Here's the story:

OP here.

Appreciated.

This pissess me off the most.

>Alternatively, he rigs up the entire first room to collapse into a spike pit, drops an owlbear on top of them, and has all his forces shoot the party until they die. But that's no fun.
I disagree. As a player I think the traps that are actually effective are the most fun to try to work around.

This is pretty good. Even just simple snares and the like can really fuck with a party of adventurers that are now suddenly facing an ambush from a horrifying tentacle-monster-lamprey, particularly if you advance it a bit to make it a more worthy solo threat.

It takes zero effort to make a trap to kill players. It's the mechanical equivilent of rocks fall everyone dies

And once they've died a few times they'll learn to think about there being traps.

>mfw not playing a rogue because I'm not a shifty cunt, but still have more clever tools to detect traps than the rest of the party
>not a soul brought extra water or fluid to check for fall-away ground or illusory walkways covering pitfalls
>I'm the only guy with a foldable ladder and a ten foot pole
>only person with fucking rope and a grappling hook
>the entire party I joined boasting about being clever veterans but they're all laughably ill- prepared, never plan, never research their known enemy
>mfw

Your list leaves out the single most important thing the warleader has: a castle.

He'd be a fool not to cut down some trees or otherwise block off the holes in the wall, and simply fire arrows at anybody that gets close. That's the reason castles are built: they are the best way to defend yourself. He's a war leader, he would know this. In fact, unless he's only been there for a short period of time, he should have boarded the walls up already.

If the adventurers manage to make it close to the castle, release the owlbear so you can get another couple rounds of 15 goblins dumping arrows into the party. Remember that the goblins have 3/4 cover this whole time, too.

If the party makes it into the castle, the goblins will want to draw them into the center room, which will let the goblins surround the party. Fighting in a doorway just means the goblins have to line up to 1v1 the party's fighter. The goblins have the number advantage, so they better be using it.

About the time half the goblins are dead, if it doesn't look like he can win, the warlord will probably try to get away with (riding?) his wolf.

Oh, I don't know anything about gricks. If it can tank, release it like the owlbear. Otherwise, have it waiting inside to melee the party with the rest of the goblins. If it's fast, and the barrage of arrows causes the party to flee, maybe send the grick to finish them off.

Depending on how arrogant the warlord is, he might send all of his goblins to finish them off, too...

First off he should clear the area around his castle, make sure he has a hundred yards or so between his walls and the woods.. A killing ground is an important part of the defense of a castle. He should set sentries, and establish a patrol. There shouldn't neccisarily be a plan for if they get in because the whole point is o get them out. In the event they get on his men should be trained to raise the alarm given a chance. He should sit back with a reserve force ready to reinforce any area that is struggling. But to be honest you don't have the men to defend that position all that well from a larger assualt. You need to do some recruiting. I mean you could deal with a small party, but if your goblin is acting as he should the pcs are not his only concern and the idea a rival warbands could come to take his fort should worry him and he should prepare accordingly.

Sentries obviously, but I disagree with the patrol. The "castle" is only like 100 ft across. No need to risk loosing people by having them wander around outside the defences when you can see just fine from inside.

That's a good argument.

Point. He doesn't really have the men for it anyway.

What program was used to make that picture? I need to design a fortress for something. A good bit bigger than that, though.

Ask WizKids. It's about the one thing they consistently get right.

This looks perfect for my purposes. Hopefully its something with a lot of assets to position, I'm terrible at drawing.

Thanks.

There is a program for making that fortress!?

...

>dragon...not immediately hostile, but definitely annoyed
>Party member atks
goodness one of my groups told me a similiar story. They fight/run away from dragon and end session early, still near the dragon. party's Dragonborn wasn't there for the session
Next session, party's Dragonborn comes and tries to talk to the dragon.
Dead

of course idk if they told him the dragon is pissed.

The only enemies in that castle who aren't supposed to care unless the alarm is tripped are the hobgoblins.

For a good time, hope the party doesn't encounter them, and then have them release the owlbear into the leader's chamber once they finish with him and try to long rest there.

You should also have the fake drow book it as soon as the fight turns south, running through that wandering hunting party if chased, so there's 3 more hobgoblins and 2 more wolves joining the fight midway through.

suppose the broken walls (or at least the outside) are barricaded/fixed so the players can't go through there normally. also idk if those weird doors are suppose to be curtains, metal doors, or metal grates

1-2 at the main door as a sentry

Another 2 gobs with a (optional) hob-gob in lobby either simply guarding or waiting in ambush (either in the lobby or other rooms over). my reason for the Hob is that he's there/going around to make sure sentries are doing their job

a Sentry at southwest bunks

the Grick at either the dining room or at what I think is the shrine (at the north), because since Wargob was able to deal with it, He may have given it a nicer room. in addition, it will be isolated from the other goblins, and Players may stumble upon it in a somewhat large room.

a group of gobs in center room (the one with the unlit fire) eating/sleeping/whatever. you could put another Hob there to instruct/watch over them.

Gob and 2 hob gobs in the next room, with the gob closer to the door to the outside.

in the area where I imagine the hobgobs sleep, you can have 2-3 Hobgobs relaxing/standing guard. with a gob there to open the south door to release the Owlbear, and serve the hobs (if that's a thing).

Wargob gets the nicest room with his wolf. you can have a hob just outside his door.

I HATE how the walls of that place are falling in. nobody in his right mind would try defending all of that with such flank gaps.nightmarish.

It's unlikely that his forces will be on high alert to start, they're not disciplined enough and doubtlessly cuts on business. So this needs to be taken into account in accords to their disposition. Instead, early warning and accurate information are very important. The goblins are not effective scouts, and the hobgoblins are hardly ever while being priceless to lose early. His wolf is an excellent early warning system, but I doubt he'd be comfortable leaving it off in the woods for a prolonged period rather far away either. Headaches.

One goblin hidden in a tree along the south footpath.Instructed to hide and suitably camouflaged, but given crossbows for scout purposes. They will run back to warn if possible One goblin similarly along the north path.

Wolf and the hobgoblins guard, which has been boarded up substantially to be a sort of bunker with slit viewing ports. Their orders are to fire off crossbows at distance when the wolf stirs and then retreat deeper into the complex. They will fall back on a second lines of wooden defenses to snipe with the crossbows from- this is a bait to draw the foe in

The gobbos will be in a pack doing something productive under watchful eye nearby- they can't be trusted to be the first line of defense but when the fighting starts can be mustered to bolster defense. Their chief task is to ready the second line of traps and defenses for the hobgoblins to retreat past to, and in the decisive stand off harass the party from afar or sally forth

The owlbear awill be hidden in ambush positions that the hobgoblins are meant to drive the party toward. when it's cage opens and it melees the party in the midst of a trapped beaten ground of crossbow fire, the decisive stand is on. The grick may follow up should the owlbear die to bide for time. The warlord will watch

>He has ATM at his disposal
So just bribe the heroes to make them go away.

Bag of flour is a fantastic item with lots of potential