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Message: <blockquote data-quote="QuietBrowser" data-source="post: 6942461" data-attributes="member: 6855057">Why, thank you very much! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /> I don't suppose I can persuade you to elaborate on  what ideas in particular caught your eye? I love to hear what brainstormings I have go on to inspire, excite or entertain people in their wake! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />To continue with ideas... I've actually been sitting down and thinking about a particular field of monsters in the Malebolge: Drakes. I've stated at certain points in the thread that these are all the results of failed kobold experiments to transform their offspring back into proper dragons. Thing is, I've never given a definitive outline of what Drakes actually exist in this setting, so I thought I might try and put that together for critique.All of these are taken from my collection of 4e books; I also have Bestiaries 1-5 for Pathfinder, and 5e's MM and Volo's Guide, so if folks are willing to help me further expand this list, I'd love to do so.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Basilisks: Regarded as abominations by kobolds because not only are they the "typical failure", but they actively seem to enjoy preying on kobolds. Combined with their deadly gaze attacks, kobolds try to kill basilisks whenever they accidentallyp roduce them, but some escape. Fortunately, they have trouble breeding successfully.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Behemoths: These are the "fantasy dinosaurs", specifically referencing the giant herbivorous monsters. These are the fruit of experiments that got the size right, but reduced the kobolds to docile plant-eating beasts in the process. Kobold tribes love to press these into service as brute muscle.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Destrachans: A spin-off of the "Drakon" project line, this sonic-blasting pack-hunting bipedal reptile is slightly closer to a dragon, but still a failure due to being an eyeless, predatory beast.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Drakons: These are the predatory "fantasy dinosaurs", often not resembling any specific dinosaur - look at the 4e Spiretop and Horned Drakes, for example. Failures for the same reasons as the Behemoths.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Hydra: Technically a success story. Feral, simple-minded, but powerful and dangerous, mostly due to ever-gnawing hunger. Hydras are technically sterile; they can't procreate with more of their own kind, but constantly self-fertilize and lay kobold eggs as they consume more nourishment.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Wyvern: Although their combination of size, strength, flight and retained intelligence makes them a success story, their fairly simple minds and brutal attitudes, combined with lack of magical power or breath weapons, means the kobolds keep trying to improve.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Behir: Held up as the greatest success in kobold experiments so far, Behirs are the closest things to "true" dragons to currently roam the Malebolge. Arrogant, cruel and vicious, they usually become brutal tyrants over their distant kin, meaning many kobold adventurers are either fleeing Behirs or seeking the power to slay or control them.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Elemental Drakes: Technically, their ability to manipulate a chosen element makes them a success. In practice, their animalistic intelligence and voracious appetites make them deadly failures.</li> </ul>Incidentally, I grew tired of waiting for further conversation on revamping the kobold racial gazetteer, so I went ahead and just did it. I removed the "semi-genders" biology split, hopefully tweaked the issue with their pseudo-breasts, and modified their courtship and culture sections to explain how having no distinct genders affects their language and interactions with other races.Check out the google doc and, please, folks, let me know what you think! I know I've got other establishe races to work on, but this was my first gazetteer and I can't leave it in shameful condition.On a related topic... in my various meanderings across the internet, I stumbled across a fetishist's drawing of a concept it called a "chubtail kobold". Created for facilitating vore & stuffing fetishism, it was a kobold with a distinctly long and broad tail, which was explained as containing both fat deposits and an extension of the kobold's stomach, allowing it to swallow things up to/greater than its own size and otherwise hold more food than would be physically possible. It was essentially described as a fusion of a kobold and a snake. It's actually a work-safe pic, so I can post it here if folks are morbidly curious.Now, I tried to move on from this, but, I found myself unable to stop thinking about two things.The first is that I recalled thinking that I had planned on faerie dragons being one of the more "successful" kobold experiments. As I fell deeper into my own mind on this matter, recalling the wyvarans of Pathfinder, I wondered if maybe I couldn't actually even make them playable: using the basic "mutable kobold" PC race writeup I'm working on over in my race hombrew thread, they'd be kobolds with Draconic Presence (+2 Cha/+1 Dex ability score mod), Wings, Fae Ancestry and a racial feat to give them some "fae appropriate" SLAs. The second was that, if faerie dragons are a thing, perhaps there are other "kobold subspecies" who've developed fairly true-breeding racial traits? For example, winged kobolds with feathers, who're basically Small anthro archaeopteryx? This'd mostly be just a flavor thing, but it could perhaps add some more flavor to kobolds?The final, most crucial thing... Lost in the pits of my mind, I began to wonder if maybe "chubtail kobolds" weren't viable themselves. With how crazy the list of kobold experiments has already grown, between fantasy dinosaurs, lizardfolk, wyverns, behirs and dragonborn, is a kobold tribe messing around with snake essence and it going wrong really that far fetched? Chubtails might make a good "small but deadly" denizen of the Jaderealms, on that logic. And then I started to wonder if maybe they really did have to be held back from PC status, so... yeah, apologies in advance.[sblock]A distinctive subspecies of kobold, the so-called "chubtail kobolds", also known as snakebolds, ever-hungers, slithering gullets and other, less flattering names, are a race of diminutive reptilian bipeds. In fundamental appearance they are basically identical to their kobold ancestors, save for their distinctive blunt-tipped tails, which are easily as long and thick as the kobold itself, their serrated fangs, and their toxic spittle.Creating through experimental fusions of kobolds and snakes, chubtail kobolds are slightly more aggressive and feral in nature, though whether this is inherent or is due to their ancestors being expelled from the tribes of their creation is unknown. Many have reverted completely to the level of animals, whilst others still form primitive, stone-age tribal cultures and pack-like family groups. Intelligent despite their bestial instincts, chubtail kobolds can be civilized, and have been known to take on members of other species as "packmates", usually becoming members of adventuring parties. Despite their small stature and typically lackluster training, chubtail kobolds can be extremely deadly, especially if underestimated. Toxic spittle and wicked fangs are lethal enough, but their ability to consume their kills and digest them at hyper-accelerated speed for a surge of energy makes them particularly lethal.Chubtail KoboldAbility Score Modifier: +2 Constitution, +1 CharismaSize: SmallSpeed: 25 feetVision: DarkvisionRipping Maw: A chubtail kobold can choose to bite when making an unarmed strike; this causes it to inflict 1D6 + Str modifier Slashing damage with its attack.Sunlight Sensitivity: A chubtail kobold suffers Disadvanage on Attack Rolls and visual Wisdom (Perception) checks made if it or its target is in direct sunlight. Down the Hatch: When a chubtail kobold using its Ripping Maw attack kills a creature, it can choose to swallow the corpse as a reaction. It can also choose to swallow corpses it encounters as an action. Attempting to swallow creatures bigger than Medium sized requires 1 extra action per size category above Medium, forcing the chubtail kobold to devote multiple rounds to this. Whilst it has a corpse swallowed, the chubtail kobold increases its weight allotment by the corpse's weight. Toxic Spittle: A chubtail kobold can spit gouts of venom over a startling distance. A chubtail kobold can cast the Poison Spray cantrip using Charisma as its casting ability score.Digestive Boost: When a chubtail kobold has a corpse swallowed, it can use a bonus action to dissolve its meal with necrotic bile. This heals it for (Constitution modifier + total CR score of all swallowed corpses) hit points, with excess hit points becoming temporary hit points.Scavenger's Blessing: A chubtail kobold has Resistance to Poison and Advantage on Saving Throws against Disease.[/sblock]</blockquote>

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