Saturday Night Fight Club - Giants...against the Giants

I was talking to Junior Grognard the other night about this regular series and he suggested that I should run Fire Giant versus Frost Giant. Well, why not, I thought, so without further ado, here it is.

Let’s welcome the contenders. You’ve faced them down the G modules but have you ever seen them fight each other? Tonight, prepare for action, prepare for violence, prepare for two oversize Vikings hitting each other a lot.

Fire Giant


AC 3
HD 11 + 2-5 average hit points 53
No of atts 1
Dam per att 5-30
Hurling rocks for 2-20 damage

Can catch rock hurled 50% of the time

THAC0 10 (there is an option to give him 9 but I’m keeping it at 10) – to hit the Frost Giant, the fire giant needs a 6


Frost Giant


AC 4
HD 10 + 1-4 average hit points 48 (well, 47.5 but I’ll round up)
No of atts 1
Dam per att 4-24
Hurling rocks for 2-20 damage

Can catch rock hurled 40% of the time

THAC0 10 - to hit the Fire Giant, Frostie needs a 7

Round 1

I’ll rule that they attack more or less simultaneously. It’s more fun that way.

Fire giant rolls his to hit, scores 16. It’s a hit. Rolls damage of 23 – whew, those d6 are lucky tonight. Three sixes!

Frost giant rolls his to hit, scores 20 – wahoo! Shame I’m not using the critical roll. What’s that? You want me to? (shrug) Okay. Rolls a 10, that means double damage. (a second 20 would have been cool, decapitating a fire giant!)

Damage roll, 4d6 scores 6,6,3,2 – 17 – double it up to 34.

End of round 1, the fire giant is down to 19, courtesy of that critical. The frost giant is on 25.

Round 2. The fire giant rolls to hit, scores 6. Just hits. 5d6, scores 5,3,3,2,1 – not so lucky this time. Total damage 14.

Frostie swings his big axe and hits with a 15. Damage of 15.

End of round 2, the fire giant is on 4 (and looking pretty sick as well) and the frost giant is on 11. Round 3 could be the decider

Fire giant launches his attack – a 9 gets that hit in. Damage of 5,5,3,1,1 – 15 in total, that takes the frost giant down. But Frostie still has his attack. Swing it, my chilly friend. It’s an 11 – and the damage dice inflict a killing 12 points of damage. Both giants are down.

Okay, I know what you’re thinking. The critical tilted the balance towards the frost giant. And you’re probably right. If he’d just done normal damage, then the giants would have ended Round 1 on

Fire 36
Frost 25

Subsequent rounds would have gone

Round 2
Fire 21
Frost 11

Round 3
Fire 9
Frost -4

So yes, the fire giant gets the kill if all things are equal.

But wait, I hear you cry. Let us not forget that giants can hurl rocks. Okay, let’s have a rock-throwing contest as a bonus.

Right, both giants inflict 2-20 damage. Again, the frost giant needs a 7 to hit, the fire giant needs a 6. But both giants can catch as well as hurl rocks, the frost giant on 40% and the fire giant on 50%.



Gentlemen, to your boulders!






Round 1 and the fire giant lobs his first rock, a 15 – but Frostie rolls a 13 and catches it. Ha!

Frostie lobs his boulder. Similarly, a 15 on the hit dice, the fire giant rolls a 19 – he too catches it.

Round 2 – Frostie to take first throw this time – he pitches, a 16 sends the boulder on target. Will the fiery one catch it?

55 – not this time. 9 damage as the boulder thwacks into him.

Fire giant returns the favour, an 8 is good enough to secure a hit, but only just. With an 83, the frost giant’s hands are in the wrong place. It’s a stony greeting to our frigid friend, who takes 12 damage.

End of round 2, fire giant is on 44, frost giant on 36.

Round 3 – the fire giant lobs first, but with a 4, his rock goes hurtling over into the outfield. The frost giant laughs and curses in his own language, which – the MM tells us – is unintelligible to other giant races. He hurls his boulder. A 12. Let’s see if the fire giant can catch it. A 50 – he just gets a glove to it and takes no damage.

Round 4 – this could go on for quite a while. Frost giant slings a big one, a 12 and with a 59, the fire giant fails to catch it in time. 10 damage.
Fire giant slings one back, 19 on the hit dice, and Frostie fails to catch it, so he takes 18 damage. Thwack! (or other sound effect of boulder hitting flesh and bone).

End of round 4 – frost giant is looking a bit sore on 18hp and the fire giant a bit happier on 34.

Round 5 – fire giant throws first, but with a 2, he misses spectacularly. Oh dear. His vision must be a bit off. Frost giant gets an 11, but with a 34, the fire giant recovers and catches the boulder.

Round 6 – frost giant throws, a 20! This sounds familiar. Can you get a critical with a boulder? Let’s see if he makes his second to hit roll. Alas, with a 4, it’s just a normal hit – or at least it would be if the fire giant hadn’t caught it. The Fire Giant sends one back, and with a 17, it’s on target. As the frost giant muffs his catch roll with an 89, the boulder thuds home for 10 damage.

So at this point, the fire giant is still on 34 but the frost giant is now on 8 and feeling very unhappy. I know you want to see this one to the end, so we’ll stick with it, rather than go to commercials.

Round 7 – Fire giant launches another boulder – must be a plentiful supply – and with an 8, hits. Weirdly, the frost giant gets the same score as last time on his catch roll and takes 12 damage from the boulder. He’s down.

Out of interest, his rolls would have been 17 to hit, the fire giant would have missed his catch roll and the damage would have been 8. But that’s academic now. Frosties aren’t grrrrrrrreat.