Goliath

In the southern Heelcrush Mountains, the goliath clans live a grueling existence. Food, water, and shelter are rare. A single mistake can bring doom to an entire tribe, while an individual’s heroic effort can ensure the entire group’s survival. Goliaths thus place a premium on self-sufficiency and individual skill. They have a compulsion to keep score, counting their deeds and tallying their accomplishments to compare to others. Goliaths love to win, but they see defeat as a prod to improve their skills. They mostly keep to themselves among their mountain homes, seeing the other mortal races as soft and privileged.
In the southern mountains of Dalmaya--far above the slopes where trees grow and where the air is thin and the frigid winds howl--the goliaths live a grueling existence. Goliaths wander a bleak realm of rock, wind, and cold, where clans reside on individual peaks. Their bodies look as if they are carved from mountain stone and give them great physical power. Their hearts are infused with the cold regard of their frigid realm, leaving each goliath with the responsibility to earn a place in the clan or die trying.

Driven Competitors

Every day brings a new challenge to a goliath. Food, water, and shelter are rare in the mountain reaches. A single mistake can bring doom to an entire clan, while an individual’s heroic effort can ensure the entire group’s survival.
Goliaths thus value self-sufficiency and individual skill. They have a compulsion to keep score, counting their deeds and tallying their accomplishments to compare to others. Goliaths love to win, but they see defeat as a prod to improve their skills. Their mountains are home to multitudes of powerful and dangerous spirits that make good fodder for their training.
This dedication to competition has a dark side. Goliaths are ferocious competitors, but above all else they are driven to outdo their past efforts. If a goliath slays a mighty beast, he or she might seek out a larger, more powerful beast to battle. Few goliath adventurers reach old age, as most die attempting to surpass their past accomplishments.

Fair Pragmatism

For goliaths, competition exists only when it is supported by a level playing field. Competition measures talent, dedication, and effort. Those factors determine survival in their home territory, not reliance on magic items, money, or other elements that can tip the balance one way or the other. Goliaths happily rely on such benefits, but they are careful to remember that such an advantage can always be lost. A goliath who relies too much on them can grow complacent, a recipe for disaster in the mountains.
This trait manifests most strongly when goliaths interact with other folk. The relationship between peasants and nobles puzzles goliaths. Goliaths rarely keep such opinions to themselves, and mock folk who rely on society’s structures or rules to maintain power. This has led to heightened tensions with the Dhelesian Empire in the north, whom the goliaths view as soft and privileged and not worthy of their self-proclaimed prestige.

Survival of the Fittest

Goliaths place an extremely high premium on their Vigor. The physical prowess of the goliath is what sets them apart from the other mortal races. Among goliaths, any adult who can’t contribute to the tribe is expelled. A lone goliath has little chance of survival, especially an older or weaker one. Goliaths have little pity for adults who can’t take care of themselves, though a sick or injured individual is treated, as a result of the goliath concept of fair play.
A permanently injured goliath is still expected to pull his or her weight in the clan. Typically, such a goliath dies attempting to keep up, or the goliath slips away in the night to seek the cold will of fate.
In some ways, the goliath fixation on their vigor feeds into the grim inevitability of their decline and death. A goliath would much rather die in battle, at the peak of strength and skill, than endure the slow decay of old age. Few folk have ever meet an elderly goliath, and even those goliaths who have left their people grapple with the urge to give up their lives as their physical skills decay.
Because of their risk-taking, goliath clans suffer from a chronic lack of the experience offered by long- term leaders. They hope for innate wisdom in their leadership, for they can rarely count on a wisdom grown with age.

Goliath Traits

Goliaths share a number of traits in common with each other

Ability Score Increase

Your Strength score increases by 2, and your Constitution score increases by 1.

Age

Goliaths have natural lifespans comparable to humans. They enter adulthood in their late teens and usually live less than a century.

Alignment

Goliath society, with its clear roles and tasks, has a strong lawful bent. The goliath sense of fairness, balanced with an emphasis on self-sufficiency and personal accountability, pushes them toward neutrality.

Size

Goliaths are between 7 and 8 feet tall and weigh between 280 and 340 pounds. Your size is Medium.

Natural Athletes

You have proficiency in the Athletics skill.

Stone's Endurance

You can focus yourself to occasionally shrug off injury. When you take damage, you can use your reaction to roll a d12. Add your Constitution modifier to the number rolled and reduce the damage by that total. After you use this trait, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

Powerful Build

You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.

Mountain Born

You have resistance to cold damage. You’re also acclimated to high altitude, including elevations above 20,000 feet.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common and Giant.