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quiet1mi
2010-05-03, 01:16 AM
Here is the problem... the party, made of level 4 characters, are going to clear out a mine full of kobalds...

Major problem is that I have read Tucker's Kobalds and I personally feel that I could not run the buggers any other way.

However dead players makes for boring story so I devised some limitations upon myself...

The mine is currently filled with a max of level 2 Warriors and Experts...
The Kobald mine has only access to simple weapons...
The kobald mine have limited access to crossbows...
The Kobalds heaviest armor is studded leather armor...
The Kobalds heaviest shield is a light shield...
The Kobalds have had their attention split between evacuating the mine and setting up defenses

To Aid the players, I have been playing with the following house rule or boons.

X amount of the Damage taken is converted into nonlethal where X is your AC bonus and Natural Armor bonus combined.
I have given them 1 week to come up with the items they are taking with them and a budget of about 3600gp...
They are not the only ones storming the kobald mines...

Is there anything else that I can do to make the Kobalds a threat and play them to their fluff without making them the dreaded tucker's kobalds?

Greenish
2010-05-03, 01:44 AM
Tucker's "dreaded" kobolds weren't a serious threat of TKP in their first iteration. They were hard to fight (and harder to kill) and drained PC resources.

Non-lethal damage portions and other unnecessary extra rules just jam down the game.

Temotei
2010-05-03, 01:46 AM
Kobald (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobald)?

Sorry about that. I'm in agreement with Greenish though. Extra rules usually means extra time spent on less fun things (calculation instead of roleplaying).

Toliudar
2010-05-03, 01:51 AM
I don't see Tucker's kobolds as a group of individuals who can be beaten, so much as a plot device. So the way to restrict them, for a relatively low level group, might include:


Set a limit on the number of kobolds in the mine.
Give the kobolds a way to retreat and abandon the mine if the PC's show dominance.
Don't use tunnels less than 5' in diameter, and let the PC's be able to find some open areas or straight corridors in which to fight.

quiet1mi
2010-05-03, 08:41 AM
In tucker's Kobolds, the party was also around 12th level and were not aiming at wiping them out. They were only trying to get to the elevator to the lower level...

My players are only level 4...

The non-lethal variant is also because I cannot stand how useless armor and natural armor can be, along with how fragile undead creatures are...

RagnaroksChosen
2010-05-03, 08:57 AM
at level 4 those are some good restrictions.


On a side note for the kobolds... Longs spears work wonders.
as well as baracades.

Biffoniacus_Furiou
2010-05-03, 09:06 AM
Be sure you use the Races of the Dragon web enhancement (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20060420a), kobolds get 2 claws and a bite, slight build, and proficiency in pick weapons. That way you can make tunnels between every room about one foot in diameter for them to escape or plan ambushes.

I'd use the following:

Warrior 1, Longspear, Combat Reflexes (bite threatens adjacent squares), must abandon their spears when escaping into narrow tunnels. About 60% of the fighting population.

Warrior 2, Longspear, Combat Reflexes, as above. About 20% (1 in 5) of the fighting population.

Dragonfire Adept 1, Entangling Exhalation, best armor and shields available despite nonproficiency, must abandon their shields when escaping into narrow tunnels. About 14% (1 in 7) of the fighting population.

Adept 1, Earth Devotion, Create Water, Cause Fear, and Obscuring Mist, best armor and shields available despite nonproficiency, must abandon their shields when escaping into narrow tunnels. About 20% (1 in 5) of the fighting population.

Adept 3, Earth Devotion, Draconic Reservoir (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20060420a), has completed the Draconic Rite of Passage to gain Wall of Smoke as a spell-like ability usable 3/day. Create Water, Cause Fear, and multiple Cure Light Wounds. Best armor and shields available despite nonproficiency, must abandon their shields when escaping into narrow tunnels. Probably only three or four total of these guys, but they'll each be encountered multiple times.

Dragonfire Adepts should try to put an entangling breath on as many opponents as possible, and then retreat. Adepts should use Cause Fear on the most heavily armored opponents, drop Obscuring Mist on opponents trying to stay in the back, and use Earth Devotion to disrupt a charge. The ones with Wall of Smoke should use that to try to split up the opponents, so that only one or two are on the same side as the kobolds and everyone else must move through it and risk becoming nauseated. Include pit traps, steep slopes, and high up ledges only accessible via the narrow tunnels. Include a room that's a deep pit with a narrow walkway going across the center, with dozens of holes and ledges on the walls on either side. If the PCs are foolish enough to go across the kobolds will ambush them with crossbows, thrown weapons, and Cause Fear. Every time they take damage they'll have to make a Balance check to avoid falling off.

kestrel404
2010-05-03, 09:24 AM
You want to throw some Tucker style kobolds at the party, but you don't want a TPK. Not a problem, you don't need to change the rules, you just need to limit the terms of engagement.

Tucker's kobolds are legendary because they were kobolds (straight, 1/4 CR enemies) who had a full party of 10th level characters running scared. They did this by using the home field advantage, preparing for their enemies, and fighting with dirty, assymetric style tactics.

You've got a party of 4th level characters, and you want them to actually be able to beat the kobolds. That's fine. Beat doesn't necessarily mean kill, and you've already got the kobolds planning to retreat.

Now, ideally, if the kobolds were aware that their position against these heroes is unwinnable (not because the heroes themselves would win, but because those who would inevitably follow would, eventually, make living where they are impossible), they would attempt to retreat without any losses. You want the heroes to know they've been in a fight, though (maybe making the kobolds into an ongoing menace?). So there has to be a reason for the kobolds to want to delay, harry, or maybe even kill the invaders. Other than spite, that is.

So, the kobolds know the heroes are coming. They plan on leaving, but they haven't had enough time to get everyone out. An evacuation is in progress, but some brave and vicious (but not especially selfless, they are kobolds after all) defenders remain in the upper levels while the younglings and the elderly are evacuated out the hidden lower tunnels. These defenders don't plan on sacrificing themselves. Instead, they're just going to use previously set up traps in nasty ways against the attackers, then escape through secret passages, too-small tunnels, or over the attackers dead bodies. Whichever.

The encounter - there is one kobold defender for every party member. None of them have levels of any kind, they're straight kobolds. What they do have is tools, traps, and tunnels.

Every wall (yes, every wall) has at least one tunnel in it leading to an adjacent room. These tunnels are disguised to look like ventilation shafts, but they are down low near (or in) the floors, and they are just narrow slits, about a foot and a half wide, by about six inches wide. Kobolds can squeeze through these at about 10 feet per combat round, and there's a sharp turn just after the entrance that prevents reach weapons from stabbing kobolds who escape into them. Kobolds can make move silent checks while squirming through these tunnels, but double armor check penalties apply. For this reason, the kobolds won't bother wearing armor - if they NEED that +2 ac, they're already dead.

Every room has a pit trap. Most of them are single 5x5 squares. These pit traps are manually activated by a lever in the ceiling. They all have a way out that is too small for a hero to get into. Generally, the pit trap is right in front of something interesting in the room - right in front of a statue (which is of a half-hidden crouching kobold) in a nook in the hallway, or next to the large copper tub full of interesting rocks, or just inside the door of the room. The search DC to find these pit traps is 21. Just high enough that the thief has to be really looking to find it. Some are covered by rugs. Some are on the other side of the room from the rug.

Every room has a number of holes in the ceiling. They look a lot like the air vents near the floor, except that there are always at least two. They have a twist right inside the entrance, to prevent someone from looking into them easily. One or more of these holes will have a good view of the pit trap, and a lever within reach which opens that trap.

The torches which light everything are strange. They look sort of like narrow buckets with sticks on the bottom. They are hanging at the walls only two feet above the floor. They are full of burning pitch. When removed from the wall, they can be used to sling burning pitch at a target as an attack. This is a very difficult 'weapon' to use if you're not trained (treat it as exotic), and on a missed attack there is a good chance of hitting yourself or a friend. The pitch, once it is out of the torch holder, does 1d6 fire damage a round, and burns for 10 rounds divided by the number of 5x5 squares it covers (so two squares burn for 5 rounds each, 3 square for 3 rounds, etc.). All the kobolds can be considdered proficient in this weapon. When making an attack, you assume that the pitch splatters equally on every square between you and the target (so the maximum range on these torches is 50 feet, but you don't get a lot of use out of such an attack). Often, the kobolds will not aim for a person, but the square in front of them. Especially in 5' wide hallways. Anyone moving into a burning square takes fire damage immediately (so no running through a burning hallway and taking damage only once).

All the doors have locks. The kobolds have the keys. There are a number of 5x5 rooms with a door on either side. Kobolds will attempt to seperate the party using these rooms whenever possible. As soon as the party is out of sight, the kobolds will attempt to restore any 'disabled' door, and lock it behind them.

Because the kobolds are trying to slow the party down, whenever they rest, relax or try to take their time about something, they are left alone. It's only when they are advancing into new territory that they are harrassed. If the party starts to move forwards too quickly, or gets too close to the stairs to the lower level, the kobolds will start throwing burning furniture into their path, or lighting hallways on fire, or collapsing walls/bookcases onto people. They will salt entire rooms with caltrops and marbles, put out all the torches in the room and spill their contents on the floor, and with for the heroes to enter before lighting the pitch up again, and use any other trick they can think of to slow them down.

The one thing that none of the kobolds will do is stand and fight. If the PCs ever get into striking range of a kobold, that kobold will bolt and hide. Their normal activity will be: Hide in a room, wait for an opportume moment, then take their action to do something nasty, then move to a bolt-hole (lockable door, 'ventilation' shaft, open pit trap, etc.). The kobolds will not want to stay within line-of-sight of the PCs long enough for them to make a single attack test. This WILL be very frustrating to the PCs. Be sure to remind them about held actions (you can hold your action to attack something if it's in range, or loose an arrow at a target), but if they do start holding actions to attack kobolds constantly, have the kobolds use other tactics so they don't appear as a target, or use decoys (a kobold shaped mannequin dropped from a ceiling hole, etc) before appearing.

When all is said and done, and there is nothing left but for the heroes to find the stairs down to what the kobolds are protecting, one of the kobolds will open a closet door right next to that staircase. Inside the closet are a dozen skeletons - of the undead variety. The kobold then runs off down the staircase and locks the door at the bottom behind him, leaving the heroes to deal with the uncontrolled undead. This should offer a standard, straightforward fight for them to work out their anger at the now-escaped and therefore unavailable kobolds.

Hope that helps.

rokar4life
2010-05-03, 09:52 AM
^this

Although I do think that while frustrating, this almost guarantees a PC win, and I would change the thing about not attacking while resting. It seems like you could make them lose one, or two spells due to the harassment instead of just not letting them sleep/rest.