Summary
-
The giant enclaves in
Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants
vary in nature, but all have significant connections to giants, making them unique and exciting options for campaigns. - The physical layout of the enclaves, such as the Thundering Observatory and the Endless Rockslide, add to their appeal by providing memorable scenery and interesting battle terrain.
- Each giant enclave in the sourcebook offers different benefits and abilities, like the Worldroot Sapling’s restorative powers and the Star Forge’s ability to empower crafting, making them valuable resources for characters in the game.
The giant enclaves found in Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants are one of the most interesting features in the new Dungeons & Dragons sourcebook, but some are cooler than others. Although enclaves vary in nature, all of them are vast in scale and feature some significant connection to giants. The nature and terrain of any given enclave is often the main determining factor of whether it will fit into a campaign. When a story or environment is open-ended enough for multiple giant enclaves to do the trick, however, it’s worth looking at what makes each of the best options uniquely exciting.
A total of 18 giant enclaves are available in Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants, ranging from secluded mountain valleys to monuments brimming with power. Every Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants enclave has some kind of connection to the magic of DnD giants, which can often lead to their most interesting features. Physical layout is also a major part of any great giant enclave, whether that comes in the form of memorable scenery or interesting battle terrain.
10 The Thundering Observatory
A turret hanging between mountain peaks on chains of lightning makes for an immediately striking image, and that isn’t all that the Thundering Observatory has going for it. This giant enclave is more than just a location in DnD, serving as a death ray that can push creatures so far beyond the pale that only true resurrection and wish can bring them back. In the wrong hands, the Thundering Observatory could be a terrifying, unassailable fortress, but the thunder and lightning make accessing the interior a true challenge.
9 Runic Circle
Characters interested in the power of the giants could learn much from the Runic Circle, a plateau covered in standing stones and carvings that records many spells in the unique DnD magical language of giant’s runes. Wizards studying the records inscribed at this Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants enclave can inscribe the spells they might learn into a spellbook. The Runic Circle also acts as a teleportation circle that can work across multiple planes to send messages to typically unreachable locations.
8 Endless Rockslide
Like the Thundering Observatory, the Endless Rockslide provides a permanent hazard, making it a difficult giant enclave to navigate. Rocks deposited by a portal fall down a mountain into another portal, making for an unending barrage that can bludgeon creatures to death or even sweep them into another DnD plane. Despite its danger, the useful minerals here provide an inexhaustible quarry of sorts, and the sheer power of the earth magic at the Endless Rockslide makes it a worthwhile pilgrimage for anyone.
7 Worldroot Sapling
The Worldroot Sapling is a particularly auspicious seedling, born from the world tree Yggdrasil. Although thorny roots cover the area around the Worldroot Sapling, the ground within the direct vicinity of the sapling offers enormous restorative powers that more than justify its status as a symbol of hope. The light of the Worldroot Sapling offers an advantage on certain DnD ability checks and saving throws as well as removing exhaustion, and its sap functions as a potion of vitality. Most significantly, burying a creature in the soil near the sapling can return it to life with the same power as a true resurrection spell.
6 Annam’s Cradle
Annam’s Cradle is a Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants enclave blessed by energy from the Positive Plane, which helps life flourish inside an enormous cavern. The jungle found here is home to villages, ruins, and all manner of giant monsters from Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants, including powerful predatory dinosaurs that seem out of another age. Although the portal to the Positive Plane that fills Annam’s Cradle with life only works in one direction, it still grants benefits to long rests in this enclave and infuses the water with restorative powers.
5 Horizon’s Edge
Horizon’s Edge one-ups the various DnD giant enclaves connected to other planes by being a demiplane all of its own. Stone platforms with gigantic constructions hover in a bubble of air that floats through the Deep Ethereal plane, standing as a testament to the ancient achievements of the giants. Gravity in this demiplane loops, causing objects or creatures falling through the bottom to warp to the top and continue falling eternally if nothing is in its way.
4 Howling Iceberg
As a chunk of ever-frozen ice with endless biting winds, Howling Iceberg is one of the least hospitable enclaves in Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants. This brutal environment was crafted by followers of the demon lord Kostchtchie, and the tunnels that wind beneath its surface seem impossibly long. Successful navigation of these corridors can earn major boons for a character, however, as the Frostfell Shard that can be found within grants a number of powerful benefits to any who attune to it.
3 Star Forge
The name of the Star Forge is even more explicit than the Gale’s Eye Tower. An iron forge built around a fallen star uses the radiant power of the celestial object to empower crafting, which can be used by anyone with enough gold and time to dedicate to the formation of magic items in Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants. The light from the forge shines strong enough to damage undead and provides a beacon for hundreds of miles, so its location in the crater where the star fell shouldn’t be hard to find with enough altitude.
2 Gale’s Eye Tower
An unusual mix of stone and cloud make up the construction of the Gale’s Eye tower, which delivers on its name by floating in the eye of an unceasing storm. A cyclone in the center mimics the storm outside by dealing truly devastating thunder damage to any who enter, but a traveler that survives will be transported to the idyllic realm of Aaqa in DnD‘s Elemental Plane of Air. Called the Labyrinth Funnel, this cyclone can also be used to control the storm, tower, and even summon beings from the Plane of Air.
1 Singing Sands
Although some other giant enclaves in Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants drift through space or exist at the edges of planes, none are quite as elusive in nature as the Singing Sands. The music that emanates across the desert from these crystalline sands can be used to track them during the day, but it’s only at night that the actual enclave is revealed. The sands form a fortress of giant proportions, complete with living quarters, a kitchen, and a courtyard. Music can be used to shape the Singing Sands into other objects, rewarding creativity from those intrepid enough to seek them out in Dungeons & Dragons.
This story originally appeared on Screenrant
