D&D 5E Starter Set Excerpt 5

[Atlatl Jones]

This is a great pic for hobgoblins but not my idea of goblin

To me goblins are vermin. Scrawny, malicious scavengers and thieves who rely on sneaking and trickery to get what they want. They are clever but know they are weak and easily bullied by bigger monsters (like Hobgoblins) and thus can be sycophantic and untrustworthy in their behaviour.

To me goblins should be sneaking in with poison and arrows ready to assasinate and back stab but this picture with its oversized swords and muscular builds shows a group relying on strength to enter a confrontation. Thats Hobgoblins not the goblins that terrify children in the night....

I completely agree with everything you wrote here. Goblins should be wiry sneaky bastards, not brawny warriors.

 

[Thaumaturge]

Personally, I prefer my joke monsters to be the outlier critters, like flumphs or modrons.

Wait. Stop. Hold on.

Modrons are joke monsters?

How dare you, sir.

——
I think the prospect of making goblins the central enemy of a campaign is quite interesting. Hmm... I'll have to think about that.

Thaumaturge.

 

[TwoSix]

It's interesting to me that most of the negative reactions here are falling into the camp of "It's a fine bit of art, but these don't match my vision of what GOBLINS should be like!"

A community of nerds has trouble with slightly revisionist interpretations? I'm shocked, shocked I tell you!

 

[jrowland]

There was a related article on the humanoid races discussing specific niches for each (somebody with better search skills/more time/gumption can find a link..I admit, I'm lazy). I think the design decision to explicitly make goblins beefier and more civilized is a good one when we consider it in context of the other humanoids. I think we'll find Orcs, Kobolds, and Gnolls better defined as well, that is, they will fit into a more defined niche and there will be less niche-confusion.

One other point to make regarding "civilized" hobgoblins is their role in Eberron. Moving goblins away from sneaky savages is a minor move in general, but moving goblins into explicit sneaky savages would be a bit much for Eberron fans.

Humans in the real world basically "civilized" but there are plenty of historical and modern examples of savage, sneaky bastards. I think Goblins should be assumed to be just as diverse.

 

[Lwaxy]

To me, no race is inherently evil, unless the setting absolutely demands it (like the drow in Faerun of the goblins in PF). But they should be ugly to our standards!

These are, and while I'm no fan of the noses, I could immediately identify them as goblin. Which is really all that matters to me in a first impression.

 

[DMZ2112]

That'd be strange, though, as our civilization is the most complex and civilized that has ever existed.

Your post-editing fu is weak! I know you called me dumb and now I hate you forever!

Seriously, though, basing the top end of a scale on our current civilization level is like saying our medical technology is as good as it is going to get. We might be the best we've seen, but that does not mean we are not a planet full of total goddamn eff-ups.

I'm not saying we are a planet full of total goddamn eff-ups, mind you, I'm just saying that we lack the perspective to be sure we're not.

Plus, in 5E, FR is the baseline.

No it isn't. FR is the flagship setting, meaning only that it is the first. D&D5 is setting-polygnostic. This is unrelated to the rest of your post, but I'm trying to counter this soundbite every time I see it posted for the sake of accurate information.

 

[DM Howard]

I don't know about goblin, but I can see bugbears with those faces really easily.

Agreed. Don't care for them, they just don't say "goblin" to me.

 

[Wrathamon]

I think the artwork is fantastic. My only major knock is that D&D goblins aren't green, if they really want to push the D&D brand they should stick with the original AD&D take and have them more in the orange range. Yes these arent the bright green that we've been seeing and more olive but still too close to green.

In my game, goblins are green, cause I'm a big green goblin fan. But, too me what made D&D goblins unique was that they weren't green, but everywhere else goblins are. I would stick to the branding and not trying to make an everyman goblin.

Yes the weapons are a bit moria movie goblin for me, but I can live with that.

I think making them look mean, pack like and athletic is fine, these look like warriors on a hunt. I like how they look to be intelligently planning a raid and they look dangerous.

 

[Agamon]

Yeah, even the comics got that right. Goblins are green and hobgoblins are yellow.

I wonder why Spidey never fought The Bugbear!

 

[occam]

They have weapons of unique, non-D&D-style manufacture (total LotR inspiration there), their armour looks individually-made and is certainly made for goblins, specifically, and has impractical, very stylized spikes/hooks on it.

If this particular characteristic seems problematic, remember that it's established D&D lore that lots of goblins serve in hobgoblin armies and smaller troop formations. It seems reasonable that hobgoblin armorers would work to give their Small shock troops some measure of protection. Even for goblins not currently working with hobgoblins, there's a decent likelihood that they had at some point, or were handed down pieces of armor from those who had, or just that there's a lot of those Small armor pieces lying around to scavenge.