Wanting to play a melee Goblin. Suggestions on class would be appreciated

[Spo]

I was initially looking at playing another monk (have a drunken style right now) and for some reason the idea of a goblin monk (kensei) intrigued me. Then in reading the stat block for goblin (esp. the disengage as a bonus) figured I couldn't use a lot of the monk feature bc the disengage and the ki powers would compete for my bonus action. Then I thought of a swashbuckler rogue goblin but then saw the thief skill (cunning action?) was duplicative of the goblin disengage.

I pictured my goblin (Spit Toesmasher) running into combat, hitting once or twice, then then running away. I now am thinking of some type of dex fighter with shortsword accomplishing something akin to my concept.

Can anyone think of a better idea or perhaps suggestions on a fighter subclass? Would a kiting fighting style being intentionally gimping myself/not fulfilling my fighter role as a front liner?

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

[Torpin]

rogue subclass swashbuckler, fury of the small and nimble escape go great with it, take the charging feat and remember sneak attack is only added once per round.

[stoutstien]

Goblins are almost perfect for monks. Cunning doesn't cost anything ki and adding hide to the list of bonus actions make you even more flexible. Being small but still having full movement is also a perk.
Of course goblin is my favorite race so I'm bias.

[Yakmala]

If you want to have your Goblin act like a Swashbuckler but not waste his racial feat (which competes with Cunning Action), consider making a Dexterity based Battle Master instead and giving them the Mobile feat.

You can take it further by giving them a high Charisma and a background like Entertainer or Sailor/Pirate. Many of the Battle Master's maneuvers simulate the kind of derring-do you would expect from a Swashbuckler.

This is also a way to make an AL legal pseudo-swashbuckler, as you can't make an actual Goblin Swashbuckler in AL at the moment due to the PHB+1 rule (unless you have one of the hard to find Fai Chen's Goblin Certs).

[Misterwhisper]

I will say this:

1. Goblins are awesome, bonus action disengage is solid gold. The rest is good too.

2. Monk is a good choice but not that great, they have a built in very nice bonus action use so there is major competition. Also multiple subclasses have a way to get around opportunity attacks anyway.

3. Pick a class with much smaller bonus action competition. Fighter is great for this as long as you don’t dual wield, not that anyone does, or go EK.
Battlemaster is great all the way around. Rapier and shield is always nice, you can flavor the shield to be an armored scabbard or something.

4. Feel free to think unorthodox, how about an ancient paladin, hop in, smite and hop out. Maybe even a non-hexblade chain lock. Invisible imp to make you look better with invisible help. Advantage attack booming blade and step out.

[Shuruke]

I would build around fury of the small personally
Finding ways to add bonus dice like battle master fighter

Palladin smite

Warlock smite


If not doing AL then I recemend hexblade
Getting proficiency from curse to damage

And getting level from fury of small would allow warlock 3 arcane trickster 17 for a fun build

[The Robot Goat]

Can’t say if it’s optimized, but I play a goblin Barbarian who kicks some serious butt in melee combat. I built him for hit-and-run with a spear, and I took Spirit Guardian path. He functions as a pretty good tank, but my party is wildly unoptimized so that could just be a fluke. Good Con and Dex + Tough feat makes him a real burly guy though.

[Errata]

Not every melee character needs to be a tank. A mobile skirmisher can be a very useful melee role. Monk would work well for that. You won't need to use bonus actions for Ki on every single turn, and you won't need to use bonus actions for disengage every single turn. They will each be there when the situation calls for them. Options are good. You're right to worry about rogue cunning action overshadowing your racial ability though, since that's total overlap rather than alternative options. Monk seems good, partly because you need more than the goblin's base movement to be as nimble as you had in mind.

A good feat to consider is Mobile. Not only does this increase your movement, which you'll need to dip in and out of melee, but more importantly it gives you a way to avoid opportunity attacks without your bonus action. You will still need that racial disengage ability sometimes, but sometimes Mobile will help you avoid it, so you can have a bonus action for other things.

Assuming that you plan to be dex based (not a given, but likely given the dex bonus and small size), a weapon to consider is the whip. It's a finesse reach weapon. That means that often you can hit someone without getting into opportunity attack range. If you did go Kensei Monk, you could replace its low damage die (the primary downside) with your unarmed strike die as a basic Monk feature. Reach is awesome if you want to be able to move around the battlefield as a melee.

At high levels, the Mage Slayer feat could be a strong feat for a character like this, since you will be in a very strong position to get behind enemy lines and harass the casters that would ordinarily be hard to get up close to.

[Errata]

3. Pick a class with much smaller bonus action competition. Fighter is great for this as long as you don’t dual wield, not that anyone does, or go EK.

Fighter gets you a lot of feats, and there are melee feats that result in a bonus action that you will use a lot. Polearm Master, Shield Master, and Charger (which could be pretty good for this character if they want to swoop in and out of combat). Polearm Master plus Sentinel has exceptional synergy and is one of my favorite builds for strength based melee characters (not so much for goblins).

[Finney]

If your dungeon master is willing to waive the elf-only restriction, a goblin would make a great bladesinger. Not your typical melee, but nimble escape would be great on a bladesinger.

[Kane0]

I was initially looking at playing another monk (have a drunken style right now) and for some reason the idea of a goblin monk (kensei) intrigued me. Then in reading the stat block for goblin (esp. the disengage as a bonus) figured I couldn't use a lot of the monk feature bc the disengage and the ki powers would compete for my bonus action. Then I thought of a swashbuckler rogue goblin but then saw the thief skill (cunning action?) was duplicative of the goblin disengage.

I pictured my goblin (Spit Toesmasher) running into combat, hitting once or twice, then then running away. I now am thinking of some type of dex fighter with shortsword accomplishing something akin to my concept.

Can anyone think of a better idea or perhaps suggestions on a fighter subclass? Would a kiting fighting style being intentionally gimping myself/not fulfilling my fighter role as a front liner?

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

If your first thought appeals to you, go with it. I would love to party up with a goblin monk! The Mobile feat would be hilarious

[AttilatheYeon]

Goblin Samurai great weapon master. Use the samurai advantage to negate the disadvantage for wielding a heavy weapon. Hold out for gaunlets of ogre power and/or belt of giant strength. Plus you have great RP opportunities and really fun combat options.

[Errata]

Goblin Samurai great weapon master. Use the samurai advantage to negate the disadvantage for wielding a heavy weapon. Hold out for gaunlets of ogre power and/or belt of giant strength. Plus you have great RP opportunities and really fun combat options.

Negating a perpetual disadvantage is not a good strategy to base your character on. There are too many different ways to get actual advantage, and you'd giving up on ever having advantage as well as paying a considerable cost to merely not have disadvantage. Plus that means you'd have to use your bonus action for that constantly, and not for the racial ability or anything else.

Playing a small race, without some kind of homebrew magic item to counteract it, effectively rules out using heavy weapons and certain builds that make use of them. If you're playing a small race with a dex bonus and a major disincentive to use heavy weapons, you may as well try to play to that race's strengths and go for a more dex based melee build. Normally rogues would be in the mix as an option, but for goblins in particular it would make their ability pointless.

[MikeRoxTheBoat]

I play a Goblin Shadow Monk/Gloom Stalker Ranger and it's been great fun. I had my mind to play one ever since I watched an all Goblin one-shot game of Pathfinder.

There is a lot of competition for your bonus action (disengage, shadow teleport, hunter's mark, unarmed strike, flurry of blows), but it gives you a lot of options for a martial class. Also makes taking mobile less of a necessity, between the goblin disengage and the teleport, which frees up a feat. Gloom Stalker's Disguise Self spell also helps when you actually need to go into a town without looking like a Goblin as well as letting you be an invisible, teleporting madman when in complete darkness (you're invisible to dark vision in darkness), as well as being able to bonus action hide so that people can't even try to attack you in the dark. If they try to AoE a random spot in desperation, boom, evasion.

[Ogeeogelthorpe]

One of my favorite characters is my goblin valor bard. He would ride the moon druid into battle when he wild shaped and would thunderwave or drop shatter with fury of the small to boost damage on whole groups. As he's leveled he's been a front line healer and it's been super fun. If he ever starts taking too much damage then he can use his bonus action to disengage and run away, and his lvl 10 magical secrets picked were destructive wave and conjure woodland beings. Dropping quicklings and darklings into the fight as minions never hurts.

[Finback]

Ranger might work well too, as if you decide to go Beast Conclave, you can ride around on stuff.

[Wildarm]

One of my favorite characters is my goblin valor bard. He would ride the moon druid into battle when he wild shaped and would thunderwave or drop shatter with fury of the small to boost damage on whole groups. As he's leveled he's been a front line healer and it's been super fun. If he ever starts taking too much damage then he can use his bonus action to disengage and run away, and his lvl 10 magical secrets picked were destructive wave and conjure woodland beings. Dropping quicklings and darklings into the fight as minions never hurts.

Can Fury of the Small apply to an AOE effect? My read of it makes it sound like you could affect just 1 creature in the burst.

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.

[stoutstien]

Can Fury of the Small apply to an AOE effect? My read of it makes it sound like you could affect just 1 creature in the burst.

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.
It can but only to one Target.

[Bloodcloud]

Monk does work well actually. Dex based battlemaster works quite well, you get a sort of ftr/rogue out of it.