This was a stupid picture

I'm new to DND and I'm doing research on creatures/monsters. Would a hobgoblin kill someone for loot and stuff?? If not what would?

Beans

I think they're just not meant to be used alone. 1 hobgoblin is no threat at all, to almost any party or even some singular adventurers unless they're level 1. However, 3-5 hobgoblins, playing it safe and smart? Backing up and supporting a slightly more powerful ally? Max out their HP instead of using average? Combine that tactic with the fact that, while the books give us alot, it's meant to be changed. Part of what they give us is a giant math problem on how to determine the general CR of homebrewed and tweaked monsters. If you take the spell list from a goblin mage and give it to a hobgoblin, adjusting its stats accordingly to make it a fair caster, then you throw off the entire curve of what a hobgoblin is capable of. You're absolutely right that when you look at this stat block raw it is underwhelming. That being said, it's not meant to be JUST this you're throwing at the players. 

I find it intriguing that when putting two of these against my party, only one of them had a chance to fight, and what's worse, both died before dealing damage. It's definitely a case of having an entire patrol to fight instead of one or two, because they can easily get cut down by a level three player and an NPC with stats of a level 1 fighter. 

One way I'm considering boosting them in the future is to max out their health, put them in "packs" of four or five, and then putting them in some kind of environmental advantage (attack from above, surprise round, unexpected encounter, etc). The only problem with hobgoblins is why I'm putting them into the game so suddenly. Too bad I've already thought of that!

puppy