Homebrew Jotun Species Details

Physical Description

Jotun are the giants of the frozen north. They are distant cousins of the mountain giants but are more rotund, shorter and have huge beards made of ice which never melts. There are occasions where some jotuns grow horns in which they can use in battle. These usually form as a result of deep freezes and therefore can melt when in contact with heat. Jotuns are usually peaceful unless provoked in which they will go into a rage, destroying and rampaging wantonly. Their eyes are very deep set in the head, making it look like they have hollow sockets. Jotun skin is blue, like that of a frozen creature, with veins like ice running through. They have stubby bodies, usually with a glut of a gut, and long limbs. Their teeth are known to be sharp as they are said to be carnivorous.

History

Giants have long lived in the frigid weather, bearing down on races below when hunting them. However, jotun rarely ever leave their icy peaks. They are more vulnerable than the average giant to the heat. It is said among giants that jotun are bound to their icy mountains as wardens and keepers of the cold beauty. They retreat with the snows and ice and climate change melting permafrost greatly affects them. Supposedly, they descended from creatures of yore that migrated from Frostfell long ago. The melting of the ices brings about a belligerence in the jotun and attacks from them have been rising.

Society

Jotun prize friendship with others and even have a special relationship with their hereditary foes. For all others, they tend to have a general apathy and do not place any value on the opinion of non-giants, deeming them unworthy and inferior in the same way that humans view gnats. Jotun view gnomes as thieving rats who will cheat you at everything. Dwarves are looked upon like scavengers, forever grumbling like small clouds of depression, for what can a dwarf do that a giant cannot do more mightily? This is not to say that jotun do not become friends with dwarves or gnomes, for they share much in common with a love of good craftsmanship, drinking, eating and the telling of tales. It is just that some shorter races seem to have a distrust and dislike of jotun and they thus view their distrust and dislike with disdain in turn, rather than hating the dwarves or gnomes themselves. The jotun race's true foes are dragons. Nothing in the entire world is as glorious an enemy to a giant, and no spectacle as great as a giant grappling with these fell serpents and no sport as enjoyable as bringing a flying wyrm crashing to the earth with a well-placed boulder.

Jotun Names

Jotun take names of the Giant language, mixed with what we may call Scandinavian. Jotun is also the name of the Giant language itself, which can be confusing. The names have a uniting theme of power and do not differentiate by gender.

Names: Drugkaos, Alolg, Sevith, Kellir

Jotun Traits

Jotun are frost giants of frigid, high-altitude biomes. By far, they are one of the oldest races originating from the god, Ymir.

Ability Score Increase

Your Strength score increases by 2, and your Constitution score increases by 1.

Age

Jotun reach maturity at age 140. Because of their secluded, often-stationary lifestyle, many live as long as 700 years.

Size

Jotun are 6 to 8 feet in height, often weighing over 250 to 400 pounds of high muscle mass. Your size is Medium.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Darkvision

Thanks to your orc blood, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common and Orc. Orc is a harsh, grating language with hard consonants. It has no script of its own but is written in the Dwarvish script.

Frozen Kings

They are born in the cold and have control of the cold. You are resistant to cold damage.

Juggernaut

You are nigh unstoppable due to your momentum and size, even when falling. You ignore difficult terrain and have disadvantage in saving throws against being knocked prone.

Powerful Build

You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.

Hazardous Heat

Because of your adaptation to cold, you have disadvantage in saving throws against Extreme Heat.

Giant's Blood

Your creature type is giant instead of humanoid