Giantkin are a race of humanoid creatures descended (sometimes more distantly) from giants. They are known for their impressive size and strength, and their kin each have unique cultural and physical characteristics.

Firbolgs are a peaceful and reclusive subrace of giantkin, known for their strong connection to nature and their ability to commune with nature. They are often found living in remote forests or mountains, and are known to be powerful druids and protectors of the natural world. Firbolgs are gentle and contemplative creatures, valuing harmony and balance above all else. They are often distrusting of outsiders, but can be fiercely loyal to those they consider friends.

Goliaths, on the other hand, are a more nomadic and competitive subrace of giantkin, known for their prowess in combat and their love of challenge. They are often found in mountain ranges or other harsh environments, and are known to be skilled warriors and climbers. Goliaths value strength and honor, and often engage in friendly contests of strength and skill to prove their worth. They are proud and self-reliant creatures, but also value their connections to their tribe or community.

Both Firbolgs and Goliaths are known for their impressive size and strength, and are often able to perform feats of physical strength that other races would find impossible. They have a unique cultural connection to the giants from which they descended.

Giantkin Names

Giantkin have varied cultures for names, as seen in their subrace options.

Giantkin Traits

Your Giantkin character has the following racial Traits.

Creature Type. You are a Humanoid.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

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

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

Random Height and Weight

You may roll for your character’s height and weight. The roll in the Height Modifier column adds a number (in inches) to the character’s base height. To get a weight, multiply the number you rolled for height by the roll in the Weight Modifier column and add the result (in pounds) to the base weight.

"We spent three months Tracking the green Dragon before locating the Forest in which it sought refuge. On our second day in that place, we woke to find the dragon’s head placed in the center of our camp. Soveliss told me that firbolgs must have claimed the Forest, and they wanted to show us we had no further business there. If we lingered, he assured me, our heads would be next." —Gimble, Notes from a Treasure Hunter

Firbolg tribes cloister in remote forest strongholds, preferring to spend their days in quiet harmony with the woods. When provoked, firbolgs demonstrate formidable skills with weapons and Druidic magic.

Distant cousins of Giants, the first firbolgs wandered the primeval forests of the multiverse, and the magic of those forests entwined itself with the firbolgs’ souls. Centuries later, that magic still thrums inside a firbolg, even one who has never lived under the boughs of a great forest.

A firbolg’s magic is an obscuring sort, which allowed their ancestors to pass through a forest without disturbing it. So deep is the connection between a firbolg and the wild places of the world that they can communicate with flora and fauna.

Humble Guardians

Firbolgs love nothing more than a peaceful day spent among the trees of an old forest. They see forests as sacred places, representing the heart of the world and monuments to the durability of life.

In their role as caretakers, firbolgs live off the land while striving to remain in balance with nature. Their methods reflect common sense and remarkable resourcefulness. During a bountiful summer, they store away excess nuts, fruit, and berries. When winter arrives, they scatter everything they can spare to ensure the animals of the wood survive until springtime.

In a firbolg’s eyes, there is no greater fault than greed. The firbolgs believe that the world remains healthiest when each creature takes only what it needs. Material goods, especially precious gems and gold, have little appeal to them. What use are such things when winter lingers and food runs short?

Natural Druids

Firbolgs have a talent for Druidic magic. Their cultural reverence for nature, combined with their strong and insightful minds, makes learning such magic an instinctive part of their development. Almost every firbolg learns a few spells, typically those used to mask their presence, and many go on to master nature magic.

Firbolgs who become druids serve as stronghold leaders. With every action the tribe takes, the druids weigh not only the group’s needs, but the effect each action will have on the forest and the rest of the natural world. Firbolg tribes would rather go hungry than strain the land during a famine.

Hidden Shepherds

As caretakers of the land, firbolgs prefer to remain out of sight and out of mind. They don’t try to dominate nature, but rather seek to ensure that it prospers and survives according to its own laws.

Firbolgs use their magic to keep their presence in a forest secret. This approach allows them to avoid the politics and struggles of elves, humans, and orcs. Such events concern the firbolgs only when the events affect the forest.

Even in the face of an intrusion, firbolgs prefer a subtle, gentle approach to prevent damage to their territory. They employ their magic to make the forest an unappealing place to explore by temporarily diverting springs, driving away game, stealing critical tools, and altering trails to leave hunting or lumber parties hopelessly lost. The firbolgs’ presence is marked by an absence of animals and a strange quiet, as if the forest wishes to avoid attracting attention to itself. The faster travelers decide to move on, the better.

If these tactics fail, the firbolgs take more direct action. Their observations of a settlement determine what happens next. If the outsiders seem peaceful, the firbolgs approach and gently ask them to leave, even offering food and other supplies to aid their departure. If those who insist on remaining respect nature, take only what they need, and live in harmony with the wood, firbolgs explore the possibility of friendship with them, as long as the outsiders vow to safeguard the forest. If the settlers clearly display evil intentions, however, the firbolgs martial their strength and magic for a single overwhelming attack.

Outcast Adventurers

As guardians of the wood, few firbolgs would dream of leaving their homes or attempting to fit into human society. An exiled firbolg, or one whose clan has been destroyed, might not have a choice in the matter. Most adventuring firbolgs fall into this latter category.

Outcast firbolgs can never return home. They committed some unforgivable deed, usually something that put their Homeland at risk, such as starting a forest fire or killing a rare or beautiful wild creature. These firbolgs are loners who wander the world in hope of finding a new place to call home.

Orphaned firbolgs are those whose clans or Homelands have been destroyed. They become crusaders for nature, seeking to avenge their loss and prevent the further destruction of the natural world.

A few rare firbolgs are entrusted by their clan with an important mission that takes them beyond their homes. These firbolgs feel like pilgrims in a strange land, and usually they wish only to complete their Quests and return home as quickly as possible.

The Firbolg Adventurers table can serve as inspiration for determining why a firbolg character leaves home.

Firbolg Adventurers

Firbolg Names

Firbolg adopt elven names when they must deal with outsiders, although the concept of names strikes them as strange. They know the animals and plants of the forest without formal names, and instead identify the forest’s children by their deeds, habits, and other actions.

By the same token, their tribe names merely refer to their homes. When dealing with other races, firbolgs refer to their lands by whatever name the surrounding folk use, as a matter of tact and hospitality, but among their own kind they simply call it "home".

Sometimes firbolgs adopt the nicknames or titles outsiders give them under the assumption that those who need names can call them whatever they wish.

Firbolg Traits

Age. As humanoids related to the fey, firbolg have long lifespans. A firbolg reaches adulthood around 30, and the oldest of them can live for 400 years.

Size. Firbolg are between 7 and 8 feet tall and weigh between 240 and 300 pounds. Your size is Medium.

Firbolg Magic. You can cast the Detect Magic and Disguise Self spells with this trait. When you use this version of Disguise Self, you can seem up to 3 feet shorter or taller. Once you've cast either spell using this trait, you cannot use this trait again until you finish a long rest. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for these spells.

Hidden Step. As a bonus action, you can magically turn Invisible until the start of your next turn or until you attack, make a damage roll, or force someone to make a saving throw. You can use this trait a number of times equal to half your Proficiency Bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Speech of Beast and Leaf. You have the ability to communicate in a limited manner with Beasts and Plants granting advantage on charisma checks when communicating to them⁠. They can understand the meaning of your words, though you have no Special ability to understand them in return.

Languages. You can speak, read, and write Elvish.

"Goliaths can prove useful allies, but never turn to them in weakness. They are as hard and unforgiving as the Mountain stone, as cold and pitiless as its bitter, cold winds. If you approach them in Strength, they might consider you worthy of an alliance." —Tordek, A Guide to the Peaks

At the highest mountain peaks — far above the slopes where trees grow and where the air is thin and the frigid winds howl — dwell the reclusive goliaths. Few folk can claim to have seen a goliath, and fewer still can claim friendship with them. Goliaths wander a bleak realm of rock, wind, and cold. Their bodies look as if they are carved from mountain stone and give them great physical power. Their spirits take after the wandering wind, making them nomads who wander from peak to peak. Their hearts are infused with the cold regard of their frigid realm, leaving each goliath with the responsibility to earn a place in the tribe or die trying.

Driven Competitors

Every day brings a new challenge to a goliath. Food, water, and shelter are rare in the uppermost mountain reaches. 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.

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 dragon, he or she might seek out a larger, more powerful wyrm to battle. Few goliath adventurers reach old age, as most die attempting to surpass their past accomplishments.

Fair Play

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. If a king lacks the intelligence or leadership to lead, then clearly the most talented person in the kingdom should take his place. Goliaths rarely keep such opinions to themselves, and mock folk who rely on society’s structures or rules to maintain power.

Survival of the Fittest

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 tribe. 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 drive to outdo themselves 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 tribes 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 Names

Every goliath has three names: a birth name assigned by the newborn’s mother and father, a nickname assigned by the tribal chief, and a family or clan name. A birth name is up to three syllables long. Clan names are five syllables or more and end in a vowel.

Birth names are rarely linked to gender. Goliaths see females and males as equal in all things, and they find societies with roles divided by gender to be puzzling or worthy of mockery. To a goliath, the person who is best at a job should be the one tasked with doing it.

A goliath’s nickname is a description that can change on the whim of a chieftain or tribal elder. It refers to a notable deed, either a success or failure, committed by the goliath. Goliaths assign and use nicknames with their friends of other races, and change them to refer to an individual’s notable deeds.

Goliaths present all three names when identifying themselves, in the order of birth name, nickname, and clan name. In casual conversation, they use their nickname.

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

Goliath Traits

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

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

Little Giant. You have proficiency in the Athletics skill.

Stone’s Endurance. You can supernaturally draw on unyielding stone to shrug off harm. 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. You can use this trait a number of times equal to your Proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Mountain Born. You have resistance to Cold damage. You also naturally acclimate to high altitudes, even if you’ve never been to one. This includes elevations above 20,000 feet.