Making a 5th level goblin respectably competent?

[aboyd]

Hi all. I had a fun, unexpected thing happen at my last game -- a goblin spellcaster surrendered to the PCs, and they took him into their party.

Now I need to stat him up, and I'd love to see any creative ideas the good people of En World might have. All I know is that he's unarmored -- although perhaps a buckler might be possible -- and he's a level 1 cleric + 4 levels in sorcerer.

I don't know skill points, feats, or spells (except that he cast Protection From Arrows, so that's gotta be on his list). I know he will use the elite array for stats (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8).

He was stripped of magic items.

What I'd really like is to see what can be done to make him cool -- he will be traveling with a party of 5 level 8 PCs. He needs to be able to hold his own somehow, so optimized selections of feats & spells are desirable. It might also be great if he could someday escape with a cool spell -- maybe a swift spell that lets him flee without fear that the party will catch him in 5 rounds. I don't know. What do you think? How would you keep a wimpy little goblin alive (not only during combat when he aids his masters, but outside of combat when his masters might be quite cruel)?

EDIT: books allowed = core, complete, spell compendium, phb 2. Technically, Denizens of Avadnu is also allowed and has some feats, and the Dragon Compendium hardcover isn't allowed but as the DM I have it and might allow an exception.

 

[Aran Thule]

Hmm, if protection from arrows is binding then you are a bit limited in your options.
The first thing i thought of was dimensional hop (2nd level arcane spell)from SpC as that would be an ideal escape/avoid danger spell.
If you want the gob to escape then you could have him stick around until he gets 6th level and then he would have the tools to get away.
Alternately you might end up with Splug syndrome where the goblin becomes a full time npc, in which case you could consider taking the next 2 levels as cleric and then going mystic theurge.
As for feat, possibly extend spell to use on mage armour but im sure there are better options.
As for spells here are a few ideas:
Cleric: cure minor wound, bless, remove fear
Sorc: daze, flare, mage armour, colour spray, ray of enfeeblement

 

[Physiker]

Is he stripped completly or does he still has his holy symbol or spell components pouch ?
Because this would reduce his spell quite a bit...

 

[aboyd]

He was only stripped of magic items. I don't think a holy symbol would light up under a Detect Magic spell, nor would a spell component pouch. Right? They're not magical, or at least I've always assumed they are not....

 

[Herobizkit]

Well, what God/dess does the Gob worship? If he is not tied to a specific deity, he should have the requisite Travel and Trickery as his domain choices.

If you want to make him a little more interesting, make him a Knowledge skill monkey by opting for the Cloistered Cleric variant from UA. In short, the variant sacrifices weapon, armor, and hit dice for access to more spells (Knowledge domain for free in addition to the 2 standard) and a bard-like access to skills (including the bard's "Legend Lore" ability).

With 4 levels of sorcerer, you could beef up on Divination and perhaps Transmutation spells (they tend to be more useful for parties than pure damage - damage is the PC's job, after all).

 

[aboyd]

I was thinking that the goblin would worship the usual goblin god (Mantulybucket or whatever his name is). However, I cannot find any text about that god in the core books, nor in the complete series. I'm open, a little bit. I would want the goblin to worship an evil god, and one that isn't predominantly intended for humans/elves/dwarves. Trickery, theft, kidnapping, wilderness survival, tribal societies, underdogs, collusion & coercion -- those are all things that might work for whatever god he ends up worshipping.

EDIT: something else I would consider is that the little guy has a magical item that doesn't radiate magic. I've never done that before because frankly, I don't know how it's achieved in 3.5 edition. But if it's possible for him to have a ring that appears plain, and the whole thing costs less than 4000 or 5000 gold, then sure, it's a possibility.

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

[off topic]

...
Mantulybucket
...

Mantulybucket just became the god of me spraying my screen with soda.


awesome.

[/off topic]

 

[Runestar]

I am guessing his best way is to suck up to the PCs by acting as a source of buffs. Enlarge the fighter, bless the party etc, ray of enfeeblement on the enemy. These are low lvs spells which remain useful even at higher lvs.

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

more helpfully...

Regarding hiding an item, The spell magic aura is only 1st level, so could he cast it every so often, just so the PCs don't catch him with the item in question? Or maybe it could be added to an item, for 2000gp? (or did I mess up the CL on that calculation?)

Btw, Maglubiyet has an entry at wikipedia (oddly, but not surprisingly), though it's almost certainly of no help as there's not much there. But google pulls up a fair number of hits that might provide inspiration.

 

[Dross]

EDIT: something else I would consider is that the little guy has a magical item that doesn't radiate magic. I've never done that before because frankly, I don't know how it's achieved in 3.5 edition. But if it's possible for him to have a ring that appears plain, and the whole thing costs less than 4000 or 5000 gold, then sure, it's a possibility.

Try (SRD):
Magic Aura, level 1 for sorc, lasting 1 day/level, focus = silk cloth
I think the PHB name is Nystal's M A.

Technically while a holy symbol does not radiate magic, I like the idea that the holy symbol could radiate magic, and maybe even register on the detect ## alignment spells (not that I've implemented that idea).