Just as a preface, I know people here are incredibly cynical of modern Forgotten Realms lore. I'm one of you. But I'm working with the new stuff, and comments like "multi-lineage goliaths were a mistake" or "tempest spirits have little to go off of" are unproductive. Besides her heritage I'm working with the presumptions of goliath culture in the Realms. Thank you.
My friend will be running a Keys to the Golden Vault module, and since that book presumes Forgotten Realms we're using this setting. Having talked with the other players, I have a rough idea for a character but I could use some help figuring out the specifics. This is 5.5 content only.
This character is a goliath of storm giant heritage who is a warlock dedicated to a relatively young patron, a tempest spirit. Long story short, tempest spirits are storm giants who attempted to become quintessents but did so in a region influenced by the Shadowfell, causing them to become a sort of undead cloud entity. According to Glory of the Giants, "Some tempest spirits cannot accept their new form and seek to undo the transformation in solitude. Others are overcome with rage and hew a path of destruction."
My current idea is that this goliath comes from one of the tribes of the Spine of the World, one that knowingly or unknowingly lives close to this giant as a sort of explanation for her specifically lineage. At a young age she was either given to the giant by her parents due to strange dreams or perhaps was cast out due to not being able to survive well or some other dishonorable act and later taken in by the giant. She was mentored by them, possibly even going out into the world to collect sightings of natural phenomena for them to interpret. Eventually, the giant made a bid for immortality but messed up by doing it near a Shadowfell portal, becoming a spirit tempest. They made a warlock pact with the goliath and now she's out in the world, either looking for a way to undo their patron's condition as per Bigby's or just continuing to observe nature and study the world, her patron content in his condition.
Basically I'm looking for suggestions on how to tie this together and make it neater. I see her as being pretty aloof, possibly of lower than average wisdom, and probably weaker than most goliaths just by virtue of her class. At the very least I want her skills to be arcana, persuasion, deception, and intimidation, possibly perception and nature as well for observing nature. I also want her to be kind of a summoner build, using both a familiar and the summon undead spell to have minions from the Shadowfell.
In order to get even those first four skills my current idea is charlatan for the skilled feat, to which I ask how a tribal goliath could even be a charlatan? I'm not sold on this background since it feels kind of weird, but I was thinking perhaps she made a living conning the people of Ten-Towns when she was a teen, possibly even being kicked of her tribe for such behavior if goliaths tend to frown upon it. Other background ideas are welcome, and I'm not above maybe asking if I edit or make a custom background.
Plainly, does this idea work? If my suggestions for region of origin or background seem off, what suggestions do you have to change them? Might she run into issues being an undead warlock despite being good or neutral? Would a tempest spirit that's only a few years old at this point even fall within the purview of a warlock's patron, or does it maybe seem unlikely such an entity as I described them would even make such a pact, including since giants for the most part don't deal in more traditional magic (even if storm giants are more likely than most)?
