Giant Giants are humanoid creatures , usually of great strength and size . Most giants have vision equivalent to that of a human , though some have the capacity to see well in low light or total darkness as well . As a group , they have no other special abilities . They are immune to almost all diseases , and have a slight resistance to poison . Dwarves as a race are experienced at fighting giants , so they are more adept in combat with them . Most giants have superior senses to most humans . In general they can see and hear twice as well . The cloud giant , hill giant and stone giant species have a particularly good sense of smell . Physical description . The appearance of giants varies according to the type of giant ( see true giants below ) but they are generally humanoid in appearance , just much larger . Their bone structure is more dense than that of human s , giving them extra toughness but slowing them down a little . Ecology . A female giant has a pregnancy of between nine and fifteen months , depending on the type of giant . Their offspring will reach maturity in around fifty years . Although their ancestors were immortal , giants ' life spans are getting shorter and shorter with each generation . Giants in modern Faerûn have a life expectancy of between 300 and 400 years , although there are thousand - year - old giants still alive . Because their lifespans are so much longer than humans , giants are slow to make decisions and will not be rushed . Society . Giants are intelligent creatures with their own set of cultures and customs . The intelligence varies according to the type of giant ( and as with humans , with the individual ) but most are at least on a human level of intellect , with the exception of hill giant s . Most giants see themselves as superior to all other creatures . The ordning is one reason for this , but they are also much larger than many other species , so they will talk down to and patronize smaller folk , regarding them as unimportant . Giants live in tribes , but their numbers are limited because of their size , and the difficulty of finding plentiful food . Ancestry is important to giants . Most giants can trace their lineage back to Annam All - Father , and it is recited formally when introducing oneself to other giants . Once a relationship has been established between giants , whether it is amiable or hostile , this will be continued further down the lineage . Therefore , reciting one ' s lineage helps to dictate the relationship that will be established . Frost giant skalds ( bard s ) will include lineage in the sagas they write . Good and evil . Giants have a different sense of good and evil than most other creatures . A " good " ( maat ) act for a giant is an act that honors a giant ' s deity or family , displays bravery , or honors another " good " giant , regardless of the consequences . An " evil " ( maug ) act is one of cowardice , stealing , betraying a giant ' s deity , family or trust , or an act that forces a giant from its natural terrain type . Violating the ordning is also considered evil ( see Ordning below ) . Religion . Giants often differ in their religious views between species or even between tribes , having been known to argue and even war with one another over the exact desires of a specific deity . Generally , they all accept Annam All - Father , the creator of giants , as the top of the Ordning , the giant pantheon . Giants respect Xephras as the Great Priest of Annam , the highest figure in the giant religious hierarchy , who resides in Annam ' s grand temple in the Ice Spires . Ordning . The ordning is the social order to which all giants adhere and assigns a rank to each individual giant so that there are none who are equal to one another , only inferior or superior . It is regarded as an act of evil to go against the ordning . Parley . Although the ordning dictates the leader of a tribe and the leader ' s will must ordinarily be obeyed , it is possible for the priests or shamans of two conflicting tribes to conduct a parley in which their consensus is binding for the leaders of both tribes . The intention of the parley is for both parties to agree upon the will of Annam All - Father in the situation at hand , but often the party with more power simply asserts his own will . This system has been further abused in the past , where tribal priests or shamans engineered conflicts to fulfil desires that they would not normally be able to . In modern Faerûn the numbers of giants are so low that tribal conflicts , and therefore parleys , are rare . In addition , inter - tribal relations are improved compared to the past . Myths and legends . Some people , especially those who live exclusively in the cities , do not believe that giants even exist . Others think they are magically altered humans . A human myth states that all giants are evil . This is rumoured to be the cause of the formation of the Blood Riders . Some giants believe that the stars are dragon queens preparing to scatter dragon eggs across the land . There is a legend that a dragon god lives in the sun and leads the dragons in war . Festivals and events . Once a year , the chiefs of the largest giant tribes on Faerûn make a pilgrimage to the Twilight Vale where the Twilight Spirit appears to them , asking for their help in fulfilling the prophecy of the return of Annam All - Father . The Twilight Spirit appears as a very large , shadowy giant , whose identity is not known . History . Giants were inhabiting Abeir - Toril before any of the other humanoid or demihuman races . The first of their kind and the source of the entire species were the sons of Annam All - Father and his wife Othea , who settled on the planet to form a kingdom known as Ostoria . Each of his sons led to a different type of giant . The giants were soon at war with the dragons . This conflict was to last for over a thousand years . There are differing accounts of its conclusion , although the giants believe it was a result of a stalemate in a game of " wah - ree " between Annam and the dragon god , while dwarven accounts say that the dragons needed to declare peace to conduct a civil war in which the metallic dragons fought the chromatic dragons . Varieties . True giants . A true giant is one who can trace its lineage back to Annam All - Father and Othea . Mountain giant s and fog giant s are descendents of true giant races and are also considered true giants . Giant Offshoots . These giants no longer had pure bloodlines , yet were related to true giants : Zakharan Giants . These giants were found in Zakhara . They were not related in any way to Annam All - Father : Further Giant Species . These were other giant subraces found throughout Faerûn . There relationship to true giants was unknown : Giant - kin . Most of the giant - kin were half - brothers of the original giants , but their father was not Annam All - Father . They include firbolg s , fomorian s , verbeeg s , and voadkyn .