[3.5] Goliath Barbarian - what build options do I have?

[Shadroth]

So our group started a new adventuring party this evening :D While most of the other players had worked out basic things like races and classes, and had got to work on skill points and feats, I was still dithering over what to do for my character.

At one point I was considering a Dwarf that dual-wielded Waraxes, and I was flicking through Races of Stone that the DM had left lying around on the table and happened to glance at the Goliath race entry. One of ability scores I rolled was an 18, and a +4 racial Strength bonus sounded appealing! After a brief temptation to look at Monk (sadly Powerful Build doesn't make you deal unarmed damage as a Large creature for Monks) I just took Barbarian for the epic strength score when raging.

We're starting at ECL2, so I only have one class level so far. My ability scores:
STR 22 (18+4)
DEX 11 (13-2)
CON 16 (14+2)
INT 12
WIS 10
CHA 8

I put the 12 into Int so I could speak Dwarven, which ties me in with most of the rest of the party better for roleplaying reasons. I took Power Attack as my level one feat. I'm hoping to convince my DM to let me "buy off" my Level Adjustment as per Unearthed Arcana.

After doing some research on the topic of builds, I'm more confused than ever as to the possibilities. I'm not sure what a Dungeoncrasher is, let alone if my DM will allow it. Pretty sure Tome of Battle is a no-go, as are all of the setting specific books (Realms/Eberron etc), but other books might be allowed with a good reason.

Other than "two-handed power attacks for massive damage" I haven't gotten any further with a concept to plan around yet. What options are there, and what should I be looking at?

One last question - I saw someone mention that Goliaths have Darkvision? I don't see it in their racial traits, and I can't find any extra rules that key off the "monstrous humanoid" type. I thought it was odd for a Race of Stone to not be able to see in the dark very well.

[Gullara]

In Races of Stone, there are racial substitution levels for Goliath Barbarians. You can take it on level one to get Mountain Rage, which increases your size to large while you're raging. I would recommend it highly.

[Answerer]

Definition of Monstrous Humanoid (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/typesSubtypes.htm#monstrousHumanoidType)

Monstrous Humanoid Type
Monstrous humanoids are similar to humanoids, but with monstrous or animalistic features. They often have magical abilities as well.

Features
A monstrous humanoid has the following features.

8-sided Hit Dice.
Base attack bonus equal to total Hit Dice (as fighter).
Good Reflex and Will saves.
Skill points equal to (2 + Int modifier, minimum 1) per Hit Die, with quadruple skill points for the first Hit Die.

Traits
A monstrous humanoid possesses the following traits (unless otherwise noted in a creature’s entry).

Darkvision out to 60 feet.
Proficient with all simple weapons and any weapons mentioned in its entry.
Proficient with whatever type of armor (light, medium, or heavy) it is described as wearing, as well as all lighter types. Monstrous humanoids not indicated as wearing armor are not proficient with armor. Monstrous humanoids are proficient with shields if they are proficient with any form of armor.
Monstrous humanoids eat, sleep, and breathe.(emphasis mine)

For a Goliath Barbarian, I strongly recommend the Mountain Rage ACF and the Knockback feat, both in Races of Stone. They're very good.

For any Barbarian, the Lion Spirit Totem from Complete Champion trades Fast Movement for Pounce – that's an excellent trade. The Wolf Totem from Unearthed Arcana (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#wolfTotemClassFeatures ) gets Improved Trip without prerequisites at 2nd instead of Uncanny Dodge; also an excellent deal. Complete Champion's Spirit Totems and Unearthed Arcana's Totems are not mutually exclusive; you can take both as long as both don't trade the same feature.

I therefore recommend a Goliath Barbarian with Mountain Rage and Knockback, Lion Spirit Totem, and Wolf Totem. After two levels, though, I'd strongly consider multiclassing: you've gotten the best features of the class until 11th level. If you do multiclass, Extra Rage (Complete Warrior) is a good idea. If you get Improved Trip, you want Combat Reflexes. Any Barbarian likes Power Attack, of course. Going into Improved Bull Rush and then Shock Trooper (Complete Warrior) is moving you into charger mode, which is a pretty reliable way to hurt people.

For a weapon, assuming you go with the Wolf Totem, you're best off with 1. two-hands, 2. reach, and 3. ability to trip. That means Guisarme, or if you really want, Spiked Chain. If you go Guisarme, a Spiked Gauntlet or Armor Spikes just so you threaten and can AoO squares adjacent to you is desirable.

If you don't have Wolf Totem, and are focusing more on charges, a Lance is clearly the best weapon, thanks to double damage. I mean, duh, double damage.

Good multiclass options include Dungeoncrasher (Fighter ACF from Dungeonscape; goes great with Knockback), Psychic Warrior or War Mind, or maybe even Ardent (Complete Psionics), and of course Crusader or Warblade. A single level of Cleric is breathtakingly useful for an astonishingly large number of builds, thanks to Domains, Devotion Feats, and Divine Feats.

[Vaz]

You could go Psychic Warrior and attempt to get powers like Expansion etc?

Dungeoncrasher is a Fighter Alternate Class Feature; you trade your Bonus Feats gained at certain levels (2 and 6, IIRC) in return for the benefits. You can get this in Dungeonscape, I think.

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/typesSubtypes.htm

Go to Monstrous Humanoid; under traits, they get 60ft Darkvision.

[Krazzman]

So our group started a new adventuring party this evening :D While most of the other players had worked out basic things like races and classes, and had got to work on skill points and feats, I was still dithering over what to do for my character.

At one point I was considering a Dwarf that dual-wielded Waraxes, and I was flicking through Races of Stone that the DM had left lying around on the table and happened to glance at the Goliath race entry. One of ability scores I rolled was an 18, and a +4 racial Strength bonus sounded appealing! After a brief temptation to look at Monk (sadly Powerful Build doesn't make you deal unarmed damage as a Large creature for Monks) I just took Barbarian for the epic strength score when raging.

We're starting at ECL2, so I only have one class level so far. My ability scores:
STR 22 (18+4)
DEX 11 (13-2)
CON 16 (14+2)
INT 12
WIS 10
CHA 8

I put the 12 into Int so I could speak Dwarven, which ties me in with most of the rest of the party better for roleplaying reasons. I took Power Attack as my level one feat. I'm hoping to convince my DM to let me "buy off" my Level Adjustment as per Unearthed Arcana.

After doing some research on the topic of builds, I'm more confused than ever as to the possibilities. I'm not sure what a Dungeoncrasher is, let alone if my DM will allow it. Pretty sure Tome of Battle is a no-go, as are all of the setting specific books (Realms/Eberron etc), but other books might be allowed with a good reason.

Other than "two-handed power attacks for massive damage" I haven't gotten any further with a concept to plan around yet. What options are there, and what should I be looking at?

One last question - I saw someone mention that Goliaths have Darkvision? I don't see it in their racial traits, and I can't find any extra rules that key off the "monstrous humanoid" type. I thought it was odd for a Race of Stone to not be able to see in the dark very well.

Your Options? A THF (two-handed-fighting) is exactly what you want to do as a barbarian. I guess you have read the Barbarian Handbook on this board.
Options you could go for are: Charging, depending on your group's "optimizationlevel" you either kill everything in one round or two. (For that matter why is ToB a no-go?)

There is a Barbarian Alternative Class Feature that gives him Pounce on first level. Pounce let's you resolve ALL your attacks in a charge.

Dungeoncrasher Fighter is a Fighter Variant found in the Dungeonscape Rulebook. It basically features crashing enemies into the walls of a dungeon.

As a Goliath you could benefit from Powerful build if you make a "simple" trip-attack build. To have or not have a nasty +4 bonus due to race sometimes all there is to do this. Although if you think about Dungeoncrasher: go for Bull-rush.

For now all you can take anyway is Powerattack. Try to find a way to either push your to-hit further (avoid Weapon Focus and such feats that only give a lousy +1 bonus). +7 to Hit while still maintaining full PA is quite nice till level 6 (assuming MW Weapon without Rage).

Other options could be focusing on Intimidate as that keys of size too. Dunno if Powerful Build works for it but Intimidating Rage and so on... let's you have a Fear-effect aura, might not be "good" but can be flavourful. My advice is: look into the following books: Dungeonscape, CompWarrior, PHB2 and Unearthed Arcana (for the Whirling Frenzy Rage alternative class feature)

Hope this helps.

[Keld Denar]

The biggest draw to Goliath is the fact that Powerful Build qualifies you for the Knockback feat also in Races of Stone. Go read it...I'll wait here.

Ok, that's done. The wheels should be turning. Power Attack + Imp Bull Rush + Knockback is the feat path. Every time you Power Attack a foe, you have a chance to toss them back in the opposite direction. This is very nice action denial, since if they have to move back to threaten you, they probably won't get to full attack you.

Dungeoncrasher (from the book Dungeonscape) it's icing on the cake from there.

I once played a Goliath Suel Arcanamach from Complete Arcane. I had the DM refluff the ancient Suelioese language to Ancient Dethek, the old Dwarven rune language. It was pretty neat, plus triggering Knockback with the Whirling Blade spell is hilarious.

[Gwendol]

Yup, Goliaths are more or less Knock-Back: the race.

[Fouredged Sword]

With mountain rage, one thing to consider is warhulk. You become large when raging. Warhulk would not advance anything but HD for you when you are not raging, but it would add +2 strength per level while you are raging and allow you to hit multiple squares with each swing. A four level dip would not be too crippling to your non-raging state while adding +8 to your strength while raging and allow all your attacks to act as mini whirlwind attacks, hitting all the targets in three squares with one attack roll.

One build is Barbarian 2 / shapeshifter druid 3 / warshaper 4 / warhulk 4 / shapeshifter druid 7.

La buy off at 3rd level.

You rock a massive strength in most situations as shifting will grant you +8 to strength, minimum, and warhulk adds another +8, followed by +6 from mountain rage and your naturally high strength. Your attacks all hit three squares, allowing you to have exploding numbers of great cleaves with your massive bite attack.

You have fast healing, immunity to crits, and the ability to cast up to 5th level druid spells.

[Gullara]

Is there any reason you wouldn't gain the benefits of Warhulk all the time? As far as I can see, it only requires you to be large to qualify, not for individual class features. And in either case, doesn't Powerful Build cover that requirement anyway? (It's been a while since I've read Powerful Build).

[Fouredged Sword]

War hulk requires you to be large to qualify for the class. When you are not large you don't qualify for the class and loose your class features. Powerful build does not qualify you as large for feats or PRC's.

This is actually a good thing, because you maintain your ability to use most of your skills out of combat.

[supermonkeyjoe]

Is there any reason you wouldn't gain the benefits of Warhulk all the time? As far as I can see, it only requires you to be large to qualify, not for individual class features. And in either case, doesn't Powerful Build cover that requirement anyway? (It's been a while since I've read Powerful Build).

There is text in one of the splat books, possibly complete warrior, that describes how if you stop meeting the prerequisites for a PrC you lose all of its benefits (this creates the Dragon Disciple Paradox) so in the case of War hulk you would only be massively strong when large or bigger (fun for incredible hulk builds)

[Gullara]

Ah, I see. Then wouldn't that disqualify you from taking the PrC to begin with? You're not a large creature, you're just large some of the time. Psychic Warriors can't qualify just because they get Expansion, for instance.

[Fouredged Sword]

There is a debate about this. I say they can. You simply do not get the class features without having expansion active. Others say you don't qualify. The debate stems from the fact that you can use non-permanent effects like a ring of evasion (you can take it off) to qualify for PRC.

If there is a DM issue with the qualification, you get a permenancied enlarge person at 9th level and dispel it shortly after you level.

[Gwendol]

Not if your race is goliath though (monstrous humanoid).

[Fouredged Sword]

Get another size booster then. I can't think of one off hand though.

[silverwolfer]

One build is Barbarian 2 / shapeshifter druid 3 / warshaper 4 / warhulk 4 / shapeshifter druid 7.



why would you take shapeshifter druid? If you are large , you do not become "large" wolf when you shape shift

shapeshifter druid is very focused and limited in a method that was meant for it not to be abuse able

[Fouredged Sword]

Shapeshifer druid modifies the size of the base creature, rather than replaces it. In the shifted form you maintain both powerful build and any size increases you have.

Yes, in fact, you do become a large wolf.

Note you also maintain hands, you just loose any weapons you carry into the shift. It is less of a wolf, more of a werewolf.

[silverwolfer]

okay am going to ask...

is this the PHBII variant or some other variant? If so what is the source please


The only forms I know that get hands that is the elemental forms, I don't see wolfs have hands.

[Fouredged Sword]

PHB2 ACF page 39, relevant rules are on 40.

What you gain and loose is expressly stated. You maintain the humanoid type and thus a humanoid shape.

You gain
A list of bonuses including additional strength

You lose
The ability to wield weapons or preform fine manipulation
The ability to speak
The ability to cast spells or activate magic items

You expressly maintain
Your size and space (unless noted otherwise and everything says one size larger or such so it's all relative)
Your type and subtype

[Vaz]

If you rule that if you can't meet a prerequisite because somewhere down the line you might lose it, (whether it is being affected by a spell, spell effect used to qualify wearing off, or through psychic reformation, say, or indeed Dragon Disciple Circle), then you theoretically cannot join any Class with requirements. Even simple level or race prerequisites will not work as you might tbeoretically die and be brought back to life losing a level in the process, or be PAO into another race/reincarnated as such.

I would rule that as long as he qualified at the time of selection for the PrC, (i.e when the character decided to spend their experience, they were of large size) they may qualify. By a roundabout way, the books which set a precedent for suggesting that no longer qualifying for a PrC could not use its abilities support this idea. It allows greater fun and variety for the players. Especially working out exactly how a Hafling is a Champ of CL.

"Remember that time back in the southern seas when you fell in love with that Elf chick? Changed religion and everything; even got a wizard to cast polymorph any object to make it permanent. Man, them were the days... Fighting against them rampaging orcs just made me so angry that i immediately became a Champion of her god. Silly girl got herself killed though. Good times, my good halfling, good times.

Haha, oh hes, and remember than Mephling Wu Jen casting Giant Size? Turnd it 100ft tall and it threw them orcs clean over the trees. When it shrunk, I coulda sworn its muscles had hulked in size..."

[silverwolfer]

Four I think you are assuming they retain hands not RAW or RAI

[J-H]

Take a look at the Whirling Rage ACF in the SRD - lose the AC penalty and gain some reflex save bonuses.

[Fouredged Sword]

Whirling frenzy would replace the nicer mountain rage ACF

The list of what you gain and lose is fairly clear. You lose the ability for fine manipulation, not the ability to hold things at all. You are a wolf shaped humanoid.

This came up in a game I DM'd when a shapeshifter druid needed to climb a wall. I had to read through the whole section fairly closely. Turns out the new form was still humanoid, thus it made sense he still was human shaped. I could see the argument based on the fluff that you are in the form of a wolf, but that seems to me to say that you look like a wolfish, rather than are a wolf.

[Xenogears]

Whirling frenzy would replace the nicer mountain rage ACF

The list of what you gain and lose is fairly clear. You lose the ability for fine manipulation, not the ability to hold things at all. You are a wolf shaped humanoid.

This came up in a game I DM'd when a shapeshifter druid needed to climb a wall. I had to read through the whole section fairly closely. Turns out the new form was still humanoid, thus it made sense he still was human shaped. I could see the argument based on the fluff that you are in the form of a wolf, but that seems to me to say that you look like a wolfish, rather than are a wolf.

From the SRD:

"A humanoid usually has two arms, two legs, and one head, or a humanlike torso, arms, and a head."

Note both the use of the word usually and the fact that it doesn't mention having hands (just arms). At most this would imply that you had arms ending in wold paws that would still be useless for most forms of manipulation.

[Shadroth]

I'm astounded and gratified by both the quality and quantity of responses :D Thanks guys, I've done about another five hours of reading over the course of today!

I'd been looking at some of the Barbarian ACF totem features already, without any clear indication of how to use them appropriately. Thanks to your help, I think I've got a much clearer picture! The only problem is deciding which one(s) to use.

My first choice at this point is Wolf Totem (Unearthed Arcana), granting Improved Trip at level 2. I'm not sure if I'd be staying in class long enough to gain Track at level 5, even though for this build Track is definately on the list of things I want to get (discussed more in a sec).

Spirit Lion Totem (Complete Champion) does indeed look awesome. Getting a full-attack on the charge? Yes please! My only problem with this one is that you have to give up Fast Movement as a class feature to "unlock" this one... if I take the Goliath Barbarian substitute level at 1, I don't actually have Fast Movement to give it up :(

From my understanding so far, this boils down to a simple choice:
Do I want to Trip?
Or do I want to Bull Rush? (or is "both" an equally valid choice?)

Bull Rush obviously wants to take the Spirit Lion Totem from Complete Champion, because Pounce is really cool. As already directed, this build then moves into Fighter (Dungeon Crasher) for two levels , picking up Improved Bull Rush and Knockback along the way. Is there any mileage to be had from Rampaging Bull Rush? If I attack someone while I'm raging and use Knockback to make a bull rush check after a successful melee strike, can I use Rampaging Bull Rush to then knock them prone after pushing them back? I'm guessing that this kind of build would be perfectly happy with a large Greatsword for 3d6 + two handed strength bonus. And if the DM allows it, War Hulk does look really fun.

And back to the one I've been thinking about the most, for various different reasons. Goliath Barbarian substitute level works perfectly fine with Wolf Totem, and gives Improved Trip at second level. Obviously I then want to track down a weapon that I can make trip attempts with, since I don't plan to be doing it barehanded and provoking attacks. Guisarme and Spiked Chain were mentioned before, but I was wondering if Halberds would be any good? When you Mountain Rage you get reach anyway. Or is the reach mainly for when enemies provoke attacks from you, so you can trip them instead?

I stumbled across the Animal Lord and Beastmaster PrCs in Complete Adventurer and thought they both looked pretty cool from a roleplaying perspective, while still having full base attack progression. Having my Barbarian with a wolf (or dire wolf) companion sounds really cool, and they'd both help with flanking and also with extra tripping attempts. Access to Animal Growth to make a Huge(!) Dire Wolf just sounds like a lot of fun from the Animal Lord abilities, or being able to take three or four animal companions with the Beastmaster would have my Barbarian running with his own wild pack.

Both of those options I was looking at purely because my stats lack the necessary Wisdom to do anything useful with Druid casting. Any multi-classing I do looks like it'd almost have to be Fighter or Ranger of some kind, but that still leaves an awful lot of ways for me to screw it up.

I'll keep you posted with any further (bad) ideas I have! Cheers.

[Fouredged Sword]

One level gained stat point and a +4 item will get you able to cast up to level 5 spells, or level 7 with a +6 item. Wisdom is really not so important for utility and buff spells.

[Gullara]

The nice thing about having a reach weapon is that your reach is 10' while you're medium, but when you do get big, your reach will be increased up to 20'. And more reach is always better. *nod*

[Person_Man]

I've played around (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=4108954&postcount=22)with Knockback builds in multiple games. In my personal experience, Knockback builds are very fun. But you shouldn't put all of your resources into just one basket, because it has limitations, and it gets boring to do the exact same combo over and over again.

The primary limitations are:

Dungeoncrasher requires a wall for you to push enemies into. Without workarounds that will make your DM throw a book at you (flying above them and Rushing them into the floor, going ethereal and Rushing them into the ceiling, having an ally make magical walls) this isn't always possible. In fact, I can guarantee your DM will have more combats in flat featureless fields once you start using this build.
Unless you push them into the aforementioned wall, when you initiate a Bull Rush with Knockback, your enemy is pushed away from you. (You do not move with them, like a normal Bull Rush). So its probable that you will only be able to make one or two attacks on them before they are outside of your reach/threatened area.
The point of battlefield control is that it allows you to control enemies you otherwise can't kill that round, denying or delaying or messing up their actions long enough for you and the rest of your party to kill them in future rounds. But if you're using a very high damage combo that reliably hits, then Bull Rush is meaningless. Once your enemy is dead, they're dead. Hitting their corpse across the room is hilarious, but meaningless.
Goliath is +1 LA, and Dungeoncrasher requires 6 levels of Fighter and 2 of your bonus Feats, which is a lot to spend on 1 combo. A 7th level Warblade or Crusader using 4th level maneuvers + 2 Feats can get similar damage results, but also has a lot of other things he can do.


So you may wish to go Goliath Barbarian 1/Whatever 4/Prestige Class X (Totem Rager, Warmind, Runescarred Berserker, anything ToB, etc) with Knockback and and Combat Reflexes. You'll still have high damage and the fun of Bull Rushing enemies away from you when they trigger an AoO. But you won't be spending all of your class levels and Feats on one combo.

[J-H]

The Knockdown feat only requires +2 or +3 BAB and 15 STR... free trip attack on any hit you make that does at least 10 damage.

[Shadroth]

This might be the dumbest thing I've thought of yet, but.......

When a Goliath uses Mountain Rage and actually becomes large...

I can use a medium sized Greatsword in one hand. Two weapon fighting with double Greatsword??

[Answerer]

Goliaths, due to Powerful Build, can (and should) use Large weaponry anyway. Using weapons for a different size gives you all kinds of penalties. So does dual-wielding two One-Handed weapons, since neither is Light.

[J-H]

This might be the dumbest thing I've thought of yet, but.......

When a Goliath uses Mountain Rage and actually becomes large...

I can use a medium sized Greatsword in one hand. Two weapon fighting with double Greatsword??

Why not just use a Large sized longsword in each hand? A Large Lsword does 2d6 damage, too. :)

[Vaz]

I have a few thoughts, here, not sure exactly how to build it, but just had a quick trawl through some books;

Feats (9-10)
- Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Spiked Chain)
- Knock Down
- Curling Wave Strike
- Battle Jump
- Combat Expertise>Cobalt Expertise
- Power Attack+Improved Bull Rush>Shock Trooper
- Sand Snare
- Turn the Tables

Classes/Alternate Class Features
- Barbarian 1, Spirit Lion Totem (Pounce)
- Barbarian 2, Wolf Totem (Improved Trip)
- Barbarian Whirling Frenzy
- Class able to invest essentia
- Expansion Psionic Power
- Swordsage
- Knight

Equipment
- Sweeping Collision Spiked Chain
- Serpent Armour

Use Cobalt Expertise to invest essentia into a bonus to Attack Rolls, Skill Checks or Ability Checks when Tripping, Battle Jump to count as Huge when making a Trip Attack Charge, Improved Trip to either make an AoO on a tripped opponent, or Trip another opponent in range (because you're treated as huge during a trip attempt, this means 20ft reach, if my reading-fu is correct; meaning that you can trip two opponents 35ft away from each other if you can get in between them), Pounce to get multiple attacks per turn (theoretically, if all enemies are within 20ft of your charge position, a full attack at +16BAB can get you 10 tripped enemies a turn. Shock Trooper allows you trip multiple foes in a turn.

Sand Snare is dependent on terrain, but if you are playing in the area, it takes an opponent a full round action to get up. It does mean you can't take Mountain Frenzy.

Frantic Frenzy gives you Dexterity instead of Strength bonus if you wish so you can make multiple trips during a turn.

Turn the tables allows you to countercharge regardless of move distance if you can stop a charging opponent from making contact with you - 5ft battle jump?

Step of the Wind Stance allows you to gain bonuses to trip attempts. Tornado Throw gives you huge tripping and throwing potential.

Combine with Dungeoncrusher fighter for silly amounts of throwing. If you can sneak in Expansion as well, you can become effectively Gargantuan.

Of course, how you'd fit that into a 20 build, I just don't know.

[StonerEvanB]

Goliaths count as large for things like War Hulk; refrence the Rock Hurling feat from Races of Stone- one of its prerequisites is being Large, and it specifically notes that Goliaths qualify by virtue of their Powerful Build. If it works for that, there's absolutely no barrier to extending that to cover other feats or classes that require Large size.
Also, Whirling Frenzy Barbarian + Two-Weapon Fighting Ranger with Stone Breaker and a pair of medium sized heavy picks, which would count as light weapons in the hands of a Goliath, equals a good time. I'm not sure if you can take spirit lion totem with Whirling Frenzy, but if you can, then pounce + rend with x4(?) Critical damage. I recall you saying, though, that Eberron was banned, but it's an idea.
There's a Druid ACF in the SRD that allows you to give up armor and weapon proficiencies as well as wild shape in exchange for a veritable pile of excellence, while keeping your animal companion and spellcasting. Granted, you can't cast and rage, but you have options.
There was a PrC in an Alderac Entertainment sourcebook entitled War called the Lancer, which specialized in using pole arms, ruled to be any shafted weapon with reach (e.g. longspear yes, spiked chain no). Large reach weapons, as noted previously, have correspondingly increased threatened areas. The PrC also had a slew of abilities that have been mostly converted to feats in 3.5, such as Short Haft and Pole Vault. Ask your DM about allowing the class, to continue your BAB, saves and whatnot, as well as saving valuable feats.
If you're gonna be charging, consider picking up skirmish damage. Move at least 10', get bonuses to AC and damage. Why not? The peregrine runner is made for that kinda thing, but you need ranks in diplomacy. Upside, you get an animal companion, which stacks if you already had a "peregrine"(hawk), or else acts as a second companion, as well as more fast movement and skirmish dice. Charge 80', pounce, full attack + skirmish. Gain a climb speed just for kicks, I guess....
...
...I REALLY like goliaths.