AdvancedDungeons&.Dragons

GIAHTCRAFTby Ray Winninger

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Credits

Design: Ray WinningerEditing: Karen S. BoomgardenCover Illustration: Jeff Easley

Interior Illustrations: Matt Cavotta, Daniel FrazierMaps: Dori Hein

Electronic Prepress Coordination: Tim CoumbeTypesetting: Nancy J. KerkstraGraphic Design: Dee Barnett

Special Thanks: Jeff Grubb, Troy Denning, Julia Martin, and William W. Connors

ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, AD&D, DUNGEON MASTER, FORGOTTEN REALMS, AL-QADIM, and MONSTROUS COMPENDIUMare registered trademarks owned by TSR, Inc.

The TSR logo and MONSTROUS MANUAL are trademarks owned by TSR, Inc.

All TSR characters, and the distinctive likenesses thereof, are trademarks owned by TSR, Inc.

©1995 TSR, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A.

Random House and its affiliated companies have worldwide distribution rights in the book trade for the English language prod-ucts of TSR, Inc. Distributed to the book and hobby trade in the United Kingdom by TSR Ltd. Distributed to the toy and hobby tradeby regional distributors.

This product is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or unlawful use of the mate-rial or artwork contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of TSR, Inc.

9487

TSR, Inc.201 Sheridan Springs RoadLake GenevaWI 53147U.S.A.

ISBN 0-7869-0163-2

TSR Ltd.120 Church End

Cherry HintonCambridge CB13LB

United Kingdom

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The Colossal Kingdom 4How to Use This Book 5Other Useful Works 6An Important Note 6

Annam's Legacy 7War with the Dragons 7Annam Betrayed 8The Fall of Voninheim 10The War of the Hart 11The Legend of the Twilight Spirit .. 12

The Nature of Giantkind 13Ten Myths About Giantkind 13General Physical Features 19Giant Combat 20Senses 23Birth, Growth, and Development .. 23Giant Society 24Lineage 25Clerical Parley 25Language 26General Role-playing Tips 29

The Kin 31Firbolgs 32Verbeegs 35Voadkyn 37Fomorians 40

Giant Religion 41Priests and Shamans 42Ordning Family Tree 42Giant Deities 43

Rune Magic 58Runecasters 59Using Runes 60Rune Descriptions 62Creating New Runes 69Runecasters in Jotunbrud Society .. 70Giant Sorcerers 70

The Ice Spires and Their Environs 71Geographic Overview 71Survival in the Spires 72Natural Illusions 73Whiteouts and Fairy Ice 74Hartsvale 75The Eternal Blizzard 83Ogre Caves 83The Mist Caves 84The Dour Fissure 86Typical Giant Lairs 88

Ice Spire Ogres 122Shadowhounds 124Krotter 126

Table of Contents

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t m- mnotm- mm her doorreminded Illyra of an ancient elvenriddle: What is the only gem shat-tered as easily as glass? The answer,of course, is silence.

"Come, come! Open this door at once! Mymaster would speak with you!"

Illyra shouted something unintelligible("Nowhere to roam?") and refocused her con-centration upon the scroll spread out before her.

"If you do not open this door immediately, Ishall boot it down!"

Illyra's tormentor paused before makinggood on his threat, allowing her to re-immerseherself in the scroll and its secrets.

"Once again, I warn you, madam. If you donot open up at once, I shall kick this door tosplinters." Another long pause.

When the first sharp kick shook her tinylibrary to its foundation, Illyra finally rose fromher bench, opened the window beside her longreading table, and thrust her head out over thestreet. From this new vantage, she recognizedthe several men who stood before her doorwayas the merchant Borabel and his bodyguards.

"Oh, it's you. Why are you still here? I toldyou . . . nobody's home!" Illyra relatched thewindow and returned to her studies.

When the second loud kick clinked and rat-tled her collection of Askavarian pottery, shefinally relented and ordered her page to fetchthe cretins into the sanctum, where she joinedthem a few moments later.

"All right, Borabel, you finally have my atten-tion. Why don't you tell me what coaxed youfrom your hole?"

"You should take care, Illyra," Borabelsniveled. "My brother-in-law personally servesthe earl and he . . ."

". . . is a fat, ill-mannered toad, just like your-self. My time is precious, peddler. Quickly now,what brings you here?"

Visibly fuming, Borabel reached beneath his

voluminous purple robes and produced a thickdisk of tarnished gold. The disk was so largethat it filled his entire hand, fingertip to thumb."I need you to examine this amulet."

Illyra took the heavy disk in her own handand rubbed her fingertips along its surface."Where did you get this?"

"That scoundrel Varvig owes me two hundreddantars. He assures me that this covers his debt,though I can't believe a single word that passesthrough his cursed lips. He says he found thething on one of his insipid adventures."

Genuinely interested in the strange object,Illyra stared and scratched her head as Borabelgrew evermore impatient. Finally, he could nolonger bear the suspense.

"Well?""Give my page 25 dantars and I'll tell you

what it is.""You're a thief! I've heard talk that you con-

sult with street rabble for a few scant silvers!""I charge what my patrons can afford to pay.

Perhaps someone else might help you." Illyraheld the disk in her outstretched arms, offeringto return it to its owner. Again, Borabel scowled.

"Very well. Twenty five dantars." On cue, oneof the merchant's bodyguards stepped forwardand presented Illyra's page with a suitablyweighty coin purse. "Now speak."

Illyra continued to brush her fingers acrossthe disk's surface. "First of all, it's not an amulet—it's a coin."

"A coin? Rubbish! That thing weighs 2stone—no man could carry more than a few ofthose. I want my 25 dantars returned, you char-latan!" Borabel's guards began murmuringamongst themselves.

"You're right—no man could carry an entirepurse of such coins. But coins such as this werenever carried by men."

Intrigued, Borabel and his guards suddenlygrew silent.

"Have you ever heard of Ostoria?"

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The unbroken silence from Borabel and hismen meant they had not.

"Three thousand years ago, an empire ofgiants stretched across the mountains of Faerun.No one knows exactly when, how, or why thecolossal kingdom collapsed1—some say the col-lapse came in the wake of an epic struggleagainst an armada of dragons; others say theempire fell amidst friction between the gianttribes themselves."

"And this empire of giants was namedOstoria?"

"Yes. This is an Ostorian coin.""What's it worth?""Ostorian coins are very rare. I'd say it's

worth perhaps five times Varvig's debt—to theappropriate parties, of course."

The flames of greed burned bright in Bora-bel's eyes. He spent the next several momentsconsidering how he might spend a thousanddantars of unexpected profit. Once he noticedhis guards staring at him, expecting him tospeak, he violently shook his head and returnedhis consciousness to its present surroundings.

"This is absolute rubbish! Giants! Hah! Thisthing is worth no more than its raw gold value. Iwant my purse back!"

Illyra couldn't hide her amusement. "I'llreturn triple the fee in exchange for the coin."

"You're a thief!" Borabel shouted as hesnatched the disk from Illyra's hands. He hur-riedly exited the library with a well-practicedsneer, his guards stumbling to keep up.

"Mistress," wondered Illyra's page. "Don'tgiants assume that humans bearing Ostoriancoins are tomb robbers? Shouldn't you havewarned the merchant? If he foolishly tries to sellthat coin to a giant, he'll be killed!"

Illyra tilted her head skyward and scratchedher chin in mock surprise.

"Oh! Did I forget to mention all that? My, Iam getting careless in my old age."

. j . . j . . 3 . .$ . .$ .

The glory of ancient Ostoria may be gone,but the giants themselves live on; the last ofthe ancient tribes maintain scattered strong-holds near the Endless Ice Sea, a lone and tor-mented stone giant carves incrediblesculptures from the ancient mountains over-looking the Dragon Coast, and fire giantshamans dance along the rims of volcanoeslocated amidst the Thunder Peaks. Today, thethundering footsteps and ear-splitting tauntsof the Jotunbrud (Joe-tuhn-brood, as giantsrefer to themselves in their ancient tongue) areoccasionally heard from the wastes of the Sav-age North to the plains of the Shining South.Although the last great empire of giants wasextinguished more than several thousandyears ago, the giants continue to flourish andlook ahead to a day when the Colossal King-dom might rise again.

Giants are among the oldest inhabitants ofToril. Their history dates back to long beforethe collapse of the Raurin Empire and thebeginning of recorded history in the Realms.In fact, according to their own ancient lore, thegiants were the very first creatures to domi-nate their environment and gain sentience.Throughout their many centuries of rise andfall, of course, the Jotunbrud have acquiredmany secrets. Now you have an opportunityto share them.

In this sourcebook you'll read about the col-lapse of the Colossal Kingdom and the tragicfate of the giant gods, who led their own wor-shipers into their present state of disarray.You'll meet the giants and giant-kin them-selves and explore their varied cultures andcustoms. You'll explore ancient secrets of sor-cery with giant-kin runecasters and man theforges alongside legendary fire giant artificers.You'll visit important landmarks and exploreancient ruins.

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How To Use This BookMost of the material found in FOR6 Giantcraftfits into one of four categories.• Historical information, like the histories of the

giant races that compose "Annam's Legacy,"continues to elaborate upon the historical back-ground of the FORGOTTEN REALMS® CampaignSetting. As far as actual play is concerned, his-torical information is best used as inspirationfor original adventures. In other words, if a his-tory speaks of an ancient city that was buriedbeneath an avalanche long ago, DMs shouldthink about crafting an adventure in which thecity's ruins are discovered. Such adventureshelp provide campaigns with a "sweeping epicfeel" and allow players to explore the rich his-tory of the Realms for themselves. This sort ofexploration is often half the fun of any AD&D®campaign.

• Rules provide new or expanded game infor-mation to help DMs integrate giants and theirspecial capabilities into their campaigns.

• Locales are detailed locations (often mappedand fully keyed) that can be incorporated intoadventures with minimal effort.

• Cultural information explores the giants' cus-toms, attitudes, and beliefs. Cultural informa-tion is an excellent source of tidbits DMs canuse to effectively role-play giants in theirgames.

indispensable items, the following works mayprove useful:

Troy Denning's "Twilight Trilogy" (The Ogre'sPact, The Giant Among Us, and The Titan of Twi-light) introduced readers to Realmsian giantsand giant-kin and their customs, and Mr. Den-ning's short story "Twilight" published in theRealms of Infamy anthology provides furtherinsight.

2128 Monstrous Mythology details some of thegiant gods discussed in this work.

2135 The Complete Book ofHumanoids origi-nally presented the various giant-kin as playercharacter races.

An Important NoteNote that Giantcraft concerns itself only with thegiants of the FORGOTTEN REALMS Campaign Set-ting. Giants in other settings may vary from thecustoms and details presented here.

Although the AL-QADIM® Campaign Settingis an official part of the overall FORGOTTENREALMS Campaign Setting, the giants ofZakhara are not related to the giants detailed inthis product in any way. Zakharan giants areenshrouded in mysteries all their own.

Without further ado, then, let us begin at thebeginning...

Other Useful WorksThis sourcebook assumes DMs are using theAD&D 2nd Edition game rules, but those whoare still playing under the 1st Edition rulesshould experience few problems when convert-ing this book for their own use.

Use of the Player's Handbook, the DUNGEONMASTER® Guide, and (especially) the MONSTROUSMANUAL™ (or the appropriate MONSTROUSCOMPENDIUM® sheets) is necessary for completeenjoyment of this product. In addition to these

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