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

[BookBarbarian]

You know, maybe there isn't any "cool D&D lore" about Goliaths, but a race of creatures that are half-angel and all evil, that God himself decided to declare war on, well man that's about as cool as it comes.

Oh a Nephalim race would indeed be cool, but I contend that the Goliath race appears to have very little relation to those giants of Hebrew legend. And D&D already has a half-angel race: Aasimar.

 

[Charles Rampant]

The purpose of a race is to pick your intended story role in the campaign. A player who picks a Tiefling likely wants to play one of the X-Men (an outsider who defends the people who hate and fear him), while a player who picks an Elf wants to be part of the glorious race and tell stories of their beautiful decline. Dwarves are particularly obvious for this, as many players are drawn to their (small c) conservative virtue and stubborn refusal to accept obscurity. Goliaths, as mentioned above, just do not have this kind of an inbuild narrative; when I play a Goliath, what kind of story are we telling? As they do not immediately resonate with this kind of narrative, they struggle to attract players.

 

[The Human Target]

Is big tough guy not enough?

 

[SmokingSkull]

Goliaths are barbarians who live on the fringes, living in a merit based society as they hunt and wander. Competition is important to them because being able to prove you can survive and overcome challenge means the clan will live to see another day. However the dark side of this is for some, they must keep pushing themselves beyond their previous best. To the point of being crippled, dead or worse. Many clans do not have the wisdom of age they so desperately need due to this drive to outdo themselves, and losing potential leaders as a result.

Every day is absolute for them: if they want to eat they have to go out and find it, they want to be warm they have to make shelter or find it. They're very self sufficient, and their natural might makes them arguably the strongest of all playable races at least from a narrative point of view. They also do not care for politics, the concept is alien to them. To them the one most qualified and proven should lead, they openly mock incompetent leaders especially those who didn't earn it (a.k.a. inherited it, birthright etc.) One other unique thing about them, they have no gender roles besides maybe the Den Mother and even then they serve a specific function that males cannot.

All in all I like playing Goliaths because they're big people trying to fit into a small world. Their connections to giants oft makes them the target of people's fear, uncertainty and sometimes anger. They are isolationist in attitude so they often seem aloof and distant, however they do everything big. Laugh, love, fight, drink etc, if I had to pin down their mentality it's go big or go home. Can't really say that of either half orcs or dwarves for they have their own issues to contend with.

 

[Magistus71]

I'm currently playing a Goliath Monk.

 

[Dire Bare]

Hi,

There is nothing mythic or legendary about a goliath. In mythology, Goliath was just a really big guy. A human guy.

There are no modern books of note about 'goliaths', who at best feature in books commissioned by rpg companies.

There are other totally made up races, like dragonborn and tieflings, but these are the next best thing to playing a real dragon or demon, who are simply too cool to be PCs. /2

Goliaths exist only to pad rpg supplements.

Without awesome mechanical features, why bother?

Even with awesome mechanical features, why bother? (Ok, to get those awesome mechanical features!)

Anyway,

Ken

Au contraire!

Dragonborn are subs for dragons, tieflings are subs for demons, true. Goliath are subs for giants! They are literally "half-giants" descended from their larger cousins.

And, culturally, they are VERY interesting. Mechanically, well, depends on the mechanics. I enjoyed them in 3E, didn't really play much 4E, and haven't gotten around to them yet in 5E.

However, they will always exist in my D&D campaigns, because goliaths are awesome!

We did get a lot of "padding" races in 3E, but goliaths survived the gauntlet and are here to stay!

 

[Dire Bare]

I'm surprised they didn't just resurrect the Firbolg as a player race. They could have simply ported over everything thematic about the Goliath without having them awkwardly named after a Hebrew villain.

Huh? What's awkward about taking mythology from the Abrahamic tradition (Judaism, Christianity, Islam)? No better or worse than any other mythology.

And "goliath" actually is more clear about what the race is than "firbolg". Go down any street in the USA and ask folks, "Who is Goliath?" and they'll probably all give the same answer, "The big guy who fought David in the Bible." Then ask them, "What is a firbolg?" And then get mostly blank stares.

However, I do think the firbolg and other "giant-kin" from D&D's past would make good goliath subraces! DM's Guild, here I come! Woot-woot!

 

[BookBarbarian]

However, I do think the firbolg and other "giant-kin" from D&D's past would make good goliath subraces! DM's Guild, here I come! Woot-woot!

This is what I like most about Goliaths. They can easily be re-fluffed into any large-ish player race. The mechanics are basically half Stone-Giant so making a half-giant of any other type is super easy.

This is also my slight problem with Goliaths, I'm probably not ever going to play one without changing the fluff.

 

[Dire Bare]

1st, there is no cool lore about them.

If you want to play a really big guy just be human or halforc that is really high. You can add that your greatgreatgreatgrandfather was hill giant, so you're 7ft tall.

2nd, in mechanics they are too similar to half-orc and no darkvision.

The purpose of a race is to pick your intended story role in the campaign. A player who picks a Tiefling likely wants to play one of the X-Men (an outsider who defends the people who hate and fear him), while a player who picks an Elf wants to be part of the glorious race and tell stories of their beautiful decline. Dwarves are particularly obvious for this, as many players are drawn to their (small c) conservative virtue and stubborn refusal to accept obscurity. Goliaths, as mentioned above, just do not have this kind of an inbuild narrative; when I play a Goliath, what kind of story are we telling? As they do not immediately resonate with this kind of narrative, they struggle to attract players.

Goliaths have no lore? Goliaths have no story? So, soooo wrong!

Not sure what was printed about goliaths in 4E, and I know there isn't much in 5E, but there was a VERY GOOD and detailed write-up of goliaths in the 3E "Races of Stone" supplement. It made goliaths interesting and culturally distinct from merely being "really big humans". It's why they made it into 4E and 5E when other races introduced at the time did not.

Smoking Skull above did a good job summarizing goliath culture, but I will also note that goliath PCs are most likely outcasts from their tribe. So, the basic goliath "story" is "lonely outcast from fringe barbarian tribe who sticks out both culturally and physically".

 

[Zardnaar]

Goliaths have no lore? Goliaths have no story? So, soooo wrong!

Not sure what was printed about goliaths in 4E, and I know there isn't much in 5E, but there was a VERY GOOD and detailed write-up of goliaths in the 3E "Races of Stone" supplement. It made goliaths interesting and culturally distinct from merely being "really big humans". It's why they made it into 4E and 5E when other races introduced at the time did not.

Smoking Skull above did a good job summarizing goliath culture, but I will also note that goliath PCs are most likely outcasts from their tribe. So, the basic goliath "story" is "lonely outcast from fringe barbarian tribe who sticks out both culturally and physically".

They were in 3.5 and 4E splat books though hence maybe not known about.