Hobgoblins

[hivedragon]

I really like eberron hobgoblin fluff
-They once ruled almost all of thier home continent until they we defeated by an army of aberrations
-They have bred themselves into castes
--bugbears being the muscle
--goblins more domestic
--hobgoblins being the nobility
-all other races are suitable only as slave stock
-though they may believe gods exist they are not known to worship them

However their crunch needs some work
-their LA makes them il suited as a PC race
-their only notable racial feature is a bonus to move silently, which doesn't fit as skulking in the darkness doesn't become of the nobility.

Looking for any suggestions for racial features

[Gustaff]

There was a version of the drow race ("lesser drow" or something) with lesser benefits and without LA, more suitable for player characters.. You could homebrew something similar.

Also, I agree that hobgoblins have a few relevant racial features. I like to think hobgoblins as tough as the dwarves are, so you could give them some resistances (dwarves are spell and poison-resistant; Hobgoblins could be disease and enchantment-resistant). They could get some weapon proficiences (they are a militar race) and a racial-tatical thing that emphasizes they militar training on early ages, or a special training against some kind of creature (aberrations, in Eberron maybe?). Also, you could drop they Dextery bonus (they are big and strong, after all). Even like this they're still weaker than dwarves ;P

[Yora]

I think hobgoblins could possibly just stay the way they are. They are not much stronger than dwarves.

Or add a -2 penalty to charisma. Goblins, bugbears, orcs, half-orcs, ogres, and gnolls all have penalties to charisma, so it wouldn't be out of place.
+2 Dex, +2 Con, -2 Cha, darkvision, and +4 to move silently really isn't a particularly powerful race.

[Seharvepernfan]

It's not quite what you asked for, but here are my homebrew hobgoblins.

Hobgoblins (Ruukha)

HOBGOBLIN CHARACTERS
Hobgoblin characters possess the following racial traits.
+2 Constitution, -1 to will saves. Hobgoblins are disciplined and punished harshly since birth by a highly dominating society, developing healthy enduring bodies but lacking personal willpower and the mental ability to block influence. A hobgoblin instinctively follows commands and orders.
A hobgoblin’s base land speed is 30 feet.
+2 to Grapple checks
+2 to all Art of War checks (Bull Rush, Disarm, Feint, Overrun, Parry, Sunder, & Trip)
+2 vs. all Art of War checks (Bull Rush, Disarm, Feint, Overrun, Sunder, & Trip)
+2 to Knowledge (architecture & Engineering) & Proffession (Seige Engineer) checks
Any hobgoblin who is adjacent to an ally hobgoblin gains a +1 shield bonus to AC against melee attacks.
Treat dire flails as martial weapons.
Automatic Languages: Common, Goblin. Bonus Languages: Draconic, Dwarven, Infernal, Giant, Orc.

Half-hobgoblin
+2 Wis, -2 Cha. Half-hobgoblins are looked down upon and ignored by their parent races and thus have weaker personalities, but develop greater self-control and perception by learning for and teaching themselves. They tend to say little and listen much.
A hobgoblin’s base land speed is 30 feet.
+2 on all endurance checks.
+2 to Concentration checks.
+2 to Grapple checks
+2 to all Art of War checks (Bull Rush, Disarm, Feint, Overrun, Parry, Sunder, & Trip)
+2 vs. all Art of War checks (Bull Rush, Disarm, Feint, Overrun, Sunder, & Trip)
+2 to Knowledge (architecture & Engineering) & Proffession (Seige Engineer) checks
Treat dire flails as martial weapons.
Automatic Languages: Common, Goblin. Bonus Languages: Draconic, Dwarven, Infernal, Giant, Orc.

Hobgoblins are a conquering race that inhabit areas that used to be occupied by other races, usually a receding tide of humans. Hobgoblins live wherever they find suitable defensible dwellings. They add superficial fortifications and dwellings onto a base structure that they cannot replicate, though some powerful hobgoblins tribes and nations use slaves to build fortresses and cities that they design, and these fortresses and cities are often of higher structural quality than the majority built by humans. Some of the largest and strongest fortresses in the world are in (or bordering) hobgoblin lands. Any hobgoblin leader would go to great lengths to own a dwarven fortress. Hobgoblins living near water often pirate and raid from fortified battle-ships with siege weaponry (their ships tend to be very large, often with wide platforms, but aren‘t quite seaworthy.

They exist in tribes which occasionally, under the right leadership, form into small (but strong) kingdoms. They raid the communities of other races (and their own) for slaves, whom they use for menial labor, agriculture, crafting, animal handling, mining, battle fodder, and other miscellaneous (and often horrible) things. Hobgoblin society leans heavily on the use of slaves. Hobgoblins rely on other cultures for resources, as they lack the skill to make what they need (except for armor, drums, siege engines, and weapons), relying on their martial prowess to take what they need. Hobgoblins will sometimes trade with cultures they cannot dominate (yet) for things they cannot create or greatly desire (often fueling black markets in those cultures).

Most hobgoblins share a life goal of becoming a warlord. Most often, this means serving one first, rising through the ranks with loyal service and dedication, then backstabbing and overthrowing. Most never get close to this goal. A warlords closest and most valuable advisors are typically his most dangerous enemies (because he needs and relies on them more than anyone else and they desire and are closer to his power than anyone else, and thus more likely to attempt a coup). The life of a warlord is typically short and bloody.

However, some warlords rule long enough for their children to mature before they die in battle (or when their children overthrow them - either of which makes a hobgoblin father proud). This leads to a royal line. If a line lasts (which is rarer still), a kingdom is born. If a kingdom lasts, it conquers its neighbors (other small kingdoms or individual warlords) and becomes a nation. A nation will typically amass armies composed of several tribes and set out to conquer the lands of other races. Successful nations become empires, which are usually considered world powers. A hobgoblin empire is a war machine unmatched by any other terrestrial mortal race and is universally feared and respected. Hobgoblin empires that aren't brought down by their own byzantine infighting are brought down by a coalition of enemy races who overcome their own differences to bring down such a dangerous enemy.

A hobgoblin warlord lusts after personal power (in battle and leadership ability), powerful weapons (armament, spell, magic artifice, armies, intelligence), slaves, the favor of his god (through sacrificial offerings if not deed), a line of numerous and strong descendents, territory, trophies of his enemies, respect and loyalty from his followers, fear from his enemies (and allies), and most of all, a mighty stronghold. Hobgoblin fascination with castles and fortification usually crosses the border into obsession. The wet dream of every hobgoblin warlord is a gigantic impregnable fortress on a mountaintop standing over the entrance to a conquered dwarven stronghold with his personal banner waving from the battlements, especially a blood coated stronghold with blood stained (or soaked) banners.

Hobgoblin decoration is dominated by one color. Red. If anything else it is red on black, occasionally in addition to gold, which is more once a hobgoblin community reaches nation status. Red is a religious color to hobgoblins, it emphasizes strength and power, aggression, pride, and most importantly, blood. Hobgoblins often use blood as decoration, whether the blood of slaves, prisoners, enemies, or merely the unlucky. They use it on walls and armor as paint (this is actually false, hobgoblins never allow blood to stain their armaments, though they are commonly painted or enameled in red), and in fabric as dye. Sometimes it is drunk in celebration or ritual. It is even used as war paint. If blood is not used, then red paint or clay is used to imitate it. Hobgoblins favor red gemstones. A clear sign of a successful hobgoblin warlord is a stronghold painted in the blood of his enemies, with blood soaked banners. Elf blood in particular is craved. Often the first thing done after winning a battle is the stringing up and draining of a fallen enemy's blood (some do this to their fallen as well).

They are almost constantly skirmishing with orcs, whom they acknowledge as dangerous, but lack respect for. They are just as often at war with other hobgoblins, usually over territory, slaves, or some defensible location. They occasionally fight with dwarves, whom they regard as fierce and dangerous enemies, but can rarely defeat them on their home ground (which is where the vast majority of dwarf vs. hobgoblin battles take place). They rarely fight with elves, whom they have an almost fanatical hatred for, and will go far out of their way to kill when they catch wind of them (often meaning huge losses if in an elven forest). Hobgoblins consider killing an elf a great achievement, and many make trophies of the elves they have slain. If a hobgoblin is a ranger, they will almost surely pick elves as their favored enemy.

If a hobgoblin tribe is successful enough, they will breed their slaves to ensure a second generation. This sometimes means that whole generations of other races live and die as slaves to hobgoblins. Whole human cultures exist as hobgoblin slaves. Occasionally, when a hobgoblin society lasts long enough for a multi-generation human slave culture to form within it, trusted children of trusted slaves might grow up among and train with hobgoblin youth, creating a bond sometimes resembling friendship (though this is harshly punished if discovered). Some of these human slaves serve in hobgoblin militaries and clergies, some even become ambassadors to the lands and nations of other races. Plenty of half-hobgoblins spring from these mixed cultures. Some hobgoblins hire themselves out as mercenaries to humans and other races. Most human leaders are loathe to go to war with hobgoblins, as such always leads to heavy battlefield losses.

Most hobgoblins are of the warrior class (usually with a focus on phalanx fighting), with siege engineers being experts (who double as sentries). Many Hobgoblins are fighters, usually of the combat expertise feat tree and specialize in flails. Hobgoblin leadership typically includes clerics of Maglubiyet (Hextor), warmages, or marshalls, and often a triumvirate of the three, with evokers taking an advisory role. Hobgoblin adepts are almost always smiters* and serve in the same role as warmages. Hobgoblins have a strong tradition of ninja/monk hyrbids, although an individual hobgoblin may only have levels in one of the two. The highest regarded class of any hobgoblin, however, is the blackguard. Many champions and heroes of the race are blackguards. They heavily favor crusaders and war blades, and half breeds favor swordsages, but the ruukha have many swordsages.

Hobgoblin clerics and evokers have a strong relationship with barghests through the planar ally/binding spells, and the barghests are held in high regard in hobgoblin society, existing outside the usual hierarchy. Barghests often sponsor blackguards, and half-barghest hobgoblins are usually blackguards (half-fiend with the barghest ability to turn into a wolf instead of having wings). Hobgoblins usually feed low worth slaves to barghests in return for being called. Hobgoblin warbands under a barghest leader will usually ally with a pack of wargs.

Strong hobgoblin nations will sometimes breed small armies of skull crusher ogres for use as elite heavy infantry and shock troops, or, rarely, as heavy cavalry mounted on war elephants. Hobgoblins rarely ride horses, instead, they ride either dire wolves raised for battle, or wargs enlarged through a permanancied first level spell created by their evokers. Magic hobgoblin armor usually has the shadow and silent moves enchantments. Hobgoblins favor flails, tower shields, and armor spikes. The most common template for hobgoblins is half-fiend (barghest).

*The smiter is an adept variant from a third party book, "Ultimate NPCs". It's basically what you would get if you crossed an adept with a warmage.

[hivedragon]

@Seharvepernfan
I think I am going to borrow that art of war trait and bump it up to a +4.
How exactly do profession (siege engineer) checks work?
Shouldn't it be craft (siege engineer)?

[Volthawk]

@Seharvepernfan
I think I am going to borrow that art of war trait and bump it up to a +4.
How exactly do profession (siege engineer) checks work?
Shouldn't it be craft (siege engineer)?

Profession (siege engineer) is the skill needed to use siege weaponry properly. For example, it's a DC 15 check to load a heavy catapult and set the arm back properly.

[hivedragon]

Where can I find crunch on siege weaponry?

[Dusk Eclipse]

IMHO I think Hobgoblins are strong competitors for the "Most unnecessary LA ever" award.

[Volthawk]

Where can I find crunch on siege weaponry?

DMG has some stuff, and Heroes of Battle and Miniatures Handbok expand on it.


IMHO I think Hobgoblins are strong competitors for the "Most unnecessary LA ever" award.

Agreed.