Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Agonar Apr 13, 2004 6:00:21	Not bad, for a non DS campaign. they are roughly "half" of what you would expect from a Hill Giant or a stone giant or the like. But go and compare. DS Half Giants are roughly equivalent to Non-DS Hill giants and the like, because DS Athasian Giants are so much more powerful than non DS Giants. (think of the mess a few Hill Giants or Stone Giants would be in against an Athasian Beasthead Giant) So, by all means, use the Half Giants in campaigns that are not Dark Sun campaigns. They mix fairly well for what they are supposed to be. But in a Dark Sun campaign, give me Athas.org's version with the +8 Str, 2 Racial Hit Die, +1 Level adjustment, Large Size and the like. If Mul's weren't sterile, I would say use the XPHB Half Giant as a Half Mul instead. Well, thats my take
#2 Sysane Apr 13, 2004 10:13:58	To be honest I don't find the XPH giant to bad (not great, but not bad). All I would change is that they get +4 str and a -2 int. That way they won't be under powered but at the same time balanced with the other DS races from Dragon Mag's converstion. --Sysane, The Terror of Urik
#3 Dragonhelm Apr 13, 2004 11:25:16	Overall, the XPH half-giant isn’t too bad. It’s probably more balanced, and is probably more streamlined. I like the fire acclimation and stomp abilities especially. I miss the sheer size of these guys, but I think that’s a balance issue. I would probably also up their Str and cut down their Int. The one thing I really miss is the “axis alignment”. That, to me, was the defining part of the half-giant. Taking that out is akin to taking away a kender’s fearlessness or taunt abilities. However, that’s something I can roleplay. Luckily, the only half-giant I have is an NPC from an old Dark Sun game I ran. I’d like to convert him to 3e, and in doing so, I’ll probably modify the XPH version, also taking some materials from the Athas.org materials. Now if I could just figure out his psionics!
#4 player1 Apr 15, 2004 5:50:56	XPH 1/2giant is great for +1ECL But for athas campaign it could work if psionics are removed (maybe replaced with Toughness), and strenght is incerased and some mentals lowered.
#5 xlorepdarkhelm_dup Apr 15, 2004 17:08:52	I haven't seen the book yet, but if it's like the write-up that was online, I'm sorry, but I will not be using that horrifically watered-down Half-Giant for my Dark Sun campaigns. Come on, it's like the red-headed stepchild of Half-Giants... HG's shouldn't be Medium size, they should be the Giant type, and their attributes should reflect these things. They should have axis-alignment, and somehow even remotely be close to the HG's that were present in 2E AD&D. The ones in the XPH are not.
#6 nightdruid Apr 15, 2004 18:21:16	I tend to think of the half-giants from that writeup as more of a race of big humans, such as the Brutes from Dragonlance. As a race, they might resemble Andre the Giant, but that's as close to being "giant" as they get. To me, the half-giant should be bigger and badder than even the half-ogre, which has a +4 bonus to str...half-giant should probably be in the +6 area. And for it to be a Darksun Half-giant, all the stuff xlorepdarkhelm said
#7 nytcrawlr Apr 15, 2004 18:25:11	Amen brother xlorep.
#8 zombiegleemax Apr 15, 2004 18:37:53	Come on, it's like the red-headed stepchild of Half-Giants Hey now! I'm a red-headed stepchild! Your not lumping me in there with those one third giants! Actually, I would like to differentiate between athasian half-giants and standard half-giants. As Dragonhelm points out, they are what you'd expect from a hill giant/human cross, even if they are lesser to the half-ogre.