Ettins, or two-headed giants, are vicious and unpredictable hunters that stalk in the night.
An ettin never bathes if it can help it, which usually leaves it so grimy and dirty its skin resembles thick, gray hide. Adult ettins are about 13 feet tall and weigh 5,200 pounds. They live about 75 years.
Ettins have no language of their own but speak a pidgin of Orc, Goblin, and Giant. Creatures that can speak any of these languages must succeed on a DC 15 Intelligence check to communicate with an ettin. Check once for each bit of information: If the other creature speaks two of these languages, the DC is 10, and for someone who speaks all three, the DC is 5.
Combat
Though ettins aren’t very intelligent, they are cunning fighters.
They prefer to ambush their victims rather than charge into a straight fight, but once the battle has started, an ettin usually fights furiously until all enemies are dead.
| Table: Ettin | ||||||||
| Level | Hit Dice | Base Attack Bonus | Fort Save | Ref Save | Will Save | Skill Points | CR | Special |
| 1st | 1d8 | +0 | +2 | +0 | +0 | (2 + int mod) | 1 | Feat, Natural Armor +2, Two-Weapon Fighting |
| 2nd | 2d8 | +1 | +3 | +0 | +0 | (2 + int mod) | 2 | Natural Armor +3, Str +2 |
| 3rd | 3d8 | +2 | +3 | +1 | +1 | (2 + int mod) | 2 | Coordination |
| 4th | 4d8 | +3 | +4 | +1 | +1 | (2 + int mod) | 3 | Natural Armor +4 |
| 5th | 5d8 | +3 | +4 | +2 | +2 | (2 + int mod) | 3 | Large Size |
| 6th | 6d8 | +4 | +5 | +2 | +2 | (2 + int mod) | 4 | Natural Armor +5, Str +2 |
| 7th | 7d8 | +5 | +5 | +2 | +2 | (2 + int mod) | 4 | Superior Two-Weapon Fighting |
| 8th | 8d8 | +6/+1 | +6 | +2 | +2 | (2 + int mod) | 5 | Natural Armor +6 |
| 9th | 9d8 | +6/+1 | +6 | +3 | +3 | (2 + int mod) | 5 | Superior Coordination |
| 10th | 10d8 | +7/+2 | +7 | +3 | +3 | — | 6 | Str +2, Natural Armor +7, Two Heads are Better than One |
Base Racial Traits:
Starting ability score adjustments: Str +2, Dex -2, Int -4
Speed: 40 ft.
Dark vision: Ettins can see in the dark up to 60 ft.
Automatic languages: Orc, Goblin, and Giant
Favored Class: Fighter
Class Skills:
An ettin’s Class Skills (and the key ability score for each) are: Climb (Str), Intimidate (Cha), and Perception (Wis),
An ettin’s two heads give it a +2 racial bonus on perception checks.
Upon reaching large size, an ettin takes a -4 penalty on Stealth checks.
Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: Proficient in all simple and martial weapons, and with light armor.
A first level ettin is rather clumsy and ill-coordinated, often bickering with itself, and in situations of stress both heads can differ widely in terms of the battle plan. As such, it is treated as an ordinary character for the purposes of combat actions and two-weapon fighting, but as it progresses in level its ability to work in a coordinated fashion improves drastically.
Two-Weapon Fighting: Ettins gain two-weapon fighting as a bonus feat, thus taking a penalty of -2 to hit when attacking with both hands. There is no such thing as an off-hand attack for an ettin; thus, they deal full strength damage with each hit and may wield two one-handed weapons. The ettin may even make his full quota of reiterative attacks with each hand.
Coordination: At 3rd level an Ettin’s two heads have developed a subconscious understanding of each other and thus are able to act with greater independence. To reflect this, the ettin may declare separate actions for each side of its body. Any actions that require both sides (wielding a two-handed weapon, walking, etc) require that both heads employ the appropriate action. Thus, when an ettin approaches an opponent, both heads share a move action, and then one head may conduct an attack while the other performs a different standard action. Such independence is still clumsy, and in any round where the ettin uses the coordination ability, it takes a -2 to attack rolls, skill checks, and ability checks. In any round in which both heads are performing the same actions (e.g., swinging a two-handed weapon), this penalty does not apply. Both heads must perform the same kind of action (move, standard, etc.) at the same time with the exception of free actions.
Using coordination an ettin may move up and attack with one weapon in each hand. The ettin may not however charge and attack with both weapons.
Superior Two-Weapon Fighting: At 7th level an ettin has become fairly synchronized at what it does best. When attacking with two weapons it suffers no penalties to attack or damage rolls.
Superior Coordination: At 9th level an ettin has finally mastered moving independently. This functions as coordination, but the ettin no longer suffers penalties for independent actions.
Two Heads are Better than One: After 10th level an ettin’s two heads may elect to pursue their own paths. An ettin is treated as a gestalt character. It may choose two classes and garner the special abilities from each separately, though both heads share their first fifteen levels of ettin.
Note on Ability Bonuses: Standard ettins as presented in the monstrous manual use their ability score bonuses from HD to get +4 Str and +4 Con over the course of their racial levels.
