[Index]

GOBLINS1 (3)

Cypher Bestiary

Goblins are wicked, grasping, and perversely resourceful humanoids, usually no larger than children.

Health: 3

Damage Inflicted: Minor wound

Movement: Short

Modifications: Dodge as level 3 due to size and quickness; deception, perception, stealth, and setting traps as level 5

Combat: Goblins attack with knives, claws, or biting in immediate range, and with slings, shortbows, and rocks at short range. But unless caught unawares, they might also rely on a variety of Goblin Tactics, Goblin Traps, and Goblin Allies.

GM Intrusion: Another goblin stealthily got behind the character, and the character trips over the creature and falls prone.

GM Intrusion: The goblin's attack was poisoned and the character struck must make a Might defense roll or immediately take 6 Speed damage.

GOBLIN TRAPS

Goblin traps are simple but well-built level 5 mechanical ambushes affecting an immediate area, designed to allow a goblin to run past or through them without triggering them, but requiring others to succeed on a dodge roll to avoid them; successful block rolls still trigger most goblin trap effects indicated here. Options include:

d6	Trap (level 5)
1	Avalanche; affected targets crushed under boulders and scree for a moderate wound each round (light, medium, and heavy armor reduce the wound's severity by one, two, or three) until they can escape.
2	Net snare; affected targets caught and hauled into the air in the net until they can escape; goblins spear helpless targets in the meantime (treat goblins as if they have surprise).
3	Tripwire on stairs; affected targets tumble down flight embedded with glass shards, taking a moderate wound.
4	Iron ram swings down from ceiling; affected targets take a major wound.
5	Tripwire in corridor; if triggered, a dozen poisonous spiders (level 1; attacks as level 3 and inflicts 3 Speed damage from poison) drop from ceiling hatch.
6	Tripwire in corridor; if triggered, rolling boulder hurtles down corridor, hindering dodge rolls and inflicting a major wound (or a minor wound even with a successful dodge roll).

GOBLIN TACTICS

Goblins attack from the shadows with ambushes and hit-and-run tactics, including the following.

• Surprise: When they have surprise, goblins attack as level 4 creatures and their attack deals a moderate wound.
• Draw into Traps: After their initial attack, goblins fall back, attempting to draw larger prey into level 5 traps they've set, or into the arms of more powerful allies the goblins know about.
• Retreat: After an attack, goblins flee through tunnels just large enough for their small statures, too large for humans to follow, unless the humans are willing to risk squeezing through the narrow tunnels and becoming stuck and vulnerable. The retreating goblins will attempt to use another tactic later at some other point in their lair.
• Overwhelm: If more four or more goblins can be gathered for every foe faced, the goblins try to overwhelm invaders in a narrow space that's fine for goblins. In these conditions, treat each group of 4 goblins as a single level 3 creature whose attack deals a moderate wound until invaders can break out into wider tunnels and caves, or until fewer than four goblins per invader remain part of the encounter.
• Ranged Attack: Goblin sentries linger in walled-off galleries overlooking an entrance tunnel set with narrow arrow slots, providing the goblins complete cover (hindering tasks to notice or return attacks by two steps). The goblins pepper those passing through with rocks, arrows, and bolts.
• Play Dead: Goblins may play dead after an encounter with invaders, then rise up and stealthily trail their attackers, waiting to make an attack when the invaders have set camp or when the invaders encounter another threat.
• Betray: If they know they're outmatched, goblins surrender and cooperate. But they watch for the first sign of outsiders letting their guards down, then attack with surprise and flee.

GOBLIN ALLIES

Goblin allies may hold the goblins in contempt but will act with the goblins in a pinch. Options include:

• An amazingly large goblin (level 4, attacks deal a major wound)
• A group of three shifty elves who seek to employ the goblins as spies
• A giant with difficulty walking who relies on the goblins to lead prey to them
• A wizard named Celestri of the Forbidden Whisper who thinks the goblins serve her
• A cave haunted by ghosts that normally leave the goblins alone
• A group of four adventurers called the Fireheart Delvers who were tricked into an alliance
• Five cave wolves (level 3) used as mounts and trackers, and in a pinch, defenders
• A couple of blind trolls the goblins have managed to trap in a deep, wide pit
• An assassin who goes by the name Aldric Moonblade who finds it funny to help the goblins
• Another community of goblins with a population of about fifty individuals

THE ESSENCE OF GOBLINS

Goblins are driven by greed and malice. They stop at nothing to acquire what they want, killing their targets if convenient, but often making do with theft. They flee in the face of real danger.

Goblins are pesky rabble but are surprisingly cunning when threatened. Allied goblins work together to accomplish their goals of murder, kidnapping, and robbery.

But if goblins are caught unawares, they're usually engaged in some shambolic Goblin Activity or other. If PCs defeat a group of goblins, they can scavenge dribs and drabs of Goblin Loot.

GOBLIN NAMES

Goblins are usually known by the mean nicknames conferred by other goblins, but their names can also be short, guttural sounds resembling the first sounds each goblin ever made. Options include: Crug, Blic, Sootfinger, Vrak, Turdlicker, Stenchfoot, Moldy, Rip, Slimebelly, Slagjaw, Grub, Flab, Stinker, Bloodeye, Juk, Beetleface, Narg, Bentbrain, Zolt, One-Ear, Pinch, Stinktooth, Wart, Ratfondler, Gish, Pussdrinker, Slug, Dragonchow, Kak, Brokeclaw, Toadgrin, Screech, Shakyleg, Bedwetter, Gak, Snotjaw, Crack, Halfhand, Farty, Splinterclaw, Canker, Limpgob, Wartbutt, Shrivelsack, Crackbrain, Drumpft, Ditchsucker

GOBLIN LOOT

Most goblins carry a personal stash, including bones, shiny rocks, sticks, and other bits of worthless trash, plus a handful of mismatched coins equivalent to an inexpensive item. But some carry something a little more interesting, such as the following. Many items could be sold for a moderately priced sum of coins.

d20	Valuable and/or Interesting Loot
1	Golden backscratcher resembling a bird's leg and talons
2	Perfumed collection of soaps
3	Herb tin containing fine smoking tobacco
4	Keyring containing several keys, some pristine, others rusted
5	Jar containing a sample of scintillating, glowing slime
6	Vial holding a madly flapping dragonfly with red eyes
7	Bottle of rare wine stolen from an elven cellar
8	Packet of dried mushrooms (hallucinogen)
9	Fabulous hat with red and gold feathers
10	Clockwork figurine of a cat that walks about a surface if wound up
11	Silver locket showing a picture of a glowing, multicolored egg
12	Wand that shoots streams of harmless glitter
13	Gold earrings with tiny (shrunken, preserved) dangling human heads
14	Necklace of dragon fangs (enrages dragons who see it)
15	Golden baby rattle displaying crest from nearby kingdom
16	Sewing kit with untarnished silver needles and supply of silk thread
17	Loaf of elven honey bread that tastes better than anything
18	Jar of foam that tames even the wildest of manes or beards
19	Animated tongue (level 1) that always squirms west
20	Big black thigh-high boots that ease jumping and balancing tasks (artifact level 5; depletion: —)

GOBLIN ACTIVITY

When characters come upon goblins unawares, what are the goblins up to? Options include:

d20	Activity
1	Mucking out an area that apparently was previously used as an improvised latrine
2	Roasting a variety of kidnapped dwarves on spits over smokey fires
3	Drinking stolen ale and proceeding to become horrifically inebriated
4	Putting together/resetting a trap; a few mistakes have caused some earlier casualties
5	Exploring a new area, using a cave wolf (level 3) to sniff the trail forward
6	Holding an impromptu rat race in a short maze; each rat is illegibly numbered with red mud
7	Grooming out nits, ticks, and fleas from a larger goblin (level 3) who takes it as their due
8	Looting the corpses of trapped and killed adventurers
9	Feeding a bonfire with tomes, scrolls, paintings, and other burnable stuff stolen from a human city
10	Beating each other with sticks while they screech and bicker about nothing
11	Sniggering and chortling as they graffiti an area with a handful of obscenities using manure
12	Overseeing a couple of captive dwarves (level 2; excavation as level 5) in digging a new tunnel
13	Repairing broken weapons, crafting new ones from scavenged human-sized weapons
14	Betting on who can spit the farthest; losers are roundly smacked about
15	Stitching wires into the bones of defeated foes to create gruesome marionettes
16	Carrying a human corpse on a palanquin; the corpse is dressed in bright colors and thorn crown
17	Bricking over access to a cell holding kidnapped hostages whose relatives can't afford a ransom
18	Napping in a pile of snoring, farting, twitching goblins; a couple snuggle with rag dolls
19	Dropping boulders down a pit and laughing uproariously at the sounds of distant crashing
20	Being very, very quiet and afraid because they just managed to escape an enraged dragon

Adventure Seed: A goblin community is looking for adventurers to wipe out a rival goblin encampment.