Cloud Giant

A cloud giant ally is a patron, not a friend. They have decided the party is useful, amusing, or pleasingly well-mannered, and they have agreed to a specific arrangement. Make the arrangement explicit, write it down, and play the giant as someone who keeps their word exactly to the letter and not one inch further.

In a fight on the party's side, the giant stays at the back and uses Thundercloud as artillery. 240 ft. range, +12 to hit, plus the Incapacitated rider, means the giant can pick off whatever the party can't reach: the enemy archers on the wall, the enemy caster behind the line. Save Telekinesis for the moment the party shouts "we need that one alive," because grabbing a fleeing target from 60 ft. away is the giant's most useful favor. Misty Step lets the giant reposition without consuming the Multiattack, so they're never quite where the enemy expected.

The giant will not chase, will not search, will not negotiate on the party's behalf, and will not fight to protect anyone outside the contract. If the cleric goes down, the giant looks at them with mild interest and waits for the rogue to finish the fight. This is not cruelty, it is contract. If the party wants more than they paid for, they need to renegotiate, and the giant's price is always something specific (a relic, a name, an introduction to a noble) rather than gold.

Cloud giants like puzzles. If the party brings the giant a riddle, a piece of strange writing, or an enchanted object whose function they can't identify, the giant will help for free. Use this as your release valve when the party needs information you forgot to plant earlier in the session.

A cloud giant is the rare CR 9 enemy that opens with a social scene. They are aristocratic, vain, and bored, and they would rather see what the party offers than crush them outright. Run the first encounter as a meeting in the giant's hall above the clouds, with Detect Magic running quietly in the background while the giant decides whether the party is interesting or merely flammable.

When combat starts, the giant uses range. Thundercloud is +12 to hit at 240 ft. for 18 thunder damage, and on a hit the target is Incapacitated until the end of its next turn. That's an at-will single-target stunlock at the range of a longbow's long shot. Open by Thundercloud-locking the party's biggest ranged threat (the wizard, the cleric who keeps healing) and force the front line to dash forward before the rest of the party can act. Then drop Fog Cloud as a Spellcasting replacement for one Multiattack swing to break line of sight and split the party's focus. Misty Step is a bonus action, so the giant can step out of the cloud, swing Thunderous Mace twice for 28 average bludgeoning plus 7 thunder per hit, and step back next round.

Save the 1/Day spells for the right moment. Telekinesis on the paladin who finally got into reach, dragging them off the cloud's edge or pinning them against the wall. Gaseous Form when Bloodied to escape upward into a known cloud. Control Weather only if the fight is happening outdoors and you want the next encounter, three days from now, to take place in the storm the giant left behind.

Cloud giants do not fight to the death over pride. If the party Bloodies the giant and then offers a deal, the giant takes it, withdraws, and remembers the names. The party who beat a cloud giant in single combat has earned an enemy who will hire other people to handle the next round. That's a campaign thread, not a tactical loss.

Have the giant comment on the party's gear before combat starts. "That sword belonged to a friend of mine" is the kind of line that raises the temperature of the whole encounter.