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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Shades of Eternity" data-source="post: 9835064" data-attributes="member: 10869">One thing I didn’t mention earlier, but probably should have: I really like kobolds.A big part of that comes from how long they’ve carried the dragon-adjacent identity in D&D. This isn’t a new invention—kobolds leaning into clever engineering, vertical spaces, and draconic problem-solving goes all the way back to Dragon Mountain, where they weren’t jokes or cannon fodder, but organized, terrifyingly prepared defenders of their territory.For me, that really clicked in 3e, especially Races of the Dragon, where kobolds weren’t just “small lizard guys” but aspirational dragons: gliding, tinkering, scheming, and compensating for size with planning and audacity. My favourite example was a kobold ranger built entirely around that idea—gliding wings, boots of levitation, and a decanter of endless water strapped to his back for propulsion. It was ridiculous, but it was also perfectly on-theme.I think that’s why people keep coming back to kobolds:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">They’re underdogs with a vision. Kobolds know they’re small. Their entire culture is built around overcoming that through preparation, traps, mobility, and teamwork.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">They reward clever play. Kobolds shine when the player thinks in three dimensions—vertical movement, terrain control, ambushes, escape routes.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">They’re aspirational without being noble. They don’t need to be dragons; they just need to get closer, one scheme at a time.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">They scale well across tones. Kobolds can be comedic, tragic, heroic, or genuinely frightening, depending on how seriously the table takes their competence.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">They feel earned. A successful kobold character usually survives because the player planned ahead, not because the stats carried them.</li> </ul>In a lot of ways, kobolds are the platonic ideal of a Small PC species: not cute by default, not powerful by accident, but memorable because they turn limitations into identity.That’s the energy I keep chasing when I think about short folk design—small bodies, big plans.</blockquote>

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