Buffing up the Kobold

[Elephant]

There is a sentiment that the Kobold is a very weak race for a PC to choose. Unfortunately, one of my players in the World's Largest Dungeon has a character concept that fits extremely well with kobolds, and not so well with orcs or goblinoids (the only other choices given the party's current state).

Given that the game is in the World's Largest Dungeon, meaning that it's heavy on the dungeon crawl and combat aspects of D&D, the kobold is especially weak because of the -4 to Strength and Small size. Has anyone tweaked Kobolds to strengthen them a bit? My player would greatly appreciate some sort of improvement. I fear that, after making the character, he won't have much fun because he'll essentially be playing an NPC support character compared to the more spotlight-oriented characters in the rest of the party.

The class he's going for is Dragon Shaman, from the PHB II. I've given the players the elite array to start with, plus extra points to bring scores up to 28 point buy.

I'd appreciate any and all thoughts that people might have on how to help in this situation.



Edit: The kobold character is no longer an issue due to other serious issues with the player in question.

 

[Aus_Snow]

IMD&DC (the campaign where there are likely to be kobolds in the first place, that is), they don't have a penalty to Charisma any more, and they receive Draconic Heritage and Draconic Skin (these are both feats from Complete Arcane) for free.

It serves to make them (potentially) quite decent Sorcerers, among other things. Primarily though, it fits perfectly with the flavour and backstory I personally prefer for them.


I suppose it has improved their CR somewhat.. though not a great deal. Perhaps someone will be along shortly to say how my kobolds are 'overpowered'?

 

[Aust Diamondew]

Kobolds get
-4 str, -2 con, +2 dex
small size
+1 natural armor
30ft speed
+2 search, profession (mining) and craft (trapmaking)
darkvision 60ft
light sensitivity

I gave the kobold PC IMC only a -2 strength penalty and no light sensitivity (he came from a surface dwelling tribe). Strength didn't matter much to him any way as he was a TWF rogue so I really didn't help him out that much.

The con penalty is probably the biggest weakness of being a kobold if you really feel they need a boost eliminate that.

I think Aus Snow's bonus feats are also an interesting way to go too.

 

[Arkhandus]

I have two alternate versions of kobolds, one for my Rhunaria campaign and one for my Aurelia campaign....for other campaigns I use the standard kobold. In Rhunaria, kobolds have a knack for mechanical things, and have stolen crude flintlock firearm technology from dwarves. In Aurelia, kobolds are descended from a breed of dragon lost ages ago when they displeased the dragon gods and were cursed to forevermore be puny and weak and at the mercy of the creatures they had failed to conquer as dragons. Both of these versions of kobolds are PC-worthy. To note though; Rhunaria and Aurelia have no Common tongue so it's not mentioned in the stats, and the languages Gilden, Rizan, Tashi, and Tribal are Rhunaria-specific human regional languages; also, Skill Focus in Aurelia gives +3, though Aurelia is based on 3.0 rules.

Rhunarian Kobold Stats
Small Humanoid (Reptilian); Base Speed (40 feet); -4 Strength, +4 Dexterity, -2
Constitution, +2 Intelligence (Kobolds are small, scrawny, and frail, but are also nimble,
well coordinated, and cunning.); Darkvision (90 feet); Light Sensitivity (-1 on attack rolls
in sunlight or other bright light); Scaly Skin (+1 natural armor bonus to AC); +2 with
four skills of choice (also count as permanent class skills, must choose from amongst
Appraise, Craft-blacksmithing, Craft-firearms, Craft-mechanical devices, Craft-tinkering,
Craft-trapmaking, Craft-woodworking, Disable Device, Knowledge-architecture and
engineering, Knowledge-technology, Profession-mining, Search); Automatic Language
(Draconic); Intelligence Bonus Languages (Dwarven, Elven, Gilden, Gnomish, Goblin,
Orcish, Rizan, Tashi, Tribal, Undercommon, Yuan-Ti); Favored Class (Rogue).

Aurelian Kobold Stats
Kobold
Small Humanoid (Reptilian)
Hit Dice: 1d8-1 (4 hp)
AC: 17 (Dex +3, natural armor +1, size +1, leather armor +2)
Initiative: +3 (Dex +3)
Speed: 30 ft.
Attacks: Bite +0 melee; or light flail +0 melee; or light crossbow +5 ranged
Damage: Bite 1d4-2 and wounding, light flail 1d8-2, light crossbow 1d8
Space/Reach: 5 ft. by 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Breath weapon, wounding
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., light sensitivity
Saving Throws: Fortitude +1, Reflex +3, Will -1
Abilities: Strength 6, Dexterity 16, Constitution 8, Intelligence 13, Wisdom 8, Charisma 9
Skills: Bluff +1, Craft (any one) +3*, Hide +8, Listen +1, Move Silently +8, Ride (lizards) +5, Spot +1
Feats: Skill Focus (move silently)
Climate/Environment: Any, except aquatic or cold
Organization: Solitary, squad (3-12 soldiers and 1 captain), or brigade (6-36 soldiers, 2-8 captains, and 1 commandant)
Challenge Rating: 1/2
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Usually lawful evil
Advancement: By character class (Level Adjustment: +0)

Kobolds speak Draconic, and are literate unless their first character level is in an illiterate class, like the barbarian class. With their sharp intellects, kobolds typically learn one other language as well, such as Auran, Goblin, Gnoll, Orcish, or Undercommon. Many kobolds found outside their homes are warriors, and the statistics above are for a kobold warrior of 1st-level.

COMBAT
Breath Weapon (Su): Once per day, an aurelian kobold may exhale a 25-foot cone of powerful wind. This breath weapon takes a standard action to use and does not provoke attacks of opportunity. Everything within the cone suffers 1d6 subdual bludgeoning damage, plus an additional 1d6 subdual bludgeoning damage per point of positive Constitution modifier the kobold has (if any), to a maximum of 1d6 damage per hit die of the kobold (counting all hit dice of the kobold). The damage is halved on a successful Reflex save, against a DC of 15 + the kobold's Constitution modifier. On a failed saving throw, a victim falls prone if they are Medium-size or smaller. Regardless, those within the cone must attempt a Strength check against the same DC as the breath weapon's saving throw DC, and a failed Strength check results in being knocked 10 feet away as though with a bull rush. Stability adjustments apply to the Strength check, but no others apply, only the Strength modifier and any stability adjustment. The restriction on rendering only Medium-size and smaller opponents prone does not prevent the kobold's breath weapon from knocking larger enemies back. The kobold's breath weapon is a supernatural ability that counts as having the Air descriptor, and kobolds themselves are not immune to it.

Wounding: An aurelian kobold has very sharp, serrated fangs that are solidly anchored to their jaws, so their bite attacks rend flesh more than normal. When an Aurelian kobold successfully deals damage with a bite attack, after factoring in damage reduction or the like, the wound inflicted will bleed for 1 minute (10 rounds) afterward. This causes the victim 1 damage per round after the bite attack, until the bleeding ceases or healing is successfully applied, either a Heal check against DC 15, or Fast Healing, or Regeneration, or magical healing, or psionic healing. Any such effect that heals 1 or more hit points will end the bleeding. The wounding effect does not function against victims who have Regeneration that turns the bite attack's damage to subdual. Likewise, any bite attack by the kobold will not cause this wounding effect if it deals only subdual damage. Lastly, the wounding effect does not function against enemies that have total armor and natural armor AC bonuses of +5 or greater.

KOBOLD RACIAL TRAITS
Darkvision: Aurelian kobolds may see perfectly well in darkness, out to a distance of 60 feet. Darkvision is black and white only, but details can be discerned with only minor distortion. Darkvision does not function in magical or psionic darkness.

Light Sensitivity: The kobolds of Aurelia are a little sensitive to bright lights, living mostly underground for many generations. They suffer a -1 circumstance penalty on all attack rolls as long as they are exposed to any light that is brighter than a torch.

SKILLS
Aurelian kobolds suffer a -6 racial penalty on all Intimidate checks, as other races find it difficult to be intimidated by such small and weak creatures, after having long ago defeated them in their much larger dragon-forms. However, Aurelian kobolds retain some of their old draconic acuteness, so they receive a +2 racial bonus on all Listen and Spot checks. They also have developed a knack for traps and trickery, receiving a +2 racial bonus on Bluff checks and Craft (trapmaking) checks. The total Craft bonus in the kobold warrior statistics above does not already include this racial bonus.

 

[Nifft]

Just drop the Con penalty.

-4 Str compensates well for +2 Dex and 30 ft. speed at size Small, and Darkvision is a very nice ability. Daylight blindness compensates +1 Natural Armor bonus (which means you can take Improved Natural Armor feats).

Basically, you have the best racial AC in the game: +1 Size, +1 (extra) Dex, +1 Natural, and you don't pay for it with low speed like Gnomes and Halflings would.

Cheers, -- N

 

[IceFractal]

Also, the Dragonwrought feat (RotD) makes them pretty asskicking as spellcasters, if still rather frail as warriors.

 

[paradox42]

My world features all races as more powerful than PHB stats, so feel free to take my ideas with a grain of salt. That said, obviously I beefed up the kobolds to make them stronger, since I beefed everything up, and my kobold might spark some ideas in your brain.

IMC, kobolds aren't related to dragons at all- they're actually just a mutated form of Lizardfolk, though some of them (particularly Sorcerers) probably do still claim to be dragon-related. Aside from stat modifiers, which I won't post here because they're balanced to my game and not standard, I beefed them up in two ways: first, they get a stinger in their tails which can deliver a mild paralytic venom, and second, they have a "trap instinct" which gives them bonuses to trap-related skills, and allows them to "auto-search" for traps much like elves can find secret doors. Kobold Rogues are nearly impossible to catch in traps, thanks to these bonuses, and the one player in my games who tried a kobold went with rogue for his class and had a lot of fun with the character.

As a minor aside, my compliments to Arkhandus on those kobold versions- very cool and very draconic! The wounding bite is a particularly nice touch, I wish I'd thought of it.

 

[Nyaricus]

You know what's funny? In my new campign races thread, I have Kobolds with favoured class: dragon shaman. That's ironic

Gimme a while here and I'll stat up what I have in mind.

 

[demiurge1138]

As a sort-of-web enhancement to Races of the Dragon, the Wizards website posted an article called "Playing to Their Strengths, which gives kobolds natural weapons, the reverse of powerful build, and weapon familiarity with picks. Not a bad solution, I think.

Demiurge out.

 

[Nyaricus]

As a sort-of-web enhancement to Races of the Dragon, the Wizards website posted an article called "Playing to Their Strengths, which gives kobolds natural weapons, the reverse of powerful build, and weapon familiarity with picks. Not a bad solution, I think.

Demiurge out.

Slight Build seems kinda... weird. I dunno what the advantage would be for using a Small Size dagger for a medium creature, other than 1d3 damage and 1/2 weight