MarkB
Legend
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.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.
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.