Your experience roleplaying with a half-giant PC

[Cthuletta]

Hey, it's ya gal Cthuletta, back at it again with the lengthy posts!
TLDR to Start: I really enjoyed just about every interaction with half-giants. I've had RP where my character is very close to some, others where my character was more-so a confused stranger but overall I found them interesting and the community in Jotunhold in particular to be one of the most inclusive on Arelith. Sure I've had a couple interactions where I wasn't so gung-ho about the other, but we all have different tastes and preferences. By and large, I liked them quite a lot and hope they return as an option so we can see more of them.

On a more in depth note, one thing in particular that I found fun to play out was asking where the half-giant was from and what their family was like. Almost every half-giant had a different tale that lead to how they viewed themselves, either closer to their giant parent, closer to their human parent or just straight up unsure themselves and wanting to learn more about X side. Not to beat the proverbial horse but it is definitely a route you see half-orcs and half-elves go down. Sure, those two have more lore and are more 'accepted' amongst society, though you could argue this is because they're not only more common but also more difficult to identify at a glance compared to a half-giant. Not to mention that setting-wise half-orcs in particular are meant to seen as threatening or frightening but we kinda hand-wave that due to various factors. We're all humans playing a game together after all. Each half-giant was distinct from the other in my experience which makes sense to me. Some of them shared qualities that could reasonably have come from a shared culture on the behalf of one parent, others didn't and it added flavour and variety to a race that could understandably be inwardly conflicted about what they truly are when their physical differences are so obvious to the outside world.
One thing I've never seen was a half-giant posing as a full-blood giant. I've seen one or two comment that they WISH they were, but that's a character's mindset and not what they're trying to portray on their character sheet.

When it comes to the speech that was mentioned, I admit I am horrible at understanding it myself. It was never my forte. Learned a bit, roleplaying with certain people, though I'm far from 'fluent' in Ye Olde English. It lead to some pretty funny situations when my character was very confidently wrong in translations on behalf of them because SHE thought she had it nailed when she very much didn't. I found it curious, interesting and endearing. I'm someone who loves accents and bits of language intermingled to give a character flavour of either mindset or origin so this was something I liked to see even if I myself couldn't always comprehend it. Perhaps that was the point, who knows! Language is very fun and can be used in so many ways to give a certain feeling to a character.

As far as the culture goes, I have a particular view on it. It's by and large a positive one. The lack of half-giant written/canon lore is disappointing, it's even less than gloamings who have... one page dedicated to them? One and a half? This either leaves a lot up to interpretation or a very lost roleplayer trying to figure out 'Okay what now.' when standing in the New Character area. If they've never RPed with other half-giants prior, they're not gonna know what to expect. I think the team writing a bit more on our Wiki with the aid of some half-giant players for the benefit of those interested in playing that race is a wonderful idea!
How I tend to view Jotunhold specifically because of this is that they are a cloister of like-minded individuals, welcoming others of their kind to come and learn of their giant-side history or how to fit into this world that doesn't really have many of them. What happens when a group of people of any kind are grouped together due to their similar nature? A distinct culture forms naturally. You see it all over in Arelith, Bendir and Myon in particular comes to mind. Neither of these places are standard according to the setting lore but have their own unique culture within the rules of the FR setting. Arelith is an island of weirdos! Not just special-race weirdos either, even humans who live on Arelith tend to be a bit odd since we're not playing a farming simulator like the vast majority of Forgotten Realms in lore. Jotunhold might not be a world-wide canon 'standard', but IS there a common standard among a race that is mixed between two worlds like that?
I'm of the personal opinion that Jotunhold is actually quite impressive at creating something from next-to-nothing and having done it so well. If you want to learn more about human lore and gods, just about everyone knows something about them and there are priests a-plenty. On the flip side I really loved learning more about giant culture, lore and gods through IC means rather than a Wiki page, due to some half-giants venerating their giant parent and sharing their love for that culture. It was interesting, generated roleplay and created a story which is what Arelith is for.

Kudos to you, Half-Giants! I hope the option to play them returns.
(Giant-kin options would also be really cool.)

[remnar]

Good.

[omnirikku]

Wildly positive, both friendly and somewhat standoffish RP, at no point was it not fun and flavorful.

I think especially with races that are unusual (see: Kenku), many players aren't picking them for mechanical power, but because they love the race. I've had wonderful experiences with most of the exotic races. Maybe that's because there's fewer by volume, but frankly, it's so often clear to me when a race brings a player joy, I can't imagine that race being unavailable to them.

Half-Giants have all been like that (with maybe one exception because I didn't see them a second time???), playing well thought out, flavorful characters, who wanted to enrich the world. I cannot imagine a greater thing for Arelith than that.

[PhaerimmBane]

Every experience I've had with the Half-Giants was always an enjoyable one. Sure many people had a tendency to copy Gyrmmirn's way of doing things, but he was the first, he was the example. As Jotunhold grew, and with it the Half-Giant faction, we started to see more diverse figures, each one making moves in their own way.

Grymmirn is of course the example we all go to, but there were many more who deserve recognition.
Malekith; a stalwart fighter, and a friend who could always be trusted.
Ywynna, the sailor who ensured Cordor's Navy was always up to spec, and like any true Lathanderite was selfless to a fault.
Several more who's names escape me due to how long it's been, but each and every one of them brought life to the race as a whole, and even went sofar as to include many of the other races.
My own High Elf; Iliquen, was not an uncommon sight among the halls of Jotunhold, especially when it was time for him to just take a break from his duties, and enjoy a bottle or three of Mjod with friends and family.

[Norsepal]

On a more serious note, I am deeply concerned about the precedent this poll is establishing.

Irongron himself stated that the poll functions should not be used as a way to critique player RP, but fundamentally, what this poll boils down to is exactly that. Where does this stop? Where is the line drawn? And where does the staff, who have a considerable degree more power over the situation than the average player has, draw their own lines for involvement, and their own personal biases for RP they want or don't want to see?

Not everyone's RP on a server is going to be everyone's cup of tea, and some of it is absolutely less serious than others, but singling out the Half-Giants in this matter in a clear opinion poll that reads far more like a referendum on Jotunhold RP is a dangerous precedent to set.

I've already gotten people saying that they wanna "correct" Yuanjun's views to be more accurate to the absolutely garbage orientalist bullshit that's the canon of Kara-Tur, despite her beliefs clearly stemming from the same source and adjusting them to make more sense to the real world inspiration while keeping a lot of the original lore intact. I do a lot of RP and situations that other people do not like, or do not mesh with. When is what I am doing going to get hammered upon? Since when is it the right of the community to pass such blatant judgement upon others, and make of this nothing more than a petty airing of grievances?

I've had times where I've deeply enjoyed Jotunhold RP, and I've had times where I've been pretty annoyed by Jotunhold RP, but neither of those aspects makes me any more fit to pass judgement upon someone else's writing style and efforts in the world, even if I might disagree with them.

Embrace Difference. Embrace Obliteration.

Those who cast judgement should see to their own affairs first.

[Lass is Class]

Mostly good.

1]

Accented language.

Nothing surprising. We speak of Faerun where folks can have secluded communities for hundreds of years - nothing too surprising if one half-giant comes from those and speaks different because raised so.

In my opinion, the nuances of the languages are a very hard quirk to play, and if we do talk of such - half-giants who did olde English, did it well.

2]

Played as half-giants.

A lot of players play their characters like literal gods or demigods, disregarding death because mechanically they know they can, or calling out killing gods avatars/balor lords, because that is what they can kill mechanically, or because they can reach 50 Strength and carry 8k+ pounds.

Personally never encountered such an insolence specifically as half-giants playing themselves as full, but perhaps it is because my experience is limited to encountering the Jotunhold finest, and firbolgs of the old.

3]

Lore adherence.

Unlike humans, hin, dwarves, elves, drow - who each have their cities/districts and lots of NPCs/PCs from whom to absorb the example of behaviour, Jotunhold is the only place on the entire island, and it isn't much sources - comparatively - to absorb good example from. So the entry into the race is much harder, as well as racial quirks, for those who didn't spend 30h+ on various sourcebooks before creating a PC. Also there here is lack of readily available materials as references to study, unlike other races.

Would help to have detailed guide on the race page, as there is very little written about them on the wiki, no advices how to play etc - and that's where a lot of players would be trying to collect their references from.

4]

Judgement.

Segregating opinions on so few half-giants (players + PCs) comparatively to other races is done too early. There wasn't much time allowed for them to develop a distinctive culture, despite all the aid that Svrt and Two-Hands did for that to happen.

Half-giants also start at a distinctive disadvantage (other races have their cities as starting points, with writwork agents, local quest areas, ability to teleport directly into/near the city etc), which decreases the speed of 'tuning up to the RP'.

TL;DR
Give the half-giants more time to become a part of the server, a bit more comfortable zones to start at (Jotunhold becoming a Jotunkin area, with more stuff to do, Traders, unique writwork etc, more dungeons with Giant-Half Giant themes), wiki articles with examples - and the race would truly shine.

In comparison. Just remember which route gnolls took and how much time was needed.

[Itikar]

The blanket block on half-giants was a loss for the server that did not add anything good or positive.

Half-giants provided interesting and good roleplay to me, and I miss that they are available for character creation, even if I have no intention of playing one.

I wish they had easier access to the Underdark, in particular for Half Stone Giants, which should have been more at home there than among surfacers.

[ThisIsNotADrill]

I read this entire thing and my only gripe is the notion that Firbolgs are beholden to the Ordning.

Firbolgs categorically reject the Ordning as a load of crap. We know this.

Anyway I've liked every half-giant I've encountered.

Also agree that (nearly) every critique directed at half-giants is significantly overshadowed by that same behavior being manifest in (nearly) every other race and class group, which makes most of them 'general RP critiques' rather than 'half-giant critiques'.

They talk funny? Mate, who doesn't talk funny around here? I can't walk five feet without encountering the Spanish Inquisition.

They lean into being giant? I see a lot of half-orcs pick for one team or the other. My half-elf leans very human. Playing Choose Your Own Adventure with your heritage is just an innate privilege of half-breeds.

Stay focused on talking points that are clear and distinct as exclusively half-giant, like their near total absence of a baseline in lore materials.

[Crookedblossom]

I am in favor of their continued retirement. What lore there is for them is either not from the editions we draw from, or is so minuscule as to only be offhanded mentions of one or two prominent characters in the entire FR setting. If we're going to have them, just have giants since we have far more in-setting representation of that to reference (with the caveat that they'll be treated appropriately IC.)

It is not a reflection of anyone's quality of RP.

I do not view the race half-giant as having any place in the server at present.

[perseid]

I was fairly on the fence. I didn't mind the archaic language many used and the rp was fine and well but the memorable rp was also very obviously from a lens that focused on the giant side of things and I don't think efforts to police the rp to emphasize these weren't true giants were actually effective enough to matter overall. It was mostly an example of why overly fantastic races should be app locked since the current tempo of enforcement mostly highlighted that if you were careful you could ride the line for a long time which just creates awkward grey areas because then you risk becoming 'that guy' if you call it out.

[Seren]

Just felt like I was RPing with really tall northmen. There was nothing particularly interesting to set them apart.

[Windows95 CD-ROM]

I'm going to be frank and speak plainly, once I spent about 3 hours roleplaying in the Jotunhold with the group that occupies that area. I found my experience to be less than stellar because of ooc memery that happened during my time present

A LOT of ooc memery. Which is a big issue on Arelith at large, but the half-giant sphere and associated characters did it at an astonishing rate in my experience. Many of them who would post their own OOC meme-bleed into public discord channels because they thought it was funny.

Yes. It was to the degree that my experience with the group was more disruptive than it was immersive, especially when it came to behaviour in the Guldorand square. I worry about the OOC culture that surrounds this group, if this OOC behaviour bleeds into IC like this. I know for a fact that some of the people I experienced that were apart of the group were lovely to role-play with on their own. The character of 'Wyatt Ever' comes to mind for me.

I state this because myself and another player have cultivated a similar discord for a faction here on the server. We uphold and try to maintain a high level of respect and integrity for the setting we want to represent. Its a responsibility as the face of a faction to lead by example and encourage the best from everyone that comes to share in the collective narrative, as well as try to be inclusive, which I've found that Grym the half giant often tries to do while adhering to his vision of character.

Another concern I have about the implementation of the Half-Giant race is the lack of lore involved.

If you look to the wiki today, you'll see that the write up for the Half-Giant race lacks a great deal of 'meat', so to speak, for the intended roleplay and lore involved. I find it to be the most lacking write-up out of all the races that are currently in the roster. In order to roleplay them properly, you presumably needed to speak with the dev that made them and be apart of the Jotunhold community in order to be exposed to the intended vision through osmosis, or track down and read material related to giants in the forgotten realms (which is a big ask especially if the material is only featured in obscure handbooks, additionally nothing is listed on the wiki). If you want to see for yourself, I'll link the wiki here. https://wiki.nwnarelith.com/Half-Giant

Since no Half-Giants exist in the lore of Forgotten Realms, the standard by which to play is only represented by lore that correlates to full Giants. I imagine this issue being the contributing factor to the issue that players were roleplaying them as full-blooded giants. Its hard to find nuance here for a race that is home-brew, with lore being completely based off a race you're technically not supposed to be representing in your roleplay.

It highlights a concern to me about the gating and intention of the race from an OOC perspective. If you were a player looking to explore being a half giant and were outside the Jotunhold community, you'd not have any set examples or written works to look to individually, as a player desiring to represent the race properly. The way to get a good grasp would be by finding yourself involved in the Jotunhold community. Otherwise, you may find yourself lost or unable to find narrative relevance in the spaces you tried to involve yourself in. I'm not alone in this thought, this post really struck itself out for me as being an example of my concern.

I played a half giant briefly, but wasn't a fan. Nothing to do with the community or the players, I just wasn't happy with the build playstyle. I suppose I didn't feel super comfortable with the lack of lore out there for them and was having a harder time with the narrative (I don't really have this issue with fey though). Overall though, no complaints and I would say positive experiences.

This is turning into a really long post, so I'll make my points as straight-edge as I can.

I think going foreward, if this race is to be fully realized, there needs to be a proper lore-write up and distinction made between Half-Giants and Full Giants present on the Wiki. There needs to be explanation and example written for the nuance of roleplay that is intended for this race, that isn't reliant on being apart of a discord or faction.

I also think that the memery I've seen from this group needs to be toned down. Because this group is THE half-giant group, it's likely caused a negative association and perception from that behaviour. It's not my intention for this to be a mean call-out. I think there's many lovely roleplayers who I've had lovely interactions with that are present in the group individually. The memery is a barrier for inclusion with the wider community. It's important that we have respect for each other and their immersion when they come to play on this server.

[LordofThunder]

I have had good encounters with the giants in general. Friendly, approachable, inclusive.

I unfortunately do have a problem with the old English. Mostly playing after work and not being a native English speaker, I would usually avoid or circumvent the majority of the Giants simply because I had no brain energy or power left to decipher a dead language that even native English speakers have a hard time to understand.

To me, it's a different language entirely and if I understand correctly, since its not comprehensibile by the vast majority, should become mechanically a language that either you understand or don't IN CHARACTER.

Understanding the Old English requires me as a player understanding it, not my character.

It's like saying that speaking Latin is an acceptable language in-game and that all modern latin language (i.e. French, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, etc) speakers should be alright with it. Would any of you say thats alright? Or is it because is an English-related language it makes it alright?

[silverpheonix]

I have had good encounters with the giants in general. Friendly, approachable, inclusive.

I unfortunately do have a problem with the old English. Mostly playing after work and not being a native English speaker, I would usually avoid or circumvent the majority of the Giants simply because I had no brain energy or power left to decipher a dead language that even native English speakers have a hard time to understand.

To me, it's a different language entirely and if I understand correctly, since its not comprehensibile by the vast majority, should become mechanically a language that either you understand or don't IN CHARACTER.

Understanding the Old English requires me as a player understanding it, not my character.

It's like saying that speaking Latin is an acceptable language in-game and that all modern latin language (i.e. French, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, etc) speakers should be alright with it. Would any of you say thats alright? Or is it because is an English-related language it makes it alright?

I'll agree with this. We don't get many half-giants in Andunor. I've seen maybe four, with only one sticking around and the second sporadically showing up. One half-giant spoke in Auld English, the rest spoke like normal people in the modern age. Old English half-giant made me pick up my laptop, squint at the screen, and whisper to myself "what the [expletive] are they saying?"

It's frustrating.

[Choofed]

in both instances, this behavior has nothing to do with the race and everything to do with culture and playerbase.
yes, there is a lore accessibility issue. yes, there was an annoying amount of them trying to mimic Grym's manner of speech.

The effect Mala and Arvalie had on gloaming server culture and portrayal was huge.

The effect of that Grym's player had on half giant server culture and portrayal was huge.

If there's any conclusion I can make on this thread it's that players like this who influence a subrace with their neat characters deserve praise.

[kirisin]

Disclosure:
My Bias is going to be clear cut here. I’m Imor one of the stone half giants of the hold and I’ve had a large hand in playing part of the Jotunhold leadership. I’m also the author of the thread that discussed the award cycle initially as it came out, around the 8th of April this year.

That can be found here: viewtopic.php?f=37&t=45323&p=337435#p337435

There have been good points in the thread both ones I would agree with and even some good points I personally dislike. There are also some bad points as well which is okay, if there is a problem I would truly like to get to the heart of the matter and create a better play space for everyone.

Lets start with a few general points I see come up regularly.

• Players roleplay Half-giants as full giants

This has always been a difficulty, not so much in that players are having a difficult time roleplaying as a half-giant as opposed to a full giant. In that there is significant nuance in the concept itself. Paint has made a fantastic contribution to this point in an earlier post to what many in the jotunhold position take.

“What some consider 'roleplaying as giants,' is, fittingly, half-giants trying to understand their blood -- the thing that makes them stand out freakishly-- but they are more often than not considered embarrassing runts to their own sires. Part of this process is embracing and reinterpreting that culture, and a lot of conversations about that culture happened in the half-giant subcommunity and often. Sometimes, those conversations got really heated, and sometimes, they produced shame in the participants. There is always the knowledge for a half-giant that they are not what their giant ancestors are , nor will they ever be, and for many, this shame is what motivates them to act bigger and prouder. Is this really the same as roleplaying as a giant? Absolutely not. This is just an incredibly easy and fun motive to get out there and do stuff. Anyone who's been around half-giants long enough will know this.”

To those who are accusing half-giants as roleplaying as full giants what is the functional difference between roleplaying as a half-giant (considered in full giant culture to be an embarrassment) compensating for this perceived disgrace by heavily leaning toward their giant ancestry and a half-giant player treating their character as being a full giant.

Nuance.

I think a solution to this issue would be a clarification of the rule rather than being a footnote on the wiki page. Perhaps some work on establishing a lore source on the wiki page as well which as far as I understand is/was coming?

• There isn't a lot of lore available/The lore isn’t in the right edition

To start with I’ll admit its light specifically on halfgiants but it’s there and available, as well as all of the lore on full giants in the first place.

The primary source of information we pull from Giantish culture is Giantcraft a 2nd edition AD&D accessory for forgotten realms, it contains detailed information on giants as characters and as a race, background lore, culture details as well as expectations for the DM’s running giants in their setting. The various types of giants the traits and societal structures and a significant portion of their religion. It’s a fantastic resource.

For half giants specifically there is mention of a son of a demigod, Brun the son of Hartkiller. He’s included in City of Splendors: Waterdeep (NOTE: He is not a God himself his father isn’t even a god as someone incorrectly stated earlier. All giants are direct descendants of god blood as they can trace their lineage back to Annam.) (Page. 34)

Kaedlaw Burdun son of queen Brianna Burdun in the Hartsvale referenced in The titan of twilight (Page. ? it’s a novel go read it.)

Half giants are mentioned in the Castle spulzeer adventure, put into fighting pits against dwarves and elves. (Page. 7)

Champions of valour suggests that in your own world Goliaths are quite literally the half breeds between Stone giants and earth Genasi (Page. 12)

Complete Psionics has the half giants as a racial class (Page. 148)

Expanded Psionics has more information on half giants including a physical description, personality, relationships (Page. 12)

I am certain there are more that I am missing but to say that there is only one source is plainly ridiculous. I see a lot of people complaining about the existence of half giants simply tacking it on to multiple other arguments, I would insinuate that these people are moving the goal posts.

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

• Population and rareity

Regarding their rarity, it’s a moot point.

Tieflings are supposed to be somewhat rare, but they are a favourite among D&D enthusiasts as a player base. There is an assumption made that player characters are unique and not indicative of the full population of faerun.

If for some reason that anyone argues arelith is different rather than running a tabletop campaign with a party of 4-6 adventurers because of the scale of the player base than I would argue you’d need to consider population density of Faerun as a whole.

It is almost impossible to find statistics on what % of the population is of what race and I believe this is by design as it would be far too limiting creatively to place hard limits on such a thing, but someone has tried from what I can tell adding up mentions of cities and characters from various source books.

https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?threads ... ntrations.

This seems to indicate a heavy human Bias, and my own opinion is that most towns and cities are depicted as having a lot of humans. If anyone argues that half giants are too prevalent in Arelith then surely the same thing applies to every other non-human race due to this.
As per the last census humans make up about 37.6% of the active player base. I’m pretty sure there are more humans in the world of faerun than that compared to lore.

If your upset about the portrayal of the half giant culture then your opinion is the antithesis of roleplaying, everyone that plays D&D, Arelith or any other roleplaying game is there to forge a character, embroil themselves in a culture that might not be their own and to build a community. When did it become less fun to “Yes and…” and for lack of better phrasing more fun to shit on something interesting and unique.

Unfortunately, I’m out of spoons to continue this, I may look back in a few hours or a day or two and continue.

In frith,
Kirisin

[Shadowy Reality]

I will also echo what many half-giant players mentioned. Also for full disclosure, I play (she's been shelved for a while) a the half-giant Herdis, so I might just be biased, I also did not vote.

I find this poll and some of the posts crazy, because they do not reflect my experience at all. I would understand the great majority of people having a neutral opinion, not everyone is inclusive, not everyone is an amazing roleplayer, but straight out negative? That's mind boggling.

The great majority of half-giants did not speak with heavy accent, and most of the ones who did were super invclusive and amazing roleplayers.

I saw no half-giants pretending to be full giants, not any more than the Horde are pretending to be orcs. It's fine for half-races to lean more heavily on one side than other, but they know in their heart they are half-breed. We even had a DM in an event mock our half-giants for it, that we were no more than children pretending to be something we are not. Which was fun, and lead to some retrospective. But Jotunhold is the home many of our misfits found.

It really makes me wonder where all of these negative interactions came from.

[Autumn Wind]

My experience has been completely positive, especially with the Giant Jarl!

I will only say however that the "half-giant" definition is meaningless to me. If someone is significantly taller than me, they are a giant. Real life giants are usually 7ft to 8ft in height. I once met a European professional wrestler who was 7ft tall and bulky as well. I did a double take when he ducked under the door frame to walk into the store I was working. I have never felt so small in all my life as this large and very friendly man stood over me.

If they are technically half-giants. So what? They are bigger than me. They make me feel small. They are a giant and I roleplay with them just like that. Besides. Would a common adventure understand the nuance between Full Giant, and Half Giant? I'm not sure I even know the difference OOC.

Just a personal opinion.

[MissEvelyn]

I only experienced roleplaying consistently with a single half-giant. And it was... meh? Everyone treated them like they were a human. Not even a larger human. No one addressed their height or massivism, not even themselves. There was nothing half-giant or giant about them. They were roleplayed exactly as a human, and everyone around them treated them like a human.

To me, that was slightly disappointing. I'd finally gotten to roleplay consistently with one - especially after hearing all the great exploits of the big name half-giants previously mentioned here - and it was, like I said, meh. Not terrible, just not memorable at all. So therefore the only experience I did have was not so great. And come to think of it now, it might have been because that player had heard of other half-giant players getting in trouble for leaning too heavily on the giant side, maybe? Still, why play a half-giant if you're going to play it as a human.

I understand that there is more pressure on award races to perform better, and certainly to be versed in the lore of the race they're playing. But when there is even minimal lore to begin with, that is naturally difficult.

On that note, I feel like RP tools and tips should be listed under the award race's respective wiki pages. This would especially help those players who may not want to have to read a trove of novels and sourcebooks (but they absolutely should, it's worth it!).

[Kythana]

A little late to this, but.

I find the comments complaining about ye olde english to be very weird.

That was just a character choice by one person, and then later mimicked by people who likely enjoyed the vibes or did not feel creatively confident to come up with their own ideas.

This would be as silly as disliking elves as a whole because of the 'murder-elf' stereotype. One that came about when Shevarashi characters once used to be extremely popular. (Once again imitating one person.)

Or seeing Amnian characters that just start speaking straight up Spanish in their roleplay.

What you're disliking has no bearing on the racial choice here(as nothing dictates you have to play like that), and is instead entirely focused on a personal choice when writing an individual character.

In other words, it's not particularly relevant; If you're annoyed at a giant speaking ye olde english, then you would be annoyed at a human speaking ye olde english.

[Zero Chronicle]

I voted Mostly Positive.

Im currently in a group where we are regularly RPing with a half-giant character - forgive me for giving kudos to the player of Tribunia. I know this isnt meant to be a kudos thread. But This half-giant Banite character is well role-played. She is imposing, and fearsome. I enjoy my interactions with her.

Before her, Ive had the pleasure of interacting with a now rolled character, Raom. He was a large figure in Sencliff and a boisterous Captain. I have thoroughly enjoyed all my interactions with this fellow. He is missed.

Also most of the other Half-Giant characters Ive encountered have been excellent RPers and I have no complaints thus far.

[DM MoonMoon]

Can we please have some content to your answers.
Whilst Good and Not Good, are technically answers to the question. It would be more helpful if you stated on why you felt this way.

What interactions have you had, summarised, that made you feel this way.

There is a poll if you just want to give that short answer.
Constructive feedback (positive and negative!) requires a few words so things can be thought processed and (hopefully) improved!

[Zero Chronicle]

Well for Tribunia, I think she is unique - I havent really found any half-giant characters who worshipped Bane. Lilah has developed a friendship with this one, she just recently returned to us from a break in playing the character in this new iteration of the Banite Church faction in Minmir. She has been a supportive member of the faction and a friend to my character. I enjoy coming to faction meetings and seeing her there.

In terms of the old English thing, Ive never seen Tribunia or Raom really get into Old English much but I didnt mind it from other half-giants. I understand it anyway.

On how a half-giant should be role-played I believe players should be given some freedoms in it to create their stories the way they want to as long as they are within the guideline in roleplaying the kind of character they chose. We cant just all copy what is written in guidebooks, but also must adhere to some important aspects of it like for example, alignment restrictions and traits.

From Raom, it has been too long since Ive seen him in game since the character rolled. But he had been a very inclusive RPer and Captain of Sencliff. I was new to Sencliff when I met him and I felt included in the town, he is one of the characters that made me stick around.

Overall I can not complain about any of my experiences with the half-giants Ive encountered, even the ones Ive only interaced with once, in passing. They have been all positive experiences.

[Whosdis]

everyone talking about the "unserious" nature of the half-giant players should scroll out on their binos and ask themselves if they're attributing meme behavior to the race rather than the playerbase.

i can guarantee they've seen this exact same thing elsewhere and forgotten about it. sure, half giant players were really lighthearted in a lot of scenarios and that's something i've personally witnessed.

but you know who else does this stuff? grease spam? faerie fire spam? hasting up and running in circles? elves. don't see anyone making a thread about removing elves because of goofy players.

Elves are a 'core' DnD race and appropriately common. It's less jarring to see a bunch of Elves than, for example when Firbolgs were around, and there were an inoordinate amount of giant women with bare thighs using that child-like head with the long braid.

I like a certain brand of RP so I'm certainly biased, but it moreso depends on the race and what they offer.

Fey'ri are perfect for cloak-and-dagger insideous surface RP. They take an existing concept and lore (the grasping nature of old Elven nobility), and take it up to 10. Their guised forms ought to blend in perfectly (though there should probably be a PSA informing people not to take the horned head for both lore and mechanical reasons), and even their unguised forms are a corrupted form of a pre-existing concept. Now, unfortunately, a few too many people played them as succubi/incubi, but for what the race is intended for it's a viable addition to the roster.

Fairies ... Pixies on the other hand? I don't deny that there are people who can play them well, but to play something immortal and alien requires a lot of forethought and practice. It's hard to connect with characters like that, who are meant to be utterly whimsical and mentally incompatible with a lot of mortal affairs. The moment a Fairy is only a special-looking adventurer, the character has lost all its luster as a Fairy.

Gloaming are another one. The first Gloaming I met was the NPC in Saltspar. The second was the one in the Red Tower, which I saw during an event hosted by I believe Lillith (it's been some years). I found the concept fascinating at the time, an Underdark race similar to Svirfneblin in their much-less morally heinous playstyle compared to other Andunorians. Unfortunately, far too many blow off the race's immense light-sensitivity and just treat them as very jarring-looking surfacers.

Overall, I think it's a problem of the playerbase being generally unable to play multifaceted characters, hence we get vapid goody-two-shoes-cutesy Gloaming running around the surface, or the pre-application fey'ri running around pretending to be Succubi. This is even before the Genasi come into play, which in my experience have been immensely watered down to essentially be colorful humans (or occasionally other races) with mild stat allocations. That, and too much emphasis was put on gating things not by the quality of people's RP, but by the special rolls they get. I understand that the opposite problem is that they get swarmed with applications, but this is the opposite choice, and the fairest implementation of the approach.

That's another personal preference of mine: Appearance shouldn't be all-encompassing so that people are pursuing wings because le wings are cool, but races like Genasi are Aasimer whose only actual special appearance options are either colors or examine text; at least with Gith, there are fitting heads that would actually make them distinct and treatable like a separate race.

[DM MoonMoon]

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