Goblin

Appearance: Goblins are slight and wiry, averaging 3 feet in height and weighing between 30 and 50 pounds. They have long, sharp noses, chins and ears, and green skin. Their arms are long and slender and their fingers deft. They tend to wear leather clothing, often cut into aprons to protect against caustic fluids. Goggles usually cover their eyes, and various technological devices are strapped across their bodies.

Description:

Goblins are small humanoids, crafty and shrewd, bearing an overwhelming interest in commerce and a strong curiosity about mechanical things. Goblin society is fragmented, defined chiefly by commerce and trade. The ultimate schemers and con artists, goblins are always in search of a better deal.

Other races universally view goblins as inventors, merchants and, without exception, maniacs.

Goblins value technology as a useful aspect of commerce. Some say that their advantage — and their curse — is to be the primary users of technology in a world governed by magic and while other races share a similar gift, goblin technology is more far-reaching and sinister and makes a larger impact on the natural world.

They employ vast teams of engineers who expand on current technology and produce gadgets to suit a wide array of applications. They constantly build and repair machines and work on new ideas. Unfortunately, goblins alternate passionate genius with wandering focus. Their lack of discipline means that many creations end up half finished as something else catches their attention. Goblin workmanship has a partially deserved reputation for unreliability, and a goblin device may explode simply because its creator forgot to add a vital release valve. Goblins recognize that firearms represent a new source of power, and he who controls the source controls the gold — which is, to goblins, the ultimate power. Fortunately for the rest of the world, goblin firearm experimentation suffers from the race’s normal laxity — and improperly tended gunpowder experiments continue to end the careers of many aspiring goblin tinkers. However, goblin ingenuity has paid off a few times; goblin gunpowder weapons tend to be inelegant and violently explosive (land mines, rockets and the like).

Goblins are tenacious fighters. They attack from range with crossbows or firearms and use maces, short swords or bizarre, home-brewed weaponry in melee. When attacked in their warrens, they fight with tools as well. Goblins have a good grasp of tactics and strategy, and are masters of siege warfare. Their love of large machines makes them ideal mercenaries for attacking fortifications.

Goblins are shrewd in business, and clients who believe they walked away with the upper hand are almost always sorely mistaken. “To cheat a goblin” is a dwarven idiom meaning “to do what is practically impossible.” (“Gamgi cheated a goblin when he escaped that cave-in!”)

Goblins are also consummate tricksters and con artists. Their mission in the world is to create incredible new inventions, accrue the resulting wealth, and cause as much subtle mischief as possible along the way.

Names: Every goblin has a given name and a family name. The family names portray some ancestor’s achievement, though a goblin may take a new family name if he feels he has made an accomplishment that outstrips that of his eponymous forebear.