Posts
I have
played Dungeons and Dragons for more than 15 years. Lately, I have only just started playing
again with any regularity, but I still have numerous ideas and want to use my
blog as a creative outlet. This is going
to be a reoccurring thing as I just keep hammering out things and not all of
them can be turned into elements in my “random fantasy novel ideas” folder.
What Have I Got: A Retooling
I wrote 15
entries on Dungeons and Dragons in the first half of this year and I found that
writing 2,800 or so words each week was a bit much for people to read when
presented by my rando ass. Keep in mind,
I had to limit myself to that high number and made an effort to start breaking
things into multiple parts.
I decided
to take a break and reset my word count to something much lower. I also am going to emphasize things being a
bit sillier. To start this off I present
an analysis of Kobolds. Consider this a
sort of sequel to the “Exotic Monsters” entries but with far less insight into
my thought processes.
On the Nature of Kobolds
By Professor Farrowdel Malanar,
Vizier to the Marquis of the Southern Oasis
I have
studied with great diligence over the course of a century the relations of
numerous races and governments as they exist on this Southernmost proper continent of
our world. Gnomes, Warforged, our
brethren the Painted Elves, and most recently the race of the Kobolds.
The Kobold
species is by and large a cunning lot.
They take an almost perverse pleasure in outsmarting opponents via
complex duplicity, riddles, word games, puzzles, and most dangerously their
uncannily constructed traps.
While other
races show great technical proficiency, the aforementioned Gnomes and Warforged
being prime examples, and the Coal Dwarfs of Marketopolis have shown themselves
the single greatest manufacturing power via the consistency and simple elegance
of their large-scale management of systems, Kobolds possess a singular mad genius
that I cannot find evidence of in any other race or society.
Their
mechanisms range from crude and brutal to elaborate and intricate. They are able to hide fine mechanisms in art
work, build clockwork and gearwork into previously unworked stone in hours, and
an ability to make the most of materials at all times.
They are
however limited in many fashions, getting started chief among them. Ask a Kobold to protect a fort or tower and
the surrounding wilderness will become a deadly maze of poison gas, bolt
launchers, pits, and pendulums of every imagining. Ask them to build a tower and you will end up
with a ramshackle structure, poorly situated, poorly supplied, securing an area
of no strategic value, and as ugly as it is useless.
 |
| Are we sure this is a "Secret Tower" and not merely the "Poorly Situated Tower"? |
Kobold
nations in history are rare, limited to tribes even in the largest of
mentioning, but they have always found a place in larger communities. They revere dragons and as such see
themselves as the smaller counterpart to Dragonkin in much the way Halflings
could be seen as the smaller counterparts to Humans.
A Kobold
community in any larger society will be racially harmonious, but ultimately will
have issues with their malign nature.
Individual members will always be trying to get one over on others and construct scams to fleece the trusting.
A notorious Kobold was drawn and quartered by the Maunder Empire when
they still held dominion over the City of Bone, the Kobold known as Ponzi had
constructed an elaborate business model allowing him to sell useless licenses
to contracted employees and unload numerous inventions of questionable
utility. Racism against Kobolds
following the scheme led to many members of the community leaving to the wilds
of the Northern Mountain ranges and tribal living.
Kobolds are
useful allies. They are defenders of
precious things, but not ones to make or dream of precious things. They are stalwart in loyalty and deadly to
those who betray them. They will hold up
every promise or fall on the mercy of the court should they find themselves
unable to. They will fleece the
unprepared, and make rich those investors who know how to close their
loopholes. Anyone wishing to attack a
group allied with Kobolds should be prepared for a dangerous undertaking, and
anyone who allies themselves with kobolds would be wise to never renege on an
agreement.
Kobolds by Edition
There are
vast differences between editions in how the Kobold is depicted in art. For a more detailed presentation on how they
have evolved follow this link to an article from Bell of Lost Souls.
I feel
Kobolds became their best in 4th edition as several pages of functionally
different members of a kobold squad were presented in the base book. While that edition's emphasis on party role (Controller,
Defender, Leader, Striker) was overall a negative for players, it was a BIG
BOON to DM’s who needed help with composition of encounters. Unfortunately, the race’s importance so
dropped off in 5th edition that the in-game explanation that “their
racial god is trapped in a labyrinth” seems like a pretty good meta-explanation
as to why they are suddenly all dull and dumb.
The Beg for Attention:
Remember in
your own games, to put your own twist on an established monster or make an effort to emphasize their role in the world when the players encounter them. For instance, this entry is a handout I gave
to my players after they went thru a cave system dungeons with numerous kobold
constructed traps.
Have Fun.
If you would like to read one of my longer entries here is a
complete list with links.
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