We’ve packed a giant-sized amount of information into this handy article just for you! From playing Giants (both players and DMs), the lore of the Giants, and several new Giant Beasts, D&D – Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants explores everything you need to know as a Dungeon Master or player. If you’re a Dungeon Master looking to spruce up their world, or a player who wants to be the biggest force on the battlefield – this article is for you. 

Welcome to the latest release for 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons – Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants! Bigby (Gnome Wizard and creator of that hand spell – you know the one) presents this comprehensive ‘Guide to the Gargantuan’ in a thorough yet easy-to-follow format on how to interact with, and run Giants in your campaign. From their stats to their social structure, this latest addition to the sourcebook roster will cover everything you need to know about these larger-than-life characters. Say a prayer to Annam, and prepare your Enlarge/Reduce spells; it’s time to get started.

Before we begin, I want to outline one thing : There are no playable Giant races in this book. Part of me finds this somewhat disappointing – in my mind, one of the big appeals of having Giants in a campaign is being able to play one, but I can understand the reasoning. Scaling Giant PCs alongside traditional humanoid ones is often very tough and wouldn’t fit particularly well with fifth edition mechanics – the balance of your party, and encounters, would go out the window. That being said, the creature stats blocks in Glory of the Giants provide more than enough information to homebrew some races in my opinion, and are a fantastic source of inspiration for some very interesting characters. Work with your players!

Our main Character Option is a new subclass for Barbarians: the Path of the Giant. These new abilities generally focus on the size of your character, and manipulating the elements. Your 3rd and 14th level features allow for a temporary size scale-up, to a max of Huge, and your 3rd and 10th Level abilities focus on throwing improvised weapons (including people!). My favourite feature, however, comes at level 6. Drawing on the same primordial sources as Giants, ‘Elemental Cleaver’ allows you to imbue a weapon with an elemental power of your choice when you’re raging. This makes your weapon inflict the chosen damage type, plus an extra 1d6. And to top it off, the weapon reappears in your hand whenever it’s thrown, whether or not you hit. If you want to roleplay Kratos or Thor – this subclass is for you! 

Next, we have two additional Backgrounds. The ‘Giant Foundling’ does what it says on the tin. You mightn’t be a Giant yourself, but you were raised and influenced by them. You’re intimidating, know how to look after yourself, and you can imbue your weapon with Giant-like abilities. Then there is the ‘Rune Carver’, an ancient practitioner runecraft who can use their arcane talents to learn additional spells for a finite amount of time. These backgrounds have some serious storytelling potential, and I can imagine some really creative characters coming out of them!

Lastly, we have eight new Feats. Along with ‘Strike of the Giants’ and ‘Rune Shaper’ (which give the previously mentioned two backgrounds their features), we have 6 different Giant-oriented abilities. Each of these come with an Ability Score Increase and at least one unique feature. I won’t spoil them all here – you’ll need to pick up a copy yourself for that, but some of my favourites are the ‘Keenness of the Stone Giant’, which lets you magically imbue a thrown rock (the most sophisticated of weaponry), and ‘Vigor of the Hill Giant’, which allows you to heal additional hit points when you eat during a short rest. 

Our DM section starts off with a breakdown of typical Giant characterisation and behaviour. Giants live anywhere between 200 to 800 years old, tend to speak in a booming voice, and carry a certain level of pride. All of this varies between the different types of giants and between individuals, and the sourcebook comes with a number of helpful tables to act as inspiration and a quick build resource. Many of these could also work as great starting points for any player building a character immersed in Giant culture.

The primary feature of this section is the extensive story hook tables. Broken down into Campaigns, Adventures, and Encounters, this section is full to the brim with ideas to kick start your campaign planning or randomly generate one on the fly.

The Campaign section gets world-building rolling, delving into the prominence of Giants in your world. Are they active members of your society, ancient but revered legends, or simply myth? This section also provides a series of prompts for incorporating Giants into your game, along with a ‘World-Shaking Events’ table which includes 8 distinct campaign ideas!

The Adventure section contains 12 different overall scenarios (‘Against the Giants’, ‘Delve into the Past’, ‘Seer’ etc.) and each provides a table of Giant-oriented quests that can be inserted into a campaign, but don’t encompass the entire length of it. The wide range of ideas here are exceptional and while plenty could be added to a game on their own or used as one-shots, many could easily be woven together to build an intricate and fascinating campaign. Maybe some “thieves stole the Giant’s most precious treasure and fled into the sewers, where the Giant can’t follow” (Boss Assignments #1), and when the Adventurers get down there, they “find a coded journal in a dragon’s treasure hoard, indicating a path to a hidden paradise” (Into the Giant Realms #2). Upon arriving in this paradise “a scion of Grolantor begins to stir. The residents of the farming village built on the sleeping giant’s back seek help evacuating” (Clash of Titans #6). The many possible combinations and interpretations of these many hooks open up an enormous realm of possibilities for you and your players to explore. If you want to ramp up the scale of your adventure or have your party take on a larger-than-life figure, this part is perfect for you!

Lastly, the Encounters section covers the various types and abilities of the Giants.  Each of the 8 main Giants (Cloud, Death, Fire, Fomorian, Frost, Hill, Storm, and Stone) are given a table containing different combinations of Giant subtypes, weapons, and accompanying forces. here are also some auxiliary tables. Dinosaur, Elemental, Fiendish, Construct, Giant-kin, Necropolis, and Megafauna tables are also included, giving you a world of variety and spontaneity to draw from. If you wanted to make a Giant Knight, what better noble steed could they have than a giant tyrannosaurus rex?

The Enclaves are another one of my favourite sections – they’re 18 different maps composed of locations Giants built, control, or magically influence. Each map is rich with  lore and story ideas with enough room to add your own flavour when needed. The different Enclaves cover a broad range of locations, from natural formations to extensively Giant-designed areas, and cover a wide number of themes. You’ll be sure to find one to fit your game nicely.

Finally, we have the Treasure section! The loot you’ll be distributing to your party is broken down into mundane items and magical items. There’s a range of Giant Bags to search through, with different tables to roll on depending on which Giant your party stole it from. I love these tables; so much fun discussion and story can come from finding one weird item on a fallen enemy, and I often find that handing out mundane items can prompt creative problem-solving.

“We could sell this golden egg later, but that Giant’s face looks like a mighty tempting target…”

Then, of course, are the magic items. 27 unique, Giant-oriented items are introduced in this tome. Might I recommend the Thunderbuss, a big ‘ol gun that shoots thunder at your foes? Or perhaps the Harp of Guilded Plenty which, among other things, can summon a pile of healing food. A plethora of interesting artefacts have been added to the hoard with this source book and you’re sure to find something amazing to spice up the battlefield. 

I’d also like to point out item sizing; do these items scale to the wearer or stay giant-sized? My instinct for smooth storytelling is to just resize things, but I love that the authors highlighted the fun of resisting that. Your adventurers will find a way to make a good magic item work for them. Wear a ring as a belt, use a satchel as a sleeping bag, tote a Giant-size peashooter as a cannon that adventurers could only dream to wield. Size variance can prompt some very fun shenanigans – lean into it.  

Onto the meat of the book, Glory of the Giants does a lot of work to establish Giant lore and paints a rich tapestry to inspire and influence your worldbuilding. In this section you’ll find everything you need to know about Giant Society and their history . 

The big starting point is The Ordning. The Ordning is essentially the structure of traditional Giant society, whereby every single giant is hierarchically ranked against all others. All Giants only have a rank within their subsection, however; the highest-ranking Hill Giant is still ranked lower than the lowest-ranked Cloud Giant. I was a little resistant to the idea of The Ordning at first as it certainly isn’t the most supportive of societal structures, but the book doesn’t buy into this hierarchy whole-heartedly. After introducing the concept, it discusses a rejection of The Ordning, delving into how many Giants have turned away from the system entirely and navigate the world by their own rules. I can appreciate The Ordning as an interesting and nuanced aspect of the world to explore, and that acknowledging its failures could provide some interesting story points to dive into. 

Giants also have a bespoke pantheon of Gods, which this book thoroughly covers. Annam is the primary God, generally believed by the Giants to be the creator of the universe; the Giant’s other deities are Annam’s children, each of which is the progenitor to a different Giant type. This section of the book talks briefly about each God and their domain, as well as their priests and rites – handy if you want to create a religious sect or cult. 

The book then dives into the social grouping of Giants, primarily different unit sizes and how they function. From Exiles, to Bands, to Steadings, we explore how different groups are built and how they might interact. Each section features an encounter table with 6 prompts on how your adventurers might encounter these different communities. 

Finally, Organisations are an interesting addition to the D&D world; these institutions will do a great job of fleshing out your cities, landscapes, and more. There are three main influential Organisations outlined in Glory of the Giants; ‘Hidden Rune’, ‘Stewards of the Eternal Throne’, and ‘Worldroot Circle’. Focusing on religious orders, academic societies, and spiritual paths, these organisations each have varied worldviews and aims on how to shape them. Whether you use them as adversaries, allies, or backgrounds for your characters, these groups and their goals could provide some interesting fuel to add to your campaign, and introduce some fantastic tension to your plot. 

Here comes what is probably the most exciting part of any source book – the Monsters! Overall, I was very happy with the variety provided in this selection. Of course, it’s a source book about Giants, so most of them are indeed Giants, but within that, there’s a wide range of themes, abilities, and scaling, providing lots of options for adding Giants to your table. 

Let’s start with the Giants themselves. At base, Giants have appeared in previous source books, so this one mostly contains variants of the tried-and-true classic Giant. Each of the Primary Giant types have one specialised stat block, as well as what is essentially an evil one. For example, the Frost Giant Ice Shaper’s nefarious counterpart is the Frost Giant of Evil Water, the Cloud Giant Destiny Gambler’s counterpart is the Cloud Giant of Evil Air, etc. We also have some fun stat blocks for both Fomorians and Death Giants; well worth a look into to shake up your party’s conception of what a Giant can be! 

Next, we have Giant-kin. Usually descendants or related through magic, there are a plethora of creatures, touched by the big hand of Annam and ready to be deployed straight into your game. There are Barrowghast (Hill Giants who die on an empty stomach), Ettin Ceremorph (Giants infected by Mind Flayers), Fensirs (Trolls that have been continuously resurrected on Ysgard), Gargantua’s (Giants whose party trick is getting even bigger), among many others. I also want to highlight two specific types of Giant-kin; Hulks and Scions. Hulks are essentially Giants mixed with elementals. Dust Hulks, Cinder Hulks, Mist Hulks; they tend to be less powerful but more flavourful than your typical giant. They’re also a great stat block to inspire playable Giants? Then, there are Scions. Where the main pantheon of Gods are the children of Annan, the Scions are his Grandchildren. These world-shaking Titans embody the elements themselves and carry some incredible powers, such as spitting hail, emitting waves of lava, or breathing their enemies in a whirlwind! 

Next comes every Druid’s dream: the big creatures. Giant Goose, Giant Ram, heck, even a Giant Tick! This menagerie of beasts comes with a nice selection of scaled up animals for Druids to transform into, keep as a pet, or just nod politely at as you travel past. We also have an awesome new lineup of dinosaurs! I love the classic triceratops as much as the next DM, but what about a Ceratops (it’s magical now!), or an Aerosaur (it’s like a Pterodactyl but its wings make thunder!). An honourable mention goes to the Megafauna, such as the Titanothere, who I personally feel would be very nice to hug.

Lastly, we arrive at the true oddities of Giant-sized fauna.. These are often only loosely connected to Giants and usually fulfil the role of lower CR monsters, but honestly, they are some of my favourites. At the top of the list is the Troll Amalgam, because Annan almighty, I wouldn’t wish a Troll Amalgam attack on anyone. Troll Amalgams form when multiple trolls accidentally regenerate together into one, horrifying mass of limbs. Best of luck to your party if you pit one against them.Next up is the Grinning Cat, which is definitely not the Cheshire Cat from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and definitely makes sense to be in this book. Vague justifications aside, I’m excited to see this stat block – I think I see a bizarre Rabbit Hole Adventure in my future. Another creature worth mentioning is the Bag Jelly; a jelly who lives in a Giant-sized bag. I like the idea of my party finishing a dungeon, looting the bodies of their fallen enemies, only to be instantly smothered by a slime once they open the Giants wallet. 

Round Two, anyone?

I’ve been thinking about the aim of this book a lot. At first, extra Giant lore seems like an odd choice. This edition isn’t exactly built for scale; stats are often very dependent on size and gameplay is very dependent on stats. I’d love to play a gentle lovable giant but in the scaling system of 5th edition, that doesn’t really seem possible. However, the release of Glory of the Giants gives me some hope for D&D One. Are we being warmed up for a new scaling system, expanding the dimensions that our campaigns can be built in? Recent releases, with Spelljammer, and Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, have certainly been getting us hyped for more variation and customization. 

This dense tome is packed full of huge stat blocks, colossal adventure ideas, and gargantuan gameplay resources. Dungeon Masters – this is a great pickup if you’re looking to super-size your campaign, or if your players have been asking for a larger-than-life adventure to tackle. For players, there’s also plenty of ways to flesh out your character, from feats to flavour. Ultimately, this is a good supplemental product for those who want to squeeze even more out of D&D; for Dungeon Masters looking to start a campaign or ease new players in, we’d recommend D&D: Dragons of Stormwreck Isle – check out our review here of this revised starter set here!

Good Journey, Adventurer!

   – Alyshia