Goblin

In eons past, the humans who followed Kusatta became the orcish people through extensive use of the earliest and foulest forms of necromancy; 'Dark Shamanism; and they traveled across the world for many years after their exile come the end of the War of Broken Chains. To fuel their addiction to Dark Shamanism and their Magic, they drained the life from passing wildlife, but, to the highest priests among their ranks, this was not enough.
Heavy withdrawal drove them, in their desperation, to prey on the weakest of their own kind. During nights when passing wildlife failed to sate them, they kidnapped infants and children and drew their life essence, and left the drained for dead out in the wilderness to fend for themselves. Though many perished, some survived, but at a grave cost. They became heavily mutated. Their skin turned from shades of grey to yellow, to a sickly green. Worse still, they became afflicted with a strange form of stunted growth. Seeking refuge in caverns and caves, they formed their own tribes, long forgetting their orcish ancestry. The former orcish children became something else entirely; goblins.

While diminutive and lacking in individual strength, goblins reproduce rapidly, and through their sheer strength of numbers, their early conquests of territory came easily. Small, scattered tribes of goblins became hundreds, and over centuries as tribes gathered power, conquered, and absorbed smaller tribes, great warbands marched across plains and forests, raiding and pillaging the earliest settlements of other races. Since these times, goblins are commonplace in many of the world's hidden nooks and crannies, always seeking to eke out a living.

Today, goblins occupy an uneasy place in a dangerous world, and they react by lashing out at any creatures they believe they can bully. Cunning in battle and cruel in victory, goblins are fawning and servile in defeat, just as in their own society lower castes must scrape before those of greater status and as goblin tribes bow before other green-skins.
Many consider goblins little more than a nuisance. They have flat, wide faces, small noses, pointed ears, and small, sharp fangs. Their foreheads slope back, and their eyes vary in color from red to yellow. Goblins are typically dressed in dark leathers or scavenged metals for protection, though recently they've begun forging their own armor. Goblins usually stand between 3'4" and 3'8" and weigh about 40 to 55 pounds on average.
Goblins are an elusive and nimble race, able to slip away from danger more easily than most. In combat, goblins use this advantage to sneak up on enemies and deal blows from hiding and then slip away before they can be retaliated against. Goblins are surprisingly resourceful and intelligent, despite their appearance. They can take apart stolen weapons, armor, and other technology to see how it works, then put that knowledge into use for their own society.
Goblins are mistrusted by society and are often mocked or bullied, which has taught goblins to exploit what few advantages they have: sheer numbers and ingenuity. The concept of a fair fight is meaningless in their society. They favor ambushes, overwhelming odds, dirty tricks, and any other edge they can devise. Goblins prefer to fight battles where the odds are in their favor and often flee or surrender when outmatched.

Growing up as a Goblin

Goblins grow quite rapidly and are considered adults at 5 years of age. Abundant breeding, fast maturation, and adaptable physiology give goblins the ability to thrive in nearly any climate. In times of abundance, goblins multiply even faster than normal, resulting in overpopulation and the eventual escalation of raiding. Goblin parenting consists primarily of making sure young goblins get food and don't wander too far. Until they're old enough to walk freely among the rest of the tribe, goblin young are often restrained with chains, ropes, and crude cages. Violence among young goblins is quite common and even encouraged by their tribes. Entertainment in the form of toddler goblin fights is not unheard of, and they may be armed with small knives, scavenged armaments, or just their own juvenile teeth and claws.
Goblins who reach physical maturity are expected to be able to feed themselves; those who can't are left to starve. The abilities to hunt, steal, and bully weaker folk lead to positions of influence and power within the tribe. Some goblins have a special knack for crafting weapons and mechanical objects used in the act of murder or destruction, though not many have the patience or skill with machines that kobolds do.

Tribal Societies

A goblin tribe is organized in a four-tiered caste system made up of lashers, hunters, gatherers, and pariahs. The status of every family in the tribe is based on its importance to the tribe's survival. Families that belong to the higher-ranking castes keep their status by not sharing their knowledge and skills with other families, while those in the lower castes have little hope of escaping their plight.
Outsiders who don't understand the goblins' social system are sometimes surprised by how different castes interact with them. A single human warrior might frighten away a dozen gatherers, only to be shocked when two hunters viciously attack. A captured group of invaders might hang in a net while dozens of goblins pass by and pay them no heed until a group of gatherers shows up.
Lashers. The closest thing a goblin tribe has to nobility is the caste of lashers; families of goblins trained in the ways of battle and key skills such as strategy, trap-building, beast taming, mining, smelting, and forging. If the tribe has any spellcasters, this caste includes them. Lashers follow the lead of the tribe's boss and enforce their will on other goblins with whips.
Hunters. The families of goblins that are skilled in the use of weapons but not privy to any other special knowledge have the second-highest status in the tribe.

Hunters are often the best wolf or spider riders and know the most about the territory farthest from the tribe's lair. These individuals hunt game in peaceful times, and in combat, they serve as scouts, foot soldiers, and cavalry.
Gatherers. Families in the second-lowest caste are responsible for getting food from the surrounding area, taking what's naturally available, or stealing whatever they can. Gatherers also do the little amount of farming of which goblins are capable and are charged with checking traps for captured people or beasts. Gatherers aren't usually armed with weapons more deadly than a sling or a knife, but they frequently carry nets, caltrops, lassos, and nooses on poles for controlling captured creatures. These goblins cook for the tribe, and in times of war, they are also responsible for making poison. Gatherers, and the pariahs beneath them, greatly fear for their lives in battle, believing that the lashers and the hunters have special knowledge of how to survive. It is the members of the lower castes that give goblins their reputation for cowardice.
Pariahs. Some goblin families are the lowest of the low, composed of the most dimwitted, least educated, and weakest goblins. They get the worst jobs: mucking out animal pens, cleaning up after other goblins, and doing any hard labor such as digging mines. If the goblin tribe has slaves to do some of this work, the pariah families work alongside them.

Status Symbols

Goblins love symbols of authority, and thus the tribe's boss often has such trappings wherever he or she goes. Such a symbol can take a typical form, perhaps a crown or a throne, but also can be a more distinctive object like a high-backed wolf saddle or colorful boots. The castes in a tribe also adopt symbols to indicate membership or kinship, but the symbols used are rarely the same between different tribes and often make little sense to other creatures.

Booyahgs

Spellcasters of any sort among goblins are rare. Goblins typically lack the intelligence and patience needed to learn and practice wizardry, and they fare poorly even when given access to the necessary training and knowledge. Their species-wide illiteracy, born of a superstition that writing steals the words out of your head, means even the few goblins with a talent for Magic or alchemy have little opportunity to learn about these subjects. As a result, practitioners of these difficult arts are often both awed and feared.
Sorcerers are less prevalent among them than in many other races, and the Goblin King seems to dislike sharing his power with his followers except in cases where he can trust them. Although many goblins would readily offer anything to have the abilities of a warlock, the patrons that grant such power know a goblin is unlikely to be able to uphold its end of any bargain.
Even when a goblin is born with the ability to become a spellcaster, the knowledge, and talent necessary to carry on the tradition rarely persists for more than a couple of generations. Because they have so little experience with magic, goblins make no distinction between its forms. To them all magic is "booyahg," and the word is part of the name they give to any of its practitioners. A goblin with access to booyahg becomes a member of the lashers and can often rise to the role of boss.
From an early age, goblins develop an obsession with fire. Goblins need little excuse to start a bonfire in celebration of anything, and goblin practical jokes often involve setting fire to other goblins or their possessions. Religious rituals, celebrations, funerals, and feasts all involve huge bonfires, and when goblins go to war, they bring fire with them.
This obsession with fire translates seamlessly to magic usage, and most goblin spellcasters will heavily utilize fire magic for its destructive capabilities.

Goblin Lairs

Tribes of goblins take up residence in shrouded valleys, shadowy forests, and caves and tunnels beneath the surface of the world. Capable miners and crafters, goblins seek to settle in places where they can get the raw materials to make weapons and armor. Their need for iron and other metals sometimes puts them in conflict with other races, but just as often, goblins get what they need by claiming mines abandoned by other races and scratching away at veins thought to be played out.

When goblins expand a mine, the tunnels they dig are narrow and warren-like. Goblins live both within these tunnels and on the surface around the outside of the area. They guard the territory around the mine for miles, sending out patrols of hunters equipped with war horns and using wolves as watchdogs to alert them to intruders.
Outskirts. The territory around a goblin lair has several hallmarks, most of which aren't readily apparent. Packs of wolves allied with the goblins serve as effective perimeter guards, without giving away the fact that a tribe of goblins lives nearby. Hunters take up guard posts in tall trees and atop high rocky outcrops from where they can view the terrain while staying unseen. Any obvious path through the territory (a valley, a clear trail, or a river) might be turned into an ambush point where a force of goblins can capture intruders. Such places might also be set with net traps, snare traps or hidden pit traps that gatherers regularly check for new slaves. The area also includes burial grounds for each caste, always placed far from the lair.
Lair Exterior. Anyone who is skilled or fortunate enough to pass through the territory of a goblin tribe without being detected is likely to come upon some tell-tale signs of habitation, complete with goblins at work and other goblins standing guard over them. If the lair was built around a mine, the tribe's smelting furnace and forge will be in the vicinity. A lair inside a forest likely has piles of cut timber (and suitable tools) nearby. In appropriate terrain, goblins might set aside some land for simple farming (raising mushrooms and gourds). If the lair doesn't have enough space underground for everyone, gatherers and pariahs are housed in huts on the surface, near the areas where they work.
Lair Interior. The ideal place for a goblin lair is an abandoned mine that features two or three large cham-bers and a few smaller ones, with tunnels connecting them. In such a place, the tribe can protect its most valu-able assets while providing for a modicum of comfort. Most lairs have only a single entrance, but the goblins might build a number of escape tunnels that emerge far from that location.
Close inside the entrance, if a suitable area exists, the goblins set up a den for their wolves and other creatures. The animals come and go as they please, unless the goblins have use for them. Any tunnel in the lair, whether dug by goblins or not, is likely to be trapped, typically in a way that not only injures the enemy but also collapses the passage.
Open spaces inside a lair are useful for a number of reasons, and the goblins will hollow out chambers for their use if need be. Slaves and tamed monsters are best kept in large areas with limited access, making them easier to guard. The tribe's boss lays claim to a space that's treated as a throne room of sorts. The lashers and hunters of a tribe occupy other caverns and chambers, enjoying the comfort and safety of underground living as a reward for their status and their value to the group.

Not all Goblins are Selfish

Though goblins have a poor reputation overall, not all goblins are awful. Some goblins have risen to become heroes, gaining enough renown to be accepted into the civilized world of other races. Goblins seeking this path may find it difficult to overcome the sense of selfishness and green ingrained into them by their culture, but those who do often find it can be more rewarding, in the long run at least, to serve some form of common good rather than to serve themselves.
Many goblins who leave for life among other races are females, driven away by the rigidly structured role of motherhood they are expected to play in goblin society. Other goblins try to recreate the circumstances of their culture, preying on the weaknesses of others in non-goblin communities. Others attempt to make a living for themselves setting up businesses, trading goods, and making bargains. Normally the goods on sale are acquired by shady means.
Goblins who become adventurers or those who join the societies of other races, particularly those who seek to do good in the world, are likely to have been victims of goblin society. They may have been exiled for one reason or another, be in through questioning the methods of their hobgoblin masters, criticizing the Goblin King, or freeing captured slaves. Non-evil goblin adventurers are seen by wider goblin society as exceptionally weird aberrations and most other goblins would likely become hostile to them.

Goblin Names

The Goblin’s position as the lowest level of green-skin affords them two naming conventions. The first is the cast system. Lashers tend to cling to titles, like “Fear Clinger” or “Arrow Snatcher”. This is to bring the lower castes under their leadership and to hold their right to the title of chieftain. The names of Goblins become sharper the higher their caste is; a Pariah might have a very short, soft name. A Hunter usually has a name that is a near-showmanship of their skill by itself.
Generally, goblin names are only a few syllables long and favor hard consonants and “z’s”.

Male Names: Bozaak, Crord, Crurk, Drurrogz, Glalb, Greasz, Lenk, Plutork
Female Names: Glafsee, Imtiz, Jealx, Kex, Mezz, Nosrix, Qofzea, Vreldai

Goblin Traits

Goblin Traits

As a goblin, you have the following traits.

Ability Score Increase. Increase one ability score by 2, and increase a different one by 1, or increase three different scores by 1.
Age. Goblins reach adulthood at age 5 and can live up to 100 years. However, most die before the age of 20 due to their chaotic, warmongering, and accident-prone lives.
Alignment. Goblins are typically neutral or chaotic evil, as they care only for their own needs. When in a war-band lead by a hobgoblin warlord, they tend towards lawful evil. A few goblins might tend toward good or neutrality, but only rarely.
Size. Goblins are between 3 and 4 feet tall and weigh between 40 and 80 pounds. Your size is Small.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Fury of the Small. When you damage a creature with an attack or a spell and the creature's size is larger than yours, you can cause the attack or spell to deal extra damage to the creature. The extra damage equals your level. Once you use this trait, you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
Trapcrafting. You have advantage on ability and tool checks made to detect, create, and disarm traps.
Nimble Escape. You can take the Disengage or Hide action as a bonus action on each of your turns.
Enhance Weapon. You can improvise bizzare methods to make non-magical weapons more deadly. Choose a non-magical weapon you can see within reach. Over the course of a minute, you grant it a non-magical +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls. Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest.
Tinkerer. You have proficiency with Tinker's Tools.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Trade-tongue and Goblin.

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Genetic Ancestor(s)

• Orc

Genetic Descendants

• Deepling
• Hobgoblin

Lifespan

20 (Goblins can live up to 100 years, but most die before then due to war, accidents, or violence)

Average Height

3' 5"

Average Weight

45 lb.

Geographic Distribution

• Cairn Alm
• Casmian Vale
• Dagmurn Highlands
• Daran Uum
• Dead Wastes
• Drothmoore Wilds
• Dusken Rosefields
• Ebonwood Forest
• Elenwin Vales
• Finnora Wetlands
• Garand's Ridge Mountains
• Hollow Valley
• Iotia
• Jorfall
• Karthan Isles
• Koruna Hinterlands
• Mattanyor Canyons
• Milterre Forest
• Morbog
• Patrician Midlands
• Sandow Thicket
• Sintallian Forest
• Tarratona Isle
• The Known World
• Vilkross Savannah

Notable Goblins

• Trixxi

Who's the Boss?

Goblins pattern the rule of their tribes after the whip-cracking rule of their Archgoblin God-king, and thus each group has one leader that exerts autocratic control. But as with many tyrannies, the passing of a leader often results in a chaotic transition to the next. Sometimes a goblin boss has the foresight to declare a successor, often a child or other family member the boss has been able to trust. But such a declaration doesn't always prevent a mad scramble for influence and allies, or secret backstabbing and outright fights over the title. Most often, the victor in such a struggle comes from another family of the lasher caste, and any allies of the previous boss count themselves lucky if their only punishment is demotion to the pariah caste.
Sometimes another creature assumes control of a goblin tribe by killing or subjugating the current boss and cowing most of the rest of the tribe. If the creature is dimwitted, like a Hill Giant or Ogre, the lower-class goblins give it obeisance, but before long the upper-class goblins begin to think that whoever can bend the ear of the new leader can act as the real boss. If the creature brushes aside such manipulation, the tribe falls into line behind the new tyrant-better to abide the new rule than conspire against it and be called out as a traitor.

Prone to Chaos

Though goblins are as agile as rats, they're strangely accident-prone. In battle, their attacks are often as dangerous to themselves and their allies as to their enemies. When properly motivated by a powerful chieftain, an iron-fisted bandit, or a hobgoblin warlord, a large gang of goblins can cross the line from a dangerous nuisance to a true threat, but this is more a factor of strength in numbers than skill or training. Smarter masters use goblins as distractions or to cause havoc, relying on their activities to cover up a more devastating attack from a different direction. Settlers and adventurers who are familiar with goblins recognize that when these pests act uncharacteristically brave, competent, and loyal, something unusual is going on.