Kobold as Viable PC Race?

satori01 said:
A -4 Str Penalty on top of a low Str score can easily spell the doom of a character. In my own campaign a player had a Faen Sprite Magister from AE. For the sake of brevity the race allowed him to fly, and be tiny sized. He had a Str of 4.

Now as a spellcaster he figured his Str score would never come into play.... of course when around 8th level the Inn the party was staying at was attacked by Shadows and Shadow Dancers he was regretting his decision.

Shadows are not that uncommon of a monster, and a Kobold's natural armor is not going to mean jack against them. Likewise anything that does Str damage, be it poison, spell etc is going to more than likely incapacitate them.

On the melee side it is even worse. The net is full of stories of small rogues eaten in grapple checks with large monsters...a Kobold Rogue is even at a worse advantage than a Halfling or Gnome. Light Sensitivity might not be the most egregious penalty..but it is still something you have to spend resources to correct, and there are plenty of spells out there that effect creatures w/ Light Sensitivity.

I would much rather play a Dwarven Rogue to get Darkvision than a Kobold.
This is true, but it's only marginally worse for kobolds than for any Small creature. Almost all Small playable races get at least a -2 Strength penalty, so kobolds are only 2 points worse off than them, and their size penalty to Grapple checks is the same.

If you're going to play a Rogue, then Escape Artist becomes a good investment for any Small character, as it can be used to escape from grapples and the check isn't modified by size or strength.
 

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Darklone said:
Deekin is just a Meepo clone. Meepo is mucho more fun. Used him several time to scare/annoy/flatter my PCs and other DMs I play with used him too.

Meepo rules!
Meepo FTW!

I ran The Sunless Citadel for a one-time group, and Meepo became a power player. They cowed him into submission, armed him, and he became the party's move-and-snipe archer. It was hilarious!

Personally, I prefer the old 2e kobold to the 3e lizard-men kobolds; I prefer Goblins to the 3e kobold overall.
 
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Heh, I was recently in an All Kobold Campaign. We had a druid, a dragon shaman, a fighter, a barbarian, and a rogue. There was ass, and we kicked it.
 

Someone here proposed a houserule once that kobold sorcerers get +1 to casterlevel...

And yeah, kobold barbarians work. They are not as strong as kobold fighters though... The big amount of feats and WS can make a kobold fighter be a strong damage dealer with enough flexibility to keep the enemies from taking advantage of his small size.
 

Darklone said:
Someone here proposed a houserule once that kobold sorcerers get +1 to casterlevel...

And yeah, kobold barbarians work. They are not as strong as kobold fighters though... The big amount of feats and WS can make a kobold fighter be a strong damage dealer with enough flexibility to keep the enemies from taking advantage of his small size.
The Fightyer bonus feats free up the regular feats for a kobold to go Dragonwrought -> Dragon Wings -> Improved Dragon Wings. Couple that with archery and the little creeper will be doing great damage. Add in a few Scout levels to take advantage of the fact that you have to move every round while flying. And then go into Stormtalon (RoW).

A Barbarian's d12 HD offsets a kobold's Con penalty, and the rage bonus to Str cancels the penalty. The natural armor and Small size help AC, and the movement increase compounds on the already fast kobold. Damage won't be much, though.
 

In cruel minutes I love to remember the face our half-orc player (yeah, player, not PC) made when his half-orc PC (his PC) struck a puny little kobold with shortsword and shield for 29 points of damage... I interrupted his Cleave attempt and described how the kobold fighter looked surprised/annoyed about the little gash on his shoulder, then he struck back... slicing the barbarian for good with his TWF shieldbash combo :D
 


Seeten said:
You have a half-orc player??
If you'd knew him, you'd understand.

He may look better, but he definitely has Int and Cha penalties :D

And the proof that he's a half-orc: He's proud about it.
 
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satori01 said:
A -4 Str Penalty on top of a low Str score can easily spell the doom of a character. In my own campaign a player had a Faen Sprite Magister from AE. For the sake of brevity the race allowed him to fly, and be tiny sized. He had a Str of 4.
If you dump-stat an ability score, you are vulnerable to ability damage/drain against that ability score. If you have a racial penalty, it gets even worse. Unless you happen to be a warforged, that's tautological.

I would much rather play a Dwarven Rogue to get Darkvision than a Kobold.
Sure, dwarves are teh borken. Measure any PHB race against them and they will all pretty much come out needing a boost.

Of course, once you bump into a monster that drains Charisma, then your own arguement comes back to haunt you.
 
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btw, with sundark goggles you only incur penalties on spot and search if you don't have either lowlight or dark vision. So there's no real penalty for wearing them. The only problem is if you lose or break them.

mikeg
 

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