Giant Apprentice

[Bill_in_IN]

Originally Posted by Axly Suregrip

lol I see what you did there

LOL! I saw that too but forgot to say something about it.

[hcobb]

Pity a halfling wizard can't (effectively) ride her centaur apprentice.
But just put the apprentice in front of the cart and you'll be fine.

[Terquem]

In the story I am writing it will be revealed that Giants cannot "cast spells," but they can use magic.

[hcobb]

Before you let giants rest easier than mere men (or mermen), consider if they are subject to the Drain Strength spell.

[Bill_in_IN]

Originally Posted by hcobb

In Legacy it takes a starting Giant wizard 24,500 XP to learn the Aid spell. (At 60 XP per session this is over 400 sessions...)

How have you handled Giant wizards in your games?

Elga, Half-giant wizard, age 20
ST 16, DX 10, IQ 9, MA 10
Talent: Literacy
Spells: Aid, Detect Magic, Fire, Image, Light, Magic Fist, Staff, Summon Wolf
Language: Common
Weapon: Staff spruce maul (1d+4, 1d occult)
Attacks and Damage: Punch (1d)
Special Ability/Weakness: 2-hex figure

With respect to this Half-Giant being a 2-hex character, how does the facing work? I'm sure that it is 90 degrees from that of a horse-like counter. So, it would seem that they would have 3 front hexes, 2 side hexes, and 3 rear hexes. Is this correct?

My take on a half-giant is a percentage role of where they would fall on a spectrum between human and giant. If someone wanted to run with a 50/50 split, I would approach it this way.

A beginning human starts and 32 points and a giant starts at 41. The half-way point is 36.5 so picking 36 or 37 would be valid. Giants are generally limited to IQ and DX of 10. Humans aren't limited on either but there is a functional limit of 14 to 20 per the talents and spells IQ requirements. One could also pick a functional limit of 15 for DX. This would allow a true 50/50 Half-Giant to have max DX of 12 or 13 and max IQ of 12 to 15. There is no restriction on max ST. This would be their full developmental attribute max whether they started there or gained appropriate experience.

You started your posted half-giant at 35 points. While you probably didn't use the same methodology as mentioned earlier in this post, it lands close. Imposing my methodology, it would indicate that your half-giant wizard is slightly more human via a ~60/40 split. This could also justify slightly higher maximums for DX and IQ since the human side is a little more dominant.

If a half-giant is a true 50/50 split or higher toward the giant side, I would probably declare them to still be a 3-hex character with the understanding that they don't fill out this hexes as much as a full-giant. Per Melee Rules, a giant is 9 to 12 feet tall. A human is probably about 5.5-6 feet tall. So, a 50/50 split would be 7.25 to 9 feet tall. Where they ultimately land in height would best dictate if they are a 2-hex or 3-hex character. At 7.25. 2-hex. at 8 or above, 3-hex.

This is my idea of a half-giant per the interpolation of the boundaries between human and giant. If one were to apply more granularity than a 50/50 split, there could be many variances to the human-giant mix. Or there could be variants that some GMs would find easier to accommodate in their games.

The half-giant variant that you posted seems to follow a theme that I have seen from other posters.

[hcobb]

My assumption is that the half-giant leans forwards (for the same facings as a horse) and I round down all of the half-points.
Hence ST (8+25)/2 = 16. DX (8+9)/2 = 8, IQ (8+7)/2 = 7, plus 4 points.
The advantage of starting at 35 attribute points is that it only takes her 300 XPs to advance her next point and she can be treated as a conventional PC from then on. (With the only adjustment being a DX minus if the ceiling is less than 8 feet.) Max DX and IQ of 12 each unlocks most of the combat abilities.

An alternative is to half her ST above 8 for XP purposes, hence Elga is a 12+10+9 = 31 "effective attribute" character and it only costs her 100 XP to advance DX or IQ by one point, or ST by two points.

Applying the same for a full giant, we get a starting character of 8 + (25-8)/3 + 9 +7 = 30 "effective attribute" (after diving the excess ST by size in hexes) character who can add 3 points of ST for only 100 XPs.