I'm a big fan of reskinning existing monsters to fit my needs. I'm currently looking for a gargantuan demon possessed Hill Giant that swallows characters whole. Nothing is really grabbing me in the CR 10-12 range, any thoughts?
What I usually do is taking the base monster, in this case a Hill Giant, and then I'll give it abilities similar to what a demon at a similar CR would have, and also adjust resistances and other things with that change in mind.
Multiattack. The Abomination makes two slam attacks. I both attacks hit a medium or smaller target, the target is grappled (escape DC 15), and the Abomination uses engulf on it.
Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 10 ft., one creature.
Hit: 14 (2d8 + 5) bludgeoning damage.
Engulf. Abomination engulfs a medium or smaller creature grappled by it.
The engulfed target is blinded, restrained and unable to breathe, and it must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw at the start of each of the Abomination's turns or take 14 (2d8+5) bludgeoning damage. If the Abomination moves, the engulfed target moves with it. The Abomination can only have one creature engulfed at a time.
A Gargantuan Demon Possessed Hill Giant that swallows characters whole. This sounds fun, lets get to work:
The first Modifier on this is size. All giants are considered Huge, the Hill Giant being the smallest at 16 ft tall, the Storm Giant the largest at 26. The why of this aside for now, we need to take into account some details associated with gargantuan creatures. The monster manual lists FIVE gargantuan monsters that are not ancient dragons, two of which are aquatic, which leaves us with the Purple Worm, Roc, and the understandably underused Tarrasque. One flies, one burrows, one moves on land like the Hill Giant (am I really going to borrow from the Tarrasque for this? indeed I am).
This Hill Giant is noticeably larger than most. The sheer amount of mass to take it into comparison to any of the gargantuan creatures is massive. A Tarrasque is 50 feet tall and 70 long, A Roc's wingspan is 200 feet. Purple Worms are an undisclosed and (in my personal opinion) unlimited length) so lets take this Hill giant and put him up to 50 feet tall. Keeping the proportions the same he's gotta weigh a lot more. The 5e rules don't provide a weight, the 3.5 rules say a 10.5 ft tall Hill giant weighs 1,100 lbs, so we'll assume a 16 ft tall hill giant is upped to 1,500 lbs (keeping it round for simplicity). Keeping it to this simplified scale, a 50 ft hill giant would weigh roughly 5,000 lbs. he would still be plenty massive and blob-ish here. maybe another few hundred pounds in mud and filth just caked on there. That's a lot of surface area... ANYWAY, when a bipedal 5,000 lb THING moves, it's gonna shake the earth. When it's within so many feet of the player and moves, you could make the party do some Dex saves or lose footing. Perhaps a DC 15 save if within 50 ft, and a DC 13 if over 50 ft away. Over 100 feet and they just feel it.
The other thing here, Frightful Presence. For our buddy the Tarrasque it's DC 17 Wisdom within 120 feet. This is not a Tarrasque, we'll say 100 feet, and bump it down to 14 or 15, we may come back to this after we address the Demon possession... (For now, I'm thinking of a filthy, stinky Stay Puft Marshmallow man lumbering towards the party)
Lets talk Armor Class. Base Hill Giant AC is 13. of the gargantuan non dragons the lowest is 18, This guy wouldn't have Thick hide like a Tarrasque, which has an AC of 25, and I don't see this guy (or gal) as being very nimble. Still, of the Base Giants as a whole, the highest unarmored AC is 17. He's heartier than that, I think, so 18 or 19 sounds fine.
Hit Points: we're gonna up him (pre-demon possession traits added) to the equivalent CR of a Storm Giant, which is 13, so I'd put his Hit Dice at 20d12 + 100 (equal to the Storm Giant), the Monster Manual puts the HP example at 230, we'll go with that for now.
Speed: leave this at 40 feet, because at his size, he's probably learned what tripping feels like, and won't want to do that much. If you want to increase it, I wouldn't go higher than 50 feet.
Ability Scores: I would make them something like this: STR: 25(+7) DEX: 8(-1) CON: 23 (+6) INT: 5 (-3) WIS: 9 (-1) CON:6 (-2) Changes to Strength are based on sheer size, changes for CON are because it eats things whole and can pass them through it's bowels and it's still alive.
Skills, Senses, Languages: Leave them, except maybe add abyssal for the demonic possession.
Actions: Leave the multiattack at two greatclubs, but.. that greatclub attack, with the increased STR we make it +10 to hit, and since it's THAT much bigger, we're gonna make it 5d8+7 damage, and the strike is going to be able to hit more than one target, specifically, any who are not targeted but are within 5 feet of the target must make a dex save (We'll go with DC13) or be hit as well. This applies EVEN if the target is missed, I would say that the DM chooses how bad the miss was, and who would be susceptible to this save and damage.
Now, it wouldn't be a giant without ROCKS. This is no ordinary giant, he doesn't just throw boulders, he's a hill giant who can throw HILLS. Let's up that Rock to a HILL that hits an area 10ft by 10ft with a dex save of 15 to dodge and a damage of 6d12+7, because it's bigger than a rock, we'll sit the range the same at 60/240 ft.
He can still throw a rock though. same size as before, +8 to hit, 3d10+5. Or maybe he can even take two rocks in his giant ham-fist and throw them with a 50% miss chance, but still striking a general area.
Now, that was just the changes I would make due to SIZE. Let's talk about the second modifier here. Swallowing things whole. Let's consult our friendly Tarrasque: he can swallow creatures whole with a bit attack. Our Giant would have to grapple them first, and pop them in his mouth. The Giant's Grapple would be +7, and I suggest it would take an attack action each to both grab you and swallow you. You would have to be Large or smaller, so you would fit in the mouth, and for the sake of ease, well quote the Tarrasque section specifically, because I think it would all apply here:
"While swallowed, the creature is blinded and restrained, it has total cover against attacks and other effects outside the tarrasque, and it takes 56 (16d6) acid damage at the start of each of the tarrasque's turns.If the tarrasque takes 60 damage or more on a single turn from a creature inside it, the tarrasque must succeed on a DC 20 Constitution saving throw at the end of that turn or regurgitate all swallowed creatures, which fall prone in a space within 10 feet of the tarrasque. If the tarrasque dies, a swallowed creature is no longer restrained by it and can escape from the corpse by using 30 feet of movement, exiting prone."
Now this demon possession thing, it's important to note that demon possession does not grant demon traits, at least not completely. Every Demon is immune to poison and has magic resistance. Lets give it those (this ups that CR), but that's about it for what common ground the demons have. the question now remains, what kind of demon is possessing it? Here are some more ideas depending on that:
Balor: give it a fire aura, make the weapon magical, maybe even replace the club with a lightning sword (same damage, slashing, lose the area of effect, and give it the 3d8 shock damage addition)
Barlgura: (this is a suggested one in my opinion) make aesthetic changes, like a LOT more hair and gorrila like teeth. Lose the club, change it with a fist attack with the option to grapple automatically. and UP THE SPEED because he can now do a running leap. if you left his speed at 40, make his long jump 50, and high jump 30 with a running start.
Chasme: waste of your time
Hezrou or Dretch: (not suggested) give him the fetid cloud action, but make the gas go 20 ft instead of 10, or hell, a fart attack that works like breath weapon in a WIDE dispersing cone.
Glabrezu: This one seems pretty good too. make it similar to the Balrgura, give a bonus to the grapple because instead of hair he's got sharp claw-like fingernails.
Goristro: Give him the siege monster trait (double damage to structures), in fact, that might be a good one to use no matter what.. also, give him a stomp attack for 5d10+7. as the demonic possession has hardened his already hippie-filth crusted feet.
Marilith: I'm going to be honest, I don't see a Marilith going for the hill giant, just not their style, but if you want this, make him dual wield swords and be pretty good with them, This would require a big increase to the DEX stat.
Nalfeshnee: give the giant the Horror Nimbus attack, this one is pretty simple.
Quasit: as dumb as this sounds, this might be fun... give him the ability to go invisible once per day. you can totally hear him coming and SEE the footprints and destruction in his wake, but this could be how he has survived all these years. a backwards people might have seen him as their god, and sacrificed fair maidens or livestock to him, only becoming visible as he snatches up the tribute. Turn invisible before sleeping, and his snoring and farts could be mistaken as the sounds of distant volcanoes or "terrors unseen"
Shadow Demon: give him shadow stealth. at night, he might just look like a mountain in the moonlight. If his filth is how I described, it might have plenty of plant life to make it work. This might also be how he survived all these years.
Vrock: give him a stunning shout like the Vrock's screech attack. Make the distance 60 ft, a DC 14 Con save or be stunned until the end of the giant's next turn.
Yochlol: Make him an excellent climber, I wouldnt go so far as to make it spider climb,
With all that, you should be able to get somewhere. depending on the demon you choose, I would put the CR from 14-17.
A Gargantuan Demon Possessed Hill Giant that swallows characters whole. This sounds fun, lets get to work:
The first Modifier on this is size. All giants are considered Huge, the Hill Giant being the smallest at 16 ft tall, the Storm Giant the largest at 26. The why of this aside for now, we need to take into account some details associated with gargantuan creatures. The monster manual lists FIVE gargantuan monsters that are not ancient dragons, two of which are aquatic, which leaves us with the Purple Worm, Roc, and the understandably underused Tarrasque. One flies, one burrows, one moves on land like the Hill Giant (am I really going to borrow from the Tarrasque for this? indeed I am).
This Hill Giant is noticeably larger than most. The sheer amount of mass to take it into comparison to any of the gargantuan creatures is massive. A Tarrasque is 50 feet tall and 70 long, A Roc's wingspan is 200 feet. Purple Worms are an undisclosed and (in my personal opinion) unlimited length) so lets take this Hill giant and put him up to 50 feet tall. Keeping the proportions the same he's gotta weigh a lot more. The 5e rules don't provide a weight, the 3.5 rules say a 10.5 ft tall Hill giant weighs 1,100 lbs, so we'll assume a 16 ft tall hill giant is upped to 1,500 lbs (keeping it round for simplicity). Keeping it to this simplified scale, a 50 ft hill giant would weigh roughly 5,000 lbs. he would still be plenty massive and blob-ish here. maybe another few hundred pounds in mud and filth just caked on there. That's a lot of surface area... ANYWAY, when a bipedal 5,000 lb THING moves, it's gonna shake the earth. When it's within so many feet of the player and moves, you could make the party do some Dex saves or lose footing. Perhaps a DC 15 save if within 50 ft, and a DC 13 if over 50 ft away. Over 100 feet and they just feel it.
The other thing here, Frightful Presence. For our buddy the Tarrasque it's DC 17 Wisdom within 120 feet. This is not a Tarrasque, we'll say 100 feet, and bump it down to 14 or 15, we may come back to this after we address the Demon possession... (For now, I'm thinking of a filthy, stinky Stay Puft Marshmallow man lumbering towards the party)
Lets talk Armor Class. Base Hill Giant AC is 13. of the gargantuan non dragons the lowest is 18, This guy wouldn't have Thick hide like a Tarrasque, which has an AC of 25, and I don't see this guy (or gal) as being very nimble. Still, of the Base Giants as a whole, the highest unarmored AC is 17. He's heartier than that, I think, so 18 or 19 sounds fine.
Hit Points: we're gonna up him (pre-demon possession traits added) to the equivalent CR of a Storm Giant, which is 13, so I'd put his Hit Dice at 20d12 + 100 (equal to the Storm Giant), the Monster Manual puts the HP example at 230, we'll go with that for now.
Speed: leave this at 40 feet, because at his size, he's probably learned what tripping feels like, and won't want to do that much. If you want to increase it, I wouldn't go higher than 50 feet.
Ability Scores: I would make them something like this: STR: 25(+7) DEX: 8(-1) CON: 23 (+6) INT: 5 (-3) WIS: 9 (-1) CON:6 (-2) Changes to Strength are based on sheer size, changes for CON are because it eats things whole and can pass them through it's bowels and it's still alive.
Skills, Senses, Languages: Leave them, except maybe add abyssal for the demonic possession.
Actions: Leave the multiattack at two greatclubs, but.. that greatclub attack, with the increased STR we make it +10 to hit, and since it's THAT much bigger, we're gonna make it 5d8+7 damage, and the strike is going to be able to hit more than one target, specifically, any who are not targeted but are within 5 feet of the target must make a dex save (We'll go with DC13) or be hit as well. This applies EVEN if the target is missed, I would say that the DM chooses how bad the miss was, and who would be susceptible to this save and damage.
Now, it wouldn't be a giant without ROCKS. This is no ordinary giant, he doesn't just throw boulders, he's a hill giant who can throw HILLS. Let's up that Rock to a HILL that hits an area 10ft by 10ft with a dex save of 15 to dodge and a damage of 6d12+7, because it's bigger than a rock, we'll sit the range the same at 60/240 ft.
He can still throw a rock though. same size as before, +8 to hit, 3d10+5. Or maybe he can even take two rocks in his giant ham-fist and throw them with a 50% miss chance, but still striking a general area.
Now, that was just the changes I would make due to SIZE. Let's talk about the second modifier here. Swallowing things whole. Let's consult our friendly Tarrasque: he can swallow creatures whole with a bit attack. Our Giant would have to grapple them first, and pop them in his mouth. The Giant's Grapple would be +7, and I suggest it would take an attack action each to both grab you and swallow you. You would have to be Large or smaller, so you would fit in the mouth, and for the sake of ease, well quote the Tarrasque section specifically, because I think it would all apply here:
"While swallowed, the creature is blinded and restrained, it has total cover against attacks and other effects outside the tarrasque, and it takes 56 (16d6) acid damage at the start of each of the tarrasque's turns.If the tarrasque takes 60 damage or more on a single turn from a creature inside it, the tarrasque must succeed on a DC 20 Constitution saving throw at the end of that turn or regurgitate all swallowed creatures, which fall prone in a space within 10 feet of the tarrasque. If the tarrasque dies, a swallowed creature is no longer restrained by it and can escape from the corpse by using 30 feet of movement, exiting prone."
Now this demon possession thing, it's important to note that demon possession does not grant demon traits, at least not completely. Every Demon is immune to poison and has magic resistance. Lets give it those (this ups that CR), but that's about it for what common ground the demons have. the question now remains, what kind of demon is possessing it? Here are some more ideas depending on that:
Balor: give it a fire aura, make the weapon magical, maybe even replace the club with a lightning sword (same damage, slashing, lose the area of effect, and give it the 3d8 shock damage addition)
Barlgura: (this is a suggested one in my opinion) make aesthetic changes, like a LOT more hair and gorrila like teeth. Lose the club, change it with a fist attack with the option to grapple automatically. and UP THE SPEED because he can now do a running leap. if you left his speed at 40, make his long jump 50, and high jump 30 with a running start.
Chasme: waste of your time
Hezrou or Dretch: (not suggested) give him the fetid cloud action, but make the gas go 20 ft instead of 10, or hell, a fart attack that works like breath weapon in a WIDE dispersing cone.
Glabrezu: This one seems pretty good too. make it similar to the Balrgura, give a bonus to the grapple because instead of hair he's got sharp claw-like fingernails.
Goristro: Give him the siege monster trait (double damage to structures), in fact, that might be a good one to use no matter what.. also, give him a stomp attack for 5d10+7. as the demonic possession has hardened his already hippie-filth crusted feet.
Marilith: I'm going to be honest, I don't see a Marilith going for the hill giant, just not their style, but if you want this, make him dual wield swords and be pretty good with them, This would require a big increase to the DEX stat.
Nalfeshnee: give the giant the Horror Nimbus attack, this one is pretty simple.
Quasit: as dumb as this sounds, this might be fun... give him the ability to go invisible once per day. you can totally hear him coming and SEE the footprints and destruction in his wake, but this could be how he has survived all these years. a backwards people might have seen him as their god, and sacrificed fair maidens or livestock to him, only becoming visible as he snatches up the tribute. Turn invisible before sleeping, and his snoring and farts could be mistaken as the sounds of distant volcanoes or "terrors unseen"
Shadow Demon: give him shadow stealth. at night, he might just look like a mountain in the moonlight. If his filth is how I described, it might have plenty of plant life to make it work. This might also be how he survived all these years.
Vrock: give him a stunning shout like the Vrock's screech attack. Make the distance 60 ft, a DC 14 Con save or be stunned until the end of the giant's next turn.
Yochlol: Make him an excellent climber, I wouldnt go so far as to make it spider climb,
With all that, you should be able to get somewhere. depending on the demon you choose, I would put the CR from 14-17.
That is some awesome monster creation right there. I especially love the part about it being possessed by a Quasit and the backstory elements you could add because of this Giants ability to go invis. Also the idea of a 50ft giant running at you while invisible is pretty damn terrifying. You know it is big, you know it is massive, but you just cant see it!
A Gargantuan Demon Possessed Hill Giant that swallows characters whole. This sounds fun, lets get to work:
The first Modifier on this is size. All giants are considered Huge, the Hill Giant being the smallest at 16 ft tall, the Storm Giant the largest at 26. The why of this aside for now, we need to take into account some details associated with gargantuan creatures. The monster manual lists FIVE gargantuan monsters that are not ancient dragons, two of which are aquatic, which leaves us with the Purple Worm, Roc, and the understandably underused Tarrasque. One flies, one burrows, one moves on land like the Hill Giant (am I really going to borrow from the Tarrasque for this? indeed I am).
This Hill Giant is noticeably larger than most. The sheer amount of mass to take it into comparison to any of the gargantuan creatures is massive. A Tarrasque is 50 feet tall and 70 long, A Roc's wingspan is 200 feet. Purple Worms are an undisclosed and (in my personal opinion) unlimited length) so lets take this Hill giant and put him up to 50 feet tall. Keeping the proportions the same he's gotta weigh a lot more. The 5e rules don't provide a weight, the 3.5 rules say a 10.5 ft tall Hill giant weighs 1,100 lbs, so we'll assume a 16 ft tall hill giant is upped to 1,500 lbs (keeping it round for simplicity). Keeping it to this simplified scale, a 50 ft hill giant would weigh roughly 5,000 lbs. he would still be plenty massive and blob-ish here. maybe another few hundred pounds in mud and filth just caked on there. That's a lot of surface area... ANYWAY, when a bipedal 5,000 lb THING moves, it's gonna shake the earth. When it's within so many feet of the player and moves, you could make the party do some Dex saves or lose footing. Perhaps a DC 15 save if within 50 ft, and a DC 13 if over 50 ft away. Over 100 feet and they just feel it.
The other thing here, Frightful Presence. For our buddy the Tarrasque it's DC 17 Wisdom within 120 feet. This is not a Tarrasque, we'll say 100 feet, and bump it down to 14 or 15, we may come back to this after we address the Demon possession... (For now, I'm thinking of a filthy, stinky Stay Puft Marshmallow man lumbering towards the party)
Lets talk Armor Class. Base Hill Giant AC is 13. of the gargantuan non dragons the lowest is 18, This guy wouldn't have Thick hide like a Tarrasque, which has an AC of 25, and I don't see this guy (or gal) as being very nimble. Still, of the Base Giants as a whole, the highest unarmored AC is 17. He's heartier than that, I think, so 18 or 19 sounds fine.
Hit Points: we're gonna up him (pre-demon possession traits added) to the equivalent CR of a Storm Giant, which is 13, so I'd put his Hit Dice at 20d12 + 100 (equal to the Storm Giant), the Monster Manual puts the HP example at 230, we'll go with that for now.
Speed: leave this at 40 feet, because at his size, he's probably learned what tripping feels like, and won't want to do that much. If you want to increase it, I wouldn't go higher than 50 feet.
Ability Scores: I would make them something like this: STR: 25(+7) DEX: 8(-1) CON: 23 (+6) INT: 5 (-3) WIS: 9 (-1) CON:6 (-2) Changes to Strength are based on sheer size, changes for CON are because it eats things whole and can pass them through it's bowels and it's still alive.
Skills, Senses, Languages: Leave them, except maybe add abyssal for the demonic possession.
Actions: Leave the multiattack at two greatclubs, but.. that greatclub attack, with the increased STR we make it +10 to hit, and since it's THAT much bigger, we're gonna make it 5d8+7 damage, and the strike is going to be able to hit more than one target, specifically, any who are not targeted but are within 5 feet of the target must make a dex save (We'll go with DC13) or be hit as well. This applies EVEN if the target is missed, I would say that the DM chooses how bad the miss was, and who would be susceptible to this save and damage.
Now, it wouldn't be a giant without ROCKS. This is no ordinary giant, he doesn't just throw boulders, he's a hill giant who can throw HILLS. Let's up that Rock to a HILL that hits an area 10ft by 10ft with a dex save of 15 to dodge and a damage of 6d12+7, because it's bigger than a rock, we'll sit the range the same at 60/240 ft.
He can still throw a rock though. same size as before, +8 to hit, 3d10+5. Or maybe he can even take two rocks in his giant ham-fist and throw them with a 50% miss chance, but still striking a general area.
Now, that was just the changes I would make due to SIZE. Let's talk about the second modifier here. Swallowing things whole. Let's consult our friendly Tarrasque: he can swallow creatures whole with a bit attack. Our Giant would have to grapple them first, and pop them in his mouth. The Giant's Grapple would be +7, and I suggest it would take an attack action each to both grab you and swallow you. You would have to be Large or smaller, so you would fit in the mouth, and for the sake of ease, well quote the Tarrasque section specifically, because I think it would all apply here:
"While swallowed, the creature is blinded and restrained, it has total cover against attacks and other effects outside the tarrasque, and it takes 56 (16d6) acid damage at the start of each of the tarrasque's turns.If the tarrasque takes 60 damage or more on a single turn from a creature inside it, the tarrasque must succeed on a DC 20 Constitution saving throw at the end of that turn or regurgitate all swallowed creatures, which fall prone in a space within 10 feet of the tarrasque. If the tarrasque dies, a swallowed creature is no longer restrained by it and can escape from the corpse by using 30 feet of movement, exiting prone."
Now this demon possession thing, it's important to note that demon possession does not grant demon traits, at least not completely. Every Demon is immune to poison and has magic resistance. Lets give it those (this ups that CR), but that's about it for what common ground the demons have. the question now remains, what kind of demon is possessing it? Here are some more ideas depending on that:
Balor: give it a fire aura, make the weapon magical, maybe even replace the club with a lightning sword (same damage, slashing, lose the area of effect, and give it the 3d8 shock damage addition)
Barlgura: (this is a suggested one in my opinion) make aesthetic changes, like a LOT more hair and gorrila like teeth. Lose the club, change it with a fist attack with the option to grapple automatically. and UP THE SPEED because he can now do a running leap. if you left his speed at 40, make his long jump 50, and high jump 30 with a running start.
Chasme: waste of your time
Hezrou or Dretch: (not suggested) give him the fetid cloud action, but make the gas go 20 ft instead of 10, or hell, a fart attack that works like breath weapon in a WIDE dispersing cone.
Glabrezu: This one seems pretty good too. make it similar to the Balrgura, give a bonus to the grapple because instead of hair he's got sharp claw-like fingernails.
Goristro: Give him the siege monster trait (double damage to structures), in fact, that might be a good one to use no matter what.. also, give him a stomp attack for 5d10+7. as the demonic possession has hardened his already hippie-filth crusted feet.
Marilith: I'm going to be honest, I don't see a Marilith going for the hill giant, just not their style, but if you want this, make him dual wield swords and be pretty good with them, This would require a big increase to the DEX stat.
Nalfeshnee: give the giant the Horror Nimbus attack, this one is pretty simple.
Quasit: as dumb as this sounds, this might be fun... give him the ability to go invisible once per day. you can totally hear him coming and SEE the footprints and destruction in his wake, but this could be how he has survived all these years. a backwards people might have seen him as their god, and sacrificed fair maidens or livestock to him, only becoming visible as he snatches up the tribute. Turn invisible before sleeping, and his snoring and farts could be mistaken as the sounds of distant volcanoes or "terrors unseen"
Shadow Demon: give him shadow stealth. at night, he might just look like a mountain in the moonlight. If his filth is how I described, it might have plenty of plant life to make it work. This might also be how he survived all these years.
Vrock: give him a stunning shout like the Vrock's screech attack. Make the distance 60 ft, a DC 14 Con save or be stunned until the end of the giant's next turn.
Yochlol: Make him an excellent climber, I wouldnt go so far as to make it spider climb,
With all that, you should be able to get somewhere. depending on the demon you choose, I would put the CR from 14-17.
What do you think?
Don't forget to increase proficiency bonus and, by extension, attack bonus, to match CR.
Also, according to the DM's Guide, a gargantuan creature's HP is measured in d20s and its weapons do four times the base damage.
I'm a big fan of reskinning existing monsters to fit my needs. I'm currently looking for a gargantuan demon possessed Hill Giant that swallows characters whole. Nothing is really grabbing me in the CR 10-12 range, any thoughts?
What I usually do is taking the base monster, in this case a Hill Giant, and then I'll give it abilities similar to what a demon at a similar CR would have, and also adjust resistances and other things with that change in mind.
I created this for a campaign... It was a take on Tetsuo from Akira when he went all crazy mutation at the end.
you could scale it up, mix it with a horned devil and throw it in a Hill Giant Body.
Blacksmith Abomination
Armor Class
16
(Natural Armor)
Hit Points
151
(13d10 +39) | 52-169
Speed
30
Climb 30
STR
DEX
CON
INT
WIS
CHA
20 (+5)
15 (+3)
16 (+4)
3 (-4)
10 (+0)
5 (-3)
Saving Throws: Str +8, Dex +6, Con +7
Skills: Athletics +7, Sleight of Hand +7
Damage Vulnerabilities: slashing
Damage Immunities: psychic, poison, disease
Damage Resistances: cold, bludgeoning from nonmagical attacks
Condition Immunities: charmed, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned.
Senses: Darkvision 60ft., Passive Perception 10
Languages: Common, Dwarven
Challenge: 9 (5,000 XP)
Actions
Multiattack. The Abomination makes two slam attacks. I both attacks hit a medium or smaller target, the target is grappled (escape DC 15), and the Abomination uses engulf on it.
Hit: 14 (2d8 + 5) bludgeoning damage.
The engulfed target is blinded, restrained and unable to breathe, and it must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw at the start of each of the Abomination's turns or take 14 (2d8+5) bludgeoning damage. If the Abomination moves, the engulfed target moves with it. The Abomination can only have one creature engulfed at a time.
A Gargantuan Demon Possessed Hill Giant that swallows characters whole. This sounds fun, lets get to work:
The first Modifier on this is size. All giants are considered Huge, the Hill Giant being the smallest at 16 ft tall, the Storm Giant the largest at 26. The why of this aside for now, we need to take into account some details associated with gargantuan creatures. The monster manual lists FIVE gargantuan monsters that are not ancient dragons, two of which are aquatic, which leaves us with the Purple Worm, Roc, and the understandably underused Tarrasque. One flies, one burrows, one moves on land like the Hill Giant (am I really going to borrow from the Tarrasque for this? indeed I am).
This Hill Giant is noticeably larger than most. The sheer amount of mass to take it into comparison to any of the gargantuan creatures is massive. A Tarrasque is 50 feet tall and 70 long, A Roc's wingspan is 200 feet. Purple Worms are an undisclosed and (in my personal opinion) unlimited length) so lets take this Hill giant and put him up to 50 feet tall. Keeping the proportions the same he's gotta weigh a lot more. The 5e rules don't provide a weight, the 3.5 rules say a 10.5 ft tall Hill giant weighs 1,100 lbs, so we'll assume a 16 ft tall hill giant is upped to 1,500 lbs (keeping it round for simplicity). Keeping it to this simplified scale, a 50 ft hill giant would weigh roughly 5,000 lbs. he would still be plenty massive and blob-ish here. maybe another few hundred pounds in mud and filth just caked on there. That's a lot of surface area... ANYWAY, when a bipedal 5,000 lb THING moves, it's gonna shake the earth. When it's within so many feet of the player and moves, you could make the party do some Dex saves or lose footing. Perhaps a DC 15 save if within 50 ft, and a DC 13 if over 50 ft away. Over 100 feet and they just feel it.
The other thing here, Frightful Presence. For our buddy the Tarrasque it's DC 17 Wisdom within 120 feet. This is not a Tarrasque, we'll say 100 feet, and bump it down to 14 or 15, we may come back to this after we address the Demon possession... (For now, I'm thinking of a filthy, stinky Stay Puft Marshmallow man lumbering towards the party)
Lets talk Armor Class. Base Hill Giant AC is 13. of the gargantuan non dragons the lowest is 18, This guy wouldn't have Thick hide like a Tarrasque, which has an AC of 25, and I don't see this guy (or gal) as being very nimble. Still, of the Base Giants as a whole, the highest unarmored AC is 17. He's heartier than that, I think, so 18 or 19 sounds fine.
Hit Points: we're gonna up him (pre-demon possession traits added) to the equivalent CR of a Storm Giant, which is 13, so I'd put his Hit Dice at 20d12 + 100 (equal to the Storm Giant), the Monster Manual puts the HP example at 230, we'll go with that for now.
Speed: leave this at 40 feet, because at his size, he's probably learned what tripping feels like, and won't want to do that much. If you want to increase it, I wouldn't go higher than 50 feet.
Ability Scores: I would make them something like this: STR: 25(+7) DEX: 8(-1) CON: 23 (+6) INT: 5 (-3) WIS: 9 (-1) CON:6 (-2) Changes to Strength are based on sheer size, changes for CON are because it eats things whole and can pass them through it's bowels and it's still alive.
Skills, Senses, Languages: Leave them, except maybe add abyssal for the demonic possession.
Actions: Leave the multiattack at two greatclubs, but.. that greatclub attack, with the increased STR we make it +10 to hit, and since it's THAT much bigger, we're gonna make it 5d8+7 damage, and the strike is going to be able to hit more than one target, specifically, any who are not targeted but are within 5 feet of the target must make a dex save (We'll go with DC13) or be hit as well. This applies EVEN if the target is missed, I would say that the DM chooses how bad the miss was, and who would be susceptible to this save and damage.
Now, it wouldn't be a giant without ROCKS. This is no ordinary giant, he doesn't just throw boulders, he's a hill giant who can throw HILLS. Let's up that Rock to a HILL that hits an area 10ft by 10ft with a dex save of 15 to dodge and a damage of 6d12+7, because it's bigger than a rock, we'll sit the range the same at 60/240 ft.
He can still throw a rock though. same size as before, +8 to hit, 3d10+5. Or maybe he can even take two rocks in his giant ham-fist and throw them with a 50% miss chance, but still striking a general area.
Now, that was just the changes I would make due to SIZE. Let's talk about the second modifier here. Swallowing things whole. Let's consult our friendly Tarrasque: he can swallow creatures whole with a bit attack. Our Giant would have to grapple them first, and pop them in his mouth. The Giant's Grapple would be +7, and I suggest it would take an attack action each to both grab you and swallow you. You would have to be Large or smaller, so you would fit in the mouth, and for the sake of ease, well quote the Tarrasque section specifically, because I think it would all apply here:
"While swallowed, the creature is blinded and restrained, it has total cover against attacks and other effects outside the tarrasque, and it takes 56 (16d6) acid damage at the start of each of the tarrasque's turns.If the tarrasque takes 60 damage or more on a single turn from a creature inside it, the tarrasque must succeed on a DC 20 Constitution saving throw at the end of that turn or regurgitate all swallowed creatures, which fall prone in a space within 10 feet of the tarrasque. If the tarrasque dies, a swallowed creature is no longer restrained by it and can escape from the corpse by using 30 feet of movement, exiting prone."
Now this demon possession thing, it's important to note that demon possession does not grant demon traits, at least not completely. Every Demon is immune to poison and has magic resistance. Lets give it those (this ups that CR), but that's about it for what common ground the demons have. the question now remains, what kind of demon is possessing it? Here are some more ideas depending on that:
Balor: give it a fire aura, make the weapon magical, maybe even replace the club with a lightning sword (same damage, slashing, lose the area of effect, and give it the 3d8 shock damage addition)
Barlgura: (this is a suggested one in my opinion) make aesthetic changes, like a LOT more hair and gorrila like teeth. Lose the club, change it with a fist attack with the option to grapple automatically. and UP THE SPEED because he can now do a running leap. if you left his speed at 40, make his long jump 50, and high jump 30 with a running start.
Chasme: waste of your time
Hezrou or Dretch: (not suggested) give him the fetid cloud action, but make the gas go 20 ft instead of 10, or hell, a fart attack that works like breath weapon in a WIDE dispersing cone.
Glabrezu: This one seems pretty good too. make it similar to the Balrgura, give a bonus to the grapple because instead of hair he's got sharp claw-like fingernails.
Goristro: Give him the siege monster trait (double damage to structures), in fact, that might be a good one to use no matter what.. also, give him a stomp attack for 5d10+7. as the demonic possession has hardened his already hippie-filth crusted feet.
Marilith: I'm going to be honest, I don't see a Marilith going for the hill giant, just not their style, but if you want this, make him dual wield swords and be pretty good with them, This would require a big increase to the DEX stat.
Nalfeshnee: give the giant the Horror Nimbus attack, this one is pretty simple.
Quasit: as dumb as this sounds, this might be fun... give him the ability to go invisible once per day. you can totally hear him coming and SEE the footprints and destruction in his wake, but this could be how he has survived all these years. a backwards people might have seen him as their god, and sacrificed fair maidens or livestock to him, only becoming visible as he snatches up the tribute. Turn invisible before sleeping, and his snoring and farts could be mistaken as the sounds of distant volcanoes or "terrors unseen"
Shadow Demon: give him shadow stealth. at night, he might just look like a mountain in the moonlight. If his filth is how I described, it might have plenty of plant life to make it work. This might also be how he survived all these years.
Vrock: give him a stunning shout like the Vrock's screech attack. Make the distance 60 ft, a DC 14 Con save or be stunned until the end of the giant's next turn.
Yochlol: Make him an excellent climber, I wouldnt go so far as to make it spider climb,
With all that, you should be able to get somewhere. depending on the demon you choose, I would put the CR from 14-17.
What do you think?
it could be worse, you could be on fire.
That is some awesome monster creation right there. I especially love the part about it being possessed by a Quasit and the backstory elements you could add because of this Giants ability to go invis. Also the idea of a 50ft giant running at you while invisible is pretty damn terrifying. You know it is big, you know it is massive, but you just cant see it!
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