Huge and built like a wall, Goliaths are one of the toughest playable races in D&D. Learn how to play as one with our guide.
What are Goliaths?
Goliaths are a nomadic race in D&D 5e. As their name implies, they’re tall and robust in stature and tend to be stronger than most races. They typically live in frigid mountainous regions giving them a natural resistance to the cold and places of low oxygen. They are fiercely competitive, respecting strength above all else and shunning those that are considered weak. Our guide will help you know everything you need to when choosing a Goliath as a playable race including tactics, which classes suit the race best and how to roleplay a Goliath.
Is a Goliath the right character for me?
Dungeons and Dragons lets you take a flexible approach to building a character, but if you’re going to stick to typical culture and the best-optimised build for a Goliath you might consider the following:
Choose a Goliath if you like…
- Tough characters that can take a beating
- To charge into close combat
- Want to play a little giant (which is still big by human standards)
A Goliath might not be for you if…
- You like to stay away from the action
- Don’t want to play a tank
- Like your characters small and agile
If you think a Goliath isn’t for you, not to worry, there are dozens of playable races for you to pick from, just check out our races guide to find out about all of them. For an alternative tank race, you could consider an Orc or a Half-Orc.
Racial traits
| Ability Scores | +2 to one ability score and +1 to another or +1 to 3 different ability scores |
| Creature Type | Humanoid |
| Size | Medium |
| Speed | 30ft |
| Languages | Common and 1 other |
| Traits | Little Giant, Mountain Born, Stone’s Endurance |
| Resistances | Cold |
| Proficiencies | Athletics |
| Darkvision | No |
| Innate Spellcasting | None |
| Book found in | Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse, Volo’s Guide to Monsters |
Tactics
Tough as stone: Goliaths are extra tough! They can take more punishment than most other races due to their stone’s endurance. This means sticking them at the front of combat to soak up damage is generally a great use of their abilities. Picking a class that want to be at the forefront of combat is a good way to make the most of this ability.
Cold resistance is a little useful for toughening you up but happens to be one of the less common damage types (as you can see from our research) so provides less protection than many other resistances.
Grappler: Goliaths are proficient in athletics, which is great for grappling. Consider a build that can be great at grappling, meaning high strength and preferably, a character with multiple attacks, like a fighter.
Which classes are good for a goliath?
As you’d imagine, the goliath’s traits are ideal for frontline warriors as they make the character more resistant to damage. The possible exception here is barbarians. While goliaths still make great barbarians, they do lessen stone’s endurance a little as damage reduction occurs before resistance is applied so you take the damage reduction of the full damage amount before halving how much damage you receive. This is a shame as goliaths thematically make excellent barbarians.
Below I’ve put together a score for how well each class works with a Goliath based on how well the ability score increases and racial traits work with each class:
Artificer⭐⭐⭐⭐
Barbarian ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Bard ⭐⭐
Cleric ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Druid ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Fighter ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Monk ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Paladin ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Ranger ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rogue ⭐
Sorcerer ⭐⭐
Warlock ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Wizard ⭐⭐
*Star ratings scored out of 5
Best classes for goliaths
Fighter
Fighters are always going to be in the middle of combat and while they do get heavy armour and high hit points, reduced damage is always going to be very helpful here. On top of this, using stone’s endurance is a reaction which fighters don’t tend to be using too often anyway for other reasons like casting shield. Cold resistance only serves to make them a little hardier and athletics proficiency means you an pump proficiency into another skill. Essentially, everything about a goliath works great for a fighter.
Monk
Monks are another class that tend to get into the thick of combat, but unlike fighters, are much less tough. They have lower AC and HP meaning anything that can reduce damage is really important. Thankfully, this is where goliaths are great with multiple opportunities to reduce damage taken and resistance to cold damage. Athletics proficiency tends to be less important for monks but the traits do work really well for a monk.
Barbarian
Barbarians ought to almost always be throwing themselves headlong into combat, and the extra durability of a Goliath will go a long way to helping them endure the punishment they’re bound to receive! Just keep in mind that stone’s endurance is applied before damage is halved from raging which mathematically makes it a little less impactful than for other classes. Still a great ability to use on a barbarian though.
Worst classes for goliaths
The worst classes for goliaths are those that will struggle to take advantage of their best trait, stone’s endurance. This means classes that tend not to be in the thick of combat and/or might be using their reaction for something else.
With this in mind, goliaths make very poor rogues. Not only are they thematically challenging (really big and really stealthy rarely go together), but you’ll likely want to use uncanny dodge for your reaction over stone’s endurance.
Bards also struggle in this regard, they just don’t get into the thick of combat often and may want to use hellish rebuke or even counterspell (as bards can take a few wizard spells) for their reaction instead. For similar reasons, wizards and sorcerers are also poor options for goliaths.
About Goliaths
Appearance
As you’d expect from their name, Goliaths are large in stature (even if by the games mechanics, they’re technically medium in size). Most Goliaths are about 7-8ft tall, their height being a gift from their distant relation to giants.
Because they tend to live in tall mountains and the frigid climates you’d associate there, they have a natural hardiness to the cold, and basically anything else too! At least partly out of necessity, Goliaths are hardy folk with an appearance that looks very much like they were carved out of the stones of the mountains themselves.
Personality
In order to survive in the frozen mountains, Goliaths naturally learn to be hugely self-sufficient (there’s no space in the tribe for deadweight). This lends itself to intense competition and a desire to earn ones place in the tribe. Both of these are major driving forces behind a Goliath’s motives. They will gladly compete with anyone for a chance to prove themselves.
Goliaths even compete with themselves, constantly seeking to outdo their previous achievements. A Goliath that wins in a gladiator fight against a single opponent, will seek to win in a contest against 2 opponents. Similarly, if they defeat an adult dragon in combat, they may simply seek an ancient dragon to defeat instead.
As you might have guessed, it’s for this reason that many Goliaths don’t live to an old age.
If you do want to befriend a Goliath, demonstrating your skill is a sure way to do so. Co-dependency is seen as weakness while self-sufficiency is seen as strength. That’s not to say that being part of a tribe (or adventuring party) is weak, it’s simply pragmatic. But being reliant on those others to survive would be.
Names
Goliaths always have 3 names. 2 of remain the same throughout their life; their birth name and their clan name. Goliaths will also receive a nickname from their clan chief or elder based on their heroic acts or greatest failures. This name can change as the Goliath performs different acts.
The Elemental Evil Player’s Companion gives some examples of different Goliath names which include:
Birth Names: Aukan, Eglath, Gae-Al, Gauthak, Ilikan, Keothi, Kuori, Lo-Kag, Manneo, Maveith, Nalla, Orilo, Paavu, Pethani, Thalai, Thotham, Uthal, Vaunea, Vimak
Nicknames: Bearkiller, Dawncaller, Fearless, Flintfinder, Horncarver, Keeneye, Lonehunter, Longleaper, Rootsmasher, Skywatcher, Steadyhand, Threadtwister, Twice-Orphaned, Twistedlimb, Wordpainter
Clan Names: Anakalathai, Elanithino, Gathakanathi, Kalagiano, Katho-Olavi, Kolae-Gileana, Ogolakanu, Thuliaga, Thunukalathi, Vaimei-Laga
Roleplaying a Goliath
If you choose to play as a Goliath, consider some of the approaches below when roleplaying them:
Competitive nature: Seek out competition wherever you can find it, and seek to be the best at it. Take glory in your successes and learnings from your failures.
Striving to improve: Always seek to improve. If you defeat an enemy, seek out a bigger one to best. If you fail, learn from your failures and come back stronger.
Despise weakness: Goliath tribes will shun those that are weak or contribute little and that cannot fend for themselves. Treat others with such disdain and respect those that can fend for themselves. There’s little space in your heart for those that don’t earn it. Though perhaps you could learn to see strength in less obvious places…
Fairness: Goliaths frown upon cheating and an unfair contest. Where is the glory in such a contest. Goliaths will steer away from a contest that gives an unfair advantage.
