Episode 1 of Gabriella & Paid Sponsor: www.kickstarter.com/projects/... Two adventurers clear out a goblin camp. Gug nog the big bad has reportedly forced goblins to rob the roads.
I’m pretty sure every evil goblin/kobold hates every other goblin/kobold, it’s just that they need them to help themselves survive Why wouldn’t a totally amoral being only looking out for itself NOT switch to working with obviously more powerful people? @Jokervyne HaHaHa
you see, it's a pyramid scheme designed by big gobbo to keep enough people just wealthy enough to get raided by goblins, but not wealthy enough to hire bodyguards or adventurers to protect you from the goblins
Point: "We killed everyone she's ever known. Can we really trust her to be 'switching sides?'" Counterpoint: "Then how can you not respect her mercenary attitude?"
There’s ALWAYS one goblin or kobald who hates their recently devastated tribe. It is always the sole survivor of the fight because it stayed out of the fight. Totally logical. Ask Meepo or Droop.
Our dragonborn adopted a tribe of Kobolds after their chief was killed. They pretty much just either saw him as the biggest kobold they've ever seen or a small red dragon, but either way they had a healthy respect.
Especially in the case that their tribe was slaughtered, a "good" goblin would be pained by the loss of their tribe and antagonize the attackers. A evil one possibly wouldn't care. Yet, depends on circumstances.
In my last campaign (that I joined late), my party slaughtered a camp of goblins, all but one, who got away, levelled up parallel to the party for months and then ambushed them (after I joined them). Being the party dad, my PC stopped EVERYONE, made every party member verbally apologize to the goblin, who then promised to not attack us anymore. The same goblin eventually showed up in our totally disconnected follow-up campaign later on funnily enough
my group once captured a kobold after killing the rest of the pack when they attacked us, somehow they didn't fall for our barbarian using a dragon head as a puppet to give them orders. we gave him upgrades to his weapons and armor(low lvl magic stuff i believe) and sent him on his way. we joke from time to time about how one day we'll run into a kobold in full plate riding a dragon.
Look, if the DM gives you a chance to go on a quest with a goblin. You go in a quest with a goblin. Even if they betray you, you can always kill 'em later.
The goblin offered to lead you to something that was bossing them around. It's either the type to oppress people badly enough that they'll take up banditry to seek relief, or it's something imposing enough that 23-24 goblins thought that two adventurers were the better option to fight. A win/win either way.
One of my party members adopted an entire goblin tribe. Sure, they're thieves and murderers, but so are most adventurers. They are extremely loyal to her, and it's kind of adorable. It also proves that a coordinated goblin army is terrifyingly powerful even at higher levels.
"We probably killed everyone she's ever known..... You think she's just going to switch sides????" "Yes" That made me laugh so hard. Keep it up Zee, LOVE these small segments/stories!
My players "adopted" their own gobbo friend. His name was Pox. We had some people who never played before so I used Pox as a way to help them get in their character's headspace with questions about morality and the world.
In a recent campaign we went to a gnome village with a mimic problem. We soon set a trap and it tripped it, we enter heated combat but manage to put it to sleep and then negotiate for it to be our friend. His name is Carl and now he pretends to be my backpack because I’m the one who did not want to kill him. I fear the day he gets too big and splits
Lol in our campaign we immediately found the mimic after one of our party accidentally touched it. We didn't enter combat immediately, and I asked it if it wanted to leave this place and join our group for a steady supply of dead bodies, as we were a group of adventurer's and were expecting to have plenty of bodies on hand. It spoke in common and agreed. Surprised the rest of the party that it spoke, but it was just my first instinct. So here I was Gardener the Warforged and his best companion Dux the Mimic. I carried him in my bag and any time we were in combat I would spend a turn "Deploying Dux". They would help out in the combat, and we'd feed him the bodies after we looted them. Our Druid was really glad about it because he loves bones and after a small agreement Dux would cough up any of the bones from any corpse. Any day we didn't have combat of any sort I'd make sure to catch some sort game to feed Dux. After the campaign was over and everyone went their separate ways Dux and Gardener stuck together, exploring and exterminating bandits. We also had a skeletal undead horse who of course became the Druids noble steed, we bought him horse armor and named him Sternum. He wasn't a combat horse, the armor was just for his protection.
Last week, my party went to clear out a bunch of goblins and find a secret apple pie recipe. Instead of murdering our way through the bakery, we convinced the goblins to just let us search for the recipe in exchange for not taking anything else and teaching them to bake. We now have goblin friends!
Yes, evil characters do switch sides easiest of the three natural alignments (good/neutral/evil). Neutral are literally "meh", not like I have anywhere else to go. Good would be the longest to switch because ideology. Evil would switch back once a stronger being defeats the heroes.
Had the group fight an ogre that had three goblins chained to his shield (think Bad-Maw from Borderlands 2). They managed to free one of the goblins, who turned around to attack the ogre. Every time he attacked, he rolled a crit! Didn't get the kill, but then turned around to attack the party, who squashed him immediately.
This is basically what my group did with a group of globlins. They killed the bugbears and Ettin who they served. Now the goblins are on their own and want to work with the party (however the party does not know that the new goblin leader in a barghest hehehehehe)
I mean, in a choice between death and flipping, what's she got to lose? Like he said, everyone she's ever known is dead now. Perfect time to start over.
Early on in my home campaign I did something *kinda* similar to this. Part found poorly scribble note pinned to a wall with a rusty dagger asking to kill someone. Found goblin that asked to help kill the group of hobgoblins that took over their camp. The goblin tribe was divided with the loyal goblins being kept near the hobgoblins' camp, and when the party asked if it was okay to kill them I had the NPC goblin laugh maniacally and stab a loyalist goblin while shouting about killing the collaborators.
It often does because goblins are easy to control. Anything that's evil and intelligent, strong, or both could easily have a couple goblins or so. Even good creatures might find some way to control the goblins.
@@Mariwend every ttrpg party that's had some kind of a goblin companion for funsies, your standard Boblin the Goblin, is controlling them. If they leave in the night your Boblin probably doesn't have the structural means to survive in the wilderness alone, that's kinda what their camp was for. If they try and get more power within the party for better treatment as more than a pet, there's risk of backlash. Effectively, any goblin companion is kinda forced to stay in a kind of a permanent indentured servitude for their own survival lmao
@@henreymichelsonI had a ton of these storylines outlined for a campaign I titled War of the Goblin Emperor! The premise was that Magubliyet was poised to crown a Goblin emperor as a means of controlling Toril’s goblins and bringing them all in line. It was my first time DMing a full campaign so it fell apart, couldn’t pace anything well. At some point I’ll do it again, though likely in my homebrew world so I can avoid the Elminster/Silverhand NPC problem. I may still try and do it in the FR but I’ll need to take a look at some of the adventure modules to see how it deals (or as I suspect, ignores) the hyper-powerful NPC problem.
I made a Gabriella in my campaign once different name ect but you get the gist. She swore revenge against those adventurers who killed everyone she knew including her husband and kids. She found the party after they massacred her tribe and thanked them for freeing her she made up a story about how she was a slave of one of their raids against another group of goblins. It was small things at first a magic item being stolen in a town famous for their theives a potion getting misplaced or lost. A nice alcoholic beverage for the guy keeping watch on the coldest part of the night. Getting sick with an awful cough that just kept everyone up one night. Until the golden opportunity arose. Carriage on top of a cliff them camped around it a little potion of slumber to make sure they stayed asleep a rope tied from their ankles to the cart. A pilfered potion of hill gaint strength to send it over the edge. And thats how one goblin with 5 hit points almost tpkd a party of level 15 heros.
Please tell me more about what happened in this! What was the result of the plan at the time? And the players' reactions? And how did they get out/get pay back etc? I love these kind of anecdotes.
@@Musabre sure so of course nearly no armor or weapons on them they were sleeping. The rogue had a knife and light armor and of course they had any magical gear that would make sense for them to not take off for sleeping rings a necklace ect. Anyway so they're at the bottom of this ravine no weapons armor or component pouches for them. I think 2 people didn't end up on deaths door and were frantically running around doing medicine checks to stablize people. The ravine they were in was a local legend of a dragon guarding the "start" of the ravine and a dungeon where countless adventures used to perish ya know before the dragon moved in. So the players had a choice they could either try to climb 200-300 foot ravine with con saves athletic checks ect without climbing gear, fist fight a dragon, or try to pillage the dungeon for some new gear and equipment. So they decided to try the dungeon. So begines a long series of nature checks survival rolls to try and cobble together anything they could i dont remember everything but i do remember the fighter and barbaian desperately trying to catch a bat for the components for fireball. It was honestly heartbreaking to point out they were missing sulfer. So they get to the dungeon the barbs got a rock tied to a stick the fighter has a pointy stick and the magic casters have found a few ingredients some of which i hadn't thought of. They delve into the first floor. I describe a glowing moat magma surrounding a ring in which a modified minotaur prawls enraged and ready for blood. It nearly kills them their weapons were doing half damage and the casters barely had attack magics. One of the players had the idea to push the minotaur out of the ring into the magma. One quick hudle and a game of toro later. The minotaur lies dead and three openings appear in the floor 2 contain gold jewels and some basic equipment. It is comedy gold watching a lvl 15 barbarian and fighter fight over who gets a shortsword So begins one of my favorite dungeon crawls to date with the first floor teaching the players to use the environment it progresses pretty smoothly. They eventually escape its been days but they got a ton of money and a few magic trinkets. They get to town and discover where they're magic equipment ended up most of it anyways. And manage to buy it all back. They start tracking down her down and decide to scry on her. I describe her errecting three small graves in a oddly familiar clearing tears in her eyes crying with grief and sadness and triumph speaking to the stones she tells the she did it she avenged them and they can rest in peace now. They decided to let her have that fantasy and move on with their lives.
@@madmanwithaplan1826 Damn that was worth the ask. I love the aspect of forcing a high level party, perhaps a little too comfortable with their abilities, to go back to rock bottom basics. Fighting over a shortsword haha, that is gold.
I had a Paladin of redemption that one time captured like 20 goblins through strategy and some sleep spells. The party was all upset over it so he left with his new found goblin tribe. Oh Brother Emanuel you were to pure for the world.
I ran a party of commoners to save other commoners. The PC said if they meet one goblin they would turn around because they would die. Not only did I roll so badly that I couldn't it an AC of 10, they rolled so well they were killing goblins left and right. The spared two goblins after giving them a chance to live, Timmy and Greg. The party gave them to the local druid of the forest to help protect it. Timmy is adorable with seasonal allergies and likes holding hands with Greg. Greg would protect Timmy with his life.
And most of the players tries to find room in the party for the new character and then there's one guy who goes "What, a helpful person just showed up in a dungeon randomly? I don't trust them, we should kill them and take their stuff."
Adopting enemies who suddenly hard heel face turn and forcing the DM to have to manifest countless hours of bullshit lore about them on the spot is half the fun of being a PC. The other half is killing 23 of their friends and family first, of course.
My favorite is when our group forcibly recruits the last goblin after killing the whole tribe, and they wonder why the goblin runs away at the first opportunity.
Within my homebrew setting, Kobolds are the most common race, in terms of sheer numbers, but this is because the setting is a series of islands, ruled by Dragons, who are served Kobolds that reproduce through parthenogenesis. My personal favorite are my friend's addition to this setting. A Green Dragon who collects orphans, insists they are just part of his hoard, and that he takes good care of them because its a poor dragon who doesnt maintain their hoard in top condition. And the Kobold Folk Hero Chef, Ranger/Rouge(sometimes Rouge/Bard) Scarric, who tends to the little monsters, who are sometimes literal monsters. My top quotes from Scarric from our campaigns. "Beelzub, we do NOT light people's pants on fire. I DONT CARE IF HE LIED!" (Dragonborn Child) "No, Praxis, you cannot eat Donovan. Yes, i know humans are delicious, but Donovan is your brother, and we do not eat family." (Awakened OwlBear) "Chrysthallis. Put. The Bug Bear. Down. Yes he is cute. but just because you can pick him up, does not mean you can just kidnap him!" (Goliath Child) "No. Not only am i saying no, i am also saying, if you try, i will gut you like a pig, and feed you to Bobby." (Bobby is an Ooze they keep for food waste disposal. This was stated to the Dragon who collects the children) "Today is my day off. If any of you so much as breathe the wrong way, i will skin you alive....Slizik, dont test me, you may not have skin, but i can dissolve you in a bucket of water." Gruff as he is, Scarric has twice been resurrected by his Dragon Lord after sacrificing his life for the children.
As a DM I like to include at least 1 friendly Goblin in my campaigns. Most recently I made one the local tavernkeeper because I think hearing a squeaky voice and seeing just the tips of a pair of big green ears sticking up from behind the bar is funny.
I offered the party the chance to have the help of a goblin, who told the party the goblins were all under the control of a bigger baddie. They listened, and now that goblin is a Paladin, follower to the noble in the party, a minor lord, and has been adventuring with them for 6 years (in game and out).
lol My Party tried to convert an Goblin cleric of Maglubiyet, tied iim up and kept trying to make persuasion checks against it. The Goblin had class levels and filed teeth into points, and its lips removed....it was a Zealot. Eventually the party stopped in Neverwinter and he peed in there wagon and escaped, a Lady of the Night killed it in an nearby Allyway in a miraculous knife fight, she became a party member and an accomplished Bard.
Kobold ambush. Party kills all of them but one. They use him for intel. Little dude asks for corpse of former group member. Makes a helmet with the top part of a skull. Gives intel. Leaves alive. WIN-WIN
Actually I would 100% beleive a smarter goblin just flipping like that to save their lives. They are chaotic evil "If I follow the murder hobbos I might get powerful enough to make my own tribe, and if they end up dying to my boss well then I was leading them into a trap win/win."
Fun fact goblin lore actually makes this situation much more believable since goblins usually follow the best killers. And also their society is just f*ed up by the god of conquest
Gobs have all the capacity to make booms as a gnome tinker, but none of the understanding or concept of safety precautions. So its always good to have one around.
Lmao I love how flexible goblins are in 5e, at least how ppl DM them from "poor cute babies in service to big bullies" to "cannon fodder" to "I just use Kobolds, and they're WAY meaner" 😂
Ahhh. The goblin friend after killing goblins. I had a very similar outcome in the Lost Mines of Phandelver ambush, where the party befriended the goblin called Flea, got him to "turn them in" to the goblins for an easier infiltration of the cave and basically later made him the new friendly neighbourhood goblin warlord.
i just had an idea for a distrusting paladin who's oath is to trust. they made this oath as away to keep some hope that people aren't all assholes it only gets funky when you realize that you can "trust" someone to "lie". and then you realise trust isn't s measurement of if you "believe" them. but if you "know" them
Benefit and curse of playing the good(to a fault) guy. Pros: Making your DM do the cute goblin voice for as long as possible. Cons: Increased potential for total party death.
I once rescued a goblin, and he lived in my backpack. In combat he would pop out and fire a crossbow then duck back inside the bag. His name was Steeph.
goblins have changed pretty drastically over the editions of D&D, right now they are effectively just another race, one that nobody really likes and is often pretty damned unneighborly out of the desperation that that generates but ultimately just another sentient species. old-school D&D goblins though? ummm...how to say this...have you ever seen the show Goblin Slayer? those, almost exactly those, or rather the other way around since the whole thing is straight up made out of an abandoned D&D campaign. they were borderline nonsapient and specifically created by the piece of crap god that made them to be a male-only species that could only reproduce through rape (and I do mean _only_ because magic), exclusively capable of thinking in terms of violence, and exclusively evil. you quite literally had better odds of being able to interact amicably with the god of hatred than you did with the nicest rules-as-written old school goblin in existence. ...come to think of it goblins current status is pretty much what orcs were originally with the not insignificant difference that nobody is intimidated by an individual goblin
When we attacked the goblin camp I was a bard. I did a ton of healing…on the goblins. We left the battle with dreadnaught pissed he got 0 kills and me with 5 new friends. Chaotic good for the win
Friendly reminder to all dungeons master that if you make your enemy slavers, then there will be no questions or qualms about how far underground they should be.
I remember playing a goblin Druid once. Her tribe betrayed her and put her in a cage right before the other PC’s arrived. She was a snarky asshole to everyone. God I loved role playing as her.
I recruited a cadaver collector once . He ended up being turned in to a pebble by vecna. So I had a statue built of him and in the statues eye Is the pebble.
I like to DM these sorts of scenarios because I get to give each and every goblin a last word… “Noooo! You killed my granny!” “Ahhh my only son, how could you!” “Blaarg, worst birthday ever…”
One of my players went and made his character a kobold. Then got a direwolf. He goes out of his way to try and leverage his character's charisma and propensity for the cuteness. He literally did so that the fighter would carry him in his backpack, because backpack kobold.... Is now a thing
My players kept adopting kids. And bringing them along. And crying when they got killed in combat. And then adopting a new kid and saying this time it will be different.
My players adopted a tiny goblin kid. She adored the orc bardbarian, and now lives with an NPC family who treats her like their own child. It was fun and rewarding, and I love having the players run across her and her siblings bombing around on the family pony.
To be fair though, goblins are supposedly kind of terrible to each other. They have at least some motivations to forget about their companions well-being if that means rising above the rest. Problem is, that tends to apply to everyone, goblin or not. So sure, if your adventuring party is powerful, mighty and tends to stand on top of their adversaries, a goblin companion might not betray you any time soon.
Just err, keep one eye watching your back. And another your front. And maybe invest in a couple more to watch your flanks, the skies, and maybe the ground beneath you. It'll pay off.
Yup. They typically have zero empathy or affection. A goblin may follow your party for a time, sure, but will sell you out once a better deal comes along.
i'd say it depends on how bonded the goblin is to the group. "oh wow, this group of highly efficient, wealthy and powerful killers are nice to me. maybe i'll stick around".
As long as your feed the goblin NPC, take care of them, train/teach them ... they'll be alright and maybe a good support NPC! BUT if you throw them in a room at an Inn, ignore their existence for a week, don't be shocked they burnt the inn down and started a street gang!
The MM said goblins were neutral evil so I figure they'd be willing to join the winning side. As long as it benefits them they'd go for it. That's how a goblin character gets added at our table. Do they adventure because they want to help people? No. They adventure because grateful people pay them and they get to sleep in fluffy beds and eat good food with that coin.
Perfect reasoning. Evil does not necessarily mean one has to do bad things all the time. Just means your more than likely doing it for a self serving reason. I like playing Lawful evil because of this.
