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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kalendraf" data-source="post: 1922731" data-attributes="member: 3433">As I was flipping thru my MM, I spied this entry under Kobold.I rarely use kobolds, and I almost never apply NPC class levels to anything.  But this -3 was just too tempting, so I decided to investigate.  Is it justifed?(Note: Goblins have a similar CR adjustment of -2)With a kobold warrior4, it seems justified.  The kobold's racial mod gives it -4 strength and a -2 con, and small size limits it to small-sized weapons.  AC will be improved (+2 dex and small size), and the 4 levels of warrior will give it +4 BAB, 4d8 hit dice along with an extra feat.  But all that doesn't look to be too great of a problem.  IMHO, a party of four 1st level PC's should be able to handle a kobold warrior4 w/o major difficulty and it likely is an honest-to-goodness CR1 encounter.Similarly, I don't see a Kobold Expert4, Aristocrat4 or Commoner4 posing any major problems either.  The expert and aristocrat will have some additional skill points compared to the warrior4, but that isn't likely to make for an unbalanced encounter.Finally, I looked at adept.  This is where the warning bells started going off.  While an adept4 will only have a few 1st level spells and possibly a bonus 2nd level one, the spellcaster level is still 4.  One of the spells an adept can take is Burning Hands.  A 4th level burning hands spell deals 4d4 (avg of 10 damage) in a 15' cone.  Too me, that seems pretty deadly for a mere CR1 encounter.As per the suggestions in the MM, the creature should just use the non-elite array.  For a kobold Adept, the stats would probably be as follows:STR: 4 (8 -4)  DEX: 14 (12 +2)  CON: 9 (11 -2)  INT: 10  WIS: 14 (13 +1 for 4th level stat bump)  CHA: 9As a result, the DC vs. burning hands is DC 13 which is probably a 50/50 at best for many 1st level characters.  With a first level bonus spell, this kobold could potentially cast it 3 times per day.  In addition, this kobold adept4 will have sufficient wisdom to gain a bonus 2nd level spell.  Among the choices are some rather nasty things like Web or Scorching Ray.Too me, this seems way out of line for a mere CR1.  I could easily see this Kobold Adept 4 unleashing a TPK on a 1st level party.  My gut is telling me that the CR rule only should apply for non-adept NPC classes.Thoughts?</blockquote>

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