Goblin Engineer
Goblin Engineer — The Encounter
Goggled tinker who solves every problem with explosives · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Goblin Engineer
Every warren of any size eventually produces one of these: a goblin too clever for its own good and far too clever for everyone else's. The engineer does not fight so much as it experiments, treating a battlefield as a workshop and the enemy as test subjects who have not yet consented. It scavenges everything — broken crossbows, alchemist's leavings, the gut-powder it brews in reeking back-tunnels — and reassembles it into devices that work roughly half the time, which by goblin standards is a triumph. The other half tends to remove fingers, eyebrows, or nearby allies, a cost the engineer regards as tuition. It is forever festooned with live ordnance, so killing it is its own hazard: the satchel goes up the instant the goblin does. Wise raiders give the little tinker a wide berth and a very long-ranged death, because everything it touches is one bad day away from going off.
Run Goblin Engineer in Sixty Seconds
- Range and bombs — keep it back lobbing Fragmentation Bombs into clusters; that's the kit.
- Open on the tightest group of PCs for the 10-ft fire burst, then drop caltrops or smoke to break the chase.
- Kill-priority is bunched targets; spread out to deny the bomb splash.
- When it dies Rigged to Blow detonates for 3d6 fire in 10 ft — finish it at range, not in melee.
- Three ways to run it: a goblin warband's artillery, a trap-laying ambusher in a workshop lair, or paired with a boss as the demolitions specialist.
Goblin Engineer
Small humanoid (goblinoid), neutral evil
CR 2 · 450 XP · GUIDELINERigged to Blow. Signature. The engineer carries an armful of unstable bombs. When it is reduced to 0 hit points, its satchel detonates: each creature within 10 feet must make a DC 13 Dexterity save, taking 10 (3d6) fire damage on a failure or half on a success.
Tinker's Tricks. As a bonus action, the engineer can deploy a small contraption within 5 feet — a caltrop scatter (5-ft. square becomes difficult terrain dealing 2 (1d4) piercing damage to anyone entering) or a smoke pellet (5-ft.-radius lightly obscured cloud) — to a maximum of three deployed at once.
Actions
Multiattack. The engineer makes two attacks: one with its wrench and one by lobbing a bomb (if available).
Heavy Wrench. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d8+2) bludgeoning damage.
Fragmentation Bomb. Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, range 20/60 ft., one target. Hit: the bomb bursts; each creature within 10 feet of the target must make a DC 13 Dexterity save, taking 10 (3d6) fire damage on a failure or half on a success. The engineer has 3 bombs.
A goggled, grease-smeared goblin brandishing an oversized wrench, belt sagging with fuses and round black bombs, grinning like the next blast is going to be the best one yet.
Goblin Engineer, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINESpare Parts (signature). Once per encounter, Goblin Engineer can hand the engineer a fresh bomb, restoring one expended Fragmentation Bomb.
Actions
Spanner. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d6+2) bludgeoning damage.
Reactions
Toss the Defuser. When an ally within 20 feet fails a save against fire damage, Goblin Engineer can lob a wet rag, granting that ally resistance to that instance of damage.
A junior tinker who carries the spare bombs and, more importantly, knows which ones not to drop.
Guideline numbers — formula-tuned and read from the miniature's design, not yet table-proven. Tell us how it ran in the comments.
How It Fights — by Tier
Same creature, scaled threat. The traits never change; only the numbers move.
Keep it at range lobbing bombs into clusters and dropping caltrops/smoke to control approach. Open on the tightest group of PCs. Kill-priority is bunched targets. Remember the death-blast — melee killers eat 3d6. Pair it with goblins who keep the party at bomb range.
Artillery-skirmisher: bombs on clusters, contraptions to wall off lanes. Force the party through caltrops and smoke. Pair it with a bigger threat; the death-blast punishes whoever finishes it.
Run it as the warren's sapper in a lair, not a solo boss. Bomb the backline, deny terrain, blow up on death. Pair it with minions or a flagship threat to keep melee off it.
Put Goblin Engineer on the table
Download the presupported STL and run the fight tonight — the model, and the encounter that comes with it.
Get the STL on MyMiniFactory →Clay Cyanide Companion Rules v1
How a bound creature acts
- A companion acts on its owner's initiative, immediately after the owner.
- It uses the Companion block above — roughly ×0.6 HP and damage, no recharge abilities, and at most one reaction trait.
- It moves freely; it takes its Action only while its owner is conscious.
- At 0 HP a companion is broken, not dead — restored on a long rest unless your table rules otherwise.
Original Clay Cyanide material © Clay Cyanide LLC — explicitly not the non-SRD official sidekick rules.
Questions, Asked at the Table
What CR is Goblin Engineer?
Its native build is CR 2 (450 XP), a Tier 1 artillery-skirmisher. The sheet also gives Tier 2 and Tier 3 numbers so the same tinker scales into higher-level goblin forces.
Can Goblin Engineer be a companion or ally?
Yes — as a demolitions and trap expert it makes a memorable (if hazardous) ally or hireling. It ships with its own bound companion, Fizzwick, who carries the spare bombs.
Is it a solo boss?
No. It has no legendary actions and folds in melee; its strength is ranged bombs and traps. Run it screened by minions or alongside a flagship threat.
Tell Us How It Ran
This work includes material taken from the System Reference Document 5.1 ("SRD 5.1") by Wizards of the Coast LLC and available at dnd.wizards.com/resources/systems-reference-document. The SRD 5.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License available at creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.
Clay Cyanide Miniatures is not affiliated with, endorsed, sponsored, or specifically approved by Wizards of the Coast LLC. This content is compatible with the fifth edition of the world's most popular fantasy roleplaying game. Companion rules, lore, names, and original mechanics © Clay Cyanide LLC.
Technical Specifications
32mm, 75mm
STL, Pre-supported STL
Standard or ABS-like resin, 0.05mm layer height
Yes — ready to print, optimized supports included
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