What would be a good class or build for a Kobold miner?

[Tyrael]

I'm thinking Fighter because he'd get proficiency with the Heavy Pick, but Rogue might work because Profession is a class skill. What do you guys think? The only requirements are it must be largely nonmagical, must be a Kobold, and must use a pick of some sort.

[MCerberus]

Now is this a PC that was once a miner? My first thought as that this would fit under "commoner" territory.

[Tyrael]

Nah, a character who is currently a miner. Like, he uses his mining pick to fight.

[Keld Denar]

The Expert NPC class comes to mind...

Is this a PC? Or an NPC? Or a group of NPCs? An encounter? What? More info would help.

[snoopy13a]

I'm pretty sure a DM would let your kobold fighter get profession:miner as a class skill. It doesn't really sound game-breaking or anything

If not, you could always have it be a crossclass skill as you'll get a +2 bonus with it.

[Tyrael]

This would definitely be a PC.

The DM has also given me leave to homebrew a Miner base class if I really want to, but I'm not sure where to start.

[Canadian]

Miner sounds ideal.

[Tyrael]

What would be a good way to start on that? Any ideas? I haven't done much homebrewing...

[Canadian]

Just think of the skills a miner needs. Look up mining on the net. I'm sure there will be plenty of info.

[Keld Denar]

All character classes have Profession as a class skill. That and Craft. You just play any kind of generic melee character and put a few ranks in it. Badabing badaboom, you have a miner.

I'd suggest a Warblade, using a Heavy Pick and a lot of Stone Dragon maneuvers. Round out with a few White Raven and Iron Heart and you should be good.

[Tyrael]

Surprisingly, Fighter (also Barbarian) doesn't have Profession as a class skill.

[Keld Denar]

Well, I'll be skinned sideways...they don't. Neither do Warblades. Thats retarded. Profession(Soldier), Profession(Ferrier), Profession(Sailor) are all perfectly valid persuits for a fighter. More so than Craft (Basketweaving) which they DO actually get. Lame.

[Prometheus]

Does anyone know of a way he can get burrowing through supernatural or extraordinary means (maybe a magic item)? I like the idea of a character who begins a fight by tunneling into the ground and pops up underneath folks for a sudden pike to the back or legs (sneak attack, possibly with Hamstring) or collapsing the ground underneath them (trip attack), all while he maintains the full-cover of the ground (unless they ready an attack, which is only a standard action). You'll also need spring attack, so that you can move back into the ground after the attack.

[ericgrau]

Well, rangers get proficiency with all martial weapons, profession and knowledge (dungeoneering), which applies to all things cave.

Problem is, your strength as a kobold is pretty lousy. Which means you'll probably want to weapon finesse a light pick or two instead. You can go rogue to make up for your low damage, but that'll carry a lot of other fighting disadvantages with it, like less HP and a medium BAB. The mid BAB really kills a lot of your extra damage with missing, assuming your targets are even sneak attackable. In the end I think it'd be even worse. Ranger already hurts enough with the d8 HD and light armor. Your low con combined with either (especially rogue), could mean disaster. You really need to make use of your class skills and other special abilities for either class to be worth it (especially rogue), and I'm not sure if that's your goal.

You might want to just multiclass to get the skills you need, then focus on fighter or barbarian. But that carries multiclass penalties as a kobold, so you're still screwed. You could put cross-class ranks into profession(miner), or raise your ranger levels equally with your fighter or barbarian levels. Or get all 3, for a lower ratio of ranger levels :P. Medium or heavy armor won't make you lose any ranger abilities until ranger 9 (evasion), though some skills will suffer. It may be better to focus on skills that don't face armor check penalties, and maybe get "just enough" ranks (if any) in those that do.

Fragile and weak, i.e. kobolds, just don't mix with melee very well. Maybe you could put that pumped dex to good use and begin combat at range before closing to melee. There are some good tactical reasons to do so, not just to avoid melee. You can make use of cover, kneeling or going prone and distance to get some good hits on your opponent while staying safe yourself. If they try to close, they need to forfeit their own cover and kneeling/prone-ness to do so, and it takes time, leaving them open to damage. But if they survive that or combat starts too close, you stand up - before they close and make you pay seriously for being down - and switch to melee. Drop your bow as a free action - you can retrieve it later - and you can combine drawing your pick with movement if you want. That still leaves a standard action for an attack. Check out the Player's Handbook sections on combat modifiers and actions during combat for more information on these tactics.

[Starscream]

I like the ranger idea. More skills than a fighter (and profession is a class skill), but more weapon proficiencies than a rogue. Maybe dual wield a pick axe and a hammer. You can get some sort of burrowing animal as a companion.

If you have access to Unearthed Arcana, there is also an alternative class feature to Favored Enemy called Favored Environment. One of the choices for it is Underground, which applies to mines, caves, and most dungeons so it's pretty versatile.

Since you said you are looking for something non-magical, you might also take the Ranger Without Spellcasting variant from Complete Warrior. You get increased speed, can boost one of your abilities once per day, and get a couple of decent spell-likes.

[Mushroom Ninja]

Take levels in exemplar to woo the masses with your mining skills!

[wadledo]

Kobold Paragon.
Add levels of duskblade or your flavor of sorcerer to taste after the first level, and your golden.

[jcsw]

Rogue sounds like the better choice if you want to accomplish the visual image of a miner swinging his pick into someone's back and knocking them out instantly. :P

[quillbreaker]

There's a dungeon delver PRC in Complete Adventurer, isn't there?