Introduction
Giff are a race of pistol-wielding space hippos which were exclusive to Spelljammer until 5th edition, when they were introduced as a monster long before we learned that Spelljammer was making an official return. Historically, we’ve known a few things about the Giff: They love guns and explosions, they get around on spelljammer ships, and they are utterly incapable of using magic, and must therefore enlist spellcasters of other races to fly their ships. Well, giff player characters can use magic, but otherwise WotC has stuck very close to everyone’s favorite space hippos.
Giff have two iconic traits which make them naturally good at firearms and which grant them Advantage on Strength checks. In some ways, this puts the Giff at odds with itself because a single build generally can’t be good at both fighting using firearms and at using Strength checks to grapple. Unless you’re giving up on the idea of feats, you’ll likely need to pick between the two to focus upon.
In some circ*mstances, you may find that your pistol hippo ranged build is engaged in melee. In those cases, doff your monocle, exclaim “how dare you,” and Shove the adjacent enemy away. Many monsters lack proficiency in either Acrobatics or Athletics so even moderate Strength and proficiency in Athletics is sufficient to successfully Shove many enemies, allowing you to get out of melee without resorting to Disengage.
Regarding the pronunciation of the name: The RPGBOT team’s official stance is that it is pronounced “giff”.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Disclaimer
- Classes
Disclaimer
RPGBOT uses the color coding scheme which has become common among Pathfinder build handbooks, which is simple to understand and easy to read at a glance.
- Red: Bad, useless options, or options whichare extremely situational. Nearly never useful.
- Orange: OK options, or useful optionsthat only apply in rare circ*mstances. Useful sometimes.
- Green: Good options. Useful often.
- Blue: Fantastic options, often essentialto the function of your character. Useful very frequently.
We will not include 3rd-party content, including content from DMs Guild, in handbooks for official content because we can’t assume that your game will allow 3rd-party content or homebrew. We also won’t cover Unearthed Arcana content because it’s not finalized, and we can’t guarantee that it will be available to you in your games.
The advice offered below is based on the current State of the Character Optimization Meta as of when the article was last updated. Keep in mind that the state of the meta periodically changes as new source materials are released, and the article will be updated accordingly as time allows.
Classes
Artificer
Artificers get proficiency in firearms automatically and have very littlereason to use Strength checks, so the Giff’s entire contribution to theArtificer is the ability to ignore Loading with firearms, which can bereplaced with an infusion.
Barbarian
Advantage on Strength checks can be replaced by Rage, and barbarians arelocked into melee too heavily for firearms to be helpful.
Bard
Martial bards (swords and valor) may find firearms a helpful addition to theBard’s weapon options, and Advantage on Strength checks can make Strength(Athletics) very effective when combined with Expertise even if your Strengthis poor.
Cleric
Weapons are a poor choice for clerics and without Extra attack there israrely a good reason to use Strength (Athletics), so advantage on Strengthchecks is rarely useful.
Druid
Weapons are a poor choice for most druid, and the ones that use weapons don’tuse firearms. Without Extra attack there is rarely a good reason to useStrength (Athletics), so advantage on Strength checks is rarely useful.
Fighter
The obvious and easy choice for a race so martially-inclined.
Melee builds should absolutely lean into Hippo Build’s Advantage on Strength checks to Grapple/Shove your enemies. Advantage isn’t as good as Expertise mathematically, but it’s close enough for most of your career. Put enemies on the ground. You can also combine it with Expertise via Skill Expert for the most assurance possible short of reliable talent.
Ranged builds will enjoy the Giff’s Firearm’s Mastery, which gives you a bigchunk of theGunner feat,which means that you can play a gun user right from level 1 without playingyet another variant human. Grab Fighting Style (Archery) and Sharpshooter andyou’re ready to deal some damage.
Ranged builds should strongly consider proficiency in Athletics and a splashof Strength to support it. With Advantage on Strength checks and Extra Attackthat gives you more attacks than anyone else, it’s easy to Shove an enemy outof reach then get right back to shooting.
Monk
An easy source of Advantage is a massive boon for monks, but with typically poor Strength most monks can’t effectively Shove enemies prone. With a splash of Strength, proficiency in Athletics, and Hippo Build, Shove suddenly becomes a viable option for the monk. Knock your enemy prone then hit them with Flurry of Blows.
Paladin
Paladins struggle to fight at range, so Firearms Mastery is largely wasted,but Hippo Build’s advantage on Strength checks is a great way to makeGrapple/Shove as useful for the Paladin as it is for the Barbarian and theFighter. Put your enemies on the ground and fish for critical smites.
Ranger
Much like the Fighter, rangers built for ranged combat will benefit fromFirearm Mastery, getting a bit more damage from muskets than you would fromcrossbows and longbows.
Rangers built around Strength may find Hippo Build useful if you want to getinto grappling/shoving, but two-handed melee weapons are a difficult choicefor rangers and you need a free hand to do either.
Rogue
Despite their absolute lack of subtlety, you can sneak attack with muskets.At low levels, the Musket’s d12 damage die is much better than the d6 you’llget from the Rogue’s other ranged weapon options. Unfortunately, that’s reallythe only thing that the Giff adds to the Rogue.
Combining the Rogue’s easy access to Expertise with Hippo Build to get reallygood at Athletics is very tempting, but save this for characters taking aclass dip into rogue. Without Extra Attack, you don’t want to dedicate anentire turn to a single grapple or shove.
Sorcerer
You don’t need guns and you certainly shouldn’t be making Strength checks.
If you want a gun-wielding sorcerer and you’re open to 3rd-party content,check out ourBlack Powder Sorcery Handbook. Then you can be a space hippo magically weilding a brace of pistols fueledby your ancestral attachment to black powder firearms. Somehow that’s the mostgiff thing I can think of, and giff canonically can’t use magic (playercharacters get to be special, of course).
Warlock
Tragically, Pact of the Blade doesn’t function with firearms, so there’snothing here for the Giff.
Wizard
You don’t need guns and you certainly shouldn’t be making Strength checks.
