like massive, elementally-infused Humans and are about as clever, and so a Half-Giant with a parent such as that would similarly look like a very large Human. The Half-Giant from the Expanded Psionics Handbook appears to be descended from one of the latter, possibly a Fire Giant due to the Fire Acclimated trait.

Flickerdart
2015-04-02, 11:09 AM
It depends on the setting - specifically, what giants look like in the setting, although it's possible that a half-giant would inherit some of the giant's size but keep the human's proportions.

BWR
2015-04-02, 11:15 AM
Something like this (http://community.fortunecity.ws/rivendell/daggerfall/880/Brom_016.jpg)

Maglubiyet
2015-04-02, 12:06 PM
Probably the same diversity as seen in any other race. Some trim and well-proportioned. Some brutish and overweight.

A half-giant with royal parentage who grew up taking etiquette lessons and had personal groomers is going to look a little different than a guy who grew up in a cave eating stolen sheep raw.

ComaVision
2015-04-02, 12:21 PM
I'll probably be playing one in an upcoming campaign and I intend for him to look like a larger human, something akin to the professional Strongmen from Iceland.

DigoDragon
2015-04-02, 12:24 PM
Tl:dr I think they should look like andre the giant.

That was where I was going to go with my answer. So... I'll second yours.

LibraryOgre
2015-04-02, 01:45 PM
Depends on the setting, and what is meant by "half-giant". In Dark Sun, for example, they're an independent, magically created race that look like small human-headed giants (as opposed to the beast-headed giants that are also common). They're stupid and a bit primitive looking (not necessarily ugly, but not refined, either).

In 3.x, they are simply largish humans, made a bit less agile by their great size.

GoblinGilmartin
2015-04-03, 04:33 AM
Well, I suppose it would depend on your game, obvi.

D&D 3.5 seems to describe them as bottom heavy, very Fezzik, Rubeus Hagrid-looking guys.

http://i.imgur.com/Om1qbR0.png
From the Expanded Psionics Handbook

But as we saw in the Goblet of Fire movie, they could also be really skinny and tall.

I figure a good rule of thumb would be "take the average weight between a human and a giant, and then proportion them anywhere in between the height ranges of the two species. Random crossbreeds could be unstable, having wild variation between individual specimens.

Or...you could have a couple of varieties. The Half-Goblins in my setting tend to have shorter, ectomorphic males and taller mesomorphic females, depending on which gender the goblin parent was.

Karl Aegis
2015-04-03, 04:56 AM
The default half-giant was a wolf, a serpent, or a half-blue half-flesh human.

Lord Torath
2015-04-03, 08:41 AM
Depends on the setting, and what is meant by "half-giant". In Dark Sun, for example, they're an independent, magically created race that look like small human-headed giants (as opposed to the beast-headed giants that are also common). They're stupid and a bit primitive looking (not necessarily ugly, but not refined, either).I always just assumed they were humans done twice as big. Their 2E height and weight ranges top out at 12 feet and 1600 lbs, which is twice as tall and eight times as heavy as a 6-foot, 200-pound human. So I just take a standard human and double all their proportions.

Jay R
2015-04-03, 09:32 AM
In my game, they look like the axe and round shield wielders here (http://www.amazon.com/Toy-Major-Trading-Mythical-Warrior/dp/B00FB5VHP6/ref=sr_1_1?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1428071414&sr=1-1&keywords=True+Legends+mythical+warriors), for the very simple reason that these were cheap, and about an inch and a half high.

goto124
2015-04-03, 10:02 AM
Humans can be ugly or pretty or both or in-between. Why not half-giants?

Half-giants are half the height of normal giants :P

I've applied the Andre the Giant idea to full humans...

Maglubiyet
2015-04-03, 06:43 PM
More importantly, how do half-giants come about in the first place!? I mean, think about it. Only two ways a thing like that could happen...

On second thought, *don't* think about it...ever.

goto124
2015-04-04, 12:50 AM
An Enlarge spell (or Engorgement, or whatevwr it's called).

Cybris75
2015-04-04, 01:05 AM
Aren't Half-giants and Goliaths the same thing in 4E? At least the Dark Sun variant? In that case, Half-giants would look like Goliaths

GungHo
2015-04-06, 08:42 AM
Very tall (superhuman tall) and broad humans with acromegalic features. Essentially Andre the Giant, but more Giant and more pronounced acromegaly, without some of the nasty side effects. I've also done Richard Kiel as a half-stone giant but with stony teeth rather than metal. I can see a lot of elemental giant combinations being interesting, but I haven't really explored it. Like with half-dragons, mythic minotaur, etc., I don't address the more adult "considerations". "It happened on a dark and stormy night" and "no touchy-touchy" are common phrases when it comes to this more exotic stuff.

Jay R
2015-04-06, 11:24 AM
Either they will look like the miniature being used, or everybody at the table will have a different idea of what they look like.

DigoDragon
2015-04-07, 07:35 AM
More importantly, how do half-giants come about in the first place!? I mean, think about it. Only two ways a thing like that could happen...
On second thought, *don't* think about it...ever.

I've often wondered the same thing about 'Half-Zentradi' in Macross.

Gracht Grabmaw
2015-04-07, 08:01 AM
Personally I like my hybrids to be weird freaks. Half-giants should not just be freakishly tall but have some distorted facial features, weird colored skin, moss for hair, stones for teeth or all of the above.

Cybris75
2015-04-07, 11:28 AM
I've often wondered the same thing about 'Half-Zentradi' in Macross.

OT: Zentradi can be micronized, e.g. Milia was made a Micron so she could marry Max and fly a Valkyrie.

Rfkannen
2015-04-09, 09:13 AM
I think I read somewhere that beowulf was considered to have the blood of giants, he looked pretty normal but was realy trong, also I am pretty sure he was rather tall.

The white witch from narnia was half giant and half djin. She looked kinda tall.

hagrid is realy realy tall.

So sometimes half giants are just kinda tall.

But yeah, looks however you want. They don't even have to be tall.

ComaVision
2015-04-09, 10:11 AM
I think I read somewhere that beowulf was considered to have the blood of giants, he looked pretty normal but was realy trong, also I am pretty sure he was rather tall.

The white witch from narnia was half giant and half djin. She looked kinda tall.

hagrid is realy realy tall.

So sometimes half giants are just kinda tall.

But yeah, looks however you want. They don't even have to be tall.

I think Beowulf was more Jotunbrud than Half-Giant.

Rfkannen
2015-04-09, 11:13 AM
I think Beowulf was more Jotunbrud than Half-Giant.

yeah probably, but still an example of someone with giant blood.

M Placeholder
2015-04-11, 11:00 AM
Aren't Half-giants and Goliaths the same thing in 4E? At least the Dark Sun variant? In that case, Half-giants would look like Goliaths

Goliaths were a replacement for Half Giants in 4th Ed Dark Sun, which I hated. The two races have totally different fluff, and Half Giants were one of the Iconic races of Athas.

For the original Dark Sun, Half Giants were bred as warriors by one of the Sorcerer Kings, using magical methods. It is implied that the Pristine Tower was the source for many of the unique races that roam Athas, and maybe the Pristine Tower had a hand in the creation of the Half Giants.

Remember that the Giants on Athas are unique to that world, and they are bigger, meaner and nastier than giants on pretty much all other worlds. So it stands to reason that an Athasian Half Giant (1200 pounds and 12 foot tall) should be much bigger than one from other worlds (7 foot and over 400 pounds, XPH)

Ravian
2015-04-11, 01:21 PM
Goliaths were a replacement for Half Giants in 4th Ed Dark Sun, which I hated. The two races have totally different fluff, and Half Giants were one of the Iconic races of Athas.

For the original Dark Sun, Half Giants were bred as warriors by one of the Sorcerer Kings, using magical methods. It is implied that the Pristine Tower was the source for many of the unique races that roam Athas, and maybe the Pristine Tower had a hand in the creation of the Half Giants.

Remember that the Giants on Athas are unique to that world, and they are bigger, meaner and nastier than giants on pretty much all other worlds. So it stands to reason that an Athasian Half Giant (1200 pounds and 12 foot tall) should be much bigger than one from other worlds (7 foot and over 400 pounds, XPH)

Yeah but Goliaths don't really exist in Dark Sun, so there's nothing stopping you from taking the stats from Goliaths and giving them to Half-Giants for ease of use. If I recall that's basically what they did in 4e anyway, only mentioning the name Goliath very occasionally, keeping the similar appearance (which may or may not be your cup of tea but is easily fixed) and giving them all the fluff of Half Giants. They're still magically created warriors, and they still integrate with other races instead of forming their own communities. In all regards they're simply Half-Giants with a rockier appearance and another rarely used name

It was a choice made out of convenience. What would a Half-Giant look like in 4e stat-wise that makes them significantly different from a Goliath? They're both big strong and tough (sure the older edition half-giants were bigger and stronger but 4e was trying to remove level adjustment and other inconveniences like large sizes, so all the races got a little more homogeneous. Yes the fluff is different but so is the fluff for regular halflings and dark sun halflings. Fluff is very easily changed to match mechanics.

As for Athasian half-giant heights. Remember that elves are nearly 7 feet tall in Athas. My headcanon is that Medium size is simply much larger in Dark Sun games and you can generally considered most races to be at least a few feet taller (just like most random NPC's in Dark Sun can be counted on to have a few levels in a PC class.

Ettina
2015-04-11, 07:14 PM
Check out the book Giantcraft. There are a pile of different kinds of giants described there, and what a half-giant would look like would depend entirely on what they are. There's even a kind of giants called Woadkyn who look exactly like gigantic elves, so a half-Woadkyn would probably look like an extremely tall half-elf.