Fee Fie Fo- you get the idea

My group is getting ready for a run through of G1: Steading of the Hill Giant Chief. It's been over 20 years since I played any part of the module, so it should be a fun time. (We're using LL+AEC if you're interested.)

Anyhow, this got me thinking about GIANTS. Even in BX, you've got the six varieties, in escalating size and power: Hill, Stone, Frost, Fire. Cloud, and Storm. I've often wondered why so many? It's kind of like dragons, I suppose, where the authors wanted to include lots of good bits from mythology and folklore, but not lump them all together in one monster.

One thing that strikes me about all the giants is the treasure. They all have the same type ("E") plus 5000gp. (The ogre –aka "Giant Lite"– is similar with Type C + 1000gp). Where does this come from? Jack & the Beanstalk? Mythology? Probably a combination. Regardless, giants are a pretty lucrative monster to fight.

Hill Giants seem to be basically bigger, tougher ogres. Primitive brutes who eat just about anything.

Stone Giants are fun with their bouder flinging skills and pet bears. A pair of 9HD giants + up to four cave bears is a scary place!

Frost Giants are the first "supernatural" giants, obviously borrowing a little from the Norse myths with their cold immunity. They like to keep polar bears and wolves about. Even just one of these blue meanies is a truly challenging encounter.

Fire Giants –based (I think) on Surtr from the Norse as well– are also magical, with fire immunity. They also keep nasty pets (hell hounds and hydras).

Cloud Giants have got that castle in the sky/beanstalk thing going on. Giant Hawks hang out with them if their lair is airborne.

Storm Giants are frankly weird. Maybe they're in the sky, or MAYBE they're on a mountain, or MAYBE they're underwater! Who knows?? They are the biggest and toughest of the bunch, but like (gold) dragons, the toughest is also the most likely to be the nicest with their Lawful alignment. Their storm powers are impressive as well.

I'm not sure I have a point to all this other than reflecting on these iconic creatures and seeing all the interesting little rules that were included with them.

...Also to mention that a Girdle of Storm Giant Strength is a potential campaign wrecker!

More REF: Hell Hounds

Whee! TIme for more random encounter fun!™ 

Let's get rolling. Last time, it was a wilderness encounter, so this time, let's use the dungeon charts.

OK, the BX table allow for levels 1-8+, so let's roll a d8

roll, roll

A 6!  That's Levels 6-7. Now we need a d20 roll.

roll, roll

A 9! That's "Hellhound" Nice!

It says there are 2-8 of these infernal pooches, so let's see what we've got. 

roll, roll

3 + 4 = 7! This could get nasty!

Their hit dice are supposed to match the level (6-7) so let's just say they are each 6HD (Saving as 6th level fighters). Let's roll hit points twice and take the higher total for the pack leader.

roll, roll

4+5+3+3+5+4= 24

5+6+3+7+6+5= 32

So we have a 32 hp pack leader and six 24 hp pack members. 

These creatures are described as reddish-brown dogs the size of a small pony. Their attacks are biting or breathing fire. BtB, you roll a d6 each round to see what it does (1-2 = fire, 3-6 = teeth). The breath targets one victim and does 6d6 (!) damage (save for half damage). Its range isn't specified in Cook, but the 1e MM says 1", so pretty close (melee distance).

While the random nature of the charts means they could be in any kind of dungeon, I'm going to go Gygaxian Naturalist here and say that the hounds' den is in a chamber/room of the dungeon which has a pool of lava in it, probably from a fissure in the rock tapping into a volcanic vent.  The hounds are immune to non-magical fire and highly intelligent, so they would know that most enemies couldn't tolerate the magma. They normally bed down on the far side of the lava from the entrance for added safety.

Now, since this is a wandering encounter, let's assume they are not in the lair. They are hunting the halls or tunnels in a pack, looking for dinner. 

Points to remember: They are smart, nasty, dogs. They can also detect invisible creatures within 60' most of the time (75%). If someone was invisible, the hounds might be smart enough to note his presence and pretend to be oblivious until they could catch him out.

Tactics:

The hounds would know the layout of the dungeon. If they are aware of the party, they would fan out and use any side corridors to flank them. A good blast of fire breath would spoil demi-humans' infravision right off. Then, depending on the party's numbers, they would probably target spell casters first (if possible). 

If the flanking was successful, the dogs would harry the rear. They'd also be smart enough to finish off anyone who was looking wounded. If the fight started going against them, they would retreat to their lava lair and –if possible– use the hostile terrain to their advantage (knocking attackers into the lava, etc.).

Kills would be dragged off to the lair and feasted upon. One hound is big enough to drag a human being without too much difficulty (provided it's not for miles and miles). Dragging the corpse through the lava would destroy most gear and items as well as cook the meat nicely! The odd trinket might avoid landing in the molten rock and constitute the bulk of the hounds' treasure.