Kobold Love ?

[Infiniti2000]

Wasn't there a time in 3.5 when kobold sorcerers with draconic flavor were all the rage?

Not IMC, but even so there were different rules, i.e. level adjustments. I don't believe that something akin to an LA will be proposed for 4E.

 

[Infiniti2000]

For that reason you should ban Halflings, and Gnomes are one of the original D&D races. come on man

Halflings, no. They were never a 'weak' monster because they were always given PC level capabilities. I still hold firm on gnomes. I think they should be in the same class as kobolds (my opinion) and I'm appalled they have PC stats (again). I can't stands gnomes as PCs. I can't stands it!

 

[eriktheguy]

I'm playing a kobold rogue right now and having a blast. Shifty is great, but by no means broken. Shifty as an encounter power is really weak. One thing a PC writeup would need? Cha as a bonus stat of course, as kobolds support the sorc class flavor-wise. Even then they would make decent dragon sorcs, but not as good as dragonborn.

 

[eriktheguy]

I'd also like to add that I loved the 'races of the dragon' book in 3e, and I would love to see something similar in 4e. Races of the dragon described kobolds as intelligent, wealthy, cunning and organised. It described the tragic history of the race, their hateful relationship with the gnomes, and gave playerss real motivation to try them out as a PC race. They made excellent rogues and sorcs. The 4e draconomicon simply gives more monster entries for them, which is a little unfortunate. I would love to see them elaborated on in a future publication.

 

[Infiniti2000]

Shifty is great, but by no means broken.

It's not broken for melee types, but it becomes a must-have for ranged types. Must-have often (but not always) translates into broken. When it really becomes indefensibly broken, however, is when (if?) you start accumulating powers that function as Move actions. It also lets you do some hokey stuff as a melee rogue, coupled with say a fighter. You can hit your opponent every round without fear of retaliation. You shift in, attack, and shift out again (at will). Your opponent is stuck in place, however, because of the fighter and cannot attack you without repercussions (i.e. provoking or readying or other things). Such an enormous amount of new options is definitely a "blast" but lots of options is also often seen as "broken."

 

[Doctor Proctor]

I mean they put the PC Race option in the MM so they should back it up with something solid and maybe a couple of feats.

Actually, the section in the back of the MM is for NPC's, and clearly says that it might not be a good idea to let PC's use them.

MM page 276
Several of the monsters in the Monster Manual have racial
traits and powers, not unlike the races presented in the
Player’s Handbook. In general, these traits and powers are provided
to help Dungeon Masters create nonplayer characters
(NPCs). This information can also be used as guidelines for
creating player character (PC) versions of these creatures,
within reason. Note that these traits and powers are more in
line with monster powers than with player character powers.

A player should only use one of the following races to
create a character with the permission of the Dungeon
Master. The DM should carefully consider which monster
races, if any, to allow as PCs in his or her campaign.

(emphasis mine)

So while yes, you can make PC's out of these racial writeups, it also pretty clearly states that were intended for NPC's and that a DM should be very carefully thinking which, if any, should be allowed for PC's. Things like Shifty were never meant to be in the hands of PC's.

 

[Dr_Ruminahui]

I too would love kobold PCs - I've always loved the little guys.

In the campaign I run, they ARE a player race, though none of my PCs chose it (they are to dragonborn as halflings are to humans).

Personally, I would love more small races - the world is run by the big folks as it is. And personally, I find Kobolds far more interesting than either of the Gith, shifters, goliaths or minataurs - though I certainly appreciate that this is a situation where YMMV qyute drastically.

That said, I appreciate the problems with the current write up - shifty is likely too good, and the lack of feat support. Should I ever actually get a player that wants to be a kobold, I guess those are things I'll need to worry about. In the meantime, my kobold NPCs get to be easily (mis)lead comic relief critters.

 

[Istar]

It's not broken for melee types, but it becomes a must-have for ranged types. Must-have often (but not always) translates into broken. When it really becomes indefensibly broken, however, is when (if?) you start accumulating powers that function as Move actions. It also lets you do some hokey stuff as a melee rogue, coupled with say a fighter. You can hit your opponent every round without fear of retaliation. You shift in, attack, and shift out again (at will). Your opponent is stuck in place, however, because of the fighter and cannot attack you without repercussions (i.e. provoking or readying or other things). Such an enormous amount of new options is definitely a "blast" but lots of options is also often seen as "broken."

ah... how about the monster shifts 1 and attacks you ?

 

[Istar]

Shifty is good, but lots of things give you Shift as a minor action.
Like boots of the fencing master and a few others.

But I could run the Kobold without Shifty as the stat build fit my build as its the only race with +2 Con / +2 Dex.
And the +2 Stealth is great.

I will raise it with my DM and he can take Shifty out if he wants.

Shift 1, then move 6 and 2 more with Deft Strike gives you constant CA I would think as you should be able to flank just about anything with movement 9.

I might even post my "Krazy Kobold of Kord" character concept.
Rogue Healer / Tank and Controller in addition to Striker.

 

[Mithreinmaethor]

Dark Elves, Half Orcs ?

Half-orcs have never been an evil Race.

Drow in the new FR are now mostly Unaligned and Good aligned. There still are vestiges of the old ways around however.

And the devs statements about not wanting to do any more evil race write ups came in a response to people asking why the Githzerai were in PHB3 and not Githyanki.

I know of at least one Kobold writeup for PC use article that has been rejected because of this.