These gnomes are considered eccentric, if not downright mad, by their more normal kin – goblin-stickers actually seem to enjoy battle and will go so far as to seek out enemies for the purpose of wiping them out. The two most common foes of the goblin-sticker are, naturally, goblins and kobolds.

Often a goblin-sticker is propelled by some dark event or tragedy in his past – a wrong which cannot be righted but which he feels compelled to try and atone for or avenge for the rest of his days. A goblin-sticker is especially effective at fighting the particular foe which caused this tragedy (often, but not always, goblins), often forgoing treasure and other incentives to pursue his revenge. “Goblin-sticker” is a generic term for this kit: there are also kobold stickers, skeleton stickers, ogre stickers, etc., who differ only in the focus of their animosity.

Requirements: A goblin-sticker must have a minimum Strength or Constitution score of 15.

Classes: Fighter, Ranger, Paladin.

Subraces: Any.

Role: Because they are virtually fearless, these characters form the shock troops of any gnomish assault against their chosen enemy. They are likely to choose a life of adventure, one that will put them on a collision course with their hated foe.

Teams of goblin-stickers have been known to work together, for adventure or pay. In areas of monster infestation, goblin-stickers can frequently find employment as “exterminators” – especially in cases where the monsters are small, such as goblins or kobolds, and live in dens where the size of human attackers would prove a drawback.

Weapon skills: The goblin-sticker must have a missile weapon skill and two melee weapon skills.

Nonweapon skills: Bonus: Creature Lore (hated foe); Recommended: Craft: Armorer, Weaponsmithing; Mental: Ambush, Blood Oath, Creature Lore (for allies of hated foe), Direction Sense, Embolden, Iron Will, Modern Languages (hated foe), Pest Control, Taunting; Physical: Endurance, Ironskin, Rope Use, Speed; Mental-Physical: Blindfighting, Tracking.

Equipment: Together with his weapons and armor, the goblin-sticker traditionally carries the tools of the dungeon-crawler: ropes, hammer and spikes, oil and several day’s rations.

 

Hated foe: At first-level, the goblin-sticker must declare his hated foe. When engaged in battle against this type of creature, the character receives a +1 bonus to hit and damage rolls. This bonus applies to both melee and missile weapons and is cumulative with all other bonuses, including the Rock Gnome’s standard +1 attack bonus versus goblins and kobolds.

Tracking: A goblin-sticker warrior who is not a ranger and who learns the Tracking skill may track his hated foe and creatures typically allied with them as if he was a ranger (i.e., no -30% penalty). A goblin-sticker ranger adds a +30% bonus to his skill score when tracking a hated foe.

Find/Remove traps: A goblin-sticker knows from experience the tricks and traps most often used by his sworn enemy and is wary of them. To reflect this, he may find/remove traps (large and small) set by his chosen foe with a 5% base chance of success at first-level. The chance of success increases by 5% per level and is modified by high ability scores, his subrace and his armor. He may not use this skill to remove traps set by creatures other than his hated foe and it may not be used to find or remove magical traps.

Luck: Many stories tell the tale of a lone goblin-sticker surrounded by a horde of yellow-faced goblins who though outnumbered three to one manages to fight his way to freedom through shear force of will and uncanny luck and then return a day later to exact vengeance on his foes. This inexplicable ability to beat the most unlikely odds is explained by some as Garl Glittergold’s direct intervention, but most just chock it up to good luck. Oddly, goblin-stickers don’t seem to have the same ability to avoid danger when combating foes other than their chosen enemy.

In game terms, the goblin-sticker receives a bonus luck point at first-level and an additional bonus point every three levels thereafter (i.e., one bonus luck point at fourth-, seventh-, 10^th-, 13^th-level, etc.). These bonus luck points may only be used in a situation where the goblin-sticker is interacting in some way with his hated foe (DM’s discretion). For example, the bonus luck point could be used to avoid the attack of a goblin warrior (the gnome’s hated foe), but not to automatically make a successful saving throw against a dragon’s breath weapon. Of course, if the dragon was mounted by a goblin warrior, then the luck point could be used to save against its breath weapon.

 

Hatred: When confronted with an opportunity to attack or continue to fight his hated foe, the goblin-sticker must make a successful Wisdom/Understanding check or be unable to decline the battle. The check can, however, be modified or ignored based on circumstances. For example, no goblin-sticker will break cover and blow an ambush to tromp on the first goblin to appear when he knows that a little patience will mean the chance to bop a lot more of them.

Depression: Goblin-stickers are prone to mood swings and depression when they don’t have an opportunity to exact vengeance on their chosen foe. To reflect this melancholy, a goblin-sticker who does not engage in combat with his chosen foe or its allies for a month is penalized by -1 or -5% on all rolls (to hit, damage, saving throws, skill checks, ect.). This penalty increases by -1 or -5% per month to a maximum of -4 or -20% to all rolls. These penalties end immediately upon his engagement in combat with a chosen foe or its allies. Note, these penalties come into play even if the goblin-sticker is actively planning an attack. He must engage in actual melee with a chosen foe to avoid the penalty.

Wealth restrictions: Golbin-stickers are not motivated by monetary wealth in their quest to exact retribution on their foes. They also find that traveling lightly enables them to engage the enemy on a moments notice. Thus, a goblin-sticker may only possess as much wealth as he can carry on his person and mount. Excess wealth may be disposed of in any way the goblin-sticker desires, but it is usually given to a gnomish noble or community to pay for defense spending.

Target: A goblin-sticker who is identified as such by his chosen foe will automatically become the focus of attack by that foe in a melee. That is, unless an obviously more powerful opponent threatens them more than the goblin-sticker (DM’s discretion).

Wealth options: Standard.

The goblin-sticker kit is an extensively modified version of the goblinsticker kit found on page 46 of The Complete Book of Gnomes & Halflings (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, 2nd Edition, Phbr9. Player's Handbook Rules Supplement), by Douglas Niles and published by TSR, Inc. This book is unfortunetely out-of-print. However, I sometimes have a copy for sale. You can check at Zayix's Fantasy Store.

Your comments on this kit are welcome. Just drop me a note.