D&D 5E Races of Eberron: Goliath?

doctorbadwolf · Mar 1, 2017

So, I made a similar Reddit post, a while back, and they were quite helpful in reimagining a better place for the Shadar-kai.

This time, I'd like to examine the place of Goliath in Eberron. They were added to the setting in 4e, along with Shadar-Kai, Dragonborn, etc.

Now, I know some folks will prefer to just ignore them, while others will want to just stick them in mountain tops and copy-paste the PHB2 entry.

But I don't like either of those, and I think they can have a great spot in Eberron.

First thought, is some manner of breeding experiment with elves and earth elementals, when the elves were their slaves. Now the Goliaths dwell in small communities in the mountains of Xendrik. Do they try to safeguard against any threat of a new giant empire? Do they try to find a way to bring such a thing about, by breaking the curse the Dragons laid upon Xendrik?

Second thought, they are a fairly new race, having come about after the fall of the Giants. They believe they are the result of the Dragon Curse. Some view what the Dragons did as just and good, while some live in resentment, believing it is their birthright to become as their giantish ancestors.

3, compatible with either of the others: Goliaths and Firbolgs are one race, and two brothers might be born, one a Firbolg and the other a Goliath.

4, also compatible with others: They live in isolated library fortresses, dug into the high mountainsides, or amongst the roots of deep forests, keeping records of the world. Their teenagers go out into the world to collect new tales, and make a record of the world as it is now. They eventually return, having filled at least 1 Tome with new knowledge. They also have meetings every decade, where members of each enclave who are of marrying age meet, trade copies of newer books, and make matches for marrying across enclaves. The hosting Enclave changes every decade.
There are two enclaves in Khorvaire, and they have not hosted in 100 years. The people of Khorvaire have forgotten the Goliaths, as they have rarely left their Enclaves. Since the war ended, this begins to change.

The next Great Enclave is coming, and a Goliath (or Firbolg) character is on their coming of age trip. Do they look forward to the Great Enclave, or are they worried they will be pressed into a marriage they aren't ready for? Do they want to return to their people? What have they learned about the world since leaving home?

Thoughts?

Tales and Chronicles · Mar 1, 2017

I often see them not as ''northen mountain dwellers'' but more like the people of the Andes. I borrowed from the Inca society the idea of many small cities of stone built on the very top of the highest moutains, linked by very long suspended bridges (like, 2 km long) and a very developped road system expertly hidden from the untrained eye. The inca also had a big tradition of long-distance runners, which fits well with the idea of the athletic and the whole ''live for the challenge'' thing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inca_road_system

Hawk Diesel · Mar 1, 2017

They could be laborers in Droaam, explorers from Frostfell, or perhaps some kind of human competition from Sarlona like how humans and Neanderthals in Europe competed.

Yunru · Mar 1, 2017

I think they tend rabbits.

iserith · Mar 1, 2017

Keith Baker said:

As Goliaths have a stone theme, an easy answer would be to shift them from above mountains to below them, and say that the race was created by the Daelkyr Orlassk, who supposedly created medusas and basilisks; he makes things that turn other things to stone, he might as wake mold things out of stone. This could mean that there’s a strong Dragon Below streak running through Goliath culture – perhaps their ritual games are about earning passage to the Inner Sun. But Orlaask could just as easily created them and forgotten them; note that the medusas have no love of the Dragon Below and don’t acknowledge Orlaask as their creator. So you could keep as much of their culture as you want, but make them live IN the mountains as well as ON them. I’d be inclined to keep them to a single mountain/Khyber community – never widespread – but you could do more if you chose.

Another option would be to drop them in the Demon Wastes, again living both in mountains and below them. By this concept they’d be descended from orcs; perhaps they were transformed by an Overlord in the Age of Demons, and freed from its influence when it was bound. This allows you to have multiple communities if you want them but also explain why they’ve never been known in Khorvaire proper; stick them deep in the Wastes, and a PC might be the first to venture past the Labyrinth. They could primarily be a form of Carrion Tribe or tied to Kalok Shash, but I’d be inclined to make them entirely neutral – living in the Wastes, frequently fighting the Carrion Tribes, but mysteriously unaffected by demonic influence. This gives a lot of possibility for the barbarian-discovering-civilization archetype.

mcmillan · Mar 1, 2017

Iserith beat me to the quote I vaguely remembered, so I'll have to settle for posting a link to the source, which was a comment in a longer post about his thoughts in general about unusual races in Eberron

Mercule · Mar 1, 2017

I like Keith's idea about them in the Demon Wastes. Makes them accessible, but not obligatory.

The idea about putting them in Xendrik, somehow tied to the giant empire is also a nice one. Maybe have legends about both Xendrik origins, with the truth lost to time. Again, accessible, but no big setting changes.

I'll also throw out another idea: They're native to Sarlona, just like humans, but never made the migration to Khorvaire. They're somehow resistant/immune to Daelkyr breeding programs. That and being reclusive has saved them, but they only exist in small pockets. In many cases, they share space with free humans, whether it's humans in goliath settlements, the other way around, or fully integrated communities. I like this one because it adds some depth to Sarlona, which seems to be the least well defined of the continents (I've never read Secrets of Sarlona, so this might be a moot point).

In general, I'm not a fan of any setting having too many races. I don't have a problem with most of them, per se. It just seems to dilute them all.

doctorbadwolf · Mar 2, 2017

vincegetorix said:
I often see them not as ''northen mountain dwellers'' but more like the people of the Andes. I borrowed from the Inca society the idea of many small cities of stone built on the very top of the highest moutains, linked by very long suspended bridges (like, 2 km long) and a very developped road system expertly hidden from the untrained eye. The inca also had a big tradition of long-distance runners, which fits well with the idea of the athletic and the whole ''live for the challenge'' thing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inca_road_system

I like all of that. I may work some of that into how I treat them, or my complete re-write of how the Shadar-Kai fit into Eberron. Definitely going to use it somewhere, though.
[MENTION=97077]iserith[/MENTION] thanks! I almost always love how Keith fits races into the world, but this time I just...idk, I like it but it isn't what I want, for some reason. I think I'm going to develop the record keepers idea a bit more, see where it goes.
[MENTION=5100]Mercule[/MENTION] interesting thought! I'd even suggest that they may be resistant to quori mind control, but that some Kalashtar are descended from them, rather than humans. This dovetails with my general idea that Kalashtar are descended from a mix of races, which lead to them being secluded to start with, before the quori became part of them.

I may actually mix a lot of this into my "Watchers" idea.

The Gal'Firuth

There are 12 Gal Enclaves in the world of Eberron. In ancient times, there were 13, but the 13th and greatest enclave, located in the mountains of Sarlona, has been abandoned since the Quori turned dark

The 12 Enclaves each have about 150-200 people, and there is roughly that many at any given time traveling the world, so the whole world population of Gal'Firuth is about 2,000-2,500.

Very few people in Knorvaire have ever met one, and most of those who have didn't know they were meeting one (especially since the Firbolg can hide their appearance). Furthermore, most folks who have met one and are still alive are over 100 years old. There are two Khorvairen Enclaves, but both sealed their doors and kept away from the world for the entire course of The Last War. *

In Sarlona, they live near Kalashtar, and are well known to them, as well as to some who resist the Inspired. The Gal are resistant to quori influence, but were strangely affected by the change in Dal Quor at the turning of the age. If their libraries hold the answer as to why, no living Gal'firuth can say, as they have not been able to find their Lost Enclave since the mysteriously abandoned it, centuries ago.

Most Enclaves are located in Xen'drik, where the race originates.

CAFRedblade · Mar 2, 2017

You could also make them one of the servant races of the Dragons, living further inland on Argonnessen, alongside Dragonborn. Being bigger and sturdier than some of the smaller races, they may hold a higher stature amongst Dragon servants.

Tersival · Mar 2, 2017

The (Eberron adapted Tyranny of Dragons) campaign I’m DM’ing will shortly be venturing into the Frostfell (investigating the Sea of Moving Ice around Icegaunt Island) where they will discover that goliaths are native to the Frostfell, thriving in the frigid terrain.

The cold remoteness of the Frostfell, split by the Iceworm Peaks, seemed too perfect a match to the racial description in the Elemental Evil Players Companion to not adopt.

Remote as the Frostfell is in post-Last War times, there is no reason giants could not have explored the region and taken goliath slaves or servants to other regions before their civilization was crushed and no obstacle to occasional groups or individuals making it to Khorvaire.