- For other Goblins & Hobgoblins, see Goblin (disambiguation).
| Chapter 2: Humanoid Races |
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| Humanoid Races |
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| Races |
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Goblin (Complete Book of Humanoids)[]
Ability Score Adjustments. The initial ability scores are modified by a -1 penalty to Strength and Charisma.
| Ability | Minimum | Maximum |
|---|---|---|
| Strength | 4 | 15 |
| Dexterity | 4 | 17 |
| Constitution | 5 | 16 |
| Intelligence | 3 | 18 |
| Wisdom | 3 | 18 |
| Charisma | 3 | 12 |
| Class | Maximum Level |
|---|---|
| Warrior | |
| 10 | |
| — | |
| — | |
| Wizard | |
| — | |
| — | |
| Priest | |
| 9 | |
| — | |
| 7 | |
| 7 | |
| Rogue | |
| 12 | |
| — |
Hit Dice. Player character goblins receive hit dice by class.
Alignment. Goblins tend toward lawful evil. PC goblins may be of any alignment, but are usually lawful neutral.
Natural Armor Class. 10.
Background. Goblins are small humanoids, growing to a height of about four feet tall. They have flat faces, broad noses, pointed ears, wide mouths, and small, sharp fangs. Though they walk upright, their arms hang down to their knees. Their dull, glazed eyes range in color from bright red to gleaming yellow. Their speech is harsh and of a higher pitch than humans.
These humanoids are generally evil in nature, and often they are great cowards as well. They avoid direct confrontations whenever possible, preferring the safety of ambushes. They use simple, even crude, strategies and tactics. They do not believe in fair fights, for many-on-one works much better than one-on-one to the goblin mindset.
Goblins live in dank caves and dismal underground dwellings. They only come above ground at night or on dark, cloudy days. Goblins and their lairs carry a foul stench, due to their lack of sanitation. Their tribes share with large common areas set aside for eating and sleeping. Treasure and property belongs to the entire tribe, though the chief and his subchiefs watch over it. Only their leaders have separate living areas.
Females are not afforded the same rights as males in goblin society, and females never learn to fight. Their role is to service the males and care for the young.
Each tribe has an exact pecking order, and every goblin knows his exact place in it. The way to move up the social ladder is through battle, and goblins constantly fight among themselves to improve their station in life.
Tribes regularly take slaves for food and labor. They keep their slaves constantly shackled and under guard.
Goblins take great pleasure in killing. They do not eat much, but they eat almost anything. Rats, snakes, humans, and other humanoids make up the bulk of their diets. When food is scarce, they will even eat carrion. They hate most other humanoid races, especially gnomes and dwarves.
Languages. Goblin, kobold, orc, hobgoblin, common.
Role-Playing Suggestions. Like most evil creatures, few goblins ever become adventurers. Those that do are unusually rare, for the individualistic life of an adventurer is completely foreign to goblin society. Those few members of the race who display such tendencies are often killed by their brethren, for they are believed to be insane.
If they can survive the prejudices and fears of their own people, goblin PCs generally reject their own societies. They leave their lairs and strike out to find fame (of a sort) and fortune (whatever they can get their hands on). They often fight against such goblin practices as slave keeping and marauding, working to make up for the atrocities of their people.
Still, you can't take all of the monster out of goblin PCs. They do their best to control their fear and overcome their natural cowardice, but few goblin PCs will earn awards for bravery. Even the cleanest goblin adventurers have trouble eliminating the stench they have grown up with. It hangs about them like a shroud. Because of their communal back-grounds, goblins have no concept of privacy. This can lead to amusing — and not so amusing — situations for goblin PCs and their companions.
Special Advantages. Goblins have infravision to 60 feet. They can detect new or unusual construction in an underground area 25% of the time (1 or 2 on 1d8).
Goblin shamans can reach 7th level and have access to the spheres of divination, healing (reversed), protection, and sun (reversed).
Special Disadvantages. Bright light hurts goblin eyes, giving them a -1 penalty to their attack rolls when in bright sunshine.
Monstrous Traits. Appearance, bestial habits.
Superstitions. Eternal hatred and fear of gnomes and dwarves, sensitive to unusual behavior of worgs and wolves, fearful of dreams and visions.
Weapon Proficiencies: Axe, military pick, morning star, sling, short sword, spear.
Nonweapon Proficiencies: Alertness, animal handling, animal training (worg), begging, chanting, close-quarter fighting, fast-talking, fortune telling, hiding, hunting, information gathering, looting, mining, religion, riding (worg), set snares.