Eventually they may change this bias, but for the time being it is still something of a character flaw. It is my opinion that every character should have something in their personality like this, because other wise they are just two dimensional. The key to overcoming these flaws is hard for any good character, but eventually they must be placed in a situation where overcoming makes or breaks their newly found allignment. They either grow in their outlook and are humbled by their mistaken ideals or slide back into their old wicked ways. One mistake I think alot of people make is thinking alignment is static once taken and not something to be tested from every angle.
If you have access to the Book of Exalted Deeds, on page 11 there is a excellent explanation that might help this question. Its titled Being Ahead Of Your Time and Im not sure why they reserved it for just this book and not something like the DMG.
I'm planning on an adventure that includes an NPC which is a good character from an otherwise evil race. I know this has been done many time before, but is it too cliche now or can it still be pulled off? I want the theme of this adventure to a break from the norm i.e. a good character that is usually an evil monster.
Well, to start off, you've got to figure out why this NPC is good in the first place. Drizzt was more or less "born" good, plus his father, Zaknafein, nurtured this goodness in an attempt to shelter him from the evils of drow society.
So was this NPC born/raised good? Or were they once evil, but came to regret their ways and are in the process of redeeming themselves? The concepts of both innocence and redemption are fairly important in Ravenloft.
Just out of curiousity, what race is this NPC?
Drizzt's main problem is that he was far more powerful than most drow, so having the renegade on your team made you able to wade through drow like cannonfodder. If you're going to have a renegade, I'd say make him mostly useful for his knowledge to the group and how he can provide some information to help them avoid the worst of what that race can throw at them.
The worst goblins could throw at you... scary...
Don't underestimate goblins and other so-called fodder races in 3rd ed... they can advance in levels and hit dice, without actually increasing in size or apparent mass.
In one mini-campaign I played (not in Ravenloft) my GM had a recurring theme where if we ever saw a single kobold/goblin/derro, it was some ungodly high-level NPC with a buttload of class levels.
But otherwise, your disdainful snarky response is well taken. Carry on as usual, corporal.
Don't underestimate goblins and other so-called fodder races in 3rd ed... they can advance in levels and hit dice, without actually increasing in size or apparent mass.
In one mini-campaign I played (not in Ravenloft) my GM had a recurring theme where if we ever saw a single kobold/goblin/derro, it was some ungodly high-level NPC with a buttload of class levels.
But otherwise, your disdainful snarky response is well taken. Carry on as usual, corporal.
There's a reason my avatar is a rat! :D
But I get what you're saying. I personally like using Blue, the psionic goblin. Man, do my players hate psionics...
In my fanfic I made the humanoids into grimlocks, and I said they came from the surface which was saturated with Positive Energy. And Shadow Dragons are saturated with Negative Energy (as can be seen with their breath weapons).
The grimlocks are puny opponents compared to a Shadow Dragon... but they killed them all by using a neat trick - they would thread hoses and pumps from the surface to the lower reaches, and then corner a dragon in a cavern. Then they would pump atmosphere from the planet's upper reaches into the cavern. The Positive Planar Energy from the higher planet would infuse the cavern and eventually choke the dragon to death.
But seriously, I'll send you the difference in a private message.
Looking through my Gazetteer V(5), I find under Tempest the 'Dread Goblin'. This variant of Goblin has a +2 racial bonus to Craft (trapmaking) instead of ride. Other than that, the major difference is that they have a rather sophisticated society in Ravenloft, and goblins and hobgoblins are both decendents of the same race (with goblins the hobgoblin equivalent to Calibans).
Besides that, I find no reference in the Denizens of Dread book to goblins, only goblyns, which you state you don't want.
In the Ravenloft DMG (3.5), I find that goblins have an OR of 4.
Hope I helped.
P.S. I noticed that you wrote your Denizens BOOKS, as in plural, are missing. Keep in mind my post is related only to 3.x, and if you are talking about 2nd edition ravenloft, then just ignore me.
goblyns are monsterous Humanoids wich are terrorizing foldorn.
Otherwise they can created trough the Crown of Souls (see the module "Feast of Goblyns")
They have nothing to do with normal or "dread" goblins, they are humanoids and have almoust the same stats (as noted earlier in this thread)
By the way I like the Idea of the good Goblin. Because Goblins are supposed to be weak and evil. So a misunderstud hearo trying to push back the darkness of the land could be quite cool.