Goliath
Legacy
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Race Details
At the highest mountain peaks — far above the slopes where trees grow and where the air is thin and the frigid winds howl — dwell the reclusive goliaths. Few folk can claim to have seen a goliath, and fewer still can claim friendship with them. Goliaths wander a bleak realm of rock, wind, and cold. Their bodies look as if they are carved from mountain stone and give them great physical power. Their spirits take after the wandering wind, making them nomads who wander from peak to peak. Their hearts are infused with the cold regard of their frigid realm, leaving each goliath with the responsibility to earn a place in the tribe or die trying.
Driven Competitors
Every day brings a new challenge to a goliath. Food, water, and shelter are rare in the uppermost mountain reaches. A single mistake can bring doom to an entire tribe, while an individual’s heroic effort can ensure the entire group’s survival.
Goliaths thus place a premium on self-sufficiency and individual skill. They have a compulsion to keep score, counting their deeds and tallying their accomplishments to compare to others. Goliaths love to win, but they see defeat as a prod to improve their skills.
This dedication to competition has a dark side. Goliaths are ferocious competitors, but above all else they are driven to outdo their past efforts. If a goliath slays a dragon, he or she might seek out a larger, more powerful wyrm to battle. Few goliath adventurers reach old age, as most die attempting to surpass their past accomplishments.
Fair Play
For goliaths, competition exists only when it is supported by a level playing field. Competition measures talent, dedication, and effort. Those factors determine survival in their home territory, not reliance on magic items, money, or other elements that can tip the balance one way or the other. Goliaths happily rely on such benefits, but they are careful to remember that such an advantage can always be lost. A goliath who relies too much on them can grow complacent, a recipe for disaster in the mountains.
This trait manifests most strongly when goliaths interact with other folk. The relationship between peasants and nobles puzzles goliaths. If a king lacks the intelligence or leadership to lead, then clearly the most talented person in the kingdom should take his place. Goliaths rarely keep such opinions to themselves, and mock folk who rely on society’s structures or rules to maintain power.
Survival of the Fittest
Among goliaths, any adult who can’t contribute to the tribe is expelled. A lone goliath has little chance of survival, especially an older or weaker one. Goliaths have little pity for adults who can’t take care of themselves, though a sick or injured individual is treated, as a result of the goliath concept of fair play.
A permanently injured goliath is still expected to pull his or her weight in the tribe. Typically, such a goliath dies attempting to keep up, or the goliath slips away in the night to seek the cold will of fate.
In some ways, the goliath drive to outdo themselves feeds into the grim inevitability of their decline and death. A goliath would much rather die in battle, at the peak of strength and skill, than endure the slow decay of old age. Few folk have ever meet an elderly goliath, and even those goliaths who have left their people grapple with the urge to give up their lives as their physical skills decay.
Because of their risk-taking, goliath tribes suffer from a chronic lack of the experience offered by long- term leaders. They hope for innate wisdom in their leadership, for they can rarely count on a wisdom grown with age.
Goliath Names
Every goliath has three names: a birth name assigned by the newborn’s mother and father, a nickname assigned by the tribal chief, and a family or clan name. A birth name is up to three syllables long. Clan names are five syllables or more and end in a vowel.
Birth names are rarely linked to gender. Goliaths see females and males as equal in all things, and they find societies with roles divided by gender to be puzzling or worthy of mockery. To a goliath, the person who is best at a job should be the one tasked with doing it.
A goliath’s nickname is a description that can change on the whim of a chieftain or tribal elder. It refers to a notable deed, either a success or failure, committed by the goliath. Goliaths assign and use nicknames with their friends of other races, and change them to refer to an individual’s notable deeds.
Goliaths present all three names when identifying themselves, in the order of birth name, nickname, and clan name. In casual conversation, they use their nickname.
Birth Names: Aukan, Eglath, Gae-Al, Gauthak, Ilikan, Keothi, Kuori, Lo-Kag, Manneo, Maveith, Nalla, Orilo, Paavu, Pethani, Thalai, Thotham, Uthal, Vaunea, Vimak
Nicknames: Bearkiller, Dawncaller, Fearless, Flintfinder, Horncarver, Keeneye, Lonehunter, Longleaper, Rootsmasher, Skywatcher, Steadyhand, Threadtwister, Twice-Orphaned, Twistedlimb, Wordpainter
Clan Names: Anakalathai, Elanithino, Gathakanathi, Kalagiano, Katho-Olavi, Kolae-Gileana, Ogolakanu, Thuliaga, Thunukalathi, Vaimei-Laga
Goliath Traits
Goliaths share a number of traits in common with each other.Ability Score Increase
Your Strength score increases by 2, and your Constitution score increases by 1.
Age
Goliaths have lifespans comparable to humans. They enter adulthood in their late teens and usually live less than a century.
Size
Goliaths are between 7 and 8 feet tall and weigh between 280 and 340 pounds. Your size is Medium.
Speed
Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Natural Athlete
You have proficiency in the Athletics skill.
Stone’s Endurance
You can focus yourself to occasionally shrug off injury. When you take damage, you can use your reaction to roll a d12. Add your Constitution modifier to the number rolled and reduce the damage by that total. After you use this trait, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
Powerful Build
You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.
Mountain Born
You have resistance to cold damage. You’re also acclimated to high altitude, including elevations above 20,000 feet.
Languages
You can speak, read, and write Common and Giant.
Loving my Goliath thus far, he's big, he wields a War Hammer with a healing enchantment and has been more then capable in battle, plus he's a Barbarian Berserker who tends to flatten idiots who get close. Nothing quite like being the one guy who has enough strength to crush skulls with his bare hands.
NEW FAVORITE RACE RIGHT HERE, BOYS
Makes me think of a mix between Drax and Kratos
CHICKENS ARE MY FAVORITE ANIMAL SINCE I WAS 5!!!
Finally a fighter first one I have seen in this Goliath section.
So I actually dual classed as a goliath fighter and warlock with a celestial patron. It plays like a paladin. Definitely fun.
This seems like Wizards of the Coast are trying to fix the half-orc race to be more appealing to a player in a group. Half-orcs are violent, anti-social, and inherently evil. The Goliath has a lot of mechanical abilities that are similar to the half-orcs, but are much tamer in their flavor text. All in all, not a bad race to pick for barbarians, fighters, and other strength based classes. I always liked the half-orc, but never really wanted to play the brooding, angsty, violent jerk. This much more honor-bound alternative is much more like the orcs in the Elder Scrolls universe, and something I can't wait to try out.
this is one of my favs
Could you add either the roll info and/or a randomize option in character building for height, weight, etc.?
Does this say... that disabled goliaths usually commit suicide...
this race is in the wrong book this should be in volos
About to play a modern day campaign as a Goliath barbarian named Woltek stoneskin gönrotherda First time playing a tank and very excited
Grimlyr Midget Tosser... A Goliath Fighter who likes to throw halflings and gnomes.
it happens to appear in both
I'm feeling a Goliath Warlock who doesn't know he even has a patron and just thinks that all the magic he does is just thanks to his raw, unadulterated muscle.
So I'm starting a goliath paladin with the backstory of the urchin. I'm looking for ways for him to get off the mountain at a young age but I dont think that a young child (5 or 6 years old could be shunned or exiled. Also I dont know if parents would look for a child who fell behind or was swept away by an avalanche. Does anyone have am opinion?
giant paladin
Hell yes
how about some official Goliath variants for each of the 6 main giant types?
a few special rules additions for Storm, Cloud, Frost, Fire, Stone, and Hill similar to how there are now a variant of Tiefling for each of the lords of the nine hells.
Shouldn't Goliaths and Aaracockras be natural enemies? Air and Earth are natural enemies. Otherwise, incredible race!