Kobold as Viable PC Race?

[Darklone]

Play a kobold warrior

 

[lukelightning]

I appreciate you helping me find the light, to stop doing things my way, and do them only your way!

You're welcome!

Ok, I should have been clearer in my post...I don't mean you specifically should play a kobold as written, I just mean the abstract "you" of people. We've already got kobold stats. Sure, they're not balanced as a PC race; they weren't meant to be. Should kobolds for some mysterious reason have two sets of stats, on for PC kobolds and one for NPCs? Do kobolds suddenly get a stat boost just because of their popularity?

 

[Kafkonia]

You're welcome!

Ok, I should have been clearer in my post...I don't mean you specifically should play a kobold as written, I just mean the abstract "you" of people. We've already got kobold stats. Sure, they're not balanced as a PC race; they weren't meant to be. Should kobolds for some mysterious reason have two sets of stats, on for PC kobolds and one for NPCs? Do kobolds suddenly get a stat boost just because of their popularity?

Personally, I use the same resources for kobold NPCs as I do for PCs (Races of the Dragon, etc.) If I want cannon fodder, I use goblins.

 

[Darklone]

I have at least three kobold supplement books... there are sooo many nice extra feats and other things that help you play kobolds if you think they are too weak.

Others simply give them CHA +2. (Yay, kobold paladins!)

 

[szilard]

Personally, I think that the slight build feature is a little too good.

-Stuart

 

[Aust Diamondew]

Kobolds are perfectly balanced as a PC race if you remove the Con penalty, IMO.

Exactly what my group did.
Didn't help the fact that most people treat kobolds worse than a three legged dog though.

 

[SorvahrSpahr]

i think i'm starting to get the kobold-loving sickness. what makes them so great?

 

[Jack Simth]

i think i'm starting to get the kobold-loving sickness. what makes them so great?

Suppliments, because lots of people root for the little guy (and Kobolds are the little guy, usually).

For example, if you take, say, the XPH (Magic-Psionics Transparency and a few key powers), Dragon Magazine (Bloodlines), Races of the Dragon and the Web Enhancement (for the Greater Draconic Rite of Passage), Complete Arcane (for the Mage of the Arcane Order PrC), the DMG (for the Archmage), and Unearthed Arcana (Desert Kobold and Flaws), and you can really build something insane:

Take a Desert Kobold (racial variant, Unearthed arcana; basically trades the Con penalty for a Wis penalty, loses the mining bonus and the light sensitivity) Sorcerer. Tack on two flaws, and he's got three feats available at 1st. So he takes a metamagic feat, Arcane Preparation (Complete Arcane), and the Draconic Bloodline feat (Dragon Magazine; other bloodline feats are perfectly fine, but the Draconic Bloodline is less likely to make the DM go "huh?" later down the line when you go on the Greater Draconic Rite of Passage to help release your "inner dragon"). At 3rd, this kobold takea Cooperative Metamagic (complete Arcane), somwhere along the line he completes the Draconic Rite of Passage (Races of the Dragon), and for his 6th level he goes into the Mage of the Arcane Order (Complete Arcane), takes Draconic Reserve (Races of the Dragon web enhancement) and completes the Greater Draconic Rite of Passage (Races of the Dragon Web Enhancement; makes him cast as a Sorcerer one level higher, costs 3 max HP). He sticks with Mage of the Arcane Order to the end, using the bonus feats from the class as he chooses, but taking Spell Focus (something), Spell Focus (Something else) and Skill Focus(Spellcraft) at 9th, 12th, and 15th. He then joins the Archmage's for 16th+ (Dungeon Master's Guide). Of course, he picks up Limited Wish (Player's Handbook) somewhere along the way, so he can duplicate Psychic Reformation (Expanded Psionic Handbook) to change out spells or feats as needed (you have to invoke transparency twice to get Limited Wish to change your spells known out this way, though).

At 19th, you've got a dirty little desert rat that casts as a Sorcerer-20 with nine extra spells known, has the ability to have nearly any PHB Sor/Wiz spell available on a round's notice, has three arbitrary metamagic feats (one of which can be a useable Quicken, thanks to Arcane Preparation), one arbitary feat (18th level), and four Archmage specials, who can change his last six levels worth of feat and spell choices for 300 xp, a 7th level spell slot, and a standard action. At 20th, you've got Sor-21 caster with 5 Archmage specials. And no Con penalty.

This can, of course, be optimized even more by replacing a few Mage of the Arcane Order and/or Archmage levels with some other PrC that's fairly easy to qualify for (as in, requires feats/spells/skills he'll already have or can easily afford, such as the Mindbender PrC).

Drips cheese, mind. Not quite as much as a certain Kobold Egoist.... but it drips cheese. All WotC, though.

 

[SorvahrSpahr]

we'd have a little guy kicking ass Raistlin Majere style...me like

 

[Felon]

The MM version is not bad at all.

+2 Dex
+1 Natural armor
+1 AC and +1 to hit from small size
(for those counting, that's +3 AC right there)

Throw in:
No movement penalty from small size
Darkvision
Favored Class: Sorcerer

As-is, with no house rules or extra stuff from Races of the Dragon, let's take a close look. As a class geared towards arcane casting, how does this suck worse than an elf? The elf also loses Con, and casters are all too happy to dump-stat Str. Most of the other elven racial traits don't augment a spellcaster as well as the kobold's size bonuses, natural armor, and darkvision.

With +2 on Search and Trapmaking, and +4 size mod on Hide checks, you have a decent rogue or scout.

Help me out here. Why does this little guy need house-ruling to be mechaincally balanced? Do you guys who strip the Con penalty off of kobolds do the same thing for elves?