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9 months ago ::
Sep 25, 2012 - 9:02PM
#1
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- VCL Emeritus
- The Inquisitor
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Giants . . .Are they really something more than a tall human? Well, in the world of D&D, they sure are. James brought up a lot to chew on in his article about the giants. Whether or not you agree with everything he wrote, I’m going to be using a lot of his discussion as a basis for today’s game. Game? Yep, we’re going to be playing a game again. Due to the newer formats of my articles, I’ve enjoyed getting more interesting and varied information in richer conversations. So today, we’re going to play!
Dragon's Eye View: Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum
Discuss this article here.
Quentin Small
WotC Online Community Coordinator
All around helpful simian
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9 months ago ::
Sep 25, 2012 - 9:32PM
#2
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Date Joined:
May 12, 2009
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I went with: Storm Giant B, Cloud Giant A, Fire Giant D, Frost Giant C, Stone Giant F and Hill Giant E
Spoiler:
Show
Yan
Montréal, Canada
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9 months ago ::
Sep 25, 2012 - 9:32PM
#3
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Whichever one is the Cloud Giant - by process of elimination and the fact that it's the only one besides the stone giant with jewelry, I'm assuming it's A - it doesn't look cultured or sophisticated enough. I mean, the guy is barefoot, which reads as uncultured and unsophisticated, and his front-skirt thing there has a ragged edge. He's also wearing pauper-pants, and while I know that Cloud Giants aren't supposed to be all that smart, his face is a little more "grind your bones to make my bread" than "enjoy gourmet food and sophisticated music". I'm not saying he should look red-carpet ready - he's still a giant - but I don't think the visuals reflect the angle for Cloud Giants quite enough. The other giants look great, I just think the cloud giant should look a little more cultured and refined.
While it's hard to see at the scale, it might be kind of neat if cloud giants repurposed treasures made by ordinarily-sized mortals for their own uses - they might wear bracelets as rings or earrings and crowns as bracelets.
Dwarves invented beer so they could toast to their axes. Dwarves invented axes to kill people and take their beer.
"Feel free to claim I said anything you like. How's someone going to call you out on it? Are they going to be all like, 'I know all of the things that Gary said, and that's not one of them?'"
- Gary Gygax
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9 months ago ::
Sep 25, 2012 - 9:54PM
#4
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Date Joined:
Sep 11, 2008
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Why is this even being posted? The same giants they have been using for the last two editions. 2nd edition was almost there but a little more crude.
The cloud giant definitely looks like he got run over by the turnip truck with his unibrow and mouth agape. Are his front teeth missing? Maybe he is a meth head? Hard to tell with tiny pictures. He's got civilian clothes on, not armor, so I suppose that is stupid's idea of sophistimacated.
These guys are almost as codified as the chromatic dragons. What's the point?
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9 months ago ::
Sep 25, 2012 - 10:10PM
#5
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I got the same results as Plaguescarred but nothing really struck me for Cloud giants so I actually put none of the above for that one (I mean, they have a good sense of smell but I wasn't going to pick A just because he had the biggest nose. Where's the fine silk and jewelry? I guess the cloak...).
I'll be honest though, I don't use giants that often. Not sure why, my campaign's just rarely call for them.
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9 months ago ::
Sep 25, 2012 - 11:07PM
#6
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Date Joined:
Jun 21, 2008
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I picked None of the Above for Stone Giant and was very tempted to do the same for Cloud Giants.
The rest are fairly self explanatory. As for "removing the visual cues"... Well Giant A looks like he's standing on fluffy stuff, Giant B is holding a sword that looks like a lightning bolt, Giant D's hair looks like flames and Giant F is standing on a big rock. While I see the importance in providing hints, I thought the purpose of these articles was to define the aesthetic and "cultural" elements that define what each monster is supposed to possess. It's pretty self defeating to just paint Cloud Giants standing on clouds all the time to show you that they are cloud giants. That was the only reason why I picked A for Cloud Giant, rather than anything else. They should look haughty and regal, not like they are in need of having their eyebrow surgically seperated and have run face first into the wall of their mountain castles a few times.
Love the look of Giant B but does anyone feel like the proportions are off? Like, lower body way too short? Anyway, he reminds me of this pair of statues in Dresden quite a lot.
Love C, D and E with nothing to add apart from keep up the good work. Maybe Giant D could lose a few (hundred?) pounds. He looks like someone tried to squeeze Giant E into some heavy armor.
If Giant F is supposed to be the Stone Giant, he does not look nearly rocky enough IMHO.
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9 months ago ::
Sep 26, 2012 - 12:34AM
#7
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Date Joined:
Jan 21, 2004
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Leg proportions seem to be an issue, although fire giants have always been quite stocky. It's odd how they seem to be monkeying with height for no good reason. Admittedly, height was always arbitrary but I've never really moved on from hill 12, stone 14, fire 16, frost 20, cloud 22, storm 24, titan 30.
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9 months ago ::
Sep 26, 2012 - 12:49AM
#8
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Date Joined:
Aug 19, 2007
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The proportions are a thing, but I'm not sure if they're canonical or simply an art style issue. On the one hand I believe we're supposed to ignore art style factors - but the line is really blurry when it comes to fantasy creatures.
If he wants us to look at a human dressed in a particular way and say "Is that human wizard?" I can easily ignore the giant bulging torso and tiny legs. (well not easily, but I can be objective about them and judge only the clothing aspect) But if I'm looking at a giant or something...then how do I know what's anatomy and what's stylistic skew?
I understand not trying to force artists to draw in the "house style" when they're just working on basic concept art stuff, but it would be so much easier to evaluate if the art had a more naturalistic style.
What if he displayed a human drawn by the same artist as a reference? :P Semi-seriously... that would really help.
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9 months ago ::
Sep 26, 2012 - 1:01AM
#9
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Date Joined:
Aug 19, 2007
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Why is this even being posted? The same giants they have been using for the last two editions. 2nd edition was almost there but a little more crude.
The cloud giant definitely looks like he got run over by the turnip truck with his unibrow and mouth agape. Are his front teeth missing? Maybe he is a meth head? Hard to tell with tiny pictures. He's got civilian clothes on, not armor, so I suppose that is stupid's idea of sophistimacated.
These guys are almost as codified as the chromatic dragons. What's the point?
The cloud giant has fangs:
recedingrules.blogspot.com/2011/12/disco...
Maybe this is why I found the test really obvious... when I was kid we used to play 2nd edition using a 1e monster manual (because that's what we had available to us)
Also, having fangs doesn't proclude being cultured - don't be fangist.
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9 months ago ::
Sep 26, 2012 - 2:46AM
#10
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Date Joined:
Aug 22, 2007
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I only see a frost giant and a hill giant. And that is ONLY because one has viking horns and the other is half naked.
Otherwise they look like the wrong cultures.
Orzel, Halfelven son of Zel, Mystic Ranger, Bane to Dragons, Death to Undeath, Killer of Abyssals, King of the Wilds.
Constitution Based Class for Next!
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