Hill Giant

(From D&D 5th Edition Monster Manual - 2014)

Hill giants are selfish brutes that hunt, forage, and raid in constant search of food. They blunder through hills and forests devouring what they can, bullying smaller creatures into feeding them. Their laziness and dullness would long ago have spelled their end if not for their formidable size and strength.

Steadings. Hill giants dwell in hills and mountain valleys across the world, congregating in steadings built of rough timber or in clusters of well-defended mud-and-wattle huts. Their skins are tan from lives spent lumbering up and down the hilly slopes and dozing beneath the sun. Their weapons are uprooted trees and rocks pulled from the earth. The sweat of their bodies adds to the reek of the crude animal skins they wear, poorly stitched together with hair and leather thongs.

Bigger Means Better. In a hill giant’s world, humanoids and animals are easy prey that can be hunted with impunity. Creatures such as dragons and other giants are tough adversaries. Hill giants equate size with power.

Hill giants don’t realize they follow an ordning. They know only that other giants are larger and stronger than they are, which means they are to be obeyed. A hill giant tribe’s chief is usually the biggest giant that can still move about. Only on rare occasion does a hill giant with more brains than bulk use its cunning to gain the favor of giants of higher status, cleverly subverting the social order.

Voracious Eaters. With nothing else to occupy them, hill giants eat as often as possible. A hill giant hunts and forages alone or with a dire wolf companion, so as to not have to share with other tribe members. The giant eats anything that isn’t obviously deadly, such as creatures known to be poisonous. Rotten meat is fair game, though, as are decaying plants and even mud.

Farmers fear and loathe hill giants. Where a predator such as an ankheg might burrow through fields and consume a cow or two before being driven off, a hill giant will consume a whole herd of cattle before moving on to sheep, goats, and chickens, then tearing into fruits, vegetables, and grain. If a farm family is at hand, the giant might snack on them too.

Direct and Deadly. Hill giants’ ability to digest nearly anything has allowed them to survive for eons without needing to adapt and change.

With no culture of their own, hill giants ape the traditions of creatures they manage to observe for a time before eating them. They don’t think about their own size and strength, however. Tribes of hill giants attempting to imitate elves have been known to topple entire forests by trying to live in trees. Others attempting to take over humanoid towns or villages get only as far as the doors and windows of a building, taking out its walls and roof as they attempt to enter.

In conversation, hill giants are blunt and direct, and they have little concept of deception. A hill giant might be fooled into running from another giant if a number of villagers cover themselves in blankets and stand on one another’s shoulders holding a giant-painted pumpkin head. Reasoning with a hill giant is futile, although clever creatures can sometimes encourage a giant to take actions that benefit them.

Raging Bullies. A hill giant that feels as though it has been deceived, insulted, or made into a fool vents its terrible wrath on anything it encounters. Even after smashing those who offended it into pulp, the giant rampages until its rage abates, it notices something more interesting, or it grows hungry.

If a hill giant proclaims itself king over a territory where other humanoids live, it rules strictly by terror and tyranny. Its decisions shift with its mood, and if it forgets the title it bestowed upon itself, it might eat its subjects on a whim.

(From Volo's Guide to Monsters - 2016)

Hill giants live to eat. Anyone who understands this one fact about them knows everything there is to know. 

Ordning of Gluttony. Hill giants are the weakest of the true giants. They have the shortest stature, the smallest brains, and the least ambition. The only area in which they excel is girth. Since eating is the only thing hill giants care aboutt a . tribe is always led by its fattest, heaviest member- the most successful and thus the most admired one in the group. The qualities that other creatures expect or demand of their leaders- such as intellect, decision-making ability, and personal magnetism- have no importance to hill giants. They are neither recognized nor rewarded, except to the extent that a hill giant with slightly above average smarts might use trickery or intimidation to grab more food than its neighbors. 

Dens of Squalor and Stench. Hill giants stuff the most repulsive, rotting things into their mouths without hesitation, suggesting that either they have no sense of taste or their hunger is so all-consuming that flavor isn't a consideration. Whatever the reason, the upshot is that hill giant dens are filthy, reeking places. Decaying carcasses and cracked bones are strewn about. The ground is saturated with blood and with the giants' own filth. 

Not every hill giant's digestive system is so indiscriminate; from time to time a giant does get sick, but most of them recover and don't learn anything from the experience. The rare exceptions are called mouths of Grolantor- giants that are confined and starved to the point of emaciation before being unleashed during a battle or a raid. 

The stench that exudes from a hill giant den might attract monstrous scavengers such as oozes, ropers, carrion crawlers, or otyughs. Hill giants don't domesticate or tend these creatures but do tolerate their presence. A visit from a gelatinous cube or a carrion crawler probably is the only "housekeeping" a hill giant's den ever sees. 

Ghouls are known to lurk around the edges of hill giant encampments, but they're less welcome than other kinds of scavengers. With their greater craftiness- especially if they're led by aghast-ghouls can use simple trickery to steal the giants' meals. A hill giant wouldn't mind if a roper dragged away a few scraps, but it would be angry if a trio of ghouls stole an entire carcass. 

Stuff-Stuff. Hill giants sometimes amuse themselves with inane games that typically involve food or eating. One such game is called stuff-stuff, in which hill giants see how many halflings, gnomes, or goblins they can fit into their mouths at once without swallowing.

Grolantor: Always Hungry, Never Full. The deity most revered by hill giants is Grolantor, the least of Anna m's six sons, the black sheep of the family who was scorned by his siblings and his parents. Most ofGrolantor's problems, however, were of his own doing. Proud of his great strength (his only redeeming quality), Grolantor refused to recognize the superiority of his older, smarter, stronger siblings, and insisted on being treated as their equat He complained constantly of his endless hunger, but rather than hunt for himself, he snatched food from the plates of his siblings and his parents. This behavior caused many fights between Grolantor and his siblings, most of which Grolantor lost. Tales about Grolantor invariably end with his gaining yet another scar on his back, received as he escaped the wrath of a family member who had been pushed too far by Grolantor's insulting boasts and selfishness.