Kobolds

[Ninja-Bear]

Hello All,

 

Does any one have a congrtsion for kobolds? I've been trying but haven't got the right balance weak but still a threat. I used the conversion chart from fantasy hero 4th but it lacks on a guide for how strong a monster should be. Btw im using pretty much standard fantasy for campaign level.

 

Thanks in advance

 

(My last version of them had 14 DEX)

[GhostDancer]

They're generally thought of as less brawny than Orcs, yes?  Maybe some of them have Teamwork to help make up for their small stature and such.

[Steve]

You could probably make them much like goblins with a little extra natural armor, but their most valuable ability is the Teamwork skill. Unlike goblins or orcs, a pack of kobolds will be much more organized. Even with low stats, using Teamwork and tactics will make the little runts a really scary foe.

[NuSoardGraphite]

Strength no higher than 10, but with a highish DEX. DCV bonuses based on size. probably around 7 Body.

Bonus to perception (+1 to smell) and nightvision (+4 to sight vs darkness penalties)

 

Skills include teamwork, breakfall, survival and defense manuever (they're quick)

 

They wield weapons and wear armor, so their threat level can be increased or decreased based on equipment. typical kobolds wear leather armor and wield spears and shortswords.

 

If you want Tuckers Kobolds, increase intelligence, add more skills, increase equipment quality and give them CV bonuses based on successful Teamwork rolls.

 

http://www.tuckerskobolds.com/

[Nolgroth]

I read the Dragon magazine that article is from. To this day, I love the sense of desperation put into the text.

[Steve]

You could also give them CV bonuses based on Tactics rolls, I suppose. Only the leader types need to be intelligent (13-14 INT maybe). A leader type could have bonus CV (or a CV Aid power in 6th) usable by others based on a Tactics roll. That might be a more appropriate way to do it (+1 to +3 should be sufficient).

[mhd]

One important fact about Kobolds of the Tuckerian persuasion: Don't forget that you're fighting on their home turf. It's not like they need to adapt and improvise a lot. If you understand Draconian, you'll hear one phrase yipped over and over again: "This is what we trained for!"

 

They've got the traps, they've got the killing ground, they've got fallback plans. You don't need to be intelligent to do that, just disciplined (as many an army has proven).

 

I'd recommend making this a big issue. Generally, Teamwork and Tactics is sufficient. If they've got home turf advantage, give them a pretty good circumstance bonus to that (or, well, just don't roll). If they've got a really great home turf with traps a-plenty, give them CV modifications. And better have some actual plans ready, as just saying "They're running around really plan-like, y'all" ain't cutting it.

 

And just be grateful that we're talking about D&D kobolds.

[Nolgroth]

I've been thinking that Presence attacks could be useful for small positive effects, even if it just extra Pre to resist fear or demoralizing attacks. At a greater level, they might even be used to inspire the recipients to great(er) deeds. Nothing huge, perhaps that +1 OCV or a small Aid to Stun or END. Nothing more than around 5-10 points and never lasting very long. For the next Phase or perhaps the rest of the current Turn.

[Steve]

Take advantage of their small size and give them plenty of narrow escape tunnels that would force a larger humanoid to crawl after them. Think like a cowardly runt doing whatever they can to make it really challenging to deal with them.

 

Try throwing a wasp nest or two at the PCs and watch the fun. A jar of angry fire ants maybe?

 

Use primitive chemical weapons like stink bombs or blinding irritants. Flashes are the kobold's friend.

 

Maybe they use a variant of Molotov cocktails or burning oil to annoy PCs.

 

None of this should kill instantly, but whittle down Stun and maybe Body. Do it for long enough, and a party will die.

[Ninja-Bear]

Well I was thinking to tie in the adcenture, the surving kobolds have been harrasing patrols and our insipid adventurers follow the trail, it leads them to the ogre cave. Is that a good trap?

[mhd]

I always wondered how you'd handle kobolds and the like without assumptions of "chimp strength". Traps would seem the only way of really hurting people.

[GhostDancer]

Yeah, several decades ago my D&D player said, "I want to fight kobolds, reap them like wheat with my Holy Avenger."  

 

I said, "OK, I'll put an encounter together.  Alert our players."

 

Our intrepid heroes entered the dungeon, and soon found the first kobold, curled up in the fetal position.  Clenched in his fist was an ivory figure, a faceless humanoid curled up in the fetal position.  Unnerved, they left him alone.

 

Proceeding into a large room, a barbed steel cable net, weighted around the edges, dropped on them from the ceiling.  Also dropping from the ceiling were forty kobolds, who heard the party coming, especially the paladin in his plate mail.  They were hiding in a huge shelf that extended above the ceiling of the previous room, opening into this room.

 

The kobolds smashed the party with blunt weapons- batons, clubs, staves and such, which did no real harm to the cable net.  As the party struggled, the barbs in the net cut exposed flesh of several of our heroes.  After several rounds of continual abuse, our magic user launched a fireball from his enchanted staff with the command word.  This toasted all the kobolds, and did further damage to the party.

 

They never asked me to fight kobolds again.

 

 

[Lucius]

Yeah, several decades ago my D&D player said, "I want to fight kobolds, reap them like wheat with my Holy Avenger."  

 

I said, "OK, I'll put an encounter together.  Alert our players."

 

Our intrepid heroes entered the dungeon, and soon found the first kobold, curled up in the fetal position.  Clenched in his fist was an ivory figure, a faceless humanoid curled up in the fetal position.  Unnerved, they left him alone.

 

Proceeding into a large room, a barbed steel cable net, weighted around the edges, dropped on them from the ceiling.  Also dropping from the ceiling were forty kobolds, who heard the party coming, especially the paladin in his plate mail.  They were hiding in a huge shelf that extended above the ceiling of the previous room, opening into this room.

 

The kobolds smashed the party with blunt weapons- batons, clubs, staves and such, which did no real harm to the cable net.  As the party struggled, the barbs in the net cut exposed flesh of several of our heroes.  After several rounds of continual abuse, our magic user launched a fireball from his enchanted staff with the command word.  This toasted all the kobolds, and did further damage to the party.

 

They never asked me to fight kobolds again.

I have to ask - what was up with the fetal Kobold and the ivory figure?

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary thinks it sounds like something out of Call of Cthulhu

[GhostDancer]

The figurine was cursed.  PCs were smart enough not to touch it, or they would have become catatonic.  Thanks, Lucius, quite a compliment.

[Markdoc]

I always wondered how you'd handle kobolds and the like without assumptions of "chimp strength". Traps would seem the only way of really hurting people.

Fight smarter, not harder

 

Seriously, though, a sharp sliver of metal, even if it's just the size of a butterknife, can still be lethal, if it's in the wrong place. I don't use kolbolds (in the D&D sense) in my game, but in the last campaign, the players had to deal with an infestation of small malicious fae creatures of a similar type. They had a STR of 3-5, so equivalent to a human child, and were about the same size or slightly smaller, limiting them to using tiny picks, or dagger-sized weapons. Obviously, a creature with a max 1/2d6 HKA and 5 BOD is not going to go toe to toe with a human warrior.

 

So their tactics emphasised levelling the playing field, so to speak. Traps help. Nothing terribly sophisticated, in this case: a cord across a passage, or oil on some steep stairs, a pit trap, a biggish stone swinging on a rope, even just a short pole poked out of a hole, to trip a running PC. A player who fell would be swarmed by a dozen of these creatures, springing out of their holes and stabbing for his unarmoured bits. They'd flee any serious resistance ... But the players soon learned that they'd be back. And they had honey-combed the area with tunnels too small for the PCs to contemplate. The PCs had to be constantly vigilant against darts from dark corners, a tiny spear in the leg from behind, attacks on sleeping characters and traps.

 

They won through of course, but not before every character had a half dozen or more tiny wounds - some them poisoned - and they flatly refused to go back once for more loot after they had gotten what they were after the first time.

 

And the only "powers" these guys had were a small amount of tunnelling, a highish DCV/DEX to reflect the fact that they were small and fast, and 4 PSL to counteract hit location penalties (it's easier to hit the face, if it seems twice as big to you).

 

Cheers, Mark

[Ninja-Bear]

Fwiw I realized where I got my kobold stats. I took halfling stat from fhc and tweaked it some-such as natural armor. And my players did back out if the hugh cave where the rest of the clan was living.