Kobolds

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As it stands, kobolds don't seem good enough
to be LA 0. I'd like them to be. Suggestions?

~P.

 

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Patrick Baldwin wrote:
> As it stands, kobolds don't seem good enough
> to be LA 0. I'd like them to be. Suggestions?
>

Yeah, I'd rate them an LA -1/2 A free commoner level would about
balance them.

Well if you wanted to balance them, I'd remove the con penalty to
start. They gave them the low con to avoid the frational HD from 3.0.
Works fine for using them as a monster, but not so well if you use them
as a PC race.

Maybe up the Natural AC, they are supposed to be scaly, and thier
scales don't even give the defense of leather as it sits.

If you really want to balance it, I'd up thier charisma, make them
actually useful as sorcerers. A lot of other classes depend on
charisma for something. That might be a bit much if you drop the con
bonus and up the Natural AC though, they'd make better than human
Sorcerers at that point. Even just dropping the Con mod and adding Cha
might be a bit much.

> ~P.

 

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Patrick Baldwin wrote:
> As it stands, kobolds don't seem good enough
> to be LA 0. I'd like them to be. Suggestions?
>

Yeah, I'd rate them an LA -1/2 A free commoner level would about
balance them.

Well if you wanted to balance them, I'd remove the con penalty to
start. They gave them the low con to avoid the frational HD from 3.0.
Works fine for using them as a monster, but not so well if you use them
as a PC race.

Maybe up the Natural AC, they are supposed to be scaly, and thier
scales don't even give the defense of leather as it sits.

If you really want to do something drasitc, I'd up thier charisma, make
them actually useful as sorcerers. A lot of other classes depend on
charisma for something. That might be a bit much if you drop the con
bonus and up the Natural AC though, they'd make better than human
Sorcerers at that point. Even just dropping the Con mod and adding Cha
might be a bit much. If you just added Cha It might work. Sorcerers
don't really need Str, but it's an inconvenience.

Between being small, natural armor, and dex bonus the Kobold has 3
higher AC than a human. Being small isn't a much of a disadvantage
when you loose the movement penalty, and aren't fighting with physical
weapons anyway. Hmm. Looking at it that way I can see an LA of 0 when
used for a wizard or sorcerer as is. Other classes however really hurt
when taken by kobolds, but you always balance LA by what classes work
best with a race.

Well lets look at the closest other race to kobolds, that might be
easier. Halflings - they get only 1 AC lower than Kobolds. and 2
better Str & Con than Kobolds, but they move slower as well. Looking
at it that way Kobolds are suffering a bit. Yeah, I'd say pick one or
two of the above suggestions, Remove negative con, raise AC by 1,
and/or Raise Cha.

- Justisaur

 

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Stephenls wrote:
> Patrick Baldwin wrote:
> >
> > As it stands, kobolds don't seem good enough
> > to be LA 0. I'd like them to be. Suggestions?
>
> Now, if you want them to still be good sorcerers and also
> be decent at other things, you might consider removing
> the Con penalty and reducing the Str penalty from -4 to -2.

While I agree with you about reducing the Str penalty, you and several
other people keep on recommending dropping the Con penalty. Am I the
only one who doesn't think this is appropriate? I think the Con
penalty represents their "little and fragile" nature quite well (I
mean, elves get a -2 Con, even big, strong wood elves). To make
kobolds an LA +0 race, I'd just give them +2 Cha (dragon blood: more
forceful personalities), drop the Str penalty to -2 for size, since
it's stupid that they're weaker than halflings, and bump their natural
armor up to, say, +3. -2 Str, +2 Dex, -2 Con, +2 Cha sounds fine to
me. The NA bump makes up for the lack of other PC-race bennies (as
does the faster movement rate than other Small races) other than
darkvision and nonideal skill bumps.

Obviously, they'd retain access to the Light Adaptation feat.

--
Nik
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Nikolas Landauer wrote:
> Stephenls wrote:
>> Patrick Baldwin wrote:
>>>
>>> As it stands, kobolds don't seem good enough
>>> to be LA 0. I'd like them to be. Suggestions?
>>
>> Now, if you want them to still be good sorcerers and also
>> be decent at other things, you might consider removing
>> the Con penalty and reducing the Str penalty from -4 to -2.
>
> While I agree with you about reducing the Str penalty, you and several
> other people keep on recommending dropping the Con penalty. Am I the
> only one who doesn't think this is appropriate? I think the Con
> penalty represents their "little and fragile" nature quite well (I
> mean, elves get a -2 Con, even big, strong wood elves). To make
> kobolds an LA +0 race, I'd just give them +2 Cha (dragon blood: more
> forceful personalities), drop the Str penalty to -2 for size, since
> it's stupid that they're weaker than halflings, and bump their natural
> armor up to, say, +3. -2 Str, +2 Dex, -2 Con, +2 Cha sounds fine to
> me. The NA bump makes up for the lack of other PC-race bennies (as
> does the faster movement rate than other Small races) other than
> darkvision and nonideal skill bumps.
>
> Obviously, they'd retain access to the Light Adaptation feat.

If you're looking for someone to say "I agree with you", well:

I agree with you.

(Most people despise that though, because it degrades usenet into a bunch of
"Me too!" type noise. And, yes, the only reason I'm adding this is so that
my message doesn't just look like "Me too!" 🙂 )

--
Reginald Blue
"I have always wished that my computer would be as easy to use as my
telephone. My wish has come true. I no longer know how to use my
telephone."
- Bjarne Stroustrup (originator of C++) [quoted at the 2003
International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces]

 

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Patrick Baldwin wrote:
> Stephenls wrote:
> >
> >? A kobold's base land speed is 30 feet.
>
> Did you drop the speed from 40 to 30 on purpose?

Kobold base speed is 30 ft in the MM and SRD; he didn't drop it at
all. They're Small, so this is still a significant advantage.

--
Nik
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