How big of a rock can a Hill Giant throw?

[SangoProduction]

And by big, I mean heavy. A rock is defined under the rock throwing (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/rules-for-monsters/universal-monster-rules#TOC-Rock-Throwing-Ex-) special ability.
A “rock” is any large, bulky, and relatively regularly shaped object made of any material with a hardness of at least 5.
The rock also must be 2 sizes smaller than the thrower.

So, a small sized rock is 368 lbs...or...a rock the size of a small creature. Semantics. That means that canonically, the Hill Giant (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/humanoids/giants/giant-true/giant-hill/), as a baseline can hurl their light load. OK, that actually checks out.

But, "any material of hardness of at least 5?" So, steel counts. A steel 'rock' of the size of a small creature (taking average volume of a human and dividing by 8) is 21,0748.14375 lbs, give or take......well over any semblance of its carrying capacity. SOooo...He can hurl rocks of nearly a hundred thousand pounds 600 ft, but can't pull them along the ground. That's interesting. It also doesn't deal any additional damage, interestingly enough.

Is there a denser material with both an in game hardness, and real-life equivalent?

[MeimuHakurei]

Gold has a hardness of 5 and a density of 19,30 grams per milliliter. The maximum size of a small object would be a 4 foot cube, so 64 cubic feet or 1812,28 liters. This calculates to a weight of 77179,08 pounds or roughly 35 metric tons. To lift that overhead without staggering, a Hill Giant would need to have at least 59 strength.

Given that Gold is almost three times the weight of iron, you must have a massive (heh) calculation error in your steel rock math.

If you wanna go further, try a Cloud Giant, who can throw medium-sized rocks. an 8 foot cube has 8 times the mass of a 4 foot cube and weighs ~617432,64 pounds or roughly 280 metric tons.

[stack]

A 4 ft cube is not a small object. On various tables, a shield and a chair are given as examples of small objects. An object of a given size does not fill the entirety of the volume of its space.

[SangoProduction]

Gold has a hardness of 5 and a density of 19,30 grams per milliliter. The maximum size of a small object would be a 4 foot cube, so 64 cubic feet or 1812,28 liters. This calculates to a weight of 77,179,08 pounds or roughly 35 metric tons. To lift that overhead without staggering, a Hill Giant would need to have at least 59 strength.

Given that Gold is almost three times the weight of iron, you must have a massive (heh) calculation error in your steel rock math.

If you wanna go further, try a Cloud Giant, who can throw medium-sized rocks. an 8 foot cube has 8 times the mass of a 4 foot cube and weighs ~617432,64 pounds or roughly 280 metric tons.

I took the average volume of a human: 95 liters. Small sized critters are 1/2 the height of humans, so 1/8 the volume. So, 11.875 liters. Density of Steel is 8,050 kg/m^3 on the upper end. 95,593.75...grams. woops. I forgot to convert to imperial system. 21,0748.14 lbs.

But damn man. That giant be loaded with some bling. We'll call em Goulders.

[hamishspence]

The density of steel is around 8000 kg per cubic metre - but only 8 kg per cubic litre - a litre is 10x10x10 cm: 1/1000 of a cubic metre.

The proposed 11.8 litre steel object would weigh 95.5 kilos : 210 pounds.

[SangoProduction]

The density of steel is around 8000 kg per cubic metre - but only 8 kg per cubic litre - a litre is 10x10x10 cm: 1/1000 of a cubic metre.

The proposed 11.8 litre steel object would weigh 95.5 kilos : 210 pounds.

oooo....h
OK. That makes sense. Explains why a one liter bottle does, in fact, fit inside of my refrigerator.