3.5 - Goblin Questions

[gurgleflep]

Hey, everybody. I've got a question for you friendly folks, but before I proceed: FallingSnow, don't read any further!



Okay, now I've seen several forms of goblin: regular, snow, blue, dekanter, and hobgoblin. This is where my question begins, are there any others?
I've heard mention of Lolthbound (4E) and was wondering if there's a conversion for that to be in 3.5 and if there are any other goblins out there.

I'm beginning a large-scale campaign soon (if all goes according to plan and I can convince a couple of my players to go), and personally think that the same monsters time and time again can get rather bothersome. Why not throw in some variants? Orcs, ogres, trolls, ettin, giants, and the likes are going to be used as well (in as many variations as I can muster), so knowing which ones they'd team up with in particular would help immensely.

[Waker]

Bugbears are goblinoids as well. In addition there are numerous environment goblins like water, desert, and so on detailed in Unearthed Arcana, as well as Sandstorm, Stormwrack and Frostburn, though I would have to double check the last three to be positive.

[ThatKreacher]

Bhuka, from Sandstorm, are 'an offshoot of the goblinoid people'. They're pretty much desert goblins that are peaceful. I can see them potentially aiding your PCs since most goblinoids dislike them and view them as weak. Or maybe your PCs could anger them and if they're ever in a desert, could be relentlessly ambushed by bhuka trying to make them leave their lands.

[Chaosvii7]

Bugbears, Blues, Hobgoblins, and Dekanters are your best bet. There's also the Bhuka from Sandstorm, definitely my favorite goblinoid subrace. They get giant webbed feet and look like bald clowns. :smallredface:

Otherwise, environmental variants are a dime a dozen and not particularly interesting. It's the ones with their own names that will usually get your players to bat their eyelashes. Considering there's things like "aquatic human", and then races that are themselves aquatic humans without being aquatic humans, it gets weird, crunchy, and flat-out confusing.

For once, the Wikipedia article on D&D Goblins (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goblin_%28Dungeons_%26_Dragons%29) will probably help you more than you think. The articles on particular races in the game(the ones that make money and are basically stereotypes or caricatures of typical fantasy games) have a large list of variants specific to the edition of D&D you're looking for. It also mentions Nilbog, which I don't think exist in 3.5, but are subtype of goblin, so you could homebrew them and emulate them as best you can if you can't find them.

[gurgleflep]

Bugbears are goblinoids as well. In addition there are numerous environment goblins like water, desert, and so on detailed in Unearthed Arcana, as well as Sandstorm, Stormwrack and Frostburn, though I would have to double check the last three to be positive.

I'd completely forgotten about bugbears being goblinoids. :smallfrown: I'm a little bit upset with myself.
Thanks for the book titles, I'm going to write those down so I don't forget them :smalleek:


Bhuka, from Sandstorm, are 'an offshoot of the goblinoid people'. They're pretty much desert goblins that are peaceful. I can see them potentially aiding your PCs since most goblinoids dislike them and view them as weak. Or maybe your PCs could anger them and if they're ever in a desert, could be relentlessly ambushed by bhuka trying to make them leave their lands.

Goblins that are good? That doesn't follow the typical stereotypes, so that could come in as a nice plot device/twist. Thank you :smallsmile:


Bugbears, Blues, Hobgoblins, and Dekanters are your best bet. There's also the Bhuka from Sandstorm, definitely my favorite goblinoid subrace. They get giant webbed feet and look like bald clowns. :smallredface:

Otherwise, environmental variants are a dime a dozen and not particularly interesting. It's the ones with their own names that will usually get your players to bat their eyelashes. Considering there's things like "aquatic human", and then races that are themselves aquatic humans without being aquatic humans, it gets weird, crunchy, and flat-out confusing.

For once, the Wikipedia article on D&D Goblins (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goblin_%28Dungeons_%26_Dragons%29) will probably help you more than you think. The articles on particular races in the game(the ones that make money and are basically stereotypes or caricatures of typical fantasy games) have a large list of variants specific to the edition of D&D you're looking for. It also mentions Nilbog, which I don't think exist in 3.5, but are subtype of goblin, so you could homebrew them and emulate them as best you can if you can't find them.

Look like clowns? Something tells me there's going to be a lot of laughing the day they come into play... no rhyme intended.
There are aquatic humans that aren't "Aquatic Humans?" What's the point of that?!
Nilbog I have heard of, I've got an old (AD&D? 1st Edition? One of the two) book that mentions them. I can use it and a regular goblin from the Monster Manual for that.
Thank you :smallbiggrin:

[Zaq]

Drow of the Underdark has the Vril, which are pretty cool. They're even an LA 0 playable race, though as I recall, there's a key part of their racial abilities that's just missing and has to be common-sense houseruled in. I forget which part, though. Haven't looked in a while.

[gurgleflep]

Drow of the Underdark has the Vril, which are pretty cool. They're even an LA 0 playable race, though as I recall, there's a key part of their racial abilities that's just missing and has to be common-sense houseruled in. I forget which part, though. Haven't looked in a while.

:smallbiggrin: I absolutely love the Underdark (and all its denizens for that matter), so this is a nice one to hear about. I'll take a look at it the next time I've got that particular book in hand. Thank you :smallbiggrin:

[Chaosvii7]

I
Look like clowns? Something tells me there's going to be a lot of laughing the day they come into play... no rhyme intended.
There are aquatic humans that aren't "Aquatic Humans?" What's the point of that?!
Nilbog I have heard of, I've got an old (AD&D? 1st Edition? One of the two) book that mentions them. I can use it and a regular goblin from the Monster Manual for that.
Thank you :smallbiggrin:

Okay, maybe "looks like clowns" was the wrong suggestion, because their faces are leathery and emaciated, but they're all pale, have accentuated eyes, and reddish hair according to Sandstorm.

Compare Typical Bhuka direct from Sandstorm (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/sand_gallery/87607.jpg) to Pennywise the Clown from Stephen King's It. (http://filmjamblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/penny1.jpg)

Also, they do that because Environmental Creature x is a concept introduced in Unearthed Arcana - in which no rule has to be taken word-for-word, or even used. It exists to help you understand ways you can fill niches in plots, or enhance the experience with alternative flavors. Perhaps your world is a giant desert? Desert Humans and the like make perfect sense if the only book on hand is Unearthed Arcana.

But if you have, say, Sandstorm, you're far more likely to pull from the sourcebook that:

a)was made after Unearthed Arcana, and may contain changes to crunch or fluff appropriate to errata

and b)has desert-based races, meant to replace certain standard race options.

Then things like Desert Human become irrelevant, unless your whole world actually IS a desert, in which case you could rule that the standard human is the desert human, and the plains human(the core human from PHB) is uncommon and impractical in a world without terrain features beyond sand and rocks.

(oh my gosh why do I talk so much, I am so sorry, enjoy your gaming experience)

[gurgleflep]

Okay, maybe "looks like clowns" was the wrong suggestion, because their faces are leathery and emaciated, but they're all pale, have accentuated eyes, and reddish hair according to Sandstorm.

Compare Typical Bhuka direct from Sandstorm (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/sand_gallery/87607.jpg) to Pennywise the Clown from Stephen King's It. (http://filmjamblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/penny1.jpg)

Also, they do that because Environmental Creature x is a concept introduced in Unearthed Arcana - in which no rule has to be taken word-for-word, or even used. It exists to help you understand ways you can fill niches in plots, or enhance the experience with alternative flavors. Perhaps your world is a giant desert? Desert Humans and the like make perfect sense if the only book on hand is Unearthed Arcana.

But if you have, say, Sandstorm, you're far more likely to pull from the sourcebook that:

a)was made after Unearthed Arcana, and may contain changes to crunch or fluff appropriate to errata

and b)has desert-based races, meant to replace certain standard race options.

Then things like Desert Human become irrelevant, unless your whole world actually IS a desert, in which case you could rule that the standard human is the desert human, and the plains human(the core human from PHB) is uncommon and impractical in a world without terrain features beyond sand and rocks.

(oh my gosh why do I talk so much, I am so sorry, enjoy your gaming experience)

I'll be honest, the resemblance of this goblin to Pennywise scares me a little bit.
Also, you have no reason to be sorry. Any bit of information - regardless of size - comes in rather handy. I'm a first time DM, so this kind of stuff helps me substantially!

[Yogibear41]

Drow of the Underdark has the Vril, which are pretty cool. They're even an LA 0 playable race, though as I recall, there's a key part of their racial abilities that's just missing and has to be common-sense houseruled in. I forget which part, though. Haven't looked in a while.

There is an official wizards internet article that fixes that problem, basically they left a page out of the book they were printed in. If you google DnD 3.5 Vril it should come up pretty close to the top of the list.

Had a pretty sweat Idea bout a Vril character with a feral template dropped on, themed him as being more magically enhanced by the drow, but was then deemed to dangerous so was to be put to death but he escapes. Gains a few levels lol picks up Leadership feat rallies an army of other Vril and goes about guerrila warfare attacking fringe settlments of the drow until his army expands enough to fight them head on.

But sadly idea never happend :smallfrown:

[gurgleflep]

There is an official wizards internet article that fixes that problem, basically they left a page out of the book they were printed in. If you google DnD 3.5 Vril it should come up pretty close to the top of the list.

Had a pretty sweat Idea bout a Vril character with a feral template dropped on, themed him as being more magically enhanced by the drow, but was then deemed to dangerous so was to be put to death but he escapes. Gains a few levels lol picks up Leadership feat rallies an army of other Vril and goes about guerrila warfare attacking fringe settlments of the drow until his army expands enough to fight them head on.

But sadly idea never happend :smallfrown:

Even if you didn't get to play as the character, you could still use it in a game as some form of quest or mission. You could either aid the Drow or the Vril, more likely than not the Vril would be the ones sided with because Drow are either hated or feared by most races. About the only things that don't fear them or hate them are too stupid or far more intelligent.
Have you thought about DMing a game and using it?

[Yogibear41]

Nah not really, feel free to use the idea though! :smallsmile:

When I'm home and bored often times I just make up characters and backstories for fun, in my old age spamming video games all night has started to lose some of the appeal it once had lol.

[gurgleflep]

Nah not really, feel free to use the idea though! :smallsmile:

When I'm home and bored often times I just make up characters and backstories for fun, in my old age spamming video games all night has started to lose some of the appeal it once had lol.

I would very much like to use it, so thank you for granting permission to do so :smallsmile:

You're not the only person here who makes characters and backstories, it's quite fun to do it, creating something not many would think of. My personal favorite is a goblin ninja who was raised by a female dwarf peasant (is that the right word?) in an asian-esque community.

[Yogibear41]

I could actually see the Drow being sided with over the Vril if you played their alignments by the book, sure Drow are evil but Vril are Chaotic Evil which can be oh so much worse. For the character I had in mind the Vril was going to be Chaotic Neutral, but then again in some peoples opinion wanting to commit genocide on any race, even one that is known to be as evil as the drow is considered a very evil act so there ya go.


Alignment in DnD is so complicated at times.