Full Item Description

A strong, 20'+ long wooden pole, with a sturdy basket at one end large enough to carry a small goblin, and a leather-wrapped handle on the other end, sized for huge hands.

History

A refinement of the scaling ladder, this was constructed to take advantage of the great size of the larger humanoids, and the small size of others. It's origins have been attributed variously to the goblin chief Narku, the oddly intelligent ogre chief Morkaar, and by others to a rogue dwarfish necromancer known simply as He. What is known is that at least four human forts have fallen to this device, generally at night time or in bad weather. The number of goblins expended in failures, however, no one can tell.

The Goblin Pole is a specialized device used by humanoids to break into places. It requires a team of an ogre or similar large humanoid, and a sacrificial , er, volunteer goblin. Since most fortifications are not that huge, a 10' ogre can usually put the goblin up on a 25' wall without much difficulty, though the experience is generally quite harrowing for the goblin. Once on the wall, the goblins mission is to sneak down and open the gates. It is expected to be used when something has either distracted the garrison, or when things such as inclement weather make detection unlikely.

Other uses include having the goblin to drop items onto the wall, such as poisonous snakes, oil, etc. In this role, the goblin is often strapped into the basket to allow them to better focus on the mission. Theoretically, they could be used in battle to give a goblin archer a better line of sight, but few goblins are brave enough to serve effectively in this role - their nerves ruin their aim.

Campaign Use

Likely a one-shot wonder that a mixed humanoid army could use to surprise PCs' One can make it even more subtle by introducing variants which can be broken down for easy travel, or even have been made invisible by magic.

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? Community Contributions (4)-4

1.) Spotting for catapults and other siege weaponry.

2.) Long arm to feed huge monsters.

3.) 'Jousting' during Ogre parties, of course with goblins in the baskets...

4.) Retriving objects from wells and similar deep places.

5.) PCs could try using one with the halfling in the party.

6)Prop two of them up next to each other, each with a contestant. Sudden death fight to the extreme.

7) Prop one up, good place to get away from it all

8) Scouting

9)Put some feed around it and use it for deer hunting.

10.) Catching goblins and similar small creatures. ;)

11.) If the fortifications are low, the wielders could first 'clear up' the wall from its defenders with a swing, then drop the first cannon fodder while the real fighters get up the wall. Might work.

12.) Harvesting resources from those really high unclimbable trees...

13.) ...and as an extension, taking care of those pesky elven tree houses.

14.) Taking two, and making a huge net, with some luck a whole army unit could be immobilized for a few precious moments.

15.) If one is fast enough, those annoying flying creatures could be put down.

16.) Scratching that really bad itch in your ultralarge back. It's not always about war.

17.) Delivering workforce across ravines to span ropes, build bridges and the like.

18.) To keep kidnapped people in sight during negotiations. If you attack or don't seem willing to pay, they just might drop it...

19.) While few ogres are smart enough for that, it is a perfect tool to detect traps.