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Dungeon Crawl Classics is an odd duck in the OSR space. More willing to make major rules departures from the Editions it emulates in favor of a gonzo feel, its products are more than willing to embrace the weirder side of fantasy. DCC’s bestiary has been relatively sparse in comparison to other retroclones, leaning more on the fact that monsters should remain relative unknowns and defy easy codification.
And yet, the various goblinoid species part and parcel to D&D are present in the rules, still serving the classic roles of low-level humanoid antagonists. In Dungeon Crawl Classics, nonhuman races have their own classes strongly inspired by Basic-era D&D: elves are dabblers in sword and spell, halflings are small mobile warriors possessed of extraordinary luck, and dwarves are warriors specializing in sword and board maneuvers and have sensory abilities ideal for dungeon-crawling.
Goblins! follows this format, where each of the three major goblinoid races are distinct classes whose iconic abilities reflect what their respective ancestries are best known for.
Goblins are the shortest of the three goblinoid species. Preferring to rely on cloak and dagger guerilla tactics over straightforward fighting, their small frames encourage them to take advantage of maneuvering in places larger folk cannot easily enter. Goblins tend to live among hobgoblins and bugbears in mixed communities, but their penchant for spreading bad luck often causes non-goblinoids to chase them out of town when things go wrong.
In terms of abilities, Goblins strongly hew to the Thief’s role, with the same d6 Hit Die and weapon proficiencies, except for being trained in shortbows rather than longswords, and have a slightly better Will save progression. They can also Backstab, Sneak, and Hide in Shadows like the Thief class, although they lack that class’ more intricate skills such as picking locks, handling poisons, and disarming traps. To make up for this, Goblins have Infravision that goes up to 60 feet, their smaller size lets them fit through spaces larger characters are unable to enter, and they can spend Luck to lower the roll of another creature by 2 for every 1 Luck expended, provided the roll isn’t a natural 20. Like Thieves and Halflings, they can recover lost Luck with a night’s rest.
One odd thing I noticed is that for the Goblin’s random starting occupations, one of them is Locksmith which grants them lockpicks as their free Trade Good. This might mean that a Goblin PC may be able to pick locks like a Thief, albeit not having the generous bonus modifier from their class. As Thief skills work very similarly to general Skill checks, I presume that this is the intent.
Thoughts: In comparison to existing classes, the Goblin is kind of a Thief/Halfling hybrid, but more offensively-minded when it comes to luck manipulation. As the Thief doesn’t have Infravision and the Halfling’s only goes up to 30 feet, Goblins do have an advantage in being able to see farther in the dark. Furthermore, the Goblin’s Backstab, Sneak, and Hide in Shadows bonuses don’t differ based on alignment like the Thief’s does, and they actually have the best values for each category. Goblins may not be able to fill the roles of a more “sophisticated” scout type like a trap-spotter, but they are very good guerilla warriors. Additionally, their ability to spend Luck to lower enemy rolls is a very useful feature, and much like a Halfling this makes them a good team player for all manner of situations.
Hobgoblins are disciplined fighters, raised in communal lifestyles to encourage social bonds in battle. Hobgoblin societies can range from a variety of ideologies, from more egalitarian systems as alternatives to feudalism to Social Darwinist authoritarians. Their class is closest to Warrior and Dwarf, having a D10 Hit Die, the ability to perform Mighty Deeds of Arms, and their saving throw progression is similar to Dwarves but their Fortitude gets higher values earlier. Their Deed Die is slightly worse than both of the core classes, topping out at 1d10+3 rather than 1d10+4, given that at 3rd level their Deed Die goes from 1d4 to 1d5 rather than straight to 1d6 like Dwarves and Warriors. While Hobgoblins have proficiency in most weapons, oddly they aren’t proficient in a few that one would think would make sense such as battleaxes, warhammers, and two-handed swords. What Hobgoblins get that Warriors and Dwarves do not is specialization in Formation Fighting. This lets them add their Deed Die roll of a prior turn to the AC of their allies, provided that they are standing next to another Hobgoblin in combat. The AC bonus doesn’t stack, and as the allies don’t specify species, so I presume that this can apply to non-Hobgoblin allies. Unlike Goblins and Bugbears, they don’t have Infravision, which feels a bit odd.
Thoughts: Hobgoblins are a poor person’s Warrior unless there’s at least 2 of them in the party, at which point their AC bonus may be enough to justify choosing them over the aforementioned classes. However, this pushes them into a more predefined fighting style of being either both engaging in melee or archers standing next to each other. This is the weakest class of the book, and could use a bit more oomph to make it a worthier entry. If it were up to me, I’d give the class Infravision and let Formation Fighting apply to non-Hobgoblin characters who also have Mighty Deeds of Arms.
Bugbears naturally gravitate towards leadership roles and are the most physically imposing of the three goblinoid species. Unlike the prior two classes, Bugbears have less of a solid connection to existing class features and have much more unique abilities. They are well-suited for martial roles, as evidenced by their d12 Hit Die and proficiency in a variety of weapons. However, they do not have a Deed Die, instead focusing on making their allies perform better. Command lets them spend an action die to let an ally take an additional action on the Bugbear’s turn, but have to use the Bugbear’s Action Die instead of their own. Bugbears also get a Howling Order Die that has a similar value to a Deed Die, which they can give to their allies. Said ally has to spend it before the start of the Bugbear’s next turn, and if they would gain multiple Howling Order Dice then they roll all of them but only use the highest value. A Bugbear can issue more Howling Orders per round as they level up, but the second and third orders use lower Die values.
The die can be used to:
- roll and add the result to the value of one ally’s attack and damage rolls
- reduce one instance of incoming damage
- used as part of a Mighty Deed of Arms, where the ally can use either the Deed Die or Howling Order Die’s result, whichever is better.
Bugbears also make for decent scouts and sneaks: they have Infravision up to 60 feet, can Hide in Shadows, Sneak, and Climb Sheer Surfaces as a Thief, and their bonus values are of average progression. They don’t have Sneak Attack, but attacking unaware foes results in an automatic critical hit. Finally, Bugbears are larger than average in comparison to humans, meaning that they can more easily perform feats of strength smaller creatures cannot. This last feature doesn’t have explicit rules, instead providing examples like changing the environment by toppling over pillars or more easily hauling and dragging objects.
Thoughts: This book’s Bugbear bears a strong resemblance to the
Lazylord archetype from 4th Edition, but with a side of Thief-lite abilities. In effect, this makes it the most unique of the goblinoid classes in this book, which I like a lot. Their Howling Orders are useful for allies of most classes, but they really shine in parties who can perform Mighty Deeds of Arms. Said rule is one of the most beloved additions in Dungeon Crawl Classics, and often adopted into other OSR games in helping liven up combat beyond static “stand and roll to attack” every round. Combined with Command, the Bugbear can open up various nifty combos for their fellow party members getting additional actions. It is my favorite class in this book.
Overall Thoughts: Barring the lackluster Hobgoblin, I am quite fond of this product. Like the demi-human class of the DCC core book, the three goblinoid classes here all have features highly reminiscent of their inspired fantasy species. And from an initial look they look to be relatively balanced as allowable options. The book’s writers said that they’ve been playtested, so I’m inclined to take their word for it. What I particularly like about the classes is having broadly useful abilities that can aid their fellow party members, while still having enough useful features to stand on their own. Goblins! is a tad pricey for its short page count, but if you’re a fan of goblins or more nonhuman playable options for Dungeon Crawl Classics, then you’ll likely enjoy this.
