Stone Giant Soldier

**Stone Giant Soldier**

Prime Requisites: STR, CON

Requirements: STR 11, CON 11

Hit Dice: d10

Maximum Level: 11

*excerpt from Book XXII,* Travels in the Tall Forest and Verdant Mountains, *by Bardas of Lunaceaum*

"Of all the peoples I've come across, perhaps the most foreign are the Azrahim, the stone giants. They are a hard race, befitting the name by which we call them, yes, but in them is a sort of sadness? Romanticism? It is difficult to pinpoint. To a stone giant, every cause is lost, every dawn just another struggle until the dusk, and every birth a harbinger of yet another death. Now before you start to think of them as poor souls of the Old World, unfitted for the age of men, let me remind you what a scarce handful - 304 to be exact - of stone giants were able to do when Tarkos marched his glittering host
through the Verdant Mountains rather than go around. It is said by some that the Three Hundred and Four held up Tarkos the Great for over two months, grimly killing ten thousand Tyrians for the loss of only 23 of their own. In all the histories, there are exaggerations and liberties, yes. Neverthless, the fact remains that Tarkos did not conquer the stone giants, he enlisted them. Several of them, in fact, proudly smashed the outer gate of Korshan some years later, allowing the Companions of Tarkos, gleaming in their heavy armor, to ride into the city when it fell, securing the Mount of the Stars.

They are born, live, and die in their *rimat*, regiment. The rimat is a family, clan, military unit, village - it is all things to a stone giant. Every member has a place, rank, and assigned duties, from the first. Advancement is done through orderly and systematic trials and testing, as is demotion and even retirement. Each stone giant knows his place, but given a good showing at a trial before organizing for battle, he might find himself the *rimatashk*, the commander of the regiment. Perhaps not. To a stone giant, all paths are open to all who have the ability. Those who fail or become infirm through age or debility are given appropriate places. Nothing and no one is wasted. So rare is an outcast that the stone giants may grimly recite the names of each one from a particular *rimat*, from its inception, which might be hundreds of years ago. Most stone giants would and do prefer death than to be cast away from their *rimat*.

In battle of course they are a terror to behold. Their size, strength, and resistance to injury alone would make them fearsome warriors, but add to all that their single-minded and fatalistic nature, and you have the makings of an inexorable phalanx of steel and stone. It is perhaps a blessing of the divine that the Azrahim's numbers have always been small, and that they do not have a particularly expansionist mindset. For if either of those things (shudder at the thought of both!) were to change, I would fear greatly for not only the adjoining nations, but the nations adjoining those."

**Weapons and Armor**: Stone giant soldiers are supreme physical combatants. They are trained to use all weapons effectively, and may wear any armor. Most of them favor the heaviest armor possible, along with shields and spears. A stone giant phalanx is an inexorable block of muscle and steel. All fighting styles are available to them.

**Racial Features**

* **Stony Hide** - +2 natural armor (stacks with worn armor)

* **Blend into Stone** - Stone giants have the ability to seemingly disappear into rocky areas with a proficiency throw of 3+ on 1d20. In dungeons, if the stone giant is motionless and quiet in cover, he can escape detection with a proficiency throw of 14+ on 1d20.

* **Pain Resistance** - When a stone giant soldier is required to consult the Mortal Wounds table, the player may roll twice and choose the preferred result to apply. He also subtracts his class level from the number of days of bed rest required to recover.

* **Great Strength:** When using specially-made large weapons, stone giants increase the die type of damage from the weapon by one. For instance, a mace used one-handed will inflict 1d8 damage while a halberd will inflict 1d12.

* **Great Size:** Stone giants are larger than humans; they require specially-made armor and clothing that cost and weigh one and a half times the usual amount. Food and lodging expenses are doubled. However, their carrying capacity is increased by 50%. They have a normal load of 7 stone, reducing movement to 30' when carrying more than that, 20' when carrying more than 10 stone, and 10' when carrying more than 15 stone.

**Class Features**

* **1st Level: Cleave** - Stone giant soldiers get one cleave attempt per level, per round.

* **5th Level: Sergeant** - Any henchmen and mercenaries hired by the stone giant soldier gain a +1 bonus to their morale score whenever he personally leads them. This bonus stacks with any modifiers from the soldier’s Charisma or proficiencies.

* **9th Level:** **Commander** - (stronghold)

**Stone Giant Soldier Level Progression**

Bonus
 3200
 6400
 12800
 25600
 51200
 100000
 200000
 360000
 520000
 680000

Paralysis
Death
Breath
Wands
 2-3
 4
 5-6
 7
 8-9
 10
 11

**Class Proficiency List** (select one at 1st, 3rd, 6th, and 9th Levels)

Alertness, Beast Friendship, Berserkergang, Blind Fighting, Combat Reflexes, Combat Trickery (disarm, force back, knock down, overrun, sunder), Caving, Command, Dungeon Bashing, Endurance, Fighting Style, Intimidation, Land Surveying, Leadership, Manual of Arms, Military Strategy, Mountaineering, Naturalism, Passing Without Trace, Precise Shooting, Running, Siege Engineering, Skirmishing, Survival, Swashbuckling, Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus

**Stone Giant Soldier Templates**

(*Equipment as matching 3d6 roll on Dwarven Vaultguard table, ACKS Player's Companion, p. 63)*