Last time we covered the Goblin Warrior, the rank and file of most goblin tribes. Backing them up, there’s the goblin pyro. Armed with a short list of arcane spells and a trusty torch these fire obsessed maniacs are eager to start a blaze and wreak havoc.

Basic Statistics

The goblin pyro has many similarities to the Goblin Warrior, bearing a relatively unimpressive stat line, leaning far more into dexterity than brute strength. Pyro’s also have a much higher charisma modifier, which they use for their spellcasting. Being a higher level than the warrior, they have a good deal more hp, however, as they are spellcasters their AC is not much higher than their martial counterparts.

They also posses darkvision and an average speed of 25 feet, and share the goblin warriors traits of having a poor Will and Fortitude save but above average reflex save for the level.

Where the pyro is really interesting though is their skills. They have acrobatics, meaning they won’t have a hard time maneuvering in tight spaces or escaping grapples but the other skills are much more interesting.

To start, they have a +7 to stealth. Against the average PC trained in perception this is enough to give them a slightly above average chance to avoid detection, assuming no circumstance bonuses. In addition, they have a +7 to Fire Lore. Fire Lore is not going to be used for any checks in combat, but, it can be used to draw the assumption that the pyro has a basic understanding of what will and will not burn.

This lets us draw two conclusions, the first being that the pyro prefers to ambush opponents, and that they are smart enough to lay traps and use the environment to cause chaos.

Equipment

The goblin pyro wades into battle equipped with a single item, the torch. The issue with the torch is that its antithetical to the pyros skills. As mentioned, the goblin pyro is going to want to start an encounter from stealth, something that is hard to do when carrying a glowing light source around. As such, I suggest that most goblin pyros will enter combat with their torches drawn but not lit, and may later, if there is an open flame they can reach, use an interact action to light their torches, rather than starting combat with the torch lit.

If you want to add a little variety to your goblin pyro, give your players something to loot off of them, or make them not spellcasters, you can always replace their spellcasting abilities with a few Alchemist’s Fire (Lesser)’s, giving them a +6 to hit for possibly higher damage than their spells, as well as persistent and splash damage. If doing this at a low level though be warned, persistent damage can be devastating at low levels so if the PCs don’t have access to a way to put the fire out the damage can really start to rack up.

Spells

By default Pyros come with 2 first rank spells, and 4 cantrips. One of those cantrips, light, can be disregarded entirely, as goblins have darkvision and, even if they didn’t, the pyro is carrying a torch with them.

Both of the pyros first level spells, are useful. To start, breath fire is a 2 action spell that does 2d6 fire damage in a 15 foot cone with a basic reflex save. This does an average of 7 damage per target on a failed save and 3.5 damage per target on a success. Due to the relatively low dc save at DC 16, this spell is the best option only when it can be cast on 2 or more targets at a time. As a note to this, while the pyro will not go out of their way to light one of their fellow goblins on fire, they aren’t strictly against it, and so if the option presents itself where a goblin will hit one of their friends with Breathe Fire, let it happen.

The other first level spell for the pyro is Grease. This has 2 applications, the first is to attempt to knock enemies prone by placing a grease patch on the ground. for an ambush or sneak attack where the pyro is high in initiative, this can be a great opener, but only if you’re able to target more than one opponent and there will be melee goblins to take advantage of the opening soon after. The other application of grease is to use it on weapons or held objects to apply a penalty on actions with the item, such as strikes. This is great for if a fighter or other martial is having too easy of a time cutting through the other goblins.

For cantrips, either once the first rank spells are spent, or when the pyro wants to stay at a range, ignition is going to be their bread and butter. It doesn’t do amazing damage but it does have the chance to apply a persistent burn on a crit and, more importantly, it’s the pyros only real ranged option.

Tangle vine is interesting, as it applies a movement penalty but it can’t fully stop an opponent from moving. This can be useful when running away or trying to keep the PCs in hazardous terrain, such as near a spreading fire for longer. Despite these uses it is generally situational.

Finally there’s Telekinetic hand. Not particularly useful on its own but, in the case of needing to drop an alchemist fire or a lit torch onto some kindling, this cantrip has some limited use in direct combat.

Tactics

As previously mentioned, the goblin pyro is going to want to start any combat with an ambush. If they are in range to run forward and catch multiple targets with a casting of Breathe Fire, then they’ll likely open with that. If not, then they’ll start by casting grease either on multiple party members or on the most threatening looking martials weapon before letting some goblin warriors run up and start causing trouble.

From this point on the pyro will maintain a distance of about 20-30 feet from the parties frontliners, looking for any opportunity to land Breathe Fire on multiple targets. This will often leave them with no action to get away from their opponents but that’s where goblin scuttle comes in. Simply have one of the warriors step beside the pyro or between the pyro and their opponent and they’ll be able to scuttle away to relative safety.

If they don’t get the chance to sue breathe fire they will either cast ignition from a distance and maintain their spacing, or, look for something in the environment to light on fire instead. Indirectly attacking the PCs by creating hazardous terrain or threatening to destroy something the PCs would rather not be burned down.

One thing worth noting is that the torch when not lit only does 1d4 damage, and even lit it only adds 1 point of fire damage. Use this to interact with the environment more than an actual weapon, but, in the case of the PCs closing into melee range they may use an action or two to smack them in a panic.

Unlike goblin warriors though, the pyro completely lacks any skills that would help it with combat maneuvers. It doesn’t have athletics to shove, trip, or grapple, or deception to feint with. It does have a decent acrobatics to allow it to tumble through but if they’re in melee range they’re probably in deep trouble to begin with. As such be mindful that these goblins are meant to apply debuffs and dish out damage with their spells much more than any physical implement.

Overall, the goblin warriors might be the mobs who start the chaos, but a good dose of fire will always kick the chaos up a notch or two and the pyros are more than happy to throw some flame.