Kobold Adept4 - Balanced CR1?

[Darkness]

Actually, I would expect most 1st level parties to be able to take the guy out every time.

Barring horrible bad luck, they certainly should.

does the Adept's spellcasting require a stat of 10 + the spell's level?

The example here has Wis 14.

 

[Tonguez]

The Stat blocks says that at a minimum Kobolds come in gangs of 4-9 so if we consider say a gang of 3 Warrior2 and 1 Adept4 then I'd say based on the analysis already done Kobold Adept4 is overpowered for a CR 1 encounter.

Say should we houserule that Kobold ought to be -2 CR instead...?

 

[Kalendraf]

The Stat blocks says that at a minimum Kobolds come in gangs of 4-9

IMHO, the 4-9 number applies to a basic Warrior1 kobold presented in the MM/SRD. In regards to Organization numbers, I not so sure it's as much of an absolute requirement as much as a suggestion for typical encounter sizes.

I've always assumed when applying levels (NPC or PC) to a humanoid, it is usually done in order to create some kind of advanced troops, leaders or other specialized member of their species. In the case of an adept, it's likely the tribal shaman. Such an individual may or may not necessarily be encountered with support troops. For example, the tribal shaman might stay off in a hut or small cave by himself and could potentially be encountered there alone. Hence, evaluating the CR-level for such kind of solo encounter is of interest.

 

[Plane Sailing]

As for the Adept4, I'd say it's probably a CR3. For comparison, IMHO the Kobold Adept4 is about on par with a Wiz3.

Don't forget that a human (or other core race) adept4 is supposed to be on a par with a wiz3... do you want to rate the kobolds as highly as a human?

 

[Kalendraf]

Don't forget that a human (or other core race) adept4 is supposed to be on a par with a wiz3... do you want to rate the kobolds as highly as a human?

The primary differences between a human and kobold are:

Human: Medium Size, Bonus Feat
Kobold: Small Size, -4 STR, +2 DEX, -2 CON, +1 Nat Armor

For a spellcaster, the STR penalty is not really a factor, nor is the size difference. In fact, since the spellcaster will likely not rely upon weapons to deal damage, the small size benefits (+1 AC, +1 attack) may provide an advantage and little disadvantage (small-size weapons). The remaining +2 Dex/-2 Con is mostly a wash. So it really boils down to wheather the human's bonus feat is better than the Kobold's +1 Nat armor. Given that a feat like dodge can provide a +1 AC bonus (albeit against a single target), that may even be a wash as well.

In play, I strongly suspect that a Kobold Adept 4 will perform quite similarly to a Human Adept 4. Hence, in terms of spellcasters, I would say that kobolds are approximately on par with humans as well as many other races.

In fact, I'd be rather interested to test this out to confirm it. Essentially, the 2 characters would look like this:

Kobold Adept 4:

STR 4, DEX 14, CON 9, INT 10, WIS 14, CHA 9

Feats: Improved Initiative, Toughness
Possessions: MW Light Crossbow, MW Morning Star, MW Studded Leather, MW Buckler
Note1: Adepts cast divine spells, so they suffer no chance of arcane spell failure. Note2: Though they have no armor proficiency, these particular choices confer no penalty.
Familiar: Toad (for +3 HP)

With this build, the Kobold has:

HP: 16
Initiative: +6
AC: 18 (+1 size, +2 DEX, +1 shield, +3 armor, +1 natural)
F/R/W: 0/3/6
Morningstar: +0 melee (1d6-3, x2)
Lt Crossbow: +5 ranged (1D6, 19-20/x2)
Spells-0: Cure Minor Wounds, Ghost Sound, Touch of Fatigue
Spells-1st: Burning Hands x2, Sleep
Spells-2nd: Scorching Ray

And the human version to compare against:

Human Adept 4:

STR 8, DEX 12, CON 11, INT 10, WIS 14, CHA 9

Feats: Improved Initiative, Toughness
Possessions: MW Light Crossbow, MW Morning Star, MW Studded Leather, MW Buckler
Familiar: Toad (for +3 HP)

With this build, the human has:

HP: 20
Initiative: +5
AC: 16 (+2 DEX, +1 shield, +3 armor)
F/R/W: 1/2/6
Morningstar: +2 melee (1d8-1, x2)
Lt Crossbow: +4 ranged (1D8, 19-20/x2)
Spells-0: Cure Minor Wounds, Ghost Sound, Touch of Fatigue
Spells-1st: Burning Hands x2, Sleep
Spells-2nd: Scorching Ray

From a casual inspection, the differences are the HP & weapon damage (both favoring the human, the AC (favoring the Kobold), and finally the saves also differ slightly (toss-up). Both of these Adepts are far more likely to use spellcasting than weapons in a combat, so the difference there is unlikely to factor into most situations.

 

[Darkness]

Yeah, I, too, think that kobold spellcasters are about on par with their human counterparts.
At higher levels, though, the kobold's +1 natural armor becomes less and less important and the human's Con (and thus, hp) advantage becomes a bit bigger. It's not the world, but it's there.

Human Adept 4:

STR 8, DEX 12, CON 11, INT 10, WIS 14, CHA 9

Feats: Improved Initiative, Toughness

What's the human's third feat?

 

[Kalendraf]

What's the human's third feat?

Doh! I was going to make it Combat Casting, but totally spaced it off when I got to that line. With that feat, the human will have a +5 advantage in concentration compared to the lil' kobold Adept, which is something worth considering when comparing them. I didn't bother listing skill points, but I was figuring both would likely be maxing Concentration (7 ranks for each). Applying the bonus/penalty for each, the Human ends up with +11 on his check, while the kobold is only at +6. So after the party swarms each of them, the kobold is going to have a much harder time getting off his next spell.

Also, after further review, I realized that I may have given both adepts a bit more equipment than they may want to carry. The Human is carrying 35 lbs, which is a medium load for 8 STR. Meanwhile, the kobold's small-sized equipment only weighs half that much (17.5 lbs), but his 4 STR means he is likewise carrying a medium load. Both may want to wear slightly lighter armor (probably leather) or move to slightly lighter weapons to get back to an unencumbered load.