Background: Giant-cell arteritis commonly relapses when glucocorticoids are tapered, and the prolonged use of glucocorticoids is associated with side effects. The effect of the interleukin-6 receptor alpha inhibitor tocilizumab on the rates of relapse during glucocorticoid tapering was studied in patients with giant-cell arteritis.
Stone Giant D
Conclusions: Tocilizumab, received weekly or every other week, combined with a 26-week prednisone taper was superior to either 26-week or 52-week prednisone tapering plus placebo with regard to sustained glucocorticoid-free remission in patients with giant-cell arteritis. Longer follow-up is necessary to determine the durability of remission and safety of tocilizumab. (Funded by F. Hoffmann-La Roche; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01791153 .).
Once per round, a giant that would normally be hit by a rock can make a Reflex save to catch it as a free action. The DC is 15 for a Small rock, 20 for a Medium one, and 25 for a Large one. (If the projectile provides a magical bonus on attack rolls, the DC increases by that amount.) The giant must be ready for and aware of the attack in order to make a rock catching attempt.
Cloud giants fight in well-organized units, using carefully developed battle plans. They prefer to fight from a position above their opponents. A favorite tactic is to circle the enemies, barraging them with rocks while the giants with magical abilities confound them with spells.
Some fire giants have bright orange hair. An adult male is 12 feet tall, has a chest that measures 9 feet around, and weighs about 7,000 pounds. Females are slightly shorter and lighter. Fire giants can live to be 350 years old.
Fire giants heat their rocks in a nearby fire, geyser, or lava pools, so that they deal extra fire damage. They favor magic flaming swords in melee (when they can get them). They are also fond of grabbing smaller opponents and tossing them somewhere very hot.
The frost giant jarl described here has all the qualities and abilities of a typical frost giant, as well as other abilities (see the statistics block) from being a blackguard. Details on some of these abilities follow.
Skin color among hill giants ranges from light tan to deep ruddy brown. Their hair is brown or black, with eyes the same color. Hill giants wear layers of crudely prepared hides with the fur left on. They seldom wash or repair their garments, preferring to simply add more hides as their old ones wear out.
Reckless brutes of incredible strength but little wit, hill giant characters are never truly accepted into society. Yet they do well on its edges and frontiers, forging a strong and profitable existence.
Stone giants prefer thick leather garments, dyed in shades of brown and gray to match the stone around them. Adults are about 12 feet tall and weigh about 1,500 pounds. Stone giants can live to be 800 years old.
Some stone giants develop special abilities related to their environment. These giant elders have Charisma scores of at least 15 and spell-like abilities, which they use as 10th-level sorcerers. Once per day they can use stone shape, stone tell, and either transmute rock to mud or transmute mud to rock (DC 17). The save DC is Charisma-based. One in ten elders is a sorcerer, usually of 3rd to 6th level.
A storm giant has a +8 racial bonus on any Swim check to perform some special action or avoid a hazard. It can always choose to take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted or endangered. It can use the run action while swimming, provided it swims in a straight line. *Storm giants ignore all weight penalties for gear carried when swimming.
Stone giantDepiction of a stone giant from Monster Manual, 5th Ed., page 156.[art 1]Biological InformationTypeGiantParent raceGiantSubracesGoliath[1]VisionDarkvision 60 ft.AbilitiesStone Camouflage[2]
Rock Catching[2]
Fling[3]
Rolling Rock[3]
Physical CharacteristicsSizeHuge[2]Average height18 feet[4]Skin colorGray[5]Eye colorBlack[6]Sociocultural InformationPlanesMaterial Plane (Exandria)LocationsAlabaster SierrasSkyanchor Citadel
Cliffkeep Mountains
Othendin Pass
Summit Peaks
Penumbra RangeThe Braan
EnvironmentMountains[7] LanguageGiant[2]Notable membersSoorna
The First Favored Champion
Stone giants are a type of highborn giantkin native to the Material Plane. They are distantly related to goliaths.[8][9]
The stone giants view physical perfection to be the greatest of all virtues, and are obsessed with both physical appearance and feats of strength. Unlike the lowborn giantkin, who prize brute force over all else, the lithe stone giants see all forms of physical power as worthy.[13]
Stone giants live in fortresses carved from the peaks of mountains. Their greatest stronghold is Skyanchor Citadel, a city hidden within a mountain of the Alabaster Sierras, its halls winding from its deepest roots to its highest summit.
Before 312 PD, Othendin Pass, a valley in the Cliffkeep Mountains, was a contested territory between stone giant clans and the dwarves of Kraghammer. However, when humans arrived on the continent well before 494 PD and discovered rich mineral deposits, they clashed with the giants until the giants were forced to retreat into their caves higher in the mountains to the northeast. The humans then established Fort Daxio to protect their gains.[18]
On their roundabout way to Whitestone, Vox Machina came across an unnatural formation that Grog immediately recognized as a stone giant fortress, but they found it empty and disturbed.[19] The party soon discovered that the giants had been killed and raised by the Briarwoods to keep watch over the occupied Whitestone.[20] Though several of the zombie giants were killed in the Whitestone Rebellion,[21] some continued to wander the Parchwood Timberlands, tormented by their inability to enter the afterlife and destroying all they saw.[22]
The adventure hook Bite the Bulette in the sourcebook, set in 812 PD, involves a tribe of stone giants and goliaths returning to a chokehold in the Othendin Pass. The tribe claims to be a druidic order called the Stoneherders that keeps the balance between civilization and nature in the North, and though the presence of Fort Daxio has kept them away for generations, they now need to thin the bulette population that has been slowly rising since the giants were pushed out.[18]
Stone GiantArt from 2nd Edition Monstrous ManualCultural InfomationClimate & TerrainSub-tropical and temperate mountainsFrequencyRareOrganizationTribalActivity CycleAnyDietOmnivorousIntelligenceAverage (8-10)TreasureDAlignmentNeutralCombat InfomationNo. Appearing1-10Armor Class0Movement12Hit Dice14 + 1-3 hit pointsTHAC07Damage & Attack1-8 or by weapon (2-12+8)Special AttackHurling rocks for 3-30 (3d10)Special DefensesSee belowMagical ResistanceNilSizeH (18' tall)Moral16XPAdult: 7,000Infant: NilJuvenile, -3: 975Juvenile, -2: 3,000Juvenile, -1: 6,000Elder: 9,000Spell caster: 9,000SourceSource BookMonstrous Manual (2140)Stone giants are lean, but muscular. Their hard, hairless flesh is smooth and gray, making it easy for them to blend in with their mountainous surroundings. Their gaunt facial features and deep, sunken black eyes make them seem perpetually grim.
The typical stone giant is 18' tall and weighs 9,000 pounds because of its dense flesh. Females are a little shorter and lighter. The giants' natural Armor Class is 0. They do not wear armor to augment that, preferring to wear stone-colored garments. Stone giants can live to be 800 years old.
Stone giants, like several other giant races, carry some of their belongings with them. They leave their more valuable items in their lairs, however. A typical stone giant's bag will contain 2-24 (2d12) throwing rocks, a portion of the giant's wealth, and 1-8 additional common items.
When possible, stone giants fight from a distance. They are able to hurl rocks a minimum distance of 3 yards to a maximum distance of 300 yards, doing 3-30 (3d10) points of damage with each rock. These giants are able to catch stones and similar missiles 90% of the time. A favorite tactic of stone giants is to stand nearly motionless against rocks, blending in with the background, then moving forward to throw rocks, surprising their foes. Many giants set up piles of rocks near their lair which can be triggered like an avalanche when intruders get too close.
When stone giants are forced into melee combat, they use large clubs chiseled out of stone which do 2-12 (2d6) +8 points of damage; double normal (man-sized) club damage plus the giant's strength bonus.
Stone giants prefer to dwell in deep caves high on rocky, storm-swept mountains. They normally live in the company of their relatives, though such a clans usually include no more than 10 giants. Clans of giants do locate their lairs near each other, however, for a sense of community and protection. A mountain range commonly has 2-8 clans lairing there.
Stone giants are crude artists, painting scenes of their lives on the walls of their lairs and on tanned hide scrolls. Some giants are fond of music and play stone flutes and drums. Others make simple jewelry, fashioning painted stone beads into necklaces.
If eight or more giants are encountered in a clan's lair, one quarter will be female, one quarter male, and the remainder offspring. To determine a giant's maturity, roll 1d4. A roll of 4 indicates an infant with no combat ability and hit points of an ogre; rolls of 1-3 indicate older progeny with hit dice, damage, and attack rolls equal to those of a hill giant. 2ff7e9595c
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