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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dire Bare" data-source="post: 8354333" data-attributes="member: 18182">Are goliaths "coded" black? Kinda. I doubt intentionally, but they do share some uncomfortable similarities with stereotypes of Africans and African-Americans. They also share a bit of the "noble savage" stereotype. Goliaths are described as . . .<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Darker-skinned (grey to brown)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Large, physically imposing, and primitive</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Naturally gifted athletes, with a society centered around athleticism</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Competitive and boastful</li> </ul>There's more to the goliath's that just the above, it's not a 1:1 representation, and again, I doubt it was intentional . . . but it's there. Goliaths aren't a folkloric creature adapted to D&D . . . well, other than the concept of "giants". They arose out of a D&D design fad during the 3rd Edition where designers were created "monster-lite" PC races, or PC versions of monstrous races. You can't play a demon or devil, but you can play a tiefling. You can't play a dragon, but you can play a dragonborn. You can't play a giant . . . but you can play a goliath.The name "goliath" is a biblical reference, from the David and Goliath story (David fights a really big guy). A lot of the ideas that went into the goliath race/culture evolved from the earlier stone children monster manual entry, which in turn evolved from the earth genasi.</blockquote>

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