Giants in Ravenloft

[Catman Jim]

On the other hand, wasn't Hermos also some kind of giant, in Carnival of Fear?

"Champions of the Mists" page 71 give the stats for Hermos as being ten feet tall, but human.

[Rotipher of the FoS]

Equally, towards the end of Feast of Goblyns, in the complex of Ragna(?) there is a giant's skeleton or perhaps two or three.

IIRC, those were magically-enlarged human skeletons, not giants' skeletons.

[DocBeard]

You know what's a good way to disturb your PCs? Have them defend a cemetery from undead or a necromancer a few times, and then, after they're away for a while, find the whole thing up and gone.

A few months later, a ship made of human bones appears off the coast, its crew of horrible giant-men enacting a one-ship blockade of the port-their goal, when asked, was to get the materials for a fleet by starving the city to death.

[Ail]

You know what's a good way to disturb your PCs? Have them defend a cemetery from undead or a necromancer a few times, and then, after they're away for a while, find the whole thing up and gone.

A few months later, a ship made of human bones appears off the coast, its crew of horrible giant-men enacting a one-ship blockade of the port-their goal, when asked, was to get the materials for a fleet by starving the city to death.

Uh... Ok, but not quite effective if the city can get supplies by land... which it probably will unless it's on a poor island.

Also, doing that first trick on the PCs, let them be gone and the cemetery disappear then, is a bit unfair to them.

[DocBeard]

Also, doing that first trick on the PCs, let them be gone and the cemetery disappear then, is a bit unfair to them.

Horror's all about being unfair, though you've got a point. Yeah, stuff I think up off the top of my head usually stinks.

[HuManBing]

Uh... Ok, but not quite effective if the city can get supplies by land... which it probably will unless it's on a poor island.

Plenty of naval blockades of port cities have been effective even if it IS possible to get supplies by land to the city. Sea routes are generally cheaper than land routes because cargo weight is far less of a problem. Take away the sea lanes, and a one-penny apple will suddenly inflate to a crown or a guinea. When the cost of living rises quickly, citizens will feel the pinch. Perhaps if the blockader had a small list of demands that are highly specific and not too onerous (e.g. "deliver the Orb of the Mandrake Moons to me!") the civilians may start pressuring the mayor or governor to hand it over - especially if the artifact is useless to the city.

As far as Docbeard's ideas go, this is definitely one of the workable ones

[The Giamarga]

On the other hand, wasn't Hermos also some kind of giant, in Carnival of Fear?

"Champions of the Mists" page 71 give the stats for Hermos as being ten feet tall, but human.

I converted Hermos to 3E here. And while i did change his size to L, I did not change his subtype to giant.

[cure]

On the other hand, wasn't Hermos also some kind of giant, in Carnival of Fear?

"Champions of the Mists" page 71 give the stats for Hermos as being ten feet tall, but human.

I converted Hermos to 3E here. And while i did change his size to L, I did not change his subtype to giant.

As I recall, Hermos' punishment was that we would be too big to hide, not that he could crush people.

[DeepShadow of FoS]

I seem to recall some sort of oversized humanoid hanging out in the forests in near Nartok and curing people.

\

That's Tallwich, the Giant of Nartok, listed in The BoSecrets as one of the "Lights in the Fog."

[ewancummins]

I seem to recall some sort of oversized humanoid hanging out in the forests in near Nartok and curing people.

\

That's Tallwich, the Giant of Nartok, listed in The BoSecrets as one of the "Lights in the Fog."

I must have missed that one. I don't think I actually have any of those BoS's on file...gah!

[DocBeard]

As I recall, Hermos' punishment was that we would be too big to hide, not that he could crush people.

Well, yeah, but the former does not preclude the latter. If he's described as x-box huge and really strong, he should be both.

[The Giamarga]

He's more of the gentle giant type. And a bit slow too. He's strong but not bonecrushingly strong. Though he broke the neck of the blind knife thrower pretty easily at the end of the novel. Anyways I prefer my 3E conversion with the noncombat feats to Prof Pacali's version from the gleemax boards with combat feats.

[Rotipher of the FoS]

At least as he's described in the novel, Hermos is more like a real-life human with gigantism than a fantasy-world giant. The novel is set up so that many of the "freak" performers' abnormalities sound like congenital deformities, not something supernatural; that way, it's a nasty surprise when it's revealed where the disfigurements really come from.

[alhoon]

What novel? Where does it come from?

[Rotipher of the FoS]

Carnival of Fear is one of the original Ravenloft novels, and tells of how the Puppet Show (precursor of Isolde's Carnival) broke free from the cruelties of the city of l'Morai. That's where Hermos was introduced.