Giant, River

This slender giant dresses in simple clothes and has swirling patterns on her green skin.

ECOLOGY

Environment any rivers
Organization solitary, pair, or family (3–5 plus 1d2 crocodiles, grizzly bears, or tigers)
Treasure standard (spear, leather armor, other treasure)

River giants traverse inland waterways, moving where the current takes them on their makeshift rafts. Tall but lean and lithe, river giants typically grow to a height of 10 feet and weigh about 900 pounds. River giants have skin color that ranges from the yellowish green of algae or duckweed to the rich jade of a bamboo stalk. Their hair color is much less varied, usually a sooty black or muddy brown color. River giants can live to be 300 years old.

River giants are as likely to be evil as they are good, though all members of a family usually have the same alignment. Whether kind or cruel, all river giants are quick to anger and capable of erupting with little or no cause. Among their own kind, arguments usually result in one or both participants getting pushed into the water to cool off. Good river giants typically switch between bouts of great, jovial laughter or physical comedy (such as nearly tipping a raft with passengers), followed by quiet introspection while listening to the sounds of a slow river. Evil river giants often see themselves as the embodiment of a river’s most chaotic elements, like waterfalls, rapids, or ice floes; they might hold someone underwater for a minute or two as a bit of fun, and they take no more responsibility for their violence than the river itself would.

River giants love water travel, and they can often be hired to ferry travelers across or along a waterway for a price. Shrewd though not overly intelligent, river giants usually base such transport fees on the estimated wealth of their passengers—typically 100 gp each for adventurers.

In combat, river giants prefer to attack from the water whenever possible, or keep opponents in deep water where the giants‘ bigger lungs are an advantage. If they are losing a fight, they swim underwater to escape or use their rafts as cover.

River giants prefer to lair on small islands, rock formations, or sediment banks where rivers come together. A river giant uses its home, usually a simple earthen hut of mud and reeds, to store its valuables or as a place to gather with others of its kind.