They might be Giants

[Quertus]

So, crazy thought - what if all the PCs were giants? Some large-sized race with generally decent (but clearly pro-martial) stats, like, say, adolescent Stone Giants? Yes, you'd have to ignore the Savage Species rules, and let them take character levels before they finish their monster levels.

So, a party that starts at first level, with a healthy background of monster HD and stats, taking on way under-CR threats. There'd be no fear of being one-shot by a random crit. I'd expect any martial/caster disparities to be minimal - everyone's working from a strong base, and even frail casters would be hearty. They'd level much more slowly, just like in the good old days.

This sounds to me like wins all around. And maybe even the effects of build skill would be minimized.

What do others think? Are there unforseen downsides I'm not seeing, or should I propose this game?

[Telonius]

So, crazy thought - what if all the PCs were giants? Some large-sized race with generally decent (but clearly pro-martial) stats, like, say, adolescent Stone Giants? Yes, you'd have to ignore the Savage Species rules, and let them take character levels before they finish their monster levels.

So, a party that starts at first level, with a healthy background of monster HD and stats, taking on way under-CR threats. There'd be no fear of being one-shot by a random crit. I'd expect any martial/caster disparities to be minimal - everyone's working from a strong base, and even frail casters would be hearty. They'd level much more slowly, just like in the good old days.

This sounds to me like wins all around. And maybe even the effects of build skill would be minimized.

What do others think? Are there unforseen downsides I'm not seeing, or should I propose this game?


Level Adjustment is mostly there to equalize a power differential between unequal races. If there's no power differential (i.e. they're all starting as members of the same race), there's no need to use it. You might have to slide the XP scale - if you're using Stone Giants, a CR 8 encounter would give a bunch of Stone Giants the same XP that a CR 1 encounter would ordinarily give to a team of 1st-level adventurers - but otherwise you could just have them advance by level as normal. (Though do note that treasure might be an issue - they should start with GP equal to the group of 8th-level adventurers. If they only have the resources that a group of 1st-levels have, the CRs are going to be much more dangerous).

[lylsyly]

If they are all the same type of giant, just start them out as 1st level characters and don't worry about the monster levels. Be warned, you will have to adjust encounters accordingly and that can often be a bit of work.

[zlefin]

sounds fine.
I do wonder if pathfinders' rules for playable monstrous characters would work better than 3.5's.

[liquidformat]

Ya I have played some games like this, one of the standout ones that jumps to mind the entire party was ogres. I ended up being the only nonbeaststick in the party as a cleric. The weird issue we hit was having a ECL 5 party that had little ability to heal, also I was the only one that didn't hard dump int...

[CharonsHelper]

Ya I have played some games like this, one of the standout ones that jumps to mind the entire party was ogres. I ended up being the only nonbeaststick in the party as a cleric. The weird issue we hit was having a ECL 5 party that had little ability to heal, also I was the only one that didn't hard dump int...

Yeah - that would be true of spell-casting in general, though some gish builds could work. Maybe convince someone to go bard so that they could at least heal with CL wands.

[liquidformat]

Yeah - that would be true of spell-casting in general, though some gish builds could work. Maybe convince someone to go bard so that they could at least heal with CL wands.

Unless they were going divine bard, bard wouldn't be a very easy choice for an ogre, yet it would be comically awesome. I believe you would be morally obligated as a player to not use standard bardic music, have to get that flavor right after all...

[CharonsHelper]

Unless they were going divine bard, bard wouldn't be a very easy choice for an ogre, yet it would be comically awesome. I believe you would be morally obligated as a player to not use standard bardic music, have to get that flavor right after all...

Rock music of course!

But do stone giants get a CHA penalty?

[liquidformat]

Rock music of course!

But do stone giants get a CHA penalty?

I was still referring to the ogre... Stone Giants do not have any penalties which is reasonable for a race with 14rhd, seems that if you are goingto be a stone giant you should always be an elder stone giant. Either way looking at the LA assessment thread might be a good idea for a giants game.

[CharonsHelper]

I was still referring to the ogre... Stone Giants do not have any penalties which is reasonable for a race with 14rhd, seems that if you are goingto be a stone giant you should always be an elder stone giant. Either way looking at the LA assessment thread might be a good idea for a giants game.

Fair 'nuff. I was basing off the OP.

But you'd only need to start with a 16 pre-racial to make a buffing ogre bard. Not ridiculous. By the time 3rd level spells are a thing you should be able to grab a +2 CHA item without trouble.

The DCs will kinda suck - but just stick to buffing and they'd be fine.