Kobold PrC/Subrace: The Unborn

[Sigurd]

(c) Bo Vandenberg

This is the beginnings of it

Kobold Clan: The Unborn
By Bo Vandenberg


Condemned to the dregs of the world by weakness and depravity the dragon blood of this clan could not contain itself. It is not for the scion of dragons to serve foul orcs, hobgoblins or any of goblin kind. Perhaps by some great plan of Tiamat, or some other Dragon Deity, the unborn have been given a path to unlock the drake blood of their race.

Unborn seem to occur spontaneously among the hoards of kobold born each year. They have a greater cunning and sense of self than their lesser brethren. Many silently abandon their birth tribe, with whatever wealth they can carry while others rise to positions of leadership. Unborn may be of either gender but kobold society makes it far more likely that surviving Unborn will be male.


Stage 1 Hoardgift: The first stage of the Unborn's life.

Feeling the call of Dragon Kind and sensing its terrible weakness, it will gather whatever wealth it can possess and seek a Dragon's protection. This is a hugely dangerous act as many dragons will happily reject the paltry gift and any claim of kinship. A Dragon's hunger often brings a swift and painful end to the unlucky unborn. Scheming and devious dragons, presented with recurring Unborn over their long life have found a greater use for this race.

Unborn accepted by a dragon are called Fosterlings.

Success rate: under 20%


Stage 2 Kobold Wyrm:
Unborn seem to thrive in a dragon's presence. In spite of harsh treatment & poor conditions these creatures absorb some of their masters magical nature often taking on similar, superficial physical characteristics. An unborn's scales will likely change colour, its skull may change shape & it may develop a partial elemental resistance similar to its master. Dragons often find this imitation amusing and very flattering.

Unborn Kobolds in the direct service of a dragon master will slowly acquire similar scale patterns & colouring. They will also slow their aging process tremendously. In this state they are very loyal to their 'parent'. Dragons concentrating on an Unborn, within sight, will have almost complete mental control their fosterlings as the unborn tries to reprogram its brain. Good dragons who adopt Unborn have a great chance of completely changing a Kobold's alignment if they consistently treat them well and curb their evil impulses.


Kobold Wyrm are used as message carriers & scouts by dragons, some are even trusted to help guard their resting parent or retrieve precious items.

Although this association does not harm the dragon in any way there is a limit to the number of Unborn a Dragon may foster. Dragons may not foster a total number of Unborn greater than their own HD total.

All progress may be controlled by the attention given a fosterling. A 12 HD dragon could only foster 3 4hd Unborn. It is very rare that a dragon would devote all his energy, in effect his whole HD total, to raising the unborn. In game terms determine what percentage of a dragon's waking time it spends with its fosterlings and multiply that by its HD.


Kobold Wyrm As Characters

A significant number of Unborn Wyrm are abandoned or banished. If an Unborn Wyrm does not succeed at his appointed tasks, if a patron dragon is too suspicious or even if his attention wanders, Unborn Wyrms may find themselves banished or marooned by their former masters. Some dragons do this as a test of loyalty and ingenuity others simply want to be rid of the Unborn and choose not to eat something so familiar. Who can foretell the whims of Dragons! Other Unborn progress beyond their masters ability to help them and leave on their own. Unborn will never rob or directly disobey their foster parent.

Unborn Wyrm have absorbed many dragon strengths and are now formidable Kobolds. They may return to Kobold tribes and seek leadership. Often they will work to amass a second much larger Hoardgift to impress a larger dragon of the same type. Without a foster parent they will feel their aging speed up and be confronted by their kobold weaknesses. They do not lose any other game advantages beyond lifespan. Once patterned to a particular dragon type may only seek dragons of that type.

If unborn have absorbed enough dragon magic they may enter their next stage.

The First Great Sleep

Dragon Wyrm that have absorbed enough dragon magic will find a place of seclusion where they feel safe – often hiding in dark holes behind traps and false walls. On top of whatever treasure they have they will fall into a deep sleep for as long as 3 months. During this time they will neither eat or drink. Their bodies will be given over to a magical fever altering their skeletal structure & making them more truly drake like.

Sigurd

What you think?

 

[Mark Causey]

This seems very suitable to worlds where ecologies are very closely linked. I could see variants of this throughout such a world containing these kinds of kinship, especially in a world where magic seems more living than others.

Encountered Kobolds, in such a world, would need to be evaluated by Rangers, for instance, because their current status in life could represent good (these Kobolds have never seen a dragon) or bad tidings (looks like Urthulgar wasn't destroyed after all, these Kobolds bear too much a resemblance).

Goblins could feel a need to serve local ogres and orcs; sprigs and pixies could be harbingers of a fey invasion.

Skeletons and zombies as the footmen of vampires ...

Where, in such an magi-ecologically linked world, would man fit in? Would we then be an aberration?

Just some thoughts. Great flavor.

AtR

 

[Sigurd]

Thanks for the reply

I love the extent to which you've taken this trend, although thats further than I want to go.

I hadn't intended that dragons would avoid all kobolds but that Unborn with some of a dragon's magic might make that particular dragon less likely to attack.

I like a world where players are not the only creatures capable of organizing. Killing a particularly charismatic monster might be more difficult and more important than killing a more powerful one.

As to rangers having to determine the power level of kobold races I think they would already do that now.

Skeletons serving Vampires & Other Big undead is a defiinate part of my world(s). One Adventure I've run begins with an animated corpse delivering a note to the characters stronghold. Of course the skeleton is immediately defeated & destroyed but it shakes the players up a bit.

What if the skeleton was poisonned and was commanded to dive into the drinking supply? What if it new of the supply because it is an ex henchman, or relative! Especially as characters gain levels I think you have to play evil NPC's with teeth and strategy.

S

 

[Mark Causey]

Well, also in my imaginings, I could see some things that would extend to all of these living magic ley lines:

Scrying on one's kin, specifically a linked kin, would be easier.

For dragons (and fey, undead, etc.), a high powered individual could 'sense' things through the network of inter-relations. For example, a dragon could sense when a fostered kobold wyrm cast a spell or was in danger or died. Anyone with the eyes to see could possibly feel the presence or sense the image of the fostering dragon when in contact with such a kobold.

Curses could run through these lines and affect the organization as a whole, if defenses weren't created and maintained, almost like a psychic attack on a hive mind ...

Just some more thoughts.

AtR

 

[Vlos]

In the Monstronomicon (monster book) they have a template called "Blighted" which is very similar in concept to what you have. But rather than applying it to a single race, it can be applied to any race that lives near or serves a dragon.

Basically the race starts to absorbe part of the dragons magic and slowly becomes more and more draconic in nature.

They have it as a straight template, but I could easily see it at a prestige class/template.