Hobgoblin
Hobgoblins embody the primal urge to grow and spread, expressing such drives by bending the world to their whims. Lone hobgoblins claim woodland territories and plunder the wilds. In groups, they form hierarchical, martial societies bent on conquering lands and stripping them of resources to serve their expansionist zeal.
Hobgoblins often subjugate animals, monsters, and destructive Fey—particularly goblins and bugbears—to serve their plans. Hobgoblins might ally with dragons, warlords, the servants of warlike gods, or other powerful creatures that promise them control of new territories. Should hobgoblins bring an entire land to heel, they seek new conquests, venturing across seas, into the Underdark, or to stars and planes of existence beyond.
Basic Information
Anatomy
Hobgoblins have dark orange or red-orange skin, and hair ranging from dark red-brown to dark gray. Yellow or dark brown eyes peer out beneath their beetling brows, and their wide mouths sport sharp and yellowed teeth. A male hobgoblin might have a large blue or red nose, which symbolizes virility and power among goblinkin.
Ecology and Habitats
Hobgoblins claim lands with abundant resources, and they can be found in forests and mountains, near mines and humanoid settlements, and anywhere else that wood, metal, and potential slaves can be found. They build and conquer strongholds in strategically advantageous locations, which they then use as staging areas to expand their territory.
Hobgoblins fortify their own holdings, bolstering existing defenses with innovations of their own. Whether they lair in cavern complexes, dungeons, ruins, or forests, they protect their strongholds with ditches, fences, gates, guard towers, pit traps, and crude catapults or ballistae.
Behaviour
A hobgoblin measures virtue by physical strength and martial prowess, caring about nothing except the opportunity to demonstrate skill and cunning in battle. Hobgoblins of high military rank attain their positions by force, then hold those positions by imposing their authority through draconian measures.
Hobgoblins train to fight with a variety of weapons, and have great skill at crafting arms, armor, siege engines, and other military devices. Organized and disciplined, they take exceptional care of their weapons, armor, and personal possessions. They favor the bold colors associated with their tribes, and trim their often-elaborate uniforms with blood-red piping and leather dyed black.
Hobgoblins organize themselves into tribal bands known as legions. In their martial society, every hobgoblin has a rank, from the powerful leaders and champions, to the rank-and-file foot soldiers, to the goblins that find themselves driven into the front lines at spear point. A legion is headed by a warlord with several captains serving under its command. A hobgoblin warlord is a ruthless tyrant more interested in strategy, victory, glory, reputation, and dominion than leading troops into battle.
As loyal and disciplined as hobgoblins are in their own legion, rival legions compete constantly for reputation and status. Meetings between legions erupt in violence if troops aren’t restrained, and only exceptionally powerful leaders can force legions to cooperate on the battlefield.
Additional Information
Social Structure
All hobgoblins belong to a legion upon birth lasting until death.
Rank, Status, and Title
As in any strict military hierarchy, every hobgoblin in a legion has a rank, from the warlord down through a cadre of officers to the soldiers that make up most of its number. These ranks, using the titles most often applied to them, are as follows:
1st rank: Warlord
2nd rank: General
3rd rank: Captain
4th rank: Fatal Axe
5th rank: Spear
6th rank: Fist
7th rank: Soldier
A legion is organized into units called banners, each one made up of a group of interrelated families. Members of a banner live, work, and fight together, and each banner has a separate status within the legion that is reflected in the power of its officers. For instance, the captains of the highest-ranking banners can expect their orders to be followed by the captains of any banners of lower rank.
Rank and responsibility aren’t necessarily commensurate from one legion to another or even between banners in the same legion. A phalanx of foot soldiers led by a captain in one legion might be two hundred strong, while in another such a force numbers just twenty. One banner might have four warriors mounted on worgs led by a fist, while a fist in another banner of the same legion might lead ten mounted warriors. If any rank doesn’t serve a purpose in the legion, the warlord eliminates it from the hierarchy to maximize efficiency.
Honor Bound, By Glory Crowned
Advancement in rank comes as a result of attaining glory, but for the achievement to mean anything, a hobgoblin must abide by the race’s code of honor in doing so.
Glory can be earned by discovery of great resources (such as finding a new vein of iron or a powerful magic item), by fine performances (writing and performing a great ballad about the legion), by designing and constructing a great defense or monument, and through other means. But the greatest respect is reserved for those who earn their glory in battle. In theory, the fortunes of war can elevate the lowest-ranking banner in a legion to the highest status. In practice, warlords are careful to position themselves and their banners to claim the greatest victories in any conflict, and they portion out opportunities and responsibilities to other banners as politics dictate.
Each hobgoblin legion has a distinct code of honor and law, but all follow a few general precepts that are at the heart of the hobgoblin honor system.
Follow Orders. Carrying out orders without question is critical on the battlefield, and hobgoblins follow this dictum in peaceful times as well in order to maintain stability in their society. Hobgoblins don’t shrink from following orders that they know will result in death if the act will bring glory to the banner or the legion.
Honor the Gods. Hobgoblins give regular recognition to the deities left to them after Maglubiyet’s conquest. Idols of Nomog-Geaya, as well as standards and flags with his image or symbol, receive a bow or salute at all times except emergencies. Bargrivyek’s peacemakers receive due deference regardless of rank or banner status. Of course, Maglubiyet’s call to conquest is always answered.
Suffer nor Give Insult. As befits their warlike nature, hobgoblins believe that any insult demands a response. Suitably (and somewhat ironically), the outward politeness and civility that they demonstrate among each other enables them to avoid conflicts in daily life. This same form of “courtesy” is often extended to other races the hobgoblins have dealings with, much to the outsiders’ surprise. When such respect isn’t reciprocated, though, relations can swiftly deteriorate.
Reward Glorious Action. Hobgoblins never deny advancement in status to a banner that has earned it, nor do they withhold higher rank from a deserving individual. If a banner attains great glory in battle but is nearly destroyed, the handful of members who remain are welcomed into another banner, taking their banner’s name and colors along with them, and assuming places of leadership in the group.
Uphold the Legion. Hobgoblins care more for the survival of their legion than they do for others of their own kind. Two legions might battle over territory, resources, or power, or out of simple pride. Such a feud can continue over generations in an ongoing cycle of retribution. Each legion has a list of grievances against any others it knows about, and any legions meeting for the first time view each other with immediate hostility. Only a truly great warlord can force legions to work together as an army if Maglubiyet has not called forth a host.
Average Intelligence
Hobgoblins have a strong grasp of tactics and discipline, and can carry out sophisticated battle plans under the direction of a strategically minded leader.
Overall, they are of average intelligence, with higher ranks leaning towards slightly above average.
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.
Beauty Ideals
Hobgoblins are sometimes born with bright red or blue noses. This attribute is thought to be a sign of potency and potential. Blue- and red-nosed hobgoblins receive preferential treatment, and as a result they occupy most of the leadership positions in hobgoblin society. The noses of all hobgoblins become more colorful when they are enraged or excited, much the way that humans’ cheeks can flush with emotion.
Major Language Groups and Dialects
Goblin, Common
Culture and Cultural Heritage
Hobgoblins revere two gods unique to their race, the only survivors of a pantheon that was decimated by Maglubiyet so long ago that hobgoblins don’t remember the names of the fallen. Nomog-Geaya is the greater of the two and the more frequently honored. He is seen as a stoic, cold-blooded, and tyrannical leader, and hobgoblins believe he expects the same behavior from them. Bargrivyek is a god of duty, unity, and discipline, and he is thought to be pleased by displays of those principles.
In the stories that hobgoblins tell one another, Bargrivyek serves as Nomog-Geaya’s second in command. Nomog-Geaya would prefer the position were filled by someone more like himself, but Bargrivyek was all he was left with after Maglubiyet’s conquest. Although both deities are ultimately beholden to Maglubiyet, the greater god allows them to retain a measure of their influence over the hobgoblins because their philosophies are in line with his own.
Hobgoblins don’t build temples to their gods, lest they displease Maglubiyet, but the few priests among them do tend small shrines and interpret the body of legends about their gods. Nomog-Geaya’s priests always wield his favored weapons, a longsword and a handaxe. They are responsible for martial training as well as instruction in strategy and battlefield tactics. Bargrivyek’s priests wield his symbol, a flail with a head dipped in white paint. They work as a police force in hobgoblin society, making judgments about honor, mediating disputes, and otherwise enforcing discipline.
Interspecies Relations and Assumptions
They hate elves and attack them first in battle over any other opponents, even if doing so would be a tactical error.
Legions often supplement their ranks with less reliable and more expendable troops, including goblins, bugbears, orcs, evil humans, ogres, and giants.
5 to 6 ft
180 to 240 lbs
Muscular, fit
Reddish skin
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