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Guinea Anubis
2008-09-19, 12:13 PM
Ok I will try to explain this as best I can.

My players found out a Girl they got hired to track down and save had been taken by Orcs. These orcs more or less enslaved a goblin clan. The players killed all the Orcs and most of the goblins. After the orc boss was killed and most of the other orcs where dead or fighting all of the goblins that where left ran for it.

Before storming the orc camp they knocked out and tied up one of the goblin guards. They went back and untied the little guy and showed him the head of the orc boss and tryed to be really nice to him.

They asked him to come wiith them (I have no idea why but they did), they even offered to pay him 5 copper a day. Since they where being so nice to him and offering to pay him I (as the GM) said that he would take them up on the offer.

This little goblin, now being called Longnose has fast become loved by the whole party. They are teaching him how to cook. They also bought him a nice outfit/cloth and cooking gear. The players want to make a character sheet for him since the two rogues want to try to teach him how to be a rogue.

So what do you all think is the best way to deal with this new NPC/PC goblin?

RebelRogue
2008-09-19, 12:16 PM
Everybody seems to find it funny, so roll with it!:smallsmile:

Edge of Dreams
2008-09-19, 12:20 PM
Work up stats for him according to the NPC rules in the DMG. If they do a good enough job teaching him, turn him into a full-fleged PC whose actions are controlled by group consensus. Just make sure you adjust encounters to match, where appropriate, and give the new guy his own fair share of the xp.

ghost_warlock
2008-09-19, 12:21 PM
The problem with Longnose is that he's very accident-prone and tends to get himself into sticky situations.

Whenever your plot calls for someone to set off a room-filling-with-water puzzle trap, get themselves captured by the BBEG's minions, fall asleep while on watch, pocket the cursed item without telling anyone, or do something else that's gloriously stupid that the PCs aren't likely to do but will get the plot rolling it's Longnose who gets the ball-of-death rolling, so to speak.

V Yeah, the millstone (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheMillstone). Longnose can still be useful, but he just has a Wis of about 4 is all. :smallwink:

Stupendous_Man
2008-09-19, 12:23 PM
So.... the Load?

kamikasei
2008-09-19, 12:25 PM
Sounds like a lark, and a hell of a case of Stockholm Syndrome.

You could try getting one of the PCs to take Leadership, and make Longnose his cohort.

TheThan
2008-09-19, 01:11 PM
I had this happen to me, only the PCs didn't take him along. and I think it was a hobgoblin. He ended up being a stable boy hobgoblin for the local baron. which I believe was their patron.

Tengu_temp
2008-09-19, 01:23 PM
You could try getting one of the PCs to take Leadership, and make Longnose his cohort.

Wrong edition.

I'd say there are two ways of statting the goblin: either stat him as an NPC stalker or skirmisher with extra damage when he has combat advantage against the target, or give him a full character sheet like a player should. In the second case he will be more powerful, though, and in both he should be several levels lower than players.

kamikasei
2008-09-19, 01:28 PM
Wrong edition.

*headdesk*

So, it turns out I left my brain in my other pants.

I would indeed go with statting him up as if he were a PC goblin rogue. Don't put his build entirely in the players' hands, though; give him a base of abilities and then, if they're training him as a rogue, pile on rogue levels. If they say they want to give him training in particular directions, build him accordingly. But keep control of the build in your hands, so that he's an NPC and not just a weapon in the players' hands.

YPU
2008-09-19, 01:41 PM
This is kind of a common thing for player, especially new players to do. Heck the pet goblin should be a DnD trope. The topic came up at my local gaming club one day and most of the DM’s had a group who have done this. Generally there are two ways this goes. One is that they quickly get bored with the goblin the other is that they get attached to him. If they start to get tired of him, have the goblin die for the plot, or sacrifice himself in some heroic way. This way he will be memorized, and if something is memorized with a smile your making good game. And of they get attachment to him, have them keep him, but take into account that he is a goblin npc. He was never cut out for adventuring and as the players grow stronger he will fall behind. The players will realize he is in danger and protect him by sending him away, or they wont and you can proceed as mentioned above.
Another note, when I had this coming along there was one thing I took into account. Goblins aren’t very civilised. They aren’t that accustomed to using the loo for instance, their beds are horrible smelly and other such practices. Have your players realize that tough he might mean right he’s not the thing to keep around in civilization. Of course you are running in danger of your players potty training the gobber. Hilarity ensues.

Teron
2008-09-19, 01:49 PM
Once he gets used to the PC's, have him find his nerve and develop an attitude. First he reminds them that his name isn't "Longnose", and then, next thing you know, he wants a share of the treasure...

RTGoodman
2008-09-19, 04:32 PM
I think the best thing to do would be to just stat him as an NPC Goblin Rogue (see DMG 187-188) of their own level. Then just add an extra creature of that level to each encounter as if he were a mount or other companion. As the players level, he can gain levels also.

@YPU: Yeah, it is a pretty common trope, I guess. I was playing a very charismatic swashbuckler in a semi-silly Eberron campaign a while back who used Diplomacy on enemies to try to get them to surrender and go on their merry way, and my DM apparently didn't like it. After a session or so, we ran into two goblins and, eventually, a bugbear, all with apparently abysmal Wis and Int scores, and ALL THREE OF THEM decided they want to go with us. So for the rest of the campaign (several sessions) we had some basically useless annoying goblinoids following us around. Of course, I WAS going to take leadership and eventually become an airship pirate, so I guess they could have been a good foundation for a crew...

chronoplasm
2008-09-19, 04:57 PM
Oh man, I so totally have some inspiration now.
I want to play as a Warforged with a little goblin companion and a compartment in his chest that opens up.
During battle, the goblin crawls inside the Warforged to help him fight. :)

LibraryOgre
2008-09-19, 05:20 PM
Hey! I did that in Keep on the Shadowfell. His name is Splug, and he's my slave.

Totally Guy
2008-09-19, 05:30 PM
You've reminded me of the time the pet goblin in our party became the BBEG.

He pointed us in the direction of treasure.

We raided the dungeon grabbed the loot and got out. Kilk the Goblin found a crown with a weak enchantment on it: When wearing the crown people know it's a real crown.

Next thing you know he finds a band of orcs and declares he's the leader. And from then on he's conquered the lands to the south and is marching north with organised orcs, which is bad.

The campaign was somewhat flawed in the we ended up with the mission objective Go North. So we arrive at a city. Ask if anyone has any reason, any reason more important than the world getting conquered in the south, to stay and we'd done the whole "You've got to get out the town" and that one never works. Then we'd go north.

Grynning
2008-09-19, 07:46 PM
This reminds me of our party Warlock's disconcerting habit of turning DEAD bad guys into party tag-alongs. No, he can't animate them - he just picks a small corpse and turns it into a hand puppet. Oddly, the rest of the group finds this amusing (even though half the party is ostensibly good) and the hand puppets have obtained the title of "morale officer" (our party is based on a military model, people all have a rank).

We've gone through three morale officers now, kobold, kobold and gnome, respectively. We've at least convinced him that when they start to fall apart he has to throw them away.

Yes, I suppose that is quite a bit more morbid than the original story...I'm just used to gallows humor I guess.

Tsotha-lanti
2008-09-19, 07:58 PM
Work up stats for him according to the NPC rules in the DMG. If they do a good enough job teaching him, turn him into a full-fleged PC whose actions are controlled by group consensus. Just make sure you adjust encounters to match, where appropriate, and give the new guy his own fair share of the xp.

NPCs don't get a share - they reduce the total XP value of an encounter by their own XP value. (This technically applies or horses and the like, too.)

Stat the gobbo as an NPC with the rogue template, but a few levels lower than the PCs.

Shadow_Elf
2008-09-19, 08:26 PM
I say, stat him as a PC several levels lower than the PCs. You roll for him, they give him oral instructions and "program" his basic AI, but you control him. Use the Goblin stats from the back of the MM, unmoded (as they suck compared to PC races, and so are less useful) and have him take every opportunity he can to use Goblin Tactics. Make him a Dagger or SHuriken rogue who uses Goblin Tactics to avoid AoOs with his ranged weapons. Then they can give him items and treasure as they see fit. Again, if you ever need a trap triggerer etc. Just Fudge his Perception or something and make them stumble into an ambush (he is a Rogue, and so is a "reasonable" choice for advanced scout). That's what I would do. Also make him comic-relief.

kirbsys
2008-09-19, 08:42 PM
Hey! I did that in Keep on the Shadowfell. His name is Splug, and he's my slave.

Our group did that too! We loved Splug. In combat we kept buffing him and he was doing better than some of our more useless group members. :smallbiggrin:

Doresain
2008-09-19, 09:01 PM
i mentally broke that one fat goblin on KotS...he became my meat shield and while i was barking orders to the party (i was a warlord) he was shooting things with his cross bow...

good times, good times indeed

Dumbledore lives
2008-09-19, 09:07 PM
We did something like this once, though it wasn't a humanoid, it was a wolf. We also had a cat, though someone may have thrown him down a well to see if there was a dragon down there. There wasn't. Anyway we basically used him as a 5th PC, and we all decided what he was going to do, it worked out really well.

Enlong
2008-09-19, 09:23 PM
*headdesk*

So, it turns out I left my brain in my other pants.

This is so singularly hilarious. I wish I had the room to sig this.

Sstoopidtallkid
2008-09-19, 09:51 PM
My group does this. Since the start of our new campaign(3 sessions ago), e have captured and teamed up with 2 Kobolds, a Necromancer, 2 Zombie Ogres, and a Hell Hound. One of the Kobolds ran off(breaking his contract with us), one was killed by the Necro(for the lulz, apparently) who we then executed, one Ogre was destroyed by a Gelatinous Cube, one Ogre was bartered away since we weren't allowed to have him in the city, and the Hell Hound is now my mount. So, out of our 6 allies, we still have one of them, 3 have been destroyed, and 1 has run away and probably died by now. And we're good aligned.

chiasaur11
2008-09-19, 10:17 PM
My group does this. Since the start of our new campaign(3 sessions ago), e have captured and teamed up with 2 Kobolds, a Necromancer, 2 Zombie Ogres, and a Hell Hound. One of the Kobolds ran off(breaking his contract with us), one was killed by the Necro(for the lulz, apparently) who we then executed, one Ogre was destroyed by a Gelatinous Cube, one Ogre was bartered away since we weren't allowed to have him in the city, and the Hell Hound is now my mount. So, out of our 6 allies, we still have one of them, 3 have been destroyed, and 1 has run away and probably died by now. And we're good aligned.

Eh, the other Kobold probably got out fine.

Moved to Lickmyorangeballshalfling probably.

AslanCross
2008-09-19, 10:30 PM
If I were the party tank, I'd strap him to my back and give him a crossbow.

LibraryOgre
2008-09-20, 12:04 AM
Our group did that too! We loved Splug. In combat we kept buffing him and he was doing better than some of our more useless group members. :smallbiggrin:

HEY! My Splug is useless in combat! What gives, Hzurr? :smallsmile:

Asbestos
2008-09-20, 12:36 AM
This little goblin, now being called Longnose...

Is that his actual name or is the party just being jolly old racists to their new companion? If it isn't his real name I can see Longnose eventually not taking too kindly to the party, after all, look at the disregard for life they showed against his clan. His clansmen (and women) were themselves merely slaves of the evil orcs the party came to kill, would they have done such a thing had the orcs been enslaving a group of halflings? Longnose may come to think that, no, they wouldn't have. He may be uneducated, but he certainly has no racial penalty to Intelligence or Wisdom.

SoD
2008-09-20, 12:45 AM
Heh, looks like this happens everywhere. My party are always recruiting NPC's, no matter who I'm DMing!

In Finland they were especially likely to recruit from NPC's. In one one-off session, the three party members recruited: an NPC cleric who'd tryed to stop drugs getting put into the drink supplies, one of the goblins who did it, and two NPC's who'd been halucenating (one thought she was the romatic girl going out with the party warrior, the other thought she was the queen who'd been kidnapped). They also tried to recruit the evil cleric in charge of the drugs, and a dwarven warrior halucenating back to the times when the goblins invaded his settlement.

Jayngfet
2008-09-20, 01:12 AM
I don't think he'll put up with getting the same pay as someone with the same job in a safe town working for people who didn't kill his family and don't have the threat of death looming over him. And he probably won't take to longnose either.

only1doug
2008-09-20, 08:09 AM
We had a "pet" Goblin for awhile, we liked him and treated him well, really got to trust the little fella...

we were very upset with him when he betrayed us and brought the necromancer and his legions to our camp.

Sneaky little git was very good at hiding a grudge (well we had killed all his clan) but he was better at holding our weaponry (with his lungs).

magellan
2008-09-20, 09:22 AM
Ok....
They take a Goblin Hostage/Slave/Prisoner/Pet after having slaughtered his people.
They call him degrading names

And they want to teach him how to backstab and steal stuff...

And I am the only one who gets an evil GM Grin here?
Funny...

LibraryOgre
2008-09-20, 10:31 AM
hey, that reminds me. We haven't even TALKED pocket money for Splug.

I wonder how our rogue would take it if I paid Splug 10 gold? She still hasn't got over the fact that I stole it from her gear when we freed her (even though, technically, she doesn't know that I did it).

Aron Times
2008-09-20, 11:37 AM
Squee, Goblin Nabob, anyone?

Squee was the Weatherlight crew's pet goblin, their goblin cabin boy. No matter what danger the Weatherlight went through, Squee somehow always survived. It was later revealed that Squee had the Planeswalker Spark (demigod epic destiny in 4E), and this effectively made him immortal.

Squee would later ascend into full planeswalker status.

Doresain
2008-09-20, 03:01 PM
Squee, Goblin Nabob, anyone?

Squee was the Weatherlight crew's pet goblin, their goblin cabin boy. No matter what danger the Weatherlight went through, Squee somehow always survived. It was later revealed that Squee had the Planeswalker Spark (demigod epic destiny in 4E), and this effectively made him immortal.

Squee would later ascend into full planeswalker status.

i thought the reason why squee wouldnt die was because the gods found him so annoying, that they refused to let him stay in the afterlife

Teron
2008-09-21, 06:29 AM
I don't remember how they explained his immortality (though I know it wasn't a planeswalker spark, and those never worked that way anyhow), but it did lead to this (http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?name=Phyrexian%20Tyranny) amusing unfortunate situation.

Drascin
2008-09-21, 06:57 AM
Ah, this reminds me of Fino.

Y'see, while the party was at Xen'drik, exploring some giant ruins, they were witnesses to the very messy death of a mage at the hands of the security golems.

But said mage had a little impy critter as his not-quite-familiar-but-very close. They arrived in time to see the mage become mincemeat, but they could make work of the golems after the imp (not really a demon, but we'll call him imp for ease of referencing) got through a door screaming and escaping. Then they went to find him, and after dodging the terrified imp's blasts (he got ahold of a wand from the mage), they subdued and made him understand they were not going to hurt him.

After that, and even though they didn't even speak the same language, they decided to take the imp with them, and name it Fino due to a running gag in our campaign. Fino proceeded, after growing to like this new group, to become a valuable member of the party, using his UMD ranks to become a living turret on the Warblade's shoulders, get a character sheet, and generally get awesomer and awesomer as he was taught by them, to the point that, after a particularly daring stunt, they actually commisioned a pair of Kamina glasses to an artificer and gave them to him :smallwink:.

We still remember him fondly, and there was much epic revenge after he sacrificed himself to take down an Inspired war machine.

So let them keep him, and decide whether the goblin likes these new people or not. If he does, let him become a full-fledged NPC ally with levels and everything. It's rare players come to love an NPC, so don't deny them the one they do :smalltongue:

Guinea Anubis
2008-09-22, 06:47 AM
Thanks for the help guys.

What I did was make him a character sheet as if he was a PC. He as all the ability scores of a goblin blackblade (what he was when they tied him up), the just used the goblin entry in the back of the book and made him a level 1 rogue. Since the PCs are training him to be a rogue I set down a very basic ground rule, he can only learn something one of the rogues know how to do.

As for his name, Longnose is not his real name but close to it. I took ideas from a lot of places to help me flesh out my D&D world, one of the ideas I use was that some goblin tirbs name there kids after how they look (the idea was taken from the goblins web comic).

As for how he will feel about them in the long run will be up to how they treat him in the long run.

thanks again guys, if anything fun happens with him I will be sure to let you know.

Crazy Scot
2008-09-22, 07:39 AM
One more idea for you. My friends were running a game once where they had a goblin (or whatever) NPC rogueish character. He became a mascot, helper, you name it. His one problem: he couldn't count higher than 2. He was a pretty good help for the most part, but when he scouted ahead and came back saying "it's okay, there are only 2 lizards," then he led them over the hill to see 6 dragons, the group was not too happy. My suggestion: you have made him a NPC rogue, but if he is uncivilized, give him a quirk. Make him so he has difficulty counting higher than 10. Make his food start to taste funny. Keep him the way you have him stated out, but give him something to make him memorable.

chronoplasm
2008-09-22, 11:38 AM
One more idea for you. My friends were running a game once where they had a goblin (or whatever) NPC rogueish character. He became a mascot, helper, you name it. His one problem: he couldn't count higher than 2. He was a pretty good help for the most part, but when he scouted ahead and came back saying "it's okay, there are only 2 lizards," then he led them over the hill to see 6 dragons, the group was not too happy. My suggestion: you have made him a NPC rogue, but if he is uncivilized, give him a quirk. Make him so he has difficulty counting higher than 10. Make his food start to taste funny. Keep him the way you have him stated out, but give him something to make him memorable.

You can give goblins quirks without making them stupid though.

In my setting, goblins believe in a magical force called "Grabby".

Grabby is basically invisible hands that stretch out of everything and cause smaller things to be pulled toward bigger things. When a rock is dropped and falls to the ground, goblins explain this as the more powerful hands of the planet's Grabby pulling the smaller rock toward itself.
Also, get this: Goblins believe that if you drop two different things at the same time, regardless of their weight or mass they will still fall at the same rate! Those silly Goblins!