Alternatives to Goblins, Orcs, Ogres, etc?

[Wampyr]

I want to start a Red Hand of Doom campaign soon but the whole "green horde" thing feels burnt out to me. Anyone have a set of monsters that can easily take the role of goblins and their like in RHoD?

[Unoriginal]

Goblins are not a "green horde" in D&D, though.

If you don't want to use them, why not use just regular humanoid bandits?

Or why not go for the Mephits? Also possible, the Boggles, Quicklings, Red Caps and other little fey creatures from the Volo's

[JackPhoenix]

Goblins are not a "green horde" in D&D, though.

If you don't want to use them, why not use just regular humanoid bandits?

Or why not go for the Mephits? Also possible, the Boggles, Quicklings, Red Caps and other little fey creatures from the Volo's

Yeah, they are yellowish-orange horde!

You need something humanoid, reasonably intelligent, willing to worship dragons and fiends. Really, as Unoriginal said, pretty much any humanoid race works. Mephits and fey, though... nah, I don't see that.

[Ralanr]

Gnolls? Constructs? Old fashioned undead?

[Unoriginal]

Yeah, they are yellowish-orange horde!

You need something humanoid, reasonably intelligent, willing to worship dragons and fiends. Really, as Unoriginal said, pretty much any humanoid race works. Mephits and fey, though... nah, I don't see that.

Lizardfolk worship dragons and fiends, sometime. Or at least, evil gods.

[JackPhoenix]

Lizardfolk worship dragons and fiends, sometime. Or at least, evil gods.

Or, considering it's 5e, evil dragonborn. You may mix them up with the lizards, there are swampy areas with important stuff happening there in RHoD. Though dragonborn may seem too similar to some of the Spawn of Tiamat. Kobolds and dragons also naturally go together, but they aren't that much different from goblinoids.

Using dwarves or (non-drow) elves as antagonist could also be interesting change from the usual suspects. You could replace the giants and ogres with walking trees, constructs or summoned elementals, in that case.

[Squiddish]

Kobolds. Be prepared for a substantial increase in difficulty, though.

[greenstone]

• Dragonkin and kobolds.
• Beastmen from Conan stories.
• Gnolls.
• Lizardfolk or serpentfolk (few D&D adventures seem to feature these).
• Feral halflings (my favourite) riding wyverns.

[X3r4ph]

What a about the swarm?

Stirges
Meenlock
Thrii-keen
Umberhulk
Ice Devil

[X3r4ph]

I like the rock n roll band as well.

Dust Mephits
Gargoyles
Earth Elementals
Medusa
Dao Djinn

[kingheff1]

With a bit of reskinning, wererats as a version of the skaven from warhammer could be fun. With their mutated beasts and arcane weaponry they should be a flavourful change of pace.

[Joe the Rat]

Humans. Take away the darkvision, change "Goblin" to "Weird human language," make the goblins medium, and you can pretty much roll with it.

You can probably keep the oversized brutes as oversized brutes, sufficiently cowed and/or chained to fight on the side of the Horde. Throwing in a little mutation with the cult and ruthlessness can add a little more flavor - it's not just about rampaging, there's something seriously off behind the scenes.

[Unoriginal]

You could use Banderhobbs for the "big brutes" part.

[KorvinStarmast]

Humans make fine opponents. Mix and match, include a leader/spell caster in the mix.

Try this on for size: the Gnome Barbarian Horde.


Summarized from a post and some comments Phil Boncer:

A tribe of rampaging Forest Gnome dex-based Bear Totem Barbarians.
They're resistant to all damage when it matters (except psychic).
At 2nd level, they have either advantage or proficiency in most saving throws they will ever need to make.
They've got the nature connection. Any of them that aren't raging at any given moment can add special effects to freak out opponents, via Minor Illusion at will.

Max out Dex and Con, don't worry much about Str or the +2 raging damage they won't use (3rd choice for stat placement).
They'll have good AC, lots of hit points, and Reckless Attack if they need to hit a difficult target.
Fast movement will help tactically. Rapier and shield, or dual-wielding handaxes or daggers -- Have a few change class to Wizard and Druid, to buff the tribe and provide artillery.

Throw in a few Rangers with animal companions and, with the Druid Wild Shape, and even a mixed selection of Barbarian Totems.
A Festival of Beasts.

Edited just for brevity.

[Sigreid]

Vegepigmies, though admittedly that would still be a green hoard.

[JellyPooga]

Vegepigmies, though admittedly that would still be a green hoard.

How a horde of Druids and other Ecowarriors as another Green Horde.

Or first time sailors, I hear they can get pretty green.

Moss-covered golems?

[X3r4ph]

...and Reckless Attack...

Except Reckless Attack must be performed with a strength attack.

[KorvinStarmast]

Except Reckless Attack must be performed with a strength attack.

Then do that. It will have advantage, so it's likely to hit.
A Deep Gnome has STR 15 (+2)
Let's say a regular gnome barbarian has a STR 12 (+1)

Gnome Commoner has STR 10 (+0)
Also fine. It will work fine, it does not have to be optimized.
Wield Shortswords, and by the way, Rapier can use either Strength or Dex for the bonus. (Our Arcane Knight does just that ..)

and Reckless Attack if they need to hit a difficult target.

I think the point Phil is making is that you use the advantage when you need that to hit boost, otherwise stick with the dex based fight.

[Ivor_The_Mad]

what about drow or tlincalli? they work right?

[Vintrastorm]

I was actually just thinking about this while mentally prepping my future RHOD-campaign.

I'd go with refluffing appearance and maybe adding/retracting abilities based on race etc.

Thinking about using a human horde instead, or mixing it up with human, hobgoblins, whatever.

Or refluffing everything and doind a "nature strikes back" thing.

Not. Undead.

[GlenSmash!]

I want to start a Red Hand of Doom campaign soon but the whole "green horde" thing feels burnt out to me. Anyone have a set of monsters that can easily take the role of goblins and their like in RHoD?

Zombies, skeletons, wights.

Bandits, Thugs, Bandit Captains

Mephits, Imps, Barbed Devils.

[JackPhoenix]

Definitely not mephits or anything that can fly. Big part of the adventure is slowing down the approaching army, and later siege. Neither works if the enemy can just fly over the gorge and doesn't care if the bridge stands or not, or ignore the walls and fly over them. Besides, mephits aren't the most social types, so the whole idea of "mephit army" sounds weird.

[Unoriginal]

what about drow or tlincalli? they work right?

Tlincalli could be nice, true.

[Whit]

Bugbear
Saughni? Sp.
Shambling mound types w/lizard Men
Undead but move up the chain
Spore Druid and his spore animals bullet bear and other woodland creatures twisted

[Coidzor]

That depends, what kind of flavor do you want to go with instead of a bunch of creatures from outside of civilization getting organized by dragons and formed into a fighting force to take over an area on the frontier of civilization?

[lebefrei]

Goblinoid monsters since LOTR if not through history, are good enemies because they remind us enough of ourselves while being uglier, more bestial and less civilized than us. I like to make worlds that just use humans, so I change things to sort of reflect the feelings humans have had towards each other and their stereotypes, and then make "races" based off of the PHB ones. This can be some sort of actual change like mutation or demonic corruption, or it can be that you have an island full of very tanned people, and suddenly they come upon cave dwelling "things" (just pale humans) that eat and act differently, and they're just so pale! So suddenly that's this weird, pale, agile little human and they get halfling race stats or something.

This approach also tends to make players more open to diplomacy, because it's easier to kill a bunch of goblins than it is to kill a bunch of villagers, even if they literally act the same. People have dehumanized and made monstrosities of each other for as long as we have history. Making monsters out of them is natural but also forces you to think about your enemy a little more as they're always a lot more like you than not.

[spets]

How a horde of Druids and other Ecowarriors as another Green Horde.

Do them in the style of goblinpunch's 7 Myths Everyone Believes About Druids. A tidal wave of nature gone mad is an excellent replacement for an invading army.

Your hobgob soldiers become druids - not PC class Druids, but mundane druids (akin to the mundane priests compared to the PC's Cleric); half-barbarian wildmen and fanatics. Spears, woad and blood. You'd have a hard time justifying the 'mail shirt and shield' AC but can handwave it due to agility and ferocity.

Allies include dire wolves, bears, swarms, dryads, blights, feral giants, any animal or monstrous creature you care to name. And, of course, dragons. The wood elves fight alongside them but aren't comfortable with the extremism - they don't see a problem with wearing clothes or writing things down. Malevolent tree roots make fine siege weapons.