Giant (starting race)

The giant is a playable race that first appears in GruntHack, and is also present in NetHack Fourk, SliceHack, SlashTHEM, EvilHack, and Hack'EM. Most implementations give them traits similar to the non-playable giants encountered in vanilla NetHack, such as heightened strength caps, lower speed, and the ability to freely pick up and carry boulders.

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GruntHack

Racial benefits and restrictions

The giant's size and thick hide grants them an improved base AC of 6 (compared to 10 for standard vanilla races); they are also capable of lifting boulders, which are treated as completely weightless much like they are for non-player giants and giant polyforms in vanilla NetHack. However, they cannot wear body armor of any kind, and are too large to fit through narrow diagonal gaps; fortunately, this means that giants also cannot fall through trap doors.

Note that an encumbrance warning may occasionally display when attempting to pick up a boulder, even when using m to move over one.

Attribute caps

Character Race	Strength	Dexterity	Constitution	Intelligence	Wisdom	Charisma
Giant	18/**	12	20	18	14	18

EvilHack

In EvilHack, the giant is added as a playable race in version 0.1.2, and is adapted and modified from GruntHack and SliceHack.

Giants can be any alignment, and can be played as a Barbarian, Caveman, Infidel, Monk, Priest, Samurai, Valkyrie, or Wizard.

Racial benefits and restrictions

Player giants have infravision like most non-human races, more hit points per level than human characters, and gain hungerless regeneration at experience level 12. However, their movement speed of 10 is markedly slower compared to other races, and they also have an innate aggravate monster property that they cannot override with most forms of stealth; the sole exception is being granted the property via successful prayer on their god's altar.

Giants know the identity of all worthless pieces of glass, and start the game with some random gems identified - they are also capable of using uncursed touchstones as blessed similar to gnomes, and can dig as well as any dwarf. They can also easily pick up and carry boulders, which can additionally be stacked like any other projectile, and weigh 8 aum for giants as opposed to the standard 6000 aum; m can be used to walk over a boulder rather than push it. In Sokoban, a giant player will be given a prompt for picking up or moving onto a boulder, and boulder-related penalties are doubled to -2 luck; this does not apply if you have already solved the level, making each floor a valuable source of powerful projectiles.

As in GruntHack, giant characters in EvilHack have a base AC of 6 due to their size and thick hide. They are immune to engulfing and falling through trap doors (though they can enter them at will), and can tear through webbing with ease. Their size also incurs extra damage from projectiles fired by slings, and they cannot ride the vast majority of steeds in the game; they also cannot fit through small diagonal spaces or wear the mass majority of body armor, cloaks and shirts - the only exceptions are chromatic dragon scales for any role, and large splint mail for giant Samurai. Fortunately, the Sokoban prize armor is tailored so that player characters of all species can use them, including giants.

Giants' size and strength grant additional advantages elsewhere, however: in addition to making strength-based actions easier, giants excel in combat with their bare hands and with clubs - they have a greater chance of stunning an opponent with a club or punch, and can shatter a foe's wielded weapon with almost any wielded weapon of their own. Giants can also wield two-handed weapons in one hand, and may even twoweapon them as well. The woolly mammoth is the sole available steed for giants, but is a suitably powerful choice for a pet in its own right, and is capable of steamrolling several late-game monsters.

Attribute caps

Character Race	Strength	Dexterity	Constitution	Intelligence	Wisdom	Charisma
Giant	25	14	25	14	18	16

Giants have increased initial and maximum carrying capacity to complement their higher strength and constitution caps - but their movement speed and caps for dexterity, intelligence, and charisma are much lower.

Price adjustments

The following price adjustments are used for giant interactions with racial shopkeepers:

	Shopkeeper's race
	Human/Other	Elf	Dwarf	Orc	Gnome	Illithid	Centaur	Nymph	Giant
Giant	×1	×1	×3⁄2	×1	×3⁄2 if INT is ≤14 ×4⁄3 if INT is 15-17	×10	×1	×4⁄3 if CHA is ≥15 ×5⁄3 if CHA is <15	×3⁄4

Starting equipment

Giants may start with random valuable gems in their inventory. Many roles' normal starting items, primarily pieces of body armor, are also exchanged to accommodate their body size and natural AC so that a given giant is at least roughly around the role's usual starting AC. The differences in starting inventory are as follows:

Standard item(s)	Replacement item(s)	Affected roles
ring mail	+0 helmet	Barbarian
cloak of magic resistance	amulet of magic resistance +0 low boots	Wizard
splint mail	large splint mail	Samurai
robe	+1 high boots	Monk, Priest
leather armor	+0 helmet	Caveman
jacket	+1 low boots	Infidel
cloak of protection	+0 gauntlets of protection	Infidel

Strategy

As most giants are unable to wear most body armor, players should plan their goals, wishes and ascension kits accordingly. Reflection is somewhat more lenient to obtain as a property, since you can go for an amulet, shield or an artifact you can sacrifice for (such as the highly-desired Dragonbane). Magic resistance is somewhat more difficult, since an amulet is the only non-artifact source.

Strength-boosting comestibles such as spinach give giants more strength on average because they can exceed 18/** strength; however, unless playing the Caveman role, giants cannot eat giant corpses due to the Luck and alignment record penalties from cannibalism, and alignment record penalties have more gameplay implications in EvilHack.

Most giant players should consider gathering a stack of boulders as soon as possible: multiple thrown boulders can kill various hostile monsters on offense, including stronger opponents, and on defense they can be used to arrange a wall or boulder fort to block off or constrain monsters on defense; boulders can also be used to create a path through water-blocked areas like the Gnomish Mines. However, defensive boulder walls are usually best established in advance due to the giant's low speed, and they are far from invincible - a hostile monster with a wand of striking can easily destroy a boulder fort; certain monsters can also break through boulders, either with a digging tool or through their own power, and boulders also will stop hostile giants or phasing monsters. Sokoban and random boulder rooms are usually good sources of boulders, and digging monsters will often leave behind boulders while moving around the level.

NetHack Fourk

Racial benefits and restrictions

Giants can pick up and throw boulders, but their size prevents them from wearing most normal armor. They move at half-speed and have a heightened attribute cap for strength, but significantly lower caps for every other attribute.

SlashTHEM

In SlashTHEM, the giant is inherited as a playable race from the gigant of Slash'EM Extended. They can be of any alignment, and can be played as Barbarian, Caveman, Convict, Diver, Firefighter, Flame Mage, Gladiator, Lunatic, Paladin, Priest, Ranger, Undead Slayer, Valkyrie, Warrior, or Zookeeper.

Gnomes and dwarves are always hostile towards giant heroes.

Racial benefits and restrictions

Giants gain fire resistance at XL 10, cold resistance at 15, and shock resistance at 20.

With the exception of Cavepeople, giant heroes can always raise their two weapon combat and two-handed sword skills to a minimum of Skilled.

Attribute caps

Character Race	Strength	Dexterity	Constitution	Intelligence	Wisdom	Charisma
Giant	25	15	20	17	17	16