Hobgoblins

[S'mon]

1000 hobgoblins? That's a small army! I'd expect spellcasters, champions, elite units, scouts/assassins; enough to trash a 7th level party. In fact there's probably a mid level adventurer party equivalent among the hobs, a command unit or heroic band.

 

[GammaPaladin]

Yeah, one Hobgoblin Cleric or Druid with Entangle is going to ruin the PCs' day if he's backed by some crossbow wielding soldiers...

 

[Jekolmy]

Armies

1000 hobgoblins? That's a small army! I'd expect spellcasters, champions, elite units, scouts/assassins; enough to trash a 7th level party. In fact there's probably a mid level adventurer party equivalent among the hobs, a command unit or heroic band.

Yeah it is a small army. Which fits in really well with the picture I showed them last night at game.

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0197.html

I happened to get it for my birthday... Let my players not say they were not warned.

 

[shilsen]

Just how tough should it be for a group of PCs about level 7 to take on a hobgoblin camp?

That, for me, is like asking how tough it should be for a group of PCs to attack a human camp. It depends completely on what the camp consists of. In your specific case, with there being 800-1000 hogoblins, the PCs are very dead if they try it, even if all the hobgoblins are levels 1-2. Especially with the particular combination of PCs, which don't sound very well designed for hitting from a long distance away and running.

What exactly are the PCs expecting/hoping to achieve?

 

[Hunter In Darkness]

Let em try . there is no way they will succeed . After there captured have em brought before a high up.Then have the head cleric/wizard lets say 12th to 15th level put a geas on em.Yep send em on a quest for the hobgoblins one the leader didn't want to waste more man power on. give em the choice of that or death to pay for there crime of murder.

 

[Jekolmy]

That, for me, is like asking how tough it should be for a group of PCs to attack a human camp. It depends completely on what the camp consists of. In your specific case, with there being 800-1000 hogoblins, the PCs are very dead if they try it, even if all the hobgoblins are levels 1-2. Especially with the particular combination of PCs, which don't sound very well designed for hitting from a long distance away and running.

What exactly are the PCs expecting/hoping to achieve?

I have no idea what the players are hoping to acheive. I told them what was in the neighborhood for potential adventures and mentioned the hobgoblin camp as something that was disrupting trade along with a few other points that the players didn't bite on.
Frankly right now I think that the players think their characters are pretty much invincible. If they go down to the hobgoblin encampment they will run into scouts and pickets first... Thats the initial warning which they will ignore and go for the fortress itself, swarming with goblins. And we will end up with some very injured PCs. The Pcs might try to convince someone to hire the mercenary company they are part of to kill the hobgoblins but I've mentioned it and they've ignored it.

Let em try . there is no way they will succeed . After there captured have em brought before a high up.Then have the head cleric/wizard lets say 12th to 15th level put a geas on em.Yep send em on a quest for the hobgoblins one the leader didn't want to waste more man power on. give em the choice of that or death to pay for there crime of murder.

I like that idea. Eye for an eye, a murder for a murder. These hobgoblins have a bone they want to pick with the Kingdom of the Sharp Ridge who have been killing hobgoblins for ages. Who better to die than the King of the Ridge? Goes from impossible to merely improbable at least.

I also have Slayer's Guide to Hobgoblins which I think will provide me a solid footing to set up the Hobgoblins up with. And maybe, just maybe the PCs will realize that there can be a serious threat from monsters that are not normally a credible threat CR-wise. Goblin Defense Fund anyone?

 

[Hunter In Darkness]

Glad you liked. I would have them retrieve some relic.Make it give more power to the hobgoblins.then have the leader strip em of there stuff and exile them naked.Then have the pcs try and stop the war thats brewing one they armed the hobgoblins for.I can see an epic battle with the hobgoblin leader as the pc's try to turn the tide of battle and stop the conquest.I could do a whole campaign with the pc's leading strike missions into hobgoblin held areas trying to undo what they started.evacing towns helping with defense all leading up to the finale face off. could be lots and lots of fun .

 

[Pell-Mell]

If you need stat blocks for hobgoblins with classes, check out The Red Hand of Doom Web Enhancement. It has lots of fairly low-level hobgoblins with just about every class already stated out.

 

[shilsen]

I have no idea what the players are hoping to acheive.

Why don't you ask the players? I think it's always a good thing to know what your players are thinking and why they're doing things, and the best way to find out is to have them tell you.

Frankly right now I think that the players think their characters are pretty much invincible.

And if that's the case, then I think it's important to tell players explicitly that it's not the case and that working on such an assumption will get them into serious trouble. Trying to show players that with in-game events is fine, but it's something that I think can use OOC statement too.

I also have Slayer's Guide to Hobgoblins which I think will provide me a solid footing to set up the Hobgoblins up with. And maybe, just maybe the PCs will realize that there can be a serious threat from monsters that are not normally a credible threat CR-wise. Goblin Defense Fund anyone?

Personally, I'm a big fan of challenging PCs with enemies who actually are not a credible threat CR-wise. If you use good tactics, you could give the PCs a really hard time with six 2nd lvl hobgoblins, which is only an EL 7 encounter, i.e. one that they should be able to roll over with no real trouble. And a dozen 2nd lvl hobgoblins could drop them. I'm guessing something like that would be a more educational experience than getting taken down than higher level enemies.

 

[roguerouge]

Have them read OotS 417: http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0417.html