Creature Incarnations: Kobolds

[Hjorimir]

I have never really used kobolds much through the years (1e forward), but 4e's presentation of these guys is making me giggle like a school girl. So I'm pretty darn happy with the article.

WotC's Dragon/Dungeon is shaping up to be quite a nice surprise for me and I find myself jumping online early Mon-Wed-Fri to see what new goodies they've released.

Keep up the good work, Wizards!

 

[Vanuslux]

Yet another winner for new Dragon content. I look forward to seeing what they do with other critters.

 

[Pinotage]

Yeah, but I don't really see Kobolds as following the just because I'm physically tougher that means I win philosophy either. The "big guy" just has more pressence...

Watch dogs in the park. It's not always the biggest toughest dog that becomes alpha. Sometimes it's the ratty little chiwawa that just makes a lot of noise and movement.

Based on stats, in an out-right fight, the Rat Master beats the Chieftain, but from a 4e perspective, the 'elite' means nothing outside the presence of the PCs. Hence the quantum effect. If you assume that's the case, there's no issue with the Rat Master since amongst the kobolds he's not as tough as the Chieftain. Even if you assume he is thougher and his stats remain, like you said, there are scores of reasons for him not to be the Alpha dog.

Pinotage

 

[Tian Zi]

Great article. I hope they can keep this kind of focus and detail coming. If so, they have my money.

Can't wait for the Yuan-Ti version of this...

 

[webrunner]

Why does it matter if he's stronger among the kobolds or not? He is stronger among the kobolds because he's surrounded by rats!

But he's still not the leader because the cheiftan is picked for being taller, as was mentioned before.

 

[WheelsOnMeals]

These are all pretty fantastic, but I was hoping they would help clarify the Kobold Hurler from the KotS side-trek article. Sadly they're not here.

That article had the Hurler essentially being a thrown weapon version of the Slinger, but claims that they only carry two special pots with them. Two rounds of goodness followed by feeble attacks with a dagger doesn't sound so cool. Maybe I'll just make sure there's a stack of pots nearby that they can reload from if I try to use them.

Or I can just forget the Hurler and use a Vermin Handler if I need better artillery.

 

[OchreJelly]

Based on stats, in an out-right fight, the Rat Master beats the Chieftain, but from a 4e perspective, the 'elite' means nothing outside the presence of the PCs. Hence the quantum effect. If you assume that's the case, there's no issue with the Rat Master since amongst the kobolds he's not as tough as the Chieftain. Even if you assume he is thougher and his stats remain, like you said, there are scores of reasons for him not to be the Alpha dog.

Pinotage

To be fair, he is basically a kobold and a rat swarm made into one monster. I won't begrudge him of the hp inflation. And looking at real historical examples (not of kobolds of course), the captain of the guard could probably kick his King's butt if he wanted to.

 

[Hawke]

Love this article - it's things like this that really makes me want to buy into their program. I ran Kobold Hall as a precursor to KotS... I'll replace a few of these for the KotS encounters to give them more flavor. I really want to see more monsters like this and it really lets you potentially run a campaign against a kobold (or insert other monster here) with several kinds on a battlefield with many skirmishes that are varied. I hope they keep up this quality.

Re: the guy being stronger... as animals become more complex its possible to move away from the biggest = the leader. Perhaps the rats make him sort of crazy and unwanted as a leader. Perhaps the actual leader does so via coalition (chimps often do this). Perhaps he's this crazy rat guy that doesn't really care too much about leading because he thinks rats are superior and he keeps them. I think having the fact this guy is an exception to what you'd expect a good starting point for developing a neat little personality.

 

[IanB]

Kobolds don't strike me as having a might-makes-right social structure anyway. That's orcs.

 

[hamishspence]

elite

Its like the diference between Hinjo and O-chul. O-chul is very very tough. But hinjo is higher level and better at doing paladin things.

In the same way, chieftain is in charge, but rat master is harder to kill.