Dragon Encounters

The ettin is a low-intelligence, two-headed giant whose heads are prone to arguing with each other. Clearly, a comedy monster.

(Know that this does not mean that it’s only fit to be used in a comedy-style game. If you think over your favorite books and movies, you will almost certainly realize that they have light, funny moments no matter what genre you prefer. Even horror has light moments. Far from ruining the mood, this contrast can make the mood hit harder.)

How to Manage Two NPCs at Once

Running two NPCs together, even if they’re the two arguing heads of the same body, requires some basic rules.

1. Make sure they sound different. NPCs exist purely as a result of you speaking, and if the difference isn’t noticeable, the two NPCs will blend together. Give them different accents, high- and low-pitched voices, a stutter and a drawl, or anything else that sounds different. (Different word choices are a bonus, not a replacement.)
2. Have them take turns talking. The most natural thing to happen in a D&D conversation is for the players to address one NPC, while the other is all but forgotten. Since only one NPC can talk at a time, and since the players will interject after every answer, force your NPCs to take turns. In the ettin’s case, that’s easy, as the heads will happily interrupt and talk over one another.*

(With more polite NPCs, remember that the players aren’t the only ones wanting to ask questions. The other NPC can interrupt to ask their own questions or to give opinions. With that said, coming up with reasons for the players to only meet one at a time, with the other busy elsewhere, is a great solution.)

Ettin Encounters: Manipulate the Monster

The best way to use the ettin is in an encounter where the players need to manipulate it, not just defeat it. With its low INT and its ability to be played against itself, it’s just asking for that. A few ways to do so are listed below. The first two are non-combat, while the second two are combat-oriented.

The ettin has a piece of information that the players need to learn (non-combat encounter):  A password to a magical lock is one possibility, but so is knowledge of the villain’s location, or any other information about the villain.

The ettin is guarding a passage (non-combat encounter): In the 2014 Monster Manual, it’s stated that the ettin is impossible to sneak past because one head is always awake. The 2024 Monster Manual did away with most non-combat abilities. The players have to distract it long enough to block the passage and prevent reinforcements. If your players are up to it, they might even get it to wave them past or order the other guards to stand down.

The ettin is guarding a prisoner (difficulty 4): The players might have to lure it elsewhere and then keep it distracted so that it doesn’t kill the prisoner as soon as it realizes it’s under attack. You will probably need to make it very clear to the players that it has been ordered to do so.

The ettin controls dangerous terrain (difficulty 4): Give the ettin a pile of rocks that it’s supposed to send down onto the players, and/or a pillar that it can smash to collapse its cave onto them.

Multiple traps at its disposal keep the threat from becoming irrelevant after the first round, and it’s too stupid to know when something will kill it as well as the PCs.

(difficulty 5) All of these ideas can be made harder if the ettin has been given a magical deadman’s switch that will trigger an explosion and destroy the cave if the ettin dies. In this scenario, the players must not only lure the ettin out of the cave, but also search it, retrieve any prisoner, and so forth, all while making sure not to kill the ettin before these objectives are achieved.

More social encounters

Ettins At Higher Levels

All of the ideas mentioned above only really work if the players are at a low enough level for the ettin to put up a fight. Levels 3–4, basically. The ettin was not one of the monsters to receive a higher-CR version in the new edition.

If you want to use an ettin at a higher level, I suggest finding a giant-type monster of the appropriate CR (ideally a bit higher than your players’ current level) and calling it a greater ettin, ettin king, ettin chief, ettin lord, or something similar. The name change is so your players won’t be blindsided by the fight being unexpectedly hard.

Unlike most low-CR monsters, using a group of ettins is not really a solution for making them work at high levels. Their main feature is their split personality, and having more than one of them in a scenario makes that feature unusable. At best, they can be added to a horde to provide some weird fantasy flavor.

Ettin Fighting Style (2024 Version)

The best type of area for an ettin, if you want to get the most out of it, is a narrow passage or ledge. It can knock one of the PCs prone and then walk over that character to attack the rest.

This means that only two PCs will be fighting it at a time (as the one behind will stand up), allowing the ettin to last a bit longer than it otherwise would. It also causes the PCs engaged in battle to rotate, helping prevent anyone from becoming bored.

This tactic works best in a place where the passage winds and where walls prevent the ettin from being attacked from the sides. Otherwise, it will be an easy target for ranged attacks.

It can also be used in a ruined-house type location, where unstable footing makes being knocked prone extremely annoying. As is happens, an abandoned human villa would be an ideal home for an ettin, on the off chance it should get a chance to occupy one. For terrain effects caused by a home falling into disrepair, see the first part of my Chuul article.

If you aren’t using my ideas from above, I suggest you add some low level mooks so that all the players are occupied. This will remove boredom and increase pressure.