D&D 5E New Statblocks for D&D's Kobolds

The weekend's streaming events at WotC revealed two Kobold-related things! First, they get a new alignment-free stat block; and second, there's a fan-made stablock for Three Kobolds In A Trenchcoat illustration.

The stat block is an unofficial one from Reddit user TamLin123.

On the official front, the site Venturebeat heard from WotC about races other than orcs, and recent discussions about changes to orcs and other previously evil races, and got the following reply:

“Orcs are not prevalent in the adventure, but Rime of the Frostmaiden does feature other creatures that are currently defined in the game as humanoids. Some cleave to a particular alignment, while others defy expectation. We’re of a mind that humanoid creatures, going forward, shouldn’t have prescribed alignments; alignment belongs to each individual. To that end, there’s a new kobold stat block in Rime of the Frostmaiden that identifies the creature as a humanoid of any alignment, which is a departure from the kobolds in the Monster Manual”.

 

[Weiley31]

I'm hoping that the 3 kobolds in a trenchcoat becomes a playable character race at some point.

Basically, you can "flavor" your Kobold PC as the "lead Kobold" in your Three Kobold in a Trenchcoat PC. The "other two" are nameless extension until your "current lead" Kobold PC is killed. Then the next Kobold PC in line becomes the new "lead" Kobold in the Trenchcoat.

Change your "size" to Medium and change the STR penalty to a plus to represent the power of three. Add a wide brim hat to negate Sunlight Sensitivity to your rolls and stuff.

 

[Mercurius]

people are already doing that, and have been for a while. how would loosening restrictions on alignment make that less likely?

I didn't say it would.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

I had the idea that Kobold alignments are somewhat dependent on Dragon type they're scales match. But don't go around thinking that every Silver Kobold is LG and every Red Kobold is CE...

 

[kenmarable]

But the art is from the book, is it not?

As Chris Perkins says in one of the D&D Beyond videos, (paraphrased) you can’t have nonstop unrelenting horror and have it work well. You need to mix it up with lighter material and have both ups and downs for it to work effectively.

That seems to hold true for stories whether it’s a novel, movie, TV show, or RPG game.

There’s also the really cute snowy owlbear they have been featuring as well which precipitated the comment.

 

[Charlaquin]

As Chris Perkins says in one of the D&D Beyond videos, (paraphrased) you can’t have nonstop unrelenting horror and have it work well. You need to mix it up with lighter material and have both ups and downs for it to work effectively.

That seems to hold true for stories whether it’s a novel, movie, TV show, or RPG game.

I disagree with him on that. Granted, horror and comedy go together like chocolate and peanut butter. But sometimes you just want a big ol’ bar of 80% cocoa dark chocolate. There’s room for Happy Death Day and Hereditary.

 

[BRayne]

I disagree with him on that. Granted, horror and comedy go together like chocolate and peanut butter. But sometimes you just want a big ol’ bar of 80% cocoa dark chocolate. There’s room for Happy Death Day and Hereditary.

I can kinda see where he's coming from for RPGs and D&D especially at least. Unless you're going 10 Candles: Eclipse type Dark you're probably gonna have some humor sprinkled in.

 

[Charlaquin]

I can kinda see where he's coming from for RPGs and D&D especially at least. Unless you're going 10 Candles: Eclipse type Dark you're probably gonna have some humor sprinkled in.

Yeah, when it comes to RPGs, and heroic ones like D&D especially I do think mixing in some levity is important.

 

[JEB]

Eliminating default alignments for humanoids will be fine as long as the lore for any new humanoids gives us plenty to work with in terms of culture and distinctive quirks. Note that the NPC write-ups we've had thus far generally assume a human default, or assume you'll use the lore of another PHB people, so that hasn't been an issue thus far. But if the lore isn't detailed enough, and there's no alignment to provide a bare minimum of "lawful" or similar behavior, you'll see most DMs default to "generic bad guy with a rules quirk", rather than inventing personalities from scratch. Which would be a shame. Fortunately, Wizards has been fairly good about this in 5E... but this wouldn't be a good time for them to get lazy.

 

[Sunsword]

Something I think WotC needs to contemplate is for versions of certain races without sunlight sensitivity, especially if they want them to be playable. How many new players who come to the game from Drizz't's saga then have to deal with a more complex and less enjoyable option?

 

[Coroc]

When it helps the people being disturbed by alignment preassigned to certain mobs I am fine with it.

Tbh, I would have loved to use Hobgoblins (and Goblins) for my current Greyhawk campaign, but since the first are Lawful evil but the big bad Iuz is CE I resorted to Orcs, which otoh I did make very organized I ntheir military so not totally chaotic at all.