====== Goblin ====== Goblins are a race of childlike creatures with a destructive and voracious nature that makes them almost universally despised. Weak and cowardly, goblins are frequently manipulated or enslaved by stronger creatures that need destructive, disposable foot soldiers. Those goblins that rely on their own wits to survive live on the fringes of society and feed on refuse and the weaker members of more civilized races. Most other races view them as virulent parasites that have proved impossible to exterminate. Goblins can eat nearly anything, but prefer a diet of meat and consider the flesh of humans and gnomes a rare and difficult-to-obtain delicacy. While they fear the bigger races, goblins’ short memories and bottomless appetites mean they frequently go to war or execute raids against other races to sate their pernicious urges and fill their vast larders. {{:chargen:races:pasted:20231221-065907.jpeg|Your stuff is theirs, and oftentimes a Goblin's eyes are bigger than their carrying capacity.}} ===== Physical Description ===== Goblins are short humanoids that stand just over 3 feet tall. Their scrawny bodies are topped with over-sized heads with massive ears and beady red or occasionally yellow eyes. Goblins’ skin tone varies based on the surrounding environment; common skin tones include green, gray, and blue, though black and even pale white goblins have been sighted. Their voracious appetites are served well by their huge mouths filled with jagged teeth. ===== Society ===== Violent but fecund, goblins exist in primitive tribal structures with constant shifts in power. Rarely able to sustain their own needs through farming or hunting and gathering, goblin tribes live where food is abundant or near places that they can steal it from. Since they are incapable of building significant fortifications and have been driven out of most easily accessible locations, goblins tend to live in unpleasant and remote locations, and their poor building and planning skills ensure that they dwell primarily in crude caves, ramshackle villages, and abandoned structures. Few goblins are good with tools or skilled at farming, and the rare items of any value that they possess are usually cast-off implements from humans or other civilized cultures. Goblins’ appetites and poor planning lead to small tribes dominated by the strongest warriors. Even the hardiest goblin leaders quickly find out that their survival depends on conducting frequent raids to secure sources of food and kill off the more aggressive youth of the tribe. Goblin babies are almost completely self-sufficient not long after birth, and such infants are treated almost like pets. Many tribes raise their children communally in cages or pens where adults can largely ignore them. Mortality is high among young goblins, and when the adults fail to feed them or food runs low, youths learn at an early age that cannibalism is sometimes the best means of survival in a goblin tribe. {{:chargen:races:pasted:20231221-065705.jpeg|Goblins don't have to be ugly, but most are. Their infamous love of fire doesn't help.}} ===== Relations ===== Goblin tribes usually view other beings as sources of food, which makes for poor relations with most civilized races. Goblins often survive on the fringes of human civilization, preying on weak or lost travelers and occasionally raiding small settlements to fuel their voracious appetites. They have a special animosity toward gnomes, and celebrate the capturing or killing of such victims with a feast. Of the most common races, half-orcs are the most tolerant of goblins, sharing a similar ancestry and experiencing the same hatred within many societies. Goblins are mostly unaware of half-orcs‘ sympathy, however, and avoid them because they are larger, meaner, and less flavorful than other humanoids. ===== Table: Goblin Ages ===== {{tablelayout?colwidth=",,,"}} ^ Adulthood ^ Intuitive ^ Self-Taught ^ Trained ^ Middle-Aged ^ Old ^ Venerable ^ Maximum Age ^ | 12 years | +1d4 years (13-16 years) | +1d6 years (13-18 years) | +2d6 years (14-24 years) | 35 years | 50 years | 65 years | 70 + 1d20 years | ===== Table: Random Height and Weight ===== {{tablelayout?rowsHeaderSource=Auto&colwidth=",,"}} ^ Gender ^ Base Height ^ Height Modifier ^ Base Weight ^ Weight Modifier ^ | Male | 2 ft. 8 in. | +2d4 in. (2 ft. 10 in. - 3 ft. 4 in.) | 30 lbs. | +2d4 lbs. (32-38 lbs.) | | Female | 2 ft. 6 in. | +2d4 in. (2 ft. 8 in. - 3 ft. 2 in.) | 25 lbs. | +2d4 lbs. (27-33 lbs.) | ===== Standard Racial Traits ===== * **Ability Score Modifiers:** Goblins are fast and clever, but weak and unpleasant to be around. They gain a [[chargen:common_terms#racial_bonuses_and_penalties|Racial Bonus]] towards Dexterity and Intelligence, and a racial penalty towards Strength and Charisma. * **Size:** Goblins are [[game_systems:size|Small]] creatures. * **Base Speed:** Goblins are fast for their size, and have a base speed of 30 feet. * **Languages:** Goblins begin play speaking only Goblin. Goblins with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following: Common, Draconic, Dwarven, Gnoll, Gnome, Halfling, and Orc. * **Expert Ambushers:** Goblins gain a +4 racial bonus on [[priority:skills:ride|Ride]] and [[priority:skills:stealth|Stealth]] checks, and these skills are Key Skills for them. * **Beady Eyes:** Goblins see perfectly in the dark up to 60 feet.