Friend & Foe gets it’s first entry with the Gnomes and Kobolds of Tellene. This Kingdoms of Kalamar product clocks in at 160 black and white pages for $27.99 in hardcover format.
Written by Paul Wade-Williams, the book has some great illustrations. Caleb Cleveland, the cover artist, also does several illustrations on the interior and is joined by others like David Cooper and Patrick McEvoy among others. Editing is fair and only a few mistakes jumped out at me.
The book is broken up into two sections, Hammer & Humor, the section on gnomes, and Kin of the Dragon, the kobold section. Each book starts off with important details about the race in question. This ranges from history, anatomy, social structure, culture, relations with other races, trade and tribute, alchemy, calendar, language, warfare, religion, misconceptions, and racial information for players. Then we get the game mechanics. This includes details on feats, spells, prestige classes, and a bestiary. The glossary and adventure hooks would probably work better prior to the crunch but hey; it’s the first book in the line.
Let me get my grievances out of the way. There are a few things lacking in the book. For example, it would’ve been nice to have a few sample maps of the lairs. Having the racial traits for the kobolds in the book, as well as the stats for the dire badgers in Monster Manual format, would save a trip to the Monster Manual. A few key NPC’s and their current role in the KoK world would’ve gone a long way in granting the writing some more Kalamar relevance. As it is, the book is fairly easy to use in almost any campaign. Sure, there are details under the religion that might require some rework, but even for the Kobolds, they don’t follow anything resembling the standard pantheon and the gnomes each tackle the Kalamar pantheon in their own way, already providing the GM a quick idea of how to incorporate those tools into his game.
So what does the book tell us about these races? For gnomes, we have three races, rock, forest and deep. We also have half versions of each of these gnomes as the gnomes are capable of reproducing with humans. Part of the humor of this book is in reading the headings. See, we have a “Sage of the People” by the name of Grarg Stoneskull, a half-orc adventurer whose wisdom goes something like this, “Rock gnomes are short, beardy, live in caves, and hate goblinoids. No wait, that’s a dwarf. Gnomes are short though, right?”
By starting each section off with a little quote, sometimes from Grarg, sometimes from a gnome or a gnome saying, the book provides the reader with flavor even when it’s not providing information. I liked the way the history section is set up by having us eavesdrop on a conversation between an elder gnome and a younger one including things like gnomes origins, their placement underground, their hatred towards goblins, and what their role in the world is. Short sections but ones that provide the GM with enough flavor to customize them for any game setting.
GMs looking to expand the role of either race will have a lot of tools to work with. For gnomes, they provide a great breakdown of almost all the different classes and how they work in gnome society. The only thing they don’t cover is psionics. Each type is translated into the gnome language so for merchants we have the badaran stor or girft bringers who are the sellers or goods while the crafters or the subbed mazok are the actual creators of things. No guide could be complete without noting things like spellcasters and their place or how the role of the military fits into the race.
Just for those curious, everyone who can fight is expected to while those who are more dedicated to the purging of humanoids have their own title, and latter, their own PrC. By providing these tidbits of information, the gnome becomes more than it’s historical game part of illusionist or it’s new position of bard.
One thing I thought clever was noting, under recreation, some of their games like kobolds at the gates. It provides rules for how five players get together with four of them playing gnomes and one playing kobolds and have a sort of board game with the players controlling their figures and fighting for treasure.
Of course, not all gnomes are the same, which is why the first section is split into three sections. When reading about forest gnomes, we find out that they’re “accused of being servile and fawning” while the deep gnomes “are sullen, withdrawn and aggressive.” These sections provide many of the same areas of detail so that you can compare and contrast the differences in warfare that all three subraces use even as you see how the different classes fit into each race’s social system.
In terms of game mechanics for gnomes, it starts off with the racial traits for not only the three, rock, forest, and deep, but also the half versions. Another nice tidbit is the random starting age that includes variances for class. Another useful tidbit is the section on suitable prestige classes. See, because this is an official product, the can reference official products. Unfortunately, they didn’t have access to Complete Divine, but they do reference Complete Warrior and other class books as well as their own sourcebooks. This provides the GM with a good checklist of appropriate PrCs for gnomes.
There aren’t a lot of feats introduced, which is a good thing as far as I’m concerned. Some like Darkvision grant the character the ability to see in the dark, while Petty Theft grants you either Open Locks and Sleight of Hand as class skills or a +2 bonus to using those skills if they are already class skills. Anyone who takes this feat for the latter bonus is missing the point.
In terms of PrCs, we have the granite legionnaire. Remember when I spoke of those who hate the goblinoids? That’s these guys. They work as soldiers, meaning that they work well when working with each other gaining bonus feats like Hammer and Anvil and Phalanax Fighting. Once again, the benefits of the license come through as we have the Illithid Hunter, a five level PrC that specializes in resisting mind flayer’s attacks. Others include Knight of the Brock, warriors who ride the dreaded dire badger, master alchemist, riddle master, satirist, storytellers, and even some ‘professional’ classes like InnKeeper and Tailor to the Gentry.
The satirist, is a five level PrC that masters social situations. This starts with a bonus feat, Circle of Friends, and moves to other social abilities like Skilled Orator, providing a bonus to Bluff, Diplomacy and Intimidate, and eventually Stir the Masses, where the character can shift a populace’s attitude towards hostile. The Storyteller, gains innate spell ability and bonus feats. They have their own list and these spells work as if the caster were a bard of level equal to his storyteller class level.
Now the bestiary isn’t a bunch of new monsters. Or rather, it’s a listing of NPC’s of various level and classes that the GM can quickly insert into his own game. These range from sergeants and militiamen to combat sorcerers.
Now despite the fact that the gnomes haven’t been very well covered, they’ve probably been more covered than the Kobolds. That’s where book two, Kin of the Dragon comes in. See, the kobolds think that there used to be a grand deity known as Psep Dragg and that this entity was a dragon who was slain by his own children, the other gods, and that his blood gave rise to the kobolds.
It showcases how the kobolds are a xenophobic race who believe that their own trial to supremacy is well underway and that they will be the master inheritors of the world. Now seeing as how kobolds aren’t usually given details, I was interested in reading about how the kobolds here are hermaphrodites and don’t rely on parental bonds to raise their children. How they shed their skin and how that rough skin enables them to live with very few creature comforts as they’re more than capable of sleeping on rocks. Even more interesting is the idea of mutation among kobolts. How about having poison glands or the ability to shed limbs?
Of course there are other avenues to explore. Take their social structure. Because they’re lawful evil, they posses a rigid caste system determined by “intelligence, cunning, and strong ancestors”. See, since their god is dead, they have a very strong ancestor worship and yes, eating your relatives is a good thing, hence the cannibalism.
Much like the gnome section, each caste has it’s own title and place in society. These range from the Dragon’s Blood or spellcasters, each with it’s own title like the bards known as the dragge nomoen or dragon tongued, to the Dragon’s Limbs, the warriors who range from the Loop Lahen or snagging claws who follow the actual warrior class to the dangerous knome haakvahen or gnome slayers who are trained in countering the ways of gnomes including avoiding tanglefoot bags and resisting their illusions.
About the only thing that was a little difficult to swallow, was the section that details their relations with other races. See to kobolds, dwarves and Halflings are relatives to the gnomes. A bit weak, especially if leadership goes beyond a generation or two. I can see where it might’ve happened in the past and given that kobolds don’t have great historical records might happen in a few instances, but when you start noting the commonality of sorcery in the blood, one has to wonder…
In terms of game mechanics, we have some of the same material. A list of suitable classes and PrCs, as well as racial traits and random height, weight and age tables. On the plus side, they go through the benefits and penalties of playing a kobold. On the negative side, they don’t provide the racial traits, requiring you to bust out your Monster Manual.
The benefit comes in looking at the new feats. Unlike the gnomes, we have several new feats here, most of them grouped around the Bloodline concept. These range from Magic Resistance to Prehensile Tail. These feats allow you to customize your kobolds with those ‘mutations’ mentioned early and it does include the Shed Limb and Venomous Bite feats. Unfortunatly, these Bloodline feats are a 1st level deal and often require a stat minimum.
In terms of PrCs, we have that Gnome Slayer mentioned earlier as a 5 level PrC, as well as the kobold version of the alchemist, as well as two PrCs that are perfect for kobolds, the sniper and master trap maker. Lastly, the PrC section closes off with the Skin Waver, a fighter based PrC that has the difficult job of also being the diplomat and basically, second in command leader who protects his lord from everyday issues.
Friend & Foe starts off with a good feeling as two races who’ve rarely received any coverage. If you’re looking to add some unique touches to your next kobold tribe as a GM or looking to add some depth to your gnome as a player, The Gnomes and Kobold of Tellene is perfect for you.
