D&D 5E Kobold Preview

[Morentis]

Ahh, yes, it's time.

"Splugg: The Revenge"

 

[fanboy2000]

Re: Elite kobolds issue. I admit I haven't been following things as closely until we started playtesting 5e as a group recently, but will 5e have rules for adding class levels to monsters (I thought I saw something to that effect)?

No class levels, but the MM (and DMBR) have a section for NPCs like Berserker, Cultist, Guard, Knight, etc... You can add racial trait to make them more like whatever. So, for a Kobold Shaman, I'd use Acolyte and give it Pack Tactics. Which is pretty nice when you consider that the Acolyte is casting spells.

If so, there are your elite kobolds. Add levels of sorcerer, rogue, etc to get some elite :leader" types, job's done

Yep, yep.

 

[fanboy2000]

Oh look, another monster that just hits you. It hits you slightly better with someone next to you.

Sigh.

Dude, the Winged Kobold drops a rock on you. That's just awesome.

 

[Roger]

They just look like rocks. They're actually their own eggs that they're dropping on you. They've got very dense shells.

 

[Kaychsea]

Dude, the Winged Kobold drops a rock on you. That's just awesome.

You're lucky if it's a rock...

 

[lkj]

No class levels, but the MM (and DMBR) have a section for NPCs like Berserker, Cultist, Guard, Knight, etc... You can add racial trait to make them more like whatever. So, for a Kobold Shaman, I'd use Acolyte and give it Pack Tactics. Which is pretty nice when you consider that the Acolyte is casting spells.

Yep, yep.

No class levels so far. But I'd be very surprised not to see rules for adding class levels to monsters in the DMG.

AD

 

[Sacrosanct]

Oh look, another monster that just hits you. It hits you slightly better with someone next to you.

Sigh.

If that's all you can think of to do with the kobold, then I'm sorry for your lack of imagination.

 

[Sacrosanct]

You're lucky if it's a rock...

Reminds me of a story way back in the 80s. I was playing a barbarian and I found a pair of boots of flying somewhere but that was it. No other weapons. I ended up stuck in a cave with some baddies below me trying to kill me. Me, being the teenager I was, thought the best plan was to poop and throw it on them while I stayed out of range.

 

[fanboy2000]

No class levels so far. But I'd be very surprised not to see rules for adding class levels to monsters in the DMG.

I wouldn't. Adding class levels is, I think, unnecessary in monster & NPC design. It's much better, I think, to simply add those components to an NPC or monster the DM feels it should have.

Let's say you want an Orc similar who's can fight with military melee weapons and cast spells. You could make him an Eldritch Knight from the PHB, but that's a lot of work and detail that's never going to matter. Rather, you could just given him a proficiency modifier with all weapons and an appropriate spell list. The nice thing about this approach is that the DM can choose whatever spells they feel is appropriate and are not bound by the Eldritch Knight's spell list.

Also, I don't think the 5e designers want a repeat of the 3.x era Monster Manuals. You know, where the monster building rules were so complex that each time a MM came out there was, almost immediately a review that listed all it's nitpicky mistakes. (See this review by [MENTION=24255]John Cooper[/MENTION] for an example of what I'm talking about.)

No one wants to relive that again.

 

[Hrothgar Rannúlfr]

Oh look, another monster that just hits you. It hits you slightly better with someone next to you.

Sigh.

This might spark your imagination...

http://www.tuckerskobolds.com/