But they are still entirely too predictable. In the interest of alleviating that, here's a table that can give them a bit of variety. Any time there is a need for a low hit dice human-shaped creature in your games, use the table below to create a quick, appropriate humanoid.
| 1d6 | HD | AC | Move | Morale | Language | Height | Damage | Special |
| 1 | 1/2 | 7 | 60' | 6 | Kobold | 3' | Weapon-1 | Small; hate gnomes |
| 2 | 1-1 | 6 | 60' | 7 | Goblin | 4' 6" | Weapon | -1 to hit in daylight |
| 3 | 1 | 6 | 120' | 8 | Orc | 6' | Weapon | -1 to hit in daylight |
| 4 | 1+1 | 5 | 90' | 8 | Hobgoblin | 6' 6" | Weapon | +1 to hit if chief present |
| 5 | 2 | 5 | 90' | 8 | Gnoll | 7' | Weapon+1 | Wield 2-handed weapons |
| 6 | 3 | 5 | 90' | 9 | Bugbear | 8' | Weapon+1 | Surprise on 1-3 |
The table above might produce odd results if you run too literally with it; you could easily have a 1/2 HD creature 8' tall. This would probably be a thin, wispy type of humanoid. Likewise, a 3' type with 3 HD could be stocky almost to the point of being barrel-shaped.
Of course, older D&D never had monster types without some kind of leaders. Only 3 HD humanoids should be considered truly independent. For the remainder, the following chart should be used.
| 1d4 | Leader | Bodyguards |
| 1 | 9 HP / 2 hit dice | 1-6: 6 HP / 1+1 hit dice |
| 2 | 15 HP / 4 hit dice, +2 to damage | 1/group: 8 HP, +1 to damage |
| 3 | 22 HP / 5 hit dice, +2 to damage | 1-4: 3d6 HP / 4 hit dice |
| 4 | 16 HP / 3 hit dice | N/A |
If the above tables give "bodyguards" more powerful than the leader, this may call for a "Klingon promotion" for one of them.
Because I like you, here's another chart to determine how your new humanoids look.
| 1d6 | Skin | Pattern | Coloration | Head Shape |
| 1 | Smooth skin | Solid (1 color) | Red | Human |
| 2 | Hairy skin | Striped (2 colors) | Orange | Canine |
| 3 | Completely furred | Mottled (2 colors) | Yellow | Feline |
| 4 | Scaled | Different torso (2 colors) | Green | Porcine |
| 5 | Feathered | Multi-hued (3 colors) | Brown | Serpentine |
| 6 | Exoskeleton | Iridescent (2 colors) | Grey | Avian |
So there you have it: quick replacements for humanoids that still fit in most OD&D, classic and advanced old-school games.
Thank you for the table. I like to think of goblinoids as a race unto themselves with a variety of shapes and sizes. Just as goblins and orcs and uruk-hai are all sort of the same creature in Tolkien (some are just bigger and meaner), I like this idea that greenskins are all from the same family. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI often re-skin goblins/orcs/hobgoblins/etc. as other races. Recently, I had my players fight a tribe of "ratlings" in the sewers under a city. The ratlings were just re-skinned goblins because, really, what's the difference mechanically?
ReplyDeleteI made some similar tables for generating random "goblins" (i.e., everything from kobold-like to ogre mage-equivalent) in my Ruins of Ebidoria campaign, currently languishing unloved in boxes stuffed with maps and notes. I'm going to steal your "appearance" chart, because I like the idea of "goblins" resembling Hieronymus Bosch devils. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThese are funny tables. I would add one more column to appearance;
ReplyDeleteFiddly Bits
1-tailed, 2-horned, 3-fanged, 4-clawed, 5- nothing, 6-roll 2 more times and combine