Path of the Giant of Darkness

The war of giants and dragons in ages past involved many tragedies and tales of heroism on both sides. But among those tales are ones of horrors, especially when it came to the downfall of bygone civilizations first founded by giants or the smallfolk who revered them or the dragons. Perhaps inspired by lore of an alliance of benign metallic dragons and heroic elemental giants who channeled their powers together under a divine blessing, creating a champion of light; others tried to emulate this process in a bid to control, counter, or overcome the chaos of the war. Some say the "event" happened because a black dragon made a bargain with a malign cloud giant to corrupt the process. Others say the process was hijacked by less than honorable spellcasting smallfolk in a bid to control the drakes and giants. Others still insist a force from beyond reached out and manifested over the attempt to recreate the champion.

The end result was the same regardless, with devastation and misery left in the path of a shadowy colossus. And while this power was lost to history, it was far from extinguished.


Note: This subclass is typical intended for an enemy, evil aligned character and is not meant to be balanced. Player fiat and DM digression can allow for this to be more flexible for good or neutral aligned characters. Perhaps the transformation involves a split personality shift? Perhaps the player character's good nature wars with the influence of the dark giant and risks lapsing? A suggestion for story development, with player agreement, is that every time the player uses the powers of the dark giant and dons their form; they roll a d20. If they get a 5 or lower, they lose control of themselves and shift one alignment closer to Evil (i.e. Good to Neutral, Neutral to Evil; lawful or chaotic nature is unchanged).  

If you wish to see the player intended, balanced version of this subclass, please see "Path of the Dark Fragment"

Might of the Dark Giant

3rd-Level Path of the Giant Feature

When you choose this path, you learn to speak, read, and write Giant or one other language of your choice if you already know Giant. Additionally, you learn a cantrip thaumaturgy. Strength is your spellcasting ability for this spell.

Crushing Blows. Your very body has become a weapon. You gain a modified unarmed strike which hits like thunder, gaining force with time when you are raging. Your strikes also push targets 5 feet away in any direction (i.e. uppercuts or upwards kicks can knock something airborne, roundhouse kicks might knock something aside, downwards strikes can knock a target prone, etc.). Your unarmed strikes deal 2d4+STR bludgeoning damage per blow. You only gain the extra damage dice when raging.

Level           Crushing Blow Dice
3                      2d4
6                      3d4
10                    4d4  
14                    5d4  

Darkened Wrath

3rd-Level Path of the Giant of Darkness Feature

Your rages pull strength from the primal might of giants, transforming you into a dark force of devastation. You grow in size and don a form made of solidified shadows with burning red eyes and armor. While raging, you gain the following benefits:

Malefic Torrent. Once per turn, you can replace an attack with a powerful burst of energy. Making a gesture with your arms to take aim, you unleash a torrent of dark energy that can burst through even powerful defenses. All targets in either a 20-foot wide arc or a 60-foot long, 5-foot wide arc (you choose per shot) make a Dexterity saving throw (DC = 8: PB + STR Modifier). On failure, the target takes Necrotic damage equal to 3 rolls of your Crushing Blows dice (i.e. 6d4 at level 3, 9d4 at level 6, etc.). On success, targets take halve damage. You can use this attack for free once per rage, afterwards being limited uses based on your Proficiency Bonus.

Grand Stature. Your reach increases by 5 feet, and if you are smaller than Large, you become Large, along with anything you are wearing. If there isn’t enough room for you to increase your size, your size doesn’t change. If you are already Large or larger, you grow a single size class bigger.

Bolstered Physicality

6th-Level Path of the Giant of Darkness Feature

 Your physicality has increased in effectiveness with your bond with the giant of darkness increasing. In time, it might well be there is no difference between you two. You gain the following benefits.

• You gain a flight speed when moving equal to your movement speed, but cannot hover. If airborne, you descend slowing at a rat of 30 feet per round.
• You can lash out quicker and use Crushing Blow as a bonus action when you take the attack action.
• You gain advantage against effects to charm or frighten you when raging.

Dark Fortress

10th-Level Path of the Giant of Darkness Feature

You expel a massive amount of dark energy stored up within you as a bonus action. This creates a field of dark energy that cannot be countered by traditional spell work. When a creature enters the field or the field engulfs them when you activate it or move closer to them, they must make a Constitution saving throw (DC = 8 + PB + Your STR modifier), or be frightened. They repeat the save at the start of their turn. When in the field the malefic energies bolster you against mental attacks or counters, allowing you to add your Strength modifier to your Wisdom, Intelligence, and Charisma saving throws. You can only activate the Dark Fortress once per long rest.

Activate Dark Fortress

You turn this on, things die.

The Shadow Colossus

14th-Level Path of the Giant of Darkness Feature

When you rage, your reach now increases by 10 ft., your size can increase to Large to Gargantuan (your choice) and gain a permanent flight speed, including being able to hover. You are also immune to fall damage when in your giant of darkness form. When inside the Dark Fortress, your attacks deal Psychic damage equal to your rage bonus on every attack and heal back the same amount.