D&D 5E Why does no one play Goliath?

[S'mon]

2 in mine. My Varisia campaign has 5 PCs - 1 elf 1 goliath 1 dragonborn & 2 human. My Primeval Thule game has had a couple dozen PCs, the goliath is the only non-human in the 'regular cast'. Occasional & one-off PCs have included 2 elves.

I think people who are aware of goliaths play them a fair bit.

The Goliath work particularly well in my Runelords/Varisia campaign as uber-Shoanti; the adventures involve a lot of high mountains, and Goliath culture fits in extremely well there. They're less suited to a typical Forgotten Realms type fantasy setting - albeit dragonborn, or tiefling PCs with giant horns, aren't that well suited to trad fantasy either.

 

[Azuresun]

I've got a Goliath ranger in my Primeval Thule game, and he's huge fun. When I added them to the setting, I didn't change things too much, just made them ancient enemies of the Hyperborean civilisation from the utter north.

 

[jgsugden]

Goliaths are far more popular now, and will grow in popularity in the future, due to Critical Role. 2016 was a long time ago.

The recent poster can benefit from:

• Dual Wielder feat (larger weapons)
• Increase strength

Instead of Feats you could consider a multiclass:

• Dual to Barbarian for Rage.
• Dual to Warlock for Hexblade and Hex.
• Dual to Ranger for the Tasha's Favored Foe Ability (which is better for 2 weapon fighters as it does not require an action or bonus action.
• Dual to War Cleric for spells (Divine Favor) and the ability to attack with a versatile weapon that extra time using 2 hands rather than using your offhand.
• Dual to Rogue to get Sneak attack (if one of your weapons is finesse).

 

[S'mon]

I've got a Goliath ranger in my Primeval Thule game, and he's huge fun. When I added them to the setting, I didn't change things too much, just made them ancient enemies of the Hyperborean civilisation from the utter north.

Very similar to what I did - made the Goliath half-giants, as descendants of the frost giants thus enemies of the Hyperboreans.

 

[Charlaquin]

For a str based dual wielder, I would actually take the dual wielder feat.
It has more advantages than you might think:
While +1 dex increases AC, +1 Str dies not.

Right, but the poster was asking for the best feat for dealing damage. The +1 AC is a point in Dual Wielder’s favor over increasing Strength, but the +1 to hit is a point in Strength’s favor, and since they were asking for an offensive feat, I figured they would value the increased accuracy over the increased defense.

You can wield two battle axes which is very cool.

Offensively most important though:
You can draw two weapons without using a single action. That way you can start your combat by throwing javelins or hand axes and then draw your main weapons.

That way, you will get 2 or 3 extra attacks in with higher damage. That usually should more than offset the 1 in 20 chance of not hitting when you would have hit with 2 higher str...

And you are a more fearsome short ranged combatant.

This benefit is dependent on the DM actually enforcing the one object interaction per turn limit, which in my experience is extremely rare. But, yes, if your DM does, it’s a meaningful point in favor of Dual Wielder.

Of course, if the character has an odd numbered Strength score, crusher/piercer/slasher is the better choice over either.

 

[Vimak]

For a dual-wielding character, you’re honestly probably better off just increasing your Strength (or your Dexterity if you’re finesse-based). Since you can’t benefit from the two strongest melee damage dealing Feats, Great Weapon Master and Polearm Master, your next best bet for a Feat is Dual Wielder, which gives you +1 AC and lets you dual-wield with 1d8 weapons instead of 1d6 weapons. That’s an average increase of 1 damage per hit, whereas increasing your primary ability increases your damage by 1 per hit and increases your attack bonus by 1 so you hit more often. So it’s offensively the stronger option. Dual Wielder will be a strong choice once you max out your primary ability though.

If you have an odd number in your primary ability score, then you should take a feat that gives +1 to that ability. I would suggest the piercer, slasher, or crusher feat depending on what weapons you typically use.

For a dual-wielding character, you’re honestly probably better off just increasing your Strength (or your Dexterity if you’re finesse-based). Since you can’t benefit from the two strongest melee damage dealing Feats, Great Weapon Master and Polearm Master, your next best bet for a Feat is Dual Wielder, which gives you +1 AC and lets you dual-wield with 1d8 weapons instead of 1d6 weapons. That’s an average increase of 1 damage per hit, whereas increasing your primary ability increases your damage by 1 per hit and increases your attack bonus by 1 so you hit more often. So it’s offensively the stronger option. Dual Wielder will be a strong choice once you max out your primary ability though.

If you have an odd number in your primary ability score, then you should take a feat that gives +1 to that ability. I would suggest the piercer, slasher, or crusher feat depending on what weapons you typically use.

 

[Charlaquin]

@Vimak you seem to have the two-weapon fighting style but no light weapons. In this case, yes, the Dual Wielder feat is the best option for you because it will allow you to actually use two-weapon fighting.

 

[Vimak]

@Vimak you seem to have the two-weapon fighting style but no light weapons. In this case, yes, the Dual Wielder feat is the best option for you because it will allow you to actually use two-weapon fighting.

I get 3 attacks a round and a action surge which will help me with a fourth

 

[Vimak]

And I got a feat at level 6 and got these two moves

 

[Charlaquin]

I get 3 attacks a round and a action surge which will help me with a fourth

Well... No, at your level you get 2 attacks whenever you take the Attack Action. If you use your Action Surge, you can take the Attack Action again, which would allow you to make a total of 4 attacks in one round. Theoretically, you could use two-weapon fighting to make a 3rd attack (or a 5th attack if you use an Action Surge) with your Bonus Action, but doing so requires you to be wielding two Light weapons, and none of the three weapons I see on your character sheet are Light. Fortunately, the Dual Wielder feat lets you do that with weapons that aren’t Light, so that’s probably the Feat you should take.