Storm Giant Quintessent

(From Volo's Guide to Monsters - 2016):

To forestall the inevitable, some storm giants approaching the end of their natural life spans seek an escape from death. They plumb the depths of their powerful connection to the elements and disperse themselves into nature, transforming into semiconscious storms. The blizzard that rages unendingly around a mountain peak, the vortex that swirls around a remote island, or the thunderstorm that howls ceaselessly up and down a rugged coastline could, in fact, be the undying form of a storm giant clinging to existence.

A storm giant quintessent sheds their armor and weapons but gains the power to form makeshift weapons out of thin air. When the giant has no further use of these elemental weapons, or when the giant dies, the weapons disappear.

A storm giant quintessent can revert to their true giant form temporarily and can maintain that form long enough for the giant to communicate with a mortal, carry out a short task, or defend their home against aggressors.

A Quintessent’s Lair:

A storm giant quintessent has no need for castles or dungeon lairs. Their lair is usually a secluded region or prominent geographic feature, such as a mountain peak, a great waterfall, a remote island, a fog-shrouded loch, a beautiful coral reef, or a windswept desert bluff. The storm in which the giant lives could be a blizzard, a typhoon, a thunderstorm, or a sandstorm, as befits the environment.

Lair Actions: A storm giant quintessent can use lair actions in giant form and while transformed into a storm. On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the giant can take one of the following lair actions; the giant can’t take the same lair action two rounds in a row:

Deafening Boom. The giant creates a thunderclap centered on a point anywhere in their lair. Each creature within 20 feet of that point must succeed on a DC 18 Constitution saving throw or be deafened until the end of its next turn.

Fog. The giant creates a 20-foot-radius sphere of fog (or murky water if within water) centered on a point anywhere in its lair. The sphere spreads around corners, and its area is heavily obscured. The fog lasts until the giant disperses it (no action required), and it can’t be dispersed by wind.

Gale. The giant creates a 60-foot-long, 10-foot-wide line of strong wind (or strong current within water) originating from a point anywhere in its lair. Each creature in that line must succeed on a DC 18 Strength saving throw or be pushed 15 feet in the direction the wind is blowing. The gust disperses gas or vapor, and it extinguishes candles, torches, and similar unprotected flames in its area. Protected flames, such as those of lanterns, have a 50 percent chance of being extinguished.

Regional Effects:

The region containing a storm giant quintessent’s lair is warped by the giant’s presence, which creates one or more of the following effects:

Downpour. Rain, snow, or blowing dust or sand (whichever is most appropriate) is constant within 1 mile of the lair. Rain causes rivers and streams to fill or overflow their banks; snow, dust, or sand forms deep drifts or dunes.

Lightning. Flashes of lightning and peals of thunder are continual, day and night, within 5 miles of the lair.

Winds. High wind blows within 1 mile of the lair, making it impossible to light a fire unless the location where the fire is lit is protected from the wind.

If the giant dies, the lightning, thunder, and high wind regional effects end immediately. Rain, snow, and blowing dust abate gradually within (1d8) days.

Storm Giants (General Info):

Storm giants, the most powerful and majestic of giant-kind, are also the most aloof and the least understood. Uvarjotens aren’t just forces of nature; they are bound to nature, and are extensions of it, in mystical ways that humans find hard to comprehend.

Ordning of Omens. Each storm giant knows its status in the ordning by the signals the universe sends them. Omens might be seen in the wheeling flight of a flock of birds, the patterns in sand left by a receding tide, the shapes of clouds, or any number of other natural phenomena. Storm giants that receive the greatest number of such messages generally rank highest, but the significance of individual signs can also affect one’s status. On the rare occasions when storm giants meet, omens and signs accompany each individual, making it plain to all present who ranks where. Arguments about ranking within the ordning are rare, but all the giants in the group studiously examine every sign for evidence that one among them might be the greatest yet, since the revelation of that fact would herald Annam’s return.

Ever since Ostoria fell and Annam abandoned his children, no sole king or emperor has ruled over giantkind. According to legend, the arrival of such a leader will be presaged by signs and omens in all the elements of the world: the sky (air), the sea (water), the continents (earth), and the underworld (fire). All of these are realms of the storm giants, which maintain a constant watch for the all-important signs. In ages past, when giant dynasties reigned, the signs that accompanied the leader of them all were clear and unmistakable. In the crawl of centuries since the empire’s collapse, the few signs manifested have been muddied, conflicting, and contentious.

For an obvious reason, every storm giant has a strong personal interest in how soon Annam’s return comes to pass — they all want to live to see it. Some individuals gain a measure of immortality for themselves by merging with elemental forces. These storm giant quintessents are the most reclusive of their kind, lairing in remote and inhospitable sites surrounded by brutal winds and murderous weather.

Without an emperor to serve as their political and spiritual head, the storm giants are adrift on an uncertain sea. Every possibility encapsulated in every sign is exhaustively examined. Debates over the meaning and validity of this or that omen are conducted across human kingdoms and spanning human lifetimes.

Explorers and adventurers can find opportunity in this situation, since the giants sometimes hire agents that they dispatch to investigate portents and to retrieve items the giants need for their oracles. It’s dangerous work, for two reasons. The obvious one is that the task involves delving into Ostorian ruins that have been sealed for millennia. The less obvious one is that certain portents, if confirmed to be true, would indeed bring about the return of Annam, upending the giants’ social order and initiating a new age. Some would welcome such a change; others would oppose it bitterly and do all they could to stop it, possibly resorting to all-out war.

Out for Themselves. In the absence of both Annam and a worldly emperor, storm giants recognize no higher authority. Human, elf, and dwarf kings, liches, grand sorcerers and wizards — all might amass what they consider great power, but they have no influence over the storm giants. Any who try extending their reach in that direction are guaranteed to come to grief.

But as long as the world leaves the storm giants alone, the giants will leave the world alone. They wish neither good nor ill on the realms of humanity; they simply don’t give much thought to the matter, except on the rare occasions when humans crop up in a prophecy or are hinted at by an omen.

When storm giants do interact with non-giants, those on the receiving end of their attention might question the notion that storm giants are “good” creatures. They respect the principle of the sanctity of life, but even the calmest of storm giants has a tremendous temper. When one is roused to anger, principle gives way to fury, and an offense committed by one person against a giant can bring furious retribution down on an entire community.

A storm giant that destroys a town and kills innocents in a fit of rage is likely to regret it afterward and might offer payment to make amends, though a sack of gold is likely little comfort to those who lost loved ones, homes, and livelihoods. It’s always wise to tread softly, speak deferentially, and act respectfully in the presence of a giant, but this is especially true of storm giants.

Living on the Edge. Once they’re old enough to fend for themselves, storm giants spend most of their lives in contemplative isolation. Storm giants are capable of living wherever they choose, whether that’s atop a mountain, in a glacial cave, or at the bottom of the deepest oceanic trench. One kind of location that invariably draws their attention is an elemental crossing — where the Material Plane and the Elemental Planes intersect and interact. Elemental influence pervades the architecture of storm giants and lends a tempestuous, unearthly quality to their homes.

Storm giants use elemental crossings for their own transplanar wandering, especially into the Elemental Plane of Air and the Elemental Plane of Water. The frequent whirlpools, tornadoes, and lashing rainstorms that buffet the passages to those two planes help to safeguard the giants’ homes and ensure their privacy.

Although a storm giant prefers to live outside the company of other giants, it isn’t necessarily alone in its stronghold. Storm giants share their abodes with other creatures that are comfortable in the environment: a sea-dwelling storm giant, for example, might have a few merfolk, water weirds, or even a dragon turtle for companions, while a storm giant living on a mountain peak would extend a friendly hand to any pegasus that happened by, and might even welcome yetis into its home for a time if it believed they could be trusted. The giant’s guests are expected to be respectful, to make themselves useful, and to provide interesting conversation or other entertainment when the giant feels like being sociable.

Moods of Stronmaus. Storm giants pay homage to Stronmaus, the eldest of Annam’s children, who is also the most joyful and the most prone to laughter and enjoying fellowship with his siblings. That image of Stronmaus is in sharp contrast to how storm giants are perceived in the world: aloof and dour. Nonetheless, it is an accurate one.

In the giants’ legends, Stronmaus is subject to gray moods and deep brooding that are just as intense as his moments of good humor. It is also true that storm giants aren’t as humorless as popular notions paint them to be. They’re quiet and reserved when they’re by themselves, which is how they spend most of their time. But when they get together with others of their kind, they enjoy mirth, song, and drink as much as Stronmaus does. For the sake of their privacy and for the safety of smaller beings in the vicinity, these rare gatherings occur far from the presence of other creatures, thus perpetuating the giants’ reputation for always being gloomy and grim.