The Giff are a minor[3] spacefaring race in the Spelljammer campaign setting,[4][5] and can be selected as a player character race.[6]
"Trooper, what's better than a Regulation Ballista, single mount?
A Regulation Bombard, with powder, sir!"
- An example of Giff military humor.[7]
Overview[]
The giff are a race of mercenaries who hire on with various groups throughout the Known Spheres as bodyguards, enforcers, and general leg-breakers. They are a civilized race, with a working knowledge of spelljamming, though they lack arcane spellcasters among their own kind.[5][4]
Description[]
Giff are powerfully muscled, 9-foot tall humanoids, with stocky, flat, cylindrical legs, barrel-shaped torsos, broad chests, humanoid arms and hands, and a hippopotamus-like head armored with flexible, chitinous plates. They range in color from black to gray to a rich gold, and many have colorful tattoos that leave their bodies a patchwork record of past victories. Giff speak their own language, as well as the Common trade tongue. As mercenaries they have also found it useful to learn the languages of their employers, and many speak dwarven, elven and dracon.[6][5][4]
Personality[]
The giff live structured, organized lives centered on their obligations in a race-wide chain of command. They are proud of their strength and skill as warriors, and live their lives in pursuit of glory and rank. Their pride in their own strength makes them nervous around truly strong creatures (like giants), but they consider most humans and other humanoids as too fragile.
Giff enjoy fighting. They will brawl for the sheer fun of it, battling all comers in a friendly test of strength, granting quarter to any who ask it. Giff view weapons as a sign that the battle is serious, however, and will fight to the death against anyone who draws a weapon on them.
Combat[]
"I love the bitter stink of smokepowder in the morning. It smells like... victory."
- Sergeant-Major Orsin "Apocalypse" Themul, 716th Marine Regiment[8]
The giff are militaristic and organize themselves into squads, platoons, companies, and larger military groups. The number of giff in a platoon varies according to the season, job requirement, and level of danger involved. A giff "platoon" hired to protect a gambling operation may only consist of two bouncers, while a platoon hired to invade an illithid stronghold may number well over a hundred.
The giff pride themselves on their skill with weapons and may carry a variety of swords, daggers, maces, and similar instruments to deal with troublemakers. In giff terms, a troublemaker is any non-giff their current employer tells them is a troublemaker. The average giff is also an inveterate collector of weapons, and will accumulate numerous examples of a specific type of weapon from half a hundred worlds - and will know everything there is to know about each one.
However, their true love is reserved for smokepowder weapons of all kinds, and 1-in-5 giff will possess an arquebus (or rarely a wheel lock pistol) with enough ammunition for up to 8 shots. A misfiring weapon matters little to the giff (occasional fatalities are expected) - the flash, noise, and damage is what impresses them most.
Even unarmed, the giff are powerful opponents. They are as strong as a hill giant and will wade into a brawl just for the pure fun of it, tossing combatants from both sides around to prove themselves the victors. Once a weapon is drawn, however, all bets are off and the giff will fight to the death.
The top of a giff's head and snout is armored with thick, chitinous plates, flexible enough to permit motion, but robust enough to allow them to attack opponents with a devastating head-butt. The giff are often surprised at how fragile other humanoids are: what for them would pass for a gentle tap when rough housing among themselves, may seriously injure or kill an unprepared human. The giff are skilled armorers and craft elaborate suits of armor for themselves, including full helms inlaid with bone and ivory and featuring elaborate crests resembling various monsters.
Finally, the giff are somewhat resistant to magic, and are deeply suspicious of magic, spellcasters and magical devices. While they view spelljammer helms with misgivings, especially since they cannot make use of the devices themselves, they reluctantly accept that they are a necessary evil to get anywhere in wildspace.[5][4][6]
Society[]
"I didn't mean to hit them that hard. You humans are so delicate."
- Giff mercenary explaining the deaths of two fellow troopers after a brawl[9]
Giff are most comfortable as part of a military organization with a strong chain of command, and are happiest among their own race. Giff young, known as gifflings, are raised with care until they are old enough to survive an exploding arquebus, then they are inducted fully into a platoon. Every giff - male, female, and giffling - has a rank within their society, which can only be changed by someone of a higher rank. Within these ranks are sub-ranks and within those sub-ranks are color markings and badges. The highest-ranking giff gives the orders, the others obey. It doesn't matter if the orders are foolish or even suicidal — following them is the purpose of the giff in the universe. A quasi-mystical faith among the giff mercenaries confirms that all things have their place, and the giff's is to follow orders.
The giff have wandered wildspace for so long they no longer remember where their own homeworld is located. Now the stuff of legend, no living giff has seen their homeworld; though their tales describe it as a verdant jungle planet covered with swamps, thick with groves of mangrove trees and fruit trees. The few mountains are rich in metals, hidden caches of weapons and smoke powder.
Giff platoons (the basic unit of giff society) serve other spacefaring races as mercenaries, wandering from sphere to sphere, fighting in battles and conquering their employer's enemies. The arcane do some business in hiring out giff mercenaries, though usually independent contractors perform this role. They review prospective employers, rating them according to their ability to pay, and then make recommendations to giff platoon leaders. The giff leaders, in turn, will consider the dangers of the job, and whether taking it will enhance their reputation. Giff mercenaries are usually paid in smoke powder, though they will often accept payment in the form of other weapons and armor. As a purely barter system, it costs seven charges of smokepowder to hire one giff for one standard week (one charge per day).
The giff are widely traveled throughout wildspace and have a great deal experience dealing with various spacefaring peoples, avoiding only the neogi and the beholders. They are fierce fighters, despite their somewhat comical appearance and mania for weapons. They will not, however, willingly fight other giff. If forced into such a situation on a battlefield, both groups retire for at least a day of drinking and sorting out ranks. There is a 1-in-10 chance that one platoon will join another, but most likely both will withdraw their commission and look for work elsewhere.
Giff live about 70 years, but do not age gracefully. As a giff grows older and begins to slow down, they become obsessed with proving that they are still young and capable, usually in battle. As a result, there are very, very few old giff.[4][6][5]
Notable Giff[]
- Sergeant-Major Agamour was the commander of a giff mercenary platoon based on the Rock of Bral, known locally as Agamour's Platoon.[10]
- The Brigadier was the proprietor of The Brigadier's Broadside, located in the subterranean city of Skullport on Toril in Realmspace, which specialized in smokepowder and associated weaponry.[11]
- Chancel served as aide-de-camp to Lady Chaos, Queen of the Stellar Main.[12]
- Colonel Tamus Ewdun was the Field Commander who discovered the artifact known as the Gauntlet of Tamus.[13]
- Herphan Gomja was a close friend and companion of Teldin Moore, the Cloakmaster.[14][15]
- Hirci Hipshot was the governor of the small giff community on the Stellar Islands in Krynnspace.[16]
- Lord High Gunsman "Diamondtip" Hodjson was the commander of the giff community onboard the Spelljammer.[17]
- Second Assistant Sub-Colonel Dourm Larbo was Torgan Betz's partner in crime.[18]
- Potulus was a mischievous and chaotic giff mercenary stationed onboard Gamaro Base in Moragspace.[19]
- General Saerlg Tomojak was the commander of the giff community on the Rock of Bral and the current wielder of the Gauntlet of Tamus.[20][13]
Signature Spelljammers[]
Giff are, by nature, non-magical and have no spelljamming capability of their own. They are reliant on their employers to provide transportation through wildspace,[6] or hire mercenary spellcasters as helmsman on their own vessels. A giff ship is always well equipped with bombards and fire projectors, and will happily blaze away at opponents, regardless of the tactical situation.[4] The giff have adopted the clipper as a versatile and devastating heavy warship and have even developed their own ship design, known as the great bombard.
Appendix[]
Gallery[]
External Links[]
- Giff article at the Forgotten Realms Wiki, a wiki for the Forgotten Realms campaign setting.
- Giff article at the Dungeons and Dragons Lore Wiki, a wiki for official Dungeons & Dragons content from every edition.
- Giff article at the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition Wiki, a wiki for official Dungeons & Dragons content from 2nd edition AD&D.
References[]
- ↑ Curtis M. Scott, CGR1 The Complete Spacefarer's Handbook, 1992, (TSR Inc.), table 5: Age, page 27
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Curtis M. Scott, CGR1 The Complete Spacefarer's Handbook, 1992, (TSR Inc.), table 4: Average Height and Weight, page 26
- ↑ Jeff Grubb. AD&D Adventures in Space; Lorebook of the Void, TSR, Inc., 1989, Major and Minor Races side bar (pp.50, 52 and 54)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Jeff Grubb. AD&D Adventures in Space; Lorebook of the Void, TSR, Inc., 1989, Giff entry (pp.77–78)
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Tim Beach et al, Monstrous Manual, 1993, (TSR Inc.), Giff entry, page 150
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Curtis M. Scott, CGR1 The Complete Spacefarer's Handbook, 1992, (TSR Inc.), chapter 2: New Spacefaring Races, pages 17-18
- ↑ Dale "Slade" Henson, War Captain's Companion, War Captain's Guide, 1992, (TSR Inc.), side bar, page 12
- ↑ Curtis M. Scott, CGR1 The Complete Spacefarer's Handbook, 1992, (TSR Inc.), sidebar, page 35
- ↑ Curtis M. Scott, CGR1 The Complete Spacefarer's Handbook, 1992, (TSR Inc.), sidebar, page 17
- ↑ Richard Baker, SJR5 Rock of Bral, 1992, (TSR Inc), part 3: A City Among the Stars, page 66
- ↑ Joseph C. Wolf, Skullport, 1999, (TSR Inc.),ISBN: 0-7869-1348-7, page 61
- ↑ Jeff Grubb, "The Geas", SPELLJAMMER Comic Book #9, 1991, (DC Comics Inc.), page 4 (first appearance)
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Steven E. Schend, "Bazaar of the Bizarre", Dragon Magazine Issue #159, July 1990, (TSR Inc.), Unique devices, page 18
- ↑ David "Zeb" Cook, The Cloakmaster Cycle, Beyond the Moons, 1991, (TSR Inc.)
- ↑ Nigel Findley, The Cloakmaster Cycle, The Maelstrom's Eye, 1992, (TSR Inc.), pages 101-103 (first appearance)
- ↑ Jean Rabe, SJR7 Krynnspace, 1993, (TSR Inc.), Important NPCs section, Stellar Islands chapter, page 63
- ↑ Jeff Grubb, The Legend of Spelljammer, Captains and Ships, 1991, (TSR Inc.), Personalities of the Spelljammer, page 41
- ↑ Nigel D. Findley, SJA2 Skull & Crossbows, 1990, (TSR Inc.), Small Package Trade section, chapter 1: Pirates and Corsairs, page 11
- ↑ Bruce Nesmith, SJS1 Goblins' Return, 1991, (TSR Inc.), chapter 3: Gamaro Base Description, page 57
- ↑ Richard Baker, SJR5 Rock of Bral, 1992, (TSR Inc), Envoys and Emissaries section, part 2: A House Divided, page 30