
Goblin Fights in D&D Are the Worst - jordanpg
https://kotaku.com/goblin-fights-in-d-d-are-the-worst-1822301602
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setr
This seems like its really a fault of a poor DM; at the very least you can
fudge some rules to make simple combat simpler (ie goblins share initiative),
and of course, avoid summoning them when the moods not right.

And you hardly have to go to the length of _explanation_ to make them more
interesting: give them scouts, a simple power structure, basic tech
(stick+stone spear, carts, etc) and you have more than enough justification to
pull more interesting fights out them. A goblin runs, presumably informs some
leader, and soon you get a swarm out. You don't need to explain this; rather
its what you'd _expect_ to happen, if you saw a goblin with a scope or
something.

I mean, it doesn't really matter. Its trivial to fudge the lore on the fly,
and to skip dull encounters entirely. I think they still hold value in terms
of flavor (territorial control and general threat of the area), and for giving
players a way to acknowledge growth (compare lvl 1 fights vs lvl 10 with a
horde).

Actively dreading them, I think, is the result of an overly mechanical DM.
You're basically operating like a CRPG would, incapable of gauging whether a
horde _should_ attack, stuck with whatever the dice rolls.

And hell, fudge the spawn roll. Interrupt the fight with a dragon. Force
tactics onto them, by "accident": a group of goblins was ahead of the players,
and a group behind, when they stumbled into the players. An accidental
surrounding, and you keep your braindead goblins.

Worst case scenario: Claim new species and beef up their stats/int and make
them as threatening as you want, while keeping general goblin lore.

They're too damn simple a monster to hate. You can do almost anything you want
with them and get away with it

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jhbadger
Not to overthink it too much, but the idea that goblins are hardly more
intelligent than rats (despite the game stats) doesn't really make sense in-
universe. They can use weapons! Maybe they aren't as intelligent as
humans/elves, but they are more than dumb animals.

