Goblin

[Amanojyaku]

Goblins are the tiny green monkeys often seen scrambling in the wake of an Ork warband, appropriating discarded equipment and revising it for their own use. Where they originally came from is lost to time; most simply take them for a race designed by the Syrne to assist the Orks in their weak areas. The Goblins themselves certainly aren't telling, though some wits are quick to point out that they probably don't understand the concept of "origin spheres" at all.

Whatever their origin, Goblins have a knack for technology, with an especially notable instinct for getting the hell away when something's about to go haywire in a boomy way. They have a distinct affinity for explosives, which is all the more notable given their general cowardice.

Physical Characteristics
Average Height: 1.1-1.4m
Average Weight: 45-58kg
Languages: Trade, Orkish
Common Personality Traits: Cunning, cowardly, individualistic, argumentative, pyromania
Common Physical Traits: Leathery skin, sinewy physique, ululating shriek, large mouth, big ears
Example Names: Dwingvatt, Squee, Toede, Oy Grot, Meme

Racial Traits
Characteristic Bonus: +1 to Dexterity or Strength
Skill Bonus: +1 to Tech-Use and Stealth
Power: Run Like Frak: You begin play with the Evasion feat, and treat your Dexterity as two higher when using it.
Size: 2

Racial Feats

Ankle Shanker [Goblin]
The bigger they are, the harder they catch a ratatosk when you cut the tendons out of their heels. You take no penalty when making a Called Shot to a larger creature's legs, and add the difference in Size as a static bonus to the damage roll when you do.

Big Banga [Goblin]
Once per scene, when making an attack with the Blast quality, you can increase the value of that quality by 1. You can do this twice per scene at Level 3, and three times per scene at Level 5.

Like. FRAK. [Goblin]
You can Dodge attacks from a weapon with the Blast quality, regardless of whether you are the original target.

Hobnail Fewmaster [Goblin, Paragon]
Bigger is better, so the opposite must be true as well, right? Right? Well, either way, Goblins seem to think so. Gain +2 Size, and you can have up to can have up to six dots in Stealth, Intimidation, and Command.

Leatherhead [Goblin]
You're comfortable in extremely hot or cold weather, and gain a free raise on all (physical) tests made to resist poison (including the Toxic property) or disease. However, you take a check on all Mental tests.

Physical Qualities

Goblins are small, strangely proportioned humanoids, slightly larger than Halflings on average with somewhat overlarge hands and feet. They have leathery, often green- or red-hued skin and coarse hair that tends to run the gamut of colors common among humanoids. Their faces are vaguely simian, usually with flat noses and large ears, and very wide mouths filled with sharp teeth that often include obvious tusks. Goblins have equal-opportunity facial hair, making it almost imposssible to tell males from females.

Most Goblins dress sparingly, favoring utilitarian clothing like leather aprons or loincloths, whatever will preserve decency while also not trapping heat and moisture against their skin, traits common to see among those traveling with Orks. "Civilized" Goblins similarly favor low-quality clothing that wears comfortably and durably, but still chafe when made to wear classier clothes. Even dressed to the nines, though, a Goblin won't be caught dead wearing shoes, as their bare feet are often more hard-wearing than any cobbler could beat.

Goblins live in warrens of nearing on hundreds of individuals, with a clan-based structure. Multiple births are very rare, but Goblins have a short gestation period and fast recovery, allowing numbers to be raised quickly all the same. Goblins reach adulthood around the age of five, and don't live terribly long lives.

Playing a Goblin

Goblins are loud, boisterous, and viciously stupid, but with a brutal cunning that makes them dangerous all the same. They never seem to sit still, always scrambling about each other, working on something, or generally making a nuisance of themselves, which combined with most Goblins looking almost exactly the same makes it very hard to figure out how many are in a given area. They're generally pretty eager to rile berks up and start them fighting... their friends, who are often bigger and stronger than the Goblins themselves.

Like Orks, Goblins favor simple, straightforward designs with reliable results. Even more so, they also have a liking for small, easily hidden weapons, like knives... or grenades. While they certainly uphold the "bigger is better" philosophy of their Ork counterparts, Goblins are less enthralled by enormous heavy rifles and artillery cannons than by flamers and high explosives. No Goblin loadout is considered complete without an assault vest positively festooned with grenades of all kinds, even if the "plan" is a quiet assassination; when all else fails, Plan Ten Gazillion Cluster Frag Grenades Used All At Once is pretty much a sure shot.

Goblins are rather impressionable, and often parrot similar ideals to other races they share space with. Usually, this means Orks, with the added bonus that compared to them, Goblins are nasty, cheating little grots. A fight involving a Goblin usually ends with grenades thrown into trash-talking mouths, when the sneaky berk doesn't just insert pointy metal things into sensitive areas of anatomy. With that said, Goblins trailing along with Ork warbands are usually kept around to maintain equipment, with their natural awareness of how things work.

Goblin Heroes

Once a lowly Goblin mechanic, Slobad had the misfortune of catching the attention of the Metal Caste, particularly their leader, Por'Tifex. What began as a simple experiment in testing the limits of artificial nervous attachments ended with a pathetic, broken quadruple amputee. In exchange for (and in order to continue) his service as a test subject, however, the Metal Caste scientists decided that they had the technology to rebuild him. With the use of mostly cold steel and not one jot more of necrodermis than absolutely necessary, they did just that. They made him stronger, faster, smarter... okay, maybe not smarter. But he's definitely a cyborg, though!

For most Goblins, noun declensions and proper conjugation is a protean task... but Crix is much smarter than most Goblins. After becoming the first Goblin in known history to count past two (coining the term "a whole bunch" in the process), her mind expanded by leaps and bounds, ultimately bringing her beyond her family's lowly station as Izzet tech-monkeys. Now the only Goblin remotely near Niv-Mizzet's inner circle, she takes to the field to do her own R&D, a true anomaly among magewrights.

On some worlds, Goblins are among the lowest of the low, the greatest honor they can conceive of being "eaten by a dragon." Meme is not one of those Goblins... rather than being eaten by a dragon, her grandam slept with one! With heavy claws that help fantastically for digging, she's managed to burrow her way under the spaceport at the base of the mountain and on to the greatest adventure no Goblin ever dreamed of.