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Charity
2007-01-19, 06:33 AM
Hi
Would one/some of you lovely people like to help me out?
Damn those players and their trawling for adventure hooks.
My party (Sorc 5, Ftr/Barb 4, Cleric 4, Rge 4, Wiz 4) are going to break the Hobgoblin road block, which would be fine if I had bothered to design one.
We have 50 or so Hobgobs blocking trade through a mountain pass they are well prepared and organised.

I need a few Hobgobs with character levels as group leaders, and a way of limiting the numbers they will be facing at once without it being too clunky and obvious.
I need in short a list of several EL sensible encounters with links, with terrain features if at all possible.

Meat Shield
2007-01-19, 08:50 AM
Well, couple ways you could break up the hobgob band into usable chunks:

- Isolated guard posts along the pass
- Remind the party to be sneaky! Amazing how they always forget this....
- If hobgob base is a cave, then warnings from outside may not travel very far into the underground
- Roving patrols that are not concerned about keeping quiet

Possible encounters
1) Take your typical "troll guarding bridge" encounter. Sub 4-5 hobgobs for the troll. Demand money from travelers.
2) If it is more of a "block all travel" setup, smart hobgobs would have a barricade at the pass, with archers in elevated positions with cover, and a couple horns to call reinforcements. This could quickly lead to a TPK if you are not careful so only use if your PCs are very good
3) A secret path around the barricade however could allow them into the pass to start eliminating the hobgobs in more manageable chunks
4) Hobgobs would be smart enough to retreat to fight again from a fallback position - don't be afraid to have some run to avoid a TPK
5) Can the hobgobs be bought off? Can they be bluffed? What distractions would they respond to? Would spells like alter self work?

Will post more if I think of anything

MrNexx
2007-01-19, 08:56 AM
Why are the hobgoblins blocking the road? If they've decided this is "their territory", then expect a fair amount of organization. How much territory are they defending?

Archaicwonder
2007-01-19, 08:56 AM
5) Can the hobgobs be bought off? Can they be bluffed? What distractions would they respond to? Would spells like alter self work?

Meat shield has an excellent point here: Think about why the hobgoblins are blocking trade and whether or not they could be circumvented. Are they doing this at the behest of a rivial nation? Is there a BBE hobgoblin looking for something in the hills that will ruin the world? Are they just wanting money? Has the country already tried to send ambassadors?

Just a few things that popped into my head.
That and the Vincini quote from Princess Bride, "I've hired you to help me start a war. It's a prestigious line of work, with a long and glorious history."

Charity
2007-01-19, 09:13 AM
Thanks all.

OK the party have recently mostly wiped out the local orc clan, just a couple of trolls and a cleric left. The orc is trying to send for reinforcements.
The Hobgobs are at war with the Orcs and are preventing travel along the pass, they are also stopping all trade and sacking all caravans.
The party have got to put a stop to it, somehow.
It is possible they could negotiate to take out the remaining die hards in the orc base and leave it to the Hobgobs, but as their previous job was to clear it they might get some stick.
The hobgobs have trapped the remaining orcs between themselves and civilisation, and are hoping to starve them out and prevent support being sent as they cant take the hobgobs out in the open.

Indon
2007-01-19, 11:22 AM
Hmm... goblinoid camp.

I'd put the encounters in this sort of order:

-Scouting party; 3-5 hobgoblins, one with a couple class levels of Ranger or somesuch. If the party's intent on violent resolution, they can't let any escape to warn the camp, but they can parley to speak with the hobgoblin big guy. (One option for a forester-heavy group would be to let the hobgoblin camp be warned and then pick off the war-parties that head out to kill the PC's)

-Waylaying Party (Optional); If the PC's come too near the road, they encounter the hobgoblins who are attacking caravans. I'd have about 10 of them (Hobgoblins _are_ 1HD creatures, right?), with 2-3 with class levels of Fighter. Maybe one sorceror.

-Guards; A couple guards near the cave, well situated on a high point with bows. If you want to make the fight hard, give them warning drums or horns or something, otherwise, one'll have to run into the cave.

-Dens; 10-15 noncombatants who have not been evacuated if the party stealths in. Another 10-15 scattered fighters, some sleeping or eating, again if no warning reaches the den. At the wrong time of day, they might run into some hobgoblins swapping out with the waylaying party.

-Chief; At some deep den, one hobgoblin, I'd make him level 6 fighter, with 2 level 2-3 buddies.

Details, I can't provide; I'm at work.

AtomicKitKat
2007-01-19, 12:02 PM
Easiest, most obvious(and yet not DEM obvious) way is simply to have the fighting Hobgobs block the only entrances to the barracks, or if the party is actually smart enough, they could back out of the building, and let the hobgoblins get in the way of each other(unless the hobgoblins' military experience superiority tells them they should start sniping from the arrowslits in the walls, etc.).

Matthew
2007-01-19, 12:25 PM
If you haven't used it before, try this Hobgoblin Lair Web Enhancement (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20030725a) from the Wizards Site.

Charity
2007-01-19, 12:38 PM
Thanks Matthew
That looks handy, how I will attach it to the road block premis is the only trick, any thoughts?

Indon, maybe if I have your Waylaying band lead em there..

The only other thing, if the Hobgobs have such a nice lair why are they trying to take the orcs keep... I could make it strategically important somehow ... sorry train of thought post it may not be utterly coherant.
more I'm afraid



2) If it is more of a "block all travel" setup, smart hobgobs would have a barricade at the pass, with archers in elevated positions with cover, and a couple horns to call reinforcements. This could quickly lead to a TPK if you are not careful so only use if your PCs are very good
3) A secret path around the barricade however could allow them into the pass to start eliminating the hobgobs in more manageable chunks
4) Hobgobs would be smart enough to retreat to fight again from a fallback position - don't be afraid to have some run to avoid a TPK
5) Can the hobgobs be bought off? Can they be bluffed? What distractions would they respond to? Would spells like alter self work?

Will post more if I think of anything
2 - this is what I'd envisaged, but they have a pretty high mortality rate so I think I'll have to reign in that thought
3 - they have to break the blockade, but cutting of the head as it were may achieve that...
4 - Noted, must have them run away more.
5 - They are not known for their negotiation, and they have previously encountered some of this band, and been fairly merciless, word travels fast.

thanks for all the good points

Matthew
2007-01-19, 12:53 PM
Well, there are only something like a dozen Hobgoblin's at the Outpost and another dozen or so Goblin Slaves. The Hobgoblin Sergeant is a handy Hobgoblin leader template, and the Hobgoblin Expert / Adept provides a bit of variety.

I would use this Outpost to overlook the pass and probably have another one at the other side. Once you know where the Hobgoblins are living, you can start figuring out how they block the pass (presumably by keeping a watch on the road and raiding an travellers. More than likely, the Hobgoblins have one or two favoured sites of ambush, where they set up kill zones. A lot depends on how they operate.

Break down the Hobgoblin forces:

50 Total

40 Warriors (Levels 1-2)
5 Sergeants (Levels 3-4)
1 Chieften (Level 5+)
4 'others' (Experts, Adepts and so on...)

Say two outposts and one main lair. Each outpost is situated near the mouth of the pass, whilst the main lair is deeper in the mountains. Each Outpost might have 1 Sergeant and 9 Warriors (6 Warriorl 1, 3 Warrior 2) and perhaps one 'other', such as an Expert, Rogue, Scout or Ranger.

Every time a likely target enters the pass, the Hobgblin Outpost alerts the main lair and the Hobgoblins shadow their prey to one of the Kill Zones, where the ambush is sprung.

A group of Adventurers may not qualify as a target. They might qualify as a threat, depending on the situation. The Hobgoblins may try to evade the adventurers, having their Scouts lead them a merry chase through the mountains.

Ideally, the adventures should figure out the disposition of the enemy and make a plan to deal with them in managable chunks.

Maybe the Orc Keep is better situated for profitable raiding? Maybe the Hobgoblins are looking to expand their operation. Maybe the Orcs are interfering with their ambushes somehow.

Charity
2007-01-19, 01:23 PM
Cool this is shaping up nicely, thanks for all your help guys.
I need something for tommorow, which I think I will have at this rate.

If you're reading this Ollie you can quit now BTW.

Hannes
2007-01-19, 01:26 PM
Ambushers. AMBUSHERS! With composites, preferrably. If the party doesn't use sneak tactics as they were supposed to (ie. flank them plainly seen hobs), they're in trouble. How about 2-4 ambushers?

Serakus_DeSardis
2007-01-19, 01:43 PM
Hobgoblins if I recall are the most organized of the goblinoids, often times very experienced in warfare. I always make hobgoblin fights a tactical one. If you design the encounters to make tactical use of the terrain and the enviroment you can actually make a fairly small force more formiddable and at the same time, when the PC do make a wise tactical decision, its much easier to sway the battle.

For example, if I wanted say a small scouting party it would likely consist of the following:

Leader - Fighter lvl 3 or 4
3-6 regulars : standard hobs or maybe fighter lvl 1-2 hobs
2-3 archers : lvl 1-2 rogues

Use tactical formations and positioning to make a band like this a more eventful encounter. The regulars are going to provide cover and support to their leader and try to keep the melee PCs off their archers. The archers are going to support the regulars with ranged shots, maybe using a sneak attack if possible. You want your leader to be in the fray but not in the thick of it. You want a leader shouting orders (even if the PCs don't understand them), because this will signify that he is the focus of the group's organization. When the leader is struck down or half the unit is down, this will cause a full retreat. At this point it can be up to you how to have it go down.

Personally once the retreat is started I would have the fastest or healthiest hobbie running back for reinforcements and the remaining forcer starting guerilla tactics. The unit mgiht retreat a few hundred feet andf suddenly turn about and make a brief attack or feint at one. The archers will try to pick off any softies of the PCs that are within range. Then they will move again. The idea is that the unit is going to delay the PCs from reaching their strongholds and to give their runner time to make it back.

Thats just how I might run it. It really is up to you and your style and to your table's style.

PS - Another idea I've been using lately in a larger goblinoid army, is that the hobbies are the army's shock troops, and use wargs and dire wolves as mounts and pets. This might be a way to make a hobgoblin force more formiddable. The addition of mounts/attack "dogs" can make an encounter interesting and add more to the tactical elements.

Diggorian
2007-01-19, 03:21 PM
Hobgoblins can be very tricky to run because they're so smart and organized. I agree that this encounter should play like an exercise in tactics. If your group isnt strong on tactics they may get hurt bad.

Using Serakus' squad: one leader ftr3, four warriors, and two rog1's this would a CR 6 encounter by my estimation. Doable, but tough if they choose the encounter site.

I'd have the warriors fight defensively while doing Aid Other on the leader, two for his defense (+4) and two on his attacks (+4). The rogues would likely target the sorceror and wizard, cause no armor means caster.

If things are going bad you could have them become overconfident and break ranks or give foolish orders. All depends on your party and how they handle tough encounters. If they flee to regroup and plan this would be smart. If they're like mine, and proudly refuse to back down, Hobs do believe in taking prisoners for slaves. :smallbiggrin: Bringing in the Orcs can be a saving plot developement too.

Indon
2007-01-19, 03:55 PM
Thanks Matthew
That looks handy, how I will attach it to the road block premis is the only trick, any thoughts?

Indon, maybe if I have your Waylaying band lead em there..

The only other thing, if the Hobgobs have such a nice lair why are they trying to take the orcs keep... I could make it strategically important somehow ... sorry train of thought post it may not be utterly coherant.
more I'm afraid

Well, if not a den, then they'll need a nearby camp where they can rest and take shifts at attacking caravans. They are at least keeping lookouts in the area 24/7, right?

Charity
2007-01-19, 07:57 PM
I was refering to the base in the link mathew provided, sorry if I didn't make myself clear, it is a habit of mine.

Raum
2007-01-19, 10:29 PM
To clarify, are there 50 hobgoblins capable of fighting or a tribe of 50 including noncombatants? If a tribe, about 50% should be noncombatants.

Maltrich
2007-01-20, 12:27 AM
Remember that if the hobgoblins have flammable buildings, your players are unlikely to leave them standing for very long.

Also, if I were one of your players, I'd be trying to raise a small army and building siege engines. But then again, that's because if I were one of your players, I'd be secretly plotting to overthrow the country...