Giant, Jungle
Climate/Terrain:
| Tropical/jungle |
|
Frequency:
| Uncommon
|
Organization:
| Tribal/cooperative
|
Activity Cycle:
| Day
|
Diet:
| Carnivore
|
Intelligence:
| Average to High (8-14)
|
Treasure:
| Q (A)
|
Alignment:
| Neutral
|
No. Appearing:
| 1 or 1-6
|
Armor Class:
| 3
|
Movement:
| 15, Cl 6
|
Hit Dice:
| 11
|
THAC0:
| 9
|
No. of Attacks:
| 1 or 2
|
Damage/Attack:
| 2-16 +9 or 2-12 +9/2-12 +9
|
Special Attacks:
| Surprise, arrows
|
Special Defenses:
| See below
|
Magic Resistance:
| Nil
|
Size:
| H (18' tall)
|
Morale:
| Champion (16)
|
XP Value:
| 6,000
|
Powerful, lanky, and strictly carnivorous, jungle giants are a terror to all
the animals of the tropical forests. They are great hunters and stalkers, able
to clear a huge tract of forest of all game and then move on.
A typical jungle giant stands 18' tall yet weighs only 3,000 pounds -- very
thin for a giant. Females are generally taller than males. They can live to be
200 years old.
Jungle giants always carry everything they need with them: tools for making
and maintaining their weapons, fire-starters, tinder, and spare bits of leather
and sinew used to repair clothing. They also carry their valuables, and every
adult jungle giant carries a quiver of arrows.
Jungle giants speak their own language and the languages of tribes of nearby
humans and humanoids.
Thin and very tall, jungle giants easily blend into the vertical landscape of
the tropical forest. Their wavy hair is pale green, and their skin is a rich
muddy yellow, like sunlight on the forest floor. They rarely wear more clothing
than strictly necessary, as they prefer complete freedom of movement when
hunting. Many groups of jungle giants use ritual tattooing, colorful feather
headdresses, and even filed teeth to show their fierceness. They sometimes decorate
themselves with mud, sticks, and leaves when stalking especially large or wary
game.
Combat: Jungle giants use 15' long bows crafted to take advantage of their tremendous
size and strength. These giants are very quick with their huge bows and can
fire two arrows each round. They will use poisoned arrows to bring down their prey
more quickly. If these arrows are used in combat, opponents must save vs.
paralyzation at -2 or be rendered immobile for 2-12 turns. Even humanoid creatures
with the strength to pull a jungle giant bow cannot use it, because the arrows
are over 6' long (2d6 +9 damage). Jungle giants will occasionally use the trunk
of a dead tree as a club, doing 2d8 +9 points damage.
Jungle giants prefer to take their prey from ambushes, firing their bows from
the treetops and then swinging down sturdy branches or thick ropes to finish
off their prey. Camouflaged giants cause a -1 penalty on opponents' surprise
rolls. When setting up a blind, they can camouflage themselves in jungle terrain
with a 60% chance of success. Setting up a blind or decorating themselves with
jungle camouflage takes three turns.
Habitat/Society: Jungle giants are friendlier than most other races of giants, and they will
often cooperate with human jungle tribes on hunts. The giants provide strength
and raw power, and the humans provide the numbers and skill to drive animals into
ambushes.
Jungle giants have absolutely no compunctions about eating any form of meat --
mammal, reptile, amphibian, or avian. They know how to stalk, kill, and
prepare everything from eggs to full-grown animals, and from scavengers to predators.
Their villages reflect this carnivorous tendency; the huts are made from
wooden posts with roofs of greased animal hides stitched together with intestines.
The smell of smoking meats and butchery hang in the air, and huge quantities of
dragonflies and other insects swarm around the villages. A jungle giant village
is 50% likely to shelter 1-6 giant dragonflies.
Ecology: Jungle giants think of most creatures as prey, but those they accept as fellow
hunters they respect as equals, regardless of their size. Although they much
prefer the jungle terrain they know so well, they are often forced to leave the
trees for the savanna when their numbers become too great to survive in the
jungle. They think nothing of eating every snake, antelope, cat, warthog, ostrich,
and elephant they come across. Jungle giants on the savannah often return to
the forest, because their great height makes stealthy hunting difficult for them
on open ground.