The Secret Race of D&D Goblins Nobody Talks About

aren't goblins great we all love little goblins right nothing makes an underground Crypt into a proper dungeon like the pitter patter of little Goblin feet echoing through the Halls plus they're super cute or horrific whatever mood you're after goblins can fit it and it's for those reasons and more that goblins have become a Mainstay in fantasy at large especially D and D but what if we could make them better this is the question that a group of drow Wizards deep within the underdark once sought to ask themselves and of course by better they meant well you'll see hello and welcome to monster of the week the only show on the internet that digs up old creatures from past editions of dndd talks about why they're interesting how you might use them in a campaign and gives them a second chance in the Spotlight by converting them to fifth edition this week we're headed to the underdark to talk about that one time a bunch of Dr tried to make Goblins 2 the new batch and just to get this out of the way for those of you that are familiar with the concept of drow flesh warping from Pathfinder this isn't that but it's not better so say a quick prayer to mlui it and get ready to meet the fourth species of goblin that literally no one talks about the vill [Music] [Music] back in May of 2007 Wizards of the Coast released D of the underdark a third edition book that was all about you're never going to believe this Dr and the underdark if you were trying to run a campaign that was predominantly in the Subterranean world of the D this was the book you wanted to have in addition to all the stuff you'd expect to see in this kind of book there was also a small bestiary which of course is where we're headed today in a feature about goblinoid creatures and how they pertain to the Dr the book goes over how many Dr basically enslave or coerce goblins and Bug Bears into service sort of integrating them as something akin to a peasant Army which is Dr speak for expendable shock troops they never did mess with hobgoblins though which was probably wise on their part before we jump into the frill one thing I do want to quickly show you is this new Goblin stat block they introduced in this book that I think is particularly funny the goblin flesh hder this is a goblin that's technically a necromancer but their powers are limited to a degree so their primary role within Dr Society is to direct the actions of Undead laborers in other words a bunch of skeletons or zombies will be building a fortress or something and one of these guys will just be hanging out making sure the undead minions are doing what they're supposed to and I just think that's so funny this dude is literally a goblin with a goofy skull tattoo on his head he's got a job and middle management anyways the final part of this chapter is the reason we're here which is the section that details a new species of goblin the vill vill are the product of Arcane experimentation essentially a group of drought Wizards looked at their Goblin minions and thought huh I bet we could make them even more deadly so through a lot of magical and genetic tampering on standard goblins they eventually gave rise to what you see here a species of goblin that was slightly larger with deep purple skin lined in black stripes to blend in with the Shadows of the underdark they have massive bat-like ears to hear every sound that echoed off the m of cavernous walls a mouth filled with more teeth larger and sharper than before arms that stretched below the creature's ankle to give them extra reach and the final touch a smidge of thunderous Arcane might that allowed them to shatter rock and stone with a powerful Screech also they imbued them with an innate weakness to poison you know so if they ever got too powerful the Dr could always deploy their poisonous expertise to cut them down all in all a perfect upgrade to the base model as far as the Dr were concerned while not quite as Nimble as the Goblins they pregenerated from the vill were much stronger more capable and a lot smarter in fact I would argue their enhanced intellect is one of the most dangerous things about the Vil goblins can certainly be clever but they often lack that sharpened edge of a skilled tactical wit when it comes to battle and this is something the Vil have in Spades rather than just diving into battle head ver without much of a plan barring the occasional Ambush here and there they will stalk and study their foes formulating a plan of attack while they do so since they were created by Dr to serve as soldiers they were also trained by D meaning that the first vill received some of the best combat training you could ask for combined with their natural abilities it made them strong maybe even a little too strong see despite the fact that they had this builtin vulnerability to poison many of the Vil were obviously not satisfied with a life of being subjugated in forced to be basically enslaved soldiers to the Dr Wizards hard to blame them can't really imagine much fulfillment in a life of dying for a society that does not include you so some of them chose to slay their creators and Escape into the underdark determined to cut out a path of their own and those vill have since populated the underd dark as a new species still small enough in number that they are not known to many on the surface above but all of that might change very soon speaking of which let's talk about just exactly what these purple goblins do at the game table on page 123 of the original book we find the real stat block hang on a sec it must be on page [Music] 124 huh did I did I miss it somehow what the hell's going on so watsy goofed up a bit here and made a ensy mistake yeah they uh they just forgot to print the V stat Block in the book which is especially funny because the paragraph describing the V makes reference to the information provided in the stat block which is just completely absent I can only imagine how confusing this was at the time I know it made me feel like I was being gassl it as I flipped back and forth between the pages multiple times but only after Googling V stat block missing from D of the underd dark question mark did I discover that I was indeed not experiencing some kind of brain death but that there was was a goof made and a subsequent AATA this Arata of course was only ever published online and is no longer hosted by Wizards of the Coast but it is archived so even if the web page looks like this all the information is still there and legible if nothing else I feel like this really highlights the importance of media preservation because if it weren't for this archival website and this page all of the information about the real their abilities and how they all work would have probably been lost but I digress as a species of Goblin much like all their other kin the real isn't a creature that can be boiled down to a single stat block so what I'm going to present you with here is the default real stats think of this like the default Goblin stat block or the default hobgoblin stat Block it's just kind of an average representation of your typical vill now first and foremost they are small like the Goblins they sprang from though they're really riding the cusp between small and medium sort of like how a Goliath is just barely not large the V is just barely not medium they've got a climb speed which is great for navigating those cavernous walls and they have crazy good dark vision up to 120 ft also thanks in part to their massive ears and echol looca of abilities they get blindsight out to 15 ft and thanks to this magical Sonic processing they also have advantage on perception checks to hear stuff are resistant to thunder damage and cannot be deafen they do however have that pesky sunlight sensitivity that many creatures in the underd dark inherit which imposes disadvantage on attack roles if their target is beyond their blindsight r and in bright light speaking of attack rules the vill's favorite weapon of choice is a tool we don't see employed all that often the war pick it smacks for 1 d8 piercing damage however they often opt to wield it with two hands which means it's going to hit for a d10 what makes them especially unique in combat are their final two actions the first of which is called shriek when the V uses its shriek believe it or not it shrieks loudly in either a 30-ft cone or a 15t radius centered on itself all creatures in the area take some Thunder damage and if they fail their save they also get deafen if they happen to fail that save by five or more they're also stunned for a turn which is really bad getting stunned is obviously never a good thing but getting stunned when you're facing off against a single enemy isn't the end of the world however being stunned when going up against a large group of enemies is especially heinous because it makes it way easier for all those other enemies to stab you to death but hey it's only a dc13 saving throw because after all we're talking about a cr3 creature here so what are the odds you roll under an eight depending on your character not actually that low but let's move on the one Saving Grace here though is that this treak only affects creatures who can hear so if you do get stunned by it there's a really good chance that you're also deafened since the deafen condition lasts for 1 minute so it's really unlikely you're going to get stunned multiple times within a single encounter unless it goes on for quite some time or you fortunately heal the deaf in condition only to be shrieked and stunned again or if you're immune to it for some reason wouldn't that suck if you being immune to being deafened made it so that you were just getting clowned on by these creatures oh man now its second unique ability is a bonus action called Skin shift and this is a really unique defensive tool essentially once per day the vill can change the consistency of its skin granting it resistance to bludgeoning piercing or slashing damage until it takes a long rest so if it notices most of its opponents are using B and Spears it's going to choose piercing if it's up against a bunch of knights with sword and axes slashing and if it's up against a cartoon character with a rolling pin bludgeoning this all makes for a competent little fighter who is a step up from the typical goblins we know and love in terms of challenge but of course there's always room to expand on this and make your own type of vill in my conversion you will find two additional stat blocks for the vill leader and the vill bloodthorn which are my take on a more powerful vill in a leadership role and a vill who is made a packed with some kind of entity who knows maybe they even managed to strike a Packa with mlat himself the god of goblins thus securing their spot as a true member of the goblinoid species bringing them into the fold in fact that can actually make for a really cool story let's talk about that for those of you who aren't familiar with the goblinoid pantheon they've got a few deities kicking around but the most important one by far is mlad he is the arch deity of the goblinoid Pantheon and essentially became so by killing or subjugating all the other goblinoid gods the lore surrounding what's going on with many of the goblinoid deities is sort of vague but the primary takeaway here if you condense all of this lore down into its finest point is that mg here reign supreme and he really really really hates Grump the God Of Orcs if you've ever heard someone talk about how goblins and Orcs traditionally don't get along this is why mlat wants to destroy grch and Grom doesn't want that so therefore he's kind of forced into fighting a war with Mia hence why the afterlife of most Orcs And most goblins is spent in a Valhalla esque eternal battle between these two Gods there's a lot to unpack about the story but just talking purely in Broad Strokes mlat is kind of a dick he doesn't really care about the welfare of any of the goblinoid species he just wants more soldiers for his War so most of his actions are motivated by that he is also the reason why goblins have a hierarchy that is organized with hob goblins on the top and regular goblins at the bottom with bug Bears occupying a weird middle ground and that raises a really interesting question if the real are a true goblinoid species where do they fit in with this spectrum of hierarchies there's a lot of different ways they could fit in with goblinoid culture they're obviously much more powerful and wise than standard goblins and Bug Bears aren't really interested in power dynamics they're just kind of doing their own thing over here so how do they fit in with the hob Goblins the way I see it there are a few different ways this could play out and all of them are interesting equally but in different ways perhaps the V began worshiping mlat with the hope of being welcomed into the goblinoid family and as a god desperate for more soldiers he welcomed them with open arms at which point they fought a civil war against the hobgoblins for dominance this war could be ongoing or it may be resolved with the real either Landing directly above or below hobgoblins on the totem pole but in either case the losing side of that battle is guaranteed to be constantly cloying for power hoping to someday reach the top either the h Goblin seeking to reclaim what was taken from them or the vill seeking to attain what they see as their rightful place which is a really interesting political dynamic because on paper they should be allies right they're at least fighting for the same side so if the Goblins are all going to war under a unified Banner what choices might the real commanders make to achieve Victory while undermining their hobgoblin superiors or vice versa or maybe the real decide they don't even want to be part of the goblinoid structure and go off to do their own thing V to never serve another Master again mlat would probably be pretty pissed off about that and encourage the Goblins who do follow him to kill the V which means as enemies of mlat the Vil may find an unlikely Ally in the orcish peoples who follow groom they could even become part of groom's host or at the very least a friend to the Orcs or perhaps they do another thing I don't know they're an entire species of creatures you could literally do both of those plots in the same world where some of the vill join the Goblins some of them join the Orcs and some of them stick with the Dr and then maybe some of them [ __ ] off into the mountains to do their own thing they could also make a cultural pack similar to the one made by the death Giants in service to an eldrich entity or something who knows this is a really unique group of creatures in that they have roots that go deep into an established lore stretching back Millennia at least in game terms but there's practically nothing written about where they're going which means we get to write that part and I think that's kind of fun I mean technically they don't even have stats in an official product but that's neither here nor there I really encourage you to come up with your own stat blocks and your own take on real culture and how they kind of fit these pieces together within your world because there are so many different possibilities and I think all of them have equal potential to be really cool maybe their time under the rule of those evil wizards has made them despise evil and oppression so they form a paladin adjacent order within the underd dark worshiping a god of freedom and they roam the cavernous World they were born into slaying all who would seek to oppress others or perhaps they decided they want to be the oppressors now and they started subjugating regular goblins and in literally any case there's always room for individual vill to break off and do their own thing that's the beauty of intelligent sentient creatures is they're not robots so each one of them is an individual capable of making choices and if you think you might want to create a real NPC for your campaign or better yet you want to play is a real in the next game you're playing in I've got amazing news for you I also converted them as a 5e player species if you choose to play as a v or create a specific NPC of any class who is a v they'll get access to the vill's shriek skin shift and some other appropriate traits including the resistance to thunder damage and the vulnerability to poison it's definitely not going to be a species for everyone but I think they've got some really cool and unique traits and I wanted to put the option out there and if all else fails just use a group of real as the majority population in any dungeon or as a group of Bandits or in place of any other antagonistic role that would normally be filled by goblins not only is it a bit of spice to add to an old classic but it will be something new to catch veteran players off guard maybe within the game the party hears Whispers of goblins in the north but these goblins are different they're raiding Villages at night and the survivors recount Tales of purple creatures with bat-like faces and if you've got any Dr in the party they might even learn they're using Dr battle attle tactics which is especially weird for a group of goblins it'll raise a lot of questions and if the players do their research not only will they be prepared to fight these new goblins but they might even discover their weakness to poison and use it to their advantage but however you choose to use these creatures I have of course converted them to 5e so all three real stat blocks which I've created and the player race option are linked in the Google document that is attached in the description down below and if you are one of my lovely patrons of course over on the dungeon Dad patreon you can find the highres PDF stat block which contains all the same game information but it's got the new artwork attached to it and a bit nicer layout just as my way of saying thank you for all your support and speaking of patrons it's time for patron of the week thank you so much to Ashton kton for clopping on over to my channel and throwing some extra support my way it truly means the most I appreciate you immensely and thank you for watching as always if there's a monster you would like to see show up in a future episode ofst of the week feel free to suggest that monster in the I was about to say stats down below those aren't stats in the comments down below or over on the dungeon dad Discord where we have a monster suggestions Channel and you might just see it show up on an episode of Monster of the week I hope you enjoyed this one I really love these creatures people who have been around for a long time know that hobgoblins are like my favorite entry level enemy so having another species of goblin to throw into the mix and see how they interact with hob goblins and their culture and all that stuff was very exciting to me it's pretty rare that I cover monsters that are this low CR on this channel which isn't because the only good monsters exist at high it's just I tend to gravitate more towards monsters that offer like something unique and that we haven't seen before and a lot of low CR monsters are just kind of like an alternate spin on Orcs or something which I guess is kind of what this is but I felt their lore was interesting enough and their abilities and the way they function was different enough that it Justified bringing them over to 5 I also just like goblins it's my channel I get to do what I want but anyways thank you for watching I'll see you in the next one until then dungeon dad continues his journey through the underdark this time encountering a species of weird little fish guys they don't seem to be all there between the gills but at least they're not that threatening well the small ones anyways next episode Kua Leviathan tune in next time for lots more fan service 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Channel: Dungeon Dad

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Id: kyFPmnJUcLc

Length: 19min 11sec (1151 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 29 2024