Ok, I'll confess, I'm obsessed. I've barely been able to run much D&D since getting Flee, Mortals! and so I'm of course a little worried that I'm singing the book's praises based on impression alone. But I think it's really good, and I feel relatively confident in that assessment.
FM is a giant book with tons of monsters, but as you might know from reading this blog, I amass monster books like crazy because I tend to prefer weird and unusual monsters to fit with my genre-heresy. One of my favorite adaptations I've done in D&D is to add the Taheen from Stephen King's Dark Tower series. These animal-headed humanoids (actually monstrosities in a more recent re-design) are sort of embodiments of the banality of evil, and so I built a version of them that come from the Shadowfell and are related to the Nagpa. But another key to their aesthetic is their use of modern (as in late 20th/early 21st century) technology, such as automatic weapons, cars and trucks, and they work in office buildings with a kind of 1970s/80s aesthetic, drinking foul "coffee" to keep alert while they doom people on spreadsheets.
They're a kind of intrusion of the real world upon the fantastical, but doing so actually makes them otherworldly to places with wizard towers and dragons and such.
The point is, between their equipment and overall vibe, it's not terribly easy to just use existing stat blocks to represent them. But I long ago became pretty comfortable with homebrewing monsters, so that's what I do.
But I think FM has kind of stepped up to the stage and challenged any monster designer to try to do better - make more dynamic monsters with more interesting abilities, but without the kind of unchecked complexity that some of my earlier homebrew designs have fallen into. FM monsters have a clear role in an encounter and are "action-oriented" to give them options in combat, but they're (theoretically) simple enough to run in combat that the DM doesn't get bogged down.
While I might do a future post in which we look at how to make a "Taheen" chapter similar to the ones in FM for Orcs and Kobolds and Time Raiders, I want instead to look here at some of the basic creatures in classic D&D creature cohorts.
And what's more classic than Goblins?
The first thing you'll notice when looking at the Goblin chapter in FM is that there is no stat block that is just called "Goblin." None of these creatures is the "basic, no-frills" Goblin that represents the quintessence of their lineage.
There are fourteen stat blocks in the Goblin chapter, though we can set aside three of these, which are Retainers and Companions - designed to join and fight alongside the party rather than for our party to fight against.
One of these is the named Goblin Villain, Queen Bargnot. She is a Leader character (thus designed to be a boss who has lackeys that fight alongside her, with abilities that can make use of or help those lackeys).
We're not ready for her yet, though - at CR 3, and with an expectation of lackeys, a 1st level party isn't going to face her. Probably only a party that has made it to tier 2 is going to be able to fight her without cheesing the battle by isolating her.
There are also some creatures here who are not goblins - little flying beasts called Skitterlings the goblins use as pets, and giant war spiders they ride as mounts.
Ultimately, what do we want to look at as the "equivalent" to the standard Goblin in the Monster Manual? Those guys are CR 1/4, and while they don't do much more damage or have much more health than the CR 1/8 Kobolds, they have higher AC, meaning they're more likely to dodge an attack or two and live to fight another round.
The only CR 1/4 Goblin that isn't a Minion (which have special rules and don't really have equivalents in the MM outside of "send a bunch of low-CR monsters against the party that will probably die without ever hitting anything") is the Goblin Warrior.
So, we'll consider this our "equivalent," that in theory could be used to replace a MM Goblin in any planned combat.
Our Goblin Warrior has an AC of 15 and 9 HP. Most 1st level characters start with an attack bonus of +5, meaning that they should be hitting a creature like this about 55% of the time. Longbows and the most powerful 1-handed weapons use d8s for damage, so weapon-wielders will often hit for 4.5+3 for their ability modifier, or 7.5. Relying on cantrips means less than that - 5.5 for Eldritch Blast or Fire Bolt, 4.5 for Shocking Grasp or Ray of Frost, or 3.5 for Acid Splash or Mind Sliver. So, if our goblin is dodging or getting missed about half the time by a 1st level player, it'll probably take on average about 4 offensive abilities to take one of these down.
That's all very basic, though. What can this guy do to our party?
Well, first off, FM Goblins have "Crafty," which causes them not to provoke opportunity attacks. That makes them very mobile in combat, so they can strike in and then back away. Warriors also get Fleet Foot, which lets them move up to half their speed as a reaction if a creature misses them with a melee attack made within 5 feet.
Also, FM goblins have climb speeds, which isn't quite as powerful as Fly speeds to evade melee, but does make their mobility a little more potent.
The Warrior has a Shortsword and a Shortbow attack, both of which have a +4 to hit and deal 1d6+2 damage.
This means it's usually going to miss anyone wearing any real armor (even a Rogue with only an AC of 15 is still only getting hit 50% of the time) and the damage is probably not taking down even a 1st level character with one hit.
Now, how is this different from the MM "Goblin?"
AC is the same, HP is 2 higher (from 7). Attacks are the same. The MM Goblin has Nimble Escape, which allows it to Disengage or Hide as a bonus action. The FM ones does not need to disengage because of its Crafty trait, but it will not be able to slip into the shadows and hide. The MM does not have the reaction to slip away after a missed attack.
The FM one has +4 to Acrobatics and Stealth, whereas the MM one has only a +6 to Stealth (evidently getting expertise).
So, what's the difference in how these play?
Ultimately, and appropriately, not a whole lot. They can both strike equally well in melee or at range, and are good at getting away from players who confront them in melee (playing tactically, they'll prefer range, as there's no real benefit for them to be up in melee).
The FM one will be a little harder to pin down, though: the MM one still only has its normal 30 feet of movement, so even if it disengages, it must dash to get outside of most player characters' movement speed and avoid a melee hit, and if it's dashing, it's not hindering the party much.
The FM one (which is listed as a Skirmisher) gets an extra boost of movement thanks to its reaction, meaning it can potentially move 45 feet on a round - though only gets that extra 15 if something misses it (which, as we established, should happen about half of the time a level 1 player attacks them). If the environment has things to climb, their 20 foot climb speed can also help them get away from melee players.
But none of this seems overpowered - they'll be a pain for melee characters, potentially, but they don't have enough movement to run in, attack, and run out of a character's range.
One thing opportunity attacks do as a rule is encourage static battlefields - you stand your ground because you don't want to give the monsters an extra swing at you, and the monsters don't want to do that for the same reason.
Both of these goblins get around this, and are likely to keep the battlefield flowing - though again, I'd argue that in both cases, if the goblins stick to ranged combat, this won't do much to counteract it.
Here's the scenario I see the difference in design creating different encounters:
If the party and the goblins are ducking behind cover and shooting at one another, it might become something of a stalemate where the only way to fight is to hold actions and attack when a foe pops out of cover. This is, of course, what a charging Barbarian is for, but these Goblin Warriors could also potentially break up a stalemate like this as well - they can run across the gap and get into melee with ranged characters, even if it takes their dash action, but it's a little safer for them because they can potentially get away from an attacker who misses while your Wizard might be forced to use their action to disengage.
I don't think the FM Goblin Warrior is really much more complicated than the MM Goblin to run - really you just need to remember the reaction, but you get to forget about the bonus action.
I think when we look at another creature type, we might go a little higher-CR to get a sense of where the complexity comes in with more dynamic monsters. I think I'd like to look next time at Giants.
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