What creatures might a sky dwelling cloud giant king use to defend his fortress and treasure? I need some ideas to challenge my party of 4 players once they're up to 5th-6th level.
So, I just finished DM'ing my party through Hoard of the Dragon Queen, which ends in a could giant's castle. The Castle itself is mostly staffed by a small army of Ogres, although a couple Stone Giants are there as well, along with the Cloud Giant's pet Griffin. Basically any of the giant races are likely to be in service of a Cloud Giant. Trolls are probably a good choice, because there's such a large variety of them and they have unique challenges that make them a bit more interesting than something like a Hill Giant, which is basically just like... a dude, but bigger.
You could have a small group of wizards that are working for the giant in the hopes of getting some arcane spells. A young dragon of some kind that the cloud giants raised. I like the above idea of trolls. Maybe the cloud giants collects trolls from all over the world and you could mix it up with the different variety of trolls out there.
I like the idea of some wizards being there. Even if you don't want to include non-giants in the castle, you could have it be a group of Goliath or Firbolg spellcasters.
I recall also that Cloud Giants in Faerun are known to sometimes tame White Dragons to ride as mounts, so having a young dragon somewhere in the fortress makes sense.
I'm not totally sure what kind of treasures Giants would carry. Having some Goliaths or Firbolgs around would at least explain why equipment for medium sized creatures might actually be there in the fortress. Would giants actually own belts of Giant Strength? That feels like something you might expect to find, but I'm not sure if it makes sense for Giants to own those things.
"Aarakocra Simulacra Years ago, a wounded aarakocra named Jakka landed on Sansuri’s cloud castle. Sansuri was struck by the beauty and color of the noble creature, but rather than befriend Jakka, she locked him in a cage and imprisoned him for months while she used simulacrum spells to create effigies of him out of ice and snow. (Sansuri’s version of the spell allows her to have multiple simulacra of the same creature.) After creating a host of Jakka simulacra, she killed the original, then (in typical noble fashion) had his body stuffed and mounted above the fireplace in her lounge.
The countess uses the simulacra as guards and castle decorations. Their poise and striking plumage are the envy of the cloud giant nobility, and they obey their mistress’s commands without question"
Pets
Most cloud giant homes featured one or more pets. The most popular choices among them were creatures of the sky, such as griffons, giant eagles, hippogriffs, perytons, rocs, owls, and wyverns. Wyverns were more common among the evil-aligned members of this race, who were also known to keep both human and demihuman slaves. Cloud giants were also known to keep creatures other than those that flew, with rare creatures treated as more of a status symbol than companions. Some ground dwelling creatures they were known to keep included owlbears, lions, spotted lions, and dire lions.
What creatures might a sky dwelling cloud giant king use to defend his fortress and treasure? I need some ideas to challenge my party of 4 players once they're up to 5th-6th level.
What creatures might a sky dwelling cloud giant king use to defend his fortress and treasure? I need some ideas to challenge my party of 4 players once they're up to 5th-6th level.
So, I just finished DM'ing my party through Hoard of the Dragon Queen, which ends in a could giant's castle. The Castle itself is mostly staffed by a small army of Ogres, although a couple Stone Giants are there as well, along with the Cloud Giant's pet Griffin. Basically any of the giant races are likely to be in service of a Cloud Giant. Trolls are probably a good choice, because there's such a large variety of them and they have unique challenges that make them a bit more interesting than something like a Hill Giant, which is basically just like... a dude, but bigger.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
You could have a small group of wizards that are working for the giant in the hopes of getting some arcane spells. A young dragon of some kind that the cloud giants raised. I like the above idea of trolls. Maybe the cloud giants collects trolls from all over the world and you could mix it up with the different variety of trolls out there.
I like the idea of some wizards being there. Even if you don't want to include non-giants in the castle, you could have it be a group of Goliath or Firbolg spellcasters.
I recall also that Cloud Giants in Faerun are known to sometimes tame White Dragons to ride as mounts, so having a young dragon somewhere in the fortress makes sense.
I'm not totally sure what kind of treasures Giants would carry. Having some Goliaths or Firbolgs around would at least explain why equipment for medium sized creatures might actually be there in the fortress. Would giants actually own belts of Giant Strength? That feels like something you might expect to find, but I'm not sure if it makes sense for Giants to own those things.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
-Air elementals
-magical constructs
-tressym
From STK:
"Aarakocra Simulacra
Years ago, a wounded aarakocra named Jakka landed on Sansuri’s cloud castle. Sansuri was struck by the beauty and color of the noble creature, but rather than befriend Jakka, she locked him in a cage and imprisoned him for months while she used simulacrum spells to create effigies of him out of ice and snow. (Sansuri’s version of the spell allows her to have multiple simulacra of the same creature.) After creating a host of Jakka simulacra, she killed the original, then (in typical noble fashion) had his body stuffed and mounted above the fireplace in her lounge.
The countess uses the simulacra as guards and castle decorations. Their poise and striking plumage are the envy of the cloud giant nobility, and they obey their mistress’s commands without question"
Pets
Most cloud giant homes featured one or more pets. The most popular choices among them were creatures of the sky, such as griffons, giant eagles, hippogriffs, perytons, rocs, owls, and wyverns. Wyverns were more common among the evil-aligned members of this race, who were also known to keep both human and demihuman slaves. Cloud giants were also known to keep creatures other than those that flew, with rare creatures treated as more of a status symbol than companions. Some ground dwelling creatures they were known to keep included owlbears, lions, spotted lions, and dire lions.
Lots of things. The MM mentions Hill Giant, Fire Giant, Frost Giant, Griffon, Peryton, and Wyvern, but staying in theme I'd probably either go with various forms of giant animal.
thanks Everyone! These are helpful ideas!