| Goblin | Humanoid |
Goblins are a short, scrappy, energetic people who have spent millennia maligned and feared.
The convoluted histories other people cling to don’t interest goblins. These small folk live in the moment, and they prefer tall tales over factual records. Goblin virtues are about being present, creative, and honest. They strive to lead fulfilled lives, rather than worrying about how their journeys will end. To tell stories, not nitpick the facts. To be small, but dream big. Many goblins enjoy simpler delights like songs, fire, and eating, and hate reading, dogs, and horses. Other goblins might have more complex pursuits, though, such as tinkering with scraps or concocting snacks and explosives from most anything.
If you want a character who is eccentric, enthusiastic, and fun-loving, you should play a goblin.
You Might…
- Strive to prove that you have a place among other civilized peoples, perhaps even to yourself.
- Lighten the heavy emotional burdens others carry (and amuse yourself) with antics and pranks.
Others Probably…
- Work to ensure you don’t accidentally (or intentionally) set too many things on fire.
- Wonder how you survive given your ancestry’s typical gastronomic choices, reckless behavior, and love of fire.
Physical Description
Goblins are stumpy humanoids with large bodies, scrawny limbs, and massively oversized heads with large ears and beady red eyes. Their skin ranges from green to gray to blue, and they often bear scars, boils, and rashes. Goblins average 3 feet tall. Most are bald, with little or no body hair. Their jagged teeth fall out and regrow constantly, and their fast metabolism means they eat constantly and nap frequently. Mutations are also more common among goblins than other peoples, and goblins usually view particularly salient mutations as a sign of power or fortune.
Goblins reach adolescence by the age of 3 and adulthood 4 or 5 years later. Goblins can live 50 years or more, but without anyone to protect them from each other or themselves, few live past 20 years of age.
Society
Goblin society comes in two forms, savage goblins who form small communities separate from those of other ancestries, and civil goblins who form larger communities within or on the outskirts of those of other ancestries.
Savage goblins tend to flock to strong leaders, forming small tribes. These tribes rarely number more than a hundred, though the larger a tribe is, the more diligent the leader must be to keep order—a notoriously difficult task. Play and creativity matter more to goblins than productivity or study, and their encampments erupt with songs and laughter.
Civil goblins attempt to mimic the societal norms of the society they make their communities within. This is often done poorly, with the goblins exaggerating certain aspects they favor and grossly misinterpreting others. Goblins can be found enthusiastically participating in any and every local celebration, attending the performing arts, and volunteering for whatever menial task is presented to them.
Goblins bond closely with their allies, fiercely protecting those companions who have protected them or offered a sympathetic ear. Goblins tend to assume for their own protection that members of taller ancestries, which goblins often refer to colloquially as “lankies,” won’t treat them kindly. Learning to trust lankies is difficult for both savage and civil goblins, though civil goblins are much more adept at tolerating the abuse and prejudice of their taller neighbors.
Beliefs
Even the most well-intentioned goblins have trouble following the rules, meaning organized worship confounds them. Most goblins treat all, or most, deities as the same wonderful, monstrous, unimaginably powerful being, and make no attempt to remember if that being has a name, doctrine or preference in followers. This leads many to revere powerful monsters, natural wonders or anything else they find fascinating. Civil goblins who spend enough time with lankies might adopt some of their beliefs, particularly if those beliefs are in line with the goblin virtues of freedom and self-expression.
Popular Edicts invent songs for every occasion, turn trash into your treasures, solve problems with fire
Popular Anathema trust a horse, learn to read, live as a lanky
Adventurers
Goblin adventurers are paradoxically both exceedingly rare and obnoxiously ubiquitous. Anything can be an adventure for a goblin, be it going to the market to buy rotten produce or joining a group of soldiers to slay a troublesome monster. Occasionally a small band of treasure hunters will encounter an adventurous goblin who happens to possess uncharacteristically useful skills, or has a particular skill which is immediately useful to them. Their impulsive and expressive nature make goblins excellent bards and rouges.
Names
Goblins keep their names simple. A good name should be easy to pronounce, short enough to shout without getting winded, and taste good to say. Goblins usually choose their own names, sometimes accidentally, when they first begin to speak. Occasionally a goblin will gain a nickname which they later adopt as their name.
Sample Names
Blug, Drak, Drool, Fiz, Graz, Krik, Mudgrub, Murg, Pindle, Tizzle, Zug
Ethnicities
The different ethnicities of the goblins represent how their people have adapted to different climates throughout Reylan. A goblin may be of any ethnicity regardless of what region they call home.
City Goblins are the most commonly found living among other ancestries throughout Riadus. They tend to have green skin of any hue though their appearances otherwise vary dramatically and they are far less prone to mutation. City goblins most often have the Irongut, Razortooth or Unbreakable heritage.
Scorch Goblins hail from harsh desert regions. They tend to have darker complexions with skin tones ranging from tan to yellow to orange. Most scorch goblins have the Charhide heritage, but a few who prefer to escape rather than endure the heat are Cave goblins.
Marsh Goblins come from swampy areas and likely have green or brown skin. Marsh goblins can be of any heritage, but Razortooth and Fey-Touched are most common.
Frost Goblins have adapted to frigid climates and tend to have pale skin ranging from stark white to pale blue. Frost goblins are almost always Snow Goblins.
Fey Goblins are extremely rare and usually found in savage communities. Their skin color is usually similar to the ethnicity of other goblins in the area, but a single limb appears to have been tattooed with intricate tribal designs. All fey goblins are Fey-Touched or have a versatile heritage.
Ancestry Mechanics
Hit Points
6
Size
Medium
Speed
25 Feet
Ability Boosts
Dexterity
Charisma
Free
Ability Flaw
Wisdom
Languages
Common
Goblin
Additional languages equal to your Intelligence modifier (if it’s positive). Choose from Draconic, Dverga, Harrath, Pyric, Orcish, Sylvan, Verdantic, and any other languages to which you have access (such as the languages prevalent in your region).
Darkvision
You can see in darkness and dim light just as well as you can see in bright light, though your vision in darkness is in black and white.
Goblin Heritages
These heritages are available in addition to the heritages listed in the Pathfinder Player Core.
Cave Goblin
Your incredibly flexible limbs allow you to easily compress your body and squeeze through gaps. You gain the Quick Squeeze feat as a bonus feat, even if you aren’t trained in Acrobatics. Tight spaces not tight enough to require the Squeeze action aren’t difficult terrain for you.
Fey-Touched Goblin
The blood of the fey flows through your veins, saturating you with their magic and making you truly one of them. You gain the fey trait, in addition to the goblin and humanoid traits. Choose one cantrip from the primal spell list. You can cast this spell as a primal innate spell at will. A cantrip is heightened to a spell rank equal to half your level rounded up. You can change this cantrip to a different one from the same list once per day by meditating to realign yourself with the Wild; this is a 10-minute activity that has the concentrate trait.
Half-Goblins
Half-goblin characters are the unlikely offspring of goblins and humans (and sometimes elves). The wide social and cultural gap between a goblin and a member of the larger folk of Riadus is sometimes overcome through genuine affection, though such romances rarely last long. Most half-goblins are actually several generations removed from a half-goblin who had a full blood goblin and full blood human for parents. Though such “half” goblins are actually only 1/3 or 1/4 or even 1/8 goblin (or human), they tend to carry the same physical traits and are treated as half-goblins by both goblins and humans.
