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Message: <blockquote data-quote="fusangite" data-source="post: 1993137" data-attributes="member: 7240">That's not how I interpret the reasons behind the continued existence of large goblinoid populations. What gives you the sense that human beings are constantly making incursions into these races' territory and killing them on an enormous scale? There seem to be precious few human civilizations in game worlds I know that send big armies against goblins and kobolds on a regular basis. I similarly find no evidence in the core books that these creatures have extraordinary growth capacities. Why would that "pressure" disappear? Often people respond to demographic crises by fighting more not less. The world from 540-660 was incredibly warlike; Justinian's reconquest took place against a backdrop of plague, starvation and agricultural failure. Similarly, many indigenous peoples in the Americas responded to demographic collapse by heavily militarizing. So, I just don't buy that people affected by a demographic crises would be less likely to attack a threatening neighbour.Again, I don't see this following at all. Goblins and kobolds have light blindness; if 90% of the local goblin and kobold populations have just disappeared, along with various other underground dwellers, wouldn't these creatures fill underground areas that they could inhabit comfortably before going out onto marginal land on the surface? And again, I don't think we know enough about the relative reproductive stats for the various species to assume that goblins and kobolds are the most efficient at reproducing if social controls are removed.I think you are firmer footing saying this when you talk about species with which goblins and kobolds compete. But elves and humans are not really among those.Also, look at the hit dice of various creatures when they reach adulthood. How many adult kobolds does it take to kill 10 adult bugbears? How many adult bugbears does it take to kill 10 adult kobolds? Or better still, how about another egg-laying greater HD species like Kuo-Toa?They also have an average Str of 6; a kobold warrior wielding a weapon is doing an average 1 point of damage per hit and takes 3hp of damage before he dies. An adult bugbear does an average of 6 points of damage per hit and takes 16hp of damage to die. Furthermore, if kobolds became a really significant threat, wouldn't other creatures ally against them?It seems to me that your birthrate = everything argument is just way too deterministic.</blockquote>

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