D&D 5E Roleplaying Goblin PCs

[Kobold Avenger]

For 5e there's going to be at least 3 books that have printed out the Goblin PC stats: Volo's Guide to Monsters, Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica and Eberron Rising From the Last War. There's roughly 3 different situations for Goblins in those worlds too. FR seems to have the more tradition take where Goblins are mainly "savages" that aren't integrated with most "civilizations" or society. Ravnica seems to have them living on the fringes of society. And Eberron has them in a recognized but somewhat pariah nation of Darguun, living as an underclass everywhere...

So with that in mind, what would a Goblin in an adventuring party be? I get that many of them would be comic relief characters, though some of them might have a "Napoleon Syndrome".

In some settings the Goblin be might be acting as the assistant, servant or even "pet" of a larger PC with "this Goblin can do all sorts of tricks!", but maybe switching roles if the party went to a more savage place with "look at my Human minion!".

There's always the "raised by the circus" type of backstory. And in other settings I feel that there's quite a difference between a "City Goblin" from the Goblin Ghetto and a "Tribal Goblin".

Any other thoughts on Goblin PCs?

 

[jasper]

As many varieties as Heinz 57. I recommend don't let lore determine your pc roleplay.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[Larrin]

Comic Relief: I had a goblin who was a janitor (under-janitor, it was out of the abyss) and the sole employee of a koa-toa janitorial service. His weapon of choice was a cage with a spider in it attached to the end of a rope and with DM's approval counted as a monk weapon ("Get'em Mr. Tickles"). He broke the 4th wall. He took the actor feat and tried to bluff his way into any location they weren't supposed to go to by acting as whatever popped into my head (tombstone inspector was my favorite). He was just nonsense.


Smooth Talker: I played a goblin who was the party face, and talked with a human accent (think Sulu from star trek). He did everything he could to seem like a human, socially (no disguise or anything) but occasionally when afraid or exasperated would lapse in panicking goblin speech. His goal was to be useful and respected by solving problems when they came up.



Tribal Shaman in training: I'm playing a goblin fire druid. He want's to light the world on fire, but in order to become a true shaman to his people he needs to learn control. So as he gains levels and slowly take ASI in wisdom he becomes more and more judicious/tactical in his use of fire.

 

[Vael]

I'm planning an Izzet Goblin Artificer for a potential Ravnican campaign. She's your typical absent-minded mad scientist, laser focused on her research and experiments, but utterly forgetful/dismissive of everything else.