Morakki Goblin

Morakki Goblin

Ahh, the Sly Fox. Soft beds, warm turnip pie — such pleasant memories. Alas, the tavern’s no more. Goblinoids plundered her stores and burnt her to the ground. Those heathens have no appreciation for the finer things!

-- Volo

Biological Information BODY TYPE Humanoid VISION Darkvision ABILITIES Fury of the Small Nimble Escape Physical Characteristics SIZE Small SPEED 30 ft. AVERAGE HEIGHT male- 4'0" female- 3'10" AVERAGE WEIGHT male- 60 lbs. female- 52 lbs. LIFESPAN Goblins reach adulthood at age 8 and live up to 60 years. SKIN COLOR Most Goblins have yellowish-green to green colored skin, although other skin colors are possible from the more remote tribes. HAIR COLOR Green Black Brown EYE COLOR Yellow Orange Red DISTINCTIONS Goblins have spindly limbs, sunken in faces, long ears, and sharp teeth Sociocultural Information PLANES Prime Material (Sytheria) ORIGIN Valis LANGUAGES Common Goblin

Goblins occupy an uneasy place in a dangerous world, and they react by lashing out at any creatures they believe they can bully. Cunning in battle and cruel in victory, goblins are fawning and servile in defeat, just as in their own society lower castes must scrape before those of greater status and as Goblin tribes bow before other goblinoids.

Beast Masters and Slave Drivers

Goblins know they are a weak, unsophisticated race that can be easily dominated by bigger, smarter, more organized, more ferocious, or more magical creatures. Their god was conquered by Kadum, after all, and now when the Mighty One calls for it, even their souls are forfeit. It is this realization that drives them to dominate other creatures whenever they can — for Goblins, life is short.

Goblins seek to trap and enslave any creatures they encounter, but they flee from opposition that seems too daunting. For miles around their lair, they employ pit traps, snares, and nets to catch the unwary, and when their hunting patrols encounter other beings, they always look for ways to capture their foes instead of killing them. Goblins that run up against the fringes of a society first test its defenses by stealing objects, and if these crimes go unpunished, they begin stealing people.

Enslaved creatures receive the worst treatment the Goblins can dish out while still getting decent performance out of the slaves. But humanoids and monsters that are especially capable or that provide unusual services find themselves treated like favored (though occasionally abused) pets.

Virtually any kind of creature that can be browbeaten into service might be found with a Goblin tribe, but rats and wolves are nearly always present. Both have lived in concert with Goblins for at least as long as humans have worked with dogs and horses, and in Goblin society those two animals serve similar purposes.

Family Matters

A Goblin tribe is organized in a four-tiered caste system made up of lashers, hunters, gatherers, and pariahs. The status of every family in the tribe is based on its importance to the tribe’s survival. Families that belong to the higher-ranking castes keep their status by not sharing their knowledge and skills with other families, while those in the lower castes have little hope of escaping their plight.

Outsiders who don’t understand the Goblins’ social system are sometimes surprised by how different castes interact with them. A single human warrior might frighten away a dozen gatherers, only to be shocked when two hunters viciously attack. A captured group of invaders might hang in a net while dozens of Goblins pass by and pay them no heed until a group of gatherers shows up.

Lashers

The closest thing a Goblin tribe has to nobility is the caste of lashers — families of Goblins trained in the ways of battle, and also possessed of key skills such as strategy, trap-building, beast taming, mining, smelting, forging, and religion. If the tribe has any spellcasters, this caste includes them. Lashers follow the lead of the tribe’s boss, and enforce their will on other Goblins with whips.

Hunters

The families of Goblins that are skilled in the use of weapons but not privy to any other special knowledge have the second highest status in the tribe. Hunters are often the best wolf riders and know the most about the territory farthest from the tribe’s lair. These individuals hunt game in peaceful times, and in combat they serve as scouts, foot soldiers, and cavalry.

Gatherers

Families in the second lowest caste are responsible for getting food from the surrounding area, taking what’s naturally available or stealing whatever they can. Gatherers also do the little amount of farming of which Goblins are capable and are charged with checking traps for captured people or beasts. Gatherers aren’t usually armed with weapons more deadly than a sling or a knife, but they frequently carry nets, caltrops, lassos, and nooses on poles for controlling captured creatures. These Goblins cook for the tribe, and in times of war they are also responsible for making poison.

Gatherers, and the pariahs beneath them, greatly fear for their lives in battle, believing that the lashers and the hunters have special knowledge of how to survive. It is the members of the lower castes that give Goblins their reputation for cowardice.

Pariahs

Some Goblin families are the lowest of the low, composed of the most dimwitted, least educated, and weakest Goblins. They get the worst jobs: mucking out animal pens, cleaning up after other Goblins, and doing any hard labor such as digging mines. If the Goblin tribe has slaves to do some of this work, the pariah families enjoy the opportunity to supervise and dominate such creatures, which have no status at all.

Booyahgs

Spellcasters of any sort among the Goblins are rare. Goblins typically lack the intelligence and patience needed to learn and practice wizardry, and they fare poorly even when given access to the necessary training and knowledge. Sorcerers are less prevalent among them than in many other races, and Grek Moresh seems to dislike sharing his divine power with his followers. And although many goblins would readily offer anything to have the abilities of a warlock, the patrons that grant such power know a Goblin is unlikely to be able to uphold its end of any bargain.

Even when a Goblin is born with the ability to become a spellcaster, the knowledge and talent necessary to carry on the tradition rarely persists for more than a couple of generations. Because they have so little experience with magic, Goblins make no distinction between its forms. To them all magic is “booyahg,” and the word is part of the name they give to any of its practitioners. A Goblin with access to booyahg becomes a member of the lashers and can often rise to the role of boss.

"“Booyahg” means “magic” in the Goblin tongue. Should ye happen upon goblins chanting “booyahg booyahg booyahg,” be warned! There might be a powerful sorcerer lurking in their midst."

— Elminster

Booyahg Caster

This Goblin served under a hobgoblin wizard, stole a look at its master’s spellbook, and learned a little wizardry by aping the gestures and words it remembered. The Goblin can cast a randomly determined 1st-level wizard spell once per day. Intelligence is its spellcasting ability.

Booyahg Wielder

This Goblin found a magic item (a necklace of fireballs, a circlet of blasting, or the like) and learned how to use it.

Booyahg Whip

Grek Moresh saw fit to gift this Goblin with powers that enable it to dominate others. The Goblin has 1d3 other Goblins that slavishly obey its orders.

Booyahg Slave

This Goblin warlock serves a patron who can extract payment in flesh if the Goblin doesn’t do as promised. Often this patron is a coven of hags serving as the tribe’s boss, a fiend that has made its way into the world, or an undying lord such as a lich or a vampire. Use one of the warlock stat blocks in appendix B to represent this Goblin, adding darkvision and the Nimble Escape traits common to all goblins.

Booyahg Booyahg Booyahg

This Goblin is a sorcerer with the wild magic origin whose every casting, including cantrips, is accompanied by a wild magic surge. Use the mage stat block in the Monster Manual to represent this Goblin, adding Darkvision and the Nimble Escape traits common to all Goblins. Each time the Goblin casts a spell, there is an accompanying surge of wild magic; roll on the Wild Magic Surge table in the Player’s Handbook to determine the wild magic effect.

Powers and Abilities

• Ability Score Increase- Your Dexterity score increases by 2, and your Constitution score increases by 1.
• Alignment- Goblins are typically neutral evil, as they care only for their own needs. A few goblins might tend toward good or neutrality, but only rarely.
• Fury of the Small- When you damage a creature with an attack or a spell and the creature’s size is larger than yours, you can cause the attack or spell to deal extra damage to the creature. The extra damage equals your level. Once you use this trait, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
• Nimble Escape- You can take the Disengage or Hide action as a bonus action on each of your turns.