Replacing goblins with kobolds in Red Hand of Doom

[questionmark693]

So I'm planning to run the red hand of doom again soon, but there's something that's always bothered me. Why is it goblins, and not kobolds? I get that goblins are tougher (barely) and have more relatives to work with (like hobgoblins and bugbears), but part of the story is that they're recruiting all kinds of monsters.

I guess to put it shortly: I'm considering replacing all goblinoids with kobold-oids (including some homebrew variants for flavor),and advancing or adding class levels/templates to them to add flavor and difficulty.

Am I missing something about why this would be a bad idea?

[KillianHawkeye]

It's certainly doable if you're willing to put in the work of making custom koboldoids or a bunch of leveled NPCs.

Thematically, while kobolds certainly go well with dragons, they don't usually have the same sort of militant nature as hobgoblins. Kobolds might get whipped into a frenzied mob and swarm over invaders to their lairs, but rarely do they form marching armies that sack humanoid cities. As the DM, you can certainly explain away this issue somehow, but just be aware it may seem odd to experienced players.

I suppose the easiest way would be to put the dragons more directly in charge of the advancing army.

[questionmark693]

You make a good point about the dragons being more involved - absolutely going to be doing that. Regarding their nature - goblins are chaotic and kobolds are lawful. Even in the module, it mentions that hobgoblins have to lead because goblins are too disorganized, so that's where my head was. I hear what you're saying with how experienced characters will react - so that's definitely something I need to be ready to work with, or explain in a good way for them.

I do recognize it's a lot of work - but given how much I personally run this module, and knowing I can share it with others who might find use, I think it'll be worth it!

[Saintheart]

Please, stop by the thread in my signature block :) :) :)

As for rough observations, I'd guess that by making kobolds the main opposition, you'll be doing a lot more work across the board to make them credible melee opponents, even throwing class levels on them. Hobgoblins are CR 1/2 while kobolds are CR 1/4, which on its own means you could double the numbers of kobold combatants and it'd still come up to the same sort of fight. And hobgoblins start off with superior STR, DEX, and CON, which of course doesn't make a hell of a big difference with their attack rolls at about +1 or +2 as 1st level warriors, but it does come down to different bases to work from: hobgoblins basically get a racial +2 to DEX and CON which are handy for melee, kobolds get a -2 to STR, WIS, and CHA and a +2 to DEX, imposed by their size as much as anything else.

Which also brings up the subject of size: kobolds are Small, which is useful for AC but also confines them down to 1d6 damage dice weapons in the main, as well as mostly lighter armour and small shields. They're just not really meant to stand toe-to-toe with PC parties, they are tilted heavily towards being hit-and-run opposition, or the types that hit from ambush utilising traps. This in turn probably means changes in how the fights in the campaign are structured; the starting ambush probably stays more or less as written, just with a couple of pit traps or something, and Vraath Keep can probably play out as normal, but I can see the biggest changes being needed to how the Battle of Brindol turns out; besieging an entire city in the open doesn't strike me as a seriously kobold-ish thing to do, maybe the alternative is to up the usage of the more martial-ish spawn of Tiamat so it gives the sense the kobolds aren't functioning as a direct-assault army.

That aside, kobolds are a natural choice as replacements for hobgoblins, albeit it gives away much of the surprise when it turns out the hobgoblins are being led by dragons. This might not be a problem depending on your campaign, but it does mean not just changes in builds, but changes to tactics during the fights, at least in my view.