D&D 5E Kobold Preview

[Sacrosanct]

It would be nice if this stuff was in the stat block. The game designers should be the ones doing all this creative thinking, leaving everything up for DM's to do the real work is a lame cop out.
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The fact that you think creative thinking is work, and double down with saying that expecting DMs to be creative is a cop out by the designers, makes me say something I don't think I've ever actually said before.

I don't think you get what D&D is about. I try to avoid the whole one-true-way nonsense, but this quote of yours? I honestly think you are missing the entire point of what D&D is.

Watch this, and tell me what the tagline is. It's important.

D&D has always fostered creativity, not taken it out of the DMs hands. SMH..

 

[Stalker0]

These kobolds look good, though I will always have a place in my heart for the 4e "shifty" kobolds.

Ah shifty...so...incredibly....evil!!!

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

D&D has always fostered creativity, not taken it out of the DMs hands. SMH..

My creativity doesn't need help, really, it's doing ok. I need technical help and a safe blanket of rules to land on. I don't need a blank canvas, I got my own, thank you very much.

 

[Paraxis]

The fact that you think creative thinking is work, and double down with saying that expecting DMs to be creative is a cop out by the designers, makes me say something I don't think I've ever actually said before.

I don't think you get what D&D is about. I try to avoid the whole one-true-way nonsense, but this quote of yours? I honestly think you are missing the entire point of what D&D is.

Watch this, and tell me what the tagline is. It's important.

D&D has always fostered creativity, not taken it out of the DMs hands. SMH..

Expecting the DM to do all the work is a cop out, the game is supposed to provide the tools and the DM paints the picture.

A good game gives the DM a box of 128 crayons and a few good coloring books. This monster manual is giving us like 3 chewed up crayons and a blank sheet of paper.

 

[Shadowdweller00]

One silly little bit makes the 5e kobold a major disappointment for me: The low intelligence/wisdom scores. I like my kobolds clever and crafty.

 

[Nilbog]

The problem with that approach is that you could replace the Monster Manual with just one sentence: "Have fun with monsters."

I want to have fun with monsters and be creative and all that, but I also want the actual writers of the game to share their creativity with me, to throw intriguing and entertaining ideas at me, to provide me with road-tested options. In other words: I want more than a blank canvas.

This, this and more this!

While I appreciate as a DM we can our own creative twist to any monster provided, it would be nice if the designers had given a few extra options to play with and point us in the right direction.

The way things look in the MM right now, I'm not picking up an exciting mechanical abilities that really make monsters stand out. The Kobold could just quite easily be 'generic small guy', which I guess for many is great but for those of us who's time is at a premium, well I'd like a few more options to make it quicker for me to pick and run with.

I'd love to see some abilities that actually tie in with the fluff, not only would this make the monster stand out, it would give me a good guideline on how to add other abilities to the creature

I was impressed by the PHB, my only real criticism was I felt they erred a little on the side of caution, my impression of the MM so far are meh. I can see a lot of my time as a DM being spent tweaking monsters. In all likelihood I can see myself converting monsters from the 13th age bestiary to 5e.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

In all likelihood I can see myself converting monsters from the 13th age bestiary to 5e.

I'm sure that in most case, you could more or less borrow some of the options from 13th Age or from 4E and slap them on the vanilla 5E entries and end up with meaty and interesting monsters.

 

[Juriel]

It would be nice if this stuff was in the stat block. The game designers should be the ones doing all this creative thinking, leaving everything up for DM's to do the real work is a lame cop out.

Shifty, alchemical pots, stirges in cages, fly by attacks, dragon blooded so they have resistance to a type of energy based on scale color, tons of things could be done to spice up kobolds.

Monster has AC 12, H.P 5, does 1d4+2 damage.... kinda boring and could be anything from a goblin, kobold, gnome, bandit, wolf, or duck. They should make the monsters interesting, it is their job not mine.

I agree with this so much. Just giving a few extra bits sparks the imagination right away and makes it clear that kobolds do something unique to them.

Whereas, why the hell do you even have separate monster entries, if it all boils down to just a different size of HP and damage? That is the laziest possible approach for a designer to take, or for the players to have to face. 'Oh, let me guess, it's gonna basic attack me again? Yeah, figured as much.'

Flight + dropping rocks aren't exactly mind-blowingly unique abilities, either, that could just as well be an angry hawk vulture (medium size, can carry 100 pounds!) you're fighting.

 

[Andor]

Seriously guys, go back to the first page and read the Tuckers kobolds article.

You are not thinking. Kobolds don't have powers. They don't have nifty abilities. They are one of the weakest creatures in D&D. They survive in an incredibly hostile world by numbers, cleverness, hard work, and sheer bloodyminded viciousness. They are like humans only more so. They are like swarms of rats which can also fire crossbows whose bolts are coated in filth. They are terrifying.

Stop asking WotC to do all the work for you because they can't. The whole point of Kobolds is that they work with what they have. They are going to take whatever environment you put them in and then "Home Alone" it as if the kid home alone was Stewie Griffin with a toothache. Since WotC cannot peer into your brain and see your home campaign they cannot hand you this on a silver platter. If you still have no ideas read Grimtooths, or watch a horror film.

 

[Juriel]

Stop asking WotC to do all the work for you because they can't.

There's a difference between that and not even bothering to try.

Unless there' s a second page in the MM Kobold entry which details all their devious trap-laying ways, this all boils down to WotC saying off-handedly 'oh yeah, and traps'. I doubt there is such a page, because just look at those stats, Kobolds are Int 8 and Wis 7, their idea of a clever trap is dropping rocks on your head.

You could argue the exact same if they put in a Medusa with just 1d4+1 dagger attack, and a comment in their fluff about how they petrify people with a gaze - WotC cannot know how you want to handle that, so they're not touching it at all, you better come up with stuff on your own, you're the GM, aren't you empowered now.

At least goblins get a Disengage/Hide as bonus action, so their stats actually support their shifty theme. And THAT is what we're arguing for.