Giants raised within human society?

[Pharier]

Hey guys I was reading through the background regard giants and their cultures and was wondering how they would adapt being raised within a human society?

For example say a baby stone giant was saved from the ruins of a now lost stone giant tribe (Barbarian attack of whatever) and was adopted into a good natured human society. Would the giant adapt well into this different society becoming one akin to the humans, just as if he were a human born himself or would he become distant and long for other giants of his kind once he becomes of age?

[prosfilaes]

It depends on the society, the giant, the specifics of him growing up. In the real world, people sometimes have a hard time saying why one child became a biker and another an accountant. There's obviously going to be some longing for more similar companionship, especially sexually. If he does stick around, it's got to be because he successfully turns his strength into an asset, if he becomes a Paul Bunyan type figure.

I'm assuming they mature at the same rate as humans; if they're more like elves, they'll never fit in.

[Noir le Lotus]

The Mammoth Lords tribes are fond of giants ; it is quite usual for these tribes to capture baby or young giants and raise them as members of the tribe, so that they can protect the tribe when they are grown.

[DJEternalDarkness]

In my games this isn't a super rare thing. Many times my party has fought say a clan of giants and only had children left. Brought them back to Sandpoint and raised them to the best of their abilities. The stone giants are all amazing engineers & masons, and the hill giants are great at um, pulling up trees and sleeping. I tend to use things like that for color as well as moral choices for my party.

[Cthulhudrew]

I would think a giant's upbringing would fall more or less in the same realm as a humans, up until the point where he starts to show his more obvious giantish traits (puberty? I'm not sure when giants physically mature).

At that point, he might start to be ostracized, particularly in a medieval fantasy world, where superstition and a well deserved fear of monsters run rampant. At the least, he'd probably be regarded with a high degree of fear and suspicion, at the worst, he might be driven out violently.

A lot depends on the size and nature of the community, of course.

[The NPC]

Part of how they interact with their adopted society would also be how giant they are. Giants of the large size category would have an easier time than huge or gargantuan.

[ikki3520]

And heck, a large stone giant with a permanent reduce person is quite normal sized ;)

How about that, peasant thats a bit odd looking and freakisly strong & durable. Lived long too. Otherwise not too far off the norm. (tho supraskilled, thanks to hitdice..)

[prosfilaes]

ikki3520 wrote:

And heck, a large stone giant with a permanent reduce person is quite normal sized ;)

That's 2,950 GP, enough to rent a place (the cheapest place) in Old Korvosa) for 600 years, or an apartment in Midland for 40 years, or more than a third the price for a townhouse in Old Korvosa.

Besides which, I suspect that anyone with a permanent reduce person on them would have some resentment. They're so much of a freak in their society that someone dropped 3,000 GP to have them fixed. If they could afford the 150 GP, I can see them getting that dispelled and then heading off to meet people who would accept them as they are.

[ikki3520]

Not done due to others, but for yourself. Like various cosmetic surgeries. Ridiculous sure, but so is much of human society starting with clothes under most circumstances.

Besides, the giant is made of hitpoints and has strength enough to crack a few orc skulls, so gathering up the cash shouldnt be too hard. A bit local adventuring. I'd say one giant can handle solo a adventure meant for levels 1-3.

[prosfilaes]

When is it done? After childhood, after they've been dealing with the fact that they're Large their entire childhood? It's a big step, and I think a lot of them would adapt to being the big guy (there's a lot of jobs where a stone giant would be awesome to have) and others would leave for places where they were more normal. Some of them would do, I'll give you that.

In any case, an NPC soloing an adventure meant for levels 1-3 tends to step on my realism versus gamability button. I would regard most adventures as having way too much gold and being way too predictable CR-wise for realism. Perhaps the stone giant could become an NPC adventurer, but I don't think it would be a safe and fast track to wealth; more like many cold nights spent in swamps figuring out when to run away, and when you can charge more for goblin eradication then they're asking.

In any case, since I can't edit my post, please mentally remove my numbers from the Guide to Old Korvosa and add from the Core Rulebook "Average (10 gp/month: The PC lives in his own apartment, small house, or similar location—this is the lifestyle of most trained or skilled experts or warriors." for a total of 25 years of living expenses (including food ... which interestingly enough doesn't seem to have modifiers for being large.) (I know, same thing, but better source and less havering).

[KestlerGunner]

Stone Giant in the bestiary has intelligence 10, so I don't see why it wouldn't happen.

At some point, stone giants prefer seclusion, so being raised in a city could make the stone giant juvenile irritable and possibly become a runaway. Too much noise, not enough high cliffs. It'd be like trying to raise a human half-submerged in a pool of salt water for some. They would prefer mountain cities.

Food would be an issue. How would you afford that many goats to eat every week?
Maybe they would live in the city and do odd jobs for food, not coinage. When they grew tired of 'all the noise' they would lumber off up the mountain and not return for months.

I can see itinerant stone giants sleeping in public parks and having human children play on them now. There's a lot of potential for a really cool city.

[prosfilaes]

Looking it up, stone giants become adults after almost a century. (Giants Revisited) And with or without that, I'm not sure humans could raise a stone giant; imagine going through the terrible twos with a 4-foot tall, ST 8 child, or a 11 year old who's 8 feet tall and ST 18-20. If you add on the fact that a stone giant's childhood is longer then a human's normal lifespan? I think someone who took 90-120 years to grow up, raised in a human society, would have serious problems amounting to an Evil alignment; everyone he knew as a child died when he was growing up. On a shorter scale, everyone he knew his age stopped treating him as a peer after a few years. That would play hell with the psyche.

[The NPC]

prosfilaes wrote:

Looking it up, stone giants become adults after almost a century. (Giants Revisited) And with or without that, I'm not sure humans could raise a stone giant; imagine going through the terrible twos with a 4-foot tall, ST 8 child, or a 11 year old who's 8 feet tall and ST 18-20. If you add on the fact that a stone giant's childhood is longer then a human's normal lifespan? I think someone who took 90-120 years to grow up, raised in a human society, would have serious problems amounting to an Evil alignment; everyone he knew as a child died when he was growing up. On a shorter scale, everyone he knew his age stopped treating him as a peer after a few years. That would play hell with the psyche.

See the Forlorn Elves.

[James Sutter]

One of the main characters in the upcoming novel Called to Darkness is a giant raised in human society--specifically, one captured by Kellids in the Realm of the Mammoth Lords.