columns: 2
forcecolumns: true
layout: Basic Pathfinder 2e Layout
source: "Pathfinder Bestiary 3"
name: "Cave Giant"
level: "Creature 6"
 
alignment: ""
size: "Large"
trait_01: [[chaotic]]
trait_02: [[evil]]
trait_03: [[giant]]
trait_04: [[humanoid]]
modifier: 15
perception:
  - name: "Perception"
    desc: "+15; Darkvision"
languages: "Jotun"
skills:
  - name: "Skills"
    desc: "Athletics: +18, Intimidation: +14"
abilityMods: [6, 3, 5, -2, 3, 2]
speed: 35 feet
sourcebook: "_Pathfinder Bestiary 3_"
ac: 23
armorclass:
  - name: AC
    desc: "23; __Fort__ +17, __Ref__ +13, __Will__ +11"
hp: 110
health:
  - name: ""
  - name: HP
    desc: "110"
abilities_top:
  - name: ""
  - name: "Items"
    desc: "[[Equipment/Greataxe|Greataxe]], [[Equipment/Hide Armor|Hide Armor]], Sack for Holding Rocks, 5x Rock"
abilities_mid:
  - name: ""
  - name: "[[Bestiary Ability Glossary/Catch Rock|Catch Rock]]"
    desc: "`pf2:r`  **Requirements** The monster must have a free hand but can [[Actions/Release|Release]] anything it's holding as part of this reaction.\n\n**Trigger** The monster is targeted with a thrown rock Strike or a rock would fall on the monster.\n* * *\n\n**Effect** The monster gains a +4 circumstance bonus to its AC against the triggering attack or to any defense against the falling rock. If the attack misses or the monster successfully defends against the falling rock, the monster catches the rock, takes no damage, and is now holding the rock."
 
attacks:
  - name: ""
 
  - name: "**Melee** `pf2:1` Greataxe"
    desc: "+18 (magical, reach 10 feet, sweep)\n__Damage__  1d12 + 9 slashing"
 
  - name: "**Melee** `pf2:1` Fist"
    desc: "+18 (agile, reach 10 feet)\n__Damage__  1d8 + 9 bludgeoning"
 
  - name: "**Ranged** `pf2:1` Rock"
    desc: "+16 (brutal, range increment 120 feet)\n__Damage__  2d6 + 10 bludgeoning plus rock"
 
  - name: "Smear"
    desc: "`pf2:2` (attack) **Requirements** The cave giant is within reach of a creature that is adjacent to a wall or other solid vertical surface\n* * *\n\n**Effect** The cave giant snags the creature and smashes it against the wall. The giant attempts an Athletics check check against the target's Reflex DC. On a success, the cave giant [[Bestiary Ability Glossary/Grab|Grabs]] the creature and smears it along the nearby wall, dealing 2d8+8 bludgeoning damage. On a critical success, the damage is doubled."
 
  - name: "[[Bestiary Ability Glossary/Throw Rock|Throw Rock]]"
    desc: "`pf2:1`  The monster picks up a rock within reach or retrieves a stowed rock and throws it, making a ranged Strike."
 
name: Cave Giant
creatures:
  - 1: Cave Giant

Cave giants are the vicious loners of the giant world. Even their closest ancestral kin, the rampaging hill giants, mostly find cave giants too brutal and antisocial to form alliances with. For their part, cave giants-garbed in stinking hides festooned with the rotting skulls of their victims-seem ambivalent about their foul reputation. They are more interested in hunting and killing their next meal than forming alliances.

For all their disregard of others’ opinions, cave giants are cautious when it comes to defending territory. Cave giant traps are simple yet effective, such as rounded boulders that can be pushed down steep tunnels, camouflaged pits filled with sharpened stakes, and even compromised stalactites that can suddenly fall on unsuspecting intruders.

In coastal towns and hillside villages with caves a common feature of the landscape, cave giants star as common villains in local tall tales. Many youngsters and aspiring heroes dare one another to venture into remote grottoes or abandoned mine shafts in the hopes of discovering a cave giant, and all too often their searches prove successful. Grieving villagers pay skilled adventures handsomely to locate the whereabouts of their missing kin. The bounty for such hunts might be as much as an entire village harvest’s worth of gold, particularly if a local cave giant has been a frequent enough menace or the missing villager is particularly beloved.


Many kinds of giants lurk in the inhospitable corners of the world, making their homes in unlikely locales ranging from fetid sinkholes and ruined battlefields to mass graveyards and barren badlands.