Arelith

Lorewise Hobgoblins are badass. I need to dig out the lore stuff if Hobgoblins get to be customizable. They are evil like goblins but less savage and more intelligent. To the point it's not unheard of to see mercenary bands of Hobgoblins selling their services to civilized races in frontier tradeposts.

They are also highly disciplined and their whole life is structured around warfare. Unlike Orcs and orogs it's less to do with personal glory but more with strategy, operation as a unit, subterfuge and everything related to war, particularly winning it. And of course as with any evil creature they believe themselves to be the peak of creation. Handcrafted by Maglubiyeth to be the paragons of war.

They also have this idea about personal perimeter, where everything within a certain radius belongs to them. But I can't really remember details about it.

Statwise they are okay. With +2 dex +2 con +4 MS they seem to be leaning towards rogue, sd, ranger thingies. But They can make a mean Weaponmaster too. Either dex or STR since the dex bonus can be used to reach that demanded 13 dex for wm. Oh, also swashbuckler, since they don't have cha penalties.

Yeah just spending a bit of time in the character creator with the new heads for half-orc seem to fit well like Ork said. It's not perfect but I think it is better than the current options and really with all the new "robe" options I think you can get some very fitting hobgoblin looks.

Would prefer the race to a have custom customizable phenotype, to be honest. Seeing them with orc model would be a letdown.

After having played a bit in Andunor I agree with most of the points raised in the thread so far. Specifically.

- The absence of hobgoblins among the various communities is felt or rather it seems obvious there are not as many hobgoblins as the other monster races. There are more imps and minotaurs than hobgoblins in fact. And frankly it seems pretty much a missed opportunity. In two weeks in Andunor I saw a single hobgoblin who mostly sticked by himself and that was it.

- The requirement of a reward, even if minor, does not seem consistent with the other monster races or the other minor reward races. Hobgoblins are a relatively common dungeon critter and monster in D&d, they are nowhere as exotic as forest gnomes or wild dwarves. Not even bugbears are that rare either in fact.

- The model is particularly unimpressive, and to boot, it is male only. Allowing them to use human models with the appropriate heads and skin colors, seems rather fair. The option of the standard model could certainly be left for those players who like it.

Long live to the goblinkin!