By Glenn Dean, Staff Reviewer

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Sizing up the Target
Strength and Honor: The Mighty Hobgoblins of Tellene is a 158-page Kingdoms of Kalamar ™ race supplement written by Noah Kolman and Don Morgan and published by Kenzer and Company. The color cover depicts a hobgoblin army defeating human opponents; interior illustrations in this perfect-bound softcover are black-and-white. This product retails for $23.99.

First Blood
One of the unique things about Kenzer and Company's Kingdoms of Kalamar ™ setting is its treatment of hobgoblins. Rather than being just another evil monstrous race who lurk in hidden dungeons until adventurers come to put them to death, Kalamar's hobgoblins are a fully developed race who stand on equal footing with dwarves, elves, and humans. They are evil, but that simply allows for an organized nation with different motives - rather than the evil mooks that humanoids often are in other campaign settings.

Strength and Honor is a racial setting supplement completely devoted to hobgoblins. In addition to detailing the two primary virtues of the hobgoblins race (strength and honor - how'd you guess?) and describing the rise of hobgoblin kingdoms and their relations with other races, there are five distinct, fully detailed hobgoblin cultures, as well as hobgoblin-specific game mechanics.

Each of the five hobgoblin cultures (or sub-races, if you prefer - there are slight differences in their game statistics) gets a thorough, detailed treatment. The origin of the particular sub-race is detailed along with its history and legends; the specific physiology and psychology of the culture is then detailed with the resulting impact upon social and class structure. The roles of different character classes in society are described. The cycle of life for the particular sub-race gets an overview, covering mating and family relations, along with treatment of hobgoblin half-races. Their habitat (villages/cities or tribes and clans), recreation, diet, clothing, magic, medicine, trade, language, and religion all get a nicely integrated treatment. Being hobgoblins, all of the societies are martial to a greater or lesser degree, and the organization of their militaries, along with methods of warfare and preferred tactics, are developed in detail. Specific relations with other races - human and otherwise - are described as well, which is important in Kalamar, where it is not unusual for hobgoblins to be seen peacefully conducting business in the streets of certain human cities.

The five hobgoblin cultures are similar enough to come from the same racial stock, but each has features that make them distinct, and worthy of the 25 pages or so devoted to each racial group. Note that none of these variants are precisely "standard" Monster Manual hobgoblins - all of them have racial modifications to adjust the racial level adjustment down to balance them with the standard races (though they remain at the upper end of the power spectrum). The cultures include:

- The Krangi. These are your traditional militaristic hobgoblins, organized along Spartan military lines, with a king who rules military, clergy, and civil government.

- The Kargi. These are somewhat smaller and lighter than their Krangi cousins, and have a militaristic structure organized around a tribal caste-based structure, rather than strict military unit hierarchies. They have a more domineering feel to them (almost Klingon, if I may be permitted a Star Trek parallel).

- The Kors. These hobgoblins are integrated with Kalamaran human cultures, and are more scattered, tribal, and secular than the other cultures. Their integration with other cultures is an interesting study in human/non-human relations that raises interesting questions to consider for the more traditional non-human races.

- The Dazlak. These hobgoblins are tough desert dwellers who live in a highly tribal society dominated by the clergy (and whose favored class is ranger, which is quite appropriate to their culture). The economy is water-based, which not only makes them culturally distinct and fits their habitat well, but also makes a good basis for some very interesting, flavorful gaming - roleplaying interactions with Dazlak would be a fascinating experience for characters raised in more familiar money-based economies.

- The Rankki. This culture is a Krangi offshoot that dwells on the icy tundra to the far north, maintaining a very Norse patriarchal tribal structure that is more barbaric and primitive than the other cultures, though it maintains a level of organization appropriate to a race that is lawful evil by nature.

The last twenty pages or so of the book are devoted to rules items that both players and Games Masters will find useful in conjunction with the hobgoblin cultural backgrounds. There is an in-depth discussion of making and playing hobgoblin PCs, which discusses not only attitude, outlook, and relations, but also class choices, height/weight/age tables, and skill preferences. A new core class is introduced, the Dazlak Purger, which is essentially a cleric variant with some evil leadership capabilities. There is a single prestige class appropriate for each hobgoblin race: the Dazlak Runner (my favorite), a scout/spy with a photographic memory; the Kargi Legionnaire, and elite fighter with a larger hit die and some attack and damage bonuses; the Kors negotiator, a class with a focus on social skills very appropriate to that race's position in Kalamaran society; the Krangi Gorukh, a blood mage who can use his life essence to power his spellcasting; and the Raider, a rogue/ranger/barbarian mix appropriate to the barbaric, Viking-like culture of the Rankki. There are two new skills (Knowledge: Hobgoblins - quite appropriate, and Sense Honor, which is a bit silly) and 13 new feats that provide both martial and roleplaying benefits. Like the prestige classes, the feats are a nice fit to the societies established earlier in the book. A variety of new equipment (including exotic armor), some spells (Continual Darkness fills a nice niche) and five magic items close out the crunchy bits of Strength and Honor.

Critical Hits
This book does a great job of integrating the various components that form a culture into a unique, coherent whole. The themes of strength and honor are pervasive; the concept of a duel of honor to challenge military rank or authority, for example, is a common element with a unique racial twist in each sub-culture. Some very small details are massaged so they fit just right - for example, in Kors culture, a hobgoblin uses active or passive voice when speaking about others of different social castes, which is a small thing, yet absolutely perfect to establish the particular nature of that group.

I also liked the use of hobgoblin language throughout, so that individual terms have their own unique feel. You could call a karukh a general and be more or less correct, but the consistent use of the hobgoblin term gives each culture a specific flavor. It is a bit overwhelming by the end of the book, but luckily there is a hobgoblin language glossary.

As a GM, this is exactly the mix of material that I'm looking for in a racial supplement - heavy on the society and cultural details so that I can create a world with a strong and recognizable flavor. There is just enough mechanical support to be distinct, without it feeling like the culture was designed to fit the mechanics rather than vice versa. There's a nice balance of meat and flavor in the mechanics; it's nice when the background themes are well served by the crunchy parts. Though there are a few parts that rely on strictly Kalamaran mechanics, for the most part you could pick out one of these hobgoblin cultures and adopt it for your home campaign without much effort.

Critical Misses
On the other hand, a player will probably be a bit disappointed by the ratio of "fluff" to "crunchy bits" in Strength and Honor. The player who really wants a deep understanding of culture to best roleplay his hobgoblin character will find the in-depth background invaluable, but a more beer-and-pretzels player will likely find the 1/8 of the book that provides mechanics doesn't quite balance the cover price. Though the book is intended to serve both audiences, the nature and balance of the material favors GMs and hard-core roleplay players.

There are a few minor errors in the text, as well. The section on the Kargi sub-race makes several references to darkvision as a means of seeing heat radiation - which is a mechanic I thought we threw out an edition back. The mechanics are also intended to be fully 3.5-compatible, but there are a few conversion errors - the Intuit Direction skill pops up on several class skill lists, for example, and is a prerequisite for the Dazlak Runner prestige class - right next to a Survival skill prerequisite, which provides for a head-scratching example of poor editing. Luckily, those minor gaffes won't prevent you from using the mechanics.

Coup de Grace
As a Kingdoms of Kalamar™ product bearing the DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ® logo, Strength and Honor is of course a 100% closed content product. While there are a few minor rules errors, most of the work is highly playable and original, though GMs will likely find their content-to-cost ratio to be a bit more favorable than most players, given the balance between exposition and game mechanics.

The Critic's Score (Maximum 5 pts per category):
*Open Game Content: 0.0 (Kalamar Product)
*d20 Compliance: 4.5
*Originality: 4.8
*Playability: 4.0
*Value for the Dollar: 3.5

Overall Score: 3.36 (Open Content affected this score)
Final Grade: B+