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Documentation Area

Document Path: /doc/monsters/goblin

Name:
	Goblin  (Demihuman)

Stats:
	No. Appearing  : 4-24
	Climate/Terrain: Any non-arctic land
	Frequency      : Uncommon
	Organization   : Tribe
	Activity Cycle : Night
	Diet           : Carnivore

Description:
	These small, evil humanoids would be merely pests, if not for their
	great numbers. Goblins have flat faces, broad noses, pointed ears,
	wide mouths and small, sharp fangs. Their forehead slope back, and
	their eyes are usually dull and glazed. They always walk upright, but
	their arms hang down almost to their knees. Their skin colors range
	from yellow through any shade of orange to a deep red. Usually a sin-
	gle tribe has members all of about the same colour skin. Their eyes
	vary from bright red to a gleaming lemon yellow. They wear clothing of
	dark leather, tending toward dull soiled-looking colors.

	Goblin speech is harsh, and pitched higher than that of humans. In ad-
	dition to their own language, some goblins can speak in the kobold,
	orc, and hobgoblin tongues.

Combat:
	Goblins hate bright sunlight, and fight with a -1 on their attack rolls
	when in it. This unusual sensitivity to light, however, serves the gob-
	lins well underground, giving them infravision out to 60 feet. They can
	use any sort of weapon, preferring those that take little training,
	like spears and maces. They are known to carry short swords as second
	weapon. They are usually armoured in leather, althouth the leaders may
	have chain or even plate mail.

	Goblin strategies and tactics are simple and crude. They are cowardly
	and will usually avoid a face-to-face fight. More often than not, they
	will attempt to arrange an ambush of their foes.

Habitat/Society:
	Humans would consider the caves and underground dwellings of goblins
	to be dank and dismal. Those few tribes that live above ground are
	found in ruins, and are only active at night or on very dark, cloudy
	days. They use no form of sanitation, and their lairs have a foul
	stench. Goblins seem to be somewhat resistant to the diseases that
	breed in such filth.

	They live a communal life, sharing large common areas for eating and
	sleeping. Only leaders have separate living spaces. All their posses-
	sions are carried with them. Property of the tribe is kept with the
	chief and sub-chiefs. Most of their goods are stolen, although they
	manufacture their own garments and leather goods. The concept of pri-
	vacy is largely foreign to goblins.

	A typical goblin tribe has 40-400 adult males warriors. For every 40
	goblins there will ba a leader and his 4 assistants. For every 200 gob-
	lins there will be a sub-chief and 2-8 bodyguards, armed with a battle
	axe. The tribe has a single goblin chief and 2-8 bodyguards, armed with
	two weapons.

	There is a 25% chance that 10% of their force will be mounted upon huge
	worgs, and have another 10-40 unmounted worgs with them. There is a 60%
	chance that the lair is guarded by 5-30 such wolves, and a 20% chance
	of 2-12 bugbears. Goblin shamans are rare, but have been known to rech
	7th level. Their spheres include: divination, healing (reversed), pro-
	tection, and sun (reversed).

	In addition to the males, there will be adult femals equal to 60% of
	their number and children equal to the total number of adults in the
	lair. Neither will fight in battles.

	A goblin tribe has an exact pecking order; each member knows who is
	above him, and who is below him. They fight amongst themselves con-
	stantly to move up this social ladder.

	They often take slaves for both food and labour. The tribe will have
	slaves of several races numbering 10-40% of the size of the tribe.
	Slaves are always kept shackled, and are stacked to a common chain when
	sleeping. Goblins hate most other humanoids, gnomes and dwarves in par-
	ticular, and work to exterminate them whenever possible.

Ecology:
	Goblins live only 50 years or so. They do not need to eat much, but
	will kill just for the pleasure of it. They eat any creature from rats
	and snakes to humans. In lean times they will eat carrion. Goblins usu-
	ally spoil their habitat, driving game from it and depleting the area
	of all resources. They are decent miners, able to note new or unusual
	construction in an underground area 25% of the time, and any habitat
	will soon be expanded by a maze-like network of tunnels.