Goliath

The goliath people, the children and foot soldiers of giants, are a highly militant society. Ruled by violence and sheer ferocity, they are tempered only by their strict adherence to order. Orcs are reverent to goliaths, as their giant nature affords them respect, and their fierce nature grants them fear. It is not uncommon for a goliath to lash out at any insult. They are commonly thought of as the most hostile and to be avoided race, and should be avoided at all cost by any non giant creature. They exist only in the Vachinae Mountains, where they live in small societies dedicated to worshiping giants as gods.

Goliath do not follow Fiend nor Celestial, instead devoting themselves to pure servitude of giants.

## In game mechanics

***Ability Score Increase.*** Your Strength score increases by 2, and your Constitution score increases by 2.

***Age.*** Goliaths have lifespans comparable to humans. They enter adulthood in their early teens and usually live less than a century.

***Alignment.*** The goliath people generally tend to be lawful, following orders from higher ups excellently due to their intrinsically militaristic nature.

***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’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, Orcish, and Giant.

## Appearance

A goliath is typically 7-8 feet tall, 280-340 lbs, and covered in tattoos, each of which is invested with meaning; rank, accomplishments, spiritual symbols, and highlighting of scars. With no naturally growing hair their tattoos are given plenty of light, especially when goliaths are unclothed as they undress indoors, the cold being the only reason they wear more than loincloths at any time.

## Civilized savages, an odd culture

Goliath are avoided at all cost by any who know of them, except for giants. This is due to their innate love of violence, and their tendency to commit mass murder.

### Soldiers of Giants

The goliath race was created in an experiment by the assembled fourteen, a group of giant magicians. The assembled fourteen were searching for magical edges to be employed in the Dragon Giant War. They uplifted the orcs, giving them the blessing of intelligence, a successful effort to support the war. They created the firbolg by combining giant and elf, which was ultimately regarded as a bad move. They finally turned to creating the goliath, 100 years after the orc unification, by combining orcs with giants. It worked incredibly well, creating incredibly effective fighters, who followed orders to the letter, and were vicious enough to kill dragons with enough numbers, and wouldn't mind losing those numbers.

Now, the goliath are largely uncommanded and are aimless as a result. While occasionally a giant will deign to speak to them and give them something to do, mostly the goliath are left to their own devices. They generally use their time to search for enemies of giants and to conquer any they find. This has led to nothing but hostility from all races as the goliath people grow bored easily.

### Civilized cannibals

The goliath people were created, not born. As a result, their culture was created as well. An amalgamation of orc society, giant society, and the military chain of command they were born into, the goliaths have a singularly unique, vicious, ordered society. Any creature they kill, they eat raw. Any creature they capture, they take back to camp alive, to keep it fresh for when they get hungry. Their cannibalistic tendencies are not just limited to other creatures, as they will kill and eat any goliath that is seen as unworthy of living.

While they are primarily known for their violence and cannibalism, the goliath people are more than uncivilized brutes. They have a court system, albeit with no judgement other than death or not death. They follow a strict hierarchy in who leads them, all the way up to giants. There has been no inter-conflict between them since their inception, save for the occasional goliath that was sentenced to death. Compared to their orc heritage, they are incredibly strict followers of rules and rarely act outside their laws. In fact, a skilled and charismatic traveler could theoretically not only be accepted in their society, but rise in it: only if they follow the rules to the letter.

### A lack of industry

Goliaths, while violent and structures, are not the most intelligent of people. They do not have blacksmiths, or any other metalworking abilities, nor do they have any educational capacity aside from military theory and fighter training. The only official industry they could be said to have is raiding, warmongering, tanning, stoneworking, and hunting rare creatures.

The only things that goliaths produce are weapons, armor, and unique leathers. Most goliaths are armored in the scaled leather of a spikescale, stone and wood armor, scavenged armor, or magical armor. Their weapons are similarly crude, being either the tail of a spikescale, various bone weapons (a spinesword, the thigh-dagger, and the toothed club are common examples of bonework weapons), scavenged weapons, or magical weapons. Their leathers are made from anything they kill; spikescales, aarakocra, and other creatures.

#### Ancestral equipment

During the Dragon Giant War, goliath soldiers were equipped with magical armor and weapons created from the dead dragons, scavenged from dead dwarves, and created by various magesmiths. These magical arms and armor have been passed down from goliath to goliath, being given to the worthy. Any goliath possessing one of these items is treated with an elevated sense of respect and fear by other goliaths. A goliath with both is truly a step ahead of their peers, commonly regarded as being unkillable and of high status. There aren't enough for all goliaths, fortunately for the world, as they have been lost over time to numerous causes, and the goliath population outpaced the original wartime supply.

## Relationship to other races

* Goliaths hold giants in high reverence, looking to them as gods.
* Goliaths treat orcs dismissively, the best relationship they have with any other species besides giants.
* All other races are thought to be enemies of giants and inferior. While they may not be attacked on sight, its definitely a hostile relationship.
* Firbolg are especially hated by the goliaths, as their irreverence of giants is insulting, and the mere fact that they have giant blood in them is offensive. Any firbolg can expect a fight for their lives if seen by a goliath.
* Dragons and dragonkin are especially hated by the goliaths, being known as enemies of giants, their ancestral competitors.