What is it that makes goblinoids different from non-goblinoids?

[Guang]

I don’t see any difference and since I started my campaign world in the late 80s, Orcs and goblinoids have all been part of the same humanoid species. I don’t see the need for them to be separate.

How does that work in your campaign world? Do you have a way of picturing their inter-relatedness or do you not focus on that?

 

[Enkhidu]

I ended up making all the goblinoids into a single species - they're all plants.

Goblins grow in patches (and sometime wild), looking somewhat like vegetables or fruits when they are "born." This accounts for a wide variety of coloring. As they age/grow their flesh hardens, and by the time they are the size of bugbears they develop a husk that resembles fur. The oldest goblins can grow to immense sizes, their husks becoming bark, and eventually take root at the center of a new goblin patch.

 

[Bohandas]

That's a great example!

Hare - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Jointed skulls, different number of chromosomes, being raised above ground, and several physical differences. Rabbits and Hares are very different creatures, and we can explain exactly why they are different creatures.

Yeah, but probably not without looking it up