Goblin Minion

An allied goblin minion is the party scout, the prisoner who switched sides, the kobold-tribe-ally's distant cousin who decided the wizard's bread was worth a contract. Goblins under the new SRD framing are Fey, which makes them stranger and more negotiable than the old greenskin. They serve for a meal, a knife, a story they want to be in. Set the price out loud and let it be small.

In play, the goblin is a scout and a thief. Stealth +6, Darkvision 60 ft., and Nimble Escape mean it will get into places the party cannot, return with a layout sketch, and get back out without rolling more than once. In combat, treat it as a flanking partner for the rogue. Three daggers, +4 to hit, Disengage as a bonus action so it never provokes when it falls back. With 7 HP and AC 12 it dies to one mistake, so the party's job is to never let it get caught in the open.

The goblin will not fight what scares it. A real adversary that doesn't immediately fold to stealth, anything bigger than a horse, undead, fire. It runs. It will come back when the scary thing is dead. Lean on this: the goblin's panic is reliable comedy and a useful pressure valve when the party wants the encounter to feel dangerous without losing a real character.

Give the goblin a single weird possession it carries everywhere, a tin cup, a child's wooden horse, a button. The party will steal it, lose it, and start a side quest by accident.

A goblin minion is a 7-HP harassment unit with a knife and a head start. One on its own is barely an encounter; six in a pine forest with cover is a real fight at level 1. The whole stat block points at hit-and-run: Stealth +6, Dex 15, dagger thrown 20/60, and the bonus action Nimble Escape that lets the goblin Disengage or Hide every single turn.

Run them as a flock, not a line. Open from cover. The goblins should already be Hidden when initiative rolls, attacking from trees, rooftops, behind crates, with Advantage on the first dagger throw. After the throw, Nimble Escape into Hide and break line of sight. The party should not get to retaliate against a visible target on round one. AC 12 and 7 HP mean any solid hit kills, so visibility is the only defense the goblins have, and you should defend it ruthlessly. A goblin caught in melee with no adjacent cover dies the next round.

Distribute the daggers. Each goblin starts with three. Throw at +4 for 4 piercing per hit, and aim at the back rank: the wizard with the open spell book, the cleric mid-cast. A successful concentration check at DC 10 is easy, but stacking three goblins on one caster forces three checks per round, and one of them will fail. When daggers run out, the goblin closes for melee or melts back into the woods. Goblins do not last-stand. The first goblin that drops below half HP signals the rest, and the next round half the unit fades into Stealth and disappears toward the next ambush point.

Tell the players where each thrown dagger comes from, then have the goblin vanish before they can return fire. After three rounds of "an arrow comes from somewhere in the canopy" they will treat the forest itself as the enemy, which is the right answer.