How would you defend your subterranean kingdom?

[Nifft]

Holy thread necromancy, Batman!

Pourquoi? -- N

 

[Stormrunner]

Pourquoi? Probably because of the nasty-cute Pathfinder goblins and the current buzz about them.

Remember that the worgs are not dumb animals. They are bigger, stronger, faster, and tougher than the goblins. They are allies, not slaves - the only reason they tolerate the gobbos at all is because goblins have hands. Gobbos can make ranged attacks. Gobbos can scavenge armor from dead humans - too big for a goblin to wear, but with a little cutting and lacing it can make decent barding for a worg. Worgs are much better at (literally) sniffing out traps - but goblins are better at disarming the trap once found.

In close combat, a goblin worgrider should probably use Aid Another to improve his worg's attack - he's automatically adjacent to both the worg and the worg's target, his chance of success is much better than trying to hit an armored opponent, and the worg's bite does a lot more damage than the rider's pitiful weapon. Consider a house rule allowing worgs to advance by class rather than HD - even a single level of ranger (favored enemy:humans) or bard (your howling buffs the whole pack) significantly improves a worg's threat level. Scout or rogue levels fit the instinctive flank-slash-and-run tactics of a wolfpack. Maybe it's the Wolf Queen the PCs should fear, rather than the Goblin King...

 

[DarkKestral]

I just thought of something.. not only should any bridges be single-file, but they should also be weak enough to cause problems (because it will collapse/ have the floor crumble) for any idiot dwarves, elves, and humans who decide to stupidly attack. This is best ensured by having lazy workers. Lazy workers will want the bridge functional, but will leave it prone to minor problems, because they don't ensure that everything is 'up to standard' but want it functional quick so they don't have to do it again. This means that in given the idea of generally lazy, sneaky gobs, their best tricks will often rely on their own laziness. And there should a be a lot of them. The best goblin lairs will have multiple entrances, many of which are simply defended natural caves with murderholes and the occasional big honkin' gate with two seperate doors and a space between 'em.

 

[Nifft]

Pourquoi? Probably because of the nasty-cute Pathfinder goblins and the current buzz about them.

Good point!

Remember that the worgs are not dumb animals. They are bigger, stronger, faster, and tougher than the goblins. They are allies, not slaves
[...]
Maybe it's the Wolf Queen the PCs should fear, rather than the Goblin King...

IMC, the PCs eventually found and scared the worg leader, convincing them to leave the area. This deprived the goblins of their mobility. Goblin deaths rose significantly.

To me, the reason worgs hang out with goblins is because worgs can't do bardic music, or sneak attacks, or archery. They're smart enough to partner up with a "handy species" (who can do things like use somatic components). Since worgs don't have an Advancement line which lists character class, I assume they are restricted to monster hit dice... poor critters.

Cheers, -- N

 

[mmadsen]

Remember that the worgs are not dumb animals. They are bigger, stronger, faster, and tougher than the goblins. They are allies, not slaves - the only reason they tolerate the gobbos at all is because goblins have hands.

The only reason they tolerate the gobbos at all is because goblins have hands. Love it!

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

The only reason they tolerate the gobbos at all is because goblins have hands. Love it!

"Bloody funny, those gods think they are. Here we are, wallowing in filth, in service to short-attention-spanned idiots half our size - and why? Lack of opposable thumbs! You wonder why we're ill-tempered? Bugger off."