If you’ve only played with theDungeons & Dragons2014 Player’s Handbook, you might not be familiar at all with goliaths. That’s because they weren’t introduced until the sourcebook Volo’s Guide To Monsters was launched two whole years later.

Thanks to the 2024 Player’s Handbook, a lot more people are going to be introduced to goliaths. But, of course, that leads to the questions of what a goliath even is, and how do you build one to be your character. This guide will answer these questions as well as give some ideas for what direction to take these larger-than-life humanoids in.

Dungeons & Dragons 2024 Player’s artwork of goliaths moving a stone pillar.

What Is A Goliath?

Theancestry of a goliath is very important,and is a major focus in the 2024 Player’s handbook. It’s not just important for backstory, but alsoa crucial decisionyou need to make when making a goliath.

Goliaths arethe descendants of various types of giants. There aresix of these ancestries in total that are referencedin the 2024 Player’s Handbook.

Dungeons & Dragons 2024 Player’s Handbook a goliath cleric prays to their holy symbol.

Each of these giantshas their ownappearance, their own strengths and weaknesses, and they have passed down impressive portions of themselves to all of the giants and goliaths that have come after. However, it is worth noting thatwhile they have inherited a great dealfrom their powerful family lines, theydo not feel bound to carry the same grudges and disagreementsthat their giant-kin had or still have.

Goliath Traits

Goliaths havethree unique traits. Which does mean thatthey suffer the samevision difficulties as humansand some other species when it comesto traversing in dim light and darknessas, unfortunately, they don’t receive Darkvision. However, if you were playing a goliath using Volo’s Guide To Monsters or Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse,that’s not a new development.

Descriptions

Giant Ancestry

Choose one of six ancestry options. Each gives their own boon.

Large Form (At Level Five)

Change your size to large as a bonus action.

While transformed, you have advantage on Strength checks and your speed increases.

Powerful Build

You have advantage against checks to end being grappled.

You count as one size larger when it comes to your carry capacity.

Matching the different types of giants your character can be descended from, you choosefrom those six options and that becomes your ancestry. When you do pick one, you aregiven a boonthat you can use a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus.

Large Giant Holding Up A Rock so that adventurers can escape.

Boon Effect

Cloud’s Jaunt

Using a bonus action, you may teleport up to 30 feet away.

You must land in an unoccupied space.

Fire’s Burn

When you hit an attack roll and damage a target, you can deal 1d10 fire damage to it as well.

Frost’s Chill

When you hit an attack roll and damage a target, you’re able to deal 1d6 cold damage.

This also reduces the speed of the target by ten feet until your next turn starts.

DND Hill Giant Barbarian shirtless standing in a cloudy environment.

Hill’s Tumble

When you hit an attack roll and damage a target, you’re able to knock it prone.

Stone’s Endurance

When you take damage, you may use a reaction to reduce it by 1d12 plus your Constitution modifier.

Storm’s Thunder

When you take damage, you’re able to use a reaction to deal 1d8 thunder damage to the creature.

They must be within 60 feet of you.

Once you pick one of these options, while you may use that boon multiple times, youdo not change the boon, or your ancestry, again. So you’ll want to think aboutthe type of character you want to playbefore making your choice.

For instance, if you know that you will befunctioning as a tank, protecting a party of characters that have fewer hit points and a lower Armor Class (AC), thenStone’s Endurance might be a good path for you.

Dungeons & Dragons goliath monk warrior of mercy by Oliver Bernard on a blurred background.

Or, you can also pay less attention to what these options are if you want to pickbased on your backstory instead. Perhaps you already know thatyour family is descended from fire giants,you can now use your family’s boonto deal extra fire damage.

Once you have that picked and settled, you will also gain your Powerful Build trait right away. It says that you canroll with advantage to end a grapple effect. However, it doesn’t say this is to stop a grapple from happening in the first place. you’re able to check with your Dungeon Master (DM) to see how they interpret the ruling.

Dungeons & Dragons 2024 Player’s Handbook goliath barbarian in the jaws of a slain beast by Denman Rooke.

Anytime you are unclearon a rule or option,consult your DM. They will make the final determination or may work with you to bend or stray away from certain rules altogether.

Powerful Build also has you count asbeing a size larger when it comes to your carrying capacity. If your DM uses over-encumbrance, this will be very helpful when travelingwithout any storage or safe-keeping options. Not to mention if you have tocarry a party member aroundfor any reason.

Then, when your character reachestheir fifth level, they gain access tothe Large Form trait. As long as you’rein a big enough spaceto accommodate it, you willgrowa size larger. This gives youadvantage on any of your Strength checksas well asten additional feet of movement. This transformation lasts forten minutes or until you decide to end the effectas a free action. Once you do this, you’re able to’t do it againuntil you finish a long rest.

Without any spells affecting these stats, youstart as a medium humanoid with 35 feet of movement. This trait would let you becomea large humanoid with 45 feet of movement. There are a number of reasons for wanting to change your size, such as trying to grapple a large creature. And there’s rarely ever a time being faster won’t be more beneficial.

Want to be even bigger? Either cast on yourself or have an allycast Enlarge/Reduce on you. Want to be faster?Cast Longstrider on yourselfor have an ally cast it on you. If Longstrider isn’t available,consider Hasteinstead.

Which Class Should You Consider?

Goliaths are built to beoffensive threats and defensive wallsthanks to the combination of all of their traits.You won’t go wrong with a martial class, such as a barbarian or a fighter.

However, there are some classes that canhave their weaknesses smoothed overif you decide to play as a goliath. A wizard is a good example. One of a wizards greatest weaknessesis their health pool. You’ve probably seen a meme or two joking about a wizard dying from a rat bite. Well, it’s a reality when wizards are at low levels.

Buta wizard that gets to use Stone’s Enduranceto reduce their damage taken? Well, now you are less of a glass cannon and more like a cardstock cannon.You’d still have to be carefulas you can only useone reaction per turn(without any abilities or items), but this would give youa lot more in terms of survivability.

A ranger with Hill’s Tumblecan set up for your martial teammates to just batter a prone enemy,giving them advantage on their attackswhile the target stays prone.

There are reallytwo ways to go about picking a classafter you’ve decided you want to play a goliath. How can yourboon help you best? That is the example of the wizard, now able to reduce some of the damage coming their way. The other is,how can your boon help your party? Which is the example of the ranger.

Differences In The 2024 Player’s Handbook

Goliathswere not featured in the 2014 Player’s Handbook, and so are now a base species you can pick,without any supplemental sourcebooks. However, goliaths were featured inother official Fifth Edition bookswhich were mentioned above.

In Volo’s GuideTo Monsters, goliaths had30 feet of movement instead of 35and had four traits. Powerful Build and Stone’s Endurance were among them. The reason that you’d get Stone’s Endurance is becausethere was no picking your ancestry;all goliaths got the same thing.

The other two wereNatural Athlete, which gave you advantage on all Athletics checks, and Mountain Born, which…didn’t do a whole lot at the time outside of situational settings. Youwere acclimated to altitudes of 20,000 feetor higher as well ascold weather.

In Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse, Mountain Born at leastgave you resistance to cold damagewhile maintaining the whole altitude thing. And, sticking with Mordendainen’s book, the other change was thatNatural Athlete and Powerful Build were combinedinto a traitcalled Little Giant.

Flash forward to the 2024 Player’s Handbook andLittle Giant was dismantled.Powerful Build returned in name, but now with that ability to gain advantage toend grapplesas well asbe considered a size largerfor carrying purposes.