Half-Giants

**Size:** 10’ – 12’ generally, however there is the odd exception. (However after experimenting with the sinfar scaling system, We feel 10' there is fair representation of 12' and will be the absolute max height.)

**Weight:** 600 - 1000 lbs generally.

**Average Lifespan:** 175 - 225

**Notable Qualities:**

* More hearty than the other races
* Generally stronger than other races.
* Given their cumbersome size they tend to be slower and less agile
* While some may be more or less handsome their exaggerated features can be off putting.
* Prefer to spend time outside the city in most cases as they find it too restricting and claustrophobic.

**Age of Maturity:**

Half-Giants in Blacksteel age in physical maturity around the age of 25 – 30, only a bit slower than your average human.

**Appearance:**

These giants are generally bulky and can stand between 10 to 14 feet tall, standing far above any other race. Their skin tends to be a little thicker but it gives them a certain look. They are not considered handsome by most races, too rough and at the same time their features are over accentuated.

They are called half giants but no one really knows what the other half is supposed to be, the women can mate with most other sentient races, and a few choice traits will cling to the half giant's offspring but the giant blood is strong, and there has not been a single half-giant that was smaller than eight feet tall, which proves the bloodline.

There has even been stories of knife eared giants living in the countryside, though they are rare as even the offspring of a half giant and elf does not always have such ears, a single trait that is not always brought over. Some giants can be handsome, others are stronger, it depends entirely on the father, if they are strong then the offspring may as well be, if they are lanky, then that may be passed on as well.

**Original Religion:**

As with humans and elves, their religion tends towards the Ancients. Though the exacts of their beliefs may vary just as it does other races.

**General Culture:**

The mountains that surround these lands were not always there, it is said that a long time ago, before elves, before humans.. Before any other being walked these lands, the ancients created giants, tall enough to touch the sky. Their footsteps created earthquakes that caused the land to split, creating rivers and chasms and the caves beneath earth. Their breaths created the winds that we feel today.. They were tools of the ancients but once the tools were no longer needed they were given a hundred years to live before they would fall in to eternal slumber. During those hundred years the world was created, from their bodies sprouted the plants and trees, from their tears the water that flows through the ocean, and after that century they fell in to slumber, becoming the great mountains that surround these lands.

But these are simply stories, all we know is that it is believed the blood, if but a drop still flows through a single race within these lands, we call them half giants.

**Half-giant Ability Adjustments:** +4 Str, -4 Dex, +4 Con, -4 Wis -4 Cha.

**Favored Class (Barbarian):** A multiclass half-giant's barbarian class does not count when determining whether he or she suffers an XP penalty for multiclassing.

**Languages Automatically Known:** Jotun.

**Special Abilities**

* Large Stature: -1 size penalty to attack rolls, -1 size penalty to AC, -4 size penalty to Hide, Move Silently, Listen and Spot checks vs. smaller creatures.
* Lucky: +1 luck bonus to all saving throws.
* Fearless: +2 morale bonus to saving throws against spells and effects of the 'Fear' subtypes.
* Skill Affinity (Intimidate): +2 racial bonus to Intimidate checks.
* Skill Deficency (Open Lock): -2 racial penalty to Open Lock checks.

* Special: Half-giants are large creatures and as such they use the following large weapons as one-handed weapons: bastard sword, dire mace, two-bladed sword, double axe, greataxe, greatsword, halberd, heavy flail, quarterstaff, scythe and spear.