Hobgoblin

## Overview

Hobgoblins are a race of combat-obsessed, disciplined, and ambitious goblinoids who are easily inspired by tales of war, conquest, and martial prowess. They have little to no respect for scholarship or study outside of tactics and strategy, and scorn magic almost as a rule - the single exception applies to divine spells granted to worshipers of Pahala Kadam or Nothing Left of Quibatus. As a result, hobgoblins tend to have no problem carving out a niche for themselves in the hotter climates that they prefer. They hunt food to practice attack patterns, plow fields and sow seeds in order to build muscle strength and discipline, and construct housing and clothing in order to prepare themselves for making siege weaponry and armor. Magic-users of all kinds, including alchemists, are mocked unless they have equal talent with a weapon, and even bards are only tolerated insofar as they excel at marching music. Despite this simple appearance and neglect of the intellectual arts, hobgoblins have a deep and long-lasting culture that sees war and conflict in all relationships, and aims for the individual to always conduct themselves in a way that will bring them honor, strength, and victory.

## Mechanics

### Standard Racial Traits

* **Ability Score Modifiers**: Hobgoblins are fast and hardy. They gain +2 Dexterity, and +2 Constitution.
* **Type**: Hobgoblins are humanoids with the goblinoid subtype.
* **Size**: Hobgoblins are Medium creatures and thus have no bonuses or penalties due to their size.
* **Base Speed**: Hobgoblins have a base speed of 30 feet.
* **Languages**: Hobgoblins begin play speaking Goblin. Hobgoblins with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following: Draconic, Dwarven, Infernal, Giant, and Orc.

### Feat and Skill Racial Traits

* **Magehunter** Hobgoblins hate and fear arcane casters. A magehunter gains a +2 racial bonus on Spellcraft checks made to identify a spell being cast and a +1 racial bonus on attack rolls against arcane spellcasters. He only gains this bonus against creatures that use spells, and not against those that only use spell-like abilities.

### Senses Racial Traits

* **Darkvision**: Hobgoblins can see perfectly in the dark up to 60 feet.

## Society

Hobgoblins are natural-born warriors, though they excel in any sort of competition or conflict. As a result, most settlements welcome hobgoblin populations with open arms - whatever conflicts they may cause due to their introduction have limited consequences due to their sense of honor, and are often quickly overshadowed due to their ambition in any role they undertake, as well as their usefulness as a citizen militia. Hobgoblins gravitate towards roles that allow them both the opportunity for daily combat as well as gather social or political power - they see such power as a just reward for their training, service, and skills. This sense of justice is endemic to hobgoblins, who act as they wish everyone to act: everyone seeking to utilize their talents to the best of their ability, with the strong being rewarded and the weak gracefully accepting losses and vowing to become stronger. In this way, hobgoblins seek a fully meritocratic society where each member contributes what they can while continually striving to grow, with their efforts directed by those who put in the most work out of all.

## Religion

Hobgoblins revere gods who reward competitiveness and competence, especially Pahala Kadam and Nothing Left of Quibatus. They have respect for Alessandra Juntoso and Basang Ba, whose powers of decay and destruction are undeniable, and acknowledge that Agathon's healing allows the weak second chance in life. Hobgoblin theologists debate ceaselessly as to the merits of Masik, who has yet to count a single success to his name, but the races made under his care are often quite successful in their own aims. Hobgoblins look with pity at Ketar Mozog and Dowager Empress Kyouko - if your authorities are chosen by immaterial things like popularity contests or divine ordination, how are they ever supposed to find the seeking of power honorable? Vicenta Salcedo holds a strange place in hobgoblin culture, as they disdain most arts but consider tactics and battle strategy to be one of the purest forms of self-expression possible - she accepts their worship tentatively and with not a little bit of confusion. Hobgoblins revile Jolein Composed of Desire and Zhihao Jin as useless scholars who've turned their back on the physical prowess that can be achieved by both aphorites and orcs.

## Relations

Though hobgoblins often idolize the blessed aasimar, tieflings, and ganzi, the divinely-descended tend to consider them narrow-minded warmongers which means that only those tieflings descended from kytons and devils have anything positive to say.

Aphorites and gnomes can respect the hobgoblin drive for improvement, but rarely form lasting relationships unless they have a special interest in warfare.

Changeling, skinwalkers, and dhampir enjoy almost unconditional acceptance among hobgoblins due to the latter's easy acceptance of their supposedly innate violent nature.

Drelmans, parmans, elves, grippli, halflings, and ghorans have difficulty seeing hobgoblins as anything but raiders and conquerors.

Both dwarves and duergar get along with hobgoblins, although duergar find the hobgoblins' obsession with war infantile. Dwarves, on the other hand, tend to easily understand the goblinoids' view of conflict, and become fast friends.

Drow, fetchlings, and sylphs respect hobgoblins in theory, noting their continual efforts to grow, but practical interactions usually leave them feeling like their conversational partners have succeeded in devoting effort and failed in actually growing.

Ifrits and kobolds usually avoid hobgoblins due to their violent reputation, but if they are able to get to know them better, ifrits excel at leading hobgoblins to bring out the best in them, and kobolds rarely find more honorable partners.

Orcs and nagaji seamlessly integrate into any hobgoblin group and vice versa, due to the orcs' similarly brutal natures and the nagaji obsession with honor.

Lizardfolk, vanara, and ratfolk could possibly get along with hobgoblins if the goblinoids didn't so reliably destroy the natural habitats that they rely on, but instead they tend to be unwelcoming at best and attack preemptively at worst.

Kitsune find hobgoblins vexing - their pranks are often dismissed out of hand as magical trickery, leading them to concoct more and more complex and varied methods to elicit laughter from the hobgoblins, ending up in significant and unwilling growth in the kitsune's talents.

Oreads, suli, and undine find hobgoblins to be tolerable neighbors, though only undine would call the easily-fired-up hobgoblins a potential friend.

Hobgoblins consider tengu to be rivals in combat, but the literacy-loving, erudite race of birdfolk look down on hobgoblins as pitiful fools who can never understand the true meaning of battle.

Vishkanya count hobgoblins among the few races that are neither prey nor objects, but actual threats, and tend to avoid them as much as possible.

Goblins and hobgoblins share a common heritage and a living kinship that spans kingdom and culture, and neither will any of one abandon the other.

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