(advice) How many kobolds does it take to tpk a 3rd level party?

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I recall kobolds in one setting throw slimes, contained in fragile clay jars, at opponents.

 

[delericho]

IIRC, the kobolds in one of the video games (Neverwinter Nights? Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance?) were basically suicide bombers - they carried barrels of alchemist's fire that would explode if and when they were killed.

 

[delericho]

And one kobold in a huge tribe, clearly what is envisioned here, taking Skill Focus doesn't seem so far out. The Master Trapper of the complex might even have a higher WIS.

Sure, you're not wrong - my last several posts have been at least partly a matter of playing Devil's Advocate (and partly nitpicking rules, as I was bored).

Here's a (rather tangential) question: has such a Master Trapper character appeared in a published adventure? I mean, kobolds have featured quite often in published adventures ("The Burning Plague", "The Sunless Citadel", "Crown of the Kobold King"), but did any of these feature the person who made all their traps?

 

[Dwimmerlied]

He/she'd be memorable if so, because to have any levels worth mentioning, that kobold would then become quite the combatant too

 

[SkidAce]

Three. One to hold the torch and two to turn the ladder around...wait...what?

 

[Ranes]

Here's a (rather tangential) question: has such a Master Trapper character appeared in a published adventure? I mean, kobolds have featured quite often in published adventures ("The Burning Plague", "The Sunless Citadel", "Crown of the Kobold King"), but did any of these feature the person who made all their traps?

Can't answer that but the thought of a kobold master trapper adversary occurred to me some years ago. An adventure I ran saw the party raid a kobold infested catacomb and come unstuck when facing several of the trapper's fiendish works. However, when it came to the kobolds being on the back foot, the trapper (who was the kobolds' leader) would sacrifice some of his gang to conduct a rearguard action, while he (using the setting/resetting trap rules from 3e) would hastily rig something new and nasty for the PCs.

The first couple of times the PCs followed their foe through a door and got hit by traps, one of my players suspected me of cheating - especially as the party had been through the door in question previously and had not triggered a trap.

Eventually, however, the fighter ignored the intervening kobolds and charged (so to speak) through a door the round after the trapper had gone though. Among the things I described to him when he battered the door open was a concussed kobold lying next to a set of thieves tools.

In answer to the original question, the number of kobolds it takes to TPK a party depends but the more preparation time the kobolds have, the fewer in number and lower in level they can be. Never underestimate half a dozen off-the-peg kobolds with long spears when the PCs are at the bottom of a pit.