3.5 Giant character help - rules + items

[Malapterus]

A friend of mine has agreed to run a 3.5 epic-level game in which I can play as a Mountain Giant. There are some details to hash out and I'd like to get them figured out in advance. If anyone wants to respond to even a single part of this post, I will greatly appreciate it.

A little background; the character is a female mountain giant who has decided to try to live like the 'Good' races; clean, civilized, and a benefit to the world around her. To this end she wears proper clothing and uses proper gear. She is the second 'clean and civilized' Mountain Giant in recent history; the last one was evil & is dead now, but plays a part in all this. My giantess has become a good friend to dwarves in general; definitely an impressive feat, especially since her predecessor had enslaved an entire nation of dwarves. The character wanders around doing 'good deeds' from her own perspective; this being a very different perspective from the Medium races she is doing it for can lead to some misunderstandings, so I have decided her alignment is Chaotic Good.

Basic questions:

-Does anyone know what the LA on a Mountain Giant should be? It's absent from the book. I know this wasn't a race meant to be played, but since they advance by character class it would have been helpful. I just want a good LA for them - I don't need them typed up as a playable race, although, if someone wants to do that I would not mind.

-Where can I find the rules for sizes beyond Colossal?

-By necessity, in her early years this character would have needed to be good at crafting her own gear and obtaining her own food. What skills should I put into for making ones own clothing/weapons/tools/etc, and how high? What skill would be used for fishing, and how high should it be for someone to use it as their primary food source? (whales make a good amount of meat & provide big pieces of leather)

-What are some interesting ways for medium creatures to make massive items on the quick & cheap side? I know even a short sword for this character would be a major undertaking.

-Anyone know any mountains with very pretty names? I need a name for her.

Items:
For these items I am looking for a price, a weight, and some suggested rules if need be.

Pick - A Colossal Adamantine pick - this is the tool, not the weapon, if there's any point in the distinction at epic levels. The pick is enchanted with the ability to detect resources; the user points it at the ground, a mountain, or a cliff face. It mentally responds with what would be found if someone mined there. This applies to natural resources; it won't tell you if there are Drow in there, for example, unless perhaps they're wearing quite a lot of armor. Results returned from the pick are such as; Rock (what kind), Metal, (what kind), Gems (what kind), Air, Water, Magma. The aforementioned Drow stronghold would most likely come back as 'Air'.
I am picturing that the effect is based on 'Detect Magic', albeit with a much larger range. The user would have to point the pick at the location and concentrate for a bit to get the full results.
I don't know if this should be a limited use per day thing or not; I am thinking not, given its indented purpose.
It exists because the dwarves she befriended made it for her so she could help them. Not only can she use the pic to tell them where to mine, she can gut open the stone and earth to give them a real head start on getting to the good stuff.

Wishing Stone - This one sounds like a lot, but at epic levels, maybe not? It does not change size with its user; it is a 2-ton jade boulder. Once a week, a person can touch it, say 'I Wish' (any language), and have it cast Limited Wish. I think sticking it with the limits of 300xp and 1,000gp should be fine, though it wouldn't hurt if those were a little higher. I haven't worked out where she got this; she wears it as a necklace. It's mostly used for providing her with appropriately-sized gear.

Greatsword - A Colossal+ Masterwork Greatsword. This was the sword of the evil mountain giant, and he forced generations of dwarves to work themselves to death mining the iron for it, forging it, and finishing it. The new giant has reclaimed it and seeks to redeem it by using it for good deeds.
Note: If I wanted to 'wish' this sword into being made of a special material, would you think Limited Wish could do that, or would it require a full Wish?

Shimmerlings - this one isn't really an item, but I'd want to pay the GP for its value if I started with it. Basically, at some point the giantess chopped down a huge tree because she needed a lot of wood. She didn't realize that this tree was home to thousands upon thousands of Shimmerlings (MM3). Because she destroyed their home, they now live in her hair. They account for multiple swarms of Shimmerlings. She has no command over them and probably can't even communicate with them, but they will come out to defend her as their 'home' when she is threatened. Just a silly idea.

House-Purse - Built like a ship but not actually one, this is a 'house' that she wears on her hip. Inside it's a nice place with food and comforts, and those within are not subject to what happens outside; i.e. if it gets turned upside-down, they don't get tossed around. I know there are a few spells to accomplish this. The place should be pretty roomy; she may have a lot of hirelings.

Giant Summoner - I don't know what sort of item this should be. As a Mountain Giant, she has the Summon Giants ability that she can use once per day. It has a 25% success change. I'd like an item that knocks that up to 100%.

Earthquake - I don't even know about this one. This feels more like a character ability than a magic spell. I'd like her to be able to create the effects of Earthquake by hitting the ground, probably with a weapon but possibly with her Slam attack. If the effect requires her to be wielding a Colossal weapon, or a Colossal 2-handed weapon. Could this be a feat? Reflex DC is Strength-based? Interested in this possibility but I have no real grasp on it.


Lastly:

I am interested in being challenged as I play this character. She shouldn't have much issue in combat, but I want to deal with her size & not cop out with size-changing magic. Please give me some tips on how to play this character, and what kind of things she might have to deal with as an adventurer where her size would be a hinderance, but ways she could overcome such. Sorry for the run-on sentence. My first thought on this is her being hired to deal with a thieves' guild in a big city; how could she benefit her party in such a situation? Very exciting to me.


Thank you for reading this far & thank you in advance to anyone who comments.

[Rebel7284]

A little background; the character is a female mountain giant who has decided to try to live like the 'Good' races; clean, civilized, and a benefit to the world around her. To this end she wears proper clothing and uses proper gear. She is the second 'clean and civilized' Mountain Giant in recent history; the last one was evil & is dead now, but plays a part in all this. My giantess has become a good friend to dwarves in general; definitely an impressive feat, especially since her predecessor had enslaved an entire nation of dwarves. The character wanders around doing 'good deeds' from her own perspective; this being a very different perspective from the Medium races she is doing it for can lead to some misunderstandings, so I have decided her alignment is Chaotic Good.


I am sure you don't mean any harm, but I want to point out that words like "Good, Clean, Civilized" have been used for several centuries in real life to justify some VERY VERY bad things. *gestures to the whole history of colonization*
I am sure it can be different in a D&D world, but being aware of real life associations can be important!




Basic questions:

-Does anyone know what the LA on a Mountain Giant should be? It's absent from the book. I know this wasn't a race meant to be played, but since they advance by character class it would have been helpful. I just want a good LA for them - I don't need them typed up as a playable race, although, if someone wants to do that I would not mind.


It doesn't exist, with that said, class levels are SO much more valuable than regular monster HD that either +4 like many other giants or even +0 would be fair. After all, a level 30 wizard can easily beat an army of Mountain Giants.



-Where can I find the rules for sizes beyond Colossal?


Doesn't exist, Colossal is the maximum size. There is an obscure reference to Epic Dragons that uses Colossal+ and Colossal++, but only for calculating the damage of their specific attacks and with no rules otherwise.



-By necessity, in her early years this character would have needed to be good at crafting her own gear and obtaining her own food. What skills should I put into for making ones own clothing/weapons/tools/etc, and how high? What skill would be used for fishing, and how high should it be for someone to use it as their primary food source? (whales make a good amount of meat & provide big pieces of leather)


Survival. Not sure how many ranks are needed, but as an epic character, you probably have enough?



-What are some interesting ways for medium creatures to make massive items on the quick & cheap side? I know even a short sword for this character would be a major undertaking.


Most magic items automatically resize to their user. Weapons an armor double their base cost every time they change size if I remember correctly, but the base cost is fairly tiny in mid-epic. It's the magical properties that cost a lot and those don't change.



-Anyone know any mountains with very pretty names? I need a name for her.


Nope, but I am sure there are lists of mountain names online.

Need to step away, I will post item suggestions later if I have time!

[Biggus]

-Does anyone know what the LA on a Mountain Giant should be? It's absent from the book. I know this wasn't a race meant to be played, but since they advance by character class it would have been helpful. I just want a good LA for them - I don't need them typed up as a playable race, although, if someone wants to do that I would not mind.


There's no official answer to this as far as I know, but I can say with confidence that mountain giants should have LA+0. They're nowhere near as powerful as a typical level 30 character and they don't have any problematic special abilities. In fact, they're much weaker in general that their CR suggests: I estimate their CR is actually about 16. Which could be a problem with playing one, since unless the other PCs are all also highly non-optimal races you'll likely be far less powerful than they are.

You'll also need to discuss with your DM how big they are: the text has them at 40ft tall and 50,000lbs which is firmly in the gargantuan category, but their stat block describes them as (and gives them bonuses and penalties as) colossal.


-Where can I find the rules for sizes beyond Colossal?


There are no official size catagories beyond colossal. The Epic Level Handbook has colossal+ but only for dragons: https://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/monsters/dragonEpic.htm


-Anyone know any mountains with very pretty names? I need a name for her.


Annapurna? Koussi? Gimmigela? Baintha? Lhotse?

[RNightstalker]

-Does anyone know what the LA on a Mountain Giant should be? It's absent from the book. I know this wasn't a race meant to be played, but since they advance by character class it would have been helpful. I just want a good LA for them - I don't need them typed up as a playable race, although, if someone wants to do that I would not mind.

We would have to rework the stats because quite a few things don't really line up. Since you're doing an epic campaign, I wouldn't really worry about LA. I would ask what's the target level and how are y'all handling WBL?

-What are some interesting ways for medium creatures to make massive items on the quick & cheap side? I know even a short sword for this character would be a major undertaking.

According to the rules the weight and cost of a weapon doubles with each category increase. From medium to colossal is only 4 steps, so it shouldn't be that much of an undertaking...just a huge weaponsmith with a huge shop.

-Anyone know any mountains with very pretty names? I need a name for her.

According to brittanica there's a Katla in Iceland and Katrina in Egypt.

Items:
For these items I am looking for a price, a weight, and some suggested rules if need be.

Pick - A Colossal Adamantine pick - this is the tool, not the weapon, if there's any point in the distinction at epic levels. The pick is enchanted with the ability to detect resources; the user points it at the ground, a mountain, or a cliff face. It mentally responds with what would be found if someone mined there. This applies to natural resources; it won't tell you if there are Drow in there, for example, unless perhaps they're wearing quite a lot of armor. Results returned from the pick are such as; Rock (what kind), Metal, (what kind), Gems (what kind), Air, Water, Magma. The aforementioned Drow stronghold would most likely come back as 'Air'.
I am picturing that the effect is based on 'Detect Magic', albeit with a much larger range. The user would have to point the pick at the location and concentrate for a bit to get the full results.
I don't know if this should be a limited use per day thing or not; I am thinking not, given its indented purpose.
It exists because the dwarves she befriended made it for her so she could help them. Not only can she use the pic to tell them where to mine, she can gut open the stone and earth to give them a real head start on getting to the good stuff.

Start with Mattock of the Titans and start adding the corresponding detection spells.

Wishing Stone - This one sounds like a lot, but at epic levels, maybe not? It does not change size with its user; it is a 2-ton jade boulder. Once a week, a person can touch it, say 'I Wish' (any language), and have it cast Limited Wish. I think sticking it with the limits of 300xp and 1,000gp should be fine, though it wouldn't hurt if those were a little higher. I haven't worked out where she got this; she wears it as a necklace. It's mostly used for providing her with appropriately-sized gear.

Definitely major artifact territory.

Greatsword - A Colossal+ Masterwork Greatsword. This was the sword of the evil mountain giant, and he forced generations of dwarves to work themselves to death mining the iron for it, forging it, and finishing it. The new giant has reclaimed it and seeks to redeem it by using it for good deeds.
Note: If I wanted to 'wish' this sword into being made of a special material, would you think Limited Wish could do that, or would it require a full Wish?

You're in an epic campaign, getting enough of the right materials shouldn't be an issue.

Shimmerlings - this one isn't really an item, but I'd want to pay the GP for its value if I started with it. Basically, at some point the giantess chopped down a huge tree because she needed a lot of wood. She didn't realize that this tree was home to thousands upon thousands of Shimmerlings (MM3). Because she destroyed their home, they now live in her hair. They account for multiple swarms of Shimmerlings. She has no command over them and probably can't even communicate with them, but they will come out to defend her as their 'home' when she is threatened. Just a silly idea.

Silly ideas can be great ideas. I'm sure the DM can work that out no issue. I just don't see how effective a CR8 creature will be at epic levels, so I wouldn't count on them to contribute much during an epic combat. They also might not want to live in a "house" that sees combat often.

House-Purse - Built like a ship but not actually one, this is a 'house' that she wears on her hip. Inside it's a nice place with food and comforts, and those within are not subject to what happens outside; i.e. if it gets turned upside-down, they don't get tossed around. I know there are a few spells to accomplish this. The place should be pretty roomy; she may have a lot of hirelings.

Try an enlarged/improved/epic Daern's Instant Fortress.

Giant Summoner - I don't know what sort of item this should be. As a Mountain Giant, she has the Summon Giants ability that she can use once per day. It has a 25% success change. I'd like an item that knocks that up to 100%.

Custom staff to with the appropriate summoning spell.

Earthquake - I don't even know about this one. This feels more like a character ability than a magic spell. I'd like her to be able to create the effects of Earthquake by hitting the ground, probably with a weapon but possibly with her Slam attack. If the effect requires her to be wielding a Colossal weapon, or a Colossal 2-handed weapon. Could this be a feat? Reflex DC is Strength-based? Interested in this possibility but I have no real grasp on it.

Use Earthstrike Quake from ToB as a reference point.

Lastly:

I am interested in being challenged as I play this character. She shouldn't have much issue in combat, but I want to deal with her size & not cop out with size-changing magic. Please give me some tips on how to play this character, and what kind of things she might have to deal with as an adventurer where her size would be a hinderance, but ways she could overcome such. Sorry for the run-on sentence. My first thought on this is her being hired to deal with a thieves' guild in a big city; how could she benefit her party in such a situation? Very exciting to me.

Thank you for reading this far & thank you in advance to anyone who comments.

Watch Gulliver's Travels. But also remember that most dungeon's aren't designed for creatures that are 40' tall and weigh 25 tons. I mean heck, each step you take could be considered an earth tremor. You come running to the rescue and you'll destroy the city due to most buildings not being able to withstand the shock.

[Bullet06320]

for names
Denali is my vote

but here's a list you can work with
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mountain_peaks_by_prominence
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_mountains

[kinem]

You may want to see my homebrew revision (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?649410-Mountain-Giant-revised-PEACH) of the Mountain Giant. It may be better suited as a PC and also actually follows the rules unlike the "colossal" RAW version.

[Maat Mons]

The 3.5 update booklet lists mountain giants as LA -.

If memory serves, in 3.0, weapon weight increased by 1.5x for each size category, and 3.5 never published rules for the weight of any weapons bigger than large, but did state that large weapons are 2x as heavy as medium ones. If we use the 3.0 method of a constant multiplier for each size category, but use the 2x multiplier 3.5 mentions for large weapons, the result we get is that colossal weapons weight 16x as much as medium ones. That would mean that a colossal greatsword would only have 128 pounds of steel in it, not enough to require generations of dwarves to mine.

Slightly-random aside, I calculate that a minimum caster level Wall of Iron creates a little over 20,000 lbs. of iron. That quantity of iron has a market price of 2,000 gp, not a bad return for the 50 gp material cost of the spell. I mean, it’s no Wall of Salt, but still pretty good.

The best-named mountains I know of are the Grand Tetons, which is French for “big boobs.”

[Paragon]

The best-named mountains I know of are the Grand Tetons, which is French for “big boobs.”

To be exact it'd translate to the "Big Nipples" ;-)

Also, the highest one in Europe is in France and is called the Mont Blanc (4800+ meters high)

[Metastachydium]

-Does anyone know what the LA on a Mountain Giant should be? It's absent from the book. I know this wasn't a race meant to be played, but since they advance by character class it would have been helpful. I just want a good LA for them - I don't need them typed up as a playable race, although, if someone wants to do that I would not mind.

It's quite strictly what the RLA thread would call a -0. Not really suitable for use as a PC, and best not burdened with an LA if one goes for it anyhow.


-Anyone know any mountains with very pretty names? I need a name for her.

If you ask me, it's hard to go wrong with Ossa when one's dealing with big giants throwing rocks.


Pick - A Colossal Adamantine pick - this is the tool, not the weapon, if there's any point in the distinction at epic levels. The pick is enchanted with the ability to detect resources; the user points it at the ground, a mountain, or a cliff face.

I don't know about the Divination ability, but this (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/wondrousItems.htm#mattockoftheTitans) might be useful as a basis.


Shimmerlings - this one isn't really an item, but I'd want to pay the GP for its value if I started with it. Basically, at some point the giantess chopped down a huge tree because she needed a lot of wood. She didn't realize that this tree was home to thousands upon thousands of Shimmerlings (MM3). Because she destroyed their home, they now live in her hair. They account for multiple swarms of Shimmerlings. She has no command over them and probably can't even communicate with them, but they will come out to defend her as their 'home' when she is threatened. Just a silly idea.

No advice here (sorry 'bout that), but this is cute.


Earthquake - I don't even know about this one. This feels more like a character ability than a magic spell. I'd like her to be able to create the effects of Earthquake by hitting the ground, probably with a weapon but possibly with her Slam attack. If the effect requires her to be wielding a Colossal weapon, or a Colossal 2-handed weapon. Could this be a feat? Reflex DC is Strength-based? Interested in this possibility but I have no real grasp on it.

Earthstrike Quake is a Stone Dragon maneuver that does something like that.

[YellowJohn]

Shimmerlings - this one isn't really an item, but I'd want to pay the GP for its value if I started with it. Basically, at some point the giantess chopped down a huge tree because she needed a lot of wood. She didn't realize that this tree was home to thousands upon thousands of Shimmerlings (MM3). Because she destroyed their home, they now live in her hair. They account for multiple swarms of Shimmerlings. She has no command over them and probably can't even communicate with them, but they will come out to defend her as their 'home' when she is threatened. Just a silly idea.

Hivenest creature, Dungeonscape 115.
Yes I know that, technically, neither you nor the shimmerlings are eligible, but your DM sounds like they would let Rule of Cool win.
I, as a DM, have applied this template to a drow spider rancer before.

[Malphegor]

-Anyone know any mountains with very pretty names? I need a name for her.

I’m from Wales so I feel obligated to nominate my local mountain range. Snowdonia, or in Welsh, Eryri. Its name was believed for a while to be linked to the welsh word for eagle (which would tie in nicely to giants with the goliath class peregrine runner as giant descendants using birds of prey in combat), however there’s alternate etymologies that exist that suggest it came from a term meaning ‘to rise’ or even just ‘highlands’ which given it’s a mountain, is a name shaped like itself.

It’s also called Yr Wyddfa (pronounced in english as if Whue-v-fa basically) for the individual mountain itself rather than the whole range, which is a shortened version of a old old name for it, which was associated with a giantess!

Gwyddfa Rhita: Rhita’s Cairn.

Legend says that the giantess Rhita Gawr, slain either by King Arthur (she wore a cloak made of men’s beards and she had previously stolen arthur’s, so it was naturally a fight to the death) or the giant Idris (who also has their own mountain named after him, Cadair Idris: Idris’ Chair, which gives you a sense of scale for how big giants are in myths, some real Shadow of the Colossus type stuff going on hah), is buried where Snowdonia mountain range is now.

So for a giantess I’d strongly recommend some variation of Rita, Rhita, Rudda, etc for your name if you want a mythic counterpart.

Plus it gives you an excuse to get a really really gross cape woven from humanoid beards!

alternatively a version of idris would work too as it is sometimes a gender neutral name

[YellowJohn]

Ok, I'm here with books finally. Let's get down to business...


-Does anyone know what the LA on a Mountain Giant should be? It's absent from the book. I know this wasn't a race meant to be played, but since they advance by character class it would have been helpful. I just want a good LA for them - I don't need them typed up as a playable race, although, if someone wants to do that I would not mind.
-5.
The Level Adjustment of a Mountain Giant is Minus Five.
Specifically, MMII states

A mountain giant PC’s effective character level (ECL) is equal to its class level + 25. Thus, a 1st-level mountain giant barbarian has an ECL of 26 and is the equivalent of a 26th-level character.
Don't argue. Take the negative LA and run.


-By necessity, in her early years this character would have needed to be good at crafting her own gear and obtaining her own food. What skills should I put into for making ones own clothing/weapons/tools/etc, and how high? What skill would be used for fishing, and how high should it be for someone to use it as their primary food source? (whales make a good amount of meat & provide big pieces of leather)
Survival is the default skill for fishing, with a synergy bonus for Knowledge: Nature or arguably Profession: Sailor.
Also look at Craft: Leatherworking for making your own clothes out of whale hide.


-What are some interesting ways for medium creatures to make massive items on the quick & cheap side? I know even a short sword for this character would be a major undertaking.
Interesting? No ideas.
Easy? A friendly wizard with the 'Fabricate' spell.



Pick - A Colossal Adamantine pick - this is the tool, not the weapon, if there's any point in the distinction at epic levels. The pick is enchanted with the ability to detect resources; the user points it at the ground, a mountain, or a cliff face. It mentally responds with what would be found if someone mined there. This applies to natural resources; it won't tell you if there are Drow in there, for example, unless perhaps they're wearing quite a lot of armor. Results returned from the pick are such as; Rock (what kind), Metal, (what kind), Gems (what kind), Air, Water, Magma. The aforementioned Drow stronghold would most likely come back as 'Air'.
I am picturing that the effect is based on 'Detect Magic', albeit with a much larger range. The user would have to point the pick at the location and concentrate for a bit to get the full results.
I don't know if this should be a limited use per day thing or not; I am thinking not, given its indented purpose.
It exists because the dwarves she befriended made it for her so she could help them. Not only can she use the pic to tell them where to mine, she can gut open the stone and earth to give them a real head start on getting to the good stuff.
Rod of Metal and Mineral Detection. (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/rods.htm) DMG p.236
Range is only 30' though; I would increase the price proportionately to the range but consult with your DM.
Many rods are suitable for use as weapons, so I wouldn't apply a mark-up for turning it into a weapon - especially with that weapon being a pickaxe.
PHB says to double weight and cost for Large weapons & leaves it there. Savage Species says increase both by 50% for each category. I will be doubling for the first size increase and adding +50% for each additional increase.
Adamantine is always +3Kgp for a weapon regardless of size #realism.
Colossal Adamantine Dire Pick (2-handed Martial): 3218gp, 81lbs
Colossal+ Adamantine Dire Pick: 8d6, 3327gp, 122lbs



Wishing Stone - This one sounds like a lot, but at epic levels, maybe not? It does not change size with its user; it is a 2-ton jade boulder. Once a week, a person can touch it, say 'I Wish' (any language), and have it cast Limited Wish. I think sticking it with the limits of 300xp and 1,000gp should be fine, though it wouldn't hurt if those were a little higher. I haven't worked out where she got this; she wears it as a necklace. It's mostly used for providing her with appropriately-sized gear.
Custom magic item: 7 x 13 x 2,000 = 182000, Charges per day = 1/7th so divide that by 35 to get... 5,200. But double that because it doesn't take up a magic item space so 10,400gp.
Now add the Xp cost, 300 x 50 x 5 = 75,000gp
Total price: 85,400gp




Greatsword - A Colossal+ Masterwork Greatsword. This was the sword of the evil mountain giant, and he forced generations of dwarves to work themselves to death mining the iron for it, forging it, and finishing it. The new giant has reclaimed it and seeks to redeem it by using it for good deeds.
Note: If I wanted to 'wish' this sword into being made of a special material, would you think Limited Wish could do that, or would it require a full Wish? 50/8
Colossal+ Masterwork Greatsword: 10d6, 807gp, 81lbs.
I think you would need a full-blown wish to permanently change the iron to something special; Limited Wish doesn't even mention creating permanent items.
Of course, there's nothing to say the previous owner didn't force generations of dwarves to mine something more exotic in the first place.



House-Purse - Built like a ship but not actually one, this is a 'house' that she wears on her hip. Inside it's a nice place with food and comforts, and those within are not subject to what happens outside; i.e. if it gets turned upside-down, they don't get tossed around. I know there are a few spells to accomplish this. The place should be pretty roomy; she may have a lot of hirelings.
Permanent item of Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/magesMagnificentMansion.htm)
7 x 13 x 2000, divided by 2 because the spell will have a duration greater than 24 hours, = 91,000gp.



Giant Summoner - I don't know what sort of item this should be. As a Mountain Giant, she has the Summon Giants ability that she can use once per day. It has a 25% success change. I'd like an item that knocks that up to 100%.
...Interesting. I can't think of anything like this...
There is a Summon Giants spell in Frostburn. It's not like your ability, but it's on roughly the same power level (3 Fiendish Hill Giants is about d4+1 regular hill giants)...
8 x 15 x 2000, divide by 5 for 1/day, x 75% for 75% chance = 36,000 gp. Probably slightly less because no template.
I'd make it a horn (double price for slotless), or perhaps a crown. It's either a sacred relic of your people, or you took it from the evil giant - your call.



Earthquake - I don't even know about this one. This feels more like a character ability than a magic spell. I'd like her to be able to create the effects of Earthquake by hitting the ground, probably with a weapon but possibly with her Slam attack. If the effect requires her to be wielding a Colossal weapon, or a Colossal 2-handed weapon. Could this be a feat? Reflex DC is Strength-based? Interested in this possibility but I have no real grasp on it.
Look at the Thunderclap feat (Savage Species p.40).
While you're there, look at Area Attack, Blowhard, Crush... just have a look through Savage Species, is what I'm saying.
See also Shock Wave (Draconomicon p. 73). You technically don't qualify, but I can't think of a good reason why this feat should be Dragons only :smallmad:

I hope that was helpful, and not too late to the party :smallsmile:

[H_H_F_F]

I think the update overrides the negative LA, but I think you could still sell your DM on it, unless your table is extremely low op.


Other than that, I hope you're going to let this character question at some point whether "being civilized" and "wearing proper clothes" is an actual ethical consideration, or just some random test invented by humanoids to justify their abhorrent treatment of less powerful beings :smalltongue:

[YellowJohn]

I think the update overrides the negative LA, but I think you could still sell your DM on it, unless your table is extremely low op.

If they had replaced it with an actual level adjustment I'd agree the revision takes precedence.
Instead, they effectively put in a note saying 'do not play this race'.
Once you have decided to ignore the note, you should revert to the most recently published LA - or at least, that's the argument I would make.

[Metastachydium]

If they had replaced it with an actual level adjustment I'd agree the revision takes precedence.
Instead, they effectively put in a note saying 'do not play this race'.
Once you have decided to ignore the note, you should revert to the most recently published LA - or at least, that's the argument I would make.

The issue is that negative LA is something of an alien concept in 3.5, and this specific instance was indeed replayed by a surprisingly sensible "you don't want to play this" sign. But I'd allow it, nevertheless. If anything, -5 is still too severe.

[loky1109]

Yes, it has LA: - after update.

[Malapterus]

Thank you to everyone who has participated in this. It really does mean a lot to me, because I am very excited about this character.

Rebel728: Thanks for the quick response that started everyone off!

Biggus: Thank you for the size category info!

r/Nightstalker RNightstalker: I will check out Tome of Battle for the earthquake thing. I've decided to name the character Katla Teton. I now Teton means titty, but it sounds like 'tectonic' and it's a mountain so it works.

Bullet06320: Thanks for the mountain links!

kinem: Really cool work on the Gargantuan mountain giant, but I need to be Colossal. My DM is going with mountain giants averaging around 120 feet or so.

Maat Mons: I've always assumed it was double each time, though I never checked out the difference between Medium and Small as listed. And I never will! In any case, item weight aside, there's more going on here than the weight of the base metal - they need to build a forge to forge it in, and create the tools to work with it, and they need to turn it all into carbon steel, and they need to keep the whole thing evenly heated the entire time - they have to shape it and sharpen it and decorate it, and there's so many chances they'd mess the whole thing up and have to start over. It's not just an iron sword, it's a 100+ foot masterwork greatsword.
Most importantly, though, you have contributed to the character's name, which I was stuck on.

Paragon: I doubt it'll come up in the game, but hers wouldn't exactly be small.

Metastachydium: Thanks for backing up the LA info. I'll need to check out the Earthstrike Quake, too.
P.S. The shimmerlings say you're cute too.

YellowJohn: Hivenest Creature sounds promising. I'll need to find it and figure out how to put a GP cost on it. I'll talk to my GM about the negative LA, though I need to figure out how that works.
Thank you for all of the great work you put into figuring out and calculating all the magic item stuff, you seem very knowledgable about it.
Do you think the price of the wishing stone would be affected by it being non-portable for most characters?

Malphegor: This is a lot of really great stuff here. I'll need to hang onto it for future giantesses (giantessi?).

H_H_F_F: People should at least wear pants for hygiene reasons, that goes extra for colossal butts.

loky1109: Thanks for the LA input!

Thank you in advance to anyone else who comes back and contributes. It's going to be a while before I get to use this, so I'll keep checking back for more stuff.

[Maat Mons]

Not to harp on the sword size too much, but…

If each size category doubles the weight, then a colossal greatsword weighs 16x as much as a medium greatsword. In order to wind up with a weight 16x the original, you would scale up each dimension by a little over 2.5. 2.5 times the breadth x 2.5 times the thickness x 2.5 times the length = 15.625 times the volume.

That would make a colossal greatsword about 15 feet long.

Your figure of 100+ feet in length is about 16x as long as a medium greatsword. In order to have 16x the length, but still only have 16x the weight, that would mean the breadth and thickness would need to be unchanged. The result would be a sword 100 feet long, but only a few inches in any other dimension. Such a thing would break under its own weight.

Also, considering mountain giants, like most other colossal creatures, have a reach of 25 feet, this would raise questions about why your 100-foot sword can’t hit things 100 feet away from you.

If you make the giantess 120 feet tall, then the fact that she, as a colossal character, occupies a space of 25 fee x 15 feet in combat becomes quite incongruous. It would be like a human occupying a space of 1.5 feet x 1.5 feet.

If you do give the sword a length 16x that of a medium sword, you should really also give it 16x the other dimensions too. (I mean, realistically, those other dimensions would need to increase even faster than the length, and 100 feet might be past the point where it’s actually possible to make a structurally-sound sword, but I’m not sure how to make those calculations.) A greatsword 16x the normal length, breadth, and thickness would weigh well over 16 tons. A typical mountain giant’s maximum load is a little over 11 tons.

[Malapterus]

Not to harp on the sword size too much, but…

If each size category doubles the weight, then a colossal greatsword weighs 16x as much as a medium greatsword. In order to wind up with a weight 16x the original, you would scale up each dimension by a little over 2.5. 2.5 times the breadth x 2.5 times the thickness x 2.5 times the length = 15.625 times the volume.

That would make a colossal greatsword about 15 feet long.

Your figure of 100+ feet in length is about 16x as long as a medium greatsword. In order to have 16x the length, but still only have 16x the weight, that would mean the breadth and thickness would need to be unchanged. The result would be a sword 100 feet long, but only a few inches in any other dimension. Such a thing would break under its own weight.

Also, considering mountain giants, like most other colossal creatures, have a reach of 25 feet, this would raise questions about why your 100-foot sword can’t hit things 100 feet away from you.

If you make the giantess 120 feet tall, then the fact that she, as a colossal character, occupies a space of 25 fee x 15 feet in combat becomes quite incongruous. It would be like a human occupying a space of 1.5 feet x 1.5 feet.

If you do give the sword a length 16x that of a medium sword, you should really also give it 16x the other dimensions too. (I mean, realistically, those other dimensions would need to increase even faster than the length, and 100 feet might be past the point where it’s actually possible to make a structurally-sound sword, but I’m not sure how to make those calculations.) A greatsword 16x the normal length, breadth, and thickness would weigh well over 16 tons. A typical mountain giant’s maximum load is a little over 11 tons.

I'm basing the length of the sword more on the comparison to a normal human's sword. A 6-foot man's zweihander is about 6 feet long. Her sword was made for a guy a little bit bigger than her, who had it made a size bigger than himself, so it's a fair bit longer than she is. She has a face/reach of 30 feet; as to why her 100 foot sword can't reach further than that, I suppose it;s the same reason the Human's 6-7 foot sword can't reach more than 5 feet. I've always thought you should be able to do some manner of reach with a greatsword, though; I've seen one with handles for just that purpose.

I'm moving into territory here that the game never intended, so I understand that the rules are not going to keep up very well.

[Metastachydium]

kinem: Really cool work on the Gargantuan mountain giant, but I need to be Colossal.

I did one of those (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?655923-Another-Revised-Mountain-Giant) recently (inspired by this thread, no less, and complete with the most insane anti-magic measure known to man giants, thanks in no small part to Yakk), if you are interested! And kinem expressed the intention to do something Colossal based on Stone Giants, which should be lovely too.


Metastachydium: Thanks for backing up the LA info. I'll need to check out the Earthstrike Quake, too.
P.S. The shimmerlings say you're cute too.


Awwww. Now I have to try and find them a new home! I think you could get one swarm bonded to Katla through simply taking Leadership and using their RLA (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=23656984&postcount=1217) as cohort LA. Even with a CHA penalty, her RHD should give her a leadership score that's easily high enough to allow that.

As for further swarms, if you want a price tag, Stronghold Builder's Guidebook and Arms&Equipment Guide have such listed for hiring levelled staff/mercenaries/whatnot. I suppose that might help? Edit: Scratch that. AEG has prices for intelligent guard creatures! I'll be back with an estimate soon-ish.

Another Edit: Prices vary wildly and most guard creatures are of a far lower CR, but one can acquire and train a Nine-Headed Hydra (9 HD, CR 8) and a Gray Render (10 HD, CR 8) as a mount for 19500 and 26000 gp, respectively. That's close enough to the Shimmerling Swarm's 11 HD, CR 8 to help, or so I hope.

[RNightstalker]

I'm moving into territory here that the game never intended, so I understand that the rules are not going to keep up very well.

Quote of the day...more people need to have this expectation! lol:smallcool: