Tucker's Pirate Kobolds

[roguerouge]

I like a lot of the stuff from Heaven Shall Burn's post too.

Could pit traps on board their own ship work? Could they use coral somehow? How hard would it be to use pots of _live_ jellyfish?

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

Could pit traps on board their own ship work? Could they use coral somehow? How hard would it be to use pots of _live_ jellyfish?

Pit traps and ships don't really work together. The closest thing is an unbalanced hatchcover. And with a pirate ship you're talking about say 10 feet, 15 or a bit more only on the largest pirate ships, most tend to be largish sloops after all (Not sloops in the modern usage).

As for live jellyfish, sure. They'll survive a for some time out of water. But the jellyfish itself is unnecessary the sting-cells will last a long time even after the rest of the jellyfish dries out and dies. They'd be more likely to cut off the sting tentacles and fill pots with a mush of seawater and preserved tentacles. Also cone snails, those little b#$%#$ have a truly evil poison and I see kobolds using live cone-snails in pots as well as their poison on blades. Chunks of coral would act much like caltrops, breaking on the deck and being a hazard to footing as sailors generally went about barefooted.

Also remember to take advantage of the SIZE of kobolds. You can pack a crap-ton of kobolds onto even small vessels. To use an example from fiction have you ever read O'Brian? The little brig-sloop he takes charge of in Master & Commander was about 65ft long overall discounting sprits & spars, displacement of maybe 130 short tons. This would have been on the small side but it's a good example. On that ship you're talking a total crew of roughly 80! humans. Now consider that a kobold is roughly 2.5ft tall and 1/4 the mass of a human. Consider how many you can cram into the same amount of space. And they'll probably divide the decks to about half-height.

A submarine would actually be feasible in D&D terms. Google for stuff on the CSS Hunley (sp?). A series of items that cast unseen servant (or ritual equivalent for 4e) could power the crank without taking up air. Allowing the crew to keep activity and oxygen use to a minimum. There are spells in AU that refresh/reoxygenate air as well. I can definitely see a kind of 20,000 league-ish kobold submersible operating out of an underground base and terrorizing shipping.

 

[roguerouge]

I was thinking of a pit trap on deck dropping someone in a water-filled room with jellyfish. Obviously, due to space constraints, you'd need to use only one of them.

 

[hamishspence]

Pirates in D&D

Dragon 318 had pirate article. Stormwrack had a goblin pirate ship pretty heavily rigged with traps: might work well in 4th ed. What kobolds are doing on the high seas is another matter, but if you want it, you can do it. Gnome sub and the more formidable Nautilus were in Arms and Equipment guide (3rd ed)

 

[Darklone]

How do they power them?

They row the turtle flappers from the inside.

 

[Storm Raven]

I would have a band of kobolds led by a leveled kobold sorcerer or two and allied with a dragon turtle. Emphasize their reptilian heritage with the alliance.

Have the dragon turtle wait below the surface while the kobolds sail up on the target, then they signal and the turtle comes up and breathes on the deck crew of the target ship. Since it is superheated steam, it won't set the boat on fire, but should kill most of the crew. The kobolds then swarm aboard and take care of any remaining crew - the sorcerers can use enchantments to take out any stubborn crew members. If the target proves too difficult, the dragon turtle could use a second breath weapon attack or, in a worst case scenario, capsize the target ship.

 

[hamishspence]

Draconic heritage

Actually, would make alliance more plausible. Now what stats would a 4th ed Dragon turtle have? maybe level 15 Elite Brute, etc.

 

[Darklone]

Or what about an undead dragon turtle with hollow belly that's under control of the sorcerer?

 

[Storm Raven]

Or what about an undead dragon turtle with hollow belly that's under control of the sorcerer?

Most types of undead would lose the breath weapon, which, I think, would make the dragon turtle far less useful.