Homebrew Giff Race Details
"No objections. Your orders are crystal clear as a Crystal Sphere, sir!"
—Sergeant Ernest "Thunder" Pakka, accepting orders from Major Argus Krux on the Rock of Bral.
Giff Names
A giff’s name is big and pompous, just like the being who bears it. Most giff have a given name and a surname, and also possess a rank and nickname. Giff born in their militaristic, spacefaring culture are assigned the rank of trainee at birth, and are automatically promoted to the rank of ensign upon reaching adulthood. Most giff rise through the ranks as they age, and they are conditioned from birth to defer unerringly to all giff of higher rank. A giff’s nickname is assigned by their peers during their service, and can be a term of endearment, derision, respect, or fear. Most giff amass a hoard of nicknames over their lifetimes, and use them variably depending on the occasion.
Male Names: Alford, Algernon, Alpheus, Alphonse, Bertram, Benedict, Cornelius, Delmer, Ebenezer, Ernest, Eustace, Gideon, Hibbard, Jack, Jeremiah, Methuselah, Theodore, Percival, Rhys, Rufus, Zebulon
Female Names: Abagail, Adelaide, Brigid, Charlotte, Clarinda, Elizabeth, Elmira, Fredonia, Esther, Gertrude, Guinevere, Hermione, Margaret, Martha, Sophronia, Tabitha, Winifred
Surnames: Ainesly, Brownrigg, Byron, Cholmondeley, Cromwell, Cumberbatch, Darcy, Eastaughffe, Finlayson, Gladstone, Grenville, Harding, Leicester, Osborne, Pickering, Pinkerton, Quince, Schuyler
Giff Traits
Your giff character has the following racial traits.Ability Score Increase
Your Strength score increases by 2, and your Dexterity score increases by 1.
Age
Giff mature slightly faster than humans, becoming adults at age 14. Most elderly giff pass away around 70 years old, but most giff die in the line of duty or blow themselves up long before then.
Alignment
Most giff are lawful neutral, adhering strictly to the orders of their commanders with little concern for the morality of their actions, as long as it gives them an excuse to deploy excessively heavy ordinance.
Size
Giff stand between 7 and 8 feet tall, and weigh easily 500 pounds, not counting their hefty military dress uniforms. Your size is Medium.
Powerful Build
You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.
Speed
Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Giff Weapon Training
You have been trained to wield firearms since birth. You have proficiency with muskets and pistols, and can ignore their loading property.
Headfirst Charge
If you move at least 20 feet straight toward a target and then hit it with a melee weapon attack on the same turn, that creature must succeed on a Strength saving throw with a DC equal to 8 + your Strength modifier + your proficiency bonus, or take 7 (2d6) bludgeoning damage and be knocked prone.
The damage increases to 3d6 at 11th level, and 4d6 at 16th level.
Natural Armor
You have thick, leathery skin. When you aren’t wearing armor, your AC is 12 + your Constitution modifier. You can use your natural armor to determine your AC if the armor you wear would leave you with a lower AC. A shield’s benefits apply as normal while you use your natural armor.
Languages
You can speak, read, and write Common.
Previous Versions
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Comments
Benedict Cumberbatch as a Giff name
like idea
Tally Ho!
I like the attempt at getting Giff as a playable race, but why the + on Dex? That doesn't make much sense. In Spelljammer, when they were playable, they were +2 to Str and -1 to Int. I guess that in 5e there is an aversion to negative modifiers (except to kobolds, i can't think of another race that has a negative modifier.) I would think that if you want to only give positive modifiers then it should be to Str and Con maybe. But really - Int seems more appropriate.
Good question! The following is copied from a comment I left below the original article.
The ability score bonuses were the part of this subclass I waffled on the most. But I'm convinced that Strength and Dexterity were the right way to go. Several people have asked why the giff race has this stat spread, so I want to show my thought process. Now, in the long run, my reasoning doesn't mean much. This isn't a defense of the decision—I'm convinced of it, I don't need to defend it—but I think showing my process is important to anyone who's considering making a homebrew race.
Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution are the most important abilities for the archetypal giff described in this article. Strength and Constitution in particular directly impact the giff's racial traits. Strength improves the damage from your Headfirst Charge, and Constitution improves your Armor Class granted by Natural Armor. Those are huge signposts that +# Strength and +# Constitution are the way to go. I chose not to for a couple of reasons.
The main reason is actually mechanical. Giff may have an ability that lets them headbutt you, but their main mode of attack is with firearms. Ranged weaponry. If you're playing a giff, you want to be a beast with a blunderbuss. The Giff Weapon Training trait makes this viable by letting you ignore the Loading quality of firearms, thus allowing giff fighters, rangers, and so on to use their Extra Attack feature with a firearm. Any character who intends to be focused on ranged combat wants to start play with a Dexterity score of 16. If you're playing using point buy or using the array, that's not possible without at least a +1 racial bonus to Dexterity.
The other reasons are miscellaneous story reasons that I felt justified giving such big, bulky creatures a +1 bonus to Dexterity. Giff are trained from birth in the art of war. It stands to reason that their standardized military training would give them keen aim and "twitchy" shooter reflexes, even if their general manual dexterity was slightly lacking. Researching hippopotamuses themselves shocked me. Hippos are fast. They can outrun humans at an average pace of about 20 MPH. I don't usually take land speed into account when thinking about Dexterity (we have Speed to account for that), but real-life hippos aren't slow dullards.
All that said, if you think STR and CON is the right way to go, go for it, I think they're all pretty valid options. Same for DEX & CON, CON & STR, any permutation of that. Even +1 to Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution is a fine choice in my mind. The D&D police won't come to your door if you want to build your giff differently from my interpretation.
Egads! What a wonderful start? What?
I agree with your reasoning on the Dex plus. The AC bonus is a brilliant idea. Especially when you think about it, Giff would shun most armor. Lighter armor is ineffectual again firearms, and heavy is just too bloody expensive. (Yes, scale mail, laminate, or plater could be effect armor, but who could afford to cover that size of a soldier?)
Since they don't have a real background, I could say giving them Gunsmithing (need Smith and Tinker tools).
Under firearms proficiency I would say they can clear a misfire/jam with a successful DEX based check. Also given time, equipment, and materials, they can repair or build their own firearms. This skill could be turned towards the construction of fragmentation grenades.
The one point I would make is that giff have a whole range of weapons they use. Form a early age they would learn the bow, especially the crossbow. In full war load out, a giiff would have a musket, a brace of pistols, two grenades, a basket-hilted claymore or large sabre, (see scimitar), a military dirk (see short sword) and a combat dagger. While they favor the bad they are also quite capable with mass weapons like the mace, battle axe, war hammer, or war pick.
What I'd like to see is some cultural notes. Things like training. How well a giff did at school gets then their first rank. How the different branches fulfil different roll in the giff society, etc... I see a giff ranger is more like a Marine or Special Forces. The rogue is a scout or spy, etc.. A break down of the hierarchy would be nice. While there are few "old" giff, I suspect they have a council of generals with a Chairman or supreme commander.
Lastly, Since Giff don't fight each other, I suspect they to a "Rock-Paper-Scissors like game (best two out of three, of course). The game requires skill, strategy, tactics, and luck. This means it is a contest of equals. There is no shame in loosing. The game is seen as an honorable way to resolve issues without having to actually drawing blood.
Anyway... Just wanted to say, I like where your head it at. :-)
Thank you for this Giff! I always felt that they should have a bonus to Dex because of the guns. Is there any particular reason the system won't acknowledge the gun proficiency, though?
Thanks!
This is great. I have always loved Giff and I finally get play them!
is it pronounced like with a J or with a G sound?
With a G sound. I’ll tackle anyone who pronounces it with a J
I love the race, and it feel very true to the Spelljammer origins. I do need to point out though, that it seems to be incorrectly granting Advantage to Saves vs Charm and Fear effects on the sheet. Either that, or it's correct and the ability isn't listed?