Cockatrice & Basilisk

Hadn’t done any 0d&d monsters in a while, so here’s two!

Fire Giants

The true secrets of fire are only known to those willing to spend a thousand years looking into the flames. 

The Giant Saint (who was only half giant himself) took the severed head of the Rainbow Queen to the Fire Giants when he knocked it off her body, many, many years ago. The Silver King was born not an idol to worship, but a test of process. The Saint left The Cinderbleak Mountains with a new way of life for the people of his city, but did not know he sparked an idea that would someday lead to his own demise.

And so it went, the knowledge of the Fire Giants skills were known far and wide. And so too was the knowledge that they dealt in no currency, as the only thing they desired was the craft. They ate only the scraps of their forge and they were never seen to sleep.

The Fire Giants did not care about the cities in the clouds, nor did they wish to commune with the wilderness. They wished only to worship at the forge. They built many things, intricate and beautiful- terrible and sad.

To forge an Ego Blade is to turn a hero into steel. Only one who has known the adoration of the people, who has felt the swell of pride in their chest from their great deeds will suffice. Some were lured to the Cinderbleak Mountains with the promise of power, others told stories of the people there that needed their help.

All of them were tricked. All of them are swords now.

The process in which a Fire Giant turns a person into a sword is not known to any mortal. If one were to find a Fire Giant though, they would doubtlessly comply with the task. 

The function of a Fire Giant in game is that of the all knowing blacksmith. They hold dominion over fire in ways that no one else does. They probably made dwarves, and they definitely are the reason magic swords that talk and have machinations exist. 

“Ego Blade” is a term I’ve been using to distinguish a regular magic sword from the old school magic sword, which is a much more involved thing. Also the idea of a “regular” magic sword is kind of silly, but my reasoning here is that I believe the mechanical/gameplay reason Clerics can’t use edged weapons is to keep them from getting their hands on a PROPER magic sword, and while I think that works in the microcosm of OD&D I love building lore around mechanics like that. So in my games there are the kind of magic sword that gives you your +1 to hit and then there are EGO BLADES, the literal body and soul of a hero that has been turned into a sword. 

My goal with all of the Giants and their redesigns is to push them all in really extreme directions. Hill Giants are literally hills (mostly because it's funny and it made somebody on reddit really mad) Frost Giants went hard on leaving civilization and communing with nature, Fire Giants ONLY care about the act of crafting and smithing, and Cloud Giants built cities, bigger and better until they all came crashing down. 

More to come, I have sketches (and some finished pieces) of Hill,Cloud & Storm Giants. I also want a sort of proto Giant, which I guess would be like a Stone Giant if we’re going directly from the source material. But I thought it would be cool if Giants all ended up so differently because they physically evolved really quickly, like within their own lifetimes based on the things that they spent their time doing. I think it ties everything together with a big messy knot and you know that’s what I like best in life.

This post was made possible by my lovely PATRONS. If you’d like to give your support, it’s always appreciated.