Hi there! I'm hoping to get some clarification on the Goblin Commoner stats from Tales of the Yawning Portal. The book says "only four of the goblins are warriors. Ten of the other goblins are commoners, but with 3 hit points each and a - 1 reduction to hit and damage compared to the Monster Manual statistics." Is this supposed to be reduction from the Goblin statblock or the commoner statblock? The encounter builder on this site goes off the latter, the only problem is that ignores a lot of the racial traits of goblins (i.e. darkvision) and improves STR/INT/CHA over a regular goblin.
This is common in published adventures, though usually they’re better about at least calling out Darkvision as a correction to add to the commoner/veteran/etc.
The Monster Manual contains stat blocks for common NPC archetypes such as bandits and guards, as well as tips for customizing them. Those tips include adding racial traits from the Player’s Handbook, equipping NPCs with magic items, and swapping armor, weapons, and spells.
If you want to take an NPC stat block and adapt it for a specific monster race, apply the ability modifiers and add the features listed in the NPC Features table. If the NPC’s AC, hit points, attack bonus, or damage changes, recalculate its challenge rating.
Goblin
−2 Str, +2 Dex
Nimble Escape; Small size; darkvision 60 ft.; speaks Common and Goblin
Hi there! I'm hoping to get some clarification on the Goblin Commoner stats from Tales of the Yawning Portal. The book says "only four of the goblins are warriors. Ten of the other goblins are commoners, but with 3 hit points each and a - 1 reduction to hit and damage compared to the Monster Manual statistics." Is this supposed to be reduction from the Goblin statblock or the commoner statblock? The encounter builder on this site goes off the latter, the only problem is that ignores a lot of the racial traits of goblins (i.e. darkvision) and improves STR/INT/CHA over a regular goblin.
The commoner statblock, but that's really noticeably lazy, telling you to reduce hit points, accuracy, and damage, without explaining how or why they occur. Did they even tell you to make the commoners Small, which is why the hit point reduction happens?
There are two valid ways to make a Goblin commoner, and neither of them results in the commoner you seem to be describing, because more changes should occur. DJC provided the way to do it with the DMG rules, and the MM has a distinct method, listed here: https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/monsters#RacialTraits
So using the commoner as a base, the DMG rules mean:
Convert to Small, which means its hit dice change from d8s to d6s, so since commoners only have 1 hit die, -1 hit point.
-2 Str, so assuming you let the commoner keep their club, -1 to hit and damage.
+2 Dex, so +1 AC, and if you let the commoner carry a dagger, +1 to hit and damage.
Add Darkvision 60 ft, Nimble Escape, and the Goblin language.
MM rules:
Convert to Small, but this doesn't change its hit dice.
Add Darkvision 60 ft, Nimble Escape, Fury of the Small, and the Goblin language.
Note how the MM rules don't change hit points or ability scores, and the DMG rules only work for races explicitly listed in the DMG - there's no way to figure out how they work in general.
Right, but quick n dirty “take an X and reduce 3 HP” pops up very often in published campaigns, despite not following the DMG stat blocks guidance. It is what it is.
I honestly think at some point shortly after release the writers gave up on having rigid rules for monster stat blocks. You already have players and monsters of the same race having different traits and humanoid power levels are all over the place so it's not worth the hassle of pretending it's an exact science. Especially for a stat block like commoner that literally has no noteworthy abilities, the racial traits are often overkill for what's probably a no-name redshirt character.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
The Forum Infestation (TM)
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Hi there! I'm hoping to get some clarification on the Goblin Commoner stats from Tales of the Yawning Portal. The book says "only four of the goblins are warriors. Ten of the other goblins are commoners, but with 3 hit points each and a - 1 reduction to hit and damage compared to the Monster Manual statistics." Is this supposed to be reduction from the Goblin statblock or the commoner statblock? The encounter builder on this site goes off the latter, the only problem is that ignores a lot of the racial traits of goblins (i.e. darkvision) and improves STR/INT/CHA over a regular goblin.
It goes off the commoner stat block, so yeah, they don't have the same features as the normal goblin stat blocks do
Find my D&D Beyond articles here
This is common in published adventures, though usually they’re better about at least calling out Darkvision as a correction to add to the commoner/veteran/etc.
dndbeyond.com forum tags
I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
Front the DMG:
Its off the commoner stats as called out specifically.
The commoner statblock, but that's really noticeably lazy, telling you to reduce hit points, accuracy, and damage, without explaining how or why they occur. Did they even tell you to make the commoners Small, which is why the hit point reduction happens?
There are two valid ways to make a Goblin commoner, and neither of them results in the commoner you seem to be describing, because more changes should occur. DJC provided the way to do it with the DMG rules, and the MM has a distinct method, listed here: https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/monsters#RacialTraits
So using the commoner as a base, the DMG rules mean:
MM rules:
Note how the MM rules don't change hit points or ability scores, and the DMG rules only work for races explicitly listed in the DMG - there's no way to figure out how they work in general.
Right, but quick n dirty “take an X and reduce 3 HP” pops up very often in published campaigns, despite not following the DMG stat blocks guidance. It is what it is.
dndbeyond.com forum tags
I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
I honestly think at some point shortly after release the writers gave up on having rigid rules for monster stat blocks. You already have players and monsters of the same race having different traits and humanoid power levels are all over the place so it's not worth the hassle of pretending it's an exact science. Especially for a stat block like commoner that literally has no noteworthy abilities, the racial traits are often overkill for what's probably a no-name redshirt character.
The Forum Infestation (TM)