D&D 5E Plate Mail and hobgoblins

[TarionzCousin]

These gold values are nothing to sniff at at lower level.

But, sniffing gold is why I play D&D!

 

[Uchawi]

If you place all the qualifiers or conditions on the plate mail, then I would really like to see how hard you make it to learn a new spell, or gain a magic item. I am guessing it would be similar to rolling on a ancient artifact table in gamma world.

 

[miniaturehoarder]

When I was using the hobs in my game, I read the description and decided that, from the tone, a hobgoblin warlord is much less "Biggob the tribe leader" and more "Genghis Khan". So really nice gear would be expected.

Their armor definitely has Asian influences in 1E and now in 5E.

I think you misread my post. I certainly never implied that hobgoblins are inferior, nor that they are incapable of producing intricate armor. I was asking what events led to the hobgoblin being able to afford the very valuable hobgoblin-crafted platemail in a world where a roughly equivalent level party is expected not to be able to afford or acquire platemail. I'm not saying it shouldn't be so. I just want to know why.

Because this is the Daimyo, if not Shogun of these hobgoblins, the smiths and everyone else works for him or at least pays him lip service. He's the one who calls the shots.