If I have a goblin who stops working every week so it can go off and mutilate a puppy I'm just not gonna accept goblin residents.
What about a "Dummy" creature that can be created at a workshop and could be used by goblins and violent civilized creatures in general to relieve stress and the need for violence by hitting the dummy?
People with high Anger_Propensity and related traits might be satisfied by abusing inanimate objects and/or watching bloodsports in the arena, but I personally doubt that would satisfy most goblins, especially if it really is a
biological need. But even if goblins really did have to knowingly inflict pain upon the helpless, they could do the jobs of Gelder, Animal Trainer (
someone's got to teach the beasts to hate goblins, after all), Ambusher, Trapper, Fishergoblin, etc. They would probably also love the office of Sheriff or Hammerer, and they might someday also torture for information, or serve as the "
bad sergeant" for military recruits.
In addition to probably mutilating puppies.
For the antisocial creature that suffers from Vitamin D shortage we can have a separate behavior that would cause them to walk to the surface to spend time in the sun.
As far as Vitamin D itself is concerned, there are plenty of
dietary sources, most of which are easily obtained in a dwarf fort: cheese, eggs, fatty fish, & various types of mushrooms. It really shouldn't be a problem. I read humans (and elves) as having more of a
psychological need for sunlight (and fresh air): If they go without for too long, they start to get stir-crazy, and if it's made to continue, they can even develop claustrophobia. But we needn't develop a special behavior just to force asocial humans to head topside every now and then, just have any human that feels "hemmed in after not being able to see the sky lately" try to path to an Outside Aboveground tile during their next On Break. You could also assign them aboveground jobs like Woodcutter, Herbalist, etc.
What about a "Dummy" creature that can be created at a workshop and could be used by goblins and violent civilized creatures in general to relieve stress and the need for violence by hitting the dummy? It would relieve less of it, but better than nothing.
That makes them sound like cats needing to scratch things and dogs needing to chew things. Actually this applies in general to Six of Spades suggestions on the matter, a lot of them while interesting are not really going to be unique to that specific creature.
Well, that depends on whether or not you're talking about things that creatures
like to do (a lot of mammals enjoy skin stimulation, like cats being petted or bears rubbing on trees), and things that they actually
need to do (dwarves are the only creatures that must drink booze or suffer harsh penalties to speed & coordination).
(Actually, strike that last bit. According to the wiki, "creatures of
any race who are exposed to enough combat to become fully hardened will also become alcoholics", although personally I have to disagree with that mechanic, as it does nothing but reinforce a negative stereotype for the sake of a cheap joke. I myself don't know any alcoholic war veterans, but I do feel a bit of offense on their behalf.)
But back to your point, perhaps the animal raws
should be augmented with a new tag or two. In addition to [PREFSTRING], there could also be something like [PREFACTIVITY] and/or [DEPENDENCY]. Some will be shared with other creatures, others probably won't be.