The Life and Times...

So a while back I had some ideas for a Goblin Monk I’d play in D&D, and I’ve done a little thinking on it. The original backstory feels a little too Pixar-y, so I’ve come up with some tweaks.

This goblin tribe is just about done. They number in the single digits now, so they throw every last body they’ve got at an ambush against the first caravan that passes through their neck of the woods, including a little gobbo bab; they hand him a knife and tell ‘em to “go slit some throats.”

They wipe against this caravan of monks, of course, and one of them takes pity on the bab thinking “wow he’s cannon fodder before he can even know what it means” and basically takes him in. Goblins have a bad reputation, but he convinces the monastery that he can bring out the good in our little green friend.

Flash forward a few years, the goblin isn’t really accepted by the monastery. He’s brash, insolent, rebellious, a little sadistic (”if all we do is fight, why shouldn’t we enjoy it!?”), and everyone believes he’s just as black hearted as the rest of his kind. He fights dirty sometimes, goes too hard in sparring, and no one trusts him. What’s worse, is that he’s actually beginning to outstrip a healthy number of their other monks in terms of skill, dirty or not, and they’re basically embarrassed and wary because this disrespectful, rabid little idiot is actually much more intelligent and capable than they anticipated.

Eventually he’s dismissed, despite his master’s insistence. He’s all piss and vinegar for a while, but eventually gets to thinking and assess his situation. He’s not stupid, he knows they didn’t trust him or like him, and he knows they were biased against him because of his race to begin with. He followed the same training, the same routines, MOSTLY followed the same rules, survived, and even thrived. He doesn’t even really know anything about the culture he comes from, and they still think he’s just inherently predisposed to being evil.

There were moments of curiosity while he was at the monastery. He was educated- he can read, he can write. He speaks common fluently and can get by speaking goblin, but for all the texts available to him, not a single scroll, tome, or scrap of text seems to contain any significant recorded history of his people. There’s no mention of culture, of great deeds, of heroes or myths. To be fair though, what time did they have to record their lore...? Goblins lead short, cruel lives; often, they don’t even get names or form attachments because the brevity of their existence renders such rituals meaningless. They’re hunted, shunned by mainstream society, and almost universally hated, and with no recorded history to tell their own side of the tale, how can anyone be sure the goblins ever did anything to deserve their reputation in the first place? How can anyone be sure they’re not living a self-fulfilling prophecy because they rely on such desperate measures to survive in a world that hates them so much?

Realizing this (and failing for the fifth time to sneak back into the monastery anyway), he sets off with new purpose: first and foremost, self-discovery. Is he really just some ugly, warped parody of a true monk? Some kind of joke? Or can he really become as awesome and great as his master? Where does he even come from? What is the culture of his people? Second, to survive at all costs, in spite of those who would see him dead, in order to honor and celebrate the gift of his master’s compassion for giving him a real chance at life. He would accomplish this by becoming his master’s greatest pupil, until his name rang so clear and far across the country that those who cast him out could not possibly separate his name from the halls of his former home. Finally, in bettering himself and becoming as strong and capable as he can, he would become a living precedent that he and other goblins like him are NOT evil, but misunderstood, and that they only do what they must to survive, just like everyone else. Someday, he might even become something of an ambassador for his people, negotiating treaties and demanding respect  and rights for goblins everywhere.

... and if he gets to have a little fun and bash a few skulls along the way, all the better!

The character would probably be aligned with Chaotic Good. He would follow his own moral compass, regardless of the laws, institutions, or biases which would work against him, and he would have a particular soft spot for the downtrodden, i.e. people who were never really given a chance to live. I feel like he would go out of his way to avoid taking the life of another goblin.

Despite his ultimately righteous intentions, he would be ego-centric, kind of an asshole, and as mentioned earlier he would fight dirty if it meant surviving. He’s not a very virtuous monk, and has a much greater appreciation for the combat training than the spiritual teachings, though they’ve obviously affected his world view in a big way. He might jump at the opportunity to spar or fight to prove himself, especially if it meant putting someone of high rank or prestige in their place- he’s all about elevating the little guy.

I feel like he would either develop into the Way of the Open Hand or Way of the Shadows monastic traditions, depending on the party he’s with and the kind of situations they find themselves in. Open Hand would probably best represent his own ideals, while Shadows may be representative of an eagerness to reconnect with his goblin origins, since many goblins end up being rogues who keep to the shadows and specialize in assassination.