How can giants and other monsters be handled properly in a relatively low fantasy setting...

How can giants and other monsters be handled properly in a relatively low fantasy setting? Should they be a part of a low fantasy setting at all?

They're reclusive and/or civilization stays the fuck away from them.
They're part of the dangerous unknown.

Easily. They're one of the less dramatic fantasy monsters. Just have them live sequestered from most of civilization usually, but then have one occasionally go and raid the puny human villages for food and sport. Then it has to be hunted down by some ballsy individuals.

It's similar to when a large bear starts rampaging around a countryside.

I usually like to think of giants/ogres/trooos as humans who had too much healing magic pumped into them, and it messed with their very genetics.

So now your healslut is capable of ruining entire lineages very easily.

And since these folks have enhanced healing and such, they can shrug off injury...but at the cost of further deformation. And so, they leave humans alone but are occassionally encountered.

given that fantasy is at its core mythical medieval europe, low magic with monsters is kinda the default setting.

with very long spears, and arrows

giants are usually portrayed as dumb, so pit traps are also effective

Firmly, with both hands.

relevant

Siege engines
Mercenary giants
Staying the fuck away from them

Since you can kill a great whale with a couple harpoons, I suppose a block of pikement stands a decent chance against a giant, too.

tickle their huge bare feet.

The greatest giant slayers are the greatest ticklers.

They are the survivors of a mythical past, long ago, when magic ruled the land.

Monsters play such an important role in fantasy that I'd say to divorce them from such a setting is to kill the entire central idea of a fantasy setting. Remember, even a low magic fantasy setting is still fantasy. Without the monsters of the unknown, fantasy becomes reality, which is entirely the opposite of the intent of such a setting. Even Conan had mysterious monsters.

Thing is, true monsters take on a whole different role in a low magic setting. In a high magic setting, a troll is a simple obstacle; in a low magic setting, a troll can destroy entire towns by itself. It becomes an objective rather than an obstacle. The same is true of hydras, dragons, giants, or really any classical mythological creature.

stop shilling low fantasy!
it's working on me

Can't help it. From a narrative standpoint, low fantasy is intrinsically superior to high fantasy. When the odds are stacked against the main characters (as in when they can't simply throw spells at a problem until it's gone) it makes for a more interesting story, and in my experience a much more interesting game.

you just have the more mundane monsters ie you can have goblins orcs giants unicorns you just dont have more magical things like displacer beasts phase spiders and gelatinous cubes. The one exception is dragons because they are just too huge to ignore. Generally monsters would have to be rare or at least in areas away from civilisation because they are like 5x tmore dangerous than a high fantasy setting.

The greatest giant slayer was the facist leader of the Ixodidae of the 3rd Reich, also known as Tickler.

Use actually mythology and folklore to represent them instead of the DnD/hollywood way. Very wacky ways to kill things tales.

By "high fantasy", do you mean "3e Forgotten Realms"?

1.) Make Giants nearly extinct. Say they were nearly wiped out by the Maguffin race of Maguffinland.
2.) Make them somewhat civilized, they are giants, not tards (usually).
3.) Have their strategy be to run from combat rather than fight the humans. Giants know that the little people have pointy sticks and dogs.
4.) Make Giants out as innocent bystanders in the other race's wars. Or have them be the tree worshippers and stuff.

Bumpin' while I read the thread.

OP here, to top that off what sort of monsters would be good for a low fantasy setting?

Gobbos and Orcs
Always gobbos
Always orcs

I always like to have each beast be a legend all its own. There may be multiple manticores but around these parts, its THE Manticore.

That said, depends entirely on the aesthetic you want of your low fantasy.

Dark woods where treacherous spirits lurk? Simple fey, trees that walk, and a wicked black furred satyr.

A seaside town the lives or dies by the catch of the day? A trio of sirens, the hungry angler that snips lines, and a dark kelpies that wander the shores by night.

Really its more about the attitude towards them than the difference in the creatures you use from high fantasy. They aren't things to be fought, they are natural parts of life.