D&D Creature Feature: Goblins

Player: I cast Hold Person! DC14.

DM: It fails. He starts chargi…

Player: HEY! You haven’t rolled the save yet.

DM: I know...

Welcome to the first instalment of “Creature Feature”, where each episode we will dissect a D&D 5e monster and see what makes it tick. The very first enemy players new to D&D in 5th edition most likely met as they rode their cart towards Phandalin in the Lost Mine Starter Set, were Goblins. So, it felt fitting to kick things off by grinding down this iconic monster family, which has undergone significant changes in the new rules.  

The New(ish) 2025 D&D Goblin Family

The 2014 Monster Manual featured 2 different Goblins, the standard critter at CR1/4 and a tougher Goblin Boss at CR1. Both of them have returned in the 2025 MM, beefier, stabbier, and have even brought along 2 new friends who we’ll meet in a moment. But first, let’s check out what has changed in the family and what has stayed the same.

The same is the AC and the stat block, the Goblin, AC15, now known as the Goblin Warrior and the Goblin Boss, AC17, only saw a DEX buff from 14 to 15… which mechanically makes no difference. They both still have the Nimble Escape bonus action allowing them to Hide or Disengage, more on that later, and the boss still has the annoying ability to swap places with a nearby ally using the Redirect Attack reaction though now it specifies a limit of small or medium creatures so no more “Ogre” meat shields.

In the changes column, the most obvious for the Warrior is its HP being buffed from 7 to 10, making it harder for low-level characters to one-shot them. For the boss, it is a very decent offensive upgrade. Firstly, they removed the Javelin, which as a strength-based attack was rarely used in favour of a short bow. The multi-attack was boosted by not only allowing this bow to be used twice, but also removing the Disadvantage on the second attack that cursed the 2014 version. On top of that, both the Warrior and the Boss can now also add an extra d4 to all damage rolls if the attack was made with advantage… can you see where this is going?  

The Goblin Boss is a Jerk... Incoming attack!? SWAPPSIES! ...Splat.

Now sometimes as a DM you just wanna throw a PILE of nasty little critters at a party, and even a CR1/4 Goblin is too much to multiply for a low-level party. Enter, the new Goblin Minion. They are almost identical to the warrior, but came late to the war party after all the good gear was taken, and the only thing left was a pile of rusty daggers. They still can nimbly escape… if they last that long, as they also have only 7HP, but without and gear they are CR1/8, AC12 and can only poke you for 1d4+2 annoyance damage. Basically you’ll use them to mob-swarm the adventurers or surround the Gobbo Boss so they can use their Redirect Attack Reaction to use these guys as living splatter shields.

Rounding out the family is the new(ish) Goblin Hexer. I believe they first appeared in 4th Edition but have made a return to 5th to add some misleading magic to your Goblin gangs. While I try to use my own words rather than the MM in most cases, I just love the description of these whack-balls so much here it is verbatim as I think it sums up well how you should role-play them... “Goblin hexers use flashy and disruptive magic. Many goblin hexers are theatrical, dressing and behaving in exaggerated mimicry of archmages.” At CR3 they have more than twice the HP of the Boss, can deal a painful 2d8+3 psychic damage twice per turn, get a decent stat boost and a fun little reaction that is sure to tick off your players no-end called Jinx. One per round, they can force a DC13 WIS save, which if failed, causes the attack to miss. Nice! …or Nasty if you ain’t the DM. Chuck in your new favourite spell from Spell Focus last week, B/D, the Buffing Faire Fire and the hilariously fun classics Grease and Minor Illusion, and goblin goody raids just got a whole lot more chaotic… just like they should be.

What do you need? -- Goblins. Lots of Goblins.

Now you may be wondering like our wizard friend in the intro why I ignored his Hold Person spell entirely. Well you see, Goblins are no longer humanoids, they are Fey, and as such, humanoid-specific spells like Hold Person, Charm Person and Dominate Person, will no longer work on them. D&D has been teasing this push for a while, and it couples with another lore update that changes the default goblin’s Alignment. No longer Neutral Evil, these Fey Tricksters are now Chaotic Neutral. Personally, I like the change. The D&D version of the goblin species has to me been more about chaos and comic relief than cold murderous intent. Sure, they are easily pushed into evil deeds by charismatic manipulators like in “The Shattered Obelisk” or bullied into service by evil Bugbears and Hobgoblin, but at their heart, a Goblin just wants to have fun… preferably involving setting stuff on fire, but well… who doesn’t love a bit of casual pyromania every now and then? I know I do.

So if you haven’t already played the Lost Mine Starter Set or want to take it one step further with the Far Realm influences of “Phandelver and Below, the Shattered Obelisk” campaign, which are both goblin-heavy adventures, I have some good news. Follow the links above to add them to your table and as always,  click here to visit the ZG Store and see my full range of products.