Goblin

This little humanoid has a flat face, broad nose, pointed ears, wide mouth, and small, sharp fangs. It walks upright, but its arms hang down almost to its knees.

Goblins are small humanoids that many consider little more than a nuisance. However, if they are unchecked, their great numbers, rapid reproduction, and evil disposition enable them to overrun and despoil civilized areas.

A goblin stands 3 to 3½ feet tall and weigh 40 to 45 pounds. Its eyes are usually dull and glazed, varying in color from red to yellow. A goblin’s skin color ranges from yellow through any shade of orange to a deep red; usually all members of a single tribe are about the same color. Goblins wear clothing of dark leather, tending toward drab, soiled-looking colors.

Goblins speak Goblin; those with Intelligence scores of 12 or higher also speak Common.

Most goblins encountered outside their homes are warriors; the information in the statistics block is for one of 1st level with the following ability scores before racial adjustments: Str 13, Dex 11, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 9, Cha 8.

Combat

Being bullied by bigger, stronger creatures has taught goblins to exploit what few advantages they have: sheer numbers and malicious ingenuity. The concept of a fair fight is meaningless in their society. They favor ambushes, overwhelming odds, dirty tricks, and any other edge they can devise.

Goblins have a poor grasp of strategy and are cowardly by nature, tending to flee the field if a battle turns against them. With proper supervision, though, they can implement reasonably complex plans, and in such circumstances their numbers can be a deadly advantage.

Skills: Goblins have a +4 racial bonus on Move Silently and Ride checks. Goblin cavalry (mounted on worgs) usually select the Mounted Combat feat in place of the Alertness feat, which reduces their Spot and Listen check modifiers from +3 to +1.

Challenge Rating: Goblins with levels in NPC classes have a CR equal to their character level –⁠2.

Goblin

Goblins are tribal. Their leaders are generally the biggest, strongest, or sometimes the smartest of the group. They have almost no concept of privacy, living and sleeping in large common areas; only the leaders live separately. Goblins survive by raiding and stealing (preferably from those who cannot defend themselves easily), sneaking into lairs, villages, and even towns by night to take what they can. They are not above waylaying travelers on the road or in forests and stripping them of all possessions, up to and including the clothes on their backs. Goblins sometimes capture slaves to perform hard labor in the tribe’s lair or camp.

These creatures live wherever they can, from dank caves to dismal ruins, and their lairs are always smelly and filthy due to an utter lack of sanitation. Goblins often settle near civilized areas to raid for food, livestock, tools, weapons, and supplies. Once a tribe has despoiled a locale, it simply packs up and moves on to the next convenient area. Hobgoblins and bugbears are sometimes found in the company of goblin tribes, usually as bullying leaders. Some goblin tribes form alliances with worgs, which carry them into combat.

Goblin bands and tribes have noncombatant young equal in number to the adults.

The chief goblin deity is Maglubiyet, who urges his worshipers to expand their numbers and overwhelm their competitors.

Goblins as Characters

Goblin leaders tend to be rogues or fighter/rogues. Goblin clerics worship Maglubiyet. A goblin cleric has access to two of the following domains: Chaos, Evil, or Trickery. Most goblin spellcasters are adepts. Goblin adepts favor spells that fool or confuse enemies.

Goblin characters possess the following racial traits.

• –⁠2 Strength, +2 Dexterity, –​2 Charisma.
• Small size: +1 bonus to Armor Class, +1 bonus on attack rolls, +4 bonus on Hide checks, –⁠4 penalty on grapple checks, lifting and carrying limits ¾ those of Medium characters.
• A goblin’s base land speed is 30 feet.
• Darkvision out to 60 feet.
• +4 racial bonus on Move Silently and Ride checks.
• Automatic Languages: Common, Goblin. Bonus Languages: Draconic, Elven, Giant, Gnoll, Orc.
• Favored Class: Rogue.

Source: Monster Manual (version 3.5), page 133.