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Originally Posted by lachimba
Are giants who are wizards, clerics and other "classes" a thing in D&D and other games?
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In v.3.0/v.3.5, any creature with a good enough key ability score can become a spellcaster. They just add character class levels to their racial HD. What kind of spellcaster a given giant race favors varies according to that race's culture and mental aptitude (good Wisdom = clerics or druids, good Cha = sorcerers, with wizards very rare except among the largest and smartest giants). Some giant races also have innate spell-like abilities, or their leaders do (for example, stone giant elders gain some elemental earth magic).
Pathfinder is derived from v.3.5, so follows its lead in allowing giantish (and other monstrous) spellcasters. If anything, they're even more common in Pathfinder, because of Paizo's love for crafting highly customized monsters for its adventures. There are also a lot more spellcasting classes available for the game, if you go outside the Core Rulebook.
I never played much 4E, but the entries for many intelligent races included alternate stat blocks for specialized individuals like shamans, war chiefs, etc.
5E is closer to 4E in how it treats variant monsters. Sometimes you get a whole new stat block tailored to a new role, like the magic-focused variant giants in Volo's Guide to Monsters. Sometimes an adventure just tells you to use the MM stat block, but adds spellcasting, different weapons or armor, and/or more HP, like many of the named NPCs in Tales from the Yawning Portal.