Page 42 - Volo's Guide to Monsters

Virtually any kind of creature that can be browbeaten Hunters. The families of goblins that are skilled in the
into service might be found with a goblin tribe, but rats use of weapons but not privy to any other special knowl-
and wolves are nearly always present. Both have lived edge have the second highest status in the tribe. Hunt-
in concert with goblins for at least as long as humans ers are often the best wolf riders and know the most
have worked with dogs and horses, and in goblin society about the territory farthest from the tribe's lair. These
those two animals serve similar purposes. individuals hunt game in peaceful times, and in combat
they serve as scouts, foot soldiers, and cavalry.
FAMILY MATTERS Gatherers. Families in the second lowest caste are
A goblin tribe is organized in a four-tiered caste system responsible for getting food from the surrounding area,
made up of lashers, hunters, gatherers, and pariahs. The taking what's naturally available or stealing whatever
status of every family in the tribe is based on its impor- they can. Gatherers also do the little amount of farm-
tance to the tribe's survival. Families that belong to the ing of which goblins are capable and are charged with
higher-ranking castes keep their status by not sharing checking traps for captured people or beasts. Gatherers
their knowledge and skills with other families, while aren't usually armed with weapons more deadly than a
those in the lower castes have little hope of escaping sling or a knife, but they frequently carry nets, caltrops,
their plight. lassos, and nooses on poles for controlling captured
Outsiders who don't understand the goblins' social creatures. These goblins cook for the tribe, and in times
system are sometimes surprised by how different castes of war they are also responsible for making poison.
interact with them. A single human warrior might Gatherers, and the pariahs beneath them, greatly fear
frighten away a dozen gatherers, only to be shocked for their lives in battle, believing that the lashers and the
when two hunters viciously attack. A captured group hunters have special knowledge of how to survive. It is
of invaders might hang in a net while dozens of goblins the members of the lower castes that give goblins their
pass by and pay them no heed until a group of gather- reputation for cowardice.
ers shows up. Pariahs. Some goblin families are the lowest of the
Lashers. The closest thing a goblin tribe has to nobil- low, composed of the most dimwitted, least educated,
ity is the caste of lashers-families of goblins trained in and weakest goblins. They get the worst jobs: mucking
the ways of battle, and also possessed of key skills such out animal pens, cleaning up after other goblins, and do-
as strategy, trap-building, beast taming, mining, smelt- ing any hard labor such as digging mines. If the goblin
ing, forging, and religion. If the tribe has any spellcast- tribe has slaves to do some of this work, the pariah fam-
ers, this caste includes them. Lashers follow the lead of ilies enjoy the opportunity to supervise and dominate
the tribe's boss, and enforce their will on other goblins such creatures, which have no status at all.
with whips.

CHAPTER 1 i MONSTER LORE
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