Strike of the Giants 5e
Prerequisite: Martial Weapon Proficiency or Giant Foundling Background
You have absorbed primeval magic that gives you an echo of the might of giants. When you take this feat, choose one of the benefits listed below. Once per turn, when you hit a target with a melee weapon attack or a ranged weapon attack using a thrown weapon, you can imbue the attack with an additional effect depending on the benefit you chose:
Cloud Strike. The target takes an extra 1d4 thunder damage. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw, or you become invisible to it until the start of your next turn or until immediately after you make an attack roll or cast a spell.
Fire Strike. The target takes an extra 1d10 fire damage.
Frost Strike. The target takes an extra 1d6 cold damage. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a Constitution saving throw, or its speed is reduced to 0 until the start of your next turn.
Hill Strike. The target takes an extra 1d6 force damage. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a Strength saving throw or have the prone condition.
Stone Strike. The target takes an extra 1d6 force damage. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or be pushed 10 feet from you in a straight line.
Storm Strike. The target takes an extra 1d6 lightning damage. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a Constitution saving throw, or it has disadvantage on attack rolls until the start of your next turn.
The saving throw DC for these effects equals 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength or Constitution modifier.
You can use this feat a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
Review by Sam West, Twitter: @CrierKobold
Strike of the Giants follows in Squire of Solomnia’s footsteps by providing a set number of weapon attack improvements not quite at the level of a 1st level spell. While I still don’t really want to spend an entire feat on most characters for this, at least these options are a lot more interesting, even if you only get one of them.
Cloud by far is the most interesting of the options. It sets up interesting escape routes while also providing advantage on the next attack roll you make against it. Its end condition is wild to me, as it means you either get a d4 damage and advantage on one attack roll or impose disadvantage on all of its attacks against you for a round, both of which are worse versions of other effects listed here with higher damage dice sizes. Still, the novelty of becoming invisible opens up some niche, yet cool opportunities.
Fire Strike is bland, and while probably not the worst in an average fight, definitely is the one I’m putting on my sheet last.
Frost has some potential on thrown weapon builds to act as a lockdown tool akin to Ensnaring Strike. It plays great on skirmishers who want to avoid being attacked altogether, or on builds looking to prevent enemies from disengaging with them and chasing down their squishier allies.
Hill Strike might be the best of the lot, as knocking a creature prone immediately sets up other melee attacks to be made with advantage. On its own, it reads better than Cloud when you’re trying to attack as many times as possible, and only gets better as you pile on your allies’ melee attack rolls as well.
Stone I think is the worst in an average fight but at least interesting. A 10 ft. shove isn’t usually something you need or want. It kind of works like an inflexible disengage, something most melee characters don’t tend to need to do that often. In some encounters, it can get extra damage from an area-of-effect damage spell or push something over an edge, but that comes up less often than many people expect.
Storm closes things out decently well with a d6 paired with disadvantage on a creatures attack rolls on a failed save. While I don’t love taking a feat for this ability, it is incredibly action efficient and can lead to some interesting decisions fight to fight to decide when you want to debilitate a multi-attacking threat. It scales decently well with the game, too, as the more attacks it imposes disadvantage on, the better it gets.
The reality is that two to three uses of one of these per long rest aren’t enough when stacked against existing feats. As something extra for martial characters to start with, I love it, but when everyone gets a feat at 1st level this looks way worse than options like Polearm Master, Great Weapon Master, Sharpshooter, or even the spell-based feats Fey Touched and Shadow Touched. Ultimately, I don’t really know who this feat and background combo is for, as I don’t think the core mechanics they stapled to them to introduce them to games works if everyone isn’t taking specifically these few backgrounds that come with feats that aren’t nearly as powerful as many others.
Thank you for visiting!
If you’d like to support this ongoing project, you can do so by buying my books, getting some sweet C&C merch, or joining my Patreon.
The text on this page is Open Game Content, and is licensed for public use under the terms of the Open Game License v1.0a.
‘d20 System’ and the ‘d20 System’ logo are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
and are used according to the terms of the d20 System License version 6.0.
A copy of this License can be found at www.wizards.com/d20.
