Scenario #1 Rules For Goblin PC's

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Goblin player characters should be rolled up the same way as any other PCs, with the following modifications:
• Goblins do not choose a class, unless it is the goblin shaman.
• Ability scores: roll 2d6 for each stat, assigning the results to Str, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, and Chr. Add +1 to Con and subtract -2 from Chr.
• HD: 1-1 (1 to 7 hp).
• THACO: 20
• Armor Class: Goblins are AC 10 when unarmored, or AC 6 when wearing typical goblin war gear-thick leather armor (the equivalent of studded leather) and a small wooden or leather shield.
• Damage: 1d6 (spear, club, stone-headed mace, short sword) or 1d4 (sling stone). The Yar-Gock tribe lacks the capacity to make metal weapons, but they have a small hoard of short swords and metal-tipped spears looted from unsuccessful adventurers in the past. Most of these are in the hands of the tribal leader (the Mogur) and his bodyguards; the rest of the goblin warriors have to make do with flint-headed spears, clubs, and sling stones (ld4 damage per stone).
• Size: Small. Goblin warriors average about 4 feet high. This enables them to survive and even thrive in cramped quarters but limits them to smallish weaponry such as the short sword, spear, and mace.
• Special Abilities: infravision (60 feet range), detect new construction (25% chance).
• Special Weakness: partially blinded by sunlight or other bright lights (-1 penalty to all attack rolls).
Compared with typical PCs (humans, elves, dwarves, and even halflings), goblins are weak and unimpressive. They prefer ambushes and tend to run away from fights where they lack an overwhelming numerical advantage. The average goblin warrior knows that if he fights one-on-one with even a novice (1st-level) adventurer, he’ll very likely lose. This has given them a reputation as cowards, but what others call cowardice, goblins call being smart, playing it safe, and above all staying alive. “Live to fight another day” is a tried-and-true goblin philosophy. Where goblins do excel, and what enables them to hold their own in a hostile world, is teamwork. Individually weak, the goblin war band can be effective and deadly when its members work together. They also are very good at using their home terrain to their advantage, where darkness and cramped quarters prevent larger and stronger foes from using their size and weaponry to best advantage. Goblins often employ traps to even the odds. All these strategies should come into play in the course of this adventure/scenario. Some players, and not just power garners, may become frustrated by the prospect of playing such relatively weak player characters. Encourage them to give it a try anyway; the change could do them good. However, to give them a fighting chance against the damage-dealing machine that is an adventuring party, allow them multiple player characters. During character creation, have each player roll up not one but three goblin warriors. He or she now has the option of running the characters one at a time or all three simultaneously. The “three characters at once” option simulates the goblins’ innate lawfulness and ability to work together effectively against larger, more powerful, but less organized foes. It’s up to the player to decide whether the three are related, a goblin clique, or simply an informal group whose interests tend to coincide. Wise players will use the multiple characters to increase their options, spread around damage, and rescue the fallen, thus giving all three greatly improved odds of survival.

Female Goblins
Goblins dwell in a male-dominated hierarchical society with the goblin chief and his cronies on the top and the women and children on the bottom. Malnutrition contributes. If there’s not enough food to go around (a common enough occurrence), the males eat first, the females next, and the children last. In times of famine, unwanted children (especially female children) are often exposed, left for dead. For those spared such a fate, a lifetime of deprivation often leads to underdeveloped muscles. Female goblins are not taught the use of weapons and are never allowed to become warriors. Instead, they are kept hard at work providing food for the tribe, raising the young, and doing the multitude of tasks necessary to keep skin and soul together in a subsistence hunter-gatherer culture living in a marginal environment. That said, DMs should feel free to ignore this unsavory bit of goblin culture if such blatant discrimination would spoil the group’s fun or if his or her players would really enjoy playing female goblin “amazons.” The DM can rule that the tribe at some point in the past was almost exterminated (an all-too-frequent occurrence) and that only the females and very young children survived, so that the female goblins were forced to assume traditionally male roles until the children finally grew up, by which time the tribe had become accustomed to the new ways. If the tribe has been isolated from other goblin groups for a generation or two-then equality between the sexes, or even female dominance, will have had time to take root and become the new standard, to be as staunchly defended as any other aspect of their culture.

Leader-Types
At the start of the adventure, all the PCs are ordinary goblin warriors. However, they have the potential to advance through the course of the adventure. Since the trait goblins most admire in a warrior is the ability to survive, for every five battles or combats the player character survives he gets to add 1 hit point to his total. A goblin who reaches maximum hit points (7) should be considered as HD 1, improving to THACO 19 and gaining +1 to each ability score. He either becomes the new tribal leader, or Mogur (“Boss”), if that position is vacant, or an elite warrior, one of the Mogur’s bodyguards. Note that any goblin leader may, at any point, be challenged by one of his peers to a fight to the death (challenges from lower-ranking warriors are ignored, with the offender unceremoniously put to death). Following a legitimate challenge, the one-on-one battle takes place three days later, with the victor being the undisputed leader. Note that only one challenge may be made at a time, so (for example) three characters cannot all plot to challenge a leader on the same or consecutive days; this keeps tribal leaders from being worn down by a conspiracy of their peers. A goblin who reaches this level and then survives a further ten battles advances to subchief or Kumar (“Champion”: HD 1+1, 8 hp, +1d3 to each stat). Access to better food and gear typically causes such an exceptional warrior to be able to wield larger weapons (for example, battle-axes) and gain scale mail armor (for AC 5 when used with a shield), either through plunder or slave labor from some captured dwarf. A tribe with a Kumar as leader attracts additional warriors and females from neighboring tribes equal in number to his own tribe’s population, drawn by the mixed allure of safety and reflected glory such a powerful leader promises, thus replenishing battle losses and doubling the size of his tribe. A Kumar who can survive ten more battles (and the plotting of envious peers and underlings) becomes a chief or Katar (“Goblin King”), doubling his minions yet again and gaining 1d8 additional hit points (for a total of 2 HD), plus 1d3 to each of his ability scores. At the beginning of the adventure, the Yar-Gock tribe is too small to have a chief (Katar) orsubchief (Kumar) but it does have a leader (Mogur) and four elite warrior bodyguards, all tougher than ordinary goblin warriors. Alas, all five are fated to die in combat with the adventurers in the course of the scenario. If playing ordinary goblin warriors proves too much of a stretch for your players’ roleplaying muscles and they demand tougher characters from the get-go, consider making these tribal leaders available to them as PCs. A player who takes an exceptional goblin as his character does not get three PCs but only one; the “three PCs per player” rule only applies to those playing ordinary goblin warriors.

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Special Goblins
A final option for goblin player characters are the spellcasters: shamans and witch doctors. The Yar-Cock tribe venerates the lesser goblin god Bargrivyek, patron of unity among and within goblin clans. Bargrivyek’s agents are particularly concerned with mediating disputes, often by focusing rancor on external targets (elves, humans, or other humanoids). By helping goblins work together toward common goals, they unify goblin power with the goal of extending goblin territory at the expense of other races. No goblin forsakes the warrior’s life by choice. Often, however, a goblin who is punier than his fellows or one who has been lamed in an accident will survive only if he can prove that he has some skill they lack. Spellcaster goblins thus tend to be smarter than their fellows (+3 to Intelligence for witch doctors, +3 to Wisdom for shamans) but unfit to serve as warriors (-2 to Constitution, -1 to Strength). They gain +2 bonuses to all saving throws but roll ld4-1 rather than ld8-1 for hit points and do not advance as warrior goblins. Instead, for every ten combats the spellcaster survives, he (or, rarely, she) advances one level, gaining +l to each ability score and +2 to his prime stat-either Intelligence or Wisdom-up to a maximum of 16 in either. The highest shamans can advance is 5th level; witch doctors can reach 3rd level in both priestly and wizardly magic. Goblin spellcasters do not gain extra spells for exceptional Wisdom, nor do ability score minimums or penalties for low prime scores apply.

Goblin Shaman
A goblin shaman has access to the following spheres: All, Charm, Combat, Divination, Elemental-Air, Elemental-Earth, Guardian, Healing, and Protection (for DMs using the Tome of Magic [TSR#2121], they gain access to the optional spheres of War and Wards, as well). Bargrivyek’s clergy have no power over undead, but they do gain a humanoid or demihuman language per level, chosen by the player (“Common” is an allowable option; the characters all already speak Goblin). They also have the power, once per day, of performing a divination (typically by casting bones and then interpreting the results); this is the equivalent of an augury that foretells weal or woe. The shaman does not actually ask a question but simply empties his mind, performs the divination, and then waits to see what omen the god sends. Finally, all of Bargrivyek’s shamans occasionally speak in fongues, sometimes falling down and babbling wildly in a mix of many languages, not all of them known to the speaker. Afterward the shaman has no memory of what he has said, but this odd manifestation of divine power through the mortal vessel has a tendency to scare the willies out of all who witness it, friend and foe alike. Goblins are heartened by the sign that their god is with them, gaining a +l bonus to all their attacks, damage, and saving throws; their enemies suffer -1 penalties to all such rolls and must roll a successful saving throw vs. spell or flee in panic as if stuck by a fear spell.

Goblin Witch Doctor
A witch doctor is the goblin equivalent of a priest/wizard. Advancement is as with shamans, except that a witch doctor begins at 1st/1st level then gains a 2nd level of priest, then a 2nd level of wizard, then a 3rd level of priest, and finally a 3rd level of wizard. Witch doctors do not gain the sprakhzg in tongues ability, but they do have the ability to curse one foe per level once per day; this special curse inflicts a penalty to all attack, damage, and saving throw rolls equal to -1 per level of the witch doctor’s wizard ability (thus to a maximum of -3 when the witch doctor is 3rd/3rd level). Witch doctors gain access to all the spheres and spells available to shamans and also to a single school of wizard spells (player’s choice). Witch doctors never wear any type of armor, relying instead upon charms, their own wits, and the will of the gods for protection.

Shamans and Witch Doctors in Goblin
Society Witch doctors and shamans occupy their own peculiar niche within the tribe. Because of their calling, they cannot ascend to the dignity of hlogur, Kumar, Katar, or even bodyguard. But the \-en- fact that they are out of the running for the chiefdom means that they are prized as advisors and allies by those who do seek such honors or who, having gained them, would like to retain them. Since shamans and witch doctors are charged by their god with the well-being of the tribe as a whole rather than that of any single individual, they often become “the power behind the throne” who guide the destiny of the tribe through generations of goblin rulers. A Mogur may hold his position for a year or three or five; a clever witch doctor might establish a dominance that lasts ten, twenty, or even thirty. Note that female shamans and witch doctors, while rare, are possible. Even though the goblin gods staunchly uphold the essential chauvinism of the race, gods are nothing if not inscrutable, and occasionally a girl-child will be blessed (or cursed) with divine power. Such a character is an exception to the general bias against female goblins. The distrust and awe with which the average goblin regards shamans and witch doctors subsumes any consideration of her as a person. That she is a powerful spellcaster touched by the god is more important than that she is a “mere female,” and the rest of the tribe, from the Mogur to the smallest goblin-imp, will treat her with all the respect and caution deemed prudent by a superstitious people in the presence of supernatural powers. Like the warrior caste, the god-touched maintain a strict hierarchy; no two shamans of the same level can live in the tribe at the same time. Furthermore, no shaman can advance beyond 3rd level if the tribe has a 4th- or 5th-level shaman living. Similarly, there can be only one witch doctor of each level at any one time (one of lst-level wizard skill, one of 2nd level, and one of 3rd). Since they are charged by their god to urge goblins to work together for the good of the tribe, goblin spellcasters are not allowed to challenge each other; the younger ones must wait (sometimes impatiently) for their elders to die before advancing themselves. In practical terms, however, shamans and witch doctors are rare enough that it is rare for a tribe to have both, much less multiple shamans; many tribes lack even a single spellcaster. Typically, there will be only a single shaman, who chooses a young assistant when he senses the end is near, and that goblin-child replaces him without fuss when the time comes. A player who chooses a shaman or witch doctor as his or her character is an exception to the “three characters for one” rule; goblin spellcasters are so exceptional that, in order to preserve game balance, the player gets only a single character rather than three generic warriors.

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PC and NPC Replenishment
This adventure is quite likely to be hard on the goblin PCs. Expect casualties-a goblin’s life is nasty, brutish, and short. Not to worry; there are plenty more goblins where those came from, at least early on in the adventure, and players can simply roll up another trio of goblin PCs for their next set of characters. Likewise, assuming a moderate level of success, the tribe should inflict some losses on the marauding adventurers. Additional NPCs have been provided to replace those slam by the PCs. The DM is encouraged to use the “death’s door” rule (whereby characters are knocked unconscious at 0 hit points but do not die until they reach -10 hp ten rounds later), as it gives impatient NPC adventurers time to move on while surviving members of the tribe bind their fallen comrades’ wounds. Adventurers are often inattentive to details and may not notice that they’ve been fighting the same goblins each time they enter the complex.

Roleplaying Goblins: Notes on Goblin Culture
The concept of privacy is largely foreign to goblins. Thus, the tribe shares communal sleeping quarters (see “Caves of the Yar-Gock” Map), with two exceptions. The first is the shaman or witch doctor (if any player character took on that role). The second and more important is the Mogur, who prefers secure and commodious shelter commensurate with his exalted status, with his bodyguards between him and the approach of danger. Goblins have no concept of monogamy: all adults in the community share in a communal marriage, with the alpha male (the Mogur) having first choice from all available mates. Pair-bonding is unknown but affection is not, and his favorites may form an unofficial harem. His bodyguards have next choice, then the remaining adults sort themselves out as suits their inclinations. Shamans are a special case in this as in so much else; some practice celibacy, a few devote themselves to vigorous coupling, and the rest behave no differently from other goblins in this regard. It depends on the individual and his (or her) private vision of Bargrivyek’s service. Children, the inevitable result of such casual carnality, are frequent-the average female goblin is pregnant about once a year from the age of ten to about thirty-five-but child mortality is high; only half the children born reach adulthood. Children remain with their mother only until weaned (at the age of about 10 months), thereafter being raised by the tribe as a whole. Puberty comes at about age 10; thereafter the young goblin is considered a full-fledged adult member of the tribe. A goblin lucky enough to avoid death from hunger, disease, or violence lives some 50 years (a rare few have reached 55 or even 60). While hierarchies are of extreme importance (every goblin knows his or her exact place in the pecking order), heritage is not, and the children of chiefs are treated no differently than any other goblin-imp. Some sages, observing that goblin leaders are bigger and stronger than their minions, have speculated that they actually form a sub-race of goblins. In fact, they are simply battle-hardened goblin warriors who have benefited from rising to the top of their race’s food chain; better food, better conditions, and constant activity leads to larger, heavier, healthier goblins. Food is, of course, a perennial concern of every goblin. Most goblins are hungry most of the time; the small size and relative weakness of the average goblin is a direct result of malnutrition. Their hunter-gatherer mode of existence would produce a sufficiency in lush surroundings, but in the marginal areas to which they have been forced by habitat competition from humans and demi-humans, they barely scrape by. The males engage in hunting every day, sometimes bringing down prey as large as a deer but more commonly concentrating on small game such as rabbits, camp-rats, and birds. The small pond near their cave supplies fish, mussels, crawdads, water-bugs, and other edibles. The tribe formerly brewed a fishhead beer, but the only goblins who knew the art perished in an unlucky raid and all attempts to rediscover the trick by trial and error have proved disastrous, foul-smelling failures, undrinkable even by a goblin (these trials did produce a potential weapon, however; see “Traps and Tricks,” below). If all else fails, there is always the mainstay of their diet: the omnipresent rats that are half pet, half domesticated livestock. Like most intelligent carnivores, goblins can scavenge. They also need some plant “roughage” to stay healthy. Food-gathering is less prestigious than hunting, being largely “women’s work.” Female goblins dig tubers, collect nuts, acorns, and wild grains (mainly grass seed), and pluck various greens (nettles, dandelions, sorrel). All these are thrown into a huge ever-boiling pot or cauldron filled with “Goblin Stew/‘-a mess of boiled bones, bits of rat, more-or-less edible plants, and anything left over from previous meals; the whole is something like stew, something like gruel, and virtually inedible to anything fussier than a goblin (even hobgoblins turn their noses up at it). Despite their reputation to the contrary, goblins are not cannibals, although desperate or starving goblins are not to be trusted alone with a plump, defenseless halfling. Most goblin goods are foraged, taken on raids from unwary travelers, outlying farms, or unlucky adventurers. They do make garments and leather goods (such as pouches, slings, belts, and thongs) from the hides of animals killed for food. Typical noncombat activities for male goblins include planning hunts, practicing with weapons, and making tools (including chipping flint for spear points, smoothing spear shafts, and tying spear points to shafts with leather thongs). They are fairly skilled at mining; their work is not up to dwarven standards, but adequate for their needs. Typical chores for female goblins are food gathering, grinding grain between two large flat stones, caring for the young, plaiting basketry, and other domestic tasks. Weaving would be beyond their capacity even if they had access to suitable fibers, but they can fashion simple clothing from cloth “acquired” from elsewhere. The tribe has no smithing skill, so consequently, metal weapons, tools, and pots and pans are limited to highly prized booty from raids.

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Population
This particular tribe is small: about thirty adult males (including the PCs), some forty adult females, and sixty children of all ages from newborn to nearly adult (ages O-9). The current Mogur, Hrap, has 1 HD and 7 hp, as do each of his four assistants. The goblins lack a Kumar or Katar; their own group is too small, and no nearby tribe supports one to whom they could pay homage. Similarly, there is no shaman or witch doctor unless a player opted to play one as a character. Worgs are also absent at the start of the game, but should any player character advance to the dignity of Kumar, his growing reputation attracts ld6 wolf-riders with mounts, bestowing great prestige on the tribe. Player characters may also elect to travel as an embassy to another tribe and barter for three wolf pups, thus converting their goblin warrior PC into a wolf-rider over time. Finally, the tribe, poor as it is, does have a few slaves: two kobolds (Mop and Lug), a lamed bugbear (Hrezek), and a blinded dwarf (old Grubbfinder, formerly known as Hler Hvitserkson). These are kept shackled at all times.

The Pecking Order
Every goblin has strong sense of “place.” A manifestation of their lawful evil nature, it plays a major role in maintaining cohesion within goblin society.
• Mogur
• Witch doctor, if present
• shaman, if present
• wolf-riders, if present
• elite warriors (the Mogur’s bodyguard and peers)
• goblin warriors
• female goblins
• goblin-imps
• the old, crippled, and sick
• slaves and prisoners
This stratification applies to every aspect of goblin life-who eats first when there’s not enough food to go around, who gets first pick of loot from a raid, who makes the decisions, who’s responsible for protecting those lower on the scale, who gets sacrificed if necessary for the good of the tribe as a whole. The player characters start out as typical goblin warriors; relatively well off by goblin standards but not part of the elite. Through the course of the scenario-with luck and good roleplaying-they should rise to become the leaders of the tribe, becoming those responsible for its salvation or destruction.

Yar-Gock Goblin Tribe
The cave complex that has been home to uncounted generations of goblins (at least ten) was originally a set of simple natural caverns cut into the stone of the hill by an underground river (a remnant of which still flows through the caves, providing a valuable source of drinking water). Many thousands of years ago, these were expanded into mines, although neither the race who did the mining nor what they sought are known. Over the following ages, the abandoned mines became a refuge and then home to tribes of humanoids, demihumans, and early humans (“cavemen”) in succession. Finally, some six centuries ago, a powerful wizard took control of the cave, hiring a clan of dwarf builders to raise a tower atop the hill and delve multiple dungeon levels beneath it. Roughly 100 years later, in a spectacular explosion, the tower was cast down and the wizard vanished, apparently the victim of some magical experiment gone awry. Goblins claimed the abandoned upper level of the dungeon and have been here ever since, always returning and recolonizing the spot whenever the local tribe is wiped out by monsters, rival humanoids, xenophobic demihumans, or adventurers.

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Traps and Tricks
It won’t take long for the player character goblins in the first encounter to learn that they’re no match for the adventurers in a fair fight. The solution, of course, is not to fight fair. It should not be necessary for the DM to point this out, but if the PCs are getting creamed repeatedly by the superior armor, weaponry, and spell power of the intruders, give them subtle hints that this is no way to win a war. The PCs have numbers on their side, plus superior knowledge of the battleground, plus the advantages of having essentially a defensive position. Guerrilla actions, rather than stand-up fights, are the key to their survival. Save the sudden massed charges for the coup de grace, after hit-and-run attacks and clever use of traps have softened up the foe. Eventually, the PCs should tumble to the idea that traps are a good way to discourage and bloody their opponents. Being goblins, the player characters have limited resources from which to construct traps as well as limited time once the adventurer raids begin. Being lazy as a whole, the tribe has not constructed many useful traps ahead of time. Allow the characters to construct any trap they can think of from available materials. Successful traps may kill, injure, imprison, or distract one or more of the invaders, possibly forcing them to retreat. The main factors in constructing a trap are resources and time, but the DM must also give consideration to the relative intelligence of the goblins. Rather than try to force the players to limit their own thinking when designing traps, the sections below provide a framework for how successful the traps are once completed and implemented. First, the players must design a trap, using the resources already available to their characters (including items in the goblin caves, plus anything they might scavenge from outside or as “treasure” from defeated enemies after the beginning of the adventure). Allow the players to set up any kind of trap they can think of, as long as they use only the resources at hand. Then, the DM must assess the trap and determine its complexity and time factors from the descriptions below.

Low Complexity
For goblins, the simplest traps are the best. Traps with a low complexity include those that need no mechanical activity to operate, few parts, and little construction. Examples include covered pit traps (essentially holes in the floor covered with flimsy camouflage), deadfalls triggered by hand (like dumping a barrel-load of stones or water on the invaders from above), or spreading noxious or dangerous substances in an area beforehand (like fish sauce or oil). Traps with a low complexity have a rather reasonable chance of succeeding, even though they have been constructed by goblins. A thief gains no benefit to a Find Traps check when such is applicable. On the other hand, these kinds of traps shouldn’t malfunction.
Medium Complexity
Medium traps are a little more complicated, and although the players may understand how to design them, the goblins themselves are going to naturally introduce inaccuracies and flaws in the process of construction. Medium complexity traps include those that have simple mechanical motions, or a number of different parts pulled together, or that need a considerable amount of construction to produce. Examples include lining the bottom of a pit with sharp stakes, setting up deadfalls with trip wires, or using a shaman or witch doctor’s spell as a distraction. Traps that get into the medium complexity range start to suffer typical goblin design problems. Whenever a thief character has a chance to detect a trap of this caliber, he or she gains a +15% bonus to the Find Traps score. In addition, there is a 25% chance the trap does not work as designed.

High Complexity
Traps with a lot of complexity have a number of opportunities for malfunctioning or not working at all. These kinds of traps include lots of mechanical activity or numerous parts that must be precisely sized and crafted and carefully assembled. Examples of such traps include spring-loaded or torque traps of any kind (such as a snap-back wooden arm with sharpened spikes), any trap that tries to mechanically create a spark in order to start a fire, or anything that uses ropes, pulleys, or counterweights. Note that it is not just the mechanical processes of the traps that make them difficult for the goblins to successfully employ them; there is also the matter of hiding the equipment and triggers from the watchful eyes of the adventurers. Highly complex traps are generally going to have problems. First, they are very hard for the goblins to disguise, so a thief searching where one of these is present gains a +30% bonus to the Find Traps score. Second, there is a 50% chance that the trap doesn’t function correctly, if it works at all.

Quick Traps
Quick traps are ones that don’t require any exceptional labor beyond gathering existing materials. Creating various deadfalls from existing piles of loose rock or barrels of water, and dumping out oil, caltrops, or fish sauce in a particular location are examples of quick traps. Quick traps should take no longer than one or two hours.

Average Traps
Traps that consume some reasonable amount of time are more common, where a certain amount of preparation or assembly is required to set the trap up. Sharpening stakes to line the bottom of a pit trap, weaving a camouflage cover for a pit, and building a framework out of wood and rope could be considered an average trap in terms of time consumption. Average-length traps usually take ld6+2 hours to construct.

Time-Consuming
Traps Any trap that requires a great amount of labor, careful crafting with precision tools, or hauling materials from a great distance is going to take a long time to build. This might include trying to dig 8 a pit (especially into the stone through which these caves run), building anything on wheels or that otherwise rolls (goblins haven’t quite mastered the art of the circle, yet), or trying to create a cave-in large enough to trap people on the other side. Time-consuming traps require 2d12+10 hours (and occasionally even more, if the DM deems it appropriate) to complete.

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Specific Traps
Below are listed a few of the more common traps the players my think up for their goblin characters to create, along with some of the points that need to be addressed to make them workable.

Pit Trap
Unfortunately, there are only a few pits already in the complex and they are so obvious that no strangers will fall into them without trickery. Player characters may want to prepare coverings for the pits that anyone stepping on would fall through. (Note: Unless well disguised, these will be obviously different from the surrounding stone. NPCs who have seen a pit on one visit will also be understandably suspicious if it has vanished upon their return.) Digging a fresh pit would be a good idea except that the cave complex is made of stone and the goblins have decidedly poor tools; it takes one day for a crew of goblin miners to dig away a single cubic foot. Setting sharpened stakes in the bottom increases the damage by +ld4 per stake the character falling into the pit hits, but it would take a great many stakes to cover the floor of even a smallish pit and be difficult to set them upright in the stone (the best solution is to wedge the stakes in a wooden framework and lower it into the bottom of the pit). Having someone hide in the bottom of a pit to spring out and bash the momentarily stunned person who falls in is a sound plan.

Snare Trap
These are simple to make and would be valuable in throwing an NPC off balance and possibly out of the fight for a few rounds. The chief problems are (1) scarcity of material (the tribe currently has few suitable lengths of rope, one of which is needed if the secret entrance is to be kept viable), (2) lack of motive power (most snares are set outside, where the potential energy from a bent tree can pull the snare taught when the trap is triggered, and (3) difficulty of concealment (most snares will be painfully obvious on the bare stone floor of these caves). The best place to set a snare trap is outside, or at the very least in the sandy entrance (area 15) or from the ledge at area 11, but even here camouflage is still a considerable problem.

Oil Trap
Few sights warm a goblin’s heart like seeing someone who’s trying to kill him run screaming down a tunnel blazing like a candle. Unfortunately, they have very little oil-only the equivalent of three vials-and no means of replacing this store once it has been used up. They have no glass vials or other handy containers suitable for throwing, but the female goblins might be able to contrive hollow clay balls after some trial and error that expends one vial’s worth of oil. Alternatively, they could just splash the oil on an adventurer (who counts as AC 10, plus Dexterity bonuses, for purposes of such an attack). Setting the oil on fire is no easy matter for a culture without matches. A torch will do it, but it is hard to keep an open flame concealed; sparks from flint and steel catch and burn, but the oil-doused character is unlikely to sit still and wait around for immolation. Luckily, the adventurers are likely to be also carrying torches, and dousing the torch bearer is a simple solution. Flammable oil inflicts 2d6 points of damage per vial the first round and ld6 points the second round, after which it burns itself out (this damage may be reduced by half if the character immediately drops and rolls). Note that if the goblins can acquire more oil, the areas of the caves with flint outcroppings make ideal spots for self-striking oil puddle traps that ignite anytime someone wearing a lot of metal comes blundering along.

Poison
Poison is a great equalizer, and smearing some on the tips of their stone spears will no doubt occur to some enterprising would-be elite goblin. Unfortunately, the tribe has no poison at present (it makes the Mogur nervous to have such things in the hands of underlings) nor the means of making any. The only venomous creatures in the area known to the goblins are poisonous snakes (cottonmouths) that live in the marsh to the east of the hill; should any player character undertake a snakehunting expedition in the wetlands, the DM should have fun ad-libbing a hunt-and-be-hunted scene with the goblins poking about for snakes while dodging the (highly territorial) lizard men, perhaps having one of their number being bitten by the very prey they seek. Luckily or unluckily, depending on your point of view, most garners have a highly exaggerated idea of the efficacy of natural poisons-a typical snakebite kills a small animal (such as the ones that might make a snake a good meal, say anything up to the size of a rabbit). A human or. humanoid-sized target, however, simply becomes very ill ld6 turns after being poisoned, essentially helpless for 24 hours or so and then at half Strength for a day. A single snake provides enough poison to coat .one spear head; a failed saving throw on behalf of the target indicates that the poison takes effect.

Fish Sauce
As previously noted, the Yar-Gock have lost the art of making fishhead beer. However, in their attempts to re-create the recipe, they accidentally produced a noxious gunk composed of rotting fish juices that stinks to high heaven even by goblin standards. This “fish sauce” smells so bad that any human or demi-human drenched in it must roll a Constitution check with a 4 penalty or be rendered helpless for 1d10 rounds, choking and retching through sheer nausea. They have one and a half pots of this made up at the point the adventure begins (the other half has been eaten already); it takes a month to “season” properly, so they do not have time to make more in the course of the adventure (although they should not know that, and setting a few kegs of the stuff on to age is a good idea that impresses other goblins when it comes time to choose new leaders). Note that the Mogur Praek is fond of his fish sauce and vetoes any suggestion to use it as a weapon, making this trap available only after his demise. Light Douser Perhaps the most effective traps the goblins can devise are those that snuff out whatever light source(s) the intruders are using. While some of the adventurers are demi-humans with infravision, depriving their human companions of the ability to see disrupts party cohesion among the NPCs. The simplest effective light dousers are water or sand thrown onto torches, but inventive player characters will no doubt come up with many variants on the basic idea. Even magical light can be covered with mud (which the Yar-Gocks have plenty of) or paint (which they’d have to steal or make). Remember that darkness is the great equalizer so far as goblins are concerned. Not only does it give them a “home team” advantage given their familiarity with the lair, but it eliminates any penalty from fighting in bright lights, imposing a penalty on their enemies instead.

[GreyWolfVT]

Shaman & Witch-Doctors of Bargrivyek :

All clerics, shamans, and specialty priests of Bargrivyek receive religion (goblin and hobgoblin) as a bonus non-weapon proficiency. The clergy of Bargrivyek are the unseen movers and shakers of goblin and hobgoblin society. While the worshipers of the other gods in the pantheon are more ostentatious, loudly proclaiming the greatness of themselves and their deity, the followers of Bargrivyek work in a much more quiet and behind-the-scenes manner. In their function as keepers of the accumulated knowledge and lore of the tribe, they are often approached by both leaders and ordinary goblins in need of advice. They often organize truce talks between tribes, and preside over ceremonies uniting tribes against common enemies (and given their accumulated knowledge and wish for inter-tribal co- operation, they often point out such common enemies to further these ends). As the other powers of the pantheon are less interested in the day-to-day struggles of the goblin populace (instead focusing mainly on war and leadership), Bargrivyek's clergy is held in high esteem by common goblins. The church of Bargrivyek is highly organized for a goblinoid religion, as the clergy of various tribes are often in communication with each other and work together to bring about co-operation among the various tribes. As a result, titles are remarkably consistent, more so than would be thought of for a goblin religion. Novices are known as the Uncooperative, while full members of the priesthood are known as Unifiers. Titles for the clergy include: Trucemaker, Arbitrator, and Mediator. The highest-ranking priest in an area is known as the Grand Adjudicator. Specialty priests are known as garbranyeks, a goblin term meaning "those who bring together". The majority of the clergy of Bargrivyek are goblins (65%); the remainder are hobgoblins (33%), and a very few norkers and koalinth (1% each). Because of their recent outreach towards goblin and hobgoblin females, the clergy is the only one of the pantheon to include a significant number of them (30%). Specialty priests make up the majority of the clergy (65%); the remainder are clerics (25%), and a few isolated shamans (10%). Relationships among all these groups are exceptionally good for a goblinoid clergy; co-operation is the watchword of their faith after all! Unfortunately, relations with clergies of other goblin powers aren't as good; for as much as the clergy of Bargrovyek attempt to co-operate with them, they are not particularly accommodating. Only the followers of Maglubiyet have an even somewhat good working relationship with the followers of the Great Trucemaker, while the clergy of Khurgorbaeyeg are sneeringly condescending and that of Nomog-Geaya are openly hostile.

Clergy: Clerics, shamans, specialty priests
Clergy's Align.: LN, LE
Turn Undead: Cleric: Nil, Shaman: Nil, Specialty Priests: Nil
Command Undead: Cleric: Yes, Shaman: Nil, Specialty Priests: Nil
Priest Spheres: Source: https://ruins-of-adventure.obsidianport ... bargrivyek
Major: All, Divination, Elemental (Air, Earth), Guardian, Law, Protection
Minor: Charm, Combat, Healing, War, Wards

[GreyWolfVT]

Saving Throws:
Goblins saving throws are not based on levels as normal characters are they instead would go by their HD number so all Goblin warriors would have saving throws of a level 1-2 Warrior the witch-doctor and shaman would take the scores of a Priest lvl 1-2 for Saves.

Table:

saving throws table.JPG (72.35 KiB) Viewed 1016 times