Honor Guard
Level 9Attacks
Abilities
Requirements The monster must have a free hand but can Release anything it's holding as part of this reaction. Trigger The monster is targeted with a thrown rock Strike or a rock would fall on the monster. Effect The monster gains a +4 circumstance bonus to its AC against the triggering attack or to any defense against the falling rock. If the attack misses or the monster successfully defends against the falling rock, the monster catches the rock, takes no damage, and is now holding the rock.
Requirements The desert giant is standing in sandy terrain
The desert giant spins around and stirs up loose sand in a 10-foot emanation. Until the beginning of the giant's next turn, creatures in the area are Concealed, and other creatures are concealed to them.
Desert giants have adapted to the loose sands of the desert and can move across them with ease. Desert giants ignore non-magical difficult terrain and uneven ground caused by sand.
The desert giant Strides up to their Speed, Striking once with each of their scimitars at any point during the movement.
The monster picks up a rock within reach or retrieves a stowed rock and throws it, making a ranged Strike.
Description
Desert giants are nomadic humanoids who have dwelled in the world's most arid regions since time immemorial. Smaller peoples know that desert giants are the undisputed masters of desert living, and ignorant humans often claim that it is a desert giant's unique physiology, like a camel, that enables them to survive without water for 2 weeks. The few desert giants who mingle in the societies of smaller humanoids don't bother to dispute such ridiculous rumors.
In fact, desert giants' strong cultural traditions play a large part in their ability to prosper in such harsh environs. Desert giant elders encourage their descendants to maintain abstemious lifestyles, particularly with regard to the consumption of food and drink. Alcohol is particularly disdained by desert giants, who view mind-altering diuretics like liquor and ale as dangerous temptations in an environment as unforgiving as the desert. Instead, most desert giants follow a simple vegetarian diet and maintain an incredible internal map of their home region's seasonal waterways and oases.
Their austere habits and intolerance for foolishness have earned desert giants a reputation as being ill-humored and no-nonsense, but many of their communities boast a wide variety of humorous tales in their vast oral histories and legends. Since desert giants' journeys across the wastes can span weeks or even months at a time, an individual who can make their companions laugh with a witty joke or amusing parable remains a prized member of the community.
Desert giants stand 15 feet tall, tending toward lean physiques that are ideal for traveling across vast expanses of sand for long sojourns.
Many kinds of giants lurk in the inhospitable corners of the world, making their homes in unlikely locales ranging from fetid sinkholes and ruined battlefields to mass graveyards and barren badlands.