D&D 3e/3.5e/d20The forum for conversations specifically related to the rules and procedures of Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition, 3.5 Edition, or any fantasy game using the d20 system or a variant thereof (commercially published or not).
In this campaign I'm running (God I love players that challenge me), I have one guy whose character is on the ropes, and in danger of winding up dead in the next few sessions. I've spoken to him about it ooc, and he's cool with it, gets that it's plot related, nothing personal, etc. Anyway, he's already working on his next character, and came to me with an interesting concept.
He wants to play a group of goblins. Obviously, he's not going to be 4-5 Goblins as listed in the bestiary, but he wanted me to come up with a stat block for a group to act as one.
I'm thinking +6 dex, +2 wis, -2 con, -2 cha, -2 str, slight build, the ability to wield 4 small weapons or 8 tiny weapons, and the ability to separate into 4 small creatures, each a replicate of the pack's abilities (except for separating) at 1/4 HP, with a loss of 1 level if one them dies, and the permanent loss of that one's HP and attacks until another level is gained or 1000 gp/level is spent, at which point another goblin joins the group. Medium size as a group, 30 foot speed, darkvision 60, and inability to be flanked.
I think that's a pretty awesome idea and a pretty good way to set it up for him rules wise. As long as he doesn't have a bunch of goblin spellcasters it can't be too disastrous.
But to play an honest to goodness "group-o-[critter]"?
Disallow any obvious exploits (i.e. Multi-Casting).
I recommend only giving the group 1 set of Class levels. So it might be "four goblins" but it's still only a "level 6 Fighter" or whatever.
Maybe when they split (or die) they get effective penalties to their level (other than HP, which is simply divided evenly-ish).
So 3 or 4 together function with level 6 Fighter stats. A group of 2 functions with level 5 Fighter stats, and Singles function at level 4 Fighter stats.
As for HP, that gets tricky. I wouldn't necessarily kill a goblin if reduced to 3/4 HP, as normal PC's aren't dead until dropped to -10.
Then again, NOT killing at least 1 by the time they/it drops to just 1 HP wouldn't work either.
Maybe have the first 1/2 be "communal" HP, and the 2nd half be 'solo' hp.
So our pretend level 6 Fighter has 40 HP. It would have to take 25 damage before any goblin dies (20 for the Communal half, and 5 for a quarter of the remaining 20). The 2nd goblin dies with just 10 HP remaining, the 3rd dies when down to just 5, but the last one only dies at -10+CON (or you can factor the -10+CON into the Individual portions).
Yeah, see, I was thinking about the communal HP thing, and honestly, it seems to me to work better if it really is one big communal pool, with the fluff being that they keep each other going until they just can't any more.
As for multi-casting...yeah, I'll have to address that. I'm thinking that each goblin will have to be responsible for separate portions, as no single one of them can keep track of the entire spell.
They definitely only get one set of class levels, though.
Cool idea. Dragon compendium had a race with multiple bodies. May be worth a read for ideas.
Casting will be a problem. Limit the actions to the normal number, unless your group is very high op. Beware of 4 goblins holding a wand, as damage can stack very rapidly if they can use it 4 times per round by passing it after using it.
Would these goblins even BE casters? Goblins in Pathfinder tend to take a dim view of learning, as that involves reading and writing, and WRITING STEALS YOUR SOUL!!!
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If he makes them a spellcaster and tries to do 4 wand cheese or something just don't allow it, don't spend a million years trying to figure out how to balance it.
Casting will be a problem. Limit the actions to the normal number, unless your group is very high op. Beware of 4 goblins holding a wand, as damage can stack very rapidly if they can use it 4 times per round by passing it after using it.
Yeah; like I said, the fluff will be that the goblins are individually incapable of casting the whole thing, so they have to act collectively to cast.
Go nuts xD I'll post a full work-up for them over in homebrew and link it here; that's probably what I should have done in the first place. Let me know how it (they) treat you?
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[PF] Group o' Goblins
