Your experience roleplaying with a half-giant PC

[kirisin]

I agree with you a bit here,
I dont think "Half-Giants" are the issue, but more the nuance of playing a special race.

Arelith allows all ideas of RP (within rules and rating!) but I would highly recommend people research a bit onto their chosen special race, more than just the stats fitting a build.

Gloaming - Creatures from the UD, though not unwelcomed many NPCs will still be weary of them. They should be reacting the the sunlight's blinding.

Avarial - They arnt just elves with wings, there is a huge amount of lore regarding hatred of dragons, their whimsical free nature, even small things like unable to sit still for too long are great RP points to explore.

Fey'Ri - Definitely not succubi, this got made into an application and has been placed into the monsterous section, they should be more subtle on what they are or be shunned from much of the surface.

Kenku - Kenku have a great amount of lore, and I have seen great ways of their communication and actions. Rumours of kenku being just thieves has many people (NPC and players!) keep track of their coin purse when one of these are about.

Tiefling/Aasimar - These are not 1st or 2nd generation, its a distant past dealing with a planar creature. Tieflings have a lot of variation, it doesnt always have to be "Im pretty becuase I have succubus blood". Same with Aasimar, look up what type of celestials there are, and what traits add to your story. Flaws can add a lot of RP as much as benefits!

Genasi- These should be a watered down bloodline, your hair is not on fire 24/7. Your not a rock golem. The differences can be pronounced for the RP, but they should be subtle.

Now it can be very hard to really explain every single intricate detail, as there are thousands of players with each of their own stories and ideas. And all can read the lore ever slightly differently.
All of this does come onto the otherside also, I would love to see more Player reactions to the different creatures/races.
An Elf walking around uncollared in UD? Wheres their master! Heck is that elf not working atm? get them something to do!
Has your character ever seen a gloaming before? Its like a shadow moving, like a monster AAH!!!

I could probally waffle on for days, so im leaving it at that

Good points.
But it raises my confusion as to where the complaints regarding half giants are comeing from. Regarding jotunhold we source incredibly heavily, follow the real life roots of the inspiration and have done heavy research into how to roleplay them.

Every prospective half giant we speak with regarding which root they decide, human or giant raised we encourage to read the lore from giantcraft. We love both and try to ensure they have perspective and grasp on the lore as well as their characters perspective.
Human raised should know it for how to play against it.
Giant raised should know it for how to play into it.

While its understandable its a lot of effort, no matter what sort of reward you play there should be a higher standard, even if its not roleplay you like.

[DM MoonMoon]

At this time, the choice of half-giants has been removed as an option.
It may change in the future, not my decision, I am not in charge of award rotation
If they do come back, perhaps it would be a case of application, just to set a standard.

[Kalthariam]

I did notice a trend with some of these posts that are critical of Half-giant RP.

Some people think Half Giants are RPing too "Human"
Some people think Half Giants are RPing too "Giant."

However this seems to only be a problem with Half giants?

Half Elves do not get the same scrutiny
Half Orcs do not get the same Scrutiny.

If a half Elf or Half orc chooses to embrace one half of their heritage more than the other. No one bats an eye, no one sees this as a problem.

However if a Half Giant leans too much to trying to be too human to be relatable, or too giant to honor the ancestors they are proud of.. suddenly it's a problem?

Just seems a bit ridiculous to me, and a very weak argument given the state of other half-breed races in the setting.

[Security_Blanket]

Half-orcs aren't usually from a human and orc but a human and a half-orc, I don't know if that's the same for elves. If you want to RP a human than just play a human, if you want to stand out then spend that award on some extra height.

[MissEvelyn]

I did notice a trend with some of these posts that are critical of Half-giant RP.

Some people think Half Giants are RPing too "Human"
Some people think Half Giants are RPing too "Giant."

However this seems to only be a problem with Half giants?

Half Elves do not get the same scrutiny
Half Orcs do not get the same Scrutiny.

If a half Elf or Half orc chooses to embrace one half of their heritage more than the other. No one bats an eye, no one sees this as a problem.

However if a Half Giant leans too much to trying to be too human to be relatable, or too giant to honor the ancestors they are proud of.. suddenly it's a problem?

Just seems a bit ridiculous to me, and a very weak argument given the state of other half-breed races in the setting.

Alright, I'll be the first to say, I have noticed and played with, in my time, a fair amount of Half-Elves, who were played just like humans. Same complaint there, then.

With half-orcs, 9 out of 10 that I have run into have been fantastic with their Half-Orc RP. The other 10% were MMO-like grinders who mostly ignored RP, so my bias here is colored by my positive experiences.

However, this is a thread about half-giants and our RP experiences with them, not about Half-Elves or Half-Orcs. But if you make a thread on them, I'll be more than happy to pitch in on that discussion

[Kalthariam]

The reason I brought them up, was specifically because I personally have not seen anyone making threads saying "Oh, Half Elves act too much like elves." or "Half orcs act too much like Orcs." (Or the inverse acting too much like humans) and making that the main crux of their complaints about a specific half-breed race.

I'm sure there are probably bad apples all around, that's just how life is, but I don't see people actively making large complaint threads about Half-orcs or Half-Elves or disabling them because of these same issues.

It just seems a bit odd that it's bad if half-giants lean into this behavior and thus they need to be disabled and it's bad RP, and all Half-giants are punished because of the actions of a few (Which again.. I don't think should be a thing people are punished for?), but the same isn't done for other half-breed races.

It feels like a very flimsy complaint to me. Especially seeing how a majority of people's interactions with Half Giants (Based on the poll results) have been positive..

[kirisin]

I did notice a trend with some of these posts that are critical of Half-giant RP.

Some people think Half Giants are RPing too "Human"
Some people think Half Giants are RPing too "Giant."

However this seems to only be a problem with Half giants?

Half Elves do not get the same scrutiny
Half Orcs do not get the same Scrutiny.

If a half Elf or Half orc chooses to embrace one half of their heritage more than the other. No one bats an eye, no one sees this as a problem.

However if a Half Giant leans too much to trying to be too human to be relatable, or too giant to honor the ancestors they are proud of.. suddenly it's a problem?

Just seems a bit ridiculous to me, and a very weak argument given the state of other half-breed races in the setting.

They also dont have a rule hanging over their head like a sword of damocles unfortunately. So its not the greatest comparisson.

[kirisin]

Annam give me strength if you try to insist, they are not I’ll go to Ed Greenwood myself.

https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/1832889031236939932

Get rolled.

[Rubricae]

Annam give me strength if you try to insist, they are not I’ll go to Ed Greenwood myself.

https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/1832889031236939932

Get rolled.

Who would've guessed that they've been apart of the setting all along. Not like the amount of citations pulled indicated that or anything.
Anyway remove gloaming it only has two paragraphs.

[Kenji]

Annam give me strength if you try to insist, they are not I’ll go to Ed Greenwood myself.

https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/1832889031236939932

Get rolled.

LOL time to rotate 'em Half-Giants back in the rewards!

[Sincra]

Annam give me strength if you try to insist, they are not I’ll go to Ed Greenwood myself.

https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/1832889031236939932

Get rolled.

Yes because going and asking him repeatedly if they exist in the setting is surely not going to come up positive when the same was done for breast milk questions.

This has big "dad said no let's ask mum" vibes.

Also for those of us without twitter all this says is they never made a template, the rest is either hidden or need an account to see.

[Kite_Alaster2]

Just going to chime cause the question seems to have been entirely unrelated to Arelith. And not just someone asking him repeatedly about it.

[kirisin]

Annam give me strength if you try to insist, they are not I’ll go to Ed Greenwood myself.

https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/1832889031236939932

Get rolled.

Yes because going and asking him repeatedly if they exist in the setting is surely not going to come up positive when the same was done for breast milk questions.

This has big "dad said no let's ask mum" vibes.

Also for those of us without twitter all this says is they never made a template, the rest is either hidden or need an account to see.

"Asking repeatedly" it was asked once by one person, to the creator of the forgotten realms setting, for the reasons one assumes of authorial intent.

It lends legitimacy to the race existing just as any other half breed mix, Which some seem to be fighting that they even exist in the first place (clearly incorrectly with all of the sources I've posted)

Don't disparage it just because you have a personal gripe about half giants.

In regards to not haveing a twitter? That's irrelevant to any of the Hgiant discourse but someone posted it for you.

I do however invite you to post some actual arguments.

[stoneheart-]

also just because it could exist (I don't see how, just from a sheer logistical standpoint if you know what I mean), does not mean it should exist on arelith. there's a lot of canonical races in the realms that could exist on arelith, but don't.

half-drow for example

[Sincra]

In regards to not haveing a twitter? That's irrelevant to any of the Hgiant discourse but someone posted it for you.

Or you could post the whole conversation and not take that as an attack? It's not irrelevant either because it's the very post you're linking as a gotcha.

I can't see it because I lack a twitter account and would like to see it.

Edit:
Thanks for the person that posted it!

[Tashalar]

Yes because going and asking him repeatedly if they exist in the setting is surely not going to come up positive when the same was done for breast milk questions.

This has big "dad said no let's ask mum" vibes.

Also for those of us without twitter all this says is they never made a template, the rest is either hidden or need an account to see.

This is a real Snuggybear response, FYI. You should know better than to be like this, letting your personal biases take the reins.
Just the type of response that encourages me not to return to the server - I made the right choice. This was not constructive in any way, just denigrating and condescending.

Also, Ed made the Snuggle a Bugbear setting in the first place, lol

[stoneheart-]

additionally comparing half-giants to half-orcs or half-elves is silly. they are much more comparable to something like a half-dragon or half-fiend or half-celestial, as they are a large and powerful monster compared to elves (a player race) and orcs (a run-of-the-mill enemy). it's also no longer allowed, as far as i know, to have a genasi who is the direct child of a genie for example, even though that is technically possible as there is no "half-genie" or "half-elemental" so it just goes from elemental creature to genasi in a technical sense.

just play a firbolg, which has been a player race since 2e and not some one off post from the creator's twitter after they were asked about something that has never existed in the game

[Sincra]

An expanded post then,
This is the feat he refers to in Jotunbrud
https://www.realmshelps.net/charbuild/feat/Jotunbrud
I have no issue with this feat.

The half giant he refers to is
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki ... understone
Who is listed as human, but likely with the jotunbrud feat, especially as it matches the feat text:

You are descended from the giants who ruled the mountain-spanning empire of Ostoria in ages past, and possess a truly impressive stature.
Prerequisite: Damaran or Illuskan human
Region: Damara, The North.
Benefit: Whenever you receive a modifier based on your size on an opposed roll (such as during grapple and bull rush attempts), you are treated as Large if that's advantageous to you. You are also considered to be Large when determining whether a monster's special attacks based on size (such as improved grab or swallow whole) affect you.
If you wish to determine your character's height and weight randomly, your base height is 6'4" (male) or 6'0" (female), and your base weight is 210 lb. (male) or 170 lb. (female). Refer to Table 6-6 in the Player's Handbook.
Special: You may only take this feat as a 1st-level character.

This to me actually speaks more to how the feat should be added if anything!

Further

Madeiron hailed from Hartsvale, a small kingdom near the Silver Marches. There, he was a distant cousin of the queen and his lineage went back to Brun I, son of Hartkiller. Madeiron left his home for a life as an adventurer.

The place the one half giant is explicitly written that we have acknowledged, so he is a descended runt of the half giant.
Which makes sense.
He is taller than most people!

This I don't think anyone has issues with because it's actually all linked together, however, at no point does it say half giant but rather the inference is the feat jotunbrud.

[Kite_Alaster2]

An expanded post then,
This is the feat he refers to in Jotunbrud
https://www.realmshelps.net/charbuild/feat/Jotunbrud
I have no issue with this feat.

The half giant he refers to is
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki ... understone
Who is listed as human, but likely with the jotunbrud feat, especially as it matches the feat text:

You are descended from the giants who ruled the mountain-spanning empire of Ostoria in ages past, and possess a truly impressive stature.
Prerequisite: Damaran or Illuskan human
Region: Damara, The North.
Benefit: Whenever you receive a modifier based on your size on an opposed roll (such as during grapple and bull rush attempts), you are treated as Large if that's advantageous to you. You are also considered to be Large when determining whether a monster's special attacks based on size (such as improved grab or swallow whole) affect you.
If you wish to determine your character's height and weight randomly, your base height is 6'4" (male) or 6'0" (female), and your base weight is 210 lb. (male) or 170 lb. (female). Refer to Table 6-6 in the Player's Handbook.
Special: You may only take this feat as a 1st-level character.

This to me actually speaks more to how the feat should be added if anything!

Further

Madeiron hailed from Hartsvale, a small kingdom near the Silver Marches. There, he was a distant cousin of the queen and his lineage went back to Brun I, son of Hartkiller. Madeiron left his home for a life as an adventurer.

The place the one half giant is explicitly written that we have acknowledged, so he is a descended runt of the half giant.
Which makes sense.
He is taller than most people!

This I don't think anyone has issues with because it's actually all linked together, however, at no point does it say half giant but rather the inference is the feat jotunbrud.

Just want to say a tiny correction. The jotunbrud feat was brought up in the question by the person asking if it meant half giants were a thing since it implies jotun ancestry not Ed. Ed's response starts at the 1). As for why Ed did the response like that probably so it would go out to everyone following him since if he replied directly to the response only the person asking the question would've seen it.

[stoneheart-]

can anyone actually explain to me what the aversion to firbolgs is? They're giantkin but actually have a cool culture that easily jives with Arelith's. They're fairly balanced mechanically rather than being OP like half-giant was. They have a reason to exist..

just make one guys.. you will survive not being blue or whatever. i promise!

[Sincra]

An expanded post then,
This is the feat he refers to in Jotunbrud
https://www.realmshelps.net/charbuild/feat/Jotunbrud
I have no issue with this feat.

The half giant he refers to is
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki ... understone
Who is listed as human, but likely with the jotunbrud feat, especially as it matches the feat text:

You are descended from the giants who ruled the mountain-spanning empire of Ostoria in ages past, and possess a truly impressive stature.
Prerequisite: Damaran or Illuskan human
Region: Damara, The North.
Benefit: Whenever you receive a modifier based on your size on an opposed roll (such as during grapple and bull rush attempts), you are treated as Large if that's advantageous to you. You are also considered to be Large when determining whether a monster's special attacks based on size (such as improved grab or swallow whole) affect you.
If you wish to determine your character's height and weight randomly, your base height is 6'4" (male) or 6'0" (female), and your base weight is 210 lb. (male) or 170 lb. (female). Refer to Table 6-6 in the Player's Handbook.
Special: You may only take this feat as a 1st-level character.

This to me actually speaks more to how the feat should be added if anything!

Further

Madeiron hailed from Hartsvale, a small kingdom near the Silver Marches. There, he was a distant cousin of the queen and his lineage went back to Brun I, son of Hartkiller. Madeiron left his home for a life as an adventurer.

The place the one half giant is explicitly written that we have acknowledged, so he is a descended runt of the half giant.
Which makes sense.
He is taller than most people!

This I don't think anyone has issues with because it's actually all linked together, however, at no point does it say half giant but rather the inference is the feat jotunbrud.

Just want to say a tiny correction. The jotunbrud feat was brought up in the question by the person asking if it meant half giants were a thing since it implies jotun ancestry not Ed. Ed's response starts at the 1). As for why Ed did the response like that probably so it would go out to everyone following him since if he replied directly to the response only the person asking the question would've seen it.

Fair point, but what I think Ed is pointing to there isn't necessarily the need for a halfgiant template but rather the inclusion of the Jotunbrud feat effectively leads to being one without needing to explicitly state it.
If we read the lore of his pointed to individual it 1:1 matches up to the feat!
I think that's cool personally.

[kirisin]

can anyone actually explain to me what the aversion to firbolgs is? They're giantkin but actually have a cool culture that easily jives with Arelith's. They're fairly balanced mechanically rather than being OP like half-giant was. They have a reason to exist..

just make one guys.. you will survive not being blue or whatever. i promise!

No one has an aversion to firbolgs, this isnt about firbolgs its about half giants. It's also not about "being blue or whatever" the half giants have a cool culture that easily jives with arelith.

I dont think you understand the lore of giantkin, jotunbrud and half giants, I'll gladly go through it with you if you like?

Please point out to me how half giants are OP?

Please point out to me how half giants differ I'm power too firbolgs? (This ones a trap Their approximately equal)

[DeepWebAssassin]

Guys, with all due respect to Mr. Greenwood -- what he posts on twitter is purely an optional resource for what we do with arelith. We have a whole staff of people that decide what's right for arelith in the context of our server. To use Ed's own phrasing -- our "Realms." He's always encouraged tailoring the experience to your table's vibe.

If that vibe includes a ton of half giants, cool. But that decision should be made by the team, not done because Ed Greenwood said it's plausible on twitter one time. He's said a lot of things on twitter, some of which definitely have no place here.

-

As for some genuine, well-intentioned feedback on Half-Giants that I held back from saying earlier: Almost every time I see one outside of Jotunhold, they're doing something OOC. Just recently I walk into Guldorand and see one spamming Q and E in the middle of the square. Someone else sees him doing it and they start doing it to. Then they both say "hehe" and keep walking. This sort of represents my baseline experience with the subrace (I mainly play in Guldorand, so my sample size are the ones who frequent that city).

Before you shoot me, I KNOW it's just my subjective, anecdotal experience with them. I know some (or even many) of you have had much more positive experiences consistently. Also if you don't do this, I'm not talking to you with what I'm about to say.

But for a time period where the RP value of this race is actively being discussed on the forums, I'm still consistently seeing a lot of this ingame. There's players of every template that do it, it's not exclusively a half giant sickness. But I personally see a much higher percentage of it in half giants to the point where I've just started to avoid them because I feel like they don't respect the effort I put into being in-character.

Just some food for thought if you're playing half giant. Before you decide to uncheck detect mode and run in circles, or quote monty python, or wordlessly punch your OOC friend in front of 15 other players and pretend it didn't happen -- ask yourself...

Is what I'm writing meant to be taken seriously?

If the answer starts to become "no" fairly often, it's worth taking a step back and assessing what your template has added to your character other than size. A lot of times I feel like I'm just talking to a very big, teenage, human boy with a viking hat on. Not someone who's caught between two worlds and unable to really fully embrace either one. Not someone who suffers with the weight of only being "half" of two separate things, continuously on a search for identity, like a half-elf or half-orc would.

Anyways that's why I voted overall negative. Maybe I've just been incredibly unlucky, it's hard to say because I can only go off what I've personally seen.

[kirisin]

This to me actually speaks more to how the feat should be added if anything!

I actually really like this idea, but i am not in favour of the removal of the racial template we have in arelith.

[Kite_Alaster2]

Guys, with all due respect to Mr. Greenwood -- what he posts on twitter is purely an optional resource for what we do with arelith. We have a whole staff of people that decide what's right for arelith in the context of our server. To use Ed's own phrasing -- our "Realms." He's always encouraged tailoring the experience to your table's vibe.

If that vibe includes a ton of half giants, cool. But that decision should be made by the team, not done because Ed Greenwood said it's plausible on twitter one time. He's said a lot of things on twitter, some of which definitely have no place here.

-

It actually does have some relevance here cause if you look through even this thread there are people who deny half giants even exist and want to dismiss any argument for them being a thing by saying they don't exist.