Hobgoblin
Description: The Hobgoblin is a twisted nocturnal creature suffering on the edge of humanity. While, he is moderately strong and relatively quick, he lacks the ability to hunt down the truly quick and should avoid conflict with the more powerful denizens, human or otherwise. He should quickly make his way from the civilized portions of the realm to the safety of the underworld where he can seek out his allies and take advantage of his abilities.
Symbol: Eclipsed Sun
Weight/Vulnerability: Medium
Worm
Fight M5 Move M4* Move M5
Goblin
Helmet, Short Sword
Fight M4* Fight M4* Move M3**
Orc
Helmet, Shield, Spear
Fight H6 Move H5* Fight H5*
Hobgoblin
Chainmail*, Axe, Spell (V)
Fight M3** Move H4** Magic V5**
* Chainmail: A suit of armor with M weight/vulnerability. Gold value is 11, damaged is 7.
Begins at: Inn or House
Special Advantages:
1. Darkness:
1.1 The Hobgoblin cannot record sunlight phases.
1.2 Gains 2 extra basic phases if he spends his whole turn in cave clearings.
1.3 Gains 1 extra basic phase if he spends his whole turn in cave, mountain, and Deep Woods clearings. [this is not cumulative with 1.2]
1.4 Hobgoblin has knowledge of mountain trails and records one less MOVE phase to move from mountain clearing to mountain clearing.
1.5 Hobgoblin rolls 1 die instead of 2 for HIDE rolls when in cave, mountain and Deep Woods clearings.
2. Goblin Friend:
2.1 May HIRE the Goblins by rolling on the Meeting table. If attempted, must hire all Goblins in a clearing as a group.
2.2 Unless relationship has dropped to Unfriendly or Enemy, Goblins will not block the Hobgoblin during daylight.
Relationships:
Ally: Goblins*, Crone
Friendly: Lancers, Bashkars
Unfriendly: Order
Enemy: Guard, Woodfolk, Patrol
Designer: Mitch Guthrie
Designer's notes:
I was striving for either a character along the lines of Ugluk from the Two Towers (The last time I read the book I found the glimpse JRR provided of him during the flight from the river to his death on an edge of Fangorn fascinating) or the other way to go seemed to create a character along the lines of the goblin from Legend, but that kept looking a lot like the Elf and I thought there were enough archers to choose from in the game. What was lacking, from my perspective, was a moderately powerful warrior from the macabre side. In my mind, he should not be as powerful as the White Knight or Berserker but perhaps a little faster and should basically stay out of the way or feel their wrath. Of course, there is the Black Knight, but he never seemed evil to me, like the sorcerer, witch and witch king do.
I also wanted to capture Ugluk’s ability to function in the daylight but at a penalty and to make his real home the darkness either in the caves, the deep forest or mountains where there is some cover from the burning sun.
Without some armor he would be a sitting duck for any of the faster characters and he lacks the speed to escape an attack by them. It always struck me as odd that Chainmail was not included as an option in the original game, so we have added it here.
The extra phases in the caves will be substantial ability provided he gets there first. In most clearings he will be at a disadvantage, phase wise, making him hard pressed to heal quickly. Obviously, he must be very cautious of any battle. On the other hand, he would make a good guide in many areas and he should pursue possible diplomacy as he is not a “great” warrior or mage. One on one, the Hobgoblin can handle most monsters, but any group other than the Goblins will be a serious problem. He must be cautious of his many native enemies as well. The potential for a goblin army should be explored.
While the Hobgoblin is a tough creature, the goal was to come up with reasonable abilities not found on other characters and a commensurate disability along the lines of the Dwarf who seems overly penalized but that cave knowledge is sure good stuff. As a final note, I always liked the Woods Girl’s limited spell ability and thought a little black magic potential with the right item would be fun.