Pathfinder 1E Pathfinder Conversion: Goliath

pawsplay · Sep 19, 2009

GOLIATH RACIAL TRAITS

+4 Strength, -2 Dexterity, +2 Constitution, -2 Intelligence: Goliaths are massively muscled, but their bulk sometimes gets in the way when they're trying to be nimble.

Medium: Goliaths are Medium creatures and have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.

Mountain Movement: Because goliaths practically live on the ledges and cliffs of the most forbidding mountains, they are particularly adept at negotiating mountain hazards. Goliaths receive a +2 racial bonus Acrobatics and Climb checks.

Acclimated: Goliaths are automatically acclimated to life at high altitudes. Unlike other denizens of the mountains, goliaths don't lose their acclimation to high altitude even if they spend months or years at lower elevations.

Body Language: When speaking to one another, goliaths tend to augment their verbal communication with subtle body language. Goliaths receive a +2 racial bonus to Sense Motive checks.

Big Grip: Goliaths can wield weapons intended for Large creatures without a -2 penalty.

Weapon Familiarity: Goliaths' superior bulk helps them wield heavier than normal weapons. Goliaths treat exotic weapons which can be wielded in two hands as martial weapons by Medium creatures, such as bastard swords and dwarven waraxes, as martial weapons.

Darvkision: Goliaths can see in the dark up to 60 feet.

Languages: Goliaths begin play speaking Common and Gol-Kaa. Goliaths with high intelligence scores can choose from the following: Dwarven, Giant, Gnoll, Terran.

New Feats

Tough Lithoderms [GENERAL]
Prerequisites: Goliath
Benefit: The goliath gains a +1 natural armor bonus as a result of his natural hardiness.

Medium Large [GENERAL]
Prerequisites: Goliath, Str 19+
The goliath's massive bulk makes him hard to move.
Benefit: The goliath is treated as a Large creature for the purposes of determining whether he can be affected by Combat Maneuvers by creatures of a given size.

Wield Oversized Weapon [GENERAL]
Prerequisites: Big grip racial ability, Str 19+
Benefit: The character can wield a weapon designed for creatures one size larger without treating the weapon as a heavier category. This feat may be selected multiple times; each time, it applies to a different weapon.

pawsplay · Sep 19, 2009

Some conversions notes:

I have a goliath in my 3.5 campaign who needed to be converted.
Since pathfinder races get better ability scores now and the benefits of Large size are not as significant, I realized they could be reworked as a normal race rather than a powerful race.

Intelligence penalty: Goliaths are certainly not stupid, and they must have a good Wisdom score to survive in their environment and avoid raiding giants. Although shy, they are competitive and forceful characters. I left open the possibility of leaving them with a net +4 ability scores, but the more I thought about it, the more I came to the conclusion that an Intelligence penalty made sense. They have little or no wizard traditions, and they rely on trade with the dwarves for superior metal weapons.

A matter of size: I never liked Powerful Build, so I decided to dismantle it. The fact is, at less than 8 feet tall and topping out at around 340 pounds, goliaths are only as big as the largest humans. They are nowhere near the sheer mass of a Large creature and have never had the reach and space of one. A Large creature in Pf gets a +1 now instead of a +4 on size-based checks, so with their high Str, the benefits seemed trivial. Allowing them to use a Large longsword two-handed made sense, hence Big Grip. It's toned down from their original ability in that it still requires extra hands, but it allows them to use captured giant gear and they may be able to squeeze an extra point or two of damage out of the right weapon. Similarly, their weapon familiarity puts them back on par with dwarves and makes sense, given their size; a bastard sword is really longsword-sized to a goliath. I turned Wield Oversized Weapon into a feat; 3.5 monsters with this ability typically can use a particular weapon, so for parity, I made this feat the same, essentially Exotic Weapon Proficiency (ginormous greatsword). If Pf changes the way Wield Oversized is implemented for monsters I may change this. Medium Large lets particuarly massive goliaths shrug off halfling bullrushes, while again, acknowledging that some humans are 300 pounds.

Mountain movement got nerfed, not really for balance reasons so much as flavor ones. Goliaths are already powerful climbers. Although I can understand the logic of allowing to make "standing running jumps" to an extent, I think a goliath should be able to gain some benefit from making a running jump. I may upgrade the bonus to +4, but I wanted to leave it in line with other racial abilities at this point.

Tough lithoderms is a conversion of some feat or another I can't remember the name of presently.

They are humanoids, because I never saw why they should be considered Monstrous Humanoid. I gave them darkvision back as a racial feature.

MerrikCale · Sep 20, 2009

Nice work. Well thought out

Goliaths were a favorite of mine from the Races series. I very much disliked the rest of the PC races from that series.

Kodyax · Nov 14, 2009

Nice conversion, never did like most of the newer races of those splatbooks, but I kind of liked the Goliaths.

pawsplay · Nov 14, 2009

The goliaths and the killoren are pretty cool, I think.

Oh, and it looks like oversized weapon is no longer specific, so here's the revision

Wield Oversized Weapon [GENERAL]
Prerequisites: Big grip racial ability, Str 19+
Benefit: The character can wield weapons designed for creatures one size larger without treating the weapon as a heavier category.

Remathilis · Nov 14, 2009

Not bad. Here was my take on their racial traits (note: I modified them to fit my world a bit, so not everything is 1:1)

Goliath Racial Traits
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]+2 Strength, +2 Constitution, -2 Dexterity. Goliaths are strong and powerful, but not graceful.
[FONT=&quot][/FONT]Medium Size: Goliaths are Medium creatures and have no bonuses or penalties due to their size, but see powerful-build below.
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]Normal Speed: Goliaths have a base speed is 30 feet.
[FONT=&quot][/FONT]Giant Subtype: A goliath has the giant subtype and is count as a humanoid (giant) for any effect related to race.
Darkvision: A goliath can see in the dark up to 60 feet.
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]Mountaineer: A Goliath has a +2 to climb and survival checks, thanks to their mountain heritage.
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]Powerful Build: Whenever a goliath is subject to a size modifier or special size modifier for CMB, the goliath is treated as large if doing so is advantageous to him. A goliath is also considered to be large when determining whether a creature’s special attacks based on size (such as improved grab or swallow whole) can affect him. A goliath can use weapons designed for a large creature without the -2 penalty (but the weapon size increases from light to one-handed or one-handed to two-handed). However, his space and reach remain those of a creature of his actual size. If a spell or effect changes the goliath’s size to large or larger, the abilities of the spell or effect override the effects of powerful build.
[FONT=&quot][/FONT]Rock-hurling: A goliath can hurl small rocks (around 10 lbs in weight) with deadly accuracy. As a standard action, he can hurl a rock with a range of 30 feet, and each rock does 2d6 + the goliath’s strength modifier in damage.
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]Languages: Goliaths begin play speaking Common and Giant. Goliaths with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following: Dwarven, Gnome, Goblin, Orc, Terran.

Sylrae · Nov 14, 2009

I like it. The oversized weapon feat seems to be a crappier version of a 3.5e feat (cant remember the book) that is definitely core in PFRPG (Monkey Grip), but the rest of it is a good conversion to pathfinder.

As everyone is saying, goliaths were one of the few decent races in the Races series of books (I liked the cat people as well).

Remathilis, that looks good too, but if the Goliath gets his size increased, why would he lose his ability to use bigger weappons? I would think he could just then use them from a size BIGGER. Likewise, if you shrink him to small, I'd assume he could wield medium sized weapons. Why couldn't he?

pawsplay · Nov 14, 2009

Sylrae said:
I like it. The oversized weapon feat seems to be a crappier version of a 3.5e feat (cant remember the book) that is definitely core in PFRPG (Monkey Grip), but the rest of it is a good conversion to pathfinder.

Wield oversized weapon is actually identical in benefits to 3.5 Monkey Grip. The Big Grip racial ability cancels the -2 to hit. I wasn't aware Monkey Grip was found in PFRPG.

Sylrae · Nov 15, 2009

Ah. Cancels the penalty. Okay.

Pretty sure I saw Monkey Grip in the players. I'll check.
Hmm. I don't kow why, but I thought I saw it in there. I guess I was wrong.

Well, I was saying it was worse because of the extra feat Prereq. A harder-to-get monkeygrip is a less good monkeygrip.

Though I suppose if it negates a -2, thats something.

Maybe list it without the prereq, and then if you HAVE the racial ability, you lose the -2 penalty.