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Quietus
2009-02-11, 05:57 AM
I'm toying with an idea for a D&D 3.5 campaign right now, which may or may not involve some cold-based kobolds... but I want to use something a little more interesting than "They all have the Cold subtype". I haven't been able to find anything with a quick search of my books, nor do I have access to Frostburn at the moment, so I wouldn't know what to search for to find information on whatever it might have. Does anyone know of a decent, preferrably somewhat low-power template that could be used to give kobolds some nice, chilly flavor?

kabof
2009-02-11, 06:09 AM
There's the Arctic Kobold from UA and the Cold Elemental Creature, from the Manual of the Planes (LA +5). I hope that helps.

Myou
2009-02-11, 06:10 AM
I had a quick look in Frostburn, it didn't have any templates. Sorry to disappoint.

Kantolin
2009-02-11, 06:18 AM
Link to the aformentioned arctic kobolds:

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/races/environmentalRacialVariants.htm#arcticKobolds

Darrin
2009-02-11, 10:09 AM
Arctic Kobolds are in UA (already mentioned). There's also an "Arctic" racial template from Dragon #306 (check the 3.0 templates on Crystalkeep for details), which can be applied to any race with zero LA, and gives -2 Dex/+2 Con and changes the preferred favored class to ranger (which can be *very* useful for Swift Hunter builds, particularly of the Flying Dragonborn Kobold variety).


I had a quick look in Frostburn, it didn't have any templates. Sorry to disappoint.

Actually, it does have a couple: Ice Beast template (mostly for Conjure Ice Beast) and Spirit Animal. Neither one really screams out "kobold!", although it might be interesting to create a gaggle of Ice Beast kobold constructs with the "cold aura" special ability (free action every round, everything within 10' takes 1d6 cold damage, no save) or ice breath.

Spirit Animal wouldn't work on kobolds, but if you want to try incorporeal fey kobolds... it's a bit toward the deep end of the "Pool of Weirdness", but there is a cold-based template that could make for some interesting encounters:

Wendigo (in the Fiend Folio). Should surprise the heck out of the PCs when they wade into a bunch of kobolds and then find out they can turn incorporeal and fly 120'.

JackMage666
2009-02-11, 11:42 AM
Make one?

You're the DM after all.

Let's see, I'd do...

Tacking on the cold subtype (Immmunity to cold, weakness to fire)
Bonus to cold-spell DCs (maybe, fits the Magical Kobold set)
Slight bonus to damage from melee/natural attacks (+1d6 might be too strong, or might be perfect.)
Bonus against inhaled poisons or other attacks (as you normally take shallower breaths at lower temperatures, perhaps this might be a boon in some other way.)
Maybe some cold-based SLAs (Ray of Frost at-will?)

There's a good number of things you can do. If this isn't going to be tacked onto players, you don't really even need to worry about balance all that much (though be careful when figuring out CR - Make sure to add 1 or 2 to the kobold, depending on how much you add.)

Fax Celestis
2009-02-11, 12:11 PM
You could just use an uldra (sort of a small fey from Frostburn), switch the Fey type for the Humanoid (Reptilian) type, skin them as kobolds, and go. It's simple, straightforward, and not overpowered.

Starbuck_II
2009-02-11, 01:09 PM
You could just use an uldra (sort of a small fey from Frostburn), switch the Fey type for the Humanoid (Reptilian) type, skin them as kobolds, and go. It's simple, straightforward, and not overpowered.

Or the Domotrovio (another small fey in Frostburn): replace Fire immunity with Cold immunity:

Replace At will Produce Flame with Ray of Frost
Pyrotechnics with Snowball swarm.
3/day Flaming Sphere with Cold Sphre (flaming sphere that deals cold damage).

Sstoopidtallkid
2009-02-11, 01:21 PM
They're Kobolds. Give them Half-Dragon(White) to throw your players for a loop.

Glyphic
2009-02-11, 01:47 PM
It's not exactly cold, but the DARK template from Tome of magic would be perfect. +1 LA, bonuses to hide and move silently, cold resistance..

And because kobolds needed it, Hide in plain sight. :smallbiggrin:

Myou
2009-02-11, 02:04 PM
Actually, it does have a couple: Ice Beast template (mostly for Conjure Ice Beast) and Spirit Animal. Neither one really screams out "kobold!", although it might be interesting to create a gaggle of Ice Beast kobold constructs with the "cold aura" special ability (free action every round, everything within 10' takes 1d6 cold damage, no save) or ice breath.

Spirit Animal wouldn't work on kobolds, but if you want to try incorporeal fey kobolds... it's a bit toward the deep end of the "Pool of Weirdness", but there is a cold-based template that could make for some interesting encounters:

Wendigo (in the Fiend Folio). Should surprise the heck out of the PCs when they wade into a bunch of kobolds and then find out they can turn incorporeal and fly 120'.

Huh, that's odd, they weren't shown on the contents page.