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Cyclops

by Travis Laney

Huge Giant

Hit Dice: 13d8+78 (140 hp)
Initiative: +1
Speed: 50 ft.
Armor Class: 24 (-2 size, +1 Dex, +12 natural, +3 hide armor)
Base Attack/Grapple: +9/+29
Attack: Huge club +17 melee (3d6+18) or slam +17 melee (1d6+12) or rock +8 ranged (2d8+12)
Full Attack: Huge club +17/+12 melee (3d6+18) or 2 slams +17/+12 melee (1d6+12) or rock +8 ranged (2d8+12)
Space/Reach: 15'/15'
Special Attacks: Rock throwing, curse
Special Qualities: Low-light vision, rock catching, poor depth perception
Saves: Fort +14, Ref +5, Will +7
Abilities: Str 35, Dex 12, Con 23, Int 6, Wis 16, Cha 13
Skills: Climb +11, Jump +11, Listen +9, Spot +9
Feats: Alertness, Cleave, Improved Grapple, Improved Unarmed Strike, Power Attack
Environment: Hills, Mountains
Organization: Solitary or group (1-4)
Challenge Rating:

10 (11 with <i>curse</i>)

Treasure: Double standard
Alignment: Usually chaotic evil
Advancement: By character class
Level Adjustment: +4

A cyclops is a rare type of giant, noted for its great size and the single eye in the center of its forehead.

A cyclops usually lives alone, though a small group may sometimes share a small cave. They spend their time raising sheep and grapes. Cyclopes are known for their stupidity, and a clever party can often escape from them by trickery.2

An adult cyclops is about 20' tall and weighs 5,500 lbs. Cyclopes can live to be 500 years old. Cyclopes speak Common and Giant.

COMBAT

A cyclops will usually fight with a wooden club. When fighting at a range, it often throws boulders.

Curse (Sp): Some cyclopes (5%) are able to cast bestow curse once per week as a spell-like ability (caster level 9, Will save DC 17.) The save DC is Wisdom-based. The DM should decide the exact nature of the curse.

Poor Depth Perception (Ex): Cyclopes have poor depth perception on account of their single eye. As a result, they suffer a -2 penalty to all attack rolls.

Rock Catching (Ex): A giant of at least Large size can catch Small, Medium, or Large rocks (or projectiles of similar shape).

Once per round, a giant that would normally be hit by a rock can make a Reflex save to catch it as a free action. The DC is 15 for a Small rock, 20 for a Medium one, and 25 for a Large one. If the projectile provides a magical bonus on attack rolls, the DC increases by that amount. The giant must be ready for and away of the attack in order to make a rock catching attempt.

Rock Throwing (Ex): The range increment is 140 feet for cyclopes' thrown rocks.

CYCLOPES CHARACTERS

Cyclopes have a favored class of barbarian, and cyclopes with the curse ability have a favored class of druid. The cyclops warrior shown above had the following ability scores before racial adjustments: Str 15, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha. 13.

The cyclops first appeared in the Dungeons & Dragons Expert Rulebook, by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson (1983).

This 3.5 Edition conversion is (c) 2007 by Travis Laney

1.    Cook, D., 1983. The Master of the Desert Nomads. Random House, Inc.

2.    Gygax, G. and Arneson, D., 1983. Dungeons & Dragons Expert Rulebook. Random House, Inc.

3.    Allston, A. 1991. Rules Cyclopedia. Random House, Inc.