TEXT: Villain Spotlight: Dras'a Wolf | EN World EN5idEr
  Dras’a Wolf 
  D
  ras’a Wolf (or, in Common,  
  Dras the Wolf) is a hobgoblin of 
  mild renown among the Drelway tribes 
  and virtually unheard of outside them. 
  For 20 years now he has lived bound 
  to the Drelway Chain—sailors know 
  to avoid it for it is infested with goblin-
  kind and offers little else, and as such 
  Wolf’s lands have remained primi-
  tive and isolated. Without ships and 
  trapped in internal struggle, what hope 
  did the region’s disparate tribes have of 
  true innovation and exploration? The 
  outside world was content to let them 
  bleed themselves into oblivion. 
  Then the half-elf builder washed 
  ashore. 
   
  WRITING Quin Callahan
   
  COLOR ART Vin Werneck
   
  EDITING Mike Myler
   
  LAYOUT Frank Michienzi
  
  Villain Spotlight: Dras'a Wolf | EN World EN5idEr
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  Background
  Dras is the son of the hunter-warriors Derlor and 
  Saya, both skilled if otherwise unremarkable 
  hobgoblins of the Tas’ro tribe (the second largest 
  of the Drelway Chain). He suffered the brutal 
  childhood common of his kind, his parents and 
  superiors beating and shaming discipline, courage, 
  and martial prowess into him. Failure meant forced 
  starvation and scars. Under this extreme pressure 
  Dras proved capable and—upon reaching adult-
  hood—was assigned leadership over a small band 
  of goblins by the Tas’ro council. 
  It was with this band that Dras earned his 
  moniker ‘the Wolf’, achieving a level of disci-
  pline and ability among his goblins that the other 
  hobgoblins of his tribe had considered laughably 
  impossible. Through both the brutal punishment 
  of failure and the rewarding of loyalty and ability 
  (usually with honeyed meat and good hides, the 
  like of which few goblins ever even touch), Dras 
  trained his small pack into a quick and vicious 
  guerilla band. While he indeed views his goblins as 
  racially inferior, he was one of few Tas’ro hobgob-
  lins to at least believe such inferiority could largely 
  be shored up with training and tactics—he quickly 
  proved himself correct.
  Five years after his pack formed, the hobgoblin 
  was now widely known as Dras’a Wolf, highly 
  regarded by the Tas’ro and feared by their neigh-
  bors. His conquests and victories were many and 
  his force grew, absorbing goblins and hobgoblins 
  alike. However he gradually became dissatisfied, 
  finding the Drelway Chain a place of stagnation, 
  with bows, spears, clubs and only the occasional 
  ancient (and often pitted) metal weapon being the 
  tools of choice in the various tribal conflicts. Even 
  in the plenty of victory life bored him. Then a ship-
  wreck washed upon the nearby shores, and with 
  the half-elf shipwright and scholar Jeon Lau. 
  Where his people saw a meal, Dras’a Wolf saw 
  opportunity. Jeon Lau was taken alive and Dras 
  sought to learn all he could from the outsider. 
  Never tolerating insolence from his captive, he 
  nevertheless is always calculated in his cruelty to 
  Jeon. So long as the strange humanoid continues to 
  showcase innovations and foreign tactics, he shall 
  at least have his life and a safe place to sleep. Jeon 
  is fearful however as Dras has begun construc-
  tion of rudimentary ships based off the designs 
  of the eastern lands the half-elf originates from. 
  The scholar is torn when he sees the almost lustful 
  smile Dras gives when handed new drafts—soon 
  the hobgoblin shall be able to unleash his people 
  upon the world, but if Jeon Lau stops delivering 
  information he will assuredly be punished in ways 
  he could not possibly even imagine. And it may 
  well be too late, whether Jeon ceases helping or not, 
  to stop Dras’a Wolf from completing the first truly 
  seaworthy (if simple) ships for his people. When 
  that day comes an unexpected wave of violence 
  will assuredly follow for any the Wolf meets upon 
  the seas. 
  Appearance
  At 20 years old Dras is more scarred than most of his 
  kind, marked from both his brutal childhood and 
  nearly constant warring with his neighbors. His 
  armor is made of the highest quality hides avail-
  able in the region, a sign of his status and wealth, 
  but the sword he carries would not impress even 
  poorer outsiders—it is rusted and rattles, an arti-
  fact from some forgotten wreck or washed up piece 
  of cargo that the peoples of the Drelway Chain do 
  not have the skills to reproduce or properly repair. 
  Although he hides it, Dras carries a deep scar high 
  up on his left arm that pains him on occasion. Woe 
  to any who claim he has even such a minor weak-
  ness though. 
  
  Villain Spotlight: Dras'a Wolf | EN World EN5idEr
  Personality
  Dras’a Wolf is a calculated tyrant of a hobgoblin. 
  He knows his superiors fear him and uses that fear 
  to further his ends, negotiating ever increasing 
  troop and worker assignments to his band. He 
  does not openly oppose them, as doing such would 
  shame them into a forced confrontation (something 
  both sides are well aware of). Instead, he and his 
  superiors sit in a stalemate of sorts with Dras too 
  valuable and powerful to eliminate but hated by 
  many. Meanwhile to his inferiors—which is indeed 
  how he views them—Dras’a Wolf rules with an iron 
  but predictable fist. He cruelly punishes those who 
  fail him but success is also rewarded whenever 
  possible. Training is constant and it is a regimen 
  that is certainly tough yet not impossible. 
  Activities
  Dras’a Wolf is driven by his need to accrue power 
  and to bring his band into a modern era of war. 
  While things like forges and metalwork are of great 
  interest to the commander hobgoblin, Jeon has indi-
  cated he does not possess the ability to recreate such 
  things effectively—making ships Dras’ primary 
  focus. Soon the simple initial models Jeon designed 
  for him will be complete, barely but at least techni-
  cally seaworthy (and, perhaps impressively, built 
  with no iron parts or modern tools).  
  Motivations
  Dras desires true power and is increasingly frustrated 
  at how simple the peoples of the Drelway Chain are 
  as he gets glimpses of the outside world through his 
  prisoner’s designs and technological knowhow. He 
  wants to control all of the Drelway Chain and drive 
  them towards an age of industry and war, and if not 
  stopped the moment his ships are complete Dras 
  will begin a series of raids. Shortly thereafter he uses 
  recovered modern weapons and tools to overthrow 
  his own tribal leaders, conquering any remaining 
  tribes opposition in the region. From there outsiders 
  may well have to fear a seafaring horde that has been 
  underestimated in number and threat for decades. 
  The Prisoner
  Jeon Lau is a middle-aged half-elf male trained 
  primarily as a scholar and philosopher, although 
  it was his skills in ship design that managed to 
  save his life at the hands of Dras’a Wolf. Initially 
  Jeon only spoke Elvish (much to the frustration of 
  Dras), although he has slowly learned Goblin in an 
  attempt to better communicate and avoid beatings. 
  He’s been imprisoned for almost two years now 
  on the Drelway Chain, with virtually no hope of 
  escape—he is certainly presumed dead and even 
  were he to slip from Dras’ grasp, Jeon knows he 
  would be as trapped as every other person on the 
  islands. As he directs Dras and his band further 
  and further towards completing their first ships 
  however, he is wracked with guilt—every ounce of 
  his philosophical background and ethical studies 
  say he should not be aiding these brutal people, yet 
  he is afraid to die and it may well be too late for 
  stopping his aid to do anything but mildly inconve-
  nience the bulk of Dras’ plans. 
  Jeon Lau is statistically unremarkable and uses 
  the statistics of a Commoner with 7 hit points, an 
  Intelligence score of 16, and a Constitution score of 
  8 (a product of captivity and lasting injuries from 
  the wreck). He is proficient with all tools related to 
  writing and ship design. 
  Lair
  Dras’a Wolf has been on the move in a variety of 
  guerilla wars against enemy tribes for most of his 
  life, but with his growing prestige and power he 
  has now managed to secure for himself a moder-
  ately well-defended village near the sea. It is here 
  that he now watches over Jeon Lau and his work. 
  Roughly 30 goblin villagers (who are ostensibly 
  Dras’a Wolf’s slaves and avoid combat) are also a 
  portion of his “pack” who are assigned to guard 
  him and Jeon’s work as the rest of his forces conduct 
  various raids and guard nearby villages and choke-
  points. This guardforce consists of 12 Goblins (with 
  the Pack Tactics feature listed below), with 6-8 
  usually awake and armed at one time. 
  
  Villain Spotlight: Dras'a Wolf | EN World EN5idEr
  Using Dras’a Wolf in Your Campaign
  Dras’a Wolf is a relatively intelligent and fierce 
  enemy but is of a people who lack the magic and 
  technological development required to be a major 
  threat to most political powers—for now. In most 
  campaigns he is probably best used in an early game 
  plot arc revolving around Jeon Lau’s ship designs 
  ever coming nearer to completion, the adventurers 
  conducting guerilla style strikes at his various lines 
  and half-built vessels (considering it was guerilla 
  style warfare that allowed Dras’ own rise to power 
  to begin with). Depending on how challenging a 
  GM wishes the campaign to be, Dras’ can control 
  more or less of the Drelway Chain to start: having 
  anywhere from only a few dozen goblin warriors 
  in total to several hundred working on his various 
  plans all throughout the region. Such a campaign 
  might begin with a shipwreck (adding interesting 
  survival elements in a hostile environment to the 
  adventure) or have either the PCs or NPC allies 
  travel near the Drelway Chain to notice some 
  strange and troubling happenings.
  Dras’a Wolf’s arc is also interesting in that should 
  he achieve his goals, it will not radically alter most 
  campaigns in a damaging way. Several hundred 
  goblins raiders begin pillaging areas near the 
  Drelway Chain and from there the failure of the 
  PCs to stop Dras could evolve into the beginning 
  of its own story arc—although certainly a tragedy 
  for those being attacked, initially Dras is no match 
  for most modern militaries if he grows too bold in 
  his assaults. 
  GMs should be careful in how Dras and his forces 
  are used in terms of their numerical superiority. 
  Tactical PCs could enjoy thinking around those 
  numbers, killing off groups of enemies slowly and 
  bleeding Dras of his men before going to attack him 
  directly, but less methodical groups may be caught 
  off guard if, for example, they go to disrupt a lumber 
  operation and are suddenly met with more than a 
  score of goblin guards. As a general rule, the GM 
  should adjust Dras’a Wolf’s tactics to match what’s 
  most appropriate for the party’s enjoyment. e
  DRAS’A WOLF
  Medium humanoid (hobgoblin), lawful evil
  Armor Class 16 (hide, shield)
  Hit Points 82 (11d8+33)
  Speed 30 ft.
  STR 
  DEX 
  CON 
  INT 
  WIS 
  CHA 
  17 (+3) 
  14 (+2) 
  17 (+3) 
  12 (+1) 
  14 (+2) 
  12 (+1)
  Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 10
  Languages Common, Elvish (Broken), Goblin
  Challenge 6 (2,300 XP)
  Brute. A melee weapon deals one extra die of its damage 
  when Dras’a Wolf hits with it (included in the attack).
  Improved Critical. Dras’a Wolf’s weapon attacks score 
  a critical hit on a roll of 19 or 20.
  Martial Advantage. Once per turn, Dras’a Wolf can deal 
  an extra 7 (2d6) damage to a creature it hits with a 
  weapon attack if that creature is within 5 feet of an ally 
  of Dras that isn’t incapacitated.
  Pack Tactics. Dras’a Wolf has advantage on an attack 
  roll against a creature if at least one of his allies is within 
  5 feet of the creature and the ally isn’t incapacitated.
  ACTIONS
  Multiattack. Dras’a Wolf attacks three times. 
  Pitted Longsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 
  5 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (2d8+3) slashing damage, or 
  14 (2d10+3) slashing damage if wielded in two hands. 
  On a critical hit, the target makes a DC 14 Constitution 
  saving throw or is afflicted with sewer plague.
  Longbow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 
  150/600 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d8+2) piercing damage.
  PACK TACTICS
  The goblin has advantage on an attack roll against a 
  creature if at least one of its allies is within 5 feet of 
  the creature and the ally isn’t incapacitated.
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Dungeons & Dragons [multi]/5th Edition (5e)/3rd Party/EN World EN5ider/EN5ider 290 - VS Drasa Wolf.pdf