ECOLOGY

Environment cold plains
Organization hunting bands (2–4 fighters), scouting parties (2–8, with one cleric), and smaller nomadic bands (12–16, with 2 clerics, 1 mage; the rest are fighters)
Treasure normal

Many centuries ago, a large clan of hill giants lived in the valley near a hidden mountain pass that led to a region of frozen tundra. An ancient white dragon decimated the tundra, forcing a small clan of frost giants to flee from their homes. They took refuge in the cold valley on the far side of the pass for a few hundred years. Over time, they intermingled with the hill giants nearby, forming an inferior subrace of giants called snow giants. These giants are smaller, they are strong like hill giants, and they inherited some of the frost giants’ intelligence and cold immunities.

After a group of adventurers defeated the ancient white wyrm, the snow giants wanted to move back to the tundra and reclaim their ancestral home. They were too late—another tribe had taken over the lands. After realizing they had no place to call their own, the snow giants traveled around the edge of the tundra in nomadic clans, which they continue to do to this day. Snow giants will usually trade humanoid slaves to the frost giants for needed goods, but they do not have a good relationship with them. Snow giants do not care much for hill giants or frost giants, and they believe that they can count only on themselves.

Among the snow giants, some of the fiercest warriors are the females. They do anything they need to so that their race continues to survive.

Since their home was taken away, the snow giants aim to find a new place to settle down. Until then, they roam like nomads in the colder regions.