Author Topic: How To Become Enormous (Meet Mr. Gigantic)  (Read 16860 times)

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Barbarossa

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How To Become Enormous (Meet Mr. Gigantic)
« on: January 18, 2011, 02:27:49 AM »
Hola, mi amigos. I've been trying to find easy ways to increase the size of characters and enemies in a campaign that I'm running (other than DM fiat), and since I thought the topic was interesting, I made a topic about it. In particular, I was trying to find ways of making a Warforged as large as possible without using magic, but that train of thought lead to this wider topic.

Now, there are many ways of becoming huge, but not all ways will work for a given build. Here are some that I've come up with.

Templates[spoiler]
  • Titanic Creature - MM2
  • Half-Minotaur - If you're smaller than Large sized, you gain one size category.
[/spoiler]

Feats[spoiler]
  • None
  • yet.
[/spoiler]

Spells[spoiler]
  • Giant Size - A nifty level 7 Wu Jen spell that allows you to become colossal with relative ease.
  • Enlarge Person is an easy way to increase one size category.
[/spoiler]

Powers[spoiler]
  • Expansion(XPH) - Grants one or two size category increases, depending on how many PP are spent.
[/spoiler]

Races[spoiler]
  • Centaurs start at Large.
  • Dragonkin start at Large.
  • Minotaurs start at Large.
  • Ogres, Trolls and Giants start at Large.
[/spoiler]

I don't have my full list with me to fill in right now, but I'd like to hear some of your favorite methods of becoming Large and in Charge.
« Last Edit: January 18, 2011, 02:47:26 AM by Barbarossa »

wotmaniac

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Re: How To Become Enormous (Meet Mr. Gigantic)
« Reply #1 on: January 18, 2011, 02:41:41 AM »
well, just for starters ....

Templates:
- "titanic creature" template from MM2
- smaller-than-large creatures who take the half-minotaur template increase 1 size category

Spells/powers:
- the Expansion power (XPH) gives a 1-2 size category increase (depending on how many PP spent)

Races:
- Goliath and Half-giant both have the "powerful build" feature ... it's something to work with.

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I think in this case the grammar is less important than whether the Str and Dex bonus provided to your created undead scales.

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Barbarossa

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Re: How To Become Enormous (Meet Mr. Gigantic)
« Reply #2 on: January 18, 2011, 02:48:57 AM »
First post updated. I left out powerful build, though, because the aim is to become larger, not effectively larger. It's definitely a nice feature to have, but it won't grant all the effects of increased size.

cru

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Re: How To Become Enormous (Meet Mr. Gigantic)
« Reply #3 on: January 18, 2011, 07:41:12 AM »
Jotunbrud perhaps: http://dnd.savannahsoft.eu/feat-1702-jotunbrud.html
Animal growth increases size.
polymorph spells increase size.
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bearsarebrown

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Re: How To Become Enormous (Meet Mr. Gigantic)
« Reply #4 on: January 18, 2011, 01:36:06 PM »
Thrall Of....Kostchief? The frost giant fiend lord. From Dragon... 345?
And a orc devoted to the Tarrasque.

Ithamar

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Re: How To Become Enormous (Meet Mr. Gigantic)
« Reply #5 on: January 18, 2011, 02:38:19 PM »
Lycanthrope is a great way to increase a size category.  Combine with Half-Giant so that your powerful build trait lets you count as huge.

Great & Small feat from Complete Champion lets a druid increase in size by 1 step by burning a wild shape attempt.  If your druid is already large (like being a half-ogre or half-minotaur), this gets you huge fairly easily.

And speaking of which, Wild Shape is a another great way to become huge.

The tauric template with a Goliath so you can be large size and count as huge, thanks once more to powerful build.
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Littha

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Re: How To Become Enormous (Meet Mr. Gigantic)
« Reply #6 on: January 18, 2011, 03:47:42 PM »

bearsarebrown

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Re: How To Become Enormous (Meet Mr. Gigantic)
« Reply #7 on: January 18, 2011, 04:15:07 PM »
Duregar, psionic get Expansion as a PLA. It scales with level so eventually its a swift action for two size categories once per day. Magic In The Blood will make that three times a day.

I've got some builds to post later too. I like big characters.

Garryl

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Re: How To Become Enormous (Meet Mr. Gigantic)
« Reply #8 on: January 18, 2011, 04:25:13 PM »
Tauric Creature (MM2) can get you up to Large size. It's a slightly wonky template, though, if I remember correctly.

Alter Self can turn you into a creature up to one size larger. Normally there aren't any large humanoids, but there are plenty of big creatures of other types at the low HD cap of 5. Polymorph, Metamorphosis, and similar effects can do it even better.

I think Races of the Dragon has Steal Size, a spell that grows you and shrinks an enemy. I'm sure it did something like that.
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Lycanthromancer

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Re: How To Become Enormous (Meet Mr. Gigantic)
« Reply #9 on: January 18, 2011, 05:01:13 PM »
Meet Tiny.
[spoiler]Masculine men like masculine things. Masculine men are masculine. Therefore, liking masculine men is masculine.

I dare anyone to find a hole in that logic.
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Prime32

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Re: How To Become Enormous (Meet Mr. Gigantic)
« Reply #10 on: January 18, 2011, 05:11:54 PM »
First post updated. I left out powerful build, though, because the aim is to become larger, not effectively larger. It's definitely a nice feature to have, but it won't grant all the effects of increased size.
Eh... think of it this way. Would Powerful Build have enough material for a handbook of its own? Would someone reading such a handbook be completely uninterested in things which can increase their size? And if you included both PB and size increases, calling it a Powerful Build handbook would be less accurate than calling it a Size Increase handbook.

Sometimes the parts of being larger you're interested in are the ones shared by Powerful Build (eg. larger weapons, higher grapple bonus), in which case either will do. What if someone comes to this Handbook without knowing what Powerful Build is? :p And then you have Titan Bloodline, which would make even less sense as a handbook but is an excellent way to get one part of an improved size.
« Last Edit: January 18, 2011, 05:19:31 PM by Prime32 »
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The tier system in a nutshell:
[spoiler]Tier 6: A cartographer.
Tier 5: An expert cartographer or a decent marksman.
Tier 4: An expert marksman.
Tier 3: An expert marksman, cartographer and chef who can tie strong knots and is trained in hostage negotiation or a marksman so good he can shoot down every bullet fired by a minigun while armed with a rusted single-shot pistol that veers to the left.
Tier 2: Someone with teleportation, mind control, time manipulation, intangibility, the ability to turn into an exact duplicate of anything, or the ability to see into the future with perfect accuracy.
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Zaxter

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Re: How To Become Enormous (Meet Mr. Gigantic)
« Reply #11 on: January 18, 2011, 05:48:45 PM »
How has the half-ogre not been mentioned? Races of Destiny, +2 LA. Aside from the half-minotaur template, it's the lowest-cost large-size race. Well, unless that Dragonkin race you mentioned beats it, but I've never seen it before. What book is it from?

Ithamar

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Re: How To Become Enormous (Meet Mr. Gigantic)
« Reply #12 on: January 18, 2011, 06:40:36 PM »
Dragonkin is from Draconomicon, but it has 7 HD, +2 LA.
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bearsarebrown

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Re: How To Become Enormous (Meet Mr. Gigantic)
« Reply #13 on: January 18, 2011, 08:34:19 PM »
Dragon 345 has the Thrall of Kostchtchie. Gets Rage, the size increase ability scores bonuses, Cold Resist and a decent summon over the source of 10 level, the capstone granting it +1 Size.
Dragon 296 has the Waker Of The Beast. Only 5 levels long and grants +1 Size. But it has an atrociously difficult Code Of Conduct to follow. It cannot make any action except those whose purpose is to awaken the Tarrasque.

Half-Minotaur is from Dragon 313. Not only does it grant +1 Size category, but Track, +4 Str, +2 Con, a Gore attack AND all the ability score bonuses that come with a size increase, +8 Str and +4 Con being the most relevant.

Duergar, Psionic get Expansion as a PSA. These automatically augment to full ML, meaning it can last for 10 minutes/HD from level 1, at level 6 you can manifest it as a swift action or advance two size categories. Level 14 for all three.

Garryl

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Re: How To Become Enormous (Meet Mr. Gigantic)
« Reply #14 on: January 18, 2011, 08:55:14 PM »
The Goliath Barbarian 1 sub level gives Mountain Rage, which is like regular rage but it transforms your Powerful Build into being properly Large sized. Note that it's not one size larger, but specifically Large size.
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Prime32

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Re: How To Become Enormous (Meet Mr. Gigantic)
« Reply #15 on: January 18, 2011, 08:59:27 PM »
The Goliath Barbarian 1 sub level gives Mountain Rage, which is like regular rage but it transforms your Powerful Build into being properly Large sized. Note that it's not one size larger, but specifically Large size.
And note that the same book contains a PrC which lets you count as a goliath for prereqs.
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The tier system in a nutshell:
[spoiler]Tier 6: A cartographer.
Tier 5: An expert cartographer or a decent marksman.
Tier 4: An expert marksman.
Tier 3: An expert marksman, cartographer and chef who can tie strong knots and is trained in hostage negotiation or a marksman so good he can shoot down every bullet fired by a minigun while armed with a rusted single-shot pistol that veers to the left.
Tier 2: Someone with teleportation, mind control, time manipulation, intangibility, the ability to turn into an exact duplicate of anything, or the ability to see into the future with perfect accuracy.
Tier 1: Someone with teleportation, mind control, time manipulation, intangibility, the ability to turn into an exact duplicate of anything and the ability to see into the future with perfect accuracy.[/spoiler]

Zaxter

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Re: How To Become Enormous (Meet Mr. Gigantic)
« Reply #16 on: January 19, 2011, 12:14:43 AM »
The Goliath Barbarian 1 sub level gives Mountain Rage, which is like regular rage but it transforms your Powerful Build into being properly Large sized. Note that it's not one size larger, but specifically Large size.
And note that the same book contains a PrC which lets you count as a goliath for prereqs.
It specifies that you count as a member of the race for meeting prereqs specifically for feats and prestige classes. It would be a sensible houserule to let it work with other race-related prerequisites, but RAW, Stoneblessed doesn't work that way.

Endarire

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Re: How To Become Enormous (Meet Mr. Gigantic)
« Reply #17 on: January 19, 2011, 12:45:09 AM »
Alter self, polymorph, and metamorphosis can change size categories.

Also, giant size is supposedly on the Hero Domain spell list, but I know not where to find this domain.

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bearsarebrown

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Re: How To Become Enormous (Meet Mr. Gigantic)
« Reply #18 on: January 19, 2011, 02:17:19 AM »
The Hero Domain is in OA.

randcortin

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Re: How To Become Enormous (Meet Mr. Gigantic)
« Reply #19 on: January 19, 2011, 03:46:47 AM »
If third-party is allowed, Swashbuckling Adventures has the Giant feat, which lets you count as one size larger when considering weapon categories or checks that have modifiers for size (such as Grappling, Bull Rush, etc), along with +5 ft. reach and +1 attack/damage rolls.

However, it has another feat as a prerequisite, and both of them can only be taken at 1st level, so it's kind of wonky, but then a lot of stuff from SA is strangely balanced. One base class, the Wanderer, has Evasion at first level.

Yeah, wonky.