Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants is a new D&D 5E sourcebook introducing giant-themed character options. While the book only features a single new subclass (the Path of the Giants for Barbarians), it has new Backgrounds and Feats that can help you tailor your character outside their race or character class boundaries.
Giants have often been the enemy of player characters in D&D. Indeed, some of the most popular early adventures depict these conflicts, with Against the Giants being regarded as one of the classics of the older editions of D&D. Not all giants are bad; however, and a few are even willing to share the secrets of their ancient magic with mortals, allowing them to become potent adventurers.
Related: DnD 5E: New Player Guide To Bards
D&D’s Barbarian Path Of The Giant Human Polearm Master
The D&D 5E Path of the Giants subclass for Barbarians has two notable benefits at level 3 when they Rage: you can add your Rage damage when using a thrown weapon and turn into a Large creature with five extra feet of range for your attacks. This subclass is immediately beneficial if you take the Polearm Master Feat from the Player’s Handbook, which you can do at level 1 if you’re playing a variant human.
The secondary benefit of Polearm Master is that you provoke an automatic Attack of Opportunity when creatures enter your range, so long as you’re wielding a specific weapon. One of these weapons is the spear, which means that when you Rage, you provoke an Attack of Opportunity when enemies come within ten feet of you, giving you a very dangerous threat zone. Also, spears can be used as thrown weapons, making use of Path of the Giant’s extra damage bonus when it’s flung at the enemy.
D&D Best Giant Foundling Builds
The Giant Foundling Background gives the character the Strike of the Giants Feat, which has several options that you select from, to add attributes to your melee/thrown weapon attacks. While the content in Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants seems tailor-made for the heavy melee hitters, there is actually a lot of benefits for a Rogue.
If you take Giant Foundling and either the Storm Strike or Hill Strike powers of Strike of the Giants, you will gain some amazing combat utility for your Rogue. Storm Strike forces a Constitution Saving Throw, and if the enemy fails, then they Disadvantage on their attack rolls until the start of your next turn, which can be extremely debilitating when facing a boss monster, assuming the DM isn’t fudging their rolls. Meanwhile, if you play a Psi Knife and use Hill Strike, you can knock an enemy prone with your first attack (assuming they fail their Constitution saving throw), then your second Psi Blade attack will have both Advnatage and Sneak Attack, as your foe is now on the ground.
Once you reach level 4, you can take Guile of the Cloud Giant, which acts like a mixture of Uncanny Dodge and Misty Step. This is useful for many classes, especially the Rogue build mentioned above, but it’s also a great choice for any healers of the group, as it will drastically improve their survival chances.
There is also the Fury of the Frost Giant Feat, which is a great choice for a Dragonborn or a Tiefling character, whether a warrior or a Rogue. Not only does this give you Cold Resistance (doubling your resistance if you’re not playing a Silver/White Dragonborn), but you can spend your Reaction to hit enemies with a blast of cold, improving your action economy on your turn.
D&D Best Rune Carver Builds
If you take the Rune Carver background, you gain the Rune Shaper Feat for free, which lets you add Comprehend Languages and a spell from the Rune list to your spell list, and you can cast them once per day while ignoring its material components. This Feat is an ideal pick for an arcane spellcaster (Sorcerer, Warlock, or Wizard), thanks to two specific spells.
If you select the Dragon Rune, you can cast Chromatic Orb once per day. Normally, Chromatic Orb requires you to own a diamond worth 50gp, a tall ask for a low-level character. With the Dragon Rune, you get a free use of the Chromatic Orb spell, which is a powerful and versatile arcane attack, without needing to worry about the cost.
Related: D&D’s Planescape Campaign Fast Tracks Players to Late-Game Levels
Another useful pick for the Rune Carver is the Hill Rune, as it gives you one free Goodberry spell. Normally, this is a Druid-exclusive spell, but with the Hill Rune, you can give it to any arcane caster. This is essentially worth an extra healing potion or two, so long as you don’t mind using it outside of battle.
