Monday, August 5, 2013

The Weekly Character: Zibog the Hobgoblin

Character came early this week! (actually, I'll probably be busy with university stuff during the coming days and it's wiser to post this now).


The piece above is from D&D 4th Monster Manual: Steve Prescott, folks.


This week the character is an NPC, a hobgoblin cleric of Asmodeus. I chose Asmodeus because he's lawful evil and the society and religion entry for hobgoblins in the advanced race guide for Pathfinder says they usually worship powerful tyrants of hell and other devils. Well, I guess Asmodeus is the most tyrannical, slavery-promoting, intrigue expert of all the devils, and can give his followers a distinctive appearance, with horns, long black and red cloaks, and that heavy, menacing black spiked mace. He also grants his clerics both buffing and offensive powers, in the form of the law and fire domains (that I chose for Zibog here).
About Zibog himself: I love how hobgoblins are like the goblinoid nazis in Pathfinder. I also love nazis from a story-telling point of view: you can do anything to them and never feel guilty. Kinda like zombies. Write a comic where a nazi or a zombie get tossed into a shredder machine and everyone is like "Hooray!"; do the same with anything else and people start getting upset. BUT I digress.
As I was saying, hobgoblins are fantasy nazis, and they're a great monster race for a militaristic, warfare-oriented campaign. I'm currently working on an adventure whose structure is fairly complex: it will probably be suited for 4th level PCs and basically it will be about defending a small province from the growing attacks of hobgoblins and their allies (bugbears, monsters, and even some human mercenaries). The whole thing is still in a very early stage, but I want this to feel like a true conflict, where PCs won't be able to participate in all the battles and will have to choose where to act in order to win the struggle. It will also have significant moments of truce between one fight (or, should I say, "mission", given there won't be just combat encounters) and the other, allowing for the PCs to rest and recuperate their strengths. This gives me a chance to challenge the players with high CR encounters, because they will almost always be at full potential. I'll let you know how things go.

That said, Zibog will probably be one of the baddies in the adventure. He's not the BBEG (mwah mwah I'll never tell you who that is mwah mwah), but he still has some tricks up his sleeve. In combat, he prefers to reach a raised position and hurl divine fire at his opponents; when cornered, his ability to channel negative energy can weaken opponents and even finish them after his soldiers have dealt enough damage.
Mood: Greedy, arrogant but quite intelligent and aware of everyone's qualities and flaws. He's opportunistic by nature and, while not believing hobgoblins are a "master race", he surely thinks they can secure a good portion of the land for themselves.
Goals: Although Zibog's goals will be tied to the adventure, he is basically trying to help his people building a fortress and rule a province from there.
What he likes: Fire. Although not mesmerized by flames the way a goblin is, Zibog takes great pleasure in burning his enemies to ashes, and can sense his lord Asmodeus' glory in the fire.
What he hates: Whatever (or whoever) provides him with material proof of his inferiority when compared to something or someone. Zibog suffers from quite the patological kind of pride.

Here are Zibog's stats, complete with gear and equipment. His Challenge Rating is 3. His abilities array is the standard one for heroic NPCs and his favored class is Cleric (4x bonus hit points).

ZIBOG
CR 3 (800 exp)

Male hobgoblin cleric (Asmodeus) 4
LE medium humanoid (goblinoid)
Init +0; Senses Darkvision 60 ft., Perception +3
---DEFENSE
AC 18, touch 10, flat-footed 18 (+6 armor, +2 shield)
hp 34 (4d8+12)
Fort +6, Ref +1, Will +7
---OFFENSE
Speed 20 ft.
Melee mwk cold iron heavy mace +4 (1d8)
Ranged light crossbow +4 (1d8/19-20)
Special Attacks Channel Negative Energy 2d6 (DC 14, 5/day), Fire Bolt (1d6+2, 6/day)
Cleric spells prepared (CL 4th, concentration +7)
  2nd - cure moderate wounds (DC 15), hold person (DC 15), produce flame*
  1st - cause fear (2) (DC 14), magic weapon, protection from chaos*, shield of faith
  0th - detect magic, mending, read magic, stabilize
  * Domain spell
Domains Fire, Law
---STATISTICS
Str 10 Dex 10 Con 14 Int 13 Wis 16 Cha 14
Base Atk +3; CMB +3; CMD 13
Feats Scribe Scroll, Selective Channeling
Skills Appraise +5, Diplomacy +6, Heal +7, Intimidate +6, Knowledge (Arcana) +5, Knowledge (History) +5, Knowledge (Religion) +5, Sense Motive +7, Spellcraft +5, Stealth -2 Racial Modifiers +4 Stealth
Languages Common, Goblin, Infernal
SQ Aura of Evil, Aura of Law, Orisons, Spontaneous Casting, Touch of Law (6/day)
Possessions mwk cold iron heavy mace, light crossbow (10 bolts), masterwork chainmail, heavy steel shield, scroll of cure light wounds (2), cleric's vestments, silver unholy symbol of Asmodeus, waterskin (full, water), red leather gloves (worth 10 gp), red leather boots (worth 20 gp), black and red cloak.

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