Goblins are, without a doubt, a staple of Dungeons and Dragons. They can range from the creepy and slimy, to the goofy and comical. I know from personal experience that it is easy to fall into the same “boblin the goblin” trope. That’s why we’re going to give you seven different goblins from media for your next Dungeons and Dragons game.
Origins
Goblins have persisted in stories for hundreds of years. While we aren’t sure exactly where the term “goblin” comes from, the etymology of the word brings back several interesting fun facts:
- Some point to Gob (Ghob in some instances), the king of the gnomes. His underlings would be nicknamed Gob-lings.
- The word might have originated from the Anglo-French word for kobold!
Another intriguing thing about these kobold cousins is that they were originally more mischievous and tricky, rather than the baby-eating and cave dwelling monsters we are familiar with today. You can even find them getting up to no good in some tales in the free Brothers Grimm collection here or for purchase on amazon here.
In DnD 5e, Goblins are from the Feywild and were somehow created by Hobgoblins to act as scouts. Then between now and then, they slipped into the material plane to cause havoc and destruction. Without further fuss, here are our 7 Different Goblins Guaranteed To Rouse Your Players
1. The Great Goblin from The Hobbit
This is a classic example that I am sure many of us are familiar with. The Great Goblin was a ruler of goblins (with Tolkien’s translation rendering them to be more like weak orcs) that lived under the Misty Mountains.
When you put this into your game, there would be a ton of different opportunities to role play and world build for your campaign. Instead of using “The Great Goblin” directly, you could use him as a template character for designing your own menacing monarch.
2. Green Goblin
The villain from the Spider Man Trilogy Series might be a bit more from the superhero genre, but is ripe for the taking and implementation for your next game.
Imagine a genius npc that is cursed by a spellcaster or the BBEG in your game. During the day, he is a beloved artificer that helps the party and his community, and at night, he morphs into a hideous creature that uses his intelligence to torment the party with magial weapons of destruction. This Jekyll and Hyde storyline is a classic if done correctly.
3. Jareth the Goblin King
For our second serving of crowned goblins, may I recommend the famous portrayal of Jareth by the late David Bowie? The 1986 film Labyrinth is a classic film about a young woman whisked off to a land far away and forced to traverse and solve a complex and intricate labyrinth by the time 13 hours pass or risk loosing her little brother. Does this not already sound like the plot of a Dungeons and Dragons campaign?
Goblins are often compared to that of faeries and other magical fae. This case is no exception. If you wanted to implement this, I recommend taking your players to the Feywild where they would have to either assist a young woman in a similar predicament, or spin it in a way that your Jareth can be an Archfey with a problem with your party. This could be an awesome filler episode for your adventure if you find yourself with a player missing. They’re kidnapped by the Goblin Archfey and send your party in to save them!
4. Puck
Puck is a character from A Midsummer Night’s Dream by the famous William Shakespeare (who I personally think would be down bad for dungeons and dragons). In that play, Puck is a servant to the King of Goblins, and when he isn’t doing his bidding, he is very mischievous.
I personally believe that Puck would be very useful as a red herring for parties that do a lot of traveling. Perhaps the horses were untied from the wagon or a sleeping bag is found full of mud. You could even have him steal an important quest item from the crew as they sleep, making for an easy side quest.
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5. Styx
Styx from the video game series Of Orcs and Men, is your classic assassin rogue archetype. Not all goblins have to be goofy and incompetent.
The BBEG could hire a goblin assassin to come after the party, with the big reveal being that he’s apart of an organization of goblin assassins. This would be a nice change of pace from the usual ambush or cave adventure.
6. GripHook
I should first say that while J.K. Rowling’s work is a piece of fiction loved by all around the world, but there is a lot of problems with the antisemitic depiction of these goblins. You can read more about that in this article here. Although, we are not going to focus on that today, we are going to discuss what I think is much more interesting: Goblins in the work industry.
While the Goblin stat-block in 5e considers the creatures to be Neutral Evil, I am of the opinion that the DM has the last say about these sort of matters. In this instance, I would steer them towards Lawful Evil. My favorite implementation is to set them as guild masters, causing a bit of mayhem while keeping things running smoothly.
7. Grenzo, Dungeon Warden
While not too knowledge of the game Magic the Gathering, I did very much enjoy the artwork for my man Grenzo. It has so much personality and he’s out there in the dungeon below the castle in my own homebrew game.
I think he could lean either way in terms of a protagonist or antagonist in your games. Either letting the party sneak out of prison after treating as a equal, or withholding food from those who treat him cruelly. Either way, Grenzo has a special place in my heart, even if I don’t understand the card’s ability.
Summary
There you have it! Seven new and fun characters to add to your games at home. I’d even recommend a couple of these to play as PC’s for one shots or long term games if you found any of them interesting. I recommend finding the statblock and looking into it in the Monster Manual. If you want to read more, go to our homepage and checking out the other articles we have, you can do that here.
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Resources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Styx:_Master_of_Shadows
https://www.ranker.com/list/movies-about-goblins/calistylie
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Goblin
Featured Image: The Nightmare, by Henry Fuseli
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