Are Goliaths able to wield large-sized weapons?

Question

With the new Elemental Evil Player's Companion released awhile ago, Goliaths were added to 5e. I'm unfamiliar with 3.5 and previous editions, but I know that they were included and wielding large weapons was a thing you could potentially do.

Goliaths in 5e have the same trait as in 3.5e, it seems:

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

So, does this mean a Goliath can wield large-sized weapons?

The pushing/dragging/lifting capacity for a strong Goliath (say 16 Str) would be nearly 1000 lbs (16 * 60) and the carrying capacity half of that. A heavy weapon weighs between 10-20 lbs, but this IS significant weight to be throwing around in battle, but I am unsure of the weight of a large weapon.

My DM and I are unsure of the mechanics if a Goliath could. We talked about doing an extra die roll for damage, which is extremely strong, or treating the Goliath as if he were under the Enlarged Creature spell, which gives a +4 to damage, which seems more balanced in our opinions.

Are there rules for wielding large weapons in 5e? Can a Goliath wield large weapons out of the box with no feats?

Answer 1

No, there are no weapon size rules in 5e beyond Heavy weapons being off limits to size Small races.

There is no feature like that in the Elemental Evil Players Companion entry for the Goliath race. Powerful Build only applies to carrying capacity and the weight limits for moving things around (push, drag, or lift).

There are no rules for weapon size in general in 5e, thus there are no size large/size giant weapon rules with wielding penalties and damage bonuses as in previous editions. PCs wield weapons appropriate for their size with no restrictions except Small creatures being unable to wield heavy weapons.

Size

Characters of most races are Medium, a size category including creatures that are roughly 4 to 8 feet tall. Members of a few races are Small (between 2 and 4 feet tall), which means that certain rules of the game affect them differently. The most important of these rules is that Small characters have trouble wielding heavy weapons, as explained in chapter 6. - (PHB p. 17)

Heavy

Small creatures have disadvantage on attack rolls with heavy weapons. A heavy weapon’s size and bulk make it too large for a Small creature to use effectively. - (PHB p. 147)

Goliaths already have some fairly strong racial features and do not need a permanent racial damage buff.

Answer 2

Yes, there are rules for oversized weapons. Maybe your character can wield it, but he cannot wield it like he would be able to wield a normal sized weapon

The 5th edition DMG does have rules for oversized weapons. They can be found on page 278. The important bits are that you double the damage dice for large, triple for huge, and quadruple for gargantuan creatures, and you get disadvantage if the weapon is for a size larger than your own, and the DM can rule that you cannot use a weapon meant for creatures two sizes larger than you.

However, these rules are specifically for determining damage when creating new monsters, so allowing the use of these rules is completely up to your DM. Personally, I would allow you to use these rules if you can get a weapon commisioned, with the price being either doubled, tripled, or quadrupled depending on the size of the weapon you want, with the crafting time being adjusted accordingly. However, again, this is up to the DM if he wants to allow this or not.

Now, you also asked whether the Goliath can wield them out of the box without feats. You can, but so can anyone else (except for small creatures), and you get disadvantage on attack rolls with it. The "powerful build" feature does not allow you to circumvent this rule. No feat currently exist to allow you to do this either. This means that, using only official sources, you cannot wield an oversized weapon without getting disadvantage on your attack rolls. You may be able to get your DM to allow you to do it anyhow, but this is likely to unbalance the game significantly.

Answer 3

Use the Enlarge/Reduce spell as reference

The level 2 transmutation spell Enlarge/Reduce (PHB 237) can enlarge the target and everything it is carrying to large proportions. That makes it's attacks with large weapons deal an extra 1d4 damage.

Moreover this is a good rule of thumb if characters loot larger weapons from enemies and attempt to use them (with disadvantage if it's bigger than them at the time).

Also the spell states that magically enlarged creatures are eight times heavier. Don't forget to dramatically increase the weight of weapons which are already large.

Using this spell as a reference point makes it clear that large weapons are not meant to be handled at low levels in 5e, considering the only way to use them effectively is to use enlarge or potion of growth (DMG 187) which increase the size of the carried weapons anyway.

Answer 4

I had similar questions and found this answer. A Goliath is still a medium sized creature, albeit the largest end of that scale, that has features of a large creature. It makes sense to then treat them wielding large weapons in the following way:

"The spell enlarge does not make your weapon do an extra complete die of damage it just adds 1d4 to your damage. So an ogre using a longsword does 2d8 base damage, a human enlarged to ogre size with a longsword does 1d8+1d4."

Also small creatures are at a disadvantage when using weapons considered "heavy", so it makes sense that a Goliath would be at a disadvantage when using weapons considered "light".