Dragons are the most iconic fantasy monster, but between all the outer planes, the legacies of the mind flayers, the influence of the Shadowfell and the Feywild, and all the liches and beholders out there, you'd be forgiven for wondering where all the dragons are in Dungeons & Dragons.
Fizban's Treasury of Dragons actually did something very cool to address that - it gave dragons a really important role in the cosmos of D&D. Bahamut and Tiamat are now credited as the creators of the Prime Material Plane - and dragons are beings most closely tied to the plane. Humanoids are explained as creations of the gods who colonized the prime material.
This addition to the lore works on many levels - it explains why dragons are obsessed with hoarding material goods, even making that a key part of their essential nature, and it also makes the dragons' arrogance make that much more sense as well. Turns out we are, in fact, on their turf. It also creates some explanations for dragons to have a spiritually different experience, marking them as separate from simple monstrosities. Indeed, I've decided that in my games, dragons never go on to the outer planes, but are simply reincarnated on the Prime Material (extending the concept of Dragonsight not only to versions of themselves on other worlds, but also with past incarnations). Bahamut and Tiamat residing in the Outer Planes could thus be explained as a kind of compromise with the gods - and perhaps even create a potential agenda for the dragons operating in the outer planes - indeed, Fizban's even portrays Bahamut and Tiamat being not quite so antagonistic with each other as we might have suspected.
Giants are, arguably, the most prevalent myth in all of human civilization. Dragons are a widespread myth but basically every culture has thought of "people, but bigger." Giants also exist in D&D in a similar manner to dragons - there's a big variety of them.
D&D Giants are clearly inspired primarily by Norse myth. In Norse myth, two of the Nine Realms are populated by giants - Jotunheim has the frost giants, while Muspelheim has the fire giants. Generally I think of Hill Giants as being your classic fairy tale giants - kind of dumb and strong, always trying to eat you or your livestock. Of course, cloud giants fit a bit closer to the giant from Jack and the Beanstalk, at least in their choice of home. And then Stone Giants and Storm Giants have somewhat less easily identifiable origins - though for some reason I always imagine Storm Giants having more of a Grecian vibe to them.
What we know about the giants is that they are sort of mystically ordered in a system called the Ordning - there's a clear hierarchy of giants that is part of their culture. Each type of giant has its own god, but there's also Annam, who is god to all the giants.
Giant alignment seems to vary considerably - typically Hill and Frost giants are chaotic evil, while Fire giants are lawful evil. Stone giants are typically True Neutral. Cloud giants are 50/50 neutral good and neutral evil, while Storm giants are typically chaotic good.
Now, first things first: I fully expect these alignments to be less strict in the future. WotC's official policy these days is that stat blocks representing individuals will have a set alignment, but even beings that are born of a particular alignment, like Devils, will be labeled as "typically lawful evil" or the like. This does seem to apply to creatures of free will, such as a Crystal Dragon (typically chaotic neutral). Still, I suspect that giants will be lent a certain flexibility, similarly to how dragons were portrayed in Fizban's (I love the idea of a chaotic good black dragon archaeologist who helps the party uncover a plot by a nagpa to orchestrate the downfall of a nation).
Volo's Guide to Monsters gave us a variant of each of the major giants, though how useful these are and how much they add to the lore varies. The Frost Giant Everlasting One is more of a freak mix of frost giant and dire troll.
I'd love to see a deep dive into the cultures of the different kinds of giants, but I think I'd find it even more exciting to see how they are linked to the cosmic forces of D&D.
It does appear in the recent UA that they're drawing a connection between the elemental forces and the giants. Naturally, fire giants, stone giants, cloud giants, and storm giants all seem deeply connected to one of the four classical elements. The elemental planes are also sort of an interesting contrast to the Outer Planes and the Feywild and Shadowfell. While those ones are largely composed of thoughts, values, and emotions, the Elemental planes are concerned with the physical.
If giants are connected to the elements in a primordial way, that could give them a solid connection to the prime material - indeed, what if dragons were born out of the elements (which would explain their various breath weapons) and that, before the Prime Material Plane, Bahamut and Tiamat came from the Elemental Planes? (This would even work with the 4th Edition World Axis cosmology).
Now, of course, this would fit a lot more neatly if there were four primary giant types, rather than six.
Perhaps the giants are also a key part of the Prime Material Plane - their rivalry with dragons dates back before most can remember, and thus it feels like they should have real stakes.
I'd also be curious to get an explanation for lesser giants like Trolls and Ogres. Were they at one point part of the Ordning?
The giants in the Monster Manual leave a little to be desired. They hit hard, but that's about it. If this Giant UA is hinting at a Fizban's-like book about giants, I'd love to get a greater variety of each of the types of giants. For example, Storm Giants are supposed to be seers and prophets, but don't have any sort of divination magic beyond detect magic. I think it would be cool if we could get maybe a Storm Giant warrior similar to what's in the Monster Manual but also some kind of seer that uses divination in cool ways.
Giants are begging to be fleshed out as a class of creatures, and while this is just one UA, the implications behind it are exciting.
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