Pathfinder Player Companion: Goblins of Golarion (PFRPG)

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Pathfinder Player Companion: Goblins of Golarion (PFRPG)
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We Be Goblins!

The goblins are on the loose! Unleash the homicidal hijinks of Golarion’s most maniacal menaces with this guide to all things goblin. Infamous for their unpredictable attacks, catchy raiding songs, and fear of horses, goblins blend mischief and murderousness like no other monsters. But there’s more to goblins than dogslicers and games of killgull. Now you can join in the quirky carnage with everything you need to know about goblins, whether you plan to do battle against their unpredictable tribes, or lead them as a goblin hero!

Goblins of Golarion presents a player-friendly overview of the favorite foes of the Pathfinder campaign setting, along with new rules and information to help players customize goblin characters in both flavor and mechanics.

    Inside this book, you'll find:
  • The secrets of goblin life, from their strange anatomy and deranged psychology to their baffling culture and hilarious quirks
  • An overview of goblin homelands across the Inner Sea Region, along with details on dozens of unique goblin tribes
  • New ways to fight like a goblin, with equipment and feats to help goblins skirmish and scavenge like only goblins can
  • Revelations on goblin religion, from their unique worship of Lamashtu, the Mother of Monsters, to their race’s infamous hero-god
  • Insights into the questionable and grotesque world of goblin arcana, with new goblin-made spells and magic items
  • Rules, traits, and advice for playing goblin characters, giving you everything you need to unleash goblin insanity all your own
  • New goblin songs, games, and tricks, and even more goblin madness!

This Pathfinder Player Companion is set in the Pathfinder campaign setting and works best with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game or the 3.5 version of the world's oldest fantasy roleplaying game, but can easily be incorporated into any fantasy world.

Still need more goblins? Check out We Be Goblins!, an insane Pathfinder Module designed just for goblin characters!

Written by Richard Pett

Each bimonthly 32-page Pathfinder Companion contains several player-focused articles exploring the volume’s theme as well as short articles with innovative new rules for social, magic, religious, and combat-focused characters, as well as traits to better anchor the player to the campaign.

ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-362-0

Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:

Hero Lab Online
Fantasy Grounds Virtual Tabletop
Archives of Nethys

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Are there errors or omissions in this product information? Got corrections? Let us know at store@paizo.com.

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Goodness Gracious Goblins!

5/5

There's been a lot of controversy lately over the planned inclusion of goblins as a core race in the second edition of Pathfinder. One side of the debate posits that goblins have been consistently portrayed as little psychopathic murdering arsonists and that's not a good choice for a PC, while the other side says there's always exceptions and predicts some sort of canonical event may happen between editions to explain goblins' newwidespread acceptance throughout Golarion. The debate was definitely in the background of my mind as I read Goblins of Golarion, even though it was just next up in my queue and I'm not here to take sides in the debate.

Goblins of Golarion is a 32-page entry in the Player Companion line of products. The inside front cover nicely summarizes the racial stats of goblins and includes some other useful details for players, such as favored deities, regions, and example male and female names. The inside back-cover is a reproduction (sans text) of the cover, demonstrating quite vividly that goblins like fire and hate horses. The interior of the book is broken into six sections.

The longest section, "Goblins of Golarion" (16 pages) provides a very readable overview of goblins and how the race "fits" in Golarion and what life is like for goblins. There's a ton of great information here, including particular ways (and rules) for how goblins fight dirty (special rules for tossing angry snakes at enemies!), why they hate dogs and horses so much, why they have a penchant for song and a loathing for the written word, the types of games they play and junk they collect (including the introduction of about ten new pieces of equipment, including "pig grease" and "goblin pickles"), and more. Background sections like this in RPG books are sometimes pretty bland, but Goblins of Golarion does it right--tidbits here and there are hilarious, and this is definitely a section I'd recommend to a GM or player looking to get the most out of playing a goblin. There's a useful (and frank) discussion of which classes are suitable for goblin PCs; sorry, Goblin Paladins are right out! The section ends with about two dozen new background traits (Race, Regional, and Religion), and there's some really fun (and useful) ones like Foul Belch and Pustular.

"Goblin Tribes" (six pages) starts with a map of the Inner Sea annotated with the location of almost two dozen different goblin tribes. The section talks about named tribes in Isger, Mediogalti Island, The Shackles, and Varisia, but I really appreciate how it explicitly encourages GMs to make up their own tribes as well and not feel restrained by what's presented. The section is written to show just how varied goblin tribes can be while still staying on theme. The Spelleater goblins of the Mana Wastes were really cool, but I actually even felt a bit sorry for the Isger tribes...

"Combat" (two pages) introduces ten new feats restricted to goblin characters. They have great names like "Ankle Biter" and "Saddle Shrieker" but the great flavour is matched by solid mechanical effects. I will definitely throw some of these on NPC goblins if I get a chance.

"Faith" (two pages) provides short write-ups of four goblin hero-gods: Hadregash, Venkelvore, Zarongel, and Zogmugot. Each entry includes their portfolio, domains, subdomains, holy symbol, and favored weapon along with a one-paragraph description. The section also introduces four new subdomains, some of which would be viable for other (non-goblin) deities as well: Arson, Flotsam, Slavery, and Torture. The powers the new subdomains grant, however, are pretty weak.

"Goblin Magic" (two pages) introduces three new spells attributed to goblin spellcasters and four new magic items. For the spells, Fire Sneeze is hilarious. The magic items are all very weak mechanically but simultaneously far too expensive to really fit the goblin "scavenger" concept. A "Devastating Dog Whistle" *might* do 1d6 points of sonic damage to dogs within its radius, but at a price of 1500 gp it's hard to imagine what kind of goblin tribe would have one.

Last up is "Social: Goblin Player Characters" (two pages), a section that explains that "Goblins are first and foremost villains. They may be comical on some level, but they're also quite evil. Goblins enjoy inflicting misery and causing pain, and a goblin who doesn't isn't truly a goblin--he's some sort of freak's freak. Which is precisely the kind of goblin that makes a good nominee for a player character." The section gives some frank advice on trying to integrate Goblin PCs into a campaign and how to deal with the widespread racial antagonism they would face in civilized areas. At the risk of perceived bias, I do think the lore, at least as presented here, militates against the idea of goblins becoming a common PC race. The section also introduces some new favored class options, but they're not balanced well--gunslingers get a +1 to critical hit confirmations (nice!), while rogues get an extra skill rank that has to be placed in Ride or Stealth, which doesn't make sense since any character of any race and any class can use their favored class bonus to that get one free skill point (in any skill).

Some quibbles aside, Goblins of Golarion is an excellent example of a supplement that's useful for both players and GMs. It has buckets of flavour for running goblin characters while adding depth to their role in Golarion as a campaign setting. I would definitely recommend it.


Definitely Worth Having the Words Stolen from your Head

5/5

I was so absorbed with this book, that I read it cover to cover in one sitting. Having checked out most of the player companions, this was by far my favorite and changed my mind about having goblin PCs in my games. The fluff is absorbing, original and completely entralling with just enough humor to fit the goblin expectations but not so over the top as to make the race a joke. We learn amazing bits of their society from the fear of reading to the hatred of horses all with substantial backstory. And the traits and feats given really help make the race unique and offer some amazing options for fun PC builds.


You Be Food!

5/5

I loved this book. As a GM, it has already seen use in my campaign, and the discussions of goblin psychology and sociology spawned a number of interesting character concepts for semi-heroic goblin pcs for next time I am not the DM.
I go into more depth <a href="http://worldmakers.wordpress.com/2011/10/23/book-review-pathfinder-pl ayer-companion-goblins-of-golarion/">here </a>


Great Material

5/5

Wheter you want to have a goblin PC, flesh out goblins as villains a little bit more, or start your own all-goblin campaign, this book is what you need. It has interesting insights into Golarion goblin culture and tribes, along with various player options. It motivates you to use the annoying little freaks as PCs: we are currently running an all goblin pbp adventure on this board and having a blast.

I have only 1 minor complaint about the editing (a paragraph of the wrong font size in the Feats section) but overall the print quality is very good. A must have if you like monster player races or just can't get enough of those lovable pyromaniac goblins.


Great Resource

5/5

See my full review here.

Goblins of Golarion is a bit of an unusual supplement. As I mentioned in my review of Humans of Golarion, that product is a useful, albeit not particularly exciting book. Goblins of Golarion is the reverse: a fun, interesting read, but not particularly useful to most games. More specifically, it’s not particularly useful to most players. Game Masters are likely to gain much more use out of it, but as a product that is part of the Pathfinder Player Companion line, many people will expect it to be usable by players. Of course, not every product should necessarily be usable by everyone. It makes sense that there would be some niche products. However, it’s important that people be aware that this is a niche product, as there are some players out there who feel that because something is printed, it’s their right to use it, and that’s going to annoy some GMs who don’t want monster PCs in their games. Players should be sure to check with their GMs before making use of this book.

For players with goblin characters, there’s no doubt that it’s very useful indeed. It’s full of information about goblin society, lifestyle, beliefs, and physiology, along with lots of useful game mechanics including goblin equipment, new traits and feats, and even goblin spells. In addition, it’s an engaging read that fully brings across the character and style of Golarion goblins.

For games that don’t allow goblin PCs (or simply don’t have any players interested in playing goblin characters), Goblins of Golarion can still be a useful supplement for Game Masters, who will find a wealth of information. The “Goblin Tribes” chapter, for example presents the most prominent tribes from around the Inner Sea. It allows GMs to keep every group of goblins unique, yet still unmistakeably goblins. From goblin pirates in the Shackles, to freedom fighters in Isger who are devoted to preventing goblins from ever being enslaved again by hobgoblins, to dinosaur riders on Mediogalti Island, there’s a tribe for just about every need. I really like that there are areas of the world where goblins are more common (such as in Varisia) and areas where there are very few, if any. It makes goblins more than just something you roll on a random encounter chart and plunk down anywhere.

Overall, Goblins of Golarion is a fun book that fully fleshes out goblins and makes them a viable race in their own right. Gaming groups that include goblin PCs will find the book invaluable. Game Masters of groups without goblin PCs will still find the book useful for providing interesting encounters with goblins. And even if your group has no goblin PCs and rarely, if ever, encounters goblins as monsters, the book can still provide a fun and interesting read.


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Shadow Lodge

Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Must have!!!!!!!

Dark Archive

We be Paizo fans, you be awesome!

Shadow Lodge

So aside from the fact that I'm not sure how this can be a 'Player Comapanion' when it's a decidedly monster race...

It looks pretty awesome.

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

The same way the orc book was released in this same line of books. Of course back then the line was called Pathfinder Companion line. I imagine it will explore the race and give stats to play them as PC's.

Shadow Lodge

Dark_Mistress wrote:
The same way the orc book was released in this same line of books. Of course back then the line was called Pathfinder Companion line. I imagine it will explore the race and give stats to play them as PC's.

I use that for my half orc character a fair bit though. This? Not so much.

Edit: Obviously it's not a released product. I play in a home game where we stick to the core races, and I play in PFS where goblins aren't legal. I just can't see how this would be a 'player' resource for us.

Silver Crusade

Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Please tell me it's really Richard Pett writing this one.


Cool a companion book goblins, that is awesome.


Whhoooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*Runs around giggling happily.*

I have been wanting this since it was hinted at. All praise to the fecund little runts.


0gre wrote:
Dark_Mistress wrote:
The same way the orc book was released in this same line of books. Of course back then the line was called Pathfinder Companion line. I imagine it will explore the race and give stats to play them as PC's.

I use that for my half orc character a fair bit though. This? Not so much.

Edit: Obviously it's not a released product. I play in a home game where we stick to the core races, and I play in PFS where goblins aren't legal. I just can't see how this would be a 'player' resource for us.

For you.

I know of at least one fairly well known fan played goblin. The Ugly, a goblin gunslinger from one of ashton sperries games.

And i know that i would love the chance to really get my teeth into a distinctly not human race. Goblin psychology as presented is amazingly cool, and while the chance to play a 'good' goblin, while maintaining the character quirks is cool, just going with the insanity of the goblins is also a prospect I relish.


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber

Totally cool.

Silver Crusade

Zombieneighbours wrote:
0gre wrote:
Dark_Mistress wrote:
The same way the orc book was released in this same line of books. Of course back then the line was called Pathfinder Companion line. I imagine it will explore the race and give stats to play them as PC's.

I use that for my half orc character a fair bit though. This? Not so much.

Edit: Obviously it's not a released product. I play in a home game where we stick to the core races, and I play in PFS where goblins aren't legal. I just can't see how this would be a 'player' resource for us.

For you.

I know of at least one fairly well known fan played goblin. The Ugly, a goblin gunslinger from one of ashton sperries games.

And i know that i would love the chance to really get my teeth into a distinctly not human race. Goblin psychology as presented is amazingly cool, and while the chance to play a 'good' goblin, while maintaining the character quirks is cool, just going with the insanity of the goblins is also a prospect I relish.

Some other forum members gave me some fantastic advice on that subject. ;)

I do hope some time is spent on advice and fluff geared towards playing goblins that veer away from their alignment expectations. That was my big disappointment with Orcs of Golarion. I know they want to keep these races as mostly evil, but it would be nice to throw those of us that don't like inherently evil races a bone or two to work with.

Silver Crusade

Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Mikaze wrote:
Zombieneighbours wrote:
0gre wrote:
Dark_Mistress wrote:
The same way the orc book was released in this same line of books. Of course back then the line was called Pathfinder Companion line. I imagine it will explore the race and give stats to play them as PC's.

I use that for my half orc character a fair bit though. This? Not so much.

Edit: Obviously it's not a released product. I play in a home game where we stick to the core races, and I play in PFS where goblins aren't legal. I just can't see how this would be a 'player' resource for us.

For you.

I know of at least one fairly well known fan played goblin. The Ugly, a goblin gunslinger from one of ashton sperries games.

And i know that i would love the chance to really get my teeth into a distinctly not human race. Goblin psychology as presented is amazingly cool, and while the chance to play a 'good' goblin, while maintaining the character quirks is cool, just going with the insanity of the goblins is also a prospect I relish.

Some other forum members gave me some fantastic advice on that subject. ;)

I do hope some time is spent on advice and fluff geared towards playing goblins that veer away from their alignment expectations. That was my big disappointment with Orcs of Golarion. I know they want to keep these races as mostly evil, but it would be nice to throw those of us that don't like inherently evil races a bone or two to work with.

Yeah, and let's get a CG Drow option somwhere there too! With two scimitars. And a panther companion.


Gorbacz wrote:
*snark*

That's one way of looking at it. The other ways are:

1) Fleshing out those Goblin NPCs, either as challenges for PCs at low levels or as 'background' characters for your epic-level Players to encounter and have a laugh at.

2) Giving GMs a greater insight into Goblin mentality, physiology and cultural ideology (did I just use all those words in the same sentence as 'Goblin' .... igh.) for a Golarion-set Homebrew game or perhaps even their own Setting!

3) Us OCD people who must know as much about the Pathfinder Setting as our wallets, jobs and family members/pets/friends will allow.

4) Evil Campaigns. They are as rare as Cockatrice teeth, but they do happen, and for a piddling $11.00, I'm up for that!

Silver Crusade

Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

I was against a Goblin book on a very fundamentalist and irrational base of my vehement dislike for "monsters as PCs" option, but now that I see that Richard Pett is writing this, I can be safe that it's a one-shot "so wacky that it's cool" offering. Can live with that.

But I can't get over my burning opposition against a party made up of:

* a Good Goblin (he got hit on his head and was never the same again)
* a Good Drow (angsty exile freedom fighter against the matriarchal regime, cool story bro)
* a Good Mind Flayer ("Brainz not tastys, honest!")
* a reformed Barbed Devil ("I used to be like that evil, but then I got this brochure!")

It's just ... not right. Forgotten Realms never found a place in my heart for a reason.

Silver Crusade

Gorbacz wrote:


But I can't get over my burning opposition against a party made up of:

* a Good Goblin (he got hit on his head and was never the same again)
* a Good Drow (angsty exile freedom fighter against the matriarchal regime, cool story bro)
* a Good Mind Flayer ("Brainz not tastys, honest!")
* a reformed Barbed Devil ("I used to be like that evil, but then I got this brochure!")

It's just ... not right. Forgotten Realms never found a place in my heart for a reason.

But that's not what people are asking for.

Oh well, guess those of us that would like to play good orcs or good goblins get to go another edition without any official support for our playstyles, ever.

Silver Crusade

Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

I'm cool with a setting-neutral "Savage Species" book in the PFRPG line, but I really do want the Drizzt Syndrome away from Golarion.

Silver Crusade

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Mikaze wrote:
Gorbacz wrote:


But I can't get over my burning opposition against a party made up of:

* a Good Goblin (he got hit on his head and was never the same again)
* a Good Drow (angsty exile freedom fighter against the matriarchal regime, cool story bro)
* a Good Mind Flayer ("Brainz not tastys, honest!")
* a reformed Barbed Devil ("I used to be like that evil, but then I got this brochure!")

It's just ... not right. Forgotten Realms never found a place in my heart for a reason.

But that's not what people are asking for.

Oh well, guess those of us that would like to play good orcs or good goblins get to go another edition without any official support for our playstyles, ever.

Eberron famously had no enforced racial alignments. Any sentient species could be any alignment. Meant that the handy colour coding on Dragons were more guidelines.


Who said anything about CG drow.

Look providing that goblins have free will and are not so innately psychotic that they can form some sort of society, it is relatively reasonable to see a range of goblin alingments. Sure the goodly ones aree very likely to be beaten up until they start actin' right, but that shouldn't invalidate the occasional one making it to the status of goblin hero.

And evil and good are not the only alignments. The neutral holds three cool alignments also, and i can see a chaotic neutral goblin witch being hella fun to play. Crazy superstitious non-sense, schizophrenic delusion and magic rolled into a biting, spitting and utterly dingbat crazy parcel. An entirely playable and not evil character option.

Silver Crusade

DM_aka_Dudemeister wrote:
Mikaze wrote:

But that's not what people are asking for.

Oh well, guess those of us that would like to play good orcs or good goblins get to go another edition without any official support for our playstyles, ever.

Eberron famously had no enforced racial alignments. Any sentient species could be any alignment. Meant that the handy colour coding on Dragons were more guidelines.

Eberron had really gotten my hopes up on that front, but then they went and never further developed or detailed those orcs. That was the element that I was most interested in to be honest, and nothing got done with it from what people have told me when I asked around about it. :(

I had been hoping for inspiration to use for my own orcs, but c'est la vie...


runs through thread with a burning torch and a block of cheese

Dark Archive

DM_aka_Dudemeister wrote:
Eberron famously had no enforced racial alignments. Any sentient species could be any alignment. Meant that the handy colour coding on Dragons were more guidelines.

Also makes playing a good character more an exercise in intelligent analysis and thoughtful action, not just wantonly slaughtering anything of race X or color Y because 'they're all evil.'

If alignment is included in a game at all, I definitely prefer for 'good' people to not have excuses to genocide anyone they run into based on outward appearance or circumstances of birth.

(Although I prefer my outsiders with alignment types to remain pure good, evil, chaos, law, and not have to deal with the fallen angel / redeemed devil stuff. IMO, an angel can't choose not to be good, anymore than I can choose not to be made out of meat. Good is what they are made of. I'm comfortable with my own hypocrisy.)

Golarion Goblins are whacky fun, but, IMO, way too limiting, and being one of the more egregious cases of fluff not matching crunch. They are described as behaving in a manner that would suggest *massive* penalties to Intelligence and Wisdom, for instance, and living in conditions that would *require* a bonus to Constitution, just to survive their first three days of existence. Int 6 and Wis 6 to 8 sound about right, for their portrayal. They'd be even less 'playable characters' and even more 'monster / vermin,' if their stats reflected how they are portrayed in Classic Monsters Revisited.

As with so many cases where the fluff and the crunch don't mesh (for me), I'd be inclined to go in both directions. Most goblins would be Int 3-6, little better than animals, and almost iredeemably dangerous and inherently malicious and unreliable. One in a hundred would be different, sort of like the 3.X 'blues,' and have a more advanced intellect, and not be uncontrollably terrified of writing, horses, dogs, etc. (although it might still *choose* to have nothing to do with such things!), acting more like a 3.X goblin, and being at least marginally 'playable' or reliable enough to serve as a flunky, follower or cohort.

That way, the game would accomodate both options. Goblins, as a race, as un-teachable vermin that it's 'okay' to go all Final Solution upon, and some goblins as whacky sidekicks or plucky underdogs.

Alternately, perhaps the great secret, that few would even suspect, is that goblins aren't a race at all. They are larval hobgoblins. Those that survive their whacky barely-sentient goblin years grow larger and smarter, and become hobgoblins, inherently worthy of respect to their hobgoblin kin, as they have survived an *incredibly* dangerous crucible to walk among their adult kin (one that less than 1 in 100 goblins survives).

And if they manage to thrive in the cut-throat world of the hobgoblin, perhaps one in one hundred goes on to a final stage of growth, becoming a bugbear...


hobgoblins too??

just no greengoblin

Shadow Lodge

HalfOrcHeavyMetal wrote:

1) Fleshing out those Goblin NPCs, either as challenges for PCs at low levels or as 'background' characters for your epic-level Players to encounter and have a laugh at.

2) Giving GMs a greater insight into Goblin mentality, physiology and cultural ideology (did I just use all those words in the same sentence as 'Goblin' .... igh.) for a Golarion-set Homebrew game or perhaps even their own Setting!

Umm.... this is exactly my point, it's a "Player Companion" product and your two best examples are GM oriented.

Quote:

3) Us OCD people who must know as much about the Pathfinder Setting as our wallets, jobs and family members/pets/friends will allow.

4) Evil Campaigns. They are as rare as Cockatrice teeth, but they do happen, and for a piddling $11.00, I'm up for that!

I can appreciate option 4, particularly in light of the forthcoming Goblin adventure. I'm just a bit skeptical my players will get a lot of mileage from this book, this sort of crazy evil campaign is a fun diversion but not really what we wind up playing often.


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
0gre wrote:
HalfOrcHeavyMetal wrote:

1) Fleshing out those Goblin NPCs, either as challenges for PCs at low levels or as 'background' characters for your epic-level Players to encounter and have a laugh at.

2) Giving GMs a greater insight into Goblin mentality, physiology and cultural ideology (did I just use all those words in the same sentence as 'Goblin' .... igh.) for a Golarion-set Homebrew game or perhaps even their own Setting!

Umm.... this is exactly my point, it's a "Player Companion" product and your two best examples are GM oriented.

Quote:

3) Us OCD people who must know as much about the Pathfinder Setting as our wallets, jobs and family members/pets/friends will allow.

4) Evil Campaigns. They are as rare as Cockatrice teeth, but they do happen, and for a piddling $11.00, I'm up for that!

I can appreciate option 4, particularly in light of the forthcoming Goblin adventure. I'm just a bit skeptical my players will get a lot of mileage from this book, this sort of crazy evil campaign is a fun diversion but not really what we wind up playing often.

It should make Goblins legal for society play as well. This could be interesting.:) Goblin Ninja! ;)

Silver Crusade

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

1. I am FINE with non-evil monster NPCs in Golarion. An occasional neutral Lich or Good Vampire never hurt anyone (cheap pun intended).

2. I am NOT FINE with non-evil monster PCs. Drizzt, die. Slowly. With your guts out in the sun. Bastard.

3. Errr ... what 0gre says. A one-off "crazy town" episode of a Goblin book/module combo is fine, but if that's going to be a regular feature, I SHALL LOUDLY COMPLAIN ON THEM INTERWEBS. Because we all know that works.


Excellent! Looking forward to this.

Sovereign Court

Because I am more important than Ogre or Gorbacz, I just want to point out that we have goblin PCs in our D&D games all the time, so this book is simply faboo. "Sadistic lunatic" is an apt descriptor of most player characters, and with Goblins at least we get beautiful singing voices.

Shadow Lodge

Justin Franklin wrote:
It should make Goblins legal for society play as well. This could be interesting.:) Goblin Ninja! ;)

The same as they legalized orcs after Orcs of Golarion?

.

.

.

Oh wait


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
0gre wrote:
Justin Franklin wrote:
It should make Goblins legal for society play as well. This could be interesting.:) Goblin Ninja! ;)

The same as they legalized orcs after Orcs of Golarion?

.

.

.

Oh wait

But there are no half-goblins (besides Erik said more then likely they would be allowed in society at GenCon).

Scarab Sages

I cool idea for introducing goblins or orcs as a PFS legal race would be to have it as a certed reward for completing a 12th level story arc, resulting in the retirement of your 12th level character.

I do see it as being slight difficult to add goblins and orcs to the PFS with an in-story reason. However, the RP potential would be astounding!

Shadow Lodge

Justin Franklin wrote:
But there are no half-goblins (besides Erik said more then likely they would be allowed in society at GenCon).

Well the fact that there are no core player Goblin options is why I am a bit skeptical of a Goblin player book to begin with.

This book would fly off the shelves if it were to legalize goblins in PFS... It would certainly make it more appealing for me.

I don't think it will though, and in spite of the fact that it would be fun to play a goblin PC, I suspect it won't work well in PFS so I hope they don't.


NOW I understand why some players want to have guns. It's because other players want to be goblins! Fire when ready, Gridley!

Dark Archive

Justin Franklin wrote:
But there are no half-goblins.

Huh, I always thought a drunken encounter between a human and a goblin explained the existence of halflings perfectly...

Sovereign Court

Set wrote:
Justin Franklin wrote:
But there are no half-goblins.

Huh, I always thought a drunken encounter between a human and a goblin explained the existence of halflings perfectly...

This doesn't help for PFS play, but an interesting take on half-goblins is presented in Raging Swan's Retribution.

Dark Archive

Gorbacz wrote:
I was against a Goblin book on a very fundamentalist and irrational base of my vehement dislike for "monsters as PCs" option, but now that I see that Richard Pett is writing this, I can be safe that it's a one-shot "so wacky that it's cool" offering. Can live with that.

I too am no fan of 'monsters as pcs'; not counting one off's or a brief campaign where all the PC's are a monster race like Drow nobles or in this case Goblins. Back in earlier editons I would not allow Deep Gnomes or Drow pcs for a regular campaign, much less a minotaur or a lizard man.

But I would still get a 'monster book' to mine it for details on the customs, religion, mindset, etc. of a particular race. Books of these types would be a great springboard for adventure or role playing ideas.

Even small tidbits like typical stats penalties or traits would be telling.

Gorbacz wrote:
But I can't get over my burning opposition against a party made up of...

There was actually a fun adventure in Dungeon Magazine {rip} where the pcs could play humanoids from a tribe. The tribe's chief needed to clear some space in the tribe's caverns to make room for his in laws (ha!), so he sends the humaniod pc's on an "important" (i.e. suicide) mission to get some room freed up.

Great adventure for a one off!

Shadow Lodge

So I'm not totally opposed to Monster races as Gorbacz is, I will likely buy this book...

My concerns are threefold.
Is it going to really be a player resource?
Orcs of Golarion was hit or miss on this. Quite a bit of the content seems more geared towards NPCs than Players and even the player 'friendly content' is useful mostly to barbarians, or people in parties with barbarians. The traits are the stand out exception to this and are quite good for nearly anyone. There is also a ton of really nice background content for orcs in Golarion, but in general the playable rules oriented stuff isn't very exciting for players.

The Player Companion line is no longer suitable for vanilla campaigns
The vast majority of the Player Companion line can be dropped into any vanilla Golarion campaign. The orc book bent this idea and the goblins book just tosses this out the window.

The Player Companion line has been the subscription for PFS players
To date this has been the PFS players subscription line. Unless they are going to legalize goblins this book is not suitable for play. It's a 'Players' book that you can't use in Paizo organized play.

So it's not so much that I'm against the book, I just think it doesn't belong under the "Player Companion" brand.


To date I have purchased 1 Player Companion book, and that is the Inner Sea Primer (wonderful product, btw).

This will most likely be the second, for 2 reasons: 1. The Goblins of Golarion are awesome and I love the promise of adding even more flavor to them. 2. It's written by Richard Pett, who has yet to not exceed my expectations (no pressure, Mr. Pett).


Imagine a Goblin Gunslinger who has cap pistols instead of real guns. He just cannot figure out why he never kills anything!! :)

"Meez know i hit it!"

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber

The incredible irony of a book on the little illiterate pyromaniac canine-ophobic freaks is hilarious. And shouldn't any real, serious goblin player refuse to ever read it, thus eliminating the potential of Goblin PCs?

Can't wait to see what Richard Pett can come up with for this one.


wait, no one's asked for Kobolds of Golarion yet? I'll be first then!


baron arem heshvaun wrote:

There was actually a fun adventure in Dungeon Magazine {rip} where the pcs could play humanoids from a tribe. The tribe's chief needed to clear some space in the tribe's caverns to make room for his in laws (ha!), so he sends the humaniod pc's on an "important" (i.e. suicide) mission to get some room freed up.

Great adventure for a one off!

Actually, there were TWO monster adventures in Dungeon magazine. One was "Monsterquest," in issue 10. The other one, from issue 22, which I think is the one you're citing, was actually written for BECMI, or more specifically, for the "Orcs of Thar" Gazetteer. It was called "Rank Amateurs."

So there you go; Put together Monsterquest, Rank Amateurs, Reverse Dungeon, and We Be Goblins, and you got yourself a whole campaign!


Gang I could use your help. Although the goblin book is still many months away, I am having trouble convincing a couple friends that goblins can be ninjas. They believe they lack the discipline and don't fit into Golorion at all. I like to believe that with a little creativity anything in this game is possible but I need some plausible ideas on how a creature one step up from a Gremlin (the movies) could become a ninja.

Thoughts?


I'm all for this, as long as there is at least some place where its fairly clear that goblins are best suited for evil campaigns, and that the general assumption in Golarion is that goblins are almost always evil, and almost never good.

Plus, I really don't want to see goblins legal for PFS. For all of the discussion about gunslingers breaking suspension of disbelief, I'm really not wanting to sit at a table with five non-evil goblins working for a scholarly institution. My brain might melt.

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

0gre wrote:
Is it going to really be a player resource?

Yes. Keep in mind that while Player Companions do provide stuff for players that directly use whatever the topic is, they also provide stuff for players that might only run into whatever the topic is now and then. In much the same way that you don't need to play an elf to get something out of the Elves companion, or you don't need to be from Cheliax to get something out of that companion.

0gre wrote:
The Player Companion line is no longer suitable for vanilla campaigns

First of all, if we could only ever produce "vanilla," the line would get pretty stale fast.

That said, don't players in vanilla campaigns run into goblins now and then? This will provide those players with some information about goblins that their characters are likely to know.

0gre wrote:
The Player Companion line has been the subscription for PFS players

Um... who said *that*? I've certainly never had that view on it...


This book is heretical and must be burned! This discussion is heretical and must be burned! All who participate, read, or hear mention of either of these are heretics and must be burned! All those related to heretics are heretics and must be burned! The spider familiar that crawled through here is heretical and must burn! The spider's master, the wizard A-Number-to-large-to-recite-in-a-goblin-lifetime, must burn! All of the wizard's servants, past and future, must be burned! All who have seen the wizard's works must burn! I will burn once I have burned all of these!

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

Gall, Inquisitor of Gargling wrote:
This book is heretical and must be burned! This discussion is heretical and must be burned! All who participate, read, or hear mention of either of these are heretics and must be burned! All those related to heretics are heretics and must be burned! The spider familiar that crawled through here is heretical and must burn! The spider's master, the wizard A-Number-to-large-to-recite-in-a-goblin-lifetime, must burn! All of the wizard's servants, past and future, must be burned! All who have seen the wizard's works must burn! I will burn once I have burned all of these!

Are you aware you're using writing?


Vic Wertz wrote:
Gall, Inquisitor of Gargling wrote:
This book is heretical and must be burned! This discussion is heretical and must be burned! All who participate, read, or hear mention of either of these are heretics and must be burned! All those related to heretics are heretics and must be burned! The spider familiar that crawled through here is heretical and must burn! The spider's master, the wizard A-Number-to-large-to-recite-in-a-goblin-lifetime, must burn! All of the wizard's servants, past and future, must be burned! All who have seen the wizard's works must burn! I will burn once I have burned all of these!
Are you aware you're using writing?

I think he's dictating this to an underling . . . ;)


if ya noticed he plans to burn himself last. But someone has to do the dirty work for the faithful.


KnightErrantJR wrote:
Vic Wertz wrote:
Gall, Inquisitor of Gargling wrote:
This book is heretical and must be burned! This discussion is heretical and must be burned! All who participate, read, or hear mention of either of these are heretics and must be burned! All those related to heretics are heretics and must be burned! The spider familiar that crawled through here is heretical and must burn! The spider's master, the wizard A-Number-to-large-to-recite-in-a-goblin-lifetime, must burn! All of the wizard's servants, past and future, must be burned! All who have seen the wizard's works must burn! I will burn once I have burned all of these!
Are you aware you're using writing?
I think he's dictating this to an underling . . . ;)

I will sacrifice my thoughts and words for this! Your japes will only incur extra buring!

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

I should mention that this cover is just a mockup, and will change prior to publication.

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