Dungeons & Delvers: Ettins as Mutant Giants
While working on giants I realized that ettins are basically two-headed hill giants:
In 3rd Edition they lag behind a bit in terms of Hit Dice, Strength and Constitution, and while they for some reason can't throw rocks their two heads let them dual-wield without suffering severe penalties (to the point where unless you were specced for it there was no reason to bother).
5th Edition gives them the same number of Hit Dice, but increases the hill giant's size to Huge, making them one size category larger than the ettin. They can still throw rocks, but since extra attacks are no longer penalized the ettin's two heads now ensure that one head is always awake, plus they're harder to charm, blind, stun, fear, and being knocked unconscious.
I've read that trolls can sometimes have more than one head, and so can some giants, which led me to think: why bother with the ettin as a standalone monster at all?
So for Dungeons & Delvers, in the section on Giants we're going to include two or more heads as an optional ability that you can use with any giant. I'm thinking this could also change the name, so if you stick it on a frost giant you'd have a frost ettin, and if you did it to a fire giant you'd have a fire ettin.
Doing so ups their XP value and grants them, among other things, bonuses on Perception and Search checks, mind-affecting spells and abilities, and allows them to more easily handle multiple opponents at once (something we'll touch on later).
You can now get a physical copy of Dungeons & Delvers: Black Book in whatever format you want (the PDF is also on sale on DriveThru)! We've also released the first big supplement for it, Appendix D, so pick that up if you want more of everything.
The first issue of The Delver, a magazine featuring fungal-themed content for both players and GMs (including an adventure in which myconids find religion), is available!
Our latest Dungeon World class, The Satyr, is now available.
Dwarven Vault is our sixth 10+ Treasures volume. If you're interested in thirty dwarven magic items (including an eye that lets you shoot lasers) and nearly a dozen new bits of dungeon gear, check it out!
By fan demand, we've mashed all of our 10+ Treasure volumes into one big magic item book, making it cheaper and more convenient to buy in print (which you can now do).
In 3rd Edition they lag behind a bit in terms of Hit Dice, Strength and Constitution, and while they for some reason can't throw rocks their two heads let them dual-wield without suffering severe penalties (to the point where unless you were specced for it there was no reason to bother).
5th Edition gives them the same number of Hit Dice, but increases the hill giant's size to Huge, making them one size category larger than the ettin. They can still throw rocks, but since extra attacks are no longer penalized the ettin's two heads now ensure that one head is always awake, plus they're harder to charm, blind, stun, fear, and being knocked unconscious.
I've read that trolls can sometimes have more than one head, and so can some giants, which led me to think: why bother with the ettin as a standalone monster at all?
So for Dungeons & Delvers, in the section on Giants we're going to include two or more heads as an optional ability that you can use with any giant. I'm thinking this could also change the name, so if you stick it on a frost giant you'd have a frost ettin, and if you did it to a fire giant you'd have a fire ettin.
Doing so ups their XP value and grants them, among other things, bonuses on Perception and Search checks, mind-affecting spells and abilities, and allows them to more easily handle multiple opponents at once (something we'll touch on later).
Announcements
You can now get a physical copy of Dungeons & Delvers: Black Book in whatever format you want (the PDF is also on sale on DriveThru)! We've also released the first big supplement for it, Appendix D, so pick that up if you want more of everything.The first issue of The Delver, a magazine featuring fungal-themed content for both players and GMs (including an adventure in which myconids find religion), is available!
Our latest Dungeon World class, The Satyr, is now available.
Dwarven Vault is our sixth 10+ Treasures volume. If you're interested in thirty dwarven magic items (including an eye that lets you shoot lasers) and nearly a dozen new bits of dungeon gear, check it out!
By fan demand, we've mashed all of our 10+ Treasure volumes into one big magic item book, making it cheaper and more convenient to buy in print (which you can now do).
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