Homebrew Desert Goliath Species 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 desert goliath. Food, water, and shelter are rare in the heat of the desert. A single mistake can bring doom to an entire tribe, while an individual’s heroic effort can ensure the entire group’s survival.

Desert 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. Desert goliaths love to win, but they see defeat as a prod to improve their skills.

This dedication to competition has a dark side. Desert goliaths are ferocious competitors, but above all else they are driven to outdo their past efforts. If a desert 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. Desert goliaths happily rely on such benefits, but they are careful to remember that such an advantage can always be lost. A desert goliath who relies too much on them can grow complacent, a recipe for disaster in the mountains.This trait manifests most strongly when desert goliaths interact with other folk. The relationship between peasants and nobles puzzles desert goliaths. If a king lacks the intelligence or leadership to lead, then clearly the most talented person in the kingdom should take his place. Desert 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 desert goliaths, any adult who can’t contribute to the tribe is expelled. A lone desert goliath has little chance of survival, especially an older or weaker one. Desert  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 sand goliath concept of fair play.

A permanently injured sand goliath is still expected to pull his or her weight in the tribe. Typically, such a goliath dies attempting to keep up, or the desert goliath slips away in the night to seek the cold will of fate.

In some ways, the desert goliath drive to outdo themselves feeds into the grim inevitability of their decline and death. A desert 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 desert 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.

 

Desert Goliath Traits

Goliaths share a number of traits in common with each other.

Desert born

You have been gift from birth, by the desert. You have the ability to mold and bend the sands and earth to you will. You can cast Mold Earth

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 25 feet and have a 5ft. Burrowing speed.

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.

Heat acclimatization

You have resistance to fire damage and naturally acclimate to high-temperature areas even if you’ve never been to one.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common and Giant.