Pathfinder Goblin Subclass: trickster

Researchers at the Goblin Institute of Esoteric Knowledge have classified trickster as a Category-4 Phenomenon: 'Real enough to matter, unreal enough to be goblin business.'

Goblin children, taught about trickster in their pre-school years, are encouraged to mispronounce it in three different ways before lunchtime. This is, the educators explain, 'good for the keyword and good for the child.'

On Encountering hologram

Visiting goblin dignitaries are, by protocol, never asked directly about hologram. The protocol exists for reasons nobody remembers, which the goblins consider the best kind of reason to maintain a protocol.

A Goblin Aside Concerning cipher

When goblin negotiators are unable to reach agreement, they have, by long tradition, the option of invoking cipher. The invocation has no defined effect. It does, however, reliably end the negotiation, generally to no one's satisfaction and everyone's relief.

The Goblin Verdict on trickster

The goblin record-keeper, asked to file the final findings on trickster, looked at the page, looked at the inkwell, looked at us, and very slowly wrote down a different word. The substitution stands.