Monsters in Transition - Goblins

Ah the Goblin. Fodder you encounter from levels 1 to 2 and then never again, except as a means to slow down your inevitable slaughter of the main villain. Over the course of editions it looks like the cast off  monster, the bottom of the Goblinoid family has been struggling to become noteworthy.

The CR of the goblin has always been laughable. CR 1/4 in 3.0 seeing only a slight improvement in 3.5 and Pathfinder to a grand whopping 1/3. In D&D, goblins remained fairly unchanged, their AC has remained constant and in 3.5 they received an extra hit point due to their Con score going up. Offensively, they received both an upgrade and downgrade from 3.0 to 3.5. Initially they started out with a +1 to hit and did 1d8-1 damage. 3.5 came along and now they rock a +2 to hit and do 1d6 damage. So on average they'll hit more often and do the same damage, but they lost the ability to "explode" with 7 damage. Their skills remained fairly constant between editions only going up or down a point. Most notably they had a Hide and Move Silent at either 5 or 6.

Pathfinder has made some significant changes though. Now, they have 1d10+1 hitpoints. This means that you are less likely to kill them in one hit. Their armor class also went up to 16, making them a touch harder to hit. They also do much less damage now at 1d4. Because of Pathfinder's redesign of the skills, there is no longer a Hide or Move Silent, they combined them into Stealth. And Goblins are amazing at it. +10 to their Stealth. That may not sound like a lot, but if they roll average, you'll need to roll above average to see them; meaning a group of goblins will likely get a surprise round on you.

They won't pose a serious threat to players after level 2 (even in Pathfinder) but because they're lightly armored and really fast (for a small creature their land speed has always been 30 ft) they can prove a nuisance to players throughout all the early levels. Goblins may not be a combat threat, but now you can have goblins steal from the party and disappear into the night (they also have darkvision) depriving your party of supplies or rest.

I think that the CR for a Goblin is spot on in 3.5, and perhaps a little low (at most they should be 1/2) in Pathfinder, since they have gained a bit more survivability, so they can go two or three rounds before dropping or fleeing. There damage is low, but if 3 of the gang up on one person they could be in for an awful surprise.