Fire giants are brutal, ruthless, and militaristic.

They are tall, but squat, resembling huge dwarves. An adult male is 18 feet tall, has a 12 foot chest, and weighs about 7,500 pounds. Fire giants have coal black skin, flaming red or bright orange hair, and prognathous jaws that reveal ivory or yellow teeth. They can live to be 350 years old.

Warriors usually wear banded mail and round metal helmets. They carry their belongings in huge sacks. A typical fire giant's sack contains 2-5 throwing rocks, the giant's wealth, a tinderbox, and 3-12 common items. Everything they own is battered, filthy, and smelly, making it difficult to identify valuable items.

Fire giants can speak the language of giants and their own tongue.

Combat: Fire giants are immune to nonmagical fire and heat, as well as red dragon breath. They are resistant to all types of magical fire. Adult fire giants can hurl rocks for a minimum range of 3 yards while their maximum is 200 yards. They can catch similar large missiles sometimes. They usually fight in disciplined groups, throwing rocks until they run out of ammunition or the opponent closes. Fire giants often wait in ambush at lava pools or hot springs, hurling heated rocks at victims.

Warriors favor huge two-handed swords.

Habitat/Society: Fire giants live in well organized military groups, occupying large castles or caverns. When encountered in their lair there will be 13-20 giants, half of whom will be immature giants.

Their lairs are always protected by vigilant watchmen, and sometimes by traps. Fire giants favor deadfalls that can crush intruders and large crossbow devices that fire one, two, or three huge bolts.

Particularly intelligent fire giant leaders will command groups three or four times normal size. One who commands 30 or more giants usually will call himself a king. Kings always will have better than normal armor and a magical weapon.

There is a 20% chance that any band of fire giants will have a shaman or witch doctor. If the group is lead by a king, there is an almost certain chance of a spell caster. Fire giant shamans are priests of up to 7th level. A shaman can cast normal or reversed spells from the Elemental, Healing, Charm, Protection, Divination, or Combat spheres. Fire giant witch doctors are priest/wizards of up to 7th (Priest) or 3rd (Wizard) level; they prefer spells that can detect or thwart intruders.

Fire giants often capture and tame other creatures as guards. There is a good chance that a fire giant lair will contain 1-4 hell hounds. Bands with 30 or more giants may have 2-5 trolls. A king's group may have 1-2 red dragons of age category 2-5 in addition to other guards. Fire giants frequently take captives to hold for ransom or use as slaves. There is a 25% chance that a lair will contain 1-2 captives.

Ecology: Fire giants live wherever there is a lot of heat. They prefer volcanic regions or areas with hot springs. Frequently they share their lairs with other fire-dwelling creatures such as salamanders or fire elementals.

Fire giants prefer to eat meat and bread, they can hunt and kill their own meat, but raid human and demi-human settlements for grain, captives, and treasure.