Kobolds

[Storyteller01]

They are to Dragons as Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel is to humanity. The inbred, retarded and wholly unfortunate embarrasment.

Funny comments, considering no one has actually seen one.

I remember similar remarks being said about living races.

(*says the DM who loves to freak out plyers with a good kobold ambush*)

 

[Jupp]

I am still going with the DiTerlizzi reference pic from 2e. They are real ones, everything el*slap*

 

[arwink]

My kobolds tend are the result of genetic anomoly present in the reptilian races, the same one that allowed dinsoaurs to develop into dragons. They are descended from all manner of reptile, and come in more sub-race flavors than elves and dwarves combined.

In many ways, kobolds and dragons represent two extremes of genetic evolution - the dragons became the ultimate predator, the kobolds the ultimate adapter. There is a base kobold, but it tends to mutate quickly if exposed to strong magical auras or extreme environments (hence the template that appears in the back of Masterwork Monsters: Kobold Feats and Mutants .

 

[Ed Cha]

I prefer them as tail-less canines, but apparently they are reptiles with tails.

 

[MrFilthyIke]

I like the "dragon blooded" things, as its amuses me to have a universes wimps related to the universes bad-asses.

 

[mhacdebhandia]

In one campaign I dreamed up but never ran, kobolds were magically-twisted gnomes who inhabited even lower, darker, and more dangerous regions of the subterranean environment than their unaltered "cousins" (who were nomads travelling deep tunnel trade routes further down than dwarven cities in this game).

No-one knew exactly how kobolds had been created. The gnomes might have angered a god, a demon, or a powerful wizard; the kobolds had been around for centuries longer than living memory.

 

[Li Shenron]

I voted "something else". They might be reptile-like but I don't usually see them as cold-blooded creatures for some reasons. They yap but don't have much else similar to canines (gnolls are those, although they are more hyena-like), much like orcs don't have much similar to pigs.

 

[delericho]

Death obsessed ninja-pirates, who claim descent from the primordial tyrant-lizards of the world (dinosaurs), and who hate the dragons, with whom they are inaccurately said to share a heritage.

So, reptilians, I guess.

 

[The Great Bear King]

I always remember kobolds being described as rat-dog type guys. The David A. Trampier illustrations certainly looked reptillian, and I believe 1st ed MM entry mentioned eggs, but that is the only place I rember seeing kobolds as reptiles before 3rd edition. Having them be scaly, egg-laying rat-dog type guys works as well for me as any other. I did like the idea presented in earlier threads that they are egg-laying mamals (or near-mamals) like the platypus (now just give them a bill and poisonous spurs on their feet). Of course, the modern classification system for animals has existed for a relatively short time, so kobold (or anyone) need not even fit into any rational classification system; just let the rangers know what favored enemy they are covered by.

I like the idea of them as canine decendants of imps.

 

[TerraDave]

All the above, and their blue, and like to harrass German miners, and are related to gnomes, and secretely control the earth, and are sending thoughts to me as I write...