SRD 5.2.1, p. 290

Goblin Minion

A little goblinoid ready to pierce foes with its daggers.

CR 1/8 → Tier 1 Small Fey (Goblinoid) Minion

Motives & tactics

Ambush, steal, flee when outnumbered

SRD 5.2.1

AC 12

Initiative +2 (12)

HP 7 (2d6)

Speed 30 ft.

Score Mod Save STR 8 −1 −1 DEX 15 +2 +2 CON 10 +0 +0 INT 10 +0 +0 WIS 8 −1 −1 CHA 8 −1 −1

Skills Stealth +6

Gear Daggers (3)

Senses Darkvision 60 ft.; Passive Perception 9

Languages Common, Goblin

Daggerheart

Difficulty 9

Thresholds None

HP / Stress 1 / 1

ATK -4

Dagger Melee · 1 phy

Experience Sneaky +2

Actions

Dagger. Melee or Ranged Attack Roll: +4, reach 5 ft. or range 20/60 ft. Hit: 4 (1d4 + 2) Piercing damage.

Bonus Actions

Nimble Escape. The goblin takes the Disengage or Hide action.

Features

Minion (3) — Passive: The goblin minion is defeated when they take any damage. For every 3 damage a PC deals to the goblin minion, defeat an additional Minion within range the attack would succeed against.

Group Attack — Action: Spend a Fear to choose a target and spotlight all goblin minions within Close range of them. Those Minions move into Melee range of the target and make one shared attack roll. On a success, they deal 1 physical damage each. Combine this damage.

Throw Dagger — Action: A goblin minion can throw a dagger at a target within Close range. During a Group Attack, goblin minions that throw daggers don’t need to move into Melee range.

Designer's note

These minions are unique in that they can all attack while spread out. This causes quite the headache, and chaos is what they thrive in.

Why a Minion?

Well, I couldn’t really justify anything else with “minion” right in the monster’s name.

Throw Dagger

This is what makes this minion unique and not just another simple Tier 1 Minion. Being able to make a ranged attack makes them harder to deal with. I imagine they still cluster up, but in small clumps spread out, so you have 3 or so pockets of 2–3 minions each. This lets PCs still take advantage of the cleaving mechanic of Minions while allowing their uniqueness to shine.

How the boss treats them

Their clumping up reinforces the goblin boss’s ability to summon more of them; it hides by clusters of them and shoots things with its shortbow. Then, when things get dangerous, it sacrifices these smaller minions to survive. They are the fodder that protects the boss, and only if they survive long enough can they hope to become warriors, and maybe someday the boss itself.

What about their Nimble Escape ability?

It was just too much to give to a Minion. There is already a lot to track as a GM, and also tracking which minions are hiding sounds overwhelming, not to mention too powerful. So it was cut; the goblin warrior and goblin boss handle the hit-and-run tactics more than these little guys.