No creatures demonstrate smaller races’ relative insignificance better than the eerie and awe-inspiring giants, whose humanoid visages and cyclopean strengths exude an aura of both familiarity and terror. Standing in the long shadows of these colossi, smaller races can witness a form of primordial power that shakes the earth, churns the skies, and roils the waves.
Giants Revisited explores the traits and habitats of the biggest and meanest humanoids ever to tread the earth, towering beings whose motives and behaviors are as varied as their origins and amazing abilities. Each giant race’s entry examines the creature’s ecology and habitat, its interactions with other giants and races, advice on how to implement the behemoth in your game, unique stat blocks, and more.
Inside this 64-page book, you’ll find goliaths such as:
Hill giants, the primitive, blundering brutes who plague valley communities and roving caravans in their endless search for food and destruction.
Cyclopes, the one-eyed behemoths whose ancient empire’s ruins still dot tropical coasts.
Taiga giants, nomads who commune with ancestral spirits to guide them.
Rune giants, who were created long ago to enslave all of giantkind.
Marsh giants, froglike beings who conspire with otherworldly sea-spawn sent from their foul demon lord.
Cloud giants, whose mythical cloud cities are as much a thing of legend as their own lofty race.
Other herculean heavyweights such as the industrious fire giants, barbaric frost giants, capricious storm giants, and stoic stone giants.
Giants Revisited is intended for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and Pathfinder campaign setting, but can easily be used in any fantasy game setting.
by Jesse Benner, Ryan Costello, Brian R. James, Jason Nelson, Russ Taylor, and Ray Vallese
ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-412-2
Note: Due to a printer error, the font used for much of the OGL Section 15 Copyright Notice on page 64 was corrupted in the print edition. It should read as follows:
Giants Revisited is Paizo's latest offering in their Pathfinder Campaign Series (intended to support Paizo's campaign setting); it's also a "Revisited" book, where Paizo's writers and creative folks take a fresh look at classic D&D monsters (re-booting, re-freshing, re-imagining ... or just simply re-visiting them, as they feel necessary).
My first exposure to giants in an RPG setting was when a good friend ran Steading of the Hill Giant Chief for me and my two brothers (a long, long time ago!). So I was interested in seeing how Paizo handled giants as monsters in-and-of themselves (Hey, Rune Giants, I'm talking to you!), as well as how they'd re-work the various giant races in terms of their campaign setting.
I'm totally satisfied with this book. "Classic" giants (such as Hill, Frost, and Fire) are treated respectfully in terms how they've been presented in RPGs over the past 30 years, "new" giants (Tiaga, Rune, and Marsh) are fleshed out and described such I'm interested in them enough to consider tossing them at players, and "mythic" giants (Cyclopeses, Cloud, and Storm) are presented in the context of the campaign setting that echo towards the past while heralding the future.
I've always been emotionally-attached to stone giants, so I'm totally recusing myself from commenting on them in this review. I'm very much looking forward to seeing more of them though soon.
I was totally on the fence as far as how many ★s for this product: I wasn't sure if I "Really Liked it" or "Loved it."
I had some issues with the tenor and tone of the text as a whole (there were multiple contributors for this project, and it reads that way in places).
Artwork was mixed: some was the absolute best I've ever seen. Some screamed "BEHOLD my ninja-like badassery, for I have a sword that I couldn't lift without CGI help!" I'm also old enough that my brain stumbles a bit when I see a frost giantess called a "Jarl," but I know that's my brain.
For me to be "satisfied" with an RPG product means it's pretty good to start with. It wasn't until I grabbed my hardcopy to leaf through it ... and noticed the type in the word "Giants" was several point sizes bigger than any I'd recalled seeing in any of the Revisited books I own.
A quick trip to the bookcase confirmed ... I love this book. Folks that pay attention to "tiny" things like font sizes pay attention "bigger things."
This is a great book. As a freelancer I don't usually do reviews, but I think this is a really fine monster book. If you're into giants I think you'll be pleased.
This is a great book. As a freelancer I don't usually do reviews, but I think this is a really fine monster book. If you're into giants I think you'll be pleased.
Glad you enjoyed it, Jim! :]
As always, I encourage anyone with strong feelings about our books to write a formal review (short or long) in the Product Reviews section of the page.
I am really excited about this book! I always wanted to see a giant and a fey handbook come out for 3.5, and instead now we get it with Pathfinder, which is even better!
I am voting to see a couple random tables in the back, like "contents of a giant's bag" and "content of a giant's cave". Any chance we might get these thrown in as well? :)
[The Revisited] books are about flavor first and new crunch second, though, that's for sure. We've not yet done a big book of monster options, and while I do think that's a pretty good idea... it's a VERY tough sell to management since the idea of a crunch-heavy book aimed squarely at GMs is a bit nonintuitive. We do things like this now and then in the form of support articles for the AP... but the only other place something like this might fit would be in the Campaign Setting line.
It's an interesting idea though. I'll see what I can do...
This is something I've been wanting for ages. I suspect the same is true of any GM who runs a lot of homebrew adventures.
PC options are okay, but I don't always want to throw class levels on a monster; it's a very complex way to advance them. And why would GM materials be a hard sell? It seems like much of what Paizo sells is flavor material specifically aimed at GMs (or adventures, which are also aimed at GMs), so why not create something with monster customizations intended for GMs?
The primary down side I see is that it might make existing creatures and monstrous NPCs seem quaint, seeing how they won't have any of the new options. But the same's true of old modules and adventure paths in regards to new PC options, I suppose.
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber
Having just obtained this book, I give it a Thumbs up. That said. Minor spoilers for Rise of The Runelords (it mentions Mokmurian for example in the Stone Giant section) but it would basically be impossible to do this book without spoiling runelords (since it has rune giants and their role in golarion), so It's not a big deal.
I'm still reading my PDF (I've just the Tiaga giant to finish), but I just had to type I think the illustrations of the Storm Giant on page 52 and the Frost Giant on the cover / last recto page are two of the finest examples of fantasy illustrations I've seen.
Ever.
Bravi, Paizo!
-- Andy
Jason Nelson
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games
Glad people are enjoying the book. Those looking for ideas for contents of giants' bags will be very happy. Nuff said.
I'm still reading my PDF (I've just the Tiaga giant to finish), but I just had to type I think the illustrations of the Storm Giant on page 52 and the Frost Giant on the cover / last recto page are two of the finest examples of fantasy illustrations I've seen.
Ever.
Bravi, Paizo!
-- Andy
I liked the hill giant pic along with the intro story for them it really helps set the pace for what to expect and to be honest I don't think you could resist letting out the wtf chuckle at the one on the right and harsk's reaction.
... to be honest I don't think you could resist letting out the wtf chuckle at the one on the right and harsk's reaction.
Yeah, I've always thought Hill Giants were so dumb you could shoot them in the head and they'd keep tossing rocks at you until the "Hey, I am have sharp stick in muh think-box!" thought caught up with ... "Ooops I r deaded!" hehe
In commenting on the art in this campaign setting, I was just saying I considered some of it up there with some of Todd Lockwood's best stuff (see Third Edition Draconomicon,) or the Brothers Hildebrandt's Tolkien work from the late 70s-early 80s.
An illustration I could look at for three or four minutes and enjoy, then wonder about the back story, then enjoy.
And Jason, the words in it aren't too shabby either! I'm planning on posting a review this weekend.
Giants Revisited errata - can giants without Quick Draw feat throw multiple rocks per round?
Overall, throughout Paizo product literature the answer appears to be NO.
Given that and as an aside, I think most rock throwing qiants would swap out one of their existing feats for quick draw; it's too useful for them to pass up.
Now, why are the following two giants in Giants Revisited an exception to the rule?
Page 21 - Orynox Marchelin (Male fire giant fighter 9) - Ranged rock +22/+17/+12/+7 (1d8+10 plus 1d6 fire and smoke)
Page 50 - Rahstalshan (Female stone giant elder sorcerer 10) - Ranged rock +17/+12/+7 (1d8+10)
Each of these can throw multiple rocks per round and don't have Quick Draw feat listed in their stat block. My guess is that they slipped through the cracks during editing.
Can the authors or a Paizo staff member please confirm these giants are in error and should have had Quick Draw feat?
Blasting Boulder
The boulders you hurl explode upon impact, laying waste
to nearby creatures.
Prerequisites: Smoking Boulder, base attack bonus +13,
heat rock special attack.
Benefit: You can infuse rocks thrown as part of an
attack action with volatile fire energies, adding one of
the following effects to a thrown rock affected by your
Smoking Boulder feat.
Choking Smoke: All creatures in the affected 10-footradius
spread are nauseated for 1 round.
Concussive Blast: Creatures in a 10-foot-radius burst are
deafened and staggered for 1d4 rounds (Fortitude negates).
Incendiary Explosion: The creature struck by this rock takes
4d6 points of fire damage, other creatures within a 10-footradius
burst take 2d6 points of damage, and all affected
creatures catch on fire. A successful Reflex save halves the
fire damage taken and negates catching on fire.
