Strength and Honor is the penultimate sourcebook for hobgoblins in the Kalamar setting. The book starts off with the very concepts of all hobgoblin nations, Strength and Honor. To have strength over something is to have ultimate power over it, usually the power of life and death. To have honor is to overcome challenges in the pursuit of a worthy goal. One example of not gaining honor is walking into a heavily infested elf forest to get killed. One example of not gaining honor is defeating an opponent with an unfair advantage. Here's where things get a little murky though, for the unfair advantage is based on what the hobgoblins consider unfair.
The cover with the goblin giving the human soldier a weapon? That's fair because the opponent is now armed. The fact that the opponent probably doesn't know how to use that weapon as well as the hobgoblin doesn't come into play. Other examples are listed but the GM is left with the feeling that much of the ambiguity is so that he, as the GM, can play on different aspects of Strength and Honor for any hobgoblin encounters.
Chapters two through six cover the five subraces of hobgoblins. We've got the Krangi, the Kargi, the Kors, the Dazlak, and the Rannki. Each one detailed with the species origins, their physiology, psychology, social structure, classes, Cycle of Life, Half Hobgoblins (covering how they come about and the roles they play), habitat, recreation, diet, clothing, medicine and healthcare, relations with other races, trade and tribute, warfare, and religion. This makes every chapter like a mini Slayer's Guide or Complete Guide in the coverage it provides. It also insures that despite their shared species, that no two subraces are exactly identical, each being shaped by its surroundings.
This is useful material for a GM who wants to incorporate bits of the book without overburdening his campaign with all of the hobgoblin races at once. It also allows the GM to have the party face one type of hobgoblin, learn some of their social structure and rites, and then learn that not all hobgoblins are the same. For example, the Krangi allow women to do almost everything that the males do. This is rare in hobgoblin society as in almost all of the other subspecies the female is regulated to mating and rearing children only. Is there some repeated text? Yes, mainly around the roles of pregnancy and raising the newborn hobgoblins, but it does make each section complete.
Users will find different ideas on how each subraces handles matters of the military. How one raises through the clerical ranks and how there are even half-orc/half-hogoblins out there, the uk-karg.
One of the best things is the use of language to specify everything. This gives each culture its own feel and its own personality more so than just giving generic and all purpose ranks and stations. It allows the GM to know that the Krangi have generals, the ur-karukh and that the Kors have the ergazh, or first warriors.
Most game mechanics are brought together in chapter seven, rules. Here, an alternative cleric class, the Dazlak Purger, a cleric of the Hatemonger, is detailed for 20 full levels, as well as several prestige classes. Take your pick from Kargi Legionnaire, Kors Negotiator, Krangi Gorukh, Dalak Purger, Dazlak Runner, or all purpose raider. Most follow their name but some, like the Karangi Gorukh need more explanation. This arcane spellcasting class can use its blood to power its effects costing experience points and a roll on the Blood Magic Effects table. The effects however, are so sever, that they will not often be used. For example, “Caster permanently loses 1 point of Charisma.” To me, that's not worth giving up 50 xp per spell level to make the enemy forfeit their saving throw. Sure, it'll come in handy in the pinch, but otherwise... Another problem might be the concept of the classes. Take the Kargi Legionnaire. If these poor hobgoblins have a hard time qualifying for the fighter core class, how are they going to make it into the PrC?
A few new skills, feats, and spells help round off this chapter. Take the skill Sense Honor, a vital skill to any Hobgoblin who wants to know what type of creature he deals with in terms of honor or the Feat Indomitable, a feat that grants the user a +4 bonus to Will Saves against Charm or mental domination effects. The spells include some old favorites like Affect Normal Fires, where you can control the size of the fire, to Continual Darkness, a permanent, magic darkness.
One of the nice things, is that even though this is the rules chapter, there is information on how best to play an adventuring hobgoblin PC as well as what prestige classes from the DMG, Kalamar Player's Guide, and the official splatbooks (Tome and Blood, Song and Silence, Sword and Fist, and Defenders of the Faith) that hobgoblins tend to take. This is a nice addition but I'm surprised that nothing from their own Villain's Design Handbook made it here like the Veteran Officer.
One thing done better in this book than in Fury in the Wasteland, the Kenzer orc book, is the minimization of repeated information. While racial traits are repeated, first in each section dealing with the subspecies, then in the last chapter, the same is not true of the magic items or other game mechanics. This allows more space to be used for original material giving the GM more bang for the buck.
A few variant rules sneak in under the radar at certain points too. For example, when talking about one of the recreational sports, that of the dash, new rules are provided that allow two creatures that have the same movement rate to race, adding a little variety to the old “Who won initiative” to determine who wins the race.
Those curious about he language get more than a mouthful in Appendix A as several hobgoblin words are listed with the word, language, meaning, and chapter. Appendix B should please those gamers who think that RPG books should be like any other well crafted book with a beefy index.
The book is laid out in standard two column format. Internal covers are used for advertising. Since this is an official Dungeons & Dragons product, there is no OGL and no OGC. Art is top notch by individuals like Thiago Carvalho, Caleb Cleveland, Keith DeCesare, Mitch Foust, Martin Montiel, and Eric Olsen. In my opinion, not a bad piece in the lot and some of them I personally think are better than the cover image. The flow of the information is good, the style is informal yet informative. Editing is good and no errors leap out at me unlike some other products. Could be a lack of NPCs though as that's where errors tend to creep in. Important information is pulled into gray sidebars to separate it from the main body and indicate its value.
In order to get a five star rating, Strength and Honor would need maps of typical hobgoblin villages or cities, military rank and file illustrations to show engagements of hobgoblins against their enemies, and NPCs to fill out the ranks of the nations for the GM in need of some quick NPCs. In the same vein, it mentions hobgoblins being orderly when taking feats, but doesn't provide any typical feat trees. While not fully supported, Psionics are mainstream now and have been in use in Kalamar products in the past. No references are made to psions or psychic warriors. All of those things are little bonuses that this solid book does not have.
Strength and Honor is the best source of information on Hobgoblins and it does it by providing a lot of detail that can be used in any setting. What's better is that many of the ideas can be combined with other sources like the Game Mechanic's recent publication or the latest Ecology of article (the Hobgoblin) in Dragon #309.
If you're looking to create a race that's beyond the savagery of the orcs, than Strength and Honor is for you.
