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Saturday, February 14, 2015

Gorts (A Giant Race for Pits & Perils)

Readers of this blog will doubtless know that we love Hawk the Slayer as the quintessential old-school movie.  This great film had dwarves, elves, and even a giant race, although the latter never really caught on with gamers...until now!  What follows is a giant class (called gorts) for the Pits & Perils game, noting that the name is a reference to Gort, the giant in that movie.  So pick this film up and consider the buy research...

GORTS are a race of massively built (7' tall) humanoids who otherwise resemble men.  They reside in the hills near human lands, but rarely interact owing to the fear and prejudice shown them whenever they try, although dwarves tend to be more understanding in this regard.  As a race, they are generally lawful or perhaps true neutral, being mostly honest folk. 

Physically powerful, all gorts enjoy the strength ability in addition to whatever else the player rolls.  Like thieves, players rolling this twice get double strength, adding +1 to any related dice, where applicable.  Furthermore, they get an additional +1 to melee damage owing to their sheer physical might.  Their massive size comes at a price, however, as gorts pay 150% normal cost for armor worn and always consume double rations.

Gorts are large (7' tall), but generally lawful 
and possessing a keen sense of justice (in their own way)...

Note that gorts lack the coordination for bows and other ranged weaponry, except perhaps for thrown rocks, etc.  Furthermore, their size means that magical armor has only a 1-2 in 1d6 chance of fitting when found, and their bulk, in general, makes it difficult to navigate underground environments.

Gort progression is as follows:

              EXP         LVL     HP        TITLE
              0            1      10       Goliath
              400          2      +2         --
              800          3      +4        Hulk
              1,600        4      +6         --
              3,200        5      +8      Behemoth
              6,400        6     +10         --
              13,000       7     +12      Gargantua
              26,000       8     +14         --
              52,000       9     +16      Colossus
              104,000     10     +18         --  
              208,000     11     +20         --
              416,000     12     +22         --
              832,000     13     +24         --
              1,664,000   14     +26         --
              3,328,000   15     +28     Giant lord

As a role-playing note, gorts are constantly hungry and can be played for comic relief in this regard.  They have a ironic sense of justice, however, and are not above imposing a fitting punishment for those violating their sense of rightness, noting that this should always fit the crime.  This challenge is left to the player! 

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