Homebrew Goliath Half-Elf Species Details

Goliath half-elves are an uncommon breed. Goliaths half-elves tend to have one of two origins. They are either the children of prisoners, or the children of wandering goliaths that attracted the affection of an elf. Because of their rarity, most do not recognize goliath half-elves when they see them. Instead, they are often taken for adolescent goliaths or runts. Goliath half-elves combine the power and strength of their their goliath ancestry with the grace and intelligence of their elven ancestry. Some goliaths will find their home within the tribe they were born into while others become wanders fighting as mercenaries or working as nomadic farmers or builders. The life of a goliath half-elf is often solitary if they chose to leave their tribe or are born outside of one.

Powerful and Graceful

Goliath half-elves take on the features of both of their blood lines, but they can blend in with neither. In height, they fall halfway between both parents. Their builds tend to be powerful with strong muscles lining their body, but they do not look as large as their goliath ancestors taking on delicate features in their faces due to the elvish blood. The contrast of their powerful but lean bodies and their delicate features can be off-putting visually for anyone they encounter. Their very existence appears to be a contradiction to nature itself. They range from under 6 feet to about 7 feet tall, and from 150 to 280 pounds, with men only slightly taller and heavier than women. Neither the men nor the women are able to grow any facial hair, and few have more than the hair on the top of their heads.  The goliath half-elves tend to take on the gray hues to their skin of their goliath brethren, and the eyes and ears of their elvish ancestors.

Life of Circumstance

Goliath half-elves find themselves often unwelcome in elvish society based on their goliath ancestry, however, their goliath brethren are more accepting of their existence. Among goliaths, the hybrids can find work as tacticians and teachers to help the tribe survive. As is the case with any goliath, any adult who can’t contribute to the tribe is expelled, and the goliath half-elves have to work twice as hard to maintain their position in the tribe due their creative and inquisitive nature from their elven ancestry clashing with the pragmatic life of a goliath. A goliath half-elf is more likely to want to wander away from the stoic life style of the goliath tribes than to stay in the strength driven society. Often, if a goliath half-elf is able to survive in the tribe, they will stay through their long life and help educate the goliaths of the tribe. Goliath half-elves are not driven to die in battle as their full blooded brethren and tend to carry out their lives until an natural end.

Goliath half-elves that are unable to resist their curious end up living as nomads.  With the strength of their goliath blood and the wisdom from the elven blood, goliath half-elves tend to find lone survival an achievable goal. Often, goliath half-elves will try to find work in human cities. While humans find the slightly smaller than a goliath hybrids unsettling, their sheer strength and stamina make them valuable assets to have in a town. They can find lone work in construction or farming, but rarely find a place to truly settle down and tend to live jumping from town to town as work moves.

Human militaries willing to take in the odd soldier from time to time tend to find goliath half-elves as invaluable assets. Their long life spans allow them to slowly climb the ranks and between the intelligence and weapon mastery of the elves and the strength of the goliaths, the hybrids make for intense and relentless soldiers and commanders. The goliath half-elf tends to fair better in times of war when there is travel to be done than in times of peace. If a military is able to acquire a goliath half-elf, then will often send them to distant outposts during peace time - usually in cold places - to keep watch, and whenever possible they will rotate the goliath half-elves out to keep them from wandering away.

Goliath Half-Elf Names

Names for a goliath half-elf depend on their origins. If a goliath half-elf is born into a tribe, it is often that they will be named according to goliath naming convention, however, if the child is born to a wandering goliath outside of the tribe, they tend to be named under the elven convention.

Goliath Half-Elf Traits

Goliath half-elves tend to share physical traits with goliaths with only a handful of elven traits impacting their bodies.

Ability Score Increase

Your Strength score increases by 2, and your Constitution score increases by 1.

Age

Goliath Half-elves mature at the same rate humans do and reach adulthood around the age of 20. They live much longer than humans, however, often exceeding 180 years.

Alignment

As oddities, the goliath half-elves all tend to be fiercely independent and self-reliant so that they can survive in the situations that come their way. Their desire to survive at all costs can lead them astray from the tribe beliefs in fair play and more towards the chaotic neutral tendencies of their elven ancestors. Goliath half-elves raised outside of tribes tend to lean toward either chaotic evil or chaotic good depending on their parents' influence. They are rarely if ever lawful or true neutral.

Size

Goliaths Half-Elves are between 6 and 7 feet tall and weigh between 150 and 280 pounds. Your size is Medium.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Keen Senses

You have proficiency in the Perception skill.

Darkvision

Thanks to your elf blood, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Elf Weapon Training

Through the grace of the elvish ancestry, goliath half-elves find wielding weapons of their ancestors natural and find that they naturally are inclined to the use of certain weapons. You have proficiency with the longsword, shortsword, shortbow, and longbow.

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’re acclimated to high altitude, including elevations above 20,000 feet. You’re also naturally adapted to cold climates, as described in chapter 5 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide.

Languages

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