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Long before Dragons ruled the skies, the giants of Ostoria ruled over Faerûn from a vast empire that stretched across the known world, overseeing the lives of all of Faerûn’s denizens. In the years since, Ostoria has fallen, and the giants have lost their control over the realm; however, their prominence has not faded. Today, the giants operate under a hierarchy of power belonging to six different tribes, each of which possesses unique abilities and philosophies. This structure of power is called The Ordning, a name that once belonged to a much more tangible hierarchy in the days of giant rule.

Those who understand the giants of D&D are those most familiar with the Ordning and the hierarchy it represents. Each tier reveals a set of characteristics, but perhaps more importantly, a chance to find an ally or an adversary. So before you wander into the realm of the Giants, you’ll want to make sure you know exactly who you’re messing with...

The Giant Hierarchy

The Ordning is the divine social contract that holds all of giantkind together. A ranked hierarchy created by Annam the All-Father that tells every giant exactly where they stand. Without the Ordning, the six sub-races of giants would tear each other apart in endless warfare.

If you’re wondering why “endless warfare” sounds a lot like how giants behave in most of your campaigns today, it’s because the Ordning has been shattered for ages. Today, the giants follow no real social structure, although the impact of the Ordning is still felt throughout giant culture.

Storm Giants

At the absolute top of the Ordning sit the Storm Giants, who are without a doubt, the most arcane and enigmatic of the giant kind.

Storm Giants are the giants of the sea and the sky, able to live in the most extreme and isolated environments imaginable, from the crushing depths of the ocean to the icy peaks of the highest mountains. Where Storm Giants differentiate themselves from the rest of giantkind is in their lack of concern for worldly matters. While other giants are possessed with a brutish ambition that propels them towards things like glory and authority, the Storm Giants have transcended the political scrambling of their kin. Instead, the Storm Giants are in search of something much less conceivable, and much more grand: the answers to the universe. Storm Giants are the diviners of giantkind, obsessed with the fabric of reality and the many futures it holds.

Storm Giants In-Game

Mechanically, Storm Giants are fearsome battlefield controllers who use weather and lightning at will to make them devastating combatants in almost any scenario. Among other abilities, the Monster Manual’s Storm Giants can use the Thunderbolt ability, the Lightning Storm ability, and can cast the following spells: Detect Magic, Light 1/Day, and Control Weather.

Ally or Adversary?

Both. Beyond the battlefield, Storm Giants often take on the role of the cryptic quest givers. As the most “cosmic” of the giants, Storm Giant NPCs are often the type to see “the bigger picture”, meaning they can serve as allies and educators to the party.

Storm King Hekaton: Perhaps one of the most notable giants of all time, the Storm King Hekaton was once the ruler of all Storm Giants and, at one time, even the de jure ruler of all giants (under Annam, of course). Sadly, after the War of the Silver Marches, the Storm King’s reign came to an end, and Hekaton was sent to spend his afterlife in Stormhold, the divine afterlife realm of the Storm Giants.

Cloud Giants

Despite being second in the chain of command, the Cloud Giants sit at the highest position in the physical world: the skies. From soaring castles built atop literal clouds, the Cloud Giants fill their halls with hoards of treasure and rare curiosities, treating the accumulation of wealth and prestige as their calling. Perhaps it’s the fact that they are undeniably the second most powerful giants in the Ordning, but for some reason, the Cloud Giants are obsessed with reaffirming their superiority in the world. According to Volo's Guide to Monsters, Cloud Giants deeply value extravagance, genuinely viewing themselves as the rightful heirs to Annam the All-Father's legacy, a belief that fuels both their ambition and their insufferable arrogance.

Cloud Giants In-Game

Along with the Storm Giants, the Cloud Giants are easily one of the more arcane tribes of giantkind. Possessing innate spellcasting that suits their elevated and elusive nature, Cloud Giants can cast several spells from Gaseous Form to Misty Step, and unique features such as Thundercloud and Thundermace.

Ally or Adversary?

Both. As characters, Cloud Giants are greatly influenced by their ongoing rivalry with the Frost and Fire Giants, whom Cloud Giants consider to be unequivocally lesser beings. This perspective makes Cloud Giants equally likely to serve as allies or adversaries, depending on where the players' allegiances lie.

Fire Giants

The Fire Giants are where the giant cultures begin to break away from the cosmic and arcane nature of the tribes at the top of the Ordning. Where Cloud Giants chase prestige and wealth, and Storm Giants sequester themselves from the world in search of the divine, Fire Giants believe in earning their place through relentless labor. For the Fire Giants, those who reach the top of their hierarchy are the artisans who produce the most legendary weapons and artifacts.

You might notice similarities between Fire Giant and Dwarven cultures. Fire Giants are known for their subjugation of skilled craftspeople, and when it comes to the art of the forge, no one outranks the Dwarves. In the hot and soot-covered forges of the Fire Giants, Dwarves work the foundries, toiling away to build weapons and mechanisms almost double their size.

Fire Giants In-Game

Fire Giants are, naturally, possessed with immunity to fire damage. Outside of their fire immunity and their Rock ability, a ranged weapon attack with a reach of up to 240ft, the Fire Giants are mechanically pretty straightforward. Of the Giant tribes, they are the battlefield-born tacticians, who use their advanced understanding of weaponry and infernal rage to decimate their opponents.

Ally or Adversary?

Adversaries. Like any species, some Fire Giants might ally with the players, but for the most part, Fire Giants have built their culture upon the subjugation of smallfolk. In general, Fire Giants hold no special place in their hearts for the petty little humans and elves who scurry across the battlefield.

Frost, Stone, and Hill Giants

These are the lower tiers of the Ordning, although they are no less of a threat than Storm, Cloud, and Fire Giants. Their influence over giantkind isn’t as great as that of those on the upper tiers, but they can be equally as deadly to your adventuring party.

Frost Giants

Frost Giants operate on a single governing principle: strength. The Frost Giants are, in some ways, the most typical of the giants, believing that the best of them are simply the strongest. To climb the ranks within a Frost Giant clan is to earn prestige through combat, raiding, and hunting. To reflect this harrowed hierarchy, the chieftains of the Frost Giants aren’t appointed or elected; they ruthlessly fight their way to the top, holding their position until someone stronger comes along to defeat them.

Ally or Adversary?

Adversaries. Frost Giants are ruthless, combat-obsessed, and cold-hearted. They might ally with the players if they can work towards shared interests, but if it were up to them, you and your party would be squished under their boots.

Harshnag: Not all Frost Giants are bad. One of the Frost Giants' most iconic members is Harshnag, a hero from Waterdeep's famous “Force Grey” adventuring party. Harshnag is a central character in Storm King’s Thunder and a great example of how different philosophies and perspectives can coexist within giant culture, even among individual tribes.

Stone Giants

Stone Giants are a fascinating specimen, not only because of their rugged exteriors and subterranean lifestyles, but because of what they’ve got going on in their heads. According to the 2024 Monster Manual, the stone giants “regard the surface world and its inhabitants as dreams imagined into being by slumbering primordials, strange gods, or other entities”. In other words, the Stone Giants aren’t totally convinced that you and your party members are even real.

Ally or Adversary?

Allies. Stone Giants can easily turn on you if you wrong them, but they serve more as guardians or caretakers of set spaces than they do as active antagonists. Stone Giants prefer to spend their time drawing elaborate runes on the walls of their cave abodes, lending them an oddly artistic spirit that is much more agreeable than that of their brethren.

Hill Giants

Hill Giant behavior is somewhat reflective of their position within the Ordning. The Hill Giants are Faerûn’s traditional “giant”, complete with all of the hallmarks of the archetype, from their simple-mindedness to their boisterous “fee-fi-fo-fum” personalities. Hill giants are loud, impulsive, and easily manipulated by smarter creatures, making them the ideal pick for your “standard” giant encounter, especially for low-level parties.

Ally or Adversary?

Adversaries. Because of their low intelligence, Hill Giants might be easily tricked or won over to your side with shiny baubles, but they can also be a lot harder to reason with. If your party is caught in the path of a Hill Giant who has made up their mind, you’ll find that reasoning with them is near impossible.

Giants on Roll20

Giants are featured in a lot of D&D adventures, from shorter adventures like Against the Giants, to epic campaigns like Storm King’s Thunder, to packed compendiums like Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants, but the list doesn’t stop there! Explore official D&D giant-themed adventures and rulebooks on the Roll20 Marketplace and bring the adventure to your table today!