Hobgoblin

War horns sound, stones fly from catapults, and the thunder of a thousand booted feet echoes across the land as hobgoblins march to battle. Across the borderlands of civilization, settlements and settlers must contend with these aggressive humanoids, whose thirst for conquest is never satisfied.
Hobgoblins are a larger, stronger, smarter, and more menacing form of goblinoids than goblins, though not as physically impressive as bugbears.

Personality

Unlike their capricious goblin cousins, hobgoblins are strong, cunning, and organized, with a natural inclination toward hierarchies and social order.
Hobgoblins have a strong grasp of tactics and discipline, and can carry out sophisticated battle plans under the direction of a strategically minded leader. However, they hate elves and attack them first in battle over any other opponents, even if doing so would be a tactical error.
More so than any other goblinoid race, hobgoblins combine a keen intellect with a warlike spirit. Though strictly militant, hobgoblins can be remarkably clever in matters of engineering and alchemy, though these skills are always directed towards the battlefield. Paradoxically, though organized and confident during war, an individual hobgoblin tends to be paranoid and deceitful in nature. This aggression is honed through years of training in childhood (lasting up to four years) and is used to determine who is fit for military service. Due to the hierarchical nature of hobgoblin society, soldiers are inevitably higher on the social ladder than those rejected. Those regarded unfit are given mundane professions, a fairly humiliating fate for a young hobgoblin.
Hobgoblins are obsessed with their social status. Once an active combatant, a hobgoblin constantly jockeys for position with its peers and plots to overcome their superiors, typically through a duel for honor called a kalech-mar. Refusal to answer a challenge is seen as a sign of weakness, but more highly-ranked hobgoblins keep their positions by winning dozens of duels, dissuading younger hobgoblins from challenging them.

Basic Information

Anatomy

A hobgoblin is nearly the same height as an elf. Their round, hairless heads sit atop wide, thick necks, and their long, tattered ears flank a pair of savage orange eyes. Their dull, gray-green skin is coarse and largely devoid of hair. Their short, powerful legs coupled with their long, muscular arms grants the hobgoblin vague similarities with that of a brutish ape wearing the skin of an oversized goblin.

Genetics and Reproduction

Hobgoblins have two biological sexes; however, they do not display a great deal of sexual dimorphism. Reproducing sexually, a hobgoblin female will typically experience a gestation of 10 months before bearing offspring.
While it is possible for goblins and hobgoblins to breed with one another, the offspring typically displays the characteristics of a goblin. Although, the child is often strong and taller than the average goblin. 10 percent of such couplings, however, will produce a child with a greater amount of hobgoblin features.
Hobgoblins mate freely, but only with willing members of their own rank—matings between hobgoblins of different rank is seen as scornful. Hobgoblins are highly promiscuous and do not practice monogamy.

Growth Rate & Stages

Hobgoblins gestate much faster than most Soulborn (though not as fast as goblins). Infants are weaned after only three weeks and can walk and talk by six months, at which point he or she begins combat training. A hobgoblin is considered ready to fight by the age of four.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Omnivores with the ability to consume nutrients from a wide range of sources, including carrion and blood, hobgoblins prefer to consume the flesh and organ meats of ruminants.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Hobgoblin personal names usually consist of a given name & the name of the band they were born into rather than a family name, even if that band has been disbanded or destroyed. This means that parent & child don’t always have the same family name & Hobgoblins born outside of a band have no family name.
Example Male Names: Aruget, Biish, Daavan, Dagii, Duulun, Fenic, Haruuc, Iizan, Jhezon, Krakuul, Kurac, Lhurusk, Mazaan, Muuka, Munta, Nasaar, Oraan, Okaat, Ruus, Saabak, Tasaam, Taak, Tariic, Thuun, Vanii, Vanon, Woshar
Example Female Names: Diitesh, Ekhaas, Jhazaal, Khaar, Kitaas, Mekiis, Razu, Reirie, Riila, Senen, Shaardat, Tuura
Example Clan Names: Baaz, Draet, Draguus, Gan’duur, Gantii Vus, Ghaal Sehn, Kuun, Mbar’ost, Mur Talaan, Nasaar, Rhukaan Taash, Shaart, Thaar, Uhl, Volaar

Culture and Cultural Heritage

All members of a hobgoblin tribe are effectively members of the tribe's army. After reaching maturity, all hobgoblins are subjected to the "year of hell", a year of constant raiding intended to test each hobgoblin's strength and courage. Roughly one in three hobgoblins is then deemed fit for active combat duty; the remainder are relegated to the position of general labor. Laborers are technically part of the army, but are scorned and never raise above their station until they display skill in battle. For this reason, hobgoblin laborers actively wish for attacks on the tribe's lair so they can prove their worth.
Hair is important in hobgoblin culture, especially among warriors. Hair emulates the barghests and hero-gods that hobgoblins honor, and long, flowing hair is a resource that must be taken in battle—a hobgoblin can neither grow a mane of hair, nor skin hair—real hair—from animals in the hunt. Instead warriors strip a lock of hair from each human and elf they kill, and weave them into their hats or helms or else glue them to their own scalps. A proud soldier may show off his five or six locks—braided tightly to protect them—at social events or formal drills, while the most vicious warriors let their stolen hair flow free in battle, confidant they can replace anything lost with the coifs of their victims.
Not every hobgoblin follows this tradition, however. It is fundamentally bragging about one's skill as a warrior, inviting lesser subordinate to challenge the warrior to a kalech-mar honor duel for her position. Those hobgoblins who are especially lawfully-minded view the practice as a foolish excess and needless bravado, something that drives a wedge through unit cohesion with petty one-upmanship. Other simply seize too much hair in battle to wear it publicly.
Hobgoblins are natural backstabbers who don't hesitate to use underhanded means to get their way, but if caught, they punish their own kind ruthlessly. Each tribe's general is responsible for dictating punishment, which takes one of four forms: demotion, exile, slavery, and death. Enslavement is by far the most common. Hobgoblins subjected to exile, as well as deserters, sometimes gravitate toward Soulborn societies as scavengers, bandits, gangsters, or pirates.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

Hobgoblins universally despise elves, but dwarf slaves are well sought after for their engineering and mining skills. Other goblinoids are seen as either an embarrassment or useful tools, depending on the situation. Regardless of the neighboring race however, relations will inevitably be shaky, if not outright hostile. War is often declared upon other races for no other reason than to gain slaves, as slavery is a vital part of hobgoblin society. Hobgoblins rarely trade with outsiders and tend to be resistant to suggestions of alliances though they have been known to buy slaves from orcs.

Origin/Ancestry

Caighreadhug, Mother of Nightmares

Lifespan

75 years

Average Height

5'6

Average Weight

150 lbs.

Founding Emanation

Nomog-Geaya, the Torturer

Racial Stats
Hobgoblin

Hobgoblin

Ability Score Increase +2 Con, +1 Int

Size Medium

Speed 30ft

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Darkvision

You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Martial Training

You are proficient with two martial weapons of your choice and with light armor.

Saving Face

Hobgoblins are careful not to show weakness in front of their allies, for fear of losing status. If you miss with an attack roll or fail an ability check or a saving throw, you can gain a bonus to the roll equal to the number of allies you can see within 30 feet of you (maximum bonus of +5). Once you use this trait, you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

Languages. Eolian, Gobbledygook, and Seldruin