Monster Class - Hill Giant

This hunched giant exudes power and a crude, stupid anger, it’s filthy fur clothing bespeaking a brutish and backwoods lifestyle.

While solitary, non-evil hill giants are very rare, they can sometimes be found in other humanoid societies, though most are not accepted in central cities or population centers. They do best as laborers and soldiers in outlying frontier towns, and often serve as rudimentary diplomats to negotiate with marauding hill giant bands. Unfortunately, hill giants who shed their racial lifestyle for civilization are mocked and often killed on sight by their nomadic brethren. Still, these “civilized” hill giants can find their place within society and many have managed to live peaceful, uneventful lives.

Skin color among hill giants ranges from light tan to deep, ruddy brown. Their hair is brown or black, with eyes the same color. Hill giants wear layers of crudely prepared hides with the fur left on. They seldom wash or repair their garments, preferring simply to add more hides as their old ones wear out. Adults are around 10 feet tall and weigh about 1,100 pounds. Hill giants can live to be 200 years old, but almost never do.

Alignment: As a giant, they tend towards chaotic and evil. Graced with strength and massive size. This normally equates to them trying to fill the role of a bully and see small races as weak races to be dominated.

#### Hill Giant Racial Traits

• +2 Strength, +2 Constitution, –2 Intelligence, –2 Charisma: Hill giants are big, but dumb.

* Medium: Hill giants are Medium creatures and have no bonuses or penalties due to their size.
* Humanoid (Giant): Hill giants are humanoids with the giant subtype.
* Normal Speed: Hill giants have a base speed of 30 feet.
* Low-Light Vision (Ex): Hill giants can see twice as far as humans in conditions of dim light.
* Tough Hide (Ex): A hill giant’s thick skin grants it a +1 natural armor bonus to its AC.
* Languages: Hill giants begin play speaking Common and Giant. Hill giants with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following: Draconic, Dwarven, Goblin, Gnoll, Orc, and Sylvan.

Hit Die: d8.

Starting Wealth: 3d6 × 10 gp (average 105 gp.) In addition, each character begins play with an outfit worth 10 gp or less.

#### CLASS SKILLS

The hill giant’s class skills are Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Perception (Wis), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), and Survival (Wis).

Skill Ranks per Level: 2 + Int modifier.

#### CLASS FEATURES

All the following are class features of the hill giant monster class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A hill giant is proficient with all simple weapons, light armor, and medium armor, but not with shields.

Ability Score Increases: As a hill giant gains levels, its ability scores increase or decrease as noted on Table: Hill Giant. These increases stack and are gained as if through level advancement.

Slam (Ex): At 1st level, a hill giant gains 2 slam attacks. These are primary attacks that deal 1d4 points of damage plus the hill giant’s Strength modifier. When the hill giant grows to Large size at 4th level, the damage die of its slams increases to 1d6. At 10th level, the damage die of its slams increases to 1d8.

Rock Throwing (Ex): Starting at at 2nd level, a hill giant becomes an accomplished rock thrower, gaining proficiency in and a +1 racial bonus on attack rolls with thrown rocks. It can hurl rocks up to two categories smaller than its size; for example, a Large hill giant can hurl Small rocks. A “rock” is any large, bulky, and relatively regularly shaped object made of any material with a hardness of at least 5. The hill giant can hurl a rock up to five range increments. Damage from a thrown rock is equal to the hill giant’s base slam damage plus 1–1/2 its Strength bonus.

At 2nd level, the hill giant’s thrown rocks have a range increment of 40 feet. This increases to 60 feet at 4th level, 80 feet at 6th level, 100 feet at 8th level, and 120 feet at 10th level.

Natural Armor (Ex): A hill giant’s thick hide allows it to shrug off some blows. At 3rd level and every two levels thereafter, a hill giant’s natural armor bonus to its AC increases by +2 (to a maximum of +9 at 9th level).

Large Size: At 4th level, a hill giant grows to Large size. Its ability scores do not change, although it gains the normal benefits and penalties for being a Large creature. The hill giant’s space and reach both increase to 10 feet and it gains a –1 size modifier to attacks and armor class, a +1 special size modifier to its Combat Maneuver Bonus and Combat Maneuver Defense, a –2 penalty to Fly checks, and a

–4 penalty to Stealth checks, as normal. Its slam attacks now deal 1d6 points of damage.

Agile Runner (Ex): At 4th level, a hill giant’s base land speed increases by +10 feet. Apply this bonus before modifying the hill giant’s speed because of any load carried or armor worn. This bonus stacks with any other bonuses to the hill giant’s land speed.

Rock Catching (Ex): At 8th level, a hill giant gains the ability to catch Small, Medium, or Large rocks (or projectiles of similar shape). Once per round, when a hill giant that would normally be hit by a rock, it can make a Reflex save to catch it as a free action. The DC is 15 for a Small rock, 20 for a Medium one, and 25 for a Large one. (If the projectile provides a magical bonus on attack rolls, the DC increases by that amount.) The giant must be aware of the attack in order to make a rock catching attempt.