GOBLINS! How to Use Them - Game Master Tips 

One staple for a goblin lair is a big fat dumb troll in the gobbo's treasure room. The gobbos keep him happy and accept quite a lot of his abuse, because if anyone tries to rob the tribe, the troll will be convinced, that people are trying to steal from HIS personal treasure. If, on the other hand, the gobbos need something from their stash, they are manipulative and cunning enough, to convince the troll, that he ORDERED them to take it and use it on his behalf. Best ingredients to make it work: The goblins refer to the troll as their king, and made him as much royal regalia as they could come up with: a throne, a huge crown, a mantlet, a club-sized sceptre,... and off course a court jester. Optically the jester is the most wretched and sniveling of the goblins, the main focus of the king's abuse. Potentially the players may even pity him and come to the idea of offering him to rescue him. But in reality, the jester is off course the real operational brain of the tribe, who plays the troll like a fiddle. All the goblins hate him, but none dares to cross him. And half of the goblin's offspring are fathered by him.

I've read history books about the Viet-Kong's traps and tactics. That is the best source of inspiration on just how scary Goblins and Kolbolds can theoretically get.

I like Goblins as a race in my home-brew worlds. I like to make them tinkerers, similar to gnomes, but with a more junkyard scrap feel to them.

For Goblins: Take all the most mischievous evil you can find and give it the innocence of a child.

"Goblins are like tax collectors. They want your gold, and have plenty of tricks to get it." - Farmer Frelj

Sure, wolf-riding goblins don't make the best shock troops. They sound like excellent mounted archers though!

Glad to see goblins here! I posted before about how I created a goblin-specific affliction called "Goblin-Laughter". The idea of this is that, goblins of any make or size can infect each other with laughter. If a hobgoblin laughs for too long consecutively, they mutate to either (log-)goblins or bugbears, depending on their age. For this reason, hobgoblins seek strict control over their society and have grandiose plans for securing the amount of laughter they allow in their society or even banishing hobgoblins altogether in order to have at least some hobgoblins left in case the hobgoblin village gets destroyed by a particularly funny joke. Hobgoblins adults are the most resistant to this affliction, but they can't stand up to it forever. Hobgoblin children on the other hand, are still vulnerable, so they are typically forbidden from laughing as they build up tolerance or they are sent away to live with worgs or with humans as slaves. Finally, goblin laughter is provoked by fire (and other things, but primarily fire). This means that fire is particularly dangerous for hobgoblins, because if they are caught inside of a burning building, they'll collapse with choking laughter, which can then infect their neighbors before the fire even gets there. Because of that, hobgoblins also strictly control the amount of fire that can be used in a region. A little is okay and better than seeing the entire forest be burned to dust, so they use fire-stick farming to burn the underbrush away. This gives hobgoblin forests a hellish appearance, with everything seeming burned for no reason, and mudslides become more frequent around them with no grass to keep the ground together. It's all worth it if it prevents the hobgoblin village from going berserk as cannibal bugbears roving the countryside.

I like the concept of treating a group of goblins (or any eally small and weak enemies) as a "swarm creature", ala a rat swarm, to make up for the fact that individually they are virtually harmless to a group of adventurers.

Ok.. So Goblins translates to " Nasty Troll" or just " troll" in swedish. Now imagine giving goblins the regeneration ability. Those 6 goblins your low level party finds in a cave or a hallway is suddenly a lot more nasty and tricky to take down :)

A large group of goblins is a scary thing if you have no AOE damage.

When I started playing D&D again a couple years ago my mate ran us through the Lost Mines. We managed to convince the goblin Droop that his masters were evil and he should go and start a revolt, he went to tell this idea to the bugbears in the next room, DM rolled a natural 20 on his charisma check and Droop plus the three bugbears joined us to help kill the Black Spider then went off with the bugbears to start a goblin revolution. We finish Lost mines and I take over as DM for a home-brew world. Droop has spent the last couple of decades freeing goblins from their masters and has established a goblin safe haven on an island in the middle of a huge lake. They are now thanks to the party starting to integrate into the wider world a couple of towns have started to accept them. The party are currently on there way to reclaim the island which was taken over by The Myriad an organised crime gang who are expanding to the south and took over the island as a base of operations. The Goblins are currently living as refugees in the town of Lowhill.

I was in a campaign where goblins rode giants as siege towers then flooded into a walled city

Goblin contractors: we swarm your job, but will disappear down our holes for two weeks at a time.

This is perfect timing! I have a session coming up this Monday where the party is going to go explore a cave that is "supposedly" occupied by goblins.

It's finally here! I've been waiting for this episode with exitement!

Excellent video. Maybe one of your best that I have watched so far.

My favorite goblin is Styx from shards of darkness. I much prefer the intelligent, witty, cunning, mischievious depiction of goblins. Terry Pratchett did a good job as well with his goblins. I think they are a highly underrated race and honestly are one of my favorites.

That hook/rope trick is an awesome idea and I'm totally stealing it!

Great video. Thanks for the upload.

I'm rather in love with some of the ideas that you presented. I can already imagine something of a nightmare for a party, where they start off fighting small little clusters of goblins in some ruins, and everything seems like a cakewalk, before they finally make it into the warrens proper, and then suddenly things turn. They're not facing 2 or 3 or even 5 goblins. They're facing more than they can count, because they're appearing, slashing, stabbing, and throwing nets, and then vanishing back into a burrow. With 5e D&D goblins able to take a disengage action as a bonus action, it's even better. Attacks of opportunity won't be a possibility. So as a result, you can treat it, as you said, like a mass. The party can slash at them, cutting them down, but suffering death by a thousand cuts all the while. Each time the mass of goblins lose x hit points, they lose one of their attacks, until eventually the attacks... stop. The goblins aren't all dead, but there are too few of them for the ones who are left to feel confident. Perhaps they move back for another confrontation, or perhaps they simply hide, and the only way to TRULY rid the nearby city or town of the menace, is to burn them out, like moles.

Goblins are one of my absolute favorite creature races. I also really enjoy running them as a character race. They make for an interesting, and comedic character for any party.

Big fan of goblins, they can be more than cannon fodder if you take the time to think about it. They also have the added benefit of being hilarious and ridiculous! Great video!

I love the Nilbog that was added in VGM, I really wanna try out a goblin party attacking the players.

If you haven’t yet you should read the light novel or the manga based on it “ Goblin Slayer “ it Portrays goblins in a much darker more threatening world view.

I think that the best way for goblins to become a threat to a comunity is to make them eat all the crops. A village with no food is no village at all. And you can't gaurd all the feilds all the time.

Pathfinder beastiary 6 talks about this specifically with the Troop template.

Very nice video and view on goblins you have earned a sub

Goblins could be incredible at trench warfare. If they're all armed with spears, they've got instant counters against cavalry or anyone trying to bum rush their ditch. Even better, their tiny tunnels can allow them to dig under a road unnoticed and set some powder kegs.

Excellent vid as always - love some of the ideas expressed here. My own thoughts on Goblins are (unless going for low level trash for the party to beat up on at low level, in which case just throw them in as you suggested) that you can get a lot out of them if you play to their strengths (much of what you suggested was right on the nail). I am also a believer in show not tell when it comes to monsters. My own campaign has recently seen a party of new characters trekking through swamp and marshlands in my homebrew setting (using pathfinder rules). I made what are, in effect, "swamp goblins" by taking Goblins, removing all armour, adding a boost to swim and stealth and DEX, and giving them simple clubs and daggers made of bone or petrified wood. A few changes to physiognomy to give them lidless, fishlike black eyes, webbed digits and dorsal fins and almost needle like teeth to create the impression of them being these hideous semi-aquatic horrors living a troglodyitic existence in the marshes made them suitably different. I then had a group of about 7 of them stalk the party for several days. They knew they were being followed, but no one dared stray off the path due to the terrain and the dangers. Night times were especially interesting as the players were genuinely worried about what was out there. They would catch an occasional glimpse of something, movement out the corner of an eye, that kind of thing. When the little beasts finally attacked, the tension was increased by only describing them precisely in terms of what the character could see. (you should never just say "you are attacked by goblins" anyway, but being very descriptive allows you to accentuate what you want the players to focus on and hide what you don't). I could also see them working very well in the sort of tunnel system described in the video. Imagine a tribe of them infesting old dwarven ruins. Almost impossible to root them out. on the other hand they cannot be ignored - any kingdom nearby would have to devote precious resources, just to watch out for the inevitable Goblin attack every few years once their numbers reached critical mass! Possibly a job for a group of Halfling/Gnomish tunnel specialist? In a lot of ways I think Goblins are one of those creatures it is best to treat almost like H.R. Giger's Xenomorph from the Alien franchise - terrifying, yes, but worth keeping "off screen" until the big reveal to get so much more out of them when they do finally pounce. I any event, work with what your creatures have and make them stand out, I say. You can give players a memorable and exciting confrontation with basically any creature if you use them in ways that take advantage of what they have to offer. I liked the idea about a fresher perspective on Goblin wolf riders - I can see them making quite excellent "horse" archers or skirmishers, riding into range, firing an arrow or chucking a javelin, before riding off, relying on speed and a low profile to evade any retaliation.

Excellent addition. Goblins can be quite terrifying in large numbers, and they wouldn't fight fair. I like the idea of the small passages only they can traverse well. That will help me a ton in making life harder for my players. Thanks for the insights!

I once ran a campaign where I interpreted Goblins as elemental tribes, similar to the tribes in last Airbender. Added a fun change.

I would love a look at alternate goblin cultures some day!

This was very inspiring. Thank you

This was pretty great advice. Will make those player's give respect to those little critters.

In my setting, the goblins have their own kingdom, and live alongside humans as roughly equal, at least within the borders of the Goblin Freestate. I find it quite interesting how the humans have adapted to Goblin culture and vice versa to create this weird pseudo socialist society under the Goblin king. On the combat side of things, the Freestate goblins are very different from the other tribes in that while they haven’t yet figured out how to fight in formation, they do take advantage of certain human armaments and tactics. Most notably using the crossbow in a unique sort of guerrilla warfare, alongside the human citizenry of the kingdom.

11:50 alternatively, archer cavalry. Which were also a thing. Fits goblins quite well I think. As the heroes are engaging the main goblin group a couple of goblin riders run around firing arrows, maybe they have put some filth or vile mushroom paste on the tips that inflicts the poison condition. Perhaps they use these wolves to reposition to some high ground before releasing them to harrass the heroes.

Great insight, so much that I'm even wondering if I can apply this to a victoran Vampire the Masquerade table as tzimisce creations that work similarly. I'd really want to see your take on Hags and witches, fae, and i'm starting to ask myself what amazing things you'd come up for tengu/kenku :)

I like to think of goblins as a sort of “break-out” species, something like locusts. Mostly they exist in little batches here and there, and their inclination to cause trouble isn’t too harmful. But when a clutch of goblins lights on the right circumstances and the right resources, their numbers explode. They spill out everywhere causing mayhem, until the population crashes again because they’re just not good at making large sustainable societies. My personal version of Kobolds would utterly *despise* goblins. This would also help square the idea of goblins being alternately timid and vicious. Timid and retiring when there are few in a clutch, vicious and aggressive when they are in their break-out phase.

There are more types of cavalry than just heavily armored knights on heavy barded warhorses. Goblins on wolves are skrimishes, raiders, hit-and-run specialists, mobility and savagery are the focus.

I'm surprised, you didn't mention GOBLIN SLAYER. This has nightmare inducing vicious goblins en masse. Here in Germany (at least in the most played pen&paper) goblins ride on boars, not wolfs. Maybe that'd be a better cavalry?

I love the idea of a Goblin circus...

One of my regular p&p crowd loves playing Goblins so much, that he once showed up with a whole set of replacement goblins in case his first one died. It didn't - it continued to sell clothing, real estate and the parties services to everyone who was willing to listen. When reaching lvl 13 he was the leader of the players trade house (which he initially created). Needless to say we had much laughter with this character - especially as he managed to sell goblin guards to a dragon in exchange for a quest item from the dragons hoard. On topic: Goblins in numbers, sneakily making the most out of their individual weakness is always a nice trope. And even lvl 10 parties were wiped by a bunch of goblins rolling stones into a chasm ^^

the smallness of goblins is great for building their hide-outs, but I gotta say having played through such a goblin dungeon with a group that had only one halfling as a small character (well, and a dwarf - but a pretty tall one), it can quickly become tedious to crouch for two sessions through an entire twisted, thorny cave - which made it feel pretty good to finally break through that place and reach a point you can finally stand up again. What I'm trying to say is, balance that sort of stuff, have occasional rooms for breathing, maybe natural formations that allow for a little bit of movement every now and then.

Hey i have a question/video suggestion, something i would be interested. How do you deal with natural hazzards in d&d; more specifically hunger, thirst, etc. Every edition has a lot of detailed rules about those subjects, but then throws everything out introducing low level spells that basically solves them all (Create food and water, and the like). And it's rare ti not have a character capable of doing such things. I always though the dangers of travelling should be some of the most interesting portions of an adventure, otherwise fighitng monsters in an old lost temple in the middle of the desert would be the same as fighting them in your back yard!

i remember a GM of mine using jinxins in AD+D a number of years ago, and he used them just like that. they had little tunnels and fired darts and tripped us, and pricked us and dropped hot sand on us and generally MADE US INFURIATED AND UNABLE TO DO ANYTHING BACK. It was genius

Another aspect to Goblins that you could play up is adding them to the attrition the party encounters on their adventure. They don't just attack the adventurers, they take whatever opportunities they can get to steal from them. If the party has a large wagon full of supplies and gear they have to leave outside the goblin warrens, the goblins could easily have stripped the wagon down to the frame and run off with the wheels if the party was gone for long enough, putting the party in a position where they might now be forced to push further into the warrens to get their stuff back.

In a setting I'm working on, the goblins do wolf riding by way of introducing a big number of goblins to an unpaired dire wolf, who will eat a number of them, and then which ever goblin made the best show of it, gets to ride the now satisfied wolf, and if they live through whatever they are doing, they pair up, and the wolf keeps the goblin around

THe Order of the Stick web comic has a nice portrayal of goblins. As the comic goes on you learn about goblin society through the back story of one of the main villains Red Cloak. Order of the Stick likes to play with expectations of fantasy, D&D, and players. Often putting those tropes on their head, or running them to a narrative conclusion.

I recommend Wicked Fantasy. It's an alternate pathfinder book that puts a twist on some of the classic races and world. What they did with gobolins was rather cool. They basically act like nomads and are literally extremly unlucky...to other players.

i've been playing a few one shots as goblins recently; Wobbly Greenbits the beastmaster ranger with an ape reskinned as a type of small troll/ogre thing that he can bearly control and likes to throw little Wobbles at things and enemies, and Crispy Greenbits, pyromaniac goblin alchemist with no regard for his own or anyone else's safety as long as explosions are involved

I always thought of/played goblins as vicious gnome types. Tinkering away on Rube Goldberg-esk traps, and squealing in glee as they are sprung on friend and foe alike. Life is cheap that far down the food chain.

One of my frinds npc party member is actually an extremely talented swordmage and its pretty funny to see one goblin going toe to toe with a a elven mage +3 human warriors at once

I love Goblins. I was DMing a game centered around monstrous humanoids and the PCs came to a big trade hub. One of the encampments outside of the city was all Goblins, hundreds of them, who had learned warfare at the feet of the Hobs. They were feared in the region. Orderly like the Hobs, they were capable of military warfare. They weren't simply a mob. They were organized by company, platoon, and squad. With planning and discipline their numbers became terrifying.

With the "high agility" staple of the goblin, porting them to the D6 system I use (WEG D6), They became vicious little buggers. They had high Melee Combat (read "Attack") and high Dodge (read "AC"). So they could actually stand and fight, because even pretty strong PCs just couldn't hit them, but the Goblins could win via attrition if they onl attacked once per round and dodged the rest. At least, until someone hits them, then the pretty much turn to paste.

What about vampire dragons? Glad you liked the gobbo poker game! :D

I play goblins as the goblins from Jocat. they are called Boblins and they are, yes, a comedic relief, but also very fun to play as, specially if you give them big weapons that they just can't even get off the ground.

Personally, I think Pathfinder has the best version of Goblins, these little murder children that never had anyone teach them right from wrong. I tend to play with that a good bit, having them argue over stupid problems (do we call it mist or fog?) and being taken advantage of by those smarter than them (I have a campaign where a particularly nasty pyrokinetic gobo got his powers and a zombie bear from my big bad, leading him on a campaign to tear down society), but I do have a character that essentially adopted one of them and now he's basically just the wide-eyed child of the group that learns from his "dad". It's all quite fun.

It would be helpful if you did a video on creating/running occult adventures, for campaigns and one-shot adventures.

Prepared but not tested: I replaced the shortbow they have in the Monster Manual with a throw ability: Throw 1d2 (basically a coin). On a 1, the goblin throws its own shit. if it hits, -1 charisma on the target until they wash, and blinds them if it's a crit. Stackable. On a 2, it's a rock (1d4 damage on hit).

Cute goblins!

some goblins in my campaign are using submarines (they were used as slaves by a par of gnome tinkerer weapon merchants that my players defeateded) have become pirats and merchants poping up in there subs all over the place. :)

I feel you dude. My neighbors are goblins too.

I like to think of the goblin wolf riders as their answer to heavy horsemen. The goblin leader blows a horn as the two sides are about to crash into one another. This gets the wolves howling, and causes the horses to rear in panic. This leaves the horses open to throwing axes and the like. The horses fall over and those in front are crushed by their friends falling over them.

I have used goblins with a homebrew "template" that gives them ice powers. Their attacks deal some constitution damage and instantly the party is very much afraid of the few small ice blue goblins.

I'm reminded of an old adventure module called Blood in Darkness, which featured an old dwarf shrine which had been taken over by a garrison of goblinoids and their ogre mercenaries. By the time the players arrive, the shrine is in the hands of the ogres, who ate the rest of the garrison when supplies and orders from high command stopped arriving. But goblins survive in the hard-to-reach tunnels of the shrine, ultra-paranoid fanatics who are more than happy to use the narrow confines of their hideout for maximum advantage: they should give the players a nasty surprise if they try to root them out!

I would employ two types of goblin cavalry, boars and wolves. Boars would be for charging the enemy lines, as boars are already quite good at that. Wolves are quite different and i would use them for hunting/slaving parties, mostly carrying javelins, nets, ropes, and archers. You could have boar riders charge the tankier PCs while the wolf riders circle around and net the ranged PCs. Keep goblins clever. They also work with all kinds of poisonous mushrooms, so homebrew some spore-grenades and different poisons or something. A mid level PC group could easily find themselves separated, surrounded, poisoned, and incapacitated by nets if they aren't careful.

YES! Goblins are my favorite monsters. My characters always fear then just because they know I've probably got something planned. I run them like evil children, a bit more stupid on average but breeding so quick it practically makes up the difference. They swarm and leap in waves, babbling and chanting. With always enough holes to make sure they partially escape. And in an army, they will come up with the craziest machinery that is either just as destructive in its failure or whose low success rate is countered with sheer number. From riding boars to just launching themselves at your with a spike helmet, goblins are a threat. And with a army, you can have them launch from catapults with sometimes-functioning wingsuits or leaping out of trees and such in droves. Also, i don't feel like the life cycle gets played up enough. In most systems they live like 15 years. That means they must have an insane birth rate for a humanoid . I always play up their main threat as 'leave a few for a winter, there's a tribe by summer. Leave a tribe alone and there's a warband in a year. And then they start getting brave.'

I love horde tactics. Goblins are frightening in large groups, especially if you give them a small advantage of flaming oils grenades. They become truly dangerous, even to higher level PCs, when a group of 6 goblins, or more, hurl bottles of flaming oil at the center of the group. They could potentially hit the whole group of players and weaken the PC's up quite a bit before they closes in on the goblins. You throw in a few goblin archers and you will see your PC's dance for sure. I once ran a ship encounter where a hill giant pirate was hurling goblins at the PC's ship. The goblins where climbing in the sails and running around the PC's ship causing trouble. It was a fun encounter.

In my games I like to play Goblins as Anamistic tribes. With Sharman and a focus on connecting with nature. Their identity is tribal focused rather than the 'cult of individuality' as seen in Western culture. There is often themes of racism, where the humans consider themselves superior due to their technology, agriculture and civic structure. The Goblins have pacts with nature spirits and they live in balance with nature. The Goblins also have a lot of Wilson of the natural world. From awareness of the weather to skills in medicine and poisons due to a strong connection with the plants and fungi.

On my second campaign I made one of the first encounters something like 3 or 4 goblins and some hobgoblins as something I thought was an easy encounter....needless to say that it was almost a TPK..... The next week I decided to add some flavour and tip the scales to the campaign, adding a goblin who was able to easilly swing a two handed warhammer as it was made of thin air, and it was a success, NOBODY at the table could predict that and everyone enjoyed it Also I would've never thougt about my smiley goblin making it into the video

Have you made a video about the book that you are coming out with cause I've always wanted a book on like how to write campaigns and be a better DM

I've had goblins infect and change npcs into goblins, with a bit of hive mind to make the character join them. The npc keep their levels. A goblin with three levels of paladin is a solo for a party of five. 3:) This is true of all Monster races in my world.

I like the idea of goblins surfing on wolves but if you check a nature documentary that's not how wolves hunt. They tend to keep their distance and wear down their prey, taking bites at vulnerable points. It's very goblin-like and mounted archer goblins would make great use of the wolves' natural hunting style. Great vid, it's got me rethinking how I use goblins.

I don't have a physical printed version for tortle pc's, so I decided to use goblins from Volo's Guide to Monsters instead. For a one-shot and for npc use, I crafted 5th level characters (Kensei Monk/Fighter with action surge) based off of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Since they're just for fun, I was thinking of adding 3 more levels to give them the rogue's thief subclass, and add a level of fighter to have their individual fighter subclasses reflect their mutant turtle counterparts.

When I think of Goblins I think of Warhammr Fantasy Night Goblin Fanatics: Out of a pack of ordinary squishy Goblins jumps one of these nasty creatures... strengthened by some mysterious mushroom they wield an iron ball as big as themselve attached to a 10 foot chain... spinning like crazy they'd have an attack on everything in range, friend and foe alike... on hit they do huge amounts of damage and also penetrate armor... upon death they'd have a final attack, letting go of their weapon which then smashes into the next adventurer.

The goblins in my campaign setting mostly worship the twin mad gods Mani (chaotic good) and Dementus (chaotic evil), while others worship their father Shinoth (who is technically no longer an active god, but represents a balance of madness). Their language is actually a mockery of Common with elements of what could be described as rhyming slang. The words they use can vary from tribe to tribe, goblin to goblin or even sentence to sentence. The only thing that is fairly consistent are their pronouns, which are: meez, weez, sheez, heez, yeez, zeyz, etc. "Knowing" Goblin is largely a matter of understanding the way they think, and as such most who understand the language are themselves mad god worshipers. The language tends to make fun of the idiosyncrasies of English/common, substituting words that sound similar or the opposites of words that sound similar. For example, one thing they like to do is instead of saying "to" or "too" they say instead random single-digit numbers. They love to substitute obscenities or things that just sound generally gross. I have tended to write out Goblin dialogue in advance , I've yet to run into a situation where I've had to improvise anything too involved. I'm not sure I'd be confident enough to straight up improvise it, though I think it's sort of a matter of preference since I like to have the opportunity to think it out and make it that much more strange and humorous. The nature of their language also allows for varying levels of proper Common when they are trying speak to non-Goblins. They can restrain themselves a little when they wish to be understood.

I have in our game as a DM a Gobolt which is the best of both Kobolts and Goblins. they are a minion style creature that serve in our game a dragonborn warlord. They tend to work in packs of 4 or 6 to team attack from multiple sides and use scimitars or spears.

On the wolf cavalry: it could be light cavalry, archer cavalry or anti-goblin heavy cavalry. So scouting and small skirmish fast units; perfect ranged hit&run parts of an army; a wolf can work very well as a warhorse against small targets like goblins, maybe the goblins might actually try out making heavy cavalry "knights" armor-clad with wooden plate.

Just thinking about an off-comment mentioned about 5 minutes in. I think it'd make a lot of sense for Dwarves to build large rooms and corridors other than for ostentation, specifically so that smoke from fires and forges has more room to rise. Makes sense having high ceilings when living in a large subterranean dwelling where blacksmiths are prevalent, so that the smoke can cling at a more comfortable distance from your head while it escapes to the surface. I can also imagine that living underground with a large amount of people would be extremely claustrophobic and stuffy, I think the tall ceilings would be a good call considering that as-well. Not an expert, but I'm interested to hear what anyone else would think.

I have a new respect for Goblins. On to Kobolds, the first monster I ever killed... way back in the 70s!

In Starfinder, I have utilized Goblins quite effectively as a sleeper army of scavengers on a world that is a desert military junkyard more or less, the Goblins used to be an occasional problem throughout the settlements but my adventurers had to deal with the first cobbled together Scrap Tanks rolling up to the walls of these cities. I've also made Goblin Heavy Weapons teams where 4 or 5 Gobbos are carrying and using a weapon that would be too big for one to use on their own and have them make gun emplacements or take cover behind low walls or rubble and plonk at the party with varying accuracy , they were a threat at any stage of the campaign cause every once in a awhile a 20 appeared...TL:DR Mad Max Space Military Goblins are fun

I do hope you do a How to be a Great Player on Dragonborn. I know they are not the most popular PC race and not sure your personal thoughts on them, but it is one of my favorite ones to use. I love the idea of a character that has this idea of loyalty to clan ingrained in their race and how that effects your character. If they are from a clan subservient to a Dragon (a great idea for GMs to use them as NPCs with a possible Dragon antagonist or ally) or from a independent clan. It is great architecture for a backstory and character personality I find myself enjoying to work with recently. Where do they come from? Is there clan residing within a multi racial city, or do they live on their own in the wilderness? What role do they play or did they play in their clan before they left? Why did they leave? So many possibilities I like to play with right now and like to see your views on

One thing to also remember, at least in term of D&D, is that goblins in pathfinder and 5e can be playable characters. One if the best encounters that I had with my group was they, as level 10 characters, run into a single goblin. They thought it was going to be a easy fight with one quick kill. But this goblin was a rolled up level 15 goblin fighter. Yes, it goes against the grain of your traditional goblin. But that's what I love to do.

Hey, Guy, (i doubt you'll see this) I've be DMing for about 6 months now and you've been a big help either with insperation or in clearing up misconceptions and i just started watching The Adventures of the Windswift and i have to ask how you do combat because for me it feels like a long complicated chore, but my players just keep running in hearld strong Any suggestions?

If Dwarf Fortress is any indication then Goblins usually ditch it out with numbers, while using slaves of other races as frontline cannonfodder if given chance, to raid a Fort while Kobolds try to sneak in individually completely off the radar in order to snag the riches.

I also make types of goblins. Example: Feral goblins: large furry manes of hair on their heads and backs with huge furry topped pointed ears. Long prehensile tails and grasping toes on their feet. Arboreal with a climb speed of 30 feet. Highly dexterous they ambush and shoot arrows from trees and build traps. They tend to use poison and are quite stealthy and swarm. They also often den below ground in warrens during the day and attack at night. Or build light proof tree houses. They can also move on the ground and will swam and ambush at campsites. They dislike fire and tend to begin attacks by putting out fires if possible. They also get mounts based on the tribe/woods they are in often using giant spiders, boars, wolves, lions and more. I make them about double the power and difficulty of a regular goblin. Akki/mountain goblin: Stone like hard skin and shelled backs camouflaging well amid stone living below int he warrens among mountainous and rocky regions they have a boosted AC. As feral I make them twice the regular goblin difficulty. A bit slower and less dex bonus they are stronger and more CON. Immune to poison damage and condition, superior darkvison/daylight sensitivity, use traps, also can eat gemstones. A few are born "giant" and are Medium size and are even more powerful. They also have longer lifespans but are often killed as deadly menaces. I also have had Giant goblins (large size), lava goblins (very dangerous but slow and die easily in cold/water), and swamp goblins (swim speed/waterbreathing), etc. Create your own subspecies for your own worlds it's fun!

Goblin lair: asks for a cloudkill, preferable after a amicable chat with the DM regarding total gas volume and flow inside narrow vessels. You still have the tricks and traps of the now uninhabitated lair though, but its an improvement.

I use a similar process for my goblins as this. My personal favorite use is to have them armed with a plethora of thrown weapons, such as daggers Darts and javelins. The wolf has two pouches of darts and a quiver with 1d8 remaining javelins; assuming they are ever acquired. So the wolves charge in, with a trio of goblins on their back. Only for two to leap off and move to flank with the wolf's target. Meanwhile, a single goblin with mounted combat training. Sits "safely" behind the wolf's teeth and hurls darts at the same target or at any apparent spellcasters. It has proven rather effective at shocking a party into reconsidering the threat potential of a small band of goblins when left to their own devices. Just one of many ways I've used goblins over the years

My party recently encountered a goblin encampment, but I structured the encounter to be more diplomatic. The leader had disappeared and various factions were competing to prove themselves the strongest, with each faction representing a stereotype (murder clowns, comic relief, organized strength in numbers or sly clever gobs). Figure whatever they choose will impact goblins they encounter in the future.

Great video Guy! AND you hit it straight-on with one word... "Tactics". A lot of the time, the game is dubiously dysfunctional with a lack of truly "low level" enemies... SO it's perfectly understandable to toss an occasional group of three or four goblins here and there, with just enough cleverness to be amusing and just enough dangerous for the PC's to go after them... earn some XP and move on... OF course, for similar purposes, Kobolds work as a suitable stand-in just to keep things "interesting" so the Players aren't bemoaning the whole, "empty XP process"... Then there are other ways to add significantly to XP (at least early on) with various bonuses, Role Playing incentives, and so on... The point originally being that this low level adventuring is just a step above "murder hobo-ing" for the laughable sake of allowing the Players time and space to explore their own and each other's character builds just a bit... get a theme started, and find some personal direction. Sure, the Half-orc mercenary character may well be entirely inspired by Deadpool, but convincing the Player to take a slight dip leftward of the origin, is to encourage development in more than the simplest "XP growth" methods mechanically canonized into D&D... THEN we can "get serious" about the enemies, monsters, and imposing threats of some of these things. That's where a goblin warren, village, or subterranean networking system might come into serious play. Of course, it was available in the Campaign and World"the whole time"... I'd be a complete ass to have obfuscated it just for PC's of Level 3 or above! Diminutive creatures (like Goblins and goblinoids) probably understand their individual limits quite well. They simply wouldn't be functionally survivable (even in a fantasy setting) otherwise... SO I often employ them with group-tactics very much of the "style" that I would happily applaud out of my Players... Letting the larger bands of goblins work together to create weird and amusing statistical models of success and failure still imposes a terrifying threat to a small marauding band of murder-hobos... especially the overtly edgy kind who can't possibly get along let alone work together well... AND suddenly there comes a "moment of truth" for the Party, where the individuals make that crucial choice "Teamwork, or TPK"... AND for the record, there's nothing wrong with Light Cavalry... as the case with Wolf-riding Goblinoids. Wolves, unlike horses, are also quite nimble and tireless in their natural surroundings... running down individuals just as enthusiastically as the goblins would wish to, themselves. They also produce explosive power and speed when necessary, so they offer a much more cunning and unpredictable dispensary of tactics than "conventional heavy horse"... Pair the goblin riders and their mounts together... now give them a piece of rope, and you have a traveling, high-speed trip-wire... Especially effective in woods, where light is often at a premium anyway, and there's plenty of otherwise useless under-brush and cover. When the wolves aren't rushing in low at full-tilt, they can be bounding over bushes and fallen logs, launching high enough into the air that the rope can catch a hapless PC about the chest or even the throat... Good luck! Worse yet, it's not necessarily the one or two goblin-riders ahead of you that you should be so concerned with. Being tactical, goblins with wolf-borne cavalry units, also study their mounts... They know that the odd couple ahead on a path are there to catch attention... Similarly, the two or three that impose their presence behind the party are only there to pressure the group forward... or even give them cause to separate... It's the ten or twelve more goblins on wolf-back in the bushes to either side... the ones you DO NOT SEE that are you're actual problem, whether or not they're toting repeatable, short-stock crossbows, composites, or just flails and scourges... Traps... Well, as with any trappers, goblins probably understand the three main types of traps. 1. Offensive... designed to injure or kill and impede with great damage. 2. Defensive... designed to impede, whether or not injury is sustained... 3. Nuisance... designed to distract, redirect, frighten, amaze, or even amuse and annoy... whether anything is inflicted or not... I often employ the hearty over-use of nuisance trapping with Goblins, myself. Preferring to redirect the party rather than outright engage in a race of damage... It's fun, for one thing, more fun than just blithely killing PC's... or NPC's for the matter. AND it's sensible in the logic that redirecting and annoying PC's is probably more survivable than killing one or two in a party of four or six... Goblins are definitely not the kind to be missed by NASA, say... BUT that's not to go so far as to pointedly make them "completely stupid" either. ;o)

Maybe look at the Ewoks from Return of the Jedi for ideas for goblin traps? Also thought it would be neat to have a varient ambush where the dead horses they've blocked the road with have been gutted, with blood trails leading off into the bushes on either side of the ambush..... (Two of the Goblins hiding inside the dead horses waiting for the signal to start the ambush)

I have an idea for goblins, and some other similarly destruction-oriented humanoids for the setting I'm working on, pulling on some very old roots. In Tolkien's writings, the orcs (or goblins, as he used the terms interchangeably) were originally elves, taken and corrupted by Morgoth. In this setting, 6 of the 7 progenitor races have corrupted forms that are similarly corrupted, but each have elements of their own inherent nature. (Dragons are the 7th progenitor race, and they've got enough power in their own right to tell the dark god to eff off.) In combination, they'll be called Orcs, rather than having orcs be a thing on their own (Tolkien basically had people using Orc as a generalized epithet for any of the half dozen or so breeds he had running around, and I kinda like that idea more than the literally pig-headed man origin of DnD Orcs). Each corrupted race takes the thing that makes their parent race unique, and twists it toward destruction. Gnomes are all about tinkering, these days, so the goblins will be the ones blowing stuff up on purpose. Goblin troops will be wielding things like primitive flamethrowers (that do high damage, only last for a couple of shots, and kill the goblin instantly if you blow up the fuel tank he's wearing...kinda like real flamethrower troopers), some might have primitive grenades, that sort of thing. They'll also be the minds behind any big siege engines that come onto the field once the orcs start uniting and my big bad hobgoblin warlock starts Genghis Khan-ing the relatively safe parts of the world. It'll definitely be a bit before I feel comfortable running this campaign - I'm new enough that I've still only been on the player side of things, so I'll probably run a handful of canned adventures first, such that I feel a little more comfortable with my ability to evaluate how effective an ability should be, my overall knowledge of how the game system functions (so I can be comfortable about focusing on the important things rather than getting bogged down in mechanics).

Goblins are great, and building a boss/witch doctor/specialist goblin to join with them that does status effects makes them really shine. This is why nilbogs rock

I like the goblin slayer take on goblins

I tend to play Goblins as low wisdom, high intelligence characters in addition to being high Dex low strengeth. Play most as wizards, alchemists, rogues and artificers. They also explode on death for their current total hit points. This can make goblin encounters extremely dangerous and unpredictable. Especially the ones who are extremely low wisdom because they are usually willing to gamble their lives on creating the most dangerous bombs, spells and weapons.

Rather fitting that I'm about to catch up to the episode of Critical Role Campaign 2 where Nott returns to her tribe.

You could also then, working off of the goblin catapult, have the goblins steal supplies or weapons off of their victim. Have small goblin encounters where they just steal things from the party, only attacking as a diversion so the thieves can move in. Wear the party down over time so that when they do finally attack the party is famished and weak while the goblins have been feasting on their rations

In our Phandelver game, my Cleric (built to be a tank) was taken down by those goblins

1:38 is my character’s reasoning for enslaving a tribe of goblins. (They also think he’s a god)

I make my Goblins not evil, but misunderstood, which can really screw with experienced players, and also make these really memorable moments where you get to see things from a Goblin perspective, often entering those tunnels and hovels and utilizing their hyperactive nature to your advantage.