New race: Goblins

[Kalist19]

Now we've all read fantasy novels, and in nearly every fantasy novel out there you will run into goblins in one form or another. I think it would be interesting to let players try to control the weak bodied, weak minded creatures that are most often referred to in books in a manner such as 'Ach lads, we'll take 10 o' em for e'ery 1 o' us them ugly boys stick!'.

Let's take a brief review of the goblin.

Goblins are not strong.
Goblins are not intelligent.
Goblins are not wise.
Goblins are not agile.
Goblins are not hardy.
Goblins ALWAYS attack in packs.
Goblins' main strength is numbers.
Goblins have weak morale, kill less than the majority swiftly or in a very bloody way, and the rest will flee.
Goblins rarely ever have decent equipment, it is usually broken or of very poor quality.
Goblins are weak against divine magic.
Goblins are creatures of evil.
Goblins are not versatile (you never see a goblin thief or mage, etc).
Goblins smell bad.
Goblins are ugly.

Now let's attempt to transfer this into the world of AR. To account for their overal fraility they would have to have poor stats. I would think something along these lines:

Str: 17 Int: 15 Wis: 18 Dex: 17 Con: 17

In order to reflect goblins' "horde" mentality, I would suggest bonuses for goblins grouped together. For instance, goblins gain a 1X bonus toward experience for each goblin in a group (diminishing returns when group = 4+ members). So if there was 1 goblin in the group, he would gain normal XP. 2 goblins in the group, each would gain 2X xp, while the non-goblin third would gain normal XP. 3 goblins in a group would merit 3X normal XP for each goblin.

For each goblin in the group, the goblins gain +1 hit. But to reflect goblins' poor morale, for each group member killed that is a goblin, the surviving goblins receive a penalty of -3 hit -3 dam for a duration of 20 hours.

To reflect goblins' lack of quality armor, they would be restricted to NON-RARE NON-UNIQUE equipment only. Picking up rares or uiniques would zap them and fall to the floor.

Goblins would be weak to holy magic, such as wrath.

Goblins must be evil/chaotic, and can only join the warrior and shaman guilds. When have you ever read a book that had a goblin of another profession?

Goblins would NOT be restricted in who they group with. They can group with any evil player but will ONLY gain the experience bonus and hitroll bonus if grouped with other goblins.

AR has been so micro-oriented (weapon types, combat styles) on 1v1 battles, I think it would be interesting to see what would happen if mass battles were brought into the mix. Goblins are definately not designed for 1v1 combat. A fair fight at level 50 would probably be 2 or 3 goblins vs 1 opponent.

The experience bonus would be enough to help goblins level quickly and I could definately see a 'tribe' system spring from this, as people who don't know eachother but make goblins maintain constant contact in game.

By not restricting goblins to ranking with only their own kind, we minimize their reliance on specific people to be online at any point in time. While this is true for ranking, it is also true for pking. In many books stronger people use goblins as fodder. Couldn't you picture a human dark-knight sending a goblin against a foe first, to test his foe's mettle?

Embrace the idea that is goblin!

[Saegen]

Is there not a goblin thief in the village south of Seringale. Goblins could be extra sneaky, or an added skill for such. I have read they are quite sneaky in all the books ive seen them in. What about different types of goblins? Will there be stronger mountain goblins ect. I dont really like the no rare rule, but no unique would be fine. The mandatory evil/chaotic would restrict there eq already. I think it is a great idea though. GOOD THINKING. Maybe you should make a poll for others to see what they think.

[Jamus]

Wouldn't they get pwned into oblivion? In any PK type scenario, they would get rocked, unless the goblin was really 'smart', and the other was really 'dumb'. Also, add in necromancer (maybe), thief for sure, and maybe some kind of semi-gimped warrior.

How would Goblins be even with everyone else? Right now it just seems that they're a crappy class that ranks fast.

I think it's a good idea, though.

[divsky]

we should let them be samurai too, as long as we're tossing around suggestions that will never be implemented.

[Hrash]

Pbase is too small to implement classes that strive through groups.

[Kalist19]

The idea is that goblins are 'not' equal with everyone else. They are weaker, hence the group fighting (guy + goblin or goblins vs guy). In a pk scenario they could kill someone if the other guy was naked, or they could run around until they could find someone to join them to kill the other guy.

The fast ranking aspect is what I really like, and the ability for them to group with any evils (not just other goblins) is what makes them a viable option. They would be especially useful for newbies, in terms of learning the realms. Sure a goblin in the hands of a newbie might die a lot, but it might also rank a lot. The faster a newbie gets a high ranked character, the faster they learn the realms and the sooner they improve.

It would also be really easy to see all the goblins in AR band together in a player run 'tribe'. This would create camraderie amongst people who might have otherwise never spoken to eachother. This would be nice for people who don't go in chat or read the forum. It would give them a sense of community, and once they get that, man they are hooked.

[Hrash]

I would play again if you guys brought fells and abyssals back :P

[raginggnome]

I agree about the fell abyssals... Need some decent rp event to happen to keep things interesting. Even if it isnt fells and abyssals running around killing shit is getting boring

[Static Impulse]

God, I loved fells and abyssals.... They should be brought back for ol' times sake. :tear:

[Accident-Prone]

On the subject of this.......If they are the only goblin around. I just think they would be hunted down and killed if alone. I think they should be able to hide within caves and the such. To sort of balance it out.
With the same adrenaline restrictions of hide and camo.

Just a thought on a good idea.

[Mr. Forgotten]

Goblins running around other than in the goblin village is a great idea. i like it, they rank fast and survive in groups,maybe they could help others rank fast too in a group so they wouldnt get totally owned. they should be evil only though, like they run around with other evils as like little minions. heh, that would be cool.

[Remmenon]

I think Goblins shouldn't be too gimped in stats. Or if they are, since there isn't a big enough pbase you could have it so that instead of the normal being 1500 for like the first rank, it's like 500 less then the normal human so it's like 1000 and it continues like that. Plus they are reduced to play non magical classes... so they can play warrior, thief, shaman or berzerker ( Though choosing berserker would still be the extra 350 cost). I think it'd be good to have them though. Good for rpin and for people bored with the standard races.

[Davairus]

What about you control all three goblins at once and just use 'become berserker' etc. Imagine the scripting!

become shaman
co sanc berserker
co sanc warrior
become berserker
rage kalist
become warrior
rescue berserker
hobble

[Hrash]

*FART*

[Hrash]

*FART*

[Remmenon]

I think That would be an awesome idea. Like you're like three goblins, That'd be really cool. It'd be like three little gimp dudes that amount to a collective one whole person.. And like when you get down in certain amounts of hp maybe one or two of them could like be incapacitated so then your resources in the fight would be limited.. so like your shaman gets knocked out, or your warrior. And then as you regenerate hp they regain conciousness.
That'd be so sweet.