Goliaths are massive creatures unafraid of throwing their weight around in a fight. Highly competitive, these strong nomads can prove to be powerful allies and welcome additions to any adventuring party.

Personality: Goliaths are known for their almost foolhardy daring. In their mountain homes, they leap from precipice to precipice, heedless of the fatal consequences of a misstep. They place great stock in clan and family; life in the mountains teaches even the youngest goliath to rely completely on his fellows for a hand across a crevasse. Because most goliaths are hunter-gatherers, they tend to be inquisitive, always curious about whether better hunting lies over the next ridge or a good water source can be found in the next canyon.

Goliaths are completely unsympathetic toward tribe members who can't contribute to the well-being of the tribe anymore -- an attitude reinforced by social structures. Old, sick, and otherwise infirm goliaths are exiled from their clans, never to return.

Physical Description: A typical goliath is larger than the largest half-orc. Most stand between 7 and 8 feet tall and weigh between 280 and 340 pounds. Unlike with most other races, there is no appreciable difference in height or weight between male and female goliaths.

Goliaths have gray skin, covered in dark grey or black skin pigmentations lines that goliath shamans say hint at a particular goliath's fate. Female goliaths have dark hair on their heads that they always keep in braids. They have a custom to grow their hair very long.  Goliaths' male eyes are a opaque white, and they often seem to glow a little. Female eyes can be a brilliant green or blue. 

Relations: When encountered in the mountains, goliaths are outwardly friendly to anyone who doesn't threaten the tribe and can keep up with them as they climb from peak to peak. Humans who brave the mountains -- rangers and druids, most often -- can often earn a tasty meal by helping a team of goliath hunters.

Goliaths hold dwarves in particularly high regard, wishing their tribes had the dwarven aptitude for weapon crafting. Some of the bravest goliaths climb down into the tunnels and natural caverns under a mountain, seeking a dwarf community to trade with.

The smaller-than-human races are regarded as curiosities, but many a nimble-climbing gnome or halfling has earned respect by beating a goliath in a race up a cliff. Goliaths view the extended life span of an elf as vaguely frightening, finding it hard to imagine a person who could have known one's great-great grandfather.

A goliath tribe's attitude toward any nearby giants varies widely. Some tribes eagerly trade with giants; the giants' weapons aren't up to dwarven standards, but they are made in larger sizes (which goliaths greatly prefer). However, giants have a bad habit of trying to turn goliaths into their slaves, using them for menial tasks they're too big or too lazy to do themselves. Conflict inevitably ensues, and soon either the giants are dead, the goliaths have fled, or the goliaths are chained up as slaves to a giant-lord.

Goliaths tend to hold goblinoids and orcs (including half-orcs) at arm's length, noting that the "downlanders" they trade with regard such races as troublemakers. But because goblinoids rarely stray into the high mountains, they are usually someone else's trouble, so goliaths don't bear them any actual malice.

Alignment: Goliaths have a slight tendency toward chaotic alignments, which is reflected in their wanderlust and the small, mobile communities in which they live. Still, each goliath tribe has one or more adjudicators that settle disputes within the clan, and such goliaths are generally lawful. Goliaths have a slight preference for good over evil, since among the high mountain peaks, survival becomes much easier when one aids a fellow goliath without insisting on recompense.

Goliath Lands: Because they don't support large-scale agriculture or extensive settlements, the mountain ranges where goliaths live are home to few other intelligent races. Most tribes of goliaths wander from peak to peak, tending their goat flocks and foraging for alpine roots and tubers. Typically, a tribe sets up a temporary village in an alpine meadow and remains there for a month or two, then moves on when the season changes or better hunting can be found elsewhere. Larger tribes tend to follow a similar trail from year to year, retreating to lower elevations in midwinter and when they need to trade, then ascending to the highest peaks once the snow melts.

Some goliaths live at lower altitudes among humans or other races, most often because their tribe exiled them after a crime, dispute, or injury. Many a folk tale features a forlorn goliath working as a farmhand after a failed courtship in the mountains.

Religion: Kavaki the Ram-Lord is the primary deity of the goliaths (see the Religion section later in this chapter). As the Chief of All Chiefs, he watches over the goliaths and their mountain homes. His clerics say that Kavaki created the goliaths when he found a bush bearing gems in place of fruit growing atop the highest mountain peak in the world. When Kavaki plucked gems from the bush, those gems became the first tribe of goliaths. Kavaki instructs his followers to seek out the hidden bounty of the mountains and keep the tribe safe from harm.

Language: For millennia, the goliaths have had only a spoken tongue, Gol-Kaa, which has only thirteen phonetic elements: a, e, g, i, k, l, m, n, o, p, u, th, and v. Recently, the goliaths have picked up the alphabet of the Dwarven language, though the concept of a written language hasn't spread to all the tribes yet. Those tribes that have learned the Dwarven alphabet are busily transcribing the goliaths' vast oral tradition into carvings, cave paintings, and even books.

Names: Every goliath has three names: a birth name assigned by the newborn's mother and father, a nickname or honorific assigned by the tribal chief, and a family or clan name. The birth name tends to be short -- often only a syllable or two -- but the clan names often have five syllables or more and always end in a vowel.

The honorific isn't a traditional name so much as it is a descriptive nickname, often a two-part sobriquet. The honorific can change at the whim of the tribal chief, whether because a particular goliath did something useful for the tribe (earning an honorific such as "Highclimber" or "Nighthunter") or as punishment for failure (a middle name such as "Latesleeper" or "Wanderslost"). Goliaths who have been exiled from their tribe generally carry a middle name that reflects their status, such as "Solitary" or "Kinless." Some specific roles within the tribe, such as lorekeeper or shaman (described in the Society and Culture section later in this chapter), have honorifics attached to them as well.

When introducing themselves for the first time, goliaths always use the first name/honorific/family name construction, translating the honorific into the listener's language if possible. Thereafter, they refer to themselves and each other by the honorific alone. Goliaths traveling among other races sometimes assign honorifics to their comrades rather than use their given names.

Male Names: Aukan, Eglath, Gauthak, Ilikan, Keothi, Lo-Kag, Maveith, Meavoi, Thotham, Vimak.

Female Names: Gae-Al, Kuori, Manneo, Nalla, Orilo, Paavu, Pethani, Thalai, Uthal, Vaunea.

Honorifics: Bearkiller, Dawncaller (see Chapter 5 for details on this prestige class), Fearless, Flintfinder, Horncarver, Keeneye, Lonehunter, Longleaper, Rootsmasher, Skywatcher, Steadyhand, Threadtwister, Twice-Orphaned, Twistedlimb, Wordpainter.

Family Names: Anakalathai, Elanithino, Gathakanathi, Kalagiano, Katho-Olavi, Kolae-Gileana, Ogolakanu, Thuliaga, Thunukalathi, Vaimei-Laga.

Adventurers:  Some goliath tribes spend more time with "downlanders," especially the dwarves, it's becoming more common for a tribe to send a particularly competent goliath on a mission that aids the tribe or goliaths in general. Once they descend from their mountain homes, most goliaths find the lowlands fascinating, although they are generally on their guard against "downland tricksters." The same wanderlust that keeps goliath tribes moving often keeps a lone goliath among humans for far longer than he originally intended.

RACIAL TRAITS

+4 Strength, -2 Dexterity, +2 Constitution, -2 Intelligence: Goliaths are massively muscled, but their bulk sometimes gets in the way when they're trying to be nimble.

Medium: Goliaths are Medium creatures and have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.

Mountaineer: A Goliath has a +2 to climb and survival checks, thanks to their mountain heritage.

Giant Subtype: A goliath has the giant subtype and is counted as a humanoid (giant) for any effect related to race.

Acclimated: Goliaths are automatically acclimated to life at high altitudes. Unlike other denizens of the mountains, goliaths don't lose their acclimation to high altitude even if they spend months or years at lower elevations.

Body Language: When speaking to one another, goliaths tend to augment their verbal communication with subtle body language. Goliaths receive a +2 racial bonus to Sense Motive checks.

Stone's Endurance: Goliaths recieve a +1 natural armor bonus to Armor Class.

Tenacity: Goliaths recieve a +2 bonus to Will saves.

Powerful Build: Whenever a goliath is subject to a size modifier or special size modifier for CMB, the goliath is treated as large if doing so is advantageous to him. A goliath is also considered to be large when determining whether a creature’s special attacks based on size (such as improved grab or swallow whole) can affect him. A goliath can use weapons designed for a large creature without the -2 penalty. However, his space and reach remain those of a creature of his actual size. If a spell or effect changes the goliath’s size to large or larger, the abilities of the spell or effect override the effects of powerful build.

Big Grip: Goliaths can wield weapons intended for Large creatures without a -2 penalty.

Weapon Familiarity: Goliaths' superior bulk helps them wield heavier than normal weapons. Goliaths treat exotic weapons which can be wielded in two hands as martial weapons by Medium creatures, such as bastard swords and dwarven waraxes, as martial weapons.

Darkvision: Goliaths can see in the dark up to 60 feet.

Languages: Goliaths begin play speaking Common and Gol-Kaa. Goliaths with high intelligence scores can choose from the following: Dwarven, Giant, Gnoll, Terran.

RACIAL FEATS