columns: 2
forcecolumns: true
layout: Basic Pathfinder 2e Layout
source: "Pathfinder Bestiary 3"
name: "Desert Giant"
level: "Creature 9"
 
alignment: ""
size: "Large"
trait_01: [[giant]]
trait_02: [[humanoid]]
trait_03: [[lawful]]
modifier: 19
perception:
  - name: "Perception"
    desc: "+19; "
languages: "Common, Jotun"
skills:
  - name: "Skills"
    desc: "Acrobatics: +21, Intimidation: +15, Survival: +19, Desert Lore: +18"
abilityMods: [6, 6, 5, 3, 4, 0]
speed: 40 feet
sourcebook: "_Pathfinder Bestiary 3_"
ac: 27
armorclass:
  - name: AC
    desc: "27; __Fort__ +18, __Ref__ +21, __Will__ +15"
hp: 185
health:
  - name: ""
  - name: HP
    desc: "185"
abilities_top:
  - name: ""
  - name: "Items"
    desc: "[[Equipment/Scimitar|Scimitar]], [[Equipment/Scimitar|+1 Striking Scimitar]], [[Equipment/Leather Armor|Leather Armor]], [[Equipment/Doubling Rings|Doubling Rings]], 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` Scimitar"
    desc: "+21 (forceful, magical, reach 10 feet, sweep)\n__Damage__  2d6 + 12 slashing"
 
  - name: "**Ranged** `pf2:1` Rock"
    desc: "+19 (brutal, range increment 120 feet)\n__Damage__  2d8 + 12 bludgeoning plus rock"
 
  - name: "Sand Spin"
    desc: "`pf2:1`  **Requirements** The desert giant is standing in sandy terrain\n* * *\n\n**Effect** The desert giant spins around and stirs up loose sand in a 10-foot emanation. Until the beginning of the giant's next turn, creatures in the area are [[Conditions/Concealed|Concealed]], and other creatures are concealed to them."
 
  - name: "Sandwalking"
    desc: "  Desert giants have adapted to the loose sands of the desert and can move across them with ease. Desert giants ignore non-magical difficult terrain and uneven ground caused by sand."
 
  - name: "Scimitar Blitz"
    desc: "`pf2:2`  The desert giant Strides up to their Speed, Striking once with each of their scimitars at any point during the movement."
 
  - 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: Desert Giant
creatures:
  - 1: Desert Giant

Desert giants are nomadic humanoids who have dwelled in the world’s most arid regions since time immemorial. Smaller peoples know that desert giants are the undisputed masters of desert living, and ignorant humans often claim that it is a desert giant’s unique physiology, like a camel, that enables them to survive without water for 2 weeks. The few desert giants who mingle in the societies of smaller humanoids don’t bother to dispute such ridiculous rumors.

In fact, desert giants’ strong cultural traditions play a large part in their ability to prosper in such harsh environs. Desert giant elders encourage their descendants to maintain abstemious lifestyles, particularly with regard to the consumption of food and drink. Alcohol is particularly disdained by desert giants, who view mind-altering diuretics like liquor and ale as dangerous temptations in an environment as unforgiving as the desert. Instead, most desert giants follow a simple vegetarian diet and maintain an incredible internal map of their home region’s seasonal waterways and oases.

Their austere habits and intolerance for foolishness have earned desert giants a reputation as being ill-humored and no-nonsense, but many of their communities boast a wide variety of humorous tales in their vast oral histories and legends. Since desert giants’ journeys across the wastes can span weeks or even months at a time, an individual who can make their companions laugh with a witty joke or amusing parable remains a prized member of the community.

Desert giants stand 15 feet tall, tending toward lean physiques that are ideal for traveling across vast expanses of sand for long sojourns.


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.