# Race: Firbolg > [!info] Quick Facts > | | | > |---|---| > | **Rarity** | Rare | > | **Perception in Gryth** | Neutral. Rarely seen, rarely troublesome, and generally left in peace. Where they are known at all it is usually as traders in things nobody else can source, or as the goliaths’ quieter cousins. | > | **Guide Section** | Rare Races | ## Overview Firbolgs are native to [[Continent - Ganath|Ganath]], and most of them live in Githwin, the vast unmapped interior that outsiders call the [[Region - The United Wildlands|United Wildlands]]. They are gentle giant-kin, deeply bound to the natural world, and they take considerable trouble to stay out of the politics and wars of the smaller peoples. A firbolg would generally rather not be found at all, and has the magic to arrange it. ## Of the Giant Kin Firbolgs belong to the giant family, alongside the goliaths and the giants themselves. The relationship is not disputed and is not well understood, and the three branches have almost nothing else in common: where the goliaths took the mountains and built their culture on strength, the firbolgs took the forests and built theirs on balance. Most of Gryth, encountering a firbolg at all, files them as the goliaths’ peaceful and simple cousins. The second half of that is wrong and the firbolgs have never bothered to correct it. ## Tribal Clusters in Githwin Firbolg society is a loose scatter of tribal clusters rather than anything a cartographer could draw a border around. Each group keeps to its own stretch of forest or plateau, and the whole is held together by druidic and shamanistic practice rather than by any authority. Their religion is their governance: the land is read, the seasons are kept, and decisions are made by people who have spent a lifetime learning what the ground will tolerate. In Githwin this makes them one community among a great many, sharing a thousand kilometres of unmapped forest with wood elves, drow, trolls, goblins, fairies and whatever else has found shelter there. Unlike most of those neighbours, the firbolgs have no quarrel running with anybody, which in that country is a considerable achievement. ## Quiet Traders They are not hermits. Firbolgs gather compulsively, which is a natural extension of knowing a forest intimately, and what they gather is worth a great deal to people who do not: rare herbs, medicinal barks and roots, resins, fungi, and seeds that grow nowhere a trader could reach. Firbolg goods therefore turn up at the edges of Githwin, in the border communities that deal cautiously with the interior, carried in by firbolgs who conduct their business politely, accept a fair price, and are gone before anybody has thought to ask where exactly they came from. Those goods are part of why foreign interests have begun pushing into Githwin at all. The firbolgs have noticed. ## Firbolg Traits **Ability Score Increase.** Your Wisdom score increases by 2, and your Strength score increases by 1. **Age.** As humans, firbolgs reach adulthood in their late teens, though they live up to 500 years. **Creature Type.** You are a Humanoid. **Size.** Firbolgs are between 7 and 8 feet tall and weigh between 240 and 300 pounds. Your size is Medium. **Speed.** Your base walking speed is 30 feet. **Firbolg Magic.** You can cast *detect magic* and *disguise self* with this trait, using Wisdom as your spellcasting ability for them. Once you cast either spell, you cannot cast it again with this trait until you finish a short or long rest. When you use this version of *disguise self*, you can seem up to 3 feet shorter than normal, allowing you to blend in more easily with humans and elves. **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. Once you use this trait, you cannot 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. **Speech of Beast and Leaf.** You can communicate in a limited manner with beasts and plants. They can understand the meaning of your words, though you have no special ability to understand them in return. You have advantage on all Charisma checks you make to influence them. **Languages.** You can speak, read, and write Common, Elvish, and Giant. ## Connections - [[Continent - Ganath]] — Native continent - [[Region - The United Wildlands]] — Githwin, the vast unmapped interior where most firbolgs live - [[Race - Goliath]] — Giant kin; "the goliaths’ quieter cousins" --- ## Gallery ![[Race - Firbolg.jpg]] --- *See also: [[Races]]*