Dungeons & Dragons: Bigby Presents – Glory of the Giants
It’s been a long wait for the next official D&D product to drop! My last review for Keys from the Golden Vault was all the way back in March and since that time I’ve filled in the gaps by reviewing some good third-party releases. But, the wait is finally over and Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants is here.
I’ll admit, this is not a book that I was particularly excited for. The remainder of this year is going to see some pretty incredible D&D releases. When stacked up against things like a Planescape boxed set and a book about The Deck of Many Things… a primer on giants just doesn’t seem all that compelling. But, as you might expect, I bought a copy anyway and I’ve now had several days to digest it and I’m ready to share my thoughts.
This book follows the trend WotC started with Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons and gives us an entire guide focused solely on one type of creature. Everything you could ever want to know about giants can be found in this book. The opening chapter provides a brief overview of lore and mythology for giants in the D&D universe. I found this introduction to be well written and actually quite compelling. It certainly does a good job at setting the tone for the rest of the book. Next up, we are given a handful of player options (backgrounds, a subclass, some feats, etc). Noticeably absent is any sort of playable race. But this is excusable since options for Goliath characters were already detailed in Monsters of the Multiverse. Still, it might have worth reprinting this information here just for the sake of completion.
Next, the book shifts focus and provides a detailed look at giant religion and mythology. It touches on their culture and society and even provides examples of their outposts and dwellings. If you’re a DM running a giant-themed campaign, this information is certainly going to prove to be invaluable. However, for the average table I can’t imagine it’s going to be particularly useful. Still, I have to admit that it is all very well done and chock full of detail.
The remainder of the book is a bestiary for any monster that’s giant-related. And I mean that loosely because anything that’s “giant” (including dinosaurs) are included here. For most DMs, this last part of the book is probably going to be the most useful. There’s some really good monsters included here! Some of them I haven’t seen in print for quite some time.
Out of all the mainstream D&D releases to date, I can’t help but feel like this book is the probably the most niche. The content provided is very detailed, but it’s also focused on something that’s rather obscure. Giants are certainly a staple in D&D. But, I’m not sure they are worthy of a $60 price tag. In my personal opinion, this sort of thing is best left for DM’s Guild releases or third-party publishers. For most DMs and players, this release is probably not a high priority.
