Hobgoblins and the Book of Clear Fighting

Way back in the 1st edition AD&D era, the Monster Manual was filled with bizarre critters that fired the imagination. Among the most fascinating to me were the hobgoblins. Tougher than orcs, prone to wearing samurai-like armor, and with an implied organization greater than that of their fellow goblin-types, hobgoblins always struck me as having among the most potential as fantasy-world-threatening foes.

Hobgoblins on the move, from the 1st edition Monster Manual, with art by iconic D&D artist, the late David C. Sutherland III

With each successive edition of D&D, it became clearer that I wasn't the only one with this concept of the strong, organized hobgoblins floating around in my head. 5th edition D&D continues that "civilizing" of the hobgoblins.

The "modern" hobgoblin, from the 5th edition D&D Monster Manual.

Over the years, I worked out an idea of what hobgoblins were like in my campaign worlds. I figured I'd dust off those notes and toss 'em here on the blog.

Hobgoblins of Callexerna

Cool. Efficient. Professional. Three words that epitomize the hobgoblins.

Hatred against them is born of fear fostered by their discipline.

When hobgoblins are on the move, they are not a mob, they are not a tribe - they are an army. They have a rigid chain of command, they take orders readily, and they are not subject to the kind of infighting that tears apart most goblinoid armies before they can really do damage.

Even the doughtiest dwarf grinds his teeth and grips his axe more tightly at the news the hobgoblins are on the move.

Hobgoblins have structure, they have discipline, they have strength; what they don't have is mercy. They put town populations to the sword in order to make sure no uprisings occur. Perhaps most unnerving of all is that they do not revel in the slaughter, not letting it go to their heads and distracting them into making a mistake. No, the hobgoblins destroy simply and efficiently, like everything else they do. They cannot be bribed, they cannot be begged, they cannot be intimidated. They only care about what will benefit the hobgoblin nation - everything else is simply irrelevant, at worst an impediment to be destroyed.

Hobgoblins are trained to act as a team, drilled to regard their shields as protecting their shield brother, not themselves. Hobgoblins get to learn from their experiences, unlike most goblinoids, because their discipline and loyalty to each other ensures the survival of even grievously wounded soldiers. Hobgoblin armies have a proportionately high number of experienced soldiers because of this.

Hobgoblins are cooperative amongst themselves. They are organized into clearly defined units. The rivalries that exist between units are fierce but disciplined, serving to keep the hobgoblin nation in fighting form, but rarely devolve into actual bloodshed.

Hobgoblins are prized as mercenary units due to their prowess, reliability, and willingness to follow the orders of their employers. Once they have undertaken a contract, they will not break it. Should an employer betray one hobgoblin mercenary unit, they will have effectively betrayed them all, in hobgoblin eyes. From that point on, the betrayer is the focus of the wrath of all hobgoblins.

Hobgoblins find other goblinoids distastefully barbaric and unprincipled. Goblins try to emulate the structure and discipline of the hobgoblins, but are generally unsuccessful at this. In fact, goblin tribes seem to be almost a parody of hobgoblin organization and discipline – hobgoblin equipment shines and functions; goblin equipment is rusted and, more often than not, almost non-functional. The ubiquitous and more numerous orcs have clashed often with hobgoblins, though the discipline of hobgoblins has meant that even greatly outnumbered forces easily shrug off orc attacks. Hobgoblins will serve as mercenaries for an employer who also hires orcs, but will never be subordinate to orcs under any circumstances.

Although hobgoblins have no compunction against killing, they do have an unnerving calm about them.  When they are not drilling, they meditate. This meditation helps them achieve what they call “The Warrior’s Calm,” a state of mind that keeps them collected and focused on the battlefield. This strange, alien calm that they project can strike fear into even the stoutest warrior. 

Hobgoblins have a surprisingly rich tradition of literature. With books written by hobgoblins ranging from poetry to history to engineering, they are far and away the most literate of the goblinoids. They also freely read and learn from the literature of humans, elves, dwarves, and any other intelligent species that has a literary form. Hobgoblin literature is crude, dark, and violent in comparison to the literature of humans or elves, but its variety is unsettling to those who tend to view the goblinoids as without interest in intellectual pursuits.

No self-respecting hobgoblin warrior on the march is without his copy of The Book of Clear Fighting, a collection of ancient treatises on hobgoblin tactics and strategy. It is not unusual to see hobgoblins sitting silently, reading or meditating, immediately before and after a battle. The Book of Clear Fighting is much like a combination of The Art of War, von Clausewitz's On War, an infantry tactics manual, and, oddly enough, a smattering of folktales, parables, and, most strangely, jokes.

The hobgoblins acknowledge, but do not worship Maglubiyet. They do not believe the patron deity of goblinoids to be a true god. Instead, they see Maglubiyet and other “gods” as merely beings of great personal power with no regard for those weaker than themselves.

The hobgoblins do have a belief system concerning a higher power. This belief system revolves around the concept of an empty, uncaring universe in which the individual imbues meaning into existence. In the case of the hobgoblins, they find meaning in strengthening their nation's position in the world. 

Hobgoblins have few heroes, per se, but there are figures from their history whom they venerate. Chief among these is Erez-Kazg, the legendary Hobgoblin King, the Three-Fingered Lord, King of Evil’s Nest – First made a name for himself during the Great Revolt which thrust back the borders of the Kingdom of Peace and the Centaur Empire from the Southern Polar Sea to their present borders. Shrewd, cunning, and evil to the core, he and his huge companion, the sabretooth cat Kurguz, hacked their way to the throne of Callexerna, deposing the human warlords. Erez-Kazg brought discipline to the hobgoblins, and that has made them some of the most dangerous foes the forces of good have faced.