Hexmage-EN
Legend
So recently WotC talked about how in the future they were looking to change how they depicted various creatures, such as orcs. Wildemount was given as an example of where they were headed in the future. Whereas other 5E sources established orcs had an inherent drive to violence that even good orcs had to constantly suppress, Wildemount's write-up on orcs invents the term "curse of ruin" for this drive before dismissing it as a myth. There is no curse of ruin, just people who have heard of this false curse and used any example of an orc getting mad to argue it was real.
However, Wildemount DOES establish a real curse on goblinkin, the curse of strife.
Here are some quotes concerning it from Explorer's Guide to Wildemount:
Elsewhere in the book it states that four special items called the Luxon beacons prevent a goblin that is born within 100 miles of one from ever being exposed to the curse of strife.
Personally, I understand the in-setting justification for this. Bane is the god of tyranny and conquest who created the goblinkin for specific roles and uses this curse to try and make sure they follow his commands. That sounds exactly like something a god of tyranny would do.
I was fully onboard with the concept. It retains a reason for goblins to be low-level opponents while also giving players multiple reasons to deal peacefully with goblinkin or to subdue them instead of killing them, as showing compassion gives them a chance to make a saving throw against the curse. An encounter with goblinkin might even be resolved by casting "remove curse" on the leader of a hostile group. These goblinkin, now free of the curse, could go back to their communities and help free their families and friends from the curse through acts of compassion.
Further, there's an established group of bugbears druids interested in helping other goblinkin free themselves of the curse. A player character goblin might have been freed of the curse with the help of that organization. They might make it their personal mission to try and free as many goblinkin of the curse as they can, viewing the god of tyranny as a fiend who treats his people as mere tools of conquest. They might free fellow goblins of the curse and teach freed goblin communities how to make sure future generations avoid Bane's curse. It might become traditional for goblinkin parents to take their newborn children to spiritual leaders who use their holy magic to protect the children from the influence of Bane.
A DM could even run a goblinkin-only campaign where the ultimate goal is to stop Bane's curse of strife at its source. Bane, god of tyranny and conquest, defeated by the goblinkin people he created as mere tools of conquest!
I personally found this all very inspiring. Sure, it was a little weird that the same book would call out the orc's supposed curse of ruin as fake only to establish a real curse of strife for goblinkin, but the way it was presented as something that could be defeated through compassion and holy magic was very inspiring. It made me interested in playing as a goblin for the first time. It made me want to include more goblinkin in games I run as friendly NPCs. It made me want to run a scenario where goblins are raiding merchant caravans for food that could be resolved by the players bringing a cart full of food to the goblin village, an act of compassion so surprising for the goblins that it allows them all to make a save with advantage gainst the curse of strife.
However, after bringing up the details of the curse of strife on another forum, a number of people had some very strong criticisms of the concept.
I quote one reply in particular (which I have edited for bravery) because it summarized a lot of the points others had raised and added new ones:
So I've decided to see what people here think of the goblins of Wildemount and the concept of the curse of strife. Is it an interesting bit of worldbuilding, a hook for goblinkin player characters, and a means to encourage encounters with goblinkin that end positively, or is it too evocative of the real world issues this person brought up?
However, Wildemount DOES establish a real curse on goblinkin, the curse of strife.
Here are some quotes concerning it from Explorer's Guide to Wildemount:
- "The term 'goblinkin' refers to three types of related peoples: goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears. All three are affected by Bane's curse of strife..."
- "Goblinkin who manage to overcome Bane's curse are freed from the compulsion that leads them to evil. Unless the goblinkin was freed near birth, however, they have likely internalized their bias towards law, chaos, or neutrality..."
- "It is nearly impossible for a goblinkin to break Bane's curse on their own."
- "Whenever a goblinkin returns to consciousness after being reduced to 0 hit points, they can make a DC 20 Wisdom saving throw, with advantage if they were brought back to life. On a success, the goblinkin breaks free from the curse of strife. A goblinkin targeted by remove curse can also make this saving throw, with advantage on the save if the caster is a trusted companion."
- "Many bugbears are cleansed of the curse from birth by a druidic order of bugbears who managed to break free from Bane's influence decades ago."
- "Goblins who suffer from the curse of strife are...goaded by Bane to commit acts of wanton destruction and malice."
- "Hobgoblins afflicted by the curse of strife are almost exclusively lawful evil, and are urged towards acts of conquest."
- "Bugbears who suffer under Bane's influence are typically chaotic evil..."
Elsewhere in the book it states that four special items called the Luxon beacons prevent a goblin that is born within 100 miles of one from ever being exposed to the curse of strife.
Personally, I understand the in-setting justification for this. Bane is the god of tyranny and conquest who created the goblinkin for specific roles and uses this curse to try and make sure they follow his commands. That sounds exactly like something a god of tyranny would do.
I was fully onboard with the concept. It retains a reason for goblins to be low-level opponents while also giving players multiple reasons to deal peacefully with goblinkin or to subdue them instead of killing them, as showing compassion gives them a chance to make a saving throw against the curse. An encounter with goblinkin might even be resolved by casting "remove curse" on the leader of a hostile group. These goblinkin, now free of the curse, could go back to their communities and help free their families and friends from the curse through acts of compassion.
Further, there's an established group of bugbears druids interested in helping other goblinkin free themselves of the curse. A player character goblin might have been freed of the curse with the help of that organization. They might make it their personal mission to try and free as many goblinkin of the curse as they can, viewing the god of tyranny as a fiend who treats his people as mere tools of conquest. They might free fellow goblins of the curse and teach freed goblin communities how to make sure future generations avoid Bane's curse. It might become traditional for goblinkin parents to take their newborn children to spiritual leaders who use their holy magic to protect the children from the influence of Bane.
A DM could even run a goblinkin-only campaign where the ultimate goal is to stop Bane's curse of strife at its source. Bane, god of tyranny and conquest, defeated by the goblinkin people he created as mere tools of conquest!
I personally found this all very inspiring. Sure, it was a little weird that the same book would call out the orc's supposed curse of ruin as fake only to establish a real curse of strife for goblinkin, but the way it was presented as something that could be defeated through compassion and holy magic was very inspiring. It made me interested in playing as a goblin for the first time. It made me want to include more goblinkin in games I run as friendly NPCs. It made me want to run a scenario where goblins are raiding merchant caravans for food that could be resolved by the players bringing a cart full of food to the goblin village, an act of compassion so surprising for the goblins that it allows them all to make a save with advantage gainst the curse of strife.
However, after bringing up the details of the curse of strife on another forum, a number of people had some very strong criticisms of the concept.
I quote one reply in particular (which I have edited for bravery) because it summarized a lot of the points others had raised and added new ones:
- That goblinkin can be broken free from the curse more easily when they're very young is reminiscent of real world illegal adoption industries, where Christian parents believe they are saving a child from sin by taking them from their homeland and its culture.
- That goblinkin can be shaken free of the curse of strife through compassion is reminiscent of the language used by Conversion Therapy advocates.
- That goblinkin can be shaken free of the curse of strife through experiencing traumatic events ignores the real world effects of trauma.
- The solutions proposed to the curse of strife are too similar to harmful things people have done to real people in the real world for comfort.
So I've decided to see what people here think of the goblins of Wildemount and the concept of the curse of strife. Is it an interesting bit of worldbuilding, a hook for goblinkin player characters, and a means to encourage encounters with goblinkin that end positively, or is it too evocative of the real world issues this person brought up?
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