Proud fey infused with the spirit of the wilds
Jotun Heritage Traits
Average Height: 183 – 244cm (6’0” – 8’0”)
Average Weight: 125 – 191kg (275-400 lb.)
Ability Scores: +2 Strength, +2 Constitution or Charisma
Size: Medium
Speed: 6 squares
Vision: Darkvision
Languages: Sylvan, plus either Common or Bestial
Skill Bonuses: +2 Nature, +2 Perception
Fey Origin: You are considered a fey creature for the purpose of effects that relate to creature origin.
Giantkin: You have the giant subtype.
Weathered Soul: You do not need to make Endurance checks to resist the effects of natural environmental dangers.
Unfathomable Stomach: You can live on almost any “food” you can consume, regardless of whether or not it is intended for eating—twigs, sand, rocks and even coins can all make an adequate meal. You are immune to starvation, and the time you can go without water is measured in weeks rather than days.
Acquired Immunity: Your bizarre diet has left you inured to many toxins. You have resist poison 5. This resistance increases to 10 at 11th level, and to 15 at 21st level. In addition, you are immune to consumable poisons.
Landfall: Your have the landfall heritage power.
| Landfall | Jotun Heritage Power |
|---|---|
| You drive your fist into the earth, drawing forth the power of the primal world. | |
| Encounter ✦ Primal, Zone | |
| Minor Action Close burst 2 | |
| Target: Each enemy in the burst | |
| Effect: The target falls prone. The burst creates a zone of difficult terrain that lasts until the end of your next turn. You and your allies are not affected by this difficult terrain. | |
Jotunar, also called fey trolls, are one of the few ancient Almish creatures which are not bestial in nature. Instead, these creatures are descended of the fey, their origins rooted deeply in the most hostile of nature’s reaches. Although they draw life from the land, jotunar are far from whimsical sprites; their strength rivals that of any beast, and they are terrible foes indeed.
Nonetheless, they have found little acceptance from beast-kin folk, and thus they remain solitary creatures, diverse and distant. Found in every sort of wilderness—from the forests of Deepwood to the barren outlands, the mountains of Okarthel to the swamps of K’aa—the tenacious jotunar live at one with nature even as they fight to survive it. They are the ancient scions of the wild, beautiful and terrible as the land itself.
Play a jotun if you want…
- be able to eat anything.
- to be inherently connected to the wilderness.
- to be a monstrous creature of fey origin.
Physical Qualities
Jotunar stand head-and-shoulders over most civilised creatures, and are markedly heavier. They are long-limbed and muscular, some straight and tall like mountains while others are bent and twisted like thorn bushes. They have broad foreheads, almond eyes, and short pointed ears. Their skin can seem uniform from a distance, but close observation reveals an intricate banded texture rather like a human fingerprint, and similarly unique.
Beyond this, jotunar appearance is highly variable, reflecting an individual’s environment rather than their genetics. A jotun born in forest or swampland probably has green skin and a moss-like hide, and almost black eyes. Callused brown and red skins are seen in the deserts and mountains, while snowfields or deep caves yield smooth grey and white skins, perhaps with a crystalline aspect. Mountains usually mean sharp, angular noses and jaws, where rivers yield smooth, rounded features.
Jotunar exhibit little sexual dimorphism, and all appear fairly masculine to human sensibilities. Most have no regard for gender, and are left perplexed by the additional traits other cultures ascribe to various body parts and shapes.
Likewise, they seldom understand the desire to modify one’s presentation, since theirs changes naturally with the land. If a jotun should leave their attuned environment, their appearance shifts accordingly—albeit over tens or hundreds of years. Like nature itself, a jotun is both immutable, and ever-changing.
Playing a Jotun
Jotun adventurers are young, almost without exception. Jotunar live far longer than most creatures, even soratami—but actually existing through such a lifespan is rarely compatible with the brief concerns of other creatures. Even if a jotun socialises with other creatures during their prime, almost all of them eventually retreat back to solitude in the wilderness. Some stories hold that jotunar do not die naturally, but simply fall asleep and become rocks, trees, and other parts of nature.
Jotunar are typically solitary, pragmatic and proud. Many are quite stoic, preferring slow but inevitable progress, while others feel that unbridled emotion is the true voice of the wild. They are not without philosophy, but pastimes without practical results have little traction amongst them; typically, one will listen to your words, but base judgements only on your actions.
Jotun adventurers are uncommon but valuable; their tenacity and toughness, as well as their native connection to the wilderness, make them born survivalists. Though they prefer solitude, jotunar can often be persuaded to act as guides or bodyguards in treacherous terrain—at least for a temporary time. A debt may also be a compelling reason for a jotun to join a group; their pride seldom allows such dues to go unpaid. Unscrupulous groups exploring a new land might even capture a jotun and force it to aid them—if they have the power.
Jotun are perceived as… Solitary, unassailable, proud, spiritual, rustic, decisive, practical, physical, determined.
Names: Ald, Ark, Baldur, Drea, Ein, Ix, Keld, Lai, Rhynnu, Rine, Skald, Skarn, Slew, Thrall, Tarn, Urdh.
Jotun names tend to be short and practical, preferably written with a single runic character. Since community living is so rare for them, jotun family names are all but unheard of.
Jotun Backgrounds
Pathfinder
“Follow me, if you wish to live.”
Like most of your kin, you choose to live away from civilisation, making your home deep in the wilderness. There, your intimate knowledge of nature and survival skills makes you a desirable companion for explorers, if only in a temporary role. Those who can find you, and persuade you to act as their guide, find your skills invaluable. This is probably how you met your current companions, but what is it that makes them worthy of your continued support?
Associated Skills: Nature, Insight
Associated ritual: Endure elements (PHB)
Gatekeeper
“This world is not yours.”
Jotunar are scions of the feywild, living embodiments of those savage places where one plane bleeds into the next. Many instate themselves as the guardians of such places, watchers who see that creatures born of the feywild do not overstay their welcome on the material plane. Is your stewardship born of a sense of great duty? Or is it simply the way to find a worthy challenge? Were you in pursuit of an escaped quarry when you met your current companions, and are you chasing them still?
Associated Skills: Perception, Intimidate
Associated ritual: Hunter’s Curse (D380)
Stolen One
“The jotunar reflect the land… what must I reflect?”
Though it is outlawed in most human settlements, black market slavery is hardly unknown in Alm. Wild instincts and physical prowess make the jotunar difficult but rewarding targets for those who would exploit them, especially given their generally solitary nature. You are one such individual—probably captured during your youth by arrogant eladrin or unscrupulous gnolls. Where did you grow up, and how has it set you apart from other jotunar? Do you mourn for the freedom you lost, or do you believe your unusual experiences have made you all the stronger?
Associated Skills: Diplomacy, Endurance
Associated ritual: Iron Vigil (DP)
Jotun Feats
The following feats include this heritage as a prerequisite.
Blightborn
Prerequisite: Jotun, landfall heritage power
Benefit: Your landfall power has the poison keyword. When you use your landfall power, any enemy which attacks you before the end of your next turn suffers a -2 penalty to the attack roll.
Cracked Earth
Prerequisite: Jotun
Benefit: When you attack a prone foe who is on difficult terrain, you can score a critical hit on a roll of 19-20.
Crash Landing
Prerequisite: Jotun
Benefit: At the end of a charge, you can use your landfall power as a free action before you attack.
Earth’s Renewal
Prerequisite: Equitarn or Jotun
Benefit: Your total number of healing surges increases by two. You add your Constitution modifier to your healing surge value.
Eternal Cycle
Prerequisite: Jotun, Paragon Tier
Benefit: Your landfall power gains “Sustain minor: the zone persists”. The zone moves with you as you move.
Grinding Halt
Prerequisite: Jotun
Benefit: While you are in the zone created by your landfall power, you can increase or decrease the distance of any slide effect that takes place within the zone by 1.
Heir of Earth
Prerequisite: Jotun
Benefit: When you spend a healing surge to regain hit points, if you are not healed to maximum hit points, you regain the use of your landfall power.
Imminent Domain
Prerequisite: Jotun
Benefit: When an enemy provokes an opportunity attack from you by moving, you can use your landfall power as an opportunity action instead.
Killing Fields
Prerequisite: Jotun
Benefit: When you hit a prone enemy, that enemy considers squares within burst 1 to be difficult terrain until the end of your next turn.
Land’s Bounty
Prerequisite: Jotun, Paragon Tier
Benefit: When you use a close burst attack power, you can choose to use your landfall power as part of the same action. If you do, the zone created by your landfall power occupies all squares in the burst caused by the chosen power.
Landstrider
Prerequisite: Equitarn or Jotun
Benefit: You gain a +2 bonus to exploration speed. When you travel in a group, the group can move at your exploration speed, instead of using the speed of its slowest member.
Laze-born
Pre-requisite: Jotun, landfall heritage power
Benefit: Your landfall power has the acid keyword. When you use your landfall power, you ignore enemy resistances until the end of your next turn.
Lifebloom
Prerequisite: Jotun
Benefit: When you use your second wind, instead of recovering hit points, you can choose to gain regeneration 5 until the end of the encounter.
Lightning Rod
Prerequisite: Jotun, Defender
Benefit: When a lightning power targets one of your allies, and you are in difficult terrain, you become the only target of the power. The affected power gains a +1 bonus to hit you.
Magma-born
Prerequisite: Jotun, landfall heritage power
Benefit: Your landfall power has the fire keyword. When you use your landfall power, your attacks gain the fire keyword until the end of your next turn. While this effect lasts, you have combat advantage against each creature you attack.
Maw of Earth
Prerequisite: Jotun
Benefit: If an enemy is suffering ongoing damage caused by you, it cannot move from difficult terrain into normal terrain.
Primal Glory
Prerequisite: Jotun, divine power source, Channel Divinity class feature
Benefit: When you use a Channel Divinity power, bloodied enemies within 5 squares of you take a -2 penalty to all defences until the end of your next turn.
Rimeborn
Prerequisite: Jotun, landfall heritage power
Benefit: Your landfall power has the cold keyword. When you use your landfall power, you also gain resist 5 all until the end of your next turn. This increases to resist 10 all at Paragon Tier, and to resist 15 all at Heroic tier.
Savage Scion
Prerequisite: Jotun or Gnoll; Paladin
Benefit: You gain a +3 feat bonus to your healing surge value. The bonus increases to +4 at 11th level and +5 at 21st level.
Your paladin powers and paladin paragon path powers are primal as well as divine.
Scion of Stone
Prerequisite: Jotun
Benefit: If an enemy ends its turn in difficult terrain created by your landfall power, it becomes slowed (save ends).
Scorched Earth
Prerequisite: Jotun
Benefit: An enemy who moves into difficult terrain created by you must takes ongoing 2 fire damage (save ends). The ongoing damage increases to 5 fire at paragon tier and to 10 fire at epic tier.
Second Sunrise
Prerequisite: Jotun, Paragon Tier
Benefit: Whenever a power you use causes an ally to spend a healing surge, you can spend a healing surge.
Steel, Rust, Guilt
Prerequisite: Jotun
Benefit: As long as an enemy is subject to ongoing damage caused by you, all of its resistances are reduced by 5 (if this effect would reduce the resistance to 0, the resistance is lost entirely until the ongoing damage ends).
Stormborn
Prerequisite: Jotun, Landfall heritage power
Benefit: Your landfall power has the lightning keyword. When you use your landfall power, you gain a +2 bonus to speed until the end of your next turn. While this effect lasts, you do not grant combat advantage to creatures flanking you, and do not provoke opportunity attacks for moving.
Sun-born
Prerequisite: Jotun, landfall heritage power
Benefit: Your landfall power has the radiant keyword. When you use your landfall power, you can also make a saving throw.
Terror Firma
Prerequisite: Jotun
Benefit: Once per round, when you hit an enemy with a fear attack power, you can create a zone which covers all squares adjacent to or occupied by that enemy. Your enemies treat each square in the zone as difficult terrain until the end of your next turn. The zone does not move with the enemy.
Thunder-born
Prerequisite: Jotun, landfall heritage power
Benefit: Your landfall power has the thunder keyword. When you use your landfall, your attacks gain the thunder keyword until the end of your next turn. While this effect lasts, whenever you hit with an attack, you can also push the target one square. If the attack already pushes the target, the push distance is instead increased by 1 square.
Tower of Fear
Prerequisite: Equitarn or Jotun, trained in Intimidate
Benefit: Foes marked by you suffer a -2 per tier penalty to damage.
Voidborn
Prerequisite: Jotun, landfall heritage power
Benefit: Your landfall power has the necrotic keyword. When you use your landfall power, you also gain 5 temporary hit points. This increases to 10 temporary hit points at Paragon tier, and to 15 at Epic tier.