The Strange
"When my brother was slain, I swore vengeance. I followed the murderer's trail from one corner of the Daylands to the other. Everywhere I went, I found evidence of the killer's presence: smashed walls, tumbled homes, and more death. It was as if the beast was stalking me. I was only slightly afraid at first, until I realized the truth. The killer was me. I bear the giant's curse." ~Eskihizar the Shunned
The evidence of a giant's rampage is discovered more often than the perpetrator herself. That's because the curse of gigantism usually triggers its growth in a victim only during storms or when a normally human-sized victim becomes emotionally stressed or overexcited. The rest of the time, a giant is human-sized and appears (and may live) just like a regular human. Episodes of gigantism, when the giant is as tall as a tree and as wide as a house, are forgotten by the giant, except perhaps only as a vague dream. After the curse really takes hold, a giant eventually learns the truth, perhaps by waking to find her house smashed and her family and friends severely injured or dead from being thrown across the valley. As a result, many giants live alone in the wilderness, possibly desiring the company of others, but knowing that no one is safe around them for long.
The curse of gigantism is normally passed by blood, but since it doesn't strike a victim until her thirty-fifth year of life (and sometimes skips generations altogether), stamping it out has proved especially problematic. Most sufferers would've chosen not to have children had they known their parent or grandparent was a giant.
Motive: Destruction
Environment (Ardeyn | Magic): Borderlands, mountains
Health 40
Damage Inflicted: Moderate wound (6 points)
Movement: Short
Modifications: Speed defense as level 5 due to size. Breaks and throws objects as level 8.
Combat: A giant smashes foes with her mighty fists, possibly catching up to three human-sized targets with the same attack if all the targets are in immediate range of each other.
If a giant attacks a single target, she can choose to do regular damage or to grab hold of her victim, dealing 4 points of damage instead. On his turn, the victim can attempt a Might defense roll to power out of the grip, a Speed defense roll to slip out, or an Intellect-based task to try to distract the giant. If the victim fails, the giant throws him as high and as far as she can on her next turn. Damage on impact varies, depending on the surrounding environment, but a victim takes an average of 10 points of ambient damage.
Interaction: When a giant is raging (which is always, when she's a giant), the only possible interaction is an attempt to distract her by singing, juggling, or creating some other flagrant display, which some giants will pause to watch. Each additional round trying to distract a giant (whether the previous round was successful or not) increases the difficulty of the task by one step.
Use: During the last spring storm, a giant came down out of themountains and laid waste to half a village. Survivors put together an appeal for someone to venture into the giant's mountain lair and destroy him.
GM Intrusion: The giant's blow sprains one of the PC's limbs, making the limb useless for ten minutes.
When not transformed, most victims of the curse of gigantism have the stats of an average level 1 or level 2 creature.