Kobolds 3.5

[Bonecrusher Doc]

I want to learn everything there is to know about kobolds in 3.5. Both as monsters and as a playable race. What books and websites do you recommend?

[Hyfigh]

Off the top of my head:
Monster Manual and Races of the Dragon.

[Daftendirekt]

Yeah, Races of the Dragon has pretty much everything you need to know about them. Monster Manual just has their stat block, really.

[Cog]

The Races of the Dragon web enhancement (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20060420a) is pretty handy, too.

[No brains]

A little-known fact: Despite their shortfalls, kobolds are the race with the highest AC and least cheese in D&D. At lv 1 they have an AC of 13 standing around naked.

[Last Laugh]

A little-known fact: Despite their shortfalls, kobolds are the race with the highest AC and least cheese in D&D. At lv 1 they have an AC of 13 standing around naked.

What do you mean by least cheese? Highest armor class WITH the least cheese?

[Tyndmyr]

Off the top of my head:
Monster Manual and Races of the Dragon.

Yup. This, the web enhancement and Draconomicon.

The last one is mostly optional, but Dragonwrought leads you into fun dragony stuff. Dragons of Eberron if you have a hankering for cheddar.

[No brains]

What do you mean by least cheese? Highest armor class WITH the least cheese?

Oh, yes. Sorry for being vague. What I mean is they are a good element for optimization without being too complicated.

[TroubleBrewing]

Google Tucker's Kobolds sometime, if you want to see these little guys reach their full potential.

[SurlySeraph]

There is a remarkable amount of cheese that kobolds can get involved in; much of it relies on being Dragonwrought. Getting more levels of sorcerer casting than they have class levels for casters, (Greater) Rapidstrike and any natural-attack-improving class for melee kobolds using the RotD web enhancement, taking epic feats at non-epic for all Dragonwrought Kobolds...
Most of it can be circumvented by declaring that Dragonwrought Kobolds are not dragons per se, and do not get awesome things that are normally restricted to dragons. Most.

[Kosjsjach]

There's the default kobold (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/kobold.htm) in the SRD, along with environmental and elemental variants (http://www.d20srd.org/indexes/variantRaces.htm) from Unearthed Arcana. (My favorites are Desert and Jungle Kobolds, depending on what kind of character I'm going for.)

Next, there's the Races of the Dragon: Web Enhancement part 2 (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20060420a), which gives them natural weapons, Slight Build (giving an effective +4 size bonus to Hide and the ability to squeeze through spaces meant for Tiny creatures), and some weapon proficiencies and familiarity.

You should also have a look through the actual Races of the Dragon book, whose highlights include the Dragonwrought feat and the Draconic Rite of Passage.
Taking Dragonwrought at first level changes your Type to Dragon (among a few other things), which is most commonly used to bump up mental stats with no downside; dragons don't take penalties to physical stats for aging.

This next part is important for kobold sorcerers. I mentioned the Draconic Rite of Passage earlier (RotD p43); while a good ability on its own, its real strength becomes apparent when we look back at the Web Enhancement. By taking the Draconic Reservoir feat at 3rd level and completing the Greater Draconic Rite of Passage at 6th level, you effectively cast as a sorcerer one level higher than your actual sorcerer level, closing the spell gap with wizards.

So yeah. Kobolds. Have fun.

[dsmiles]

Google Tucker's Kobolds sometime, if you want to see these little guys reach their full potential.

+1 to this.

[senrath]

There is a remarkable amount of cheese that kobolds can get involved in; much of it relies on being Dragonwrought. Getting more levels of sorcerer casting than they have class levels for casters, (Greater) Rapidstrike and any natural-attack-improving class for melee kobolds using the RotD web enhancement, taking epic feats at non-epic for all Dragonwrought Kobolds...
Most of it can be circumvented by declaring that Dragonwrought Kobolds are not dragons per se, and do not get awesome things that are normally restricted to dragons. Most.

So your solution to "fixing" the Dragonwrought feat is to remove the main benefit of the feat?

[The Glyphstone]

So your solution to "fixing" the Dragonwrought feat is to remove the main benefit of the feat?

The main benefit of Dragonwrought isn't Epic Feat and Sovereign Archetype shenanigans...it's the automatic +3 to all mental scores with no drawbacks. That's worth a feat to almost any kobold caster.

[SurlySeraph]

So your solution to "fixing" the Dragonwrought feat is to remove the main benefit of the feat?

No, my solution is to kill it with fire.

@V: +3 to all mental stats, getting dragon-only things. Nothing it gives should be available by taking a single easy-to-get feat.

[senrath]

The main benefit of Dragonwrought isn't Epic Feat and Sovereign Archetype shenanigans...it's the automatic +3 to all mental scores with no drawbacks. That's worth a feat to almost any kobold caster.

I thought the Dragon typing was the main benefit, really. And he said remove the type, not rule that they're not True Dragons.


No, my solution is to kill it with fire.

Oh, please, gaining access to the Dragon type isn't all that broken. Just declaring that they're not True Dragons fixes pretty much all the problems with that feat.

[JaronK]

Oh, please, gaining access to the Dragon type isn't all that broken. Just declaring that they're not True Dragons fixes pretty much all the problems with that feat.

A: Sovereign Archetypes don't actually say you have to be a True Dragon to use them. That's just generally assumed, but not outright stated.

B: Most of the other crazy stuff they get doesn't say squat about being a True Dragon. For example, it's just Dragons in general that get access to Epic feats when they're old or older. Dragons in general automatically qualify for anything that uses "Dragonblood" as one of the prerequisites (allowing you to bypass all other restrictions, so you can do stuff like take the Dragonblood Cleric 9 substitution at level 2 or enter certain PrCs at level 2 or take Improved Dragon Wings without the normal prerequisite feat). Dragons in general get a bunch of racial stuff like improved vision abilities.

Honestly, the feat is easily breakable (or at least overpowered) without worrying about whether they're True Dragons or not, so it should only be used when the DM is fully aware of everything you plan to do with it in advance. Sit down and chat with your DM and make sure they know the plan. These guys can get broken REALLY fast as there's a lot of crazy things hidden in various books that say "Dragons get this nifty thing..."

JaronK

[Bonecrusher Doc]

Great stuff, thanks folks! How about the trap ideas to accompany the kobolds? I was once able to access some great articles on the Kobold Quarterly website but I can't seem to find them now.

I have Dungeonscape and Stronghold Builder's Guidebook.

[dsmiles]

Great stuff, thanks folks! How about the trap ideas to accompany the kobolds? I was once able to access some great articles on the Kobold Quarterly website but I can't seem to find them now.

I have Dungeonscape and Stronghold Builder's Guidebook.

Traps? You could invest in Grimtooth's Traps. There's a couple of those, and they have great traps in them.