SPECIAL EDITION:
Kopfy's Clarifications for the Working Delver: The difference between Ogres and Giants.
By Tom 'Kopf' Loney
It's not the height. Both are giant humanoids but giants are more magically attuned to the elements and nature, while ogres are tainted by evil/chaos or whatever is the source of foulness in the universe. When you encounter a giant-sized humanoid, while you probably shouldn't be overly worried about semantics, certain characteristics can determine whether you're dealing with a giant or an ogre.
Creature Name: Ogre
Monster Rating: 120 and up
Combat Dice: 13d+60
Special Damage: varies per ogre.
Special Abilities: Gains Wz points from eating PCs. One Wz point is gained per Cn point of the consumed foe.
Description: One time regular individuals of any bipedal kindred that for some reason thought that the flesh of their own kindred was tasty, and gained some magical perks in the process. It's a win-win situation overall in their minds. Ogres aren't even always giant-sized at all. What one needs to look for is some sort of unnatural trait or deformity. The most common trait is height, and spiked teeth would probably be the second. But there is more...
When one speaks of a two-headed ettin or a single-eyed cyclops, what he is really referring to is a racial variation of ogre.
Creature Name: Ettin
Monster Rating: 130 and up
Combat Dice: 14d+65
Special Damage: d6 Acid Spit (utilized in Projectile phase of Combat turn). Spit eats away armor, and does d3 permanent damage to Ch of stricken targets if any Hits are taken.
Special Abilities: One head can cast spells or spit while another braces itself for hand-to-hand combat.
Description: A giant, or just taller than average humanoid, with multiple heads. Each head has a different personality, but any of them may control the body that they share. One dominant head usually handles the body, but often another or the other (if there are only two) will take control of an arm or the legs to entertain itself, while the other is dealing with people and delvers around it.
Creature Name: Cyclops
Monster Rating: 120 plus
Combat Dice: 13d+60
Special Damage: n/a, unless otherwise noted by GM
Special Abilities: Natural TTYF casting ability @ 1/10 MR for damage, but creatures Wz is assumed to be as high as its MR.
Description: Wizards do well never to assume that they have the advantage with their spell-mastery just because the creature may act like an cloddish idiot, its brutish strength actually is its Wz manifested in the creatures physical form. Cyclopes are highly magical creatures, despite their brutishness and usually low IQ. These creatures' overall MR can be shifted from attribute to attribute, only having to leave 1 point in the others, to fit the situation around them. And the creatures’ MR will reconstitute as fast as the GM allows Wz points to be regained during the game session.
Creature Name: Sand Ogre
Monster Rating: 140 plus
Combat Dice: 15d+70
Special Damage: Sand in the eyes and flying debris.
Special Abilities: Sneeze Up A Storm- the ability of this type of ogre for 10 Wz points, counted against the creature's effective MR, to blow hurricane force winds in one direction. The area of the effect is as wide as its arm-span and as many strides in length as its MR.
Sand Foundations- the ability to burrow through and shape sand to the Sand Ogre's will, allowing for 10 strides to be one day's work.
Description: Sand ogres do not have to live in deserts, but they like to dwell where their talents suit them best. And they really dislike rainy and cold weather to begin with. They are known to fashion entire palaces, even city-sized abodes in the wastelands of desert dunes. This artisanship is only a pastime until they can get down to the business of sucking the bone marrow of folks that they have just killed.
Now giants are a bit different. They are just as mean and ornery as any ogre, but they aren't out to use your femur as a soup bone. Well, not primarily at least. Giants are the embodiment of primal forces mixed with esoteric astral forces. They are a part of the natural world, and they do have human-like bodies and all the wants and needs of that body– just on one hell of a lot bigger scale than the rest of us.
Creature Name: Hill Giant, also called Wood Giant
Monster Rating: 200 plus
Combat Dice: 21d+100
Special Damage: n/a unless the GM says otherwise.
Special Abilities: Acute smell.
Natural camouflage to the landscape that they dwell in. Hill giants usually have hair that resemble leaves and skin tones that resemble the dominant trees of the area around them.
Description: These giants are the most "ogre-like" of giant-kin. They are hunters, and often tend to be sadistic. They like intelligent prey the best. Some of these giants claim to be seraphim and use the term to impress the locals around them. How true the claims are has yet to be determined.
Creature Name: Frost Giant, also called Snow Giant
Monster Rating: 225 plus
Combat Dice: 23d+113
Special Damage: d3 frost damage for anyone within three bowshots of it who fail a 1st level Cn SR.
Special Abilities: Frostiness in general, included Blizzard Breath- a blow attack that all in its range, as many strides as the creature's MR, must make a 3rd level SR on CN to avoid taking 3d damage. Even those that make it must take d3 Hits.
Description: Frost giants, while usually solitary, make take a smaller form to interact with other humanoids. They may even adventure with them, or just be looking for sex. Mind you the cold always follows them.
Creature Name: Storm Giant, also called Cloud Giant
Monster Rating: 250 plus
Combat Dice: 26d+125
Special Damage: See the bit about lightning
Special Abilities: Lightning Strike, acts as a TTYF for everyone within a bow shot of its impact. The In rating of the casting Storm Giant is considered to be 1/4 of the creature's MR.
Description: These guys are serious trouble. They are often wizards as well as having the ability to call lightning.
Copyright 2011 Tom Loney
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