Category:Goblyn: Difference between revisions

Canon Information

This section contains canon info from officially published sources

The goblyn is a race of monsters in the Ravenloft campaign setting. Not to be confused with goblins, goblyns are horrific, degenerate creatures of mostly artificial origins. Evil spellcasters or artifacts may create goblyns through the transformation of humanoids through dark magic. Contrasting with their slavish lack of independence, one of their most infamous characteristics is their savage brutality in combat. They are disfigurers and readily "feast" on the flesh of their victims. The claws and teeth of a goblyn are capable of inflicting such horrific seeming wounds as to drain away Charisma.^[1][2][3]

Goblyns are found in the domain of Forlorn.^[4], where they are the remnants of the former humans of Forfar warped by the Dark Powers. Before its dissolution, goblyns were a common menace in Daglan.^[5]

Goblyns were first introduced in the adventure module Feast of Goblyns.

Homebrew Non-Canon Information

This section contains Homebrew non-canon info, created by fans

Descriptive Text

"The goblyn, Bestia epulum, is native to the forests of Forlorn. This bipedel of roughly human stature and form spends much of its time, curiously enough, putting to ruin this very forest. Make no mistake, this is not random violence on the part of an unthinking brute. The action is perfectly deliberate, although to what end science cannot yet say. The distinguishing feature of the goblyn is its enormous jaw set with teeth that recall nothing so much as those of the shark. Remarkably, the humanoid is sleepless and can sustain itself on any sort of biomass whatsoever. Goblyns, in a parody of the people who formerly inhabited the domain, are creatures of the clan. War, sport, and play are their favoured activities. Torture, combining elements of each, passes among them for art and is held in high esteem. More curious is their fondness, presumably acquired, for playing noughts and crosses. And of course as my face attests, no discussion of goblyns is complete without noting their propensity to feast on the living flesh of those who meet them in battle."

- Professor Abelhous Nicholsi, Professor of Biology at the University of Il Aluk in Exile at Karg, lecturing on the flora and fauna of the great southern forests^[6]

Origins of the species

This section contains Potential-canon info, revealed by the creators from never-published sources

A Word on Goblyns

As an aside, I would like point out that when I speak of "goblyns," I am not speaking of the pitiful and primitive creatures that dwell in caves and forest throughout the Core. No, goblyns are an entirely different breed, unrelated to common goblins. Though they are squalid, little monsters, goblins are natural. They live, reproduce, age, and die, like so many things of this world. Goblyns do not. Unlike the dual-gendered goblins, goblyns are sexless, and while goblins age and die, an unmolested goblyn is practically immortal. Aside from these fundamental differences, goblyns are taller than goblins, have green-brown skin instead of the yellow to red range of goblin skin tones, and have only a fringe of hair at the base of their scalps, while many goblins are quite hirsute.

The confusion between these two groups supposedly dates back to over 900 years ago, according to The Tyrahgaunt Text, a Vaasi history of sorcery. The Tyrahgaunt Text states that an archmagi known as Yrym-Sybarr created the first goblyns from "the dust of a stone from the stars and the green clay that lyveth and the stolen essences of slaves and crymynals and ways secret and the formula of Zetter-Roath." The book records Yrym-Sybarr's words at the success of his experiment as, "Y have succeeded at the makying of a new race. Though the race ys only goblyns, they obey my whyms and delyght yn and desyre only wyckedness." Yrym-Sybarr's unusual Draconic passed into usage with later mages, and soon "goblyn" was the accepted name of the slave race Yrym-Sybarr had created.

Given the unintelligent nature of goblins, many of which still consider sharp rocks the height of invention and fire as terrifying magic, I would normally classify them as sub-human fauna and discuss their activities in the section reserved for commentary on such creature. The goblyns of Forlorn, however, were once human, and thus continue to follow social patterns almost as complex as those of actual humans.

-S^[7]

The Creature

This section contains canon info from officially published sources

A goblyn is a monstrous humanoid^[3] infamous for it "feasting" on the faces of its victims.^[1][2][3] Conceivably a thing of born of the tale telling of Kartakan bards, the existence of the goblyn is no longer disputed, not after the intrepid and harrowing work of Professor Abelhous Nicholsi of the University of Il Aluk and his publication of Flora and Fauna of the Forfarian Forests.

This section contains canon info from officially published sources

The Crown of Souls is the principle, but not he unique, means by which men and twisted into goblyn are created.^[8] . An evil spell may also make goblyns of men.^[9] So created, they are slaves utterly controlled by the masters who create them. Such artificially transformed goblyns have little will of their own, not even starting combat unless told to by their masters.^[1][2][3] Domenic, a Darkonian wizard, was so known for creating and controlling goblyns he received the nickname of the Goblyn Lord.^[10]

The goblyns of Forlorn are an exception. Transformed from the native Forfarians by the Dark Powers at the time Forlorn entered the Mists.^[11][12], Forfarian goblyns freely and viciously attack intruders into that domain. They organize along the same tribal and clan lines of their former human days, sometimes bloodily competing and even warring with each other.^[13] Although still bound by the telepathic command of Tristen Apblanc,^[14], they seem to be capable of betrayal and conspiracy against their master when he is not actively commanding them. Indeed, Herrd ApKie has conspired at least once to break Tristen's control over the goblyns.^[15]

Though they have no clerics or druids, the goblyns of Forlorn recognize only Arawn as their deity.^[16][17] Strangely enough but fortunately for the Forfarian druids, the goblyns of Forlorn become less active when solstices and equinoxes occur.^[18]

John W. Mangrum's Goblyn Lore^[19]

This section contains Potential-canon info, revealed by the creators from never-published sources

Characters with ranks in Knowledge (arcana) can learn more about goblyns. In Forlorn, a Knowledge (local) check reveals the same information. When a character makes a successful skill check, the following lore is revealed, including the information from lower DCs.

• DC 12: This misshapen, leering creature is a goblyn, a humanoid transformed by dark magic into a foul minion of a more powerful master. Goblyns are not actually related to goblinoids in any way, but they share enough similarities that they are often confused for each other. This result reveals all humanoid traits and the goblinoid subtype.

• DC 17: Goblyns are fearsome, frantic combatants. They may startle unprepared foes with a sudden flash of their teeth. Goblyns are most notorious for their habit of biting off chunks of flesh from the face and throat of their victims, a trait goblyns call “feasting.” Goblyn feasting leaves horrific scarring on its survivors.

• DC 22: Goblyns never sleep and are immune to fatigue and sleep effects. They do not feel pain. A goblyn is telepathically linked to its master, and through that master, to all other goblyns the master controls.

References

Dragon Magazine #339

Data from the Ravenloft Catalogue

		Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium I & II Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium I Feast of Goblyns Download Now! Castles Forlorn Denizens of Darkness
		Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium I & II - pp25 Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium I - "Goblyn" Castles Forlorn: The Weeping Lands - p34 Feast of Goblyns - front cover, poster, p5,21,94 Download Now! Denizens of Darkness - p66
		Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium I & II - pp25 Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium I - "Goblyn" Feast of Goblyns - p94 Download Now! Denizens of Darkness - pp66-67
		Ravenloft Third Edition - p121 Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium I & II - pp25 Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium I - "Goblyn" Ravenloft Campaign Setting:Domains and Denizens - pp16-17 Tales of Ravenloft:The House of a Hundred Windows - pp43-51 Feast of Goblyns - p94 Download Now! Castles Forlorn: The Weeping Lands - pp32-36 Denizens of Darkness - pp66-67 I, Strahd, The War Against Azalin - pp192-199