Copyright 2009 Wizards of the Coast

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Firbolgs are inspired by Celtic myth, and I’m sure they must have appeared in earlier editions in some form. I think their 4e presentation in this book is new, though.

The Lore

Firbolgs are giants (not Giants) native to the Feywild. Their culture values independence and courage, and their religion is a variant of the Maiden-Mother-Crone triumvirate. This variant has a different goddess in each role: Sehanine is the Maiden, Melora is the Mother, and the Raven Queen is the Crone. This generally results in a religion that’s themed around the night, the moon, autumn and winter, instead of the more balanced “classical” version.

Firbolgs live in and protect the deep wilderness of the Feywild, building their settlements on precarious peaks, floating earth motes, and other such hazardous heights. Leadership positions are occupied by their mightiest warriors and their moon seers (priestesses), both of whom wear masks or helmets styled after one of their deities. They place great value on clan and family ties.

Back when I discussed the Hounds of the Wild Hunt, I speculated that the hunters would be high-powered eladrin. Well, I was wrong! Turns out the Wild Hunt is a Firbolg tradition.

You see, while firbolgs are fond of treasure, they place even greater value in oaths and promises. And when someone breaks an oath made to the firbolgs, they convene a Wild Hunt to track and punish the infractor. Even people who didn’t betray the firbolgs directly still have reason to fear them, as there’s a ritual that allows someone to sic a Wild Hunt on an oathbreaker. And I imagine they might also ride out to fulfill sacred missions revealed in the moon seers’ visions.

Wild Hunts vary in size and composition, and might include allied sapients whose goals and temperament are close to those of the firbolgs themselves. The mightiest and scariest hunts are led by firbolgs with the oficial title of Master of the Wild Hunt, who usually act as community leaders while not fulfilling that role.

PCs might find themselves fighting firbolgs when they stumble on their territory, since a firbolg attack will likely be the first sign that they did it. They could also find themselves on the path of a Wild Hunt, or even as their main target if they manage to piss off someone who can convince the Hunt the PCs are oathbreakers.

Still, it’s possible to negotiate with firbolgs and even approach them peacefully. The Wild Hunt is harder to parley with, but it’s still not impossible unless the PCs really are oathbreakers. Of course, should their interests align, the PCs might find themselves riding alongside the hunters.

The Numbers

Firbolgs are Large Fey Humanoids, and all the ones we see here are Unaligned. They all have low-light vision and a natural ground speed of 8. They also have Regeneration 5 (10 at Epic tier), which can be shut down for a turn by necrotic damage.

They also have a +2 bonus on saves against charm effects, and the immobilized, slowed and restrained conditions. For elite firbolgs, this stacks with the +2 on all saves elites get.

Their signature power is Moonfire (Ranged 10 vs. Will; minor action; recharge 4+), which prevents the target from benefitting from cover or concealment for a turn. It also has additional effects that vary per stat block, but all generally make the target more vulnerable to that firbolg’s attacks. All of their other powers come from martial or magic training, and their magic has the same themes as their religion.

Firbolg Hounder

Hounders are members of firbolg hunting parties whose job is to attack and drive prey into a position that makes them vulnerable to the other hunters. They wear scale and wield axes and shields. They’re Level 11 Soldiers with 113 HP.

Their basic attack is a Reach 2 Battleaxe, and they can use it in a Hounding Strike maneuver that has the same basic stats and also slides the target 2 squares on a hit. Drive Prey is an even more powerful version of that, doing more damage and allowing a secondary attack vs. Will. If that hits, the target must move or shift away from the hounder with its first action on its next turn, or become dazed until the end of that turn. This ability recharges when the hounder is first bloodied.

At range, the hounder can throw Handaxes, which do light physical damage and knock the target prone. Their Moonfire power also marks the target for a turn. Finally, the Hunter’s Leap passive trait makes them immune to opportunity attacks while jumping. They use the standard jumping rules for that.

So it looks like these firbolgs will use Hounding Strike and Drive Prey to slide enemies into a vulnerable position, and then either stay away and throw handaxes, or move into melee to try and keep the enemy pinned in place while the other hunters do their jobs.

Firbolg Hunter

These are the people the hounder (above) works with. They’re level 12 Skirmishers with 123 HP, wear light armor and bring spears and javelins to bear agains their prey.

All of their powers enhance their weapon attacks. Crippling Strike (recharges when first bloodied) adds extra damage to an attack and makes it immobilize the target (save ends) with a Slow after-effect. Mobile Attack allows them to move 8 squares and make a basic attack without provoking opportunity attacks from the target, or from making ranged attacks. Their Moonfire also makes their weapon attacks do +1d6 damage to the affected target for a turn.

And finally, they also have Hunter’s Leap. It’s really hard to run from them, particularly when there hounders pinning you down.

Firbolg Moon Seer

Moon Seers are those priestesses I talked about. They’re Level 14 Controllers with 141 HP. They wear masks and light armor, and fight with moon- and fate-themed magic.

A seer’s basic melee attack is a Moon Mace that targets Reflex, deals Radiant damage, and blinds the target until the start of its next turn. Their Moonfire has the additional effect of making targets grand combat advantage to the seer for a turn. After hitting someone with Moonfire, the seer can use Moonstrike (vs. Will) to deal psychic damage to that victim and dominate them until the end of the seer’s next turn.

There’s two other spells Spirit Hounds and Ban of the Raven.

Spirit Hounds is a blast that targets Reflex and only affects enemies. It deals psychic damage, slows, and prevents the target from teleporting (save ends), which is handy when hunting down eladrin or other fey.

Ban of the Raven is the big gun, an encounter power that’s a Ranged 10 vs. Fortitude attack. It deals heavy necrotic damage and worsens critical hits! The affected victim takes critical hits on a natural 18-20 instead of only a 20, and each such hit deals an extra 10 necrotic damage on top of whatever it would normally deal. Once the victim saves against that there’s still a weaker aftereffect that makes the victim suffer crits on a 19-20.

Firbolg Bloodbear

Bloodbears mix in a bit of viking into their Celtic trappings, being able to turn into bear hybrids. They’re Level 15 Elite Brutes with 240 HP.

They fight unarmed, and start out in firbolg form. Once bloodied, they assume Bloodbear Form, recover all of their HP, and double their regeneration. This also upgrades all of their attacks. This transformation lasts until they’re bloodied again, and then it reverts. So in effect they have 360 HP, and will become bears for the middle third of that health bar.

In firbolg form, they fight unarmed with slams, and they can slam twice with Double Attack. If they hit both attacks, they can also try to grab the target. Bloodbear Maul allows them to automatically deal heavy physical damage against the grabbed victim. They have Moonfire, but it’s only the basic version.

In bloodbear form their slams turn into claw attacks that gain increased damage, they gain a bite that does even more damage and deals ongoing damage if the target is granting AC, and Bloodbear Maul also allows them to make a free bite attack against the grabbed target.

Firbolg Ghostraven

These are Raven Queen themed assassins. They fight with heavy war picks, which are not the kind of weapon you’d expect an assassin to use. They can assume the form of a ghostly raven, which allows them to better hide in shadows and ambush their intended victims.

Ghostravens are Level 16 Elite Lurkers with 238 HP. Their picks are High-Crit weapons, and they can attack twice with them. If both attacks hit the victim is blinded (save ends). Assuming Ghostraven Form is a minor action that makes them intangible, gives them a fly speed of 8, and gives them concealment while in dim light or darkness. When a ghostraven attacks someone who can’t see it, it deals increased damage.

Firbolg Master of The Wild Hunt

What it says on the tin. These hunt masters usually serve as leaders of firbolg communities when they’re not heading a Wild Hunt.

Hunt Masters are Level 22 Elite Skirmishers with 404 HP. They wear the classic stag helmet and fight with a Spear of the Hunt that can make both melee and ranged attacks (it returns when thrown). Being elites, they can attack twice per action.

Their Moonfire also marks and makes the target grant combat advantage until the end of the master’s next turn. They deal increased damage to targets affected by Moonfire (from any firbolg, not just their own).

Their special attack is a Mortal Strike, which allows them to make a basic attack against a bloodied enemy that’s an automatic critical and deals 6d6 additional damage. If this reduces the target to 0 HP, it gives an extra action point to the huntmaster. Action Points, as a reminder, can be spent to give their owner a whole extra standard action on their turn. All elites start out with one, and the hunt master is one of the few who can gain more during a fight.

Sample Encounters and Final Impressions

We get two encounters:

The first is Level 13, a moon seer, a hunter and two hounders plus 2 centaur hunters. This is either a “lesser” Wild Hunt or just a normal hunting party/patrol. It hints that there’s likely a joint Centaur/Firbolg culture out there somehwer.

The second is a proper scary Wild Hunt: the Master of the Wild Hunt along with two Wild Hunt hounds, a bloodbear, and 2 ghostravens. It’s level 22, which means relatively few things in the setting can really stand up to it.

I like firbolgs more than I though I would! There’s plenty of information on them here, and it does plenty to differentiate them from the more standard giants.

One thing I found a bit awkward are the bits of text in the book that say they value “the middle path between good and evil”. This is derived from one of Sehanine’s commandments, which is equally awkward. What does this mean? Are they supposed to feed a puppy one day and kick it on the next to keep things balanced? A more charitable interpretation might be that they’re not any more inclined to trust people who claim to be champions of good than they are anyone else, and try to stay out of those particular cosmic struggles.