My campaign's Lizardfolk and Kobolds

I'm changing some of the player races in my campaign; first to be postede for review, criticism and help would be the Lizardfolk and the Kobolds.

Lizardfolk
These are a slight variant of the MM Lizardfolk, slightly reduced in power (a Lizard Warrior would be CR 1/2 instead of CR 1) to fit as PCs. They are native to the Renya Swamps, interact (raid, trade or even cooperate) with the Celirans native to this area and now, as civilization encrouches into the Swamps, find their way to the greater cities (and, ofcourse, into some anti-tech, anti-Imperial guerilla organizations such as the Daughters of the Harvest) as traders, hired muscle and herbalists. They replace the much rarer half-orcs in my Renya-based campaign (there are no Orcs native to Renya, and those native to the lands bordering on the Empire are nearly extinct).

I'll be using Trilobite's version of the Lizardfolk with one change: their Favorite class would be the Barbarian, fitting their natural agressiveness and the way they are described in the MM (sure, their leaders are Clerics of the Swamp Mother, but most of them are very good beserkers and savage warriors).

Kobolds
These are slightly modified MM Kobolds. A race of sneaky mechanists, pranksters, sorcerers and merchants, their skill with mechanical contraptions, their wicker business acumen and their keen intellect have made them from the lowly miners and trapmakers of earlier ages into the new industrialist and capitalist class of the Goblinoid-dominated Badlands (to the southeast of Renya). Kobold colonies have recently sprung out across Renya, selling cheap (and not always working, but still usually passable) clockwork devices and buying spices, dried fruits and silk (which they sell in inflated prices to the Goblin worker masses back in the Badlands) in Renya.

Kobold Racial Traits:
* -4 Strength, +2 Dexterity: Kobolds are small and physically weak, but have nimble fingers and are quite agile and fast-moving.
* Small-size: As small-sized creatures, Kobolds gain a +1 bonus to Armor Class, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus on Hide checks, but they must use smaller weapons than humans use and their lifting and carrying limits are three-quarters of those of Medium-size characters.
* Kobold base speed is 30 feet.
* Kobolds recieve a +1 Natural bonus to their Armor Class due to their tough, scaley hide.
* Darkvision: Kobolds can see in the dark up to 60 feet. Darkvision is black and white but is otherwise like normal sight, and Kobolds function just fine with no light at all.
* +2 Racial bonus on Profession (Miner) checks.
* +2 Racial bonus on Search checks.
* +4 Racial bonus on Disable Device and Craft (Trapmaking) skill checks: Kobolds have a knank for working with mechanical traps, as well as disabling them.
* +2 Racial bonus to Bluff and Diplomacy checks: Kobolds are excellent merchants and tought bargainers, and most of them are well versed in the art of cheating others for fun and profit.
* Automatic Languages: "Common" and Draconic.
* Bonus Languages: Ceran, Goblin, Giant, Old Dwarven, and Elven (each of the three variants is considered a seperate skill).
* Favored Class: Sorcerer. A multiclass Kobold's Sorcerer class does not count when determining whether she suffers an XP penalty for multiclassing.

The kobold still seems fairly weak but I like the subtle differences, bluff et al. Maybe if you removed the light blindness and added lowlight vision (dragons have it....). Perhaps diplomacy?

That -4 strength penalty is really discouraging to fighters, is what i'm thinking, and it might pidgeoon hole players. If you don't mind that why not boost arcane ability as well?

Ok, removed the Light Sensitivity and added a Diplomacy bonus... And yes, Kobolds always were and will always be ineffective fighters... but they could be great rogues and sorcerers. Or even clerics, bards and druids. Just not fighter types. What magic boost did you have in mind?

I'd suggest adding a +2 Intelligence to the kobolds, it'll give them more skill points and languages, plus make them better at technology-oriented and craft skills. It'll also make them better candidiates for Combat Expertise and related feats. Given their piteous strength and small size, plus the slightly varied nature of their racial bonuses (and the fact that most aren't exceptionally useful except to merchants and thieves), I think giving them +2 Int should be balanced enough.

I'm not one of those people who thinks a bonus to any mental ability score is some tremendous boon that warrants huge penalties, nor one of those people that thinks it makes a race too powerfully and favorably oriented towards spellcasting; because such things are bunk. Official and oft-used feats like Practiced Spellcaster and Spellcasting Prodigy et al clearly prove, along with the DMG's ability score analysis, along with my own careful judgment, that bonuses to mental ability scores are no better than those for physical ability scores, and in many cases are just weaker unless the character is a spellcaster that uses them (in which case they're just equivalent to a Str or Dex boost for fighters). Humans are sub-par choices in many cases in D&D with various classes, yet they're still popular because of their bonus feat, bonus skill points, and multiclassing flexibility, so clearly a minor ability score bonus of any sort is not overly favorable. *ends his little disclaimer/rant*

Hmmm... But won't a +2 to Intelligence make them the smartest Humanoid race? Not a game balance issue, but a setting cnsideration I'll have to think about.

It will. Hmmm....Something to think on that. My concern wasn't that they would be poor fighters, but they would really have the choice to be a fighter. A halfling or gnome are fine choices for unusual fighters and shouldn't seriously lag against humans or Half-orcs. But kobolds seem to be so focused away from anything combative that it isn't a viable choice. I wouldn't really want to play even a dexy, quick, swashbuckler type. Not that wouldn't at all but it would a fairly large discouragement.

Kobolds look interesting. I have an affinity for playing a kobold as SRD when I find a DM that will let me. Why? Small but full speed, darkvision, excellent sorcerer/rogue.

Another possibility: Reduce the STR modifier from -4 to -2...

If going that route, I'd cut the DD and C-T skill bonus in half, and maybe remove the bonus on Search checks. Strength is more directly valuable than Intelligence for most characters, and reducing the kobold Str penalty to match that of halflings is likely to overshadow the halflings' niche as rogues, because then the kobold would have better directly-roguish skill bonuses, darkvision, and natural armor, compared the halfling's comparatively less-roguishly-advantageous athletic skill bonuses, save bonus, and throwing bonus.

Boosting Int instead gives the kobold a more distinct niche while still making them good in similar roles as halflings and gnomes, just differently so. With your description of the kobolds, I don't think making them the most intelligent common humanoids to be out-of-place or inappropriate. They've struggled to improve in technical savvy and business cunning, they deserve the fruits of their labors for hundreds of years or whatnot of effort to work themselves up the societal food chain, from grunt laborers to tech-savvy businessmen.

Maybe only the most recent few generations, those still alive at present, have the Int bonus from such developments in their society recently paying off. Humans would get the same number of skill points anyway, they'd just be a bit behind in the effeciency of their memory and knowledge. Kobolds live shorter lives anyway, in many campaign settings so far as I know.

Another option is to just give them a minor racial ability that aides them in combat sometimes, not so pitiful as the halflings' +1 on throwing weapon attack rolls, but not too significant either, maybe equivalent to a feat or two. Perhaps all kobolds gain 1d6 of Sneak Attack for free? Maybe they all get the Opportunist ability of a rogue for free? Maybe a racial +2 bonus on Initiative and Will saves? Or maybe something like this, an ability I use in my current homebrew, a quality that Rhunarian goblins possess -
Dirty Fighting: Goblins have learned that the only way they can survive is by fighting dirty and using their cleverness and speed to full advantage. Since goblins are so skilled in fighting dirty, they get an extra +2 bonus to attack when striking a flat-footed opponent, and when striking an opponent that they are flanking. A goblin doesn’t get double the bonus when they are flanking a flat-footed opponent.

Kobolds (UPDATED!)
These are slightly modified MM Kobolds. A race of sneaky mechanists, pranksters, sorcerers and merchants, their skill with mechanical contraptions, their wicker business acumen and their keen intellect have made them from the lowly miners and trapmakers of earlier ages into the new industrialist and capitalist class of the Goblinoid-dominated Badlands (to the southeast of Renya). Kobold colonies have recently sprung out across Renya, selling cheap (and not always working, but still usually passable) clockwork devices and buying spices, dried fruits and silk (which they sell in inflated prices to the Goblin worker masses back in the Badlands) in Renya.

Kobold Racial Traits:
* -4 Strength, +2 Dexterity, +2 Charisma: Kobolds are small and physically weak, but have nimble fingers and are quite agile and fast-moving; they are also natural decievers, merchants and diplomats who use the strength of their personality to make up for their frail body.
* Small-size: As small-sized creatures, Kobolds gain a +1 bonus to Armor Class, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus on Hide checks, but they must use smaller weapons than humans use and their lifting and carrying limits are three-quarters of those of Medium-size characters.
* Kobold base speed is 30 feet.
* Kobolds recieve a +1 Natural bonus to their Armor Class due to their tough, scaley hide.
* Darkvision: Kobolds can see in the dark up to 60 feet. Darkvision is black and white but is otherwise like normal sight, and Kobolds function just fine with no light at all.
* +2 Racial bonus on Profession (Miner) checks.
* +2 Racial bonus on Search checks.
* +2 Racial bonus on Disable Device and Craft (Trapmaking) skill checks: Kobolds have a knank for working with mechanical traps, as well as disabling them.
* +2 Racial bonus to Bluff and Diplomacy checks: Kobolds are excellent merchants and tought bargainers, and most of them are well versed in the art of cheating others for fun and profit.
* Dirty Fighting: Kobolds have learned that the only way they can survive is by fighting dirty and using their cleverness and speed to full advantage. Since Kobolds are so skilled in fighting dirty, they get an extra +2 bonus to attack when striking a flat-footed opponent, and when striking an opponent that they are flanking. A Kobold doesn’t get double the bonus when they are flanking a flat-footed opponent.
* Automatic Languages: "Common" and Draconic.
* Bonus Languages: Ceran, Goblin, Giant, Old Dwarven, and Elven (each of the three variants is considered a seperate skill).
* Favored Class: Sorcerer. A multiclass Kobold's Sorcerer class does not count when determining whether she suffers an XP penalty for multiclassing.