New Race, Firbolg (and new class for Half-Orc and Firbolg)

ZanathKariashi

Firbolg - Giantkin

Min/Max (including bonuses/penalties from below)

14/20 str, 8/15 dex, 12/18 Con, 8/18 int, 8/18 wis, 3/12 Cha

Benefits -

+2 str

+13 HP at creation

15% magic resistance

Base AC is 3.

70% chance to deflect attacks from missile weapons, negating the attack completely. 5% chance of reflecting missile attacks back on their shooter.

Gains a bonus APR when wielding 2hded weapons.

Immunity to spells that only affect Human-sized or smaller targets (such as charm or hold person).

Gains the ability to cast a spell per day at set levels -
1: Identify, once per day.
3: Ray of Enfeeblement, once per day.
5: Friends, once per day.
7: Charm Monster, once per day.
9: Polymorph Self, once per day.

A Firbolg with shaman levels gains additional spells at set levels-
1: Color Spray, once per day.
2: Blindness, once per day.
3: Reflected Image, once per day
4: Spook, Once per day.
5: Glitterdust, Once per day.
6: Blur, once per day.
7: Invisibility, once per day.
8: Mirror image, once per day.

------------------------------------

Penalties-
-2 charisma
Takes 1d4 bonus damage from 2hded weapons
Cannot use any equipment aside from weapons or quick-slot/consumables items.
Cannot use most darts, bows, slings, x-bows, daggers, clubs, unless they're specifically made for giants.
Suffers a 50% penalty to personal xp from all sources.

Available classes-
Fighter

Possible future classes -
Shaman
Fighter/Shaman

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Shaman - (Cleric kit)

Races available: Half-orc, Firbolg
Alignment: Any
HD: D6
Saves: Priest
Thac0: Fighter
Proficiency: Priest
XP Chart: Cleric

Weapons Available:
Any

Other Equipment use:
Any equipment a warrior or priest can use.

Cleric spells:
Normal cleric progression, but they can only learn spells available to druids. Gains raise dead at lvl 9.

Cannot turn undead.

scriver

That race is severely overpowered.

O_Bruce

I can totally see Gorion adopting giantkin instead of Sarevok, and I can totally see giantkin growin up in a Candlekeep....

etagloc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_DqV1xdf-Y

relax you crazy ass powergamer ;D

Michail

I have to ask. Is that a full 2nd edition firbolg? There are level caps at 12 for fighter and 7 for shaman and they need 3 times the XP to level as shaman (worse than level adjustment, no level 9, sorry). They also should be able to wield two 2handed weapons and increase size/shrink, but game mechanics don't allow those. If we move to 3rd edition, there are less problems, but there is still no way to implement the powerful build trait.

It seems to me that in order to work it would have to be a hybrid of 2nd and 3rd ed. or a firbolg only in name, severely toned down and existing only for roleplaying purposes. Still, if they can implement one without unbalancing the game, why not.

karnor00

scriver said:

That race is severely overpowered.

Underpowered is how I'd describe it :

"Cannot use any equipment aside from weapons or quick-slot/consumables items".

That's a pretty crippling restriction in the BG games. It would also make the game much less interesting through not having the excitement of getting new gear.

But I'm not sure why Firbolgs would get innate magical abilities though? Aren't they just smallish giants?

LadyRhian

In Faerun, there is one area that Giantkin come from, and it's a place called Hartsvale in the far, far north. PC Firbolgs Get +2 to Strength and -2 to Charisma. Any class who has a strength over 18 gets to roll exceptional Strength. They also get +1 Con and -1 Wisdom. They are limited to the classes of Fighter (Top cap level 8), Mage (6), Shaman (7), Thief (10) and a new kind of mage, a Runecaster (12). They receive 5 bonus hit points per level, besides any they may get from high Constitution, have a natural AC of 5, and can use two handed weapons one-handed without penalty. On the other hand, they cannot wear any armor more protective than Splint Mail, and they take larger than man-sized damage from any and all weapons.

Two other types of Giants, Voadkyn and Formorians, are also detailed for PCs.

These are out of the Forgotten Realms sourcebook "Giantcraft".

Michail

@LadyRhian
Hm.. I am looking at a pdf of it that gives slightly different and comfusing stats. Like, mage not allowed at all unless runecaster, fighter max level 1 (may be an error, seen it 12 elsewhere), thief cap at 7, shaman cap at 6 etc (page 34 of the book, if anyone is interested), no bonus/penalty to CON and WIS. Could it be there are different editions or errata?

PS. According to the book, they are almost always lawful good, and have a minimum of 15 STR!

ZanathKariashi

The version I put in is from Complete book of Humanoids.

@karnor00

They're based on Irish giants who have several trickster related magical powers.

Most of the spells they would receive aren't in BG though, so I picked a couple spells that had similar overall effect. (Detect Magic = Identify, Diminunization (shrink) = Ray of Enfeeblement, Fool's Gold = Friends, Forget = Charm Monster, Alter Self = Polymorph Self)

The Firbolg shaman spells though are correct, since they just gain several 1st and 2nd level Illusion spells due to the extra magical power of being a shaman allowing them to perform additional tricks.

LadyRhian

@Michall No, you're right. Shaman was 6, and no mage unless Runecaster. I misread the page in my exhaustion.