D&D 5E Help with a Kobold thing

[MNblockhead]

Purely nocturnal might be interesting, Roleplay wise, but I am not sure what I can get out of it for abilities. Possibly a trance type ability, like the Elves? Ignoring certain types of Difficult terrain seems a bit situational, unless it is specifically a desert campaign.

Possible thoughts in the area of evolution

Wider feet, explaining how they ignore the sands. What other uses could this have?

Basically, desert animals with adaptions for travelling over hot sand have adaptions that allow them to (1) minimize the amount of their body exposed to the hot sand and (2) prevent them from sinking in. For snakes this is side-winding (found in both African and USA snakes) for many lizards and mammals (birds too?) they have feet that follow the snoe-shoe principle. You could say that this would also help with quicksand, mud, and loose dirt. You can also say that they can run over any very hot surface with less damage. Again, how often this comes up depends on your campaign.

Spines, as you said above. Potential biological weapon?

Given them advantage to escape grappling, or, they cause damage to anyone grappling them who is not wearing heavy armor. Maybe some they cause damage to the biter when biting. Maybe advantage to escaping from being swallowed. All seem like good things for a small humanoid to have.

Heat resistance? A bit bland, but useful.

Depends on how far you take it. Would you include resistance to fire damage, for example?

Long appendages and light colors might be good too, though I am not sure how to explain that with mechanics. a similar mechanic to the Bugbear long arms? That is kind of their main thing though, so I don't think that will work out...

Longer reach? More movement? Lighter color is just flavor.

You had some other good ones, but things like a fat tail put an odd image in my mind, so I don't think they are likely choices.

If you don't like a big, thick, fat tail, what about one that looks normal but fans out at the end. I.e. the shade-giving varient. Their ancestors evolved them for shade, but the their culture has developed a fighting skill that allows them to use it as a shield, increasing armor class as if they had a sheiled, even when using a two-handed weapon. Maybe they have leather armor or special metal plates they developed protect the tail when used as a shield in combat.

You could give them a venomous bit, but that's not particularly unique.

Maybe they can use a bonus action to squirt blood from their eyes, rolling attack with dex bonus to hit. Any creature hit with the blood has disadvantage on attacks and disadvantage on any dex saves for the next round.

Desert camoflauge. Could also be helpful in old ruins and dungeons with stone floors and walls. (Feels like I'm pushing it with this one).

Digging. Give them an underground move rate for digging in dry or loose soil. With the right conditions could help with digging under gates, quickly creating pit traps, etc.

Infrared sensing. The kobold hat pit organs that that give the kobold ability to sense infrared thermal radiation. Can detect warm bodies within 10' Even with the blinded condition, the kobold can attack a nearby creatures vulnerable body parts. It suffers no disadvantage on attack rolls and enemies have not advantage on attack rolls when the kobold is blinded, but it still automatically fails any ability check that requires sight. I think there would need to be a lot of DM adjudication with this one. really depends on how "sight" is used in spells and the likes, because it can "see" warm bodies within range (10').

Many desert animals have adaptions to keep sand out of eyes, ears, and nose. Some can close their noses and ears, along with their eyes. Some have hairs to filter out sand. This along with infrared sensing cold allow the kobold to chase and attack or avoid prey even if dust is kicked up, help them get through poison gas clouds, etc.

You could give limited regeneration of fingers, toes, and tail, but I can't remember the last game where party members lost a finger for example.

 

[Lanliss]

Basically, desert animals with adaptions for travelling over hot sand have adaptions that allow them to (1) minimize the amount of their body exposed to the hot sand and (2) prevent them from sinking in. For snakes this is side-winding (found in both African and USA snakes) for many lizards and mammals (birds too?) they have feet that follow the snoe-shoe principle. You could say that this would also help with quicksand, mud, and loose dirt. You can also say that they can run over any very hot surface with less damage. Again, how often this comes up depends on your campaign.




Given them advantage to escape grappling, or, they cause damage to anyone grappling them who is not wearing heavy armor. Maybe some they cause damage to the biter when biting. Maybe advantage to escaping from being swallowed. All seem like good things for a small humanoid to have.



Depends on how far you take it. Would you include resistance to fire damage, for example?



Longer reach? More movement? Lighter color is just flavor.



If you don't like a big, thick, fat tail, what about one that looks normal but fans out at the end. I.e. the shade-giving varient. Their ancestors evolved them for shade, but the their culture has developed a fighting skill that allows them to use it as a shield, increasing armor class as if they had a sheiled, even when using a two-handed weapon. Maybe they have leather armor or special metal plates they developed protect the tail when used as a shield in combat.

You could give them a venomous bit, but that's not particularly unique.

Maybe they can use a bonus action to squirt blood from their eyes, rolling attack with dex bonus to hit. Any creature hit with the blood has disadvantage on attacks and disadvantage on any dex saves for the next round.

Desert camoflauge. Could also be helpful in old ruins and dungeons with stone floors and walls. (Feels like I'm pushing it with this one).

Digging. Give them an underground move rate for digging in dry or loose soil. With the right conditions could help with digging under gates, quickly creating pit traps, etc.

Infrared sensing. The kobold hat pit organs that that give the kobold ability to sense infrared thermal radiation. Can detect warm bodies within 10' Even with the blinded condition, the kobold can attack a nearby creatures vulnerable body parts. It suffers no disadvantage on attack rolls and enemies have not advantage on attack rolls when the kobold is blinded, but it still automatically fails any ability check that requires sight. I think there would need to be a lot of DM adjudication with this one. really depends on how "sight" is used in spells and the likes, because it can "see" warm bodies within range (10').

Many desert animals have adaptions to keep sand out of eyes, ears, and nose. Some can close their noses and ears, along with their eyes. Some have hairs to filter out sand. This along with infrared sensing cold allow the kobold to chase and attack or avoid prey even if dust is kicked up, help them get through poison gas clouds, etc.

You could give limited regeneration of fingers, toes, and tail, but I can't remember the last game where party members lost a finger for example.

Ooh, I forgot about infrared vision. that sounds great, combined with the benefits you listed above for Spines(maybe not all of them, but the advantage on escaping grapples+damage to grappeler sounds good). This gives a very solid Horned Snake look as well, so that is a great image. thanks for the help.

 

[MNblockhead]

Cool, glad I could be helpful. It's fun.

Please do share once complete.

 

[Tony Vargas]

I have seen some talk about an Arabian Night's type setting, what kind of dessert based racial traits were in that, that I might find useful?

Not desert-based per se, but shifty: disengage as a bonus action.