I was bouncing around character ideas with my DM and he agreed to let me play a half-giant using the Race Builder. After much discussion, we concluded that a half-giant was (probably) tall enough to be considered Large sized with a reach of 10ft.
I don't have any specific questions, it's more just a general inquiry about how I should play a Larged-Sized PC and things I should be mindful of. Up until this point I've exclusively played Medium-Sized PCs, so I'm pretty clueless to what I should be aware of while playing a Large character.
Additionally, if you have any advice for my DM for how to run a game with a large-sized PC I'd be glad to pass it on. Please let me know if any additional information/clarification would help!
get DR and a lot of strength and two-hand things. you have an AC penalty so try to mitigate it with DR or more armor. be aware armor will cost more, so best to use the magic item variety. to-hit penalty means you should really try to get that damage back, which means go for big weapons.
@Eltacolibre
We actually talked about just that publication when I pitched a Half-Giant. Though I didn't have a problem with the way DSP presented the Half-giant, my DM took issue with some aspects of the race as presented. I don't want to get into what those problems were because I don't want to misrepresent my DM's opinions.
Besides, I respect "The DM's word is final" mentality. So I'll work with what I've got, and what I've got is a big'n.
basically, as a large character you need to be melee, so a two-handed fighter or a barbarian shouldn't be bad.
@Bandw2
I was planning on melee of some sort anyway, but are ranged options or even dex-based options so unoptimal? Sure there are size penalties to Dex involved, but surely it could still be viable?
The benefit to large is the STR and damage increase and reach. Ranged you have the penalty so you're looking at a 16 dex MAX, opposed to the 20 you'd have had if you had a bonus to it.
not completely it's just hard to improve damage on ranged attacks, and the -1 to-hit means you want probably a +3 to damage somewhere. if you want ranged you shouldn't be large sized, except maybe with guns and some vital strike stuff or something.
small sized characters make great mages for instance just due to the +1 to hit.
also, size from race doesn't effect stats like dex, you simply get a -1 to-hit. (at least in the race creation rules)
Large (7 RP)
Prerequisites: Humanoids taking this quality must have the giant subtype.
Benefit: Large creatures gain a +2 size bonus to Strength and a –2 size penalty to Dexterity. Large races take a –1 size penalty to their AC, a –1 size penalty on attack rolls, a +1 bonus on combat maneuver checks and to their CMD, and a –4 size penalty on Stealth checks. A Large creature takes up a space that is 10 feet by 10 feet and has a reach of 5 feet.
According to the SRD there's a size penalty to Dex.
Still, you make a good point.What about actually playing out combat? I imagine Large+Reach for a PC makes combat a fair bit easier if they're melee.
oh, hmm, i could have sworn it was different. though it doubles my points you;d have to try to gain 6 damage you wouldn't normally have for a ranged character.(though you coudl burn the stat allocation to make the character have +0 to dex)
yeah, reach means you can trip people and what not people before they touch you without even going reach build. your size makes the CMB better too and you wouldn't need the feat for trip all that much.
might even want your specific character to get some dex, just to mitigate that AC penalty and maybe make combat reflexes really worth it.
Enlarge person could be quite interesting to use, as you'd get to be Huge with even more reach and strength.
Large characters would be prime for a hurler type of character. throwing stuff around and applying STR to your ranged attacks in combination with a reaching melee would make a formidable force.
Another thought, throwing PEOPLE around by using your extended reach and size to grapple, and then use them as large ammunition like throwing large rocks. in which case the massive strength would rock. the big downside would be where you are able to be surrounded by more people by taking 4x the area of a medium PC, and not even touching the squeezing required for most places that Medium characters don't worry about.
Final thought(before i stop myself) being a bottleneck brawler: namely being someone who finds a choke-point and uses his/her massive size and reach to overcome a large number of foes by blocking passage, and forcing them to engage you in smaller numbers(1-4 at a time) in stead of on an open field situation(1-12 at a time).
Enlarge person could be quite interesting to use, as you'd get to be Huge with even more reach and strength.
*chuckles evilly* That just makes things more interesting... wow!