D&D 5E Kobold Preview

[Sacrosanct]

I wouldn't. Adding class levels is, I think, unnecessary in monster & NPC design. .

IMO, I don't think it's necessary either. Especially with how feats work. So much simpler to add a couple feats rather than walk through the structure of a defined class. Or alternatively, just add some features of a class rather than the whole thing.


For example, if I wanted to an orc battlemaster, I might just give him fighter battlemaster maneuvers and be good.

 

[Boarstorm]

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

Sigh.

What else do you want kobolds to do?

 

[Minigiant]

This came up a while ago, and my solution is really, really easy. Just double their CR for <1 CR creatures, and give them a feat.

There you go. Done. Rather than have a bunch of individual stat blocks that take up real estate, just follow that simple guideline.

so a 1/8 kobold goes to 1/4 CR and has the magic initiate feat. Now you have your kobold shaman. Or have it with the shield master feat. There's your dragonshield. Same basic rule for goblins, orcs, whatever.

That'll have to do. For now. Although I wish to see "elite kobolds with more koboldly stuff" than just "kobold with mor HD" or "kolbold with class features".

The fluff is alright at least.

 

[lkj]

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.

I don't disagree that having to level a monster with the equivalent of PC rules is not worth the time or aggravation unless you really want to. I agree that just adding the features you want is the way to go. But much as 4e did, I expect they'll provide guidance for functionally 'adding levels' to a monster. The advice might be as simple as 'give X number of spells of levels A, B, and C). Give it Q and R class features. And by the way, this is how that might affect challenge rating'. But I expect that advice will be there.

My expectation is bolstered by the following tweet, which happened to come through today from Mike Mearls:

Twitter person: "Are there any rules to give NPC's class levels in the MM? (basically can I make a lvl 20 human fighter as a "monster")"

Mearls: "those will be in the DMG"

Granted, the question only referred to NPC's with class levels. But I"m expecting they'll provide guidance for monsters in general as well.

Again-- I don't want it to be a detailed leveling exercise (heck the PH gives you all you need for that). But I wouldn't mind a 'quick template' kind of guide.

AD

 

[fanboy2000]

My expectation is bolstered by the following tweet, which happened to come through today from Mike Mearls:

Twitter person: "Are there any rules to give NPC's class levels in the MM? (basically can I make a lvl 20 human fighter as a "monster")"

Mearls: "those will be in the DMG"

Very interesting...

 

[Wrathamon]

What else do you want kobolds to do?

4e kobolds one of them had that Pot they tossed at you that had a random effect. Like stinky or fire. That was a fun monster.

I dont see why they wouldnt have included that, but a creative DM that has time could add that.

 

[Quickleaf]

What else do you want kobolds to do?

While overall I like 5e and appreciate the simpler monster design, I think the 5e kobold is only a mere ghost of what it could be. 

To be fair, I have lots of experience running homebrewed kobolds in my 4e Dragon Mountain conversion, and, to be clear, I don't think the 4e version was all that great either. Also, I know that a lot of the fun of kobolds comes from the DM's ingenuity and trap resources, rather than the monster stat blocks.

The Art
For starters, that art looks like a little lizard man! Besides the slight canine jowls there isn't much that says "kobold" and it looks altogether too physically bulky to match with what I think of as a "kobold."

Someone on Deviantart or an OSR blog did a great 1e-inspired kobold sketch that I'm searching for but can't find.

The Mechanics
Mechanics-wise, I have several thoughts about things I'd expect a kobold to be able to do:

Skirmishing - In 5e everyone can split move-attack-move, so I would expect kobolds to one of the following:

• A free Hide/Dash like goblins. Kobolds are sneaky gits.
• A defensive boost against opportunity attacks. Kobolds duck under lots of weapons and are light footed.
• A reaction option to scatter when one kobold dies to an area effect spell to minimize casualties. Kobolds have all the courage of a house cat and know to fear magic.

Tunnel Crawling - Normally a creature can squeeze thru a space large enough for a creature one size category less, but every foot of movement costs 1 extra foot, and has disadvantage on attacks and Dex saves. I would expect for kobolds to have a trait ignoring this movement restriction and disadvantage, allowing them to move unhindered thru Tiny (1-2') spaces. 

Trap Savvy - I'd expect kobolds to be light weight enough and savvy enough to avoid lots of traps. Something like "Lightfoot: A kobold's movement doesn't trigger traps it is aware of." Of course, a DM can design encounters with pressure plates that don't trigger from the weight of one kobold (50 lbs), or ad lib by giving a kobold forced into a trap it's proficiency bonus (+2) to its saving throw. So this one is more a bonus rather than a necessity.

---

More than that, however, I find the entry lacking in the one thing I would consider essential to a kobold Monster Manual entry: TRAPS! Glorious, fiendish, hilarious TRAPS!

 

[Wrathamon]

[*]A reaction option to scatter when one kobold dies to an area effect spell to minimize casualties. Kobolds have all the courage of a house cat and know to fear magic.[/list]

Tunnel Crawling - Normally a creature can squeeze thru a space large enough for a creature one size category less, but every foot of movement costs 1 extra foot, and has disadvantage on attacks and Dex saves. I would expect for kobolds to have a trait ignoring this movement restriction and disadvantage, allowing them to move unhindered thru Tiny (1-2') spaces. 

I love these two and I think they are worthy of addition!
also, examples of traps and other things they could use against the group (maybe DMG?)

Shifty
A kobold can use its bonus action when someone is within 5" of them to use the disengage action. (originally I had this as a reaction to when someone moves within 5ft of them but thought that might be annoying)

 

[Paraxis]

They should have given the kobolds something interesting to do besides just attack for some damage, so very boring.

They did give the rust monster something interesting but then failed to give it the ability to do it's bite and interesting thing in the same turn. The antennea ability should be a bonus action.

 

[Sacrosanct]

They should have given the kobolds something interesting to do besides just attack for some damage, so very boring.

Totally. I really wish they gave kobolds the ability to use items. Man, that would be so cool. I would love kobolds to have an ability to throw a clay jar full of poisonous snakes at opponents. Or to drop flasks of burning oil from overhead.


wait...