In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, goblins are a common and fairly weak race of evil humanoid monsters.

[1] Goblins are presented as "evil" and "predisposed towards a society of brutal regimes where the strongest rule" in the game.

[2]: 48, 66, 134  In turn, D&D's goblins influenced later portrayals in games and fiction, such as the tabletop wargame Warhammer Fantasy Battle.

[5] The goblin appears in the first edition Monster Manual (1977),[6] where it is described as having a tribal society and dwelling in dismal surroundings.

[7][8] The mythology and attitudes of the goblins are described in detail in Dragon #63 (July 1982), in Roger E. Moore's article, "The Humanoids.

[19] The goblin is later presented as a playable character race again in Player's Option: Skills & Powers (1995),[20] and in the module Reverse Dungeon (2000).

The goblyn of Ravenloft was updated to this edition in Denizens of Dread (2004), but also appeared again in the Campaign Classics feature in Dragon #339 (January 2006).

[30] Goblins feature in the first segment of the adventure Lost Mine of Phandelver, included in the 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set (2014).

Described as "hideously ugly",[36] they have a broad nose that sits on a flat face with pointed ears and a wide mouth.

Goblin tribes usually settle near civilized areas to raid for food, livestock, tools, weapons, and supplies.

[38] Furthermore, they project a paradox area effect in whose radius every intended action is twisted so that the exact opposite is carried out (i.e.: instead of hitting a nilbog with a weapon, one might end up attacking a companion; or instead of plundering a treasure hoard, an adventuring party under the influence of "nilbogism" might actually end up adding their own wealth to it).

Goblins feature prominently in material for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game from Paizo Publishing, which is based on the Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 rules.

[46] Scott Baird from Screen Rant compiled a list of the game's "10 Most Powerful (And 10 Weakest) Monsters, Ranked" in 2018, calling this one of the weakest, saying "Goblins are purposely designed to be weak and ineffective in combat so that they can fulfill their role as the tutorial battle of Dungeons & Dragons."

[47] Bleeding Cool perceived the goblin as "the more distinctive race options in the D&D multiverse",[34] while Comic Book Resources counted the goblin as # 10 on the list of "10 Powerful Monster Species That You Should Play As", stating that "They're pretty much everywhere in a fantasy setting and have so many variations that it is unlikely to not fit in a campaign.

The traditional goblin is the equivalent of an internet troll, smallish, angry, looking to bully those it can and flee if the confrontation goes badly.

"[48] Paul Karczag and Lawrence Schick counted the goblin among the "five main "humanoid" races" in AD&D.

Club reviewer Nick Wanserski praised the "thoughtful" look on goblins provided in Volo's Guide to Monsters: While "such staples as orcs, goblins, and kobolds [...] often get lumped together as a dull monolith", the many details here give "a lot of personality to an otherwise easily forgettable monster.