The goblin lore actually makes me think they make for a good warlock, selling their soul to a devil to escape the the afterlife fate demanded by their conqueror God, or to rejoin the fey court.
Archfey patron • Just serving another fey is better • The patron is curious, because other races tend to be wary when it comes to dealing with feys, but this boi walked to her, said 'i want powers, and said 'deal' before she can add say the terms and conditions.
Fun Gobllin Lore is that when Maglubiyet took the goblin Pantheon they killed most of the old goblin gods, Leaving one or two. But one Goblin god survived, the Goblin god of stealth and trickery, It has no name for fear that if it is spoken Maglubiyet will find them
The most fun thing about that imo is that when that god inhabits a goblin, they don't dare to name the god because then it could be conquered. They just call it goblin backwards, nilbog. Such a cool way to show goblin trickery in lore stuff
I actually ran a campaign based on this idea, where the nilbogs were trying to bring this god back to life! It was a great campaign and I met my boyfriend doing it. At the end of the campaign, they managed to kill Maglubiyet and reform the nilbog god.
Speaking of how, in most folklore, Goblins are part of the fae, in Welsh mythology Goblins and Elves are the same thing. There aren't really any Goblins as we know them today, but the word for Elf is "Coblyn". So they're literally just fae.
The wikipedia entry for "Little people (mythology)" is really interesting, a good way to see how cross-cultural the idea of small humanoids that act mischievous, helpful, or harmful by whim or by strange rules.
I played a geriatric goblin who was a goblin folk hero, however now he has a walking stick (His legendary rapier that's stuck in its hilt due to not being used in years.) He was dragged out of retirement and had to regain his skills since he's old as heck now. It was awesome because we had another goblin player who played a much younger goblin and ended being trained by my old dude so he could retire permanently. The plan was too pass on his rapier to the younger goblin but the campaign ended early due to scheduling and burn out
@@birdland4397 yeah, spoke to the other goblin player and in our head canon the two goblins are still travelling together. We hope to bring them back for a game one day
The first campaign I ever ran, the players "adopted" a gobin during the first session. According to them, there are 0 problems with goblins in D&D or anywhere else. Great video!
Played a one shot where my guard captain saved a goblin village from a collapsing cave after defeating the beholder that subjugated them. It was like herding cats.
For my 1st campaign i wanted to be a goblin but with his backstory already fleshed out it would have complicated the campaign because the dm said there would be a lot of goblin fighting so im a kobold instead. im sure it would have gone the same either way, except for maybe the attitude i have for the dragonborn in our party being much better than if i was a goblin.
Not a goblin, but way back in 1st Ed. I had an M-U character with a Bugbear bodyguard that was a childhood friend (its complicated). The best part was dealing with results of PC acceptance and NPC bigotry. Oh, it was a world where magic was generally distrusted, so my life was not simple.
Goblin lore in D&D is surprisingly consistent. Nilbogs existed in 1e and even back then implied that Maglubiyet had subjugated the goblins by killing their gods.
Speaking as someone who was a girl scout, the Brownie rank is in fact (or so I was told) named after the fae. So it’s named after the fae via the girl scouts dragging it into the modern day
My favourite Pathfinder PC was a goblin. Sort of a mix of Discworld goblins and Pathfinder goblins. Definitely dirty and mischievous, but pretty clever and able to live in a city (if barely). He decided that cities are actually very dirty and rotten to the core, a perfect goblin habitat. His backstory was that he served the city guard. The guard wanted access to the seedy underbelly, and my goblin liked bashing people's kneecaps in and getting paid for it. Things did have a tendency to explode around him. One of his victims was a vampire that caught a garlic bomb to the face. And a bandit that had a beer barrel explode in his face. I had to roll a will save not to laugh, then the bandit stabbed a colleague of his that did laugh, and I had to roll another will save. Because pain and death are hilarious as long as it happens to someone else.
So one of the things I added to goblin culture during one of my games is that they have mushroom farms, the thing is the mushrooms will only grow in a mulch combo of bone and wood. What kind of bone? Well if you're close enough to ask, probably yours
@Nerdsammich I mean that sounds cool but I prefer tiny flesh creatures that are nasty inside and out to the point of turning their nastiness into sustenance
Goblins in my homebrew world are actually the most industrious of the stock evil-cannon-fodder-humanoid D&D races. They practice a kind of woodland agriculture, but the sorts of crops they like to eat - shelf fungi, brambles, thistles, poison ivy - just make a forest look overgrown, infested, and nasty to non-goblins. They also breed edible livestock underground, mostly yard-long earthworms and blind mutant rats.
I really do wish goblins had actual sub-races. You could play them up as highly adaptable and be heavily influenced by their environment. Like your standard green skin would typically be found in heavily forested areas, while mountain dwelling goblins could have gray, rough skin akin to a Goliath.
Pathfinder had a monkey goblin subrace I was shamelessly stealing to work alongside greenhides (aka 'normal') and brownies as the fey-flavored. kinda like fur-bolds being found in icy biomes while normal kobolds are present almost everywhere else.
So in my stories, goblins are a very mutable species and have different subspecies not based on who birthed them, but by the environment they grew up in. Lost in the wilderness, savage Goblins Slayer goblins. Raised in a city, very smart crafting goblins that have gnomish tinker rivalries to see who can make the wackiest way to open a door. Raise one as a servant, that's a hobgoblin (literally translates to house goblin). With this, there are a theoretical unlimited amount of goblin subraces.
In my games I have "Pottery Goblins" Earth spirits kinda like small Gorons, with reddish earth-tone skin, long scruffy white hair, and they tattoo themselves with muds, they make lots of pottery especially pots to carry things and even hide themselves in, decorate with muddy cave-art, and they build giant earth fortresses like Mesa Verde. I remember reading lots of stuff about how goblins used to be considered masterful craftsmen before Tolkien, so I kept pondering like what the heck would goblins have to craft with? ...dirt... probably dirt...
I always liked the WoW goblins; here they sit between DnD kobolds and DnD gnomes as being juuust inventive enough to get themselves into trouble, and juuust silver tongued enough to get themselves out… usually. Gnomes have engineering degrees, goblins are junkyard mechanics.
Love goblins, I played a goblin named gob. He was raised by humans, when they died he was kidnapped and thrown into the gladiator pits. The party rescued him, and gob does tend to be cowardly and selfish but he is constantly fighting his nature. Literally becoming the party's frontline tank
@@nemonomen3340 in the game because everyone he met always referred to him as goblin, anyway. so he chose to own it, and abbreviate it. Outside of the game, my other pc just died and I didn't have time enough to think of a name.
i made a space goblin named cupcakes in star finder. she was a pure mechanic and is chaotic good. One of the other players in this group was a dwarf that hated goblins, but after she freed a dragon race from being "interns" the dwarf and her became friends. She has a huge drive to freeing "interns" whenever she could being a former "intern" herself. Cupcakes is actually what her human "boss" called her and it just stuck. Now cupcakes is a space pirate that looks over the ship of her crew. She is very fun to play.
I used the Haunt Hag in a session I DM'd for three friends, one of them playing for the first time. They keep thanking me for such an amazing session but it was mostly thanks to you and the inspiration that hag gave me!! Thank you :D
A bit about the more general goblin in older editions, they used to be good at two things; sneaking and riding. So in the past they were significantly better at husbandry and especially proficient at handling creatures as mounts. In here, we can see a good angle for their nature aspect that goblins act in a very natural way, which is wild and untamed. Not the same kind of fuss a druid would make about some squashed mushroom, but that squirrel was too slow and very edible. So to handle regular goblins, you could lean into that "doesn't get society" angle where they think straightforward and less in 'should' or 'should not.'
Goblins aesthetically and lore-wise make excellent druids and even rangers and I imagine is their main source of *BOOYAGH!* outside of wild magic sorcerers!
The brownies as an idea fits with some of the medieval ideas of the creature (when they're not a monstrous rogue), as well as the initial ideas relating to kobolds. For this reason, the idea of a household spirit being a subrace makes a lot of sense.
The whole "Grateful, loyal, until you mess up their fey concepts of contracts" you took directly from actual Brownie lore and I love it Also, with the Goblinoids being from the feywild, orcs literally being imported by the creator races or a portal left open for too long, mind flayers being time travellers, beholders being a dream of the outer planes, What monsters are actually native to Toril? Like if you think about it adventuring parties are slaying basically aliens who got stuck
Toril actually has five creator races: sarrukh (basically proto-yuan-ti), batrachi (basically proto-bullywugs, but also ancestors of kuo-toas), aeree (basically proto-aarakocras+draconids), the fey, and humans, or actually hominids. Moreover, if I recall correctly, despite being the ancestors of many other races, those races _still_ exist, or at least the sarrukh (and fey and humans, of course) still do. The Wiki also mentions how it's disputed wether or not aeree are ancestor of dragons or the other way around (in which case dragons would be the actual creator race). All other "primal" races, so basically elves, orcs and giants have been put there retroactively by their gods (gnomes halflings and goblins do not have a known origin in Toril, from what I know). Note that this isn't the same in other worlds, such as on Oerth, where the "important" races have indeed still put there by their gods according to their myhtologies, but they were the first ones to inhabit the plane nonetheless.
If I had a nickel for every D&D content creator on RUclips represented by a single-eyed creature and really awesome art, I'd have two nickels, which isn't much, but I really hope it keeps happening.
I'd love to play as a Brownie someday! It's such an interesting idea for a race and I love how they're inspired from actual Brownies in real world folklore. You really come up with such interesting ideas and concepts that lots of people (myself included) find fun and amazing. Thank you and keep up the incredible work!
That was My goblins story He managed to convince Tiamat to start a war in heaven, the end goal was to become a god of equal power to old evil "glob-blyat" so goblin kind could finally have a reason to good if they wanted to.
Fun idea: Chaotic Good goblin paladin dedicated to defeating the Conqueror god and remake the society of goblins to end hierarchy altogether. So yeah basically an anarchist goblin
There's also an IRL reason why goblins get Fey Ancestry; the term goblin way back when used to mean "Ugly Fairy," but this was back in the era when the words Elf and Fairy were interchangeable. Speaking of Goblinoids, Hobgoblins really got the short end of the stick in the Fantasy space. Hobgoblins were housekeepers that just wanted to help, provided you didn't do anything to anger them or get on their bad side.
Recently with baldurs gate 3 we got something that ties into this neatly - They were VERY very quick to abandon Maglubyet in favor of The Absolute after their shamans were tadpoled in the grand coup.
Honestly I didn't expect Goblins to have this much depth. Really makes you sympathize with the little gremlins. I love the idea of Brownies as well! Also fun fact: Mağlubiyet translates to "defeat" in Turkish, so his name actually has meaning.
"Goblins are correctly green and if not you're wrong" "They're either cute or disgusting, like if you're a weirdo" "They're either three feet tall or one meter, if you use the right system." Damn one minute in and this guy is making enemies real quick with me ngl lmao
The moment you said they were called Brownies my eyes lit up cause i knew exactly where you were going with it. Thanks Fablehaven for properly representing Brownies and many other Mythological Creatures within your 5 Boom Series.
You really need a DM that can think outside the box to make that work, not everyone can handle a goblin ranger riding a giant spider with poisoned xbow bolts.
Actually, versatile weapons being required to be wielded as two-handed for small creatures was a rule in 4E. in 5E, small creatures can use versatile weapons one- and two-handed like any other. The not being able to wield heavy two-handed weapons thing is true tho.
In 5e... Light Weapons don't exist, RAW. Medium Weapons really do not exist in 5e. Heavy Weapons generally are tied into Two Handed Weapons. And Medium PCs/NPCs can use a weapon one size larger than them but no larger (DMG / +1 Damage Dice Type and +5ft of Melee/Range Reach is enough per Size Category for PCs. I wouldn't use the DMG Damage Dice for Large+ Weapons meant for NPCs.)
@@absolstoryoffiction6615 Well yeah, but I'm pointing out that the guy was being pedantic for no reason. They got the word that was important in there.
In Scandinavian folklore brownies are called tomtar - same word as our word for Santa btw - and they were generally nicer than the irish version, but not by a lot. As far as I can tell they were thought of kinda like the local spirit of well managed farms. They helped out, a lot. And the only thing you needed to do was do your share of farm work, keep the place neat, take good care of the animals, be polite and respectful, don’t kill any tomtar by mistake and put out a nice bowl of rice porridge with a dollop of butter around christmas. But there was a flipside. If you were rude, disrespectful, lazy, untidy, or if you threw heavy stuff around you without looking, or if you messed with the christmas porridge - in short, if you pissed your tomte off - horrible things would happen. For some reason most folk tales about them are stories in the genre ”How to lose friends and alienate people” except with tomtar instead of people. An absurd and yet common version of ”things you shouldn’t do” was putting a turd in the christmas porridge. Usually it’s one of the hired hands on the farm. Maybe he’s resentful that he doesn’t get the good rice porridge, maybe he doesn’t believe that the tomte is real, or maybe just because he’s a total dick and this is a fairy tale … but he pulls down is pants, takes a big crap in the porridge bowl, and then he smothes the porridge over so it’s white again and his turd is hidden under the surface. I don’t know why, but the tales are usually specific about that last detail. There’s a dramatic pause when nothing happens. And then there’s a howl of indignation. Next morning all the livestock might be dead, with their heads cut off and stuffed up their behinds. Or some other gruesome retribution. Some times the farmhand makes it out alive, sometimes not. But any tomtar are gone for good, and the farm is never happy, lucky or thriving again. Just wanted to share that. Also, check out the web comic Goblins. It’s awesome. And about DnD goblins. Thanks for another great episode Pointy! Cheers
@@arikaaa69 Oh, yeah. I should have remembered that. In swedish, if they are small and numerous they are sometimes called ”tomtenissar”. So to my ears ”nisse” sounds like ”small people” (as in fairies, not midgets or poor people) and the norwegian ”nisse” sounds like an abbreviation. But I might be completely wrong, it might be that the swedish long word is an amalgamation of two distinct words with similar meaning. Now I wonder how the word ”pussycat” happened…
Imagine like a brownie who once served the BBEG but he once stepped on his foot and so the brownie now goes with the party because he wants vengeance on the BBEG for that.
SMALL as a size category needs to just grant everyone who's small the Halfling Nimbleness feature. It's literally the only good thing being small gives in this edition. Anything more could be too complicated.
I feel like there are some other things that need fixing, like the disadvatnage with heavy weapons. That feature alone is fine, but the problem is that it become s big limitation on other features which only apply to heavy weapons. For instance, if Great weapon mastery applied to all two-handed weapons instead of heavy weapons, then small creatures could still use the feat, they just have to use it with a two handed medium weapon. A little less damage, but still very useful
@@MonteCreations GWM is already over-represented in the game though, so I wouldn't want to change any mechanics that makes it MORE common than it already is.
Halfling Nimbleness has almost no useful applications outside of chokepoints, though. And if you're in tight quarters, there's probably not enough surrounding area to use your full movement anyway, so taking one space of difficult terrain penalty isn't going to hinder anyone. Giving them default disadvantage to physical ranged attacks as if they're constantly prone would be neat. That's probably too powerful, but it would be nice to have at least one universally advantageous element to them.
Small has the ability to mount medium creatures and has a much easier time finding total cover for hide actions. These are both mechanically very significant for many builds. (Btw, default cost of a mule is 8gp)
I am IN LOVE with this type of goblin you made! I actually wanna play it when I get the chance. Thank you very much for your awesome content, and the effort you put into all of it.
Goblins being tantamount to raccoons is the best analogy I’ve heard. Makes me want to build an inquisitive Goblin named “The Trash King”. Have him be a Dank Wood Goblin so he can talk to small animals, like raccoons, and give him expertise in Animal Handling and Investigation so he and his little band of thieving raccoons can find the best trash possible. Also, a glamour bard could be a really good way to incorporate the fey ancestry and the split between cute and ugly goblins. Use the fey-like abilities of the glamour bard to make your ugly goblin look like a chibi goblin with the subclasses’ features, inspiring your allies to protect the pug-looking goblin because they suddenly look very, very cute.
Love goblins. In grade school we had a Scandinavian teacher who I hated because at 12 she would treat us like we were 5, but she would tell us Scandinavian folk tales and creatures from their mythology. One of which was the goblins, which were like elf, helpful little creatures that if you pissed them off they would play jokes on you. Elf helped in house and goblins helped outside the house. Elf as a joke would burn down you house. Gobli s as a joke would leave a rake in some tall grass so when you stepped on it, it would smack you in the head. Tolkien altered goblin into their present form. I like how they look especially the PF goblins, but I tend to go more with the pre tolkien lore.
Goblin girl cleric: Praise the SUN! **does the pose** Other gods: Why her? Why a...a goblin!? Lathlander: She said she was down for some *"jolly cooperation"!* **shrugs**
@@thewarriorofboros Other gods: W-wait...she just walked up to YOU!? Lathlander: Yeah...I don't know how she just waltz into my divine realm but I got a good chuckle out of it...after the initial shock and disbelief went away, Ha!
1:30 allow me to correct you, pugs are ugly too. In my games goblins are only beyond redemption when they are already grown up in goblin society, if you raise a baby goblin it will adapt to your morality (though it will still be chaotic in nature so its not gonna be a copy of you) that way my party was able to adotp 2 goblins that were the smallest more abused members of their tribe (they didn't got sad when the whole rest of the tribe was turned into xp)
When MOM said they were fey, i was hesitant and upright against it. BUT honestly, just watching the first scene with Brennan & Aabria Iyengar in the Fey & Flower Season of Dimension20, convinced me that "yes, goblins should absolutely be fey or fey related" So this video is a beautiful treat to absorb
I already knew that in folklore goblins tended to be fey-like creatures, but it still felt kinda out of left field until I watched that episode of Dim20 this afternoon and came to the same conclusion as you!
@@Michael-fd1gx technically they're goblinoid haha. but as an example, an elf qualifies as a humanoid & fey when it is appropriate for a spell, such as detect good and evil. genasi = humanoid & elemental, tiefling = humanoid & infernal or abyssal, assimar = humanoid & celestial, etc etc point being, RAW, all playable creatures are base humanoid, but may fall into different creature categories depending on spells. Half elfs get fey ancestry, and they arent fey, they're humanoids
I mean this from the bottom of my heart, man. In less than a month since i came across your channel, you have risen to levels on-par with the best dnd youtubers out there. I am just as excited when I see that you've posted as i am when Colville, XP to Lvl 3 or The Runesmith do. Incredible work, I cannot WAIT to see what you do in the future.
Possible homebrew benefits of being small: - 25% less damage from falls - 25% less damage from bludgeoning attacks, but every 1dmg reduced converts to 1 foot of knockback - creatures of large or greater size have disadvantage when making a melee attack against you
I made a goblin a while back that was born in a human city as his parents escaped the cruelty of goblin culture. His shtick was to reflect from his father's teachings and struggles, but also to help out other goblins find a means to get away from Maglubiyet's influence. (The character was made before the MoM book) So far it's pretty cool despite not doing that great at convincing other goblins to join his cause (he's a ranger, not a talky type), but the DM put out a plot hook, so here's to hoping.
Interesting, does Maglubyite know of this odd little goblin's existence? How does your goblin character deal with the metaphysical bonds between them and this deity i.e. do they ever get angry whispers out of nowhere? Do they receive horrible visions in their dreams about the hellish fate that awaits them apone death? How far are they willing to go to achieve their goals, is risking an early departure into a most horrific afterlife worth turning others? I had an idea for a campaign myself about freeing all the goblinoids from atleast one realm like the Forgotten Realms from Maglubyite's influence i.e. they don't automatically go to his domain after death anymore. (other afterlifes are now open to them) Ideally it would be some high level thing that involves the aid of several gods and more than few mystical relics...also a *"nilbog"!*
Here's the problem. When monsters that are intended to be evil cannon fodder become morally ambiguous, then the PCs kicking in their door, killing them, and taking their stuff become the VILLAINS...
Yes, but here's the thing. That is evil behavior, lol. Like O get your point, but that's just kinda the reason this became an issue in the first place. Intentional or not (historicaly it often was) make living sentient creatures that are pure evil, 1 implies an inherent morality to the world and 2 allows for some real fucked up things, like litteral genocides being cool in campaign. Which with the before mentioned history feels a hell of a lot like propaganda.
@@coreycoffell6219 : Exactly my point. You've villainized the heroes because you see the evil cannon fodder as the victim, and ignore the evils they do unto the human and demihuman populations offscreen when the heroes aren't there to protect them.
@@andrewszigeti2174But that doesn’t really apply if they’re now more morally ambiguous. It changes them into something more than evil cannon fodder, in the case of goblins. And it doesn’t PREVENT goblins from being evil cannon fodder, just doesn’t mean they’re exclusively evil cannon fodder.
I once played a goblin barbarian and I rolled randomly for his height and he was 4’ tall. He was also kind of a himbo and I loved playing his inability to count.
I always love seeing how many cultural touchstones you use in cool mechanical or artistic ways in these twists. Someday I'd love to read a compilation of all your twists but in the meantime I'm always happy when new videos come out!
Fun Fact: as a dm who has been playing and running games for wayyyy too long, this has got to be the best Dnd RUclips channel to date. Thanks for making amazing goodies and videos. Keep up the good work 🤘
I’m all for the Feywild origin, in various locations and times in history elves and goblins were kind of synonymous, plus there’s gotta be a pointy ear connection somewhere.
My homebrew goblin subrace lurks in seaside caves, they farm a special sea slugs that grant waterbreathing for a few hours when eaten. They use hooks on floats to catch passing ships as they head out to sea, then once the ship is beyond the reach of help they will climb onto it and kill everyone onboard. They have low light vision instead of darkvision but do gain bonuses to climb and swim checks.
I like Goblins, though I like the Eberron Goblins where the goblins used to rule the main continent of Khoravaire before Humans showed up, and that they are only now able to create a new homeland for themselves. It makes playing goblins fun since, you can have say an indiana jones type looking to find lost relics to bring back to the goblin kingdom.
The races in Eberron are incredible and very open to interpretation unlike some of the other settings. I think it's a shame it's such a disliked setting when it's the one that works incredibly well with the flexibility of game rules!
@@meikahidenori I think part of the dislike is the insinuation that any other settings people like are somehow inferior to *Eberron* because this sopposed "flexibility" isn't touted as some kind of "trump card" by other settings or that it somehow owns this idea. (even though the lores from other settings are actually quite flexible themselves, just not in obvious ways) And I've come to LOVE Eberron as a setting but yeah...bragging about it being this hip, new thing that breaks conventions can get a little grating to hear for umpteenth time!
@@meikahidenori I feel like part of it is the magitech element. Some fantasy fans are _really_ not into it. Obviously you can just use an era before that, but some people are just completely turned off by the existence of a trigger at all 🤷♀️
@@priestesslucy3299 I wouldn't mind a setting that's less magitech and more like communal rituals or *"group magic",* basically magic that's open to all peoples and not just an elite few.
OMG I LOVE HOW YOU USED THE MYTHOLOGY OF BROWNIES ITS SO COOL I PRACTICE CELTIC PAGANISM AND I REALLY APPRECIATE HOW YOU INCLUDED THEM i just love how the fae are a part of dnd
I honestly had no problem with goblins, you've definitely improved them by quite a bit though, will definitely use them in my dnd game! If there was a race to improve I would suggest hobgoblins, I mean they should've been a faction for goblins at best lol
if by "faction" you mean "subrace", then I find myself having to disagree. Hobgoblins and goblins are two entirely different beasts, and unless MotM changed Maglubiyet's lore in an extremely significant way (post Volo's) then Maglubiyet *himself* is the god of the Hobgoblins, which explains the general penchant of the hobgoblin race for conquest and military strategy. They build strongholds, exist in a sorta feudal state, and frequently recruit the help of the much smaller goblins to make life easier in camp or provide a wave of cannon fodder. They would downright enslave the goblins were it not for those pesky creatures called Nilbogs who like to mysteriously pop up when goblins are mistreated. Thus, they interact, but... lemme put it this way: No race in the game has a subrace which drastically changes the form of the race itself. You can tell even Eladrin and Shadar-Kai are elves at a glance, even if one is colorful and one is strangely devoid of color. Hobgoblins are muscular and imposing, the same height or a little taller than humans. You can see the resemblance in the face, sure, justifying hobgoblins as being goblinoid, but for them to become an actual subrace of goblins would be a bit of a stretch (seeing as that would mean they get the racial traits of goblins when to justify them getting those traits is difficult at best - How does a hobgoblin use fury of the small if it's not small?) If you actually mean that they're a faction for goblins, as in basically a tribe for goblins in lore, you're the DM. Make them that.
In my first dnd campaign we had a very wacky Goblin player character, he was a fighter with the second highest armor class of the party, had a small dinosaur as a mount, and managed to beat a evil dragons god pact by simply being unaware of it.
Character idea: chaotic neutral goblin folk hero on a crusade to free their kin of Maglubiyet’s dominion. They reject the evil ways imposed by the tyrannical god but also shows no mercy towards those in the way of their race’s freedom and welfare and always puts them first above all others. They hold in contempt those of races who are traditional enemies and subjugators (dwarves, hobgoblins, etc.), but can be swayed by positive interactions to become more tolerant and even become open to alliances.
They actually make really efficient full casters with nimble escape for disengage and hiding (avoid notice and give your firebolt etc advantage) and fury of the small+ magic missile.
Love the Brownie idea, I would really like to play one. The best thing you suggested was "they're really pleasant in light, but more dire in personality in darkness" that would be very fun to play
This was amazing and I love Brownies. Will definitely be adding them to my table. Got a question though. If the Goblinoids (Goblins, Hobgoblins, and Bugbears) aren't related to each other (meaning the god of conquest didn't just conquer some goblins which evolved into Hobs and Bugbears) and some Goblins turned into Brownies, then what about the Hobs and Bugbears? Could the Queen of Air and Darkness have saved a few of them, who then branched off to be their own Fey Hobs and Bugbears?
Regarding hobgoblins and bugbears, I've wondered about that, too. Back in 2e Planescape, hobgoblins tended to be LE, perfect for the plane of Acheron, but few goblins are/were LE. Yet, goblins go to Acheron in the afterlife. Likewise, barghests are of Gehenna while the bugbear deity is located clear over in Pandemonium.
This is rad, in my own setting goblins we're created by the arch fey of the summer as a prank on his stuck up elven subjects, as little clique clanish balls of chaos to parody and inject much needed energy into elven society. They tend to go feral and become your typical goblin gangs and clans because their chaotic nature doesn't mesh well with their host cultures and the stresses of survival on the frontier. These brownies though are a really cool idea though, 5e is woefully lacking in fey in my opinion, and another race of the fair folk is more than welcome in my opinion
My first impulse would have been to create apostates from Maglubiyet, normal Goblins who have been broken out of the conqueror god's bondage. Depending on who did that and how you could have them either serve as some villain's personal minions, or as a faithful community to some more merciful deity. So you could have an organized shrine with effectively a monastic community that sneakily spreads the favor of their God. And the players find out about this when they catch a little green friar leaving cookies and prayer pamphlets on their baggage at night.
when i was younger at school we had the guy that would come in every week and tell us old Scottish story's.And one week he told us About brownies. and ever since that day i have been in love with that story. it was great to see a dnd race on something i have loved since a child.
I LOVE this! As someone who has played a goblin before, this really appeals to me. Thank you (as always) for making this awesome content. I love how you tied Scottish lore into it and added to what was expanded upon in MotM.
Can you do something with warforged? Since they’re robots I think we’re missing out customizing opportunities. Think about it you could make it so you can change parts like eyes for darkvision
One of my longest running characters is a warforged knight who does just that all his weapons and gear is customized into his body and he is constantly adding more.. and no one has picked up in the joke that his name is just the swedish word for dagger/knife.
That is already a thing? They have the arm blade magic item. This leads me to believe that there’s no reason that could not be expanded into things like an arm crossbow, or netcaster, or the artillerists cannon.
@pointyhatstudios First of all, I love every single one of your videos and you make me more and more excited to play DnD each day. Secondly, this is probably my favorite twist that you've done so far. In fact, me and some of my buddies are starting up a campaign this fall and I decided to go with playing a Brownie. I just wanted to let you know that this is the most excited I've ever been to play a character, though I haven't been playing for very long. It's such an interesting sub-race and seems to breed creative ideas for where to take it. I had a lot of fun writing up a backstory for my Brownie character and that's all thanks to the exceptional way in which you wrote the sub-race. Great work and I look forward to watching even more twists on races and classes! P.S. I don't know if you hear a lot about the characters made with your sub-races/classes, so if you'd like to hear or read more about mine, just let me know and I'd be happy to share.
Putting Nekrogoblikon on repeat in honor of goblins everywhere In the campaigns I'm a part of and run, we all have our own lore and worlds which makes ignoring forgotten realms content so easy. I'm a fucking goblin through and through
have you heard of the Verdan race? They evolved from goblins in the underdark, they don't really need a twist but your brownies reminded me of them just a little
Absolutely in love with your videos, and more importantly, your imaginative approach to the storytelling. Thank you for all the hard work you have put into these videos and stats.
Looks like we have a new goal: hit 100k before the feywild video is ready so he has to keep moving further back at increments that make the release goal more and more arbitrary
I love the goblin lore -- their horrible afterlife is such fertile ground for character motivation. But it's worth noting, the whole "Maglubiyet conquering their original gods" is a pre-5e, pre-MoM lore nugget. Though I do love that, per 5e lore, nobody knows the maximum lifespan of a goblin so they are potentially immortal! I had a Goblin PC that began life as a random Goblin peon in our 5e game -- he was so beloved (by me), I brought him back as a shellshocked coward who had become a "Pendragon" (a homebrew class i found online which combines elements of Cleric & Warlock with a Draconic master giving a portion of their magical essence to a mortal as their servant). They can either slowly transform into a real dragon or raise a baby dragon, and I decided my gobbo had become a Bahamut worshipper and hoped that by serving dragons as an eggsitter he could avoid the terrifying Goblin afterlife. XD
Aside from giving us Brownies, I should specifically thank you for showing the artistic interpretations of Maglubiyet and telling us about his impact on goblinoids. I've had a specific mental image for a while of a female goblin who has glowing, fiery eyes and skin like (partially) hardened magma. I'm now imagining the implications this would have depending on what goblins she knows and has interacted with, because whether I give her direct ties to the conqueror god or not, she looks enough like him to probably induce fear among her own people. That fear could either make goblinoids immediately dislike her and distance themselves from her entirely, or be revered by her kind and other Maglubiyet worshipers. Both of these possibilities stem from the fact that, based on how she looks, anyone who knows about Maglubiyet might look at her and see her as an extension of him and his will.
I've always loved the Eberron goblin lore, where they were the original "civilized" race with a huge technologically and magically advanced empire. The fact that you have relics and surviving tribes of this empire, as well as "corrupted" chaotic goblins provides for so many gameplay options. These brownies could actually fit into the Eberron setting really easily as a fey race that that fills a similar niche. Thanks!
This is a really cool video. I almost didn't click the title because it felt like click-bate, and I don't like to watch videos I have no idea what they will be about. However, I liked the growth that Orcs had in 4e with the Manyarrows kingdom actually having farming and diplomacy, and I've been hungry for something more from goblins. So I clicked the video. And this was perfect. I love the lore and backstory. I read the MoM but I missed this aspect. And I love your new Brownies. This video was incredibly helpful for me understanding the motivations and reason behind goblin society. Thank youl
This is a really interesting change! The way I've come to diversify goblin society is with my homebrew goddess Benefilaw (Goblin Goddess of Good Humour). With only her and the unnamed Trickster God surviving Maglubiyet's onslaught, she's risen to regain some of her former power and has lured away many goblins to her grace. Beginning with making pacts to humble goblin warlocks, she now has full-blown clerics and high priests under her command with many goblin hideouts now loyal to her. There's a lot of lore I came up with relating to how she's worshipped and the skirmishes between goblins of Maglubiyet and goblins of Benefilaw. I've also added additional quirks to goblins like giving them a love of pastries and sweets, giving them names derived from habadashery (Like Needlin, Sew, Stringle etc), making many of their cave settlements house talented alchemists that brew healing potions to serve as their main export and having them use buttons as currency. Stuff that gives them the same chaotic, trickster vibe of the feywild and of their folklore whilst not making them universally evil.
I am just imagining the Benefilaw goblin hideouts and strongholds' interior spaces looking like quilted wonderlands made with a *goblin grandma's love,* basically picture awsome goblin *"blanket forts"!*
Nice job A.D.! Back in the day (1st ed) goblins for us old people started out as Fey creatures but they were a lot more ferocious than they've evolved into. 4-5 fey goblins back then would rip a 3rd level party to shreds. For being Fey they were immune to charm spells and had better int scores. Could see in total darkness and ohvay! Goblin shamans were tough to defeat because they had better access to spells than a 3rd level cleric did! The goblin has truly "devolved" since then. Glad you gave them something different. Love the channel Antonio. 😊
Dude this brownie twist is awesome. I’ve been watching your work for the last couple of days. And I love your twists. And your videos in general. Keep up with this amazing videos. You are great work
We're gobs, we're gobs, we're the gobs 🐀
WE'RE GOBS
We're gobs!
I literally made a Goblin based on Tarzan because of MotM
I'm da biggest Gob who makes all of da ruuuules
Mr. Green is the biggest gob king energy of any Jerma character. 🐀
The goblin lore actually makes me think they make for a good warlock, selling their soul to a devil to escape the the afterlife fate demanded by their conqueror God, or to rejoin the fey court.
Archfey patron
• Just serving another fey is better
• The patron is curious, because other races tend to be wary when it comes to dealing with feys, but this boi walked to her, said 'i want powers, and said 'deal' before she can add say the terms and conditions.
Damn Im gonna use that someday if you dont mind haha
@@pretsmalig-on4541 Love it! And possibly stealing it >_>
Or a goblin out to try and resurrect the gods of their people
I like this
Fun Gobllin Lore is that when Maglubiyet took the goblin Pantheon they killed most of the old goblin gods, Leaving one or two. But one Goblin god survived, the Goblin god of stealth and trickery, It has no name for fear that if it is spoken Maglubiyet will find them
The most fun thing about that imo is that when that god inhabits a goblin, they don't dare to name the god because then it could be conquered. They just call it goblin backwards, nilbog. Such a cool way to show goblin trickery in lore stuff
I actually ran a campaign based on this idea, where the nilbogs were trying to bring this god back to life! It was a great campaign and I met my boyfriend doing it. At the end of the campaign, they managed to kill Maglubiyet and reform the nilbog god.
They take over normal goblin body’s, then they are called nilbog, he is in pieces, so they can take over multiple goblins
His name is...Jim
Pssst!@@TheReZisTLust
I feel like rabbit goblins should be a thing:
- Big ears
- Lives underground
- Explosive breeder
- Environmentally destructive (in Australia at least)
Speaking of how, in most folklore, Goblins are part of the fae, in Welsh mythology Goblins and Elves are the same thing. There aren't really any Goblins as we know them today, but the word for Elf is "Coblyn". So they're literally just fae.
Yep and ofc in Tolkien's work, goblins/orcs were made by twisting elves.
The wikipedia entry for "Little people (mythology)" is really interesting, a good way to see how cross-cultural the idea of small humanoids that act mischievous, helpful, or harmful by whim or by strange rules.
In Icelandic lore the elfs are small people, similar to the gnomes. What fantasy calles elves, we call Huldufólk (Hiddenfolk).
And some…Norse (I think?) mythology, dwarves and elves are overlapped/intermixed/the same-ish.
@@jlighter1it is speculated that the dark elves in Norse mythology was just a different term for dwarves.
I played a geriatric goblin who was a goblin folk hero, however now he has a walking stick (His legendary rapier that's stuck in its hilt due to not being used in years.) He was dragged out of retirement and had to regain his skills since he's old as heck now. It was awesome because we had another goblin player who played a much younger goblin and ended being trained by my old dude so he could retire permanently. The plan was too pass on his rapier to the younger goblin but the campaign ended early due to scheduling and burn out
damn that would've been so cool if it actually happened
@@birdland4397 yeah, spoke to the other goblin player and in our head canon the two goblins are still travelling together. We hope to bring them back for a game one day
So you made Yoda?
@@thecopper-cockmcdickinson8508 wow man, you really had to do him that way
If it could happand, then it would had been so cool, and wholesome.
The first campaign I ever ran, the players "adopted" a gobin during the first session. According to them, there are 0 problems with goblins in D&D or anywhere else. Great video!
There must be a ratio to first sessions + Goblin adoption behavior. I couldn't help but channel Old Greg for ours.
Played a one shot where my guard captain saved a goblin village from a collapsing cave after defeating the beholder that subjugated them. It was like herding cats.
For my 1st campaign i wanted to be a goblin but with his backstory already fleshed out it would have complicated the campaign because the dm said there would be a lot of goblin fighting so im a kobold instead. im sure it would have gone the same either way, except for maybe the attitude i have for the dragonborn in our party being much better than if i was a goblin.
Not a goblin, but way back in 1st Ed. I had an M-U character with a Bugbear bodyguard that was a childhood friend (its complicated). The best part was dealing with results of PC acceptance and NPC bigotry. Oh, it was a world where magic was generally distrusted, so my life was not simple.
As a player, in my first campaign we also adopted a goblin. He was loyal to the end, pour one out for Gobby.
Goblin lore in D&D is surprisingly consistent. Nilbogs existed in 1e and even back then implied that Maglubiyet had subjugated the goblins by killing their gods.
I head cannon that goblin language mimics the sounds of nature- birdsong, wind, groaning branches, squirrel barking, etc- easier for stealth
Saving a Brownie gets you... Brownie Points.
I'll get my coat.
(I’m pretty sure that’s the origin of the phrase)
@@Red-in-Green the origin is, sadly, not goblin related. Its girl scouts LMAO
Speaking as someone who was a girl scout, the Brownie rank is in fact (or so I was told) named after the fae. So it’s named after the fae via the girl scouts dragging it into the modern day
Your trench coat?
@@JessieIsRawr implying girl scouts aren't goblins(I am a girl scout).
Goblins are my favorite race in the game, not in a mechanic way tho, I just love them mischievous little Gobblos
Hundred percent
They're mechanically ok anyway
My favourite Pathfinder PC was a goblin. Sort of a mix of Discworld goblins and Pathfinder goblins. Definitely dirty and mischievous, but pretty clever and able to live in a city (if barely). He decided that cities are actually very dirty and rotten to the core, a perfect goblin habitat. His backstory was that he served the city guard. The guard wanted access to the seedy underbelly, and my goblin liked bashing people's kneecaps in and getting paid for it. Things did have a tendency to explode around him. One of his victims was a vampire that caught a garlic bomb to the face. And a bandit that had a beer barrel explode in his face. I had to roll a will save not to laugh, then the bandit stabbed a colleague of his that did laugh, and I had to roll another will save. Because pain and death are hilarious as long as it happens to someone else.
Gobbos are numbah one!
Warhammer has the best goblins.
So one of the things I added to goblin culture during one of my games is that they have mushroom farms, the thing is the mushrooms will only grow in a mulch combo of bone and wood. What kind of bone? Well if you're close enough to ask, probably yours
good
I read a blog somewhere that presented goblins as fungi. Kind of like myconids but they spread much faster and don't have the communal mind thing.
@Nerdsammich I mean that sounds cool but I prefer tiny flesh creatures that are nasty inside and out to the point of turning their nastiness into sustenance
Goblins in my homebrew world are actually the most industrious of the stock evil-cannon-fodder-humanoid D&D races. They practice a kind of woodland agriculture, but the sorts of crops they like to eat - shelf fungi, brambles, thistles, poison ivy - just make a forest look overgrown, infested, and nasty to non-goblins. They also breed edible livestock underground, mostly yard-long earthworms and blind mutant rats.
I really do wish goblins had actual sub-races. You could play them up as highly adaptable and be heavily influenced by their environment. Like your standard green skin would typically be found in heavily forested areas, while mountain dwelling goblins could have gray, rough skin akin to a Goliath.
Pathfinder had a monkey goblin subrace I was shamelessly stealing to work alongside greenhides (aka 'normal') and brownies as the fey-flavored. kinda like fur-bolds being found in icy biomes while normal kobolds are present almost everywhere else.
So in my stories, goblins are a very mutable species and have different subspecies not based on who birthed them, but by the environment they grew up in. Lost in the wilderness, savage Goblins Slayer goblins. Raised in a city, very smart crafting goblins that have gnomish tinker rivalries to see who can make the wackiest way to open a door. Raise one as a servant, that's a hobgoblin (literally translates to house goblin). With this, there are a theoretical unlimited amount of goblin subraces.
I totally want to see a goblin cleric who is trying to revive his old goddess Queen you know the fairy goddess
Feels like a thing that the Fey Queens would be about. If Asmodeus can do it, they can too. XD
My Warforged Eldritch Knight Lich King: "Not on my watch, little ones... Soul Edge, fuel your thirst."
Already planning a Goblin Cleric along those lines, but yes
Shes still there though she not exactly sunshine and rainbows
If his patron is dead would his powers work?
In my games I have "Pottery Goblins" Earth spirits kinda like small Gorons, with reddish earth-tone skin, long scruffy white hair, and they tattoo themselves with muds, they make lots of pottery especially pots to carry things and even hide themselves in, decorate with muddy cave-art, and they build giant earth fortresses like Mesa Verde.
I remember reading lots of stuff about how goblins used to be considered masterful craftsmen before Tolkien, so I kept pondering like what the heck would goblins have to craft with? ...dirt... probably dirt...
I always liked the WoW goblins; here they sit between DnD kobolds and DnD gnomes as being juuust inventive enough to get themselves into trouble, and juuust silver tongued enough to get themselves out… usually.
Gnomes have engineering degrees, goblins are junkyard mechanics.
Love goblins, I played a goblin named gob. He was raised by humans, when they died he was kidnapped and thrown into the gladiator pits. The party rescued him, and gob does tend to be cowardly and selfish but he is constantly fighting his nature. Literally becoming the party's frontline tank
Why was he named Gob?
@@nemonomen3340 in the game because everyone he met always referred to him as goblin, anyway. so he chose to own it, and abbreviate it.
Outside of the game, my other pc just died and I didn't have time enough to think of a name.
ngl, I've only seen goblins portrayed one of two ways. Either manic pixie psychos, or caked up shortstacks.
Sometimes both!
i made a space goblin named cupcakes in star finder. she was a pure mechanic and is chaotic good. One of the other players in this group was a dwarf that hated goblins, but after she freed a dragon race from being "interns" the dwarf and her became friends. She has a huge drive to freeing "interns" whenever she could being a former "intern" herself. Cupcakes is actually what her human "boss" called her and it just stuck. Now cupcakes is a space pirate that looks over the ship of her crew. She is very fun to play.
Not gonna lie, when I saw your brownie designs, my heart melted. they've got a mix of adorable and chaotic that hits me right where I live
I used the Haunt Hag in a session I DM'd for three friends, one of them playing for the first time. They keep thanking me for such an amazing session but it was mostly thanks to you and the inspiration that hag gave me!! Thank you :D
A bit about the more general goblin in older editions, they used to be good at two things; sneaking and riding. So in the past they were significantly better at husbandry and especially proficient at handling creatures as mounts. In here, we can see a good angle for their nature aspect that goblins act in a very natural way, which is wild and untamed. Not the same kind of fuss a druid would make about some squashed mushroom, but that squirrel was too slow and very edible.
So to handle regular goblins, you could lean into that "doesn't get society" angle where they think straightforward and less in 'should' or 'should not.'
Goblins aesthetically and lore-wise make excellent druids and even rangers and I imagine is their main source of *BOOYAGH!* outside of wild magic sorcerers!
The fact goblins get a +2 racial bonus to Ride checks in 3.5 is something I'll forever cherish.
I feel like this gives goblinoids a soul, this makes them a more complex race perhaps bugbears and hobgoblins also have these counterparts?
The brownies as an idea fits with some of the medieval ideas of the creature (when they're not a monstrous rogue), as well as the initial ideas relating to kobolds. For this reason, the idea of a household spirit being a subrace makes a lot of sense.
The whole "Grateful, loyal, until you mess up their fey concepts of contracts" you took directly from actual Brownie lore and I love it
Also, with the Goblinoids being from the feywild, orcs literally being imported by the creator races or a portal left open for too long, mind flayers being time travellers, beholders being a dream of the outer planes,
What monsters are actually native to Toril?
Like if you think about it adventuring parties are slaying basically aliens who got stuck
Giants and Dragons were what was left after Abeir-Toril split then the elves showed up
Toril actually has five creator races: sarrukh (basically proto-yuan-ti), batrachi (basically proto-bullywugs, but also ancestors of kuo-toas), aeree (basically proto-aarakocras+draconids), the fey, and humans, or actually hominids. Moreover, if I recall correctly, despite being the ancestors of many other races, those races _still_ exist, or at least the sarrukh (and fey and humans, of course) still do. The Wiki also mentions how it's disputed wether or not aeree are ancestor of dragons or the other way around (in which case dragons would be the actual creator race).
All other "primal" races, so basically elves, orcs and giants have been put there retroactively by their gods (gnomes halflings and goblins do not have a known origin in Toril, from what I know). Note that this isn't the same in other worlds, such as on Oerth, where the "important" races have indeed still put there by their gods according to their myhtologies, but they were the first ones to inhabit the plane nonetheless.
@@drakegrandx5914 if you want to be technical the original inabitants of Abeir-Toril were Aboleths and other abominations from the far realm
@@drakegrandx5914 Thank you for the clarification. Since Elves have some Fey ancestry are they the Fey who got trapped on Troil?
Adventurers of course, those are the worst of the worst.
If I had a nickel for every D&D content creator on RUclips represented by a single-eyed creature and really awesome art, I'd have two nickels, which isn't much, but I really hope it keeps happening.
Nice who's the other?
@@endersparshott JessJackdaw!
Neato
You gotta have two eyes right
@@priestesslucy3299 naw
I'd love to play as a Brownie someday! It's such an interesting idea for a race and I love how they're inspired from actual Brownies in real world folklore. You really come up with such interesting ideas and concepts that lots of people (myself included) find fun and amazing. Thank you and keep up the incredible work!
As a HUGE fan of earth-mythology goblins, bronwies, lutins (etc.) I love this take on a playable fey-realm goblin.
So, MoM basically made "My goal in life is to kill god for all the shit he's done", perfectly slot into any goblinoid.
Based
That was My goblins story
He managed to convince Tiamat to start a war in heaven, the end goal was to become a god of equal power to old evil "glob-blyat" so goblin kind could finally have a reason to good if they wanted to.
Fun idea: Chaotic Good goblin paladin dedicated to defeating the Conqueror god and remake the society of goblins to end hierarchy altogether. So yeah basically an anarchist goblin
ANARCHY GOBLIN
red gobbo
if the gobbo can somehow look like jocats ya got a fucking DEAL!
That's a cool idea!
hi
There's also an IRL reason why goblins get Fey Ancestry; the term goblin way back when used to mean "Ugly Fairy," but this was back in the era when the words Elf and Fairy were interchangeable.
Speaking of Goblinoids, Hobgoblins really got the short end of the stick in the Fantasy space. Hobgoblins were housekeepers that just wanted to help, provided you didn't do anything to anger them or get on their bad side.
Recently with baldurs gate 3 we got something that ties into this neatly - They were VERY very quick to abandon Maglubyet in favor of The Absolute after their shamans were tadpoled in the grand coup.
Honestly I didn't expect Goblins to have this much depth. Really makes you sympathize with the little gremlins. I love the idea of Brownies as well!
Also fun fact: Mağlubiyet translates to "defeat" in Turkish, so his name actually has meaning.
Can't sympathize with evil
A Goblin communist revolution would be cute.
"Goblins are correctly green and if not you're wrong"
"They're either cute or disgusting, like if you're a weirdo"
"They're either three feet tall or one meter, if you use the right system."
Damn one minute in and this guy is making enemies real quick with me ngl lmao
But is he wrong?
@@Life_Universe_Everything On one, maybe. On all three, I'd wager no lmao
@@turkeygod6665 all 3 are wrong
@@arctrog Agreed
But he is right only weirdos use imperial system.
The moment you said they were called Brownies my eyes lit up cause i knew exactly where you were going with it.
Thanks Fablehaven for properly representing Brownies and many other Mythological Creatures within your 5 Boom Series.
Yes, Fablehaven is why I know what Brownies are too.
Personally I discovered brownies from the Spiderwick Chronicles.
The main advantage of small races is being able to mount smaller and much cheaper mounts
My goblin has a mastiff! He's a good boy
You really need a DM that can think outside the box to make that work, not everyone can handle a goblin ranger riding a giant spider with poisoned xbow bolts.
Actually, versatile weapons being required to be wielded as two-handed for small creatures was a rule in 4E. in 5E, small creatures can use versatile weapons one- and two-handed like any other.
The not being able to wield heavy two-handed weapons thing is true tho.
They have disadvantage with heavy weapons. Not two handed
@@solsystem1342
Literally what they said.
"... to wield *heavy* two handed..."
In 5e...
Light Weapons don't exist, RAW.
Medium Weapons really do not exist in 5e.
Heavy Weapons generally are tied into Two Handed Weapons.
And Medium PCs/NPCs can use a weapon one size larger than them but no larger (DMG / +1 Damage Dice Type and +5ft of Melee/Range Reach is enough per Size Category for PCs. I wouldn't use the DMG Damage Dice for Large+ Weapons meant for NPCs.)
@@Melina_Evarblume_Seelie
Only in regard to "Heavy". Not "Two Handed".
@@absolstoryoffiction6615
Well yeah, but I'm pointing out that the guy was being pedantic for no reason.
They got the word that was important in there.
In Scandinavian folklore brownies are called tomtar - same word as our word for Santa btw - and they were generally nicer than the irish version, but not by a lot. As far as I can tell they were thought of kinda like the local spirit of well managed farms. They helped out, a lot. And the only thing you needed to do was do your share of farm work, keep the place neat, take good care of the animals, be polite and respectful, don’t kill any tomtar by mistake and put out a nice bowl of rice porridge with a dollop of butter around christmas. But there was a flipside. If you were rude, disrespectful, lazy, untidy, or if you threw heavy stuff around you without looking, or if you messed with the christmas porridge - in short, if you pissed your tomte off - horrible things would happen.
For some reason most folk tales about them are stories in the genre ”How to lose friends and alienate people” except with tomtar instead of people. An absurd and yet common version of ”things you shouldn’t do” was putting a turd in the christmas porridge. Usually it’s one of the hired hands on the farm. Maybe he’s resentful that he doesn’t get the good rice porridge, maybe he doesn’t believe that the tomte is real, or maybe just because he’s a total dick and this is a fairy tale … but he pulls down is pants, takes a big crap in the porridge bowl, and then he smothes the porridge over so it’s white again and his turd is hidden under the surface. I don’t know why, but the tales are usually specific about that last detail. There’s a dramatic pause when nothing happens. And then there’s a howl of indignation. Next morning all the livestock might be dead, with their heads cut off and stuffed up their behinds. Or some other gruesome retribution. Some times the farmhand makes it out alive, sometimes not. But any tomtar are gone for good, and the farm is never happy, lucky or thriving again.
Just wanted to share that.
Also, check out the web comic Goblins. It’s awesome. And about DnD goblins.
Thanks for another great episode Pointy!
Cheers
It is also a horror story. I think this should be made clear.
I haven't heard them being called tomtar before, but I'm guessing its a language difference since in Norwegian its Nisser
@@arikaaa69 Oh, yeah. I should have remembered that. In swedish, if they are small and numerous they are sometimes called ”tomtenissar”. So to my ears ”nisse” sounds like ”small people” (as in fairies, not midgets or poor people) and the norwegian ”nisse” sounds like an abbreviation. But I might be completely wrong, it might be that the swedish long word is an amalgamation of two distinct words with similar meaning. Now I wonder how the word ”pussycat” happened…
@@krinkrin5982 Yeah, a lot of fairy tales used to be like that.
Imagine like a brownie who once served the BBEG but he once stepped on his foot and so the brownie now goes with the party because he wants vengeance on the BBEG for that.
my DM decided to use the brownies in our game, 10/10 HIGHLY RECOMMEND. We enjoy our teeny tiny lil friend Parsley
My man used Nekrogoblikon as real life Goblin footage, major respect
We need a mimic- wait, I MEAN GIMMICK
SMALL as a size category needs to just grant everyone who's small the Halfling Nimbleness feature. It's literally the only good thing being small gives in this edition. Anything more could be too complicated.
I feel like there are some other things that need fixing, like the disadvatnage with heavy weapons. That feature alone is fine, but the problem is that it become s big limitation on other features which only apply to heavy weapons. For instance, if Great weapon mastery applied to all two-handed weapons instead of heavy weapons, then small creatures could still use the feat, they just have to use it with a two handed medium weapon. A little less damage, but still very useful
@@MonteCreations GWM is already over-represented in the game though, so I wouldn't want to change any mechanics that makes it MORE common than it already is.
Halfling Nimbleness has almost no useful applications outside of chokepoints, though. And if you're in tight quarters, there's probably not enough surrounding area to use your full movement anyway, so taking one space of difficult terrain penalty isn't going to hinder anyone. Giving them default disadvantage to physical ranged attacks as if they're constantly prone would be neat. That's probably too powerful, but it would be nice to have at least one universally advantageous element to them.
Also small creature beast master & battlesmiths are able to use their subclass companion as mounts and in most environments
Small has the ability to mount medium creatures and has a much easier time finding total cover for hide actions. These are both mechanically very significant for many builds. (Btw, default cost of a mule is 8gp)
I am IN LOVE with this type of goblin you made! I actually wanna play it when I get the chance. Thank you very much for your awesome content, and the effort you put into all of it.
Goblins being tantamount to raccoons is the best analogy I’ve heard. Makes me want to build an inquisitive Goblin named “The Trash King”. Have him be a Dank Wood Goblin so he can talk to small animals, like raccoons, and give him expertise in Animal Handling and Investigation so he and his little band of thieving raccoons can find the best trash possible.
Also, a glamour bard could be a really good way to incorporate the fey ancestry and the split between cute and ugly goblins. Use the fey-like abilities of the glamour bard to make your ugly goblin look like a chibi goblin with the subclasses’ features, inspiring your allies to protect the pug-looking goblin because they suddenly look very, very cute.
Love goblins. In grade school we had a Scandinavian teacher who I hated because at 12 she would treat us like we were 5, but she would tell us Scandinavian folk tales and creatures from their mythology. One of which was the goblins, which were like elf, helpful little creatures that if you pissed them off they would play jokes on you. Elf helped in house and goblins helped outside the house. Elf as a joke would burn down you house. Gobli s as a joke would leave a rake in some tall grass so when you stepped on it, it would smack you in the head. Tolkien altered goblin into their present form. I like how they look especially the PF goblins, but I tend to go more with the pre tolkien lore.
I recently started playing a goblin who escaped from her cave and saw the sunlit sky for the first time, and then became a light cleric of lathander
Cool character idea!
Goblin girl cleric: Praise the SUN! **does the pose**
Other gods: Why her? Why a...a goblin!?
Lathlander: She said she was down for some *"jolly cooperation"!* **shrugs**
@@navilluscire2567 "She literally just walked up and shook my hand and I gave her a job, but she's cool and does good work"
@@thewarriorofboros
Other gods: W-wait...she just walked up to YOU!?
Lathlander: Yeah...I don't know how she just waltz into my divine realm but I got a good chuckle out of it...after the initial shock and disbelief went away, Ha!
@@navilluscire2567 if goblins are good at anything it's getting into places they shouldn't be
"I hope you like the Brownies" - last time i heard that the evening and the next day were a blur.
1:30 allow me to correct you, pugs are ugly too.
In my games goblins are only beyond redemption when they are already grown up in goblin society, if you raise a baby goblin it will adapt to your morality (though it will still be chaotic in nature so its not gonna be a copy of you) that way my party was able to adotp 2 goblins that were the smallest more abused members of their tribe (they didn't got sad when the whole rest of the tribe was turned into xp)
I really love the way you illustrated the Brownie! Very much hits that spot right between unsettling and cute!
When MOM said they were fey, i was hesitant and upright against it.
BUT honestly, just watching the first scene with Brennan & Aabria Iyengar in the Fey & Flower Season of Dimension20, convinced me that "yes, goblins should absolutely be fey or fey related"
So this video is a beautiful treat to absorb
I already knew that in folklore goblins tended to be fey-like creatures, but it still felt kinda out of left field until I watched that episode of Dim20 this afternoon and came to the same conclusion as you!
@@andrewduncan2258 🤜🤛
@@Michael-fd1gx technically they're goblinoid haha. but as an example, an elf qualifies as a humanoid & fey when it is appropriate for a spell, such as detect good and evil. genasi = humanoid & elemental, tiefling = humanoid & infernal or abyssal, assimar = humanoid & celestial, etc etc
point being, RAW, all playable creatures are base humanoid, but may fall into different creature categories depending on spells.
Half elfs get fey ancestry, and they arent fey, they're humanoids
I mean this from the bottom of my heart, man. In less than a month since i came across your channel, you have risen to levels on-par with the best dnd youtubers out there. I am just as excited when I see that you've posted as i am when Colville, XP to Lvl 3 or The Runesmith do. Incredible work, I cannot WAIT to see what you do in the future.
Possible homebrew benefits of being small:
- 25% less damage from falls
- 25% less damage from bludgeoning attacks, but every 1dmg reduced converts to 1 foot of knockback
- creatures of large or greater size have disadvantage when making a melee attack against you
brownies being the representation of gratefulness honestly made me cry 😭
I made a goblin a while back that was born in a human city as his parents escaped the cruelty of goblin culture. His shtick was to reflect from his father's teachings and struggles, but also to help out other goblins find a means to get away from Maglubiyet's influence. (The character was made before the MoM book) So far it's pretty cool despite not doing that great at convincing other goblins to join his cause (he's a ranger, not a talky type), but the DM put out a plot hook, so here's to hoping.
Interesting, does Maglubyite know of this odd little goblin's existence? How does your goblin character deal with the metaphysical bonds between them and this deity i.e. do they ever get angry whispers out of nowhere? Do they receive horrible visions in their dreams about the hellish fate that awaits them apone death? How far are they willing to go to achieve their goals, is risking an early departure into a most horrific afterlife worth turning others?
I had an idea for a campaign myself about freeing all the goblinoids from atleast one realm like the Forgotten Realms from Maglubyite's influence i.e. they don't automatically go to his domain after death anymore. (other afterlifes are now open to them) Ideally it would be some high level thing that involves the aid of several gods and more than few mystical relics...also a *"nilbog"!*
Brownies get mortified when they see the pastry brownies as they see cooking and eating something with the same name them as a threat
Here's the problem. When monsters that are intended to be evil cannon fodder become morally ambiguous, then the PCs kicking in their door, killing them, and taking their stuff become the VILLAINS...
Yes, but here's the thing.
That is evil behavior, lol.
Like O get your point, but that's just kinda the reason this became an issue in the first place. Intentional or not (historicaly it often was) make living sentient creatures that are pure evil, 1 implies an inherent morality to the world and 2 allows for some real fucked up things, like litteral genocides being cool in campaign. Which with the before mentioned history feels a hell of a lot like propaganda.
Murder hobos...
@@coreycoffell6219 : Exactly my point. You've villainized the heroes because you see the evil cannon fodder as the victim, and ignore the evils they do unto the human and demihuman populations offscreen when the heroes aren't there to protect them.
@@andrewszigeti2174But that doesn’t really apply if they’re now more morally ambiguous. It changes them into something more than evil cannon fodder, in the case of goblins. And it doesn’t PREVENT goblins from being evil cannon fodder, just doesn’t mean they’re exclusively evil cannon fodder.
@@declanedmison5442 There is plenty of moral ambiguity in real life. I don't need more of it in what is supposed to be fun.
I love goblins as a concept. Their chaotic energy is very relatable. Also cute goblin art makes me happy
The face you game the browny is such a bizarre, yet perfect balance between cute goblins and umsettling goblins.
I love the idea that clans of goblinoids were hidden or saved, meaning we'd have new races of goblins, hob goblins, bugbears etc.
I once played a goblin barbarian and I rolled randomly for his height and he was 4’ tall. He was also kind of a himbo and I loved playing his inability to count.
I always love seeing how many cultural touchstones you use in cool mechanical or artistic ways in these twists. Someday I'd love to read a compilation of all your twists but in the meantime I'm always happy when new videos come out!
Fun Fact: as a dm who has been playing and running games for wayyyy too long, this has got to be the best Dnd RUclips channel to date. Thanks for making amazing goodies and videos. Keep up the good work 🤘
I’m all for the Feywild origin, in various locations and times in history elves and goblins were kind of synonymous, plus there’s gotta be a pointy ear connection somewhere.
My homebrew goblin subrace lurks in seaside caves, they farm a special sea slugs that grant waterbreathing for a few hours when eaten. They use hooks on floats to catch passing ships as they head out to sea, then once the ship is beyond the reach of help they will climb onto it and kill everyone onboard. They have low light vision instead of darkvision but do gain bonuses to climb and swim checks.
Wizards did miss an opportunity with Dankwood goblins, but glad to see them get some love here.😊
I like Goblins, though I like the Eberron Goblins where the goblins used to rule the main continent of Khoravaire before Humans showed up, and that they are only now able to create a new homeland for themselves. It makes playing goblins fun since, you can have say an indiana jones type looking to find lost relics to bring back to the goblin kingdom.
The races in Eberron are incredible and very open to interpretation unlike some of the other settings. I think it's a shame it's such a disliked setting when it's the one that works incredibly well with the flexibility of game rules!
@@meikahidenori
I think part of the dislike is the insinuation that any other settings people like are somehow inferior to *Eberron* because this sopposed "flexibility" isn't touted as some kind of "trump card" by other settings or that it somehow owns this idea. (even though the lores from other settings are actually quite flexible themselves, just not in obvious ways)
And I've come to LOVE Eberron as a setting but yeah...bragging about it being this hip, new thing that breaks conventions can get a little grating to hear for umpteenth time!
@@meikahidenori I feel like part of it is the magitech element. Some fantasy fans are _really_ not into it.
Obviously you can just use an era before that, but some people are just completely turned off by the existence of a trigger at all 🤷♀️
@@priestesslucy3299
I wouldn't mind a setting that's less magitech and more like communal rituals or *"group magic",* basically magic that's open to all peoples and not just an elite few.
OMG I LOVE HOW YOU USED THE MYTHOLOGY OF BROWNIES ITS SO COOL I PRACTICE CELTIC PAGANISM AND I REALLY APPRECIATE HOW YOU INCLUDED THEM i just love how the fae are a part of dnd
Love the fey wild brownie art, the bigger the ears the better. And so much hope in those big eyes
I honestly had no problem with goblins, you've definitely improved them by quite a bit though, will definitely use them in my dnd game! If there was a race to improve I would suggest hobgoblins, I mean they should've been a faction for goblins at best lol
if by "faction" you mean "subrace", then I find myself having to disagree. Hobgoblins and goblins are two entirely different beasts, and unless MotM changed Maglubiyet's lore in an extremely significant way (post Volo's) then Maglubiyet *himself* is the god of the Hobgoblins, which explains the general penchant of the hobgoblin race for conquest and military strategy. They build strongholds, exist in a sorta feudal state, and frequently recruit the help of the much smaller goblins to make life easier in camp or provide a wave of cannon fodder. They would downright enslave the goblins were it not for those pesky creatures called Nilbogs who like to mysteriously pop up when goblins are mistreated. Thus, they interact, but... lemme put it this way: No race in the game has a subrace which drastically changes the form of the race itself. You can tell even Eladrin and Shadar-Kai are elves at a glance, even if one is colorful and one is strangely devoid of color. Hobgoblins are muscular and imposing, the same height or a little taller than humans. You can see the resemblance in the face, sure, justifying hobgoblins as being goblinoid, but for them to become an actual subrace of goblins would be a bit of a stretch (seeing as that would mean they get the racial traits of goblins when to justify them getting those traits is difficult at best - How does a hobgoblin use fury of the small if it's not small?)
If you actually mean that they're a faction for goblins, as in basically a tribe for goblins in lore, you're the DM. Make them that.
a character idea: a goblin oath of vengeance paladin who has sworn to avenge the old goblin gods
Imagine how easy it would be to gain allies in the form of goblins that feel the same way.
In my first dnd campaign we had a very wacky Goblin player character, he was a fighter with the second highest armor class of the party, had a small dinosaur as a mount, and managed to beat a evil dragons god pact by simply being unaware of it.
Character idea: chaotic neutral goblin folk hero on a crusade to free their kin of Maglubiyet’s dominion. They reject the evil ways imposed by the tyrannical god but also shows no mercy towards those in the way of their race’s freedom and welfare and always puts them first above all others. They hold in contempt those of races who are traditional enemies and subjugators (dwarves, hobgoblins, etc.), but can be swayed by positive interactions to become more tolerant and even become open to alliances.
They actually make really efficient full casters with nimble escape for disengage and hiding (avoid notice and give your firebolt etc advantage) and fury of the small+ magic missile.
The twist you put on the goblins is really cool, I like that you made them better beings (in a sense) and that you drew from actual folklore
Love the Brownie idea, I would really like to play one. The best thing you suggested was "they're really pleasant in light, but more dire in personality in darkness" that would be very fun to play
This was amazing and I love Brownies. Will definitely be adding them to my table. Got a question though. If the Goblinoids (Goblins, Hobgoblins, and Bugbears) aren't related to each other (meaning the god of conquest didn't just conquer some goblins which evolved into Hobs and Bugbears) and some Goblins turned into Brownies, then what about the Hobs and Bugbears? Could the Queen of Air and Darkness have saved a few of them, who then branched off to be their own Fey Hobs and Bugbears?
Regarding hobgoblins and bugbears, I've wondered about that, too. Back in 2e Planescape, hobgoblins tended to be LE, perfect for the plane of Acheron, but few goblins are/were LE. Yet, goblins go to Acheron in the afterlife. Likewise, barghests are of Gehenna while the bugbear deity is located clear over in Pandemonium.
This is rad, in my own setting goblins we're created by the arch fey of the summer as a prank on his stuck up elven subjects, as little clique clanish balls of chaos to parody and inject much needed energy into elven society. They tend to go feral and become your typical goblin gangs and clans because their chaotic nature doesn't mesh well with their host cultures and the stresses of survival on the frontier.
These brownies though are a really cool idea though, 5e is woefully lacking in fey in my opinion, and another race of the fair folk is more than welcome in my opinion
Not many people know this but in the book Acquisitions Inc. there is another subrace of goblins that the PC can use, the Verdan
It's not a subrace in any way, it's another type of goblinoids. Verdan aren't even a small race
@@georgeuferov1497 But aren't they basically psychic goblins?
@@sinisternorimaki more like genderfluid sometimes-goblins
My first impulse would have been to create apostates from Maglubiyet, normal Goblins who have been broken out of the conqueror god's bondage.
Depending on who did that and how you could have them either serve as some villain's personal minions, or as a faithful community to some more merciful deity.
So you could have an organized shrine with effectively a monastic community that sneakily spreads the favor of their God.
And the players find out about this when they catch a little green friar leaving cookies and prayer pamphlets on their baggage at night.
when i was younger at school we had the guy that would come in every week and tell us old Scottish story's.And one week he told us About brownies. and ever since that day i have been in love with that story. it was great to see a dnd race on something i have loved since a child.
I LOVE this! As someone who has played a goblin before, this really appeals to me. Thank you (as always) for making this awesome content. I love how you tied Scottish lore into it and added to what was expanded upon in MotM.
Can you do something with warforged? Since they’re robots I think we’re missing out customizing opportunities. Think about it you could make it so you can change parts like eyes for darkvision
One of my longest running characters is a warforged knight who does just that all his weapons and gear is customized into his body and he is constantly adding more.. and no one has picked up in the joke that his name is just the swedish word for dagger/knife.
My biggest issue with new Warforged. Them losing the integrated tool. It was cool and flavorful.
@@LupineShadowOmega yes you are 100% right
That is already a thing? They have the arm blade magic item. This leads me to believe that there’s no reason that could not be expanded into things like an arm crossbow, or netcaster, or the artillerists cannon.
@@IsaacMyers1 I was going more in the direction abilities but that works too
I'm now imagining a Brownie Cleric whose domain swaps with the light/dark status
@pointyhatstudios First of all, I love every single one of your videos and you make me more and more excited to play DnD each day. Secondly, this is probably my favorite twist that you've done so far. In fact, me and some of my buddies are starting up a campaign this fall and I decided to go with playing a Brownie. I just wanted to let you know that this is the most excited I've ever been to play a character, though I haven't been playing for very long. It's such an interesting sub-race and seems to breed creative ideas for where to take it. I had a lot of fun writing up a backstory for my Brownie character and that's all thanks to the exceptional way in which you wrote the sub-race. Great work and I look forward to watching even more twists on races and classes!
P.S. I don't know if you hear a lot about the characters made with your sub-races/classes, so if you'd like to hear or read more about mine, just let me know and I'd be happy to share.
Putting Nekrogoblikon on repeat in honor of goblins everywhere
In the campaigns I'm a part of and run, we all have our own lore and worlds which makes ignoring forgotten realms content so easy. I'm a fucking goblin through and through
have you heard of the Verdan race? They evolved from goblins in the underdark, they don't really need a twist but your brownies reminded me of them just a little
Me playing a 5 year old goblin who escaped his home because he loved rather than hate but still has a thieving problem because he love any shiny
Absolutely in love with your videos, and more importantly, your imaginative approach to the storytelling. Thank you for all the hard work you have put into these videos and stats.
Looks like we have a new goal: hit 100k before the feywild video is ready so he has to keep moving further back at increments that make the release goal more and more arbitrary
not me getting super excited every time you upload a video
Now I want a Goblin Revolution against the Conquer God guy.
I love the goblin lore -- their horrible afterlife is such fertile ground for character motivation. But it's worth noting, the whole "Maglubiyet conquering their original gods" is a pre-5e, pre-MoM lore nugget. Though I do love that, per 5e lore, nobody knows the maximum lifespan of a goblin so they are potentially immortal!
I had a Goblin PC that began life as a random Goblin peon in our 5e game -- he was so beloved (by me), I brought him back as a shellshocked coward who had become a "Pendragon" (a homebrew class i found online which combines elements of Cleric & Warlock with a Draconic master giving a portion of their magical essence to a mortal as their servant). They can either slowly transform into a real dragon or raise a baby dragon, and I decided my gobbo had become a Bahamut worshipper and hoped that by serving dragons as an eggsitter he could avoid the terrifying Goblin afterlife. XD
Aside from giving us Brownies, I should specifically thank you for showing the artistic interpretations of Maglubiyet and telling us about his impact on goblinoids. I've had a specific mental image for a while of a female goblin who has glowing, fiery eyes and skin like (partially) hardened magma. I'm now imagining the implications this would have depending on what goblins she knows and has interacted with, because whether I give her direct ties to the conqueror god or not, she looks enough like him to probably induce fear among her own people. That fear could either make goblinoids immediately dislike her and distance themselves from her entirely, or be revered by her kind and other Maglubiyet worshipers. Both of these possibilities stem from the fact that, based on how she looks, anyone who knows about Maglubiyet might look at her and see her as an extension of him and his will.
I could've sworn we always knew that Marglubiyet had conquered and slaughtered the goblins past gods. All from Volo's guide
It was from before Volo's. What we didn't know is that they came from the feywild
I've always loved the Eberron goblin lore, where they were the original "civilized" race with a huge technologically and magically advanced empire. The fact that you have relics and surviving tribes of this empire, as well as "corrupted" chaotic goblins provides for so many gameplay options. These brownies could actually fit into the Eberron setting really easily as a fey race that that fills a similar niche. Thanks!
This is a really cool video. I almost didn't click the title because it felt like click-bate, and I don't like to watch videos I have no idea what they will be about. However, I liked the growth that Orcs had in 4e with the Manyarrows kingdom actually having farming and diplomacy, and I've been hungry for something more from goblins. So I clicked the video.
And this was perfect. I love the lore and backstory. I read the MoM but I missed this aspect. And I love your new Brownies. This video was incredibly helpful for me understanding the motivations and reason behind goblin society. Thank youl
Honestly i think Pointy Hat should read some Pathfinder 2E. All his ideas are very similar to what they have in that system. LOVE THE VIDS!
This is a really interesting change! The way I've come to diversify goblin society is with my homebrew goddess Benefilaw (Goblin Goddess of Good Humour). With only her and the unnamed Trickster God surviving Maglubiyet's onslaught, she's risen to regain some of her former power and has lured away many goblins to her grace. Beginning with making pacts to humble goblin warlocks, she now has full-blown clerics and high priests under her command with many goblin hideouts now loyal to her. There's a lot of lore I came up with relating to how she's worshipped and the skirmishes between goblins of Maglubiyet and goblins of Benefilaw.
I've also added additional quirks to goblins like giving them a love of pastries and sweets, giving them names derived from habadashery (Like Needlin, Sew, Stringle etc), making many of their cave settlements house talented alchemists that brew healing potions to serve as their main export and having them use buttons as currency. Stuff that gives them the same chaotic, trickster vibe of the feywild and of their folklore whilst not making them universally evil.
All of this sounds so cool ! and really inspiring as well
I am just imagining the Benefilaw goblin hideouts and strongholds' interior spaces looking like quilted wonderlands made with a *goblin grandma's love,* basically picture awsome goblin *"blanket forts"!*
Nice job A.D.! Back in the day (1st ed) goblins for us old people started out as Fey creatures but they were a lot more ferocious than they've evolved into. 4-5 fey goblins back then would rip a 3rd level party to shreds. For being Fey they were immune to charm spells and had better int scores. Could see in total darkness and ohvay! Goblin shamans were tough to defeat because they had better access to spells than a 3rd level cleric did!
The goblin has truly "devolved" since then. Glad you gave them something different. Love the channel Antonio. 😊
Dude this brownie twist is awesome.
I’ve been watching your work for the last couple of days. And I love your twists. And your videos in general.
Keep up with this amazing videos. You are great work