d20 Monster of the Week: Goblin Babies
As promised…
I wasn’t sure how to handle their trip modifier. Tiny things with low strength are incredibly ineffective at tripping, but there are so many of these things in a swarm that they’d effectively be giving each other a ton of ‘aid another’ bonuses. I ended up treating them as size Large (they take up that much space, after all) to reflect their numbers.
The material enclosed in the box below is released via the Open Game License.
Goblin Child Swarm
| Size/Type: | Tiny Humanoid (Swarm) |
| Hit Dice: | 3d8 (13 hp) |
| Initiative: | +6 |
| Speed: | 15 ft. (3 squares) |
| Armor Class: | 14 (+2 size, +2 Dex), touch 14, flat-footed 12 |
| Base Attack/Grapple: | +2/- |
| Attack: | Swarm (1d6) |
| Full Attack: | Swarm (1d6) |
| Space/Reach: | 10 ft./0 ft. |
| Special Attacks: | Pickpocket, Trip |
| Special Qualities: | Half damage from slashing and piercing, darkvision 60 ft., swarm traits |
| Saves: | Fort +3, Ref +3, Will -1 |
| Abilities: | Str 4, Dex 14, Con 10, Int 8, Wis 7, Cha 8 |
| Skills: | Hide +5, Move Silently +5, Sleight of Hand +6 |
| Feats: | Improved Initiative, Stealthy |
| Environment: | Temperate Plains |
| Organization: | Solitary, Nursery (2-4 swarms) |
| Challenge Rating: | 2 |
| Treasure: | None |
| Alignment: | Usually chaotic evil |
| Advancement: | None |
| Level Adjustment: | — |
Combat
A swarm of goblin children deals 1d6 points of damage to any creature whose space it occupies at the end of its move.
Distraction (Ex)
Any living creature that begins its turn with a swarm in its space must succeed on a DC 11 Fortitude save or be nauseated for 1 round. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Pickpocket (Ex)
If a swarm of goblin children ends its turn occupying the space of another creature, it may make a sleight of hand check (DC 20) to grab a small object from that creature as a free action. The target may make an opposed Spot check to notice the attempt.
Trip (Ex)
A goblin child swarm that nauseates an opponent with its distraction ability can attempt to trip the opponent (+1 check modifier) as a free action without making a touch attack or provoking an attack of opportunity. If the attempt fails, the opponent cannot react to trip the goblin child swarm.
I’m thinking that maybe a DC 15 Intimidate check in Goblin would disperse one of these…
