Frost Giant, Jarl

Giants combine great size with great strength, giving them an unparalleled ability to wreak destruction upon anyone or anything unfortunate enough to get in their way.

Giants have a reputation for crudeness and stupidity that is not undeserved, especially among the evil varieties. Most rely on their tremendous strength to solve problems, reasoning that any difficulty that won’t succumb to brute force isn’t worth worrying about. Giants usually subsist by hunting and raiding, taking what they like from creatures weaker than themselves.

All giants speak Giant. Those with Intelligence scores of 10 or higher also speak Common.

Frost giants are justifiably feared as brutal and wantonly destructive raiders.

A frost giant’s hair can be light blue or dirty yellow, and its eyes usually match its hair color. Frost giants dress in skins and pelts, along with any jewelry they own. Frost giant warriors add chain shirts and metal helmets decorated with horns or feathers.

An adult male is about 15 feet tall and weighs about 2,800 pounds. Females are slightly shorter and lighter, but otherwise identical with males. Frost giants can live to be 250 years old.

A frost giant’s bag usually contains 1d4+1 throwing rocks, 3d4 mundane items, and the giant’s personal wealth. Everything in a frost giant’s bag is old, worn, dirty, and smelly, making the identification of any valuable items difficult.

A frost giant leader is often a barbarian, cleric, fighter, or sorcerer, but some of the most evil and ruthless frost giants become blackguards. Ambitious and domineering, they quickly rise to rule their tribes, and then lead their fellows further and further into cruelty and wickedness.

The frost giant jarl described here has all the qualities and abilities of a typical frost giant, as well as other abilities (see the statistics block) from being a blackguard. Details on some of these abilities follow.

Giants relish melee combat. They favor massive two-handed weapons and wield them with impressive skill. They have enough cunning to soften up a foe with ranged attacks first, if they can. A giant’s favorite ranged weapon is a big rock.

Frost giants usually start combat at a distance, throwing rocks until they run out of ammunition or the opponent closes, then wading in with their enormous battleaxes.

A favorite tactic is to lay an ambush by hiding buried in the snow at the top of an icy or snowy slope, where opponents will have difficulty reaching them.

Rock Throwing (Ex): Adult giants are accomplished rock throwers and receive a +1 racial bonus on attack rolls when throwing rocks. A giant of at least Large size can hurl rocks weighing 40 to 50 pounds each (Small objects) up to five range increments. The size of the range increment varies with the giant’s variety. A Huge giant can hurl rocks of 60 to 80 pounds (Medium objects). The range increment is 120 feet for a frost giant’s thrown rocks.

Rock Catching (Ex): A giant of at least Large size can catch Small, Medium, or Large rocks (or projectiles of similar shape). Once per round, a giant that would normally be hit by a rock can make a Reflex save to catch it as a free action. The DC is 15 for a Small rock, 20 for a Medium one, and 25 for a Large one. (If the projectile provides a magical bonus on attack rolls, the DC increases by that amount.) The giant must be ready for and aware of the attack in order to make a rock catching attempt.

Aura of Despair (Su): This jarl radiates a malign aura that causes enemies within 10 feet of him to take a -2 penalty on all saving throws.

Aura of Evil (Ex): This jarl radiates a strong aura of evil (see the detect evil spell) as an 8th-level cleric of an evil deity.

Command Undead (Su): This jarl can command and rebuke undead as a 6th-level cleric.

Dark Blessing (Su): This jarl applies his Charisma modifier as a bonus on all saving throws.

Detect Good (Sp): At will, this jarl can use detect good as a spell-like ability, duplicating the effect of the detect good spell.

Poison Use: Blackguards are skilled in the use of poison and never risk accidentally poisoning themselves when applying poison to a blade.

Smite Good (Su): Twice per day, this jarl may attempt to smite good with one normal melee attack. He adds his +4 Charisma modifier to his attack roll and deals 8 points of extra damage (1 per blackguard level) if the attack hits. If he accidentally smites a creature that is not good, the smite has no effect but it is still used up for that day.

Typical Blackguard Spells Prepared (3/1; save DC 11 + spell level): 1st—cause fear, doom, magic weapon; 2nd—bull’s strength.

Possessions: +2 frost greataxe, +2 full plate armor, cloak of Charisma +2, ring of minor energy resistance (fire), 2 doses of bloodroot poison. (Benefits of these items are included in the statistics block.)