Sunday, August 20, 2023

Runic Items on Bigby's Rune-Wielding Giants

 Many of the giant statblocks (ok, some are giant and some are elementals and fiends) are sort of grouped in thematic cohorts, or "cycles" to borrow a term from Magic the Gathering. For example, there's a demon-corrupted version of almost every one of the main giant types (the Fire Giant is an exception, in that its fiendish version is a devil, while I believe the closest equivalent for the Storm Giant is the Storm Herald - basically what happens when a Storm Giant becomes a Kraken Priest. There's also a Demogorgon-corrupted Ettin.)

One of these cycles is a version of each giant type that has a powerful rune-based item on them. What makes this interesting is that they typically get two special abilities that they can use while bearing this rune, but the runic object is destroyable - if you can smash it, you reduce the number of things that giant can do.

Now, the trick here is that these runes aren't terribly easy to destroy. The Hill Giant Avalancher, for example, carries a rock with the Hill rune on it, giving it access a Stone Avalance ability (an AoE cylinder that does a fireball's worth of damage and creates difficult terrain) and a reaction in Hill Rebuff, which can damage and push back foes who strike them.

The rock, however, has its own HP and AC - 20 and 15, respectively. However, if you want to destroy it, you had better do it quickly, because the rune stone regains all of its HP at the end of each turn - not just the Giant's, but every turn. So one character needs to put out 20 damage in a single turn. The giant is CR 12, so at this point we can expect characters to have things like extra attack and other damage-boosts, but it becomes very clear that they need to invest some resource unless they get lucky (given the relatively low AC, something like Great Weapon Master or Sharpshooter would likely be a good call for this). (It's also immune to psychic, poison, and necrotic damage, the latter being less usual an immunity for objects.)

The giant still has some powerful attacks, but it's not nearly as much of a threat when its rune is destroyed.

Now, damaging objects is one of those things I don't see come up a ton in my own D&D sessions. One thing to bear in mind is that a lot of spells don't actually harm objects. A Fireball would seem like a good option to take out a stone like this, but while Fireballs ignite flammable objects in their area of effect, they only directly damage creatures. And since this rock is definitely not flammable, I don't think it would succeed in destroying it.

Notably, this is one of the often ignored benefits of the Fire Bolt cantrip. Eldritch Blast, Ray of Frost, and most damage cantrips can only target creatures, but Fire Bolt specifically calls out that it can target objects. That said, unless you have some damage boost, a Fire Bolt's average damage will remain under 20 until you hit tier 4.

Of course, weapons can target objects just fine, and I think this is going to probably be the primary way you can get rid of a rune item like this.

Now, as a DM, you might be tempted to put these objects out of reach of the party. These creatures are all giants, and so it stands to reason that they might be holding their runic object high enough that, without reach, a creature won't be able to target it in melee. I would say... don't do that. Have the giants wear it on a belt or something, putting it in range, as long as the characters is willing to get up within reach of the thing.

Now, the next question is how open you want to be with the players about the rules surrounding the rune. I'd err on the side of making it clear that they can destroy it, giving them the tactical option to attempt it. Given that they won't necessarily be able to do so, it becomes something of a risk vs. reward decision. Do you forgo damaging the monster itself in order to make it less of a threat, with the risk that if you can't put out enough damage (such as if you roll low on one of your attacks) the turn becomes a waste?

This, incidentally, is an area where I think the game can reward characters with the various Intelligence proficiencies. If you have a strong History bonus, letting you make a History check to know about the way this runic magic works - and how it is reflected mechanically - would make such a proficiency feel like it's pulling its weight.

Barring that, you could describe how the rune flares whenever the runic abilities are being used, and call attention to the fact that the giant is invoking these magical abilities through the rune, letting the players get a strong sense that without that object, the creature would be unable to use them.

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