Tucker's Kobolds for v.3.5

[DMH]

My most favorite trap from Defeating More with Less is the funnel:

You've all heard of the confining trap; now, you'll hear of the truly confining trap. The victim blunders into a pit trap (roll his dexterity or less on 1d20, or he falls in), to discover it is shaped like a funnel, with the narrow end at the bottom. This point is so narrow that the victim will barely fit it, and will be so cramped that he will be quite unable to get out again without assistance. Now imagine a murder hole directly above the funnel-shaped pit, where an enemy can shoot arrows or bolts down on the motionless character, scoring a hit virtually every time. If missile firing seems too tedious, assume the murder hole opens into a
larger chamber, with barrel upon barrel of ghastly liquid. A few barrels full of burning oil or acid, poured down on an immobile character, will make a mockery of the advantage of high level. The fellow may have lots of hit points, but if he can't fight back, his assailant has all the time in the world to leisurely get rid of him.

 

[Xombie Master]

Since a couple bags of flour won't equate to an entire flour mill full, I would probably have it deal Alch: Fire Damage to all within the flour cloud. Followed by a roll not to catch on fire.

 

[Staffan]

How much damage do you figure that burning flour does? It was in some WotC adventure way back IIRC.

Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil says 2d4.

 

[Sejs]

Pit trap. 15' square shaft, 30 or so feet deep. Gelatinous Cube at the bottom. Add a grate on a locking swing arm halfway down if you like. One that's pushed open by the falling character's weight, and then swings back into place and locks.

Pit trap. However deep and large as you like. Bottom is filled with water. Again, a grate on a locking swing arm, this one just below the water's surface. Undead in the water. Or, heck, combine the two and have a Cube down there.

Long, bare hallway. Very long. Trap at the end triggers a varient Reverse Gravity, that instead of flinging you up, turns that long hallway into a very long drop.

Zombies, their torsos hollowed out, and filled with plague rats. Skeletons with skins of Alchemist's Fire inside their ribcages.

Compressing wall traps that stop about a foot or two short of coming together. Totally non-fatal themselves. Disarming their mechanism before they complete their cycle triggers a trap of your choosing. Scorpions/spiders/snakes, lightning bolt, scything blade from the ceiling, etc.

 

[pokedigimaniac]

I apologize for hijacking the thread, and will take it to email after this, but did want to say one thing. I may have sounded too harsh in my earlier post - I actually do recommend The Hero Snare as a premade adventure if you want to make your players really, really hate kobolds. It's a good adventure - it just needed a few tweaks.

I've said my piece - now you can get back to talking about evil little kobolds again.

Edit: I will be stealing some of those traps, thankyouverymuch.

 

[Xombie Master]

The big trick to running Kobolds is to remember that they are vicious, resourceful and very low tech. They will use existing traps to their advantage, and formulate their own, which usually don't amount to more than clever ambushes. Kobold "traps" are more fun, and embarrasing to a party when they are simple, yet effective.
I think a kobold is more prone to lurk near an existing pit trap and hurl javelins down upon a party when they fall in, rather than rig up some high tech trap. However throw a shaman in the mix, or have them guarding a dragon's tunnels and the possiblities for brutality go up.

 

[Numion]

Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil says 2d4.

If this thread was about challenging higher level PCs with Kobolds, it's not going that strong, sorry. Pit traps and burning flour are not a challenge to high-level PCs.

 

[DMH]

The big trick to running Kobolds is to remember that they are vicious, resourceful and very low tech.

I don't agree with low tech at all. The entire race is mechanically minded, otherwise they wouldn't get a racial bonus to trapmaking. Steam and Steel has sidebars on the various races' views on steam tech and they, IMO correctly, state that kobolds are sometimes leaders in the field.

 

[Henry]

Also, remember that Kobolds have Sorcerer as a preferred class; with a small amount of XP expense, kobold shamans, leaders, etc. who are sorcerers can make magical traps to explode. A hidden kobold with a single level of rogue can make life hell from a series of well fortified and hidden positions.

As examples from Tucker's kobolds:

Flaming oil from murder holes, armor-piercing bolts and arrows (Monte Cook's Bodkin arrows, which negate 2 points of armor bonus, would work for this), flaming piles of debris pushed by multiple kobolds on long poles into strategic positions, and crawlspaces that only kobolds can maneuver in that honeycomb the areas around the dungeons.

Also, reading some internet resources on the Vietnamese Tunnels of Cu Chi can offer great inspiration on what can be done.

 

[genshou]

I don't agree with low tech at all. The entire race is mechanically minded, otherwise they wouldn't get a racial bonus to trapmaking. Steam and Steel has sidebars on the various races' views on steam tech and they, IMO correctly, state that kobolds are sometimes leaders in the field.

Very true. The bonus to Craft (Trapmaking) represents a mechanical aptitude that the race simply doesn't have with regards to everything else, but that doesn't mean they should excel at making one thing and be absolutely primitive with regards to everything else. I can imagine them making some pretty high-tech traps, and if they can do that, why don't they live in less crude of housing?

I imagine kobold traps as being the nastiest traps of all, so all those CR 10 nasty traps of DOOM! are made by kobolds for the most part in my games.