So.... goblins. 200 vs. a 4th level party. Who are the standouts?

[Neonchameleon]

A geriatric goblin bard. Level 1 who's seen it all before. And is shouting out where he thinks the PCs are - from somewhere that's annoyingly hard to get at. And boy is +1 to hit and +1 damage from inspire Courage going to mount up.

 

[The Red King]

Have a few other mutants. Maybe nothing useful, but maybe a few with extra fingers/toes, the occasional extra limb (some that work). There could be an artifact that was destroyed in the caves long ago, and the magic seeped into the caves. The magic mutates the goblins as they have lived there for generations.

 

[marcielle]

A Tucker goblin, who is all alone down a corridor and mocks the party from behind total cover, he has the corridor trapped to all Baator and when the PCs are close enough he junps up dramatically and pulls a lever tripping all the traps. Alchemist fire suddenly blocks the corridor both ways. Describe dozens of arrows whizzing thru the air, rocks fallin and even more alchemist fire flowing through holes in the walls. But the rocks block the alchemist fire as it pools harmlessly to the side, most of the arrows miss and once the fire dies down the goblin is seen stuck in his secret escape passage, which was ruined by the rockfall.
And have a enraged badger hanging from a rope flailing ineffectively at them.

 

[marcielle]

Instead of plain old spheres, have the sorc's magic missiles look like screaming angry goblin heads.

A goblin 'druid' and his wolves. He keeps them in a cage and when the PCs near, he releases them and orders them to 'attack'. The wolves proceed to eat the surrounding goblins before he manages to correct his orders and get them to turn on the PCs. Because fighting nothing but goblins for 7 hours in a row might get annoying.

A pacifist goblin healer who heals both sides. Simply, asking his comrades and the PCs to stop fighting to no avail.

 

[aboyd]

You must spread some Experience Points around before giving it to marcielle again.

Thanks marcielle. Actually, I am thinking about the worgs and the pacifist because 7 hours of fighting goblins could indeed suck. What I was thinking of was having Foureyes -- who fears Goren -- maybe see the adventurers as a way to be rid of Goren. After the adventurers cleave through dozens of goblins, they'll arrive in the final large cavern, filled with women, children, Foureyes, Goren, and the worg riders. Goren will shout for the worg riders to attack, and Foureyes will see the last survivors of his small tribe about to be wiped out and shout "NO!" Then he will give up Goren, if the PCs will vow to utterly destroy Goren so that revenge cannot be made.

If they agree, the players are in a dilemma -- they are not powerful enough to planar banish Goren, so their only real guarantee of keeping Goren forever away from Foureyes is to kill Goren. But the party has a paladin who merely wants Goren stopped or in jail.

This would also sidestep combat with about 50 to 75 of the goblins. The players would only need to tear through maybe 100 or so. I suspect we could do that in just 3 or 4 hours.

 

[marcielle]

Jail? As I remember how medieval governing works, people who didn't swear fealty to the local lord weren't provided any degree of protection by the law and therefore, the killing of Goren wouldn't be against any laws except those set by Foureyes. Somehow, I doubt he'd have a problem with that. If your level of government is more modern though, and the PCs don't yet know the Judge is a bad guy, they could simply push for a death sentence, as Im sure Foureyes could produce tons of 'witnesses' to Goren's murderous activities.

If both of the above do not apply then yes, they has dillemanation.

Also, goblin tinkerer toys:
Crossbow made to fire vials and small bottles( eg alchfire, acid, grease)
A sprayer that, instead of a 10 ft line, sprays everything in a 10 ft radius excluding the person holding it( Goblins dont care about friendly fire)
Vermin Ointment that ATTRACTS vermin( food gathering resource?)
A metal shield with little bottles of alchemist fire on one side
Bear repellant.
Aggitated bee/spider/centipede grenade.

 

[Empirate]

Jail? As I remember how medieval governing works, people who didn't swear fealty to the local lord weren't provided any degree of protection by the law and therefore, the killing of Goren wouldn't be against any laws except those set by Foureyes. Somehow, I doubt he'd have a problem with that. If your level of government is more modern though, and the PCs don't yet know the Judge is a bad guy, they could simply push for a death sentence, as Im sure Foureyes could produce tons of 'witnesses' to Goren's murderous activities.

This is patently wrong. In medieval times, there was a very distinct notion present in most people's heads of what is 'just', what is 'the law' etc. Fealty has nothing to do with that. Most people, btw, never swore fealty to anybody: fealty is the act by which a noble-born becomes the vassal of another noble. The law, as opposed to vassalage, automatically applies to everybody, ever, and was understood to be much more universal than today (all law had its origin in god).

Sorry for the hijack, as a medieval historian I sometimes have to get this kind of stuff out of my system...

 

[aboyd]

I have little clue about how jail would work historically -- I have a few texts written by Gygax (of all people), and they outline how to try to make a game world roughly accurate. But that's it. He was fine with jails. They work OK in my game world, so no worries there.

But in any case, that really isn't the dilemma I was concerned about. The dilemma stems from a paladin's sense of right & wrong -- and at least in my game, killing a sentient creature is only OK in self-defense or an actual combat encounter. If the creature has surrendered or is held captive somehow, killing that creature is murder. So the jail issue is less of note than the murder issue. We could come up with a hundred alternatives to jail -- banishment, serving time as a slave on a ship, binding him and turning him over to Foureyes in a helpless state, etc. But if Foureyes offers a deal which is none of those things and is only "kill him as he stands here helplessly" then that seems more interesting to me. How can a paladin cut him down when he's defenseless? Can a paladin even turn away and allow his allies to do it?

Goblin clans

Also, on the original topic, I've decided on some ideas about the goblins. I've split the tribe into clans, and I've given them a bit of something I learned about the Egyptian pyramids. That is, the people assembling the pyramids were divided into work teams and had rivalries. They were proud of their teams and although everyone worked to the same goal, some teams tried hard to contribute the most, be the best, etc. So in this goblin tribe, there are clans that are proud of their contribution.

Greasemonkey clan

These guys are near the entrance in the bigger room to the north. They are decent at hurling things with accuracy (and "decent" is about as good as it gets for the tribe). They have slings, rocks, and oil which has been given to them by the Kaboom clan. They are excellent at coating enemies with thrown oil, forcing reflex saves or fall/drop weapons.

They are called the greasemonkeys for a literal reason too. My daughter wanted the other mutation in the tribe to be a scorpion tail. I'm not quite giving her that, but I did opt for the more disgusting and mundane option: these idiots have had sex with monkeys, and ended up with a goblin that has a tail. It's ridiculous, but whatever. They've got spikes weaved into his tail, and he gets an extra attack per round with it.

Kaboomer clan

My one sorcerer, who is hurling magic missiles which look like fiery goblin faces, is the only guy who knows alchemy. He has a clan about 25 strong who assist him. They've got a horrific non-masterwork alchemy set which kills a goblin now & then, but it works. These utter amateurs have stockpiled quite a bit of Alchemist's Fire.

Since these guys are staying in the bulbous, polyp-looking rooms a little ways back from the entrance, they would hope that anyone they hit with fire has already been coated with oil from the Greasemonkey clan, for extra damage.

Claw clan

Down in the lower "arm" of the caves, which have a few inches of water, is the Claw clan. These guys don't mind the water because they never touch it. They have metal somethings on their hands & feet (looking for suggestions of an actual item in a book, if you know of one) which are like hooked shoes & gloves. These give them a real bonus to climb skill, and then all their feats are going to improve that as well. They climb walls, hang from ceilings, sleep like bats.

I'm thinking of them like Spider Splicers, from Bioshock. I'm hoping the initial room description of bodies dangling from the ceiling will be freaky. However, they really have no mechanical advantage (in fact, a disadvantage, as they cannot attack as well and remain on the wall). Also, the ceilings are low. So these guys will be easy targets and cleaved to bits, I suspect.

Worg riders

These guys live in the big room at the end of the cave system, with the Gatekeeper clan. I don't have much special about them. They know how to ride worgs. That alone gives them prestige.

Gatekeeper clan

These goblins have the least offensive strength, and therefore are the most defensive about their contribution. Thus, they name themselves the Gatekeepers to signify that the other goblins won't survive without them.

These are the goblins that collect food, steal gear from nearby towns, make clothes, etc. They are the "gatherers" part of a "hunters & gatherers" society. They'll also try to patch up any injured goblins, but they have no cleric. Their healing is purely herbal. They'll also have other "herbal substances" if you know what I mean. However, I cannot find my book that outlined a ton of D&D drugs, so I'm a wee bit off my game on this one right now. I have a month to figure it out, though.

 

[Dandu]

But what about the Wutang clan?

 

[aboyd]

Aggitated bee/spider/centipede grenade.

Oh my God, that is so going to happen. Totally low-tech and perfect for them. I shall make it so.