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| #1Goober4473Aug 29, 2014 12:53:29 | How would you stat out kobolds as a PC race?
My preliminary thoughts are: +2 Dex, +1 Con Darkvision 60 feet Traps don't have advantage to attack them and they get advantage on saves versus traps Proficiency in trapmaking tools (does an existing tool cover this?) Some kind of mobility thing? Mob tactics is innapropriate for a PC. Possibly natural armor? Maybe 11 + Dex? The monster entry doesn't have it though.
I'd probably forgo the sunlight sensativity, unless something can be added to compensate, which is a bit of a stretch to find somethign worth it that makes any sense. |
| #2Luis_CarlosAug 29, 2014 13:41:50 | Dracoblood subtype.
Some racial trait could be optional, for example to choose between +1 natural armour or claw and bite like natural weapons.
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| #3rampantAug 29, 2014 14:22:28 | Nat weapons are horrible racial features, either they're OP or non-abilities.
Does darkvision have a range in 5e?
Ok My rough suggestion for the base kobold
Dex +2 Small Advantage Vs. Trap attacks +1 on attack rolls and +1 to DCs against target that is within the reach of an ally. Speed 30 ft Darkvision
subraces:
Dog-faced +1 Con Once between short or long rests may move up to your speed when missed by a melee attack (includes touch spells)
Lizard-faced +1 Cha Once between short ot long rests gains +2 AC and resistance to an elemental energy type (acid, electricity, fire, or cold) chosen at acaracter creation until the end of your next turn. |
| #4Luis_CarlosAug 29, 2014 14:40:06 | I would add the subtype "faytouched" to "dog-faced.
* I see a conflict about background and gameplay. Racial traits about traps, mining would be a loyal adaptation, but I don´t want a rogue-like kobold, those ones would be a waste of racial traits.
My suggestion is all races could replace a racial trait with a free racial feat. For example that gnome racial traits I will not use for my PC replace with a gnome racial feat. |
| #5rampantAug 29, 2014 15:05:58 | What if instead the kobold gets the mining/miner skill and if they would later get the skill as part of a background or something they can take a different skill instead?
Or maybe allow them to add their prficiency bonus to escape a grab? |
| #6setiAug 29, 2014 17:40:18 | I would consider making them a subrace of dragonborn. CHA and DEX bonuses, 'small', some racial abilty that would be the 5e version of 4e's 'shifty' (maybe disengage and move 5-10 feet as a bonus action), no breath weapon, darkvision...
And add something about trap-making as a racial ability.
I prefer the dragon-like rather than dog-like fluff, obviously. |
| #7HebitsuikazaAug 30, 2014 7:57:49 | You know, half of why I didn't tackle the Kobold is because I couldn't think of much to say about them. Not culturally, not mentally, not socially-- and certainly I have no idea about their names or family structures. I am sure they have been better developed somewhere, but I couldn't find it.
The other half of why I didn't try tackling them was because I wasn't sure what to give them.
But, I can offer a few guidelines on what would make a good race.
1) Try to make sure the race isn't overly specialized in one class. You don't want a race that becomes THE choice for a particular class while offering nothing worth considering for any other. In fact, if you feel that the race has abilities that seem to favor a certain class and you are tempted to add more, consider adding something to the race that would be either redundant or not particularly useful for a class. If a class seems to be great for martial classes, give them weapon and armor proficiencies. If the race seems to be good at being Rogues, give them an ability that Rogues get automatically (perhaps training in a skill that every Rogue is going to have anyway). If the race seems to be able to be good at being a Wizard, then a fifth cantrip isn't going to mean nearly as much to them as having a cantrip at all is going to mean to any other class. And so on. But, in general, try to shoot for abilities that will be great for all classes (advantage on a skill is a good one). In fact, more to the point... see to it that if someone chooses the race in combination of even the worst imaginable class combination, that the character will still get something kind of cool that will enhance their experience. One ought to be able to randomly select their race and class and still think "hmmm... this could be fun."
2) You don't want to focus too much on activated abilities. Yes, some PHB races have those already, but you run into two problems with such abilities you need to expend an action to use for it to do something in battle. The first is that the character is going to have a class and, generally speaking, their class abilities are going to ideally be better choices of what to spend their action on than their racial ability-- and the more the character levels, the less reason there is to ever even use the racial ability. The second is the natural draw to make a convoluted or complicated ability. You really got to stop and question "is this really an ability that every single member of the race is just going to be able to naturally do from the moment they reach adulthood without any special training?" and "Does this ability actually even make sense within most context of the game without stretching reality to accomodate this?" If the answer to either question is "no", then it isn't worth being a racial ability. Yes, the Rock Gnome fails the test.
3) Don't be afraid of abilities that have very limited situational use. The Dwarves advantage on History Checks to do with stone work or the Wood Elves' ability to hide in forests are pretty good examples. If it really informs one about the race, then you can give them something that is a bit open-ended and up to GM interpretation as long as the overall mechanical effect would generally be fairly limited. (I made Goblins who can use Handle Animal on any animal and can use any animal as a mount and Orcs who can tell what the natural weather pattern should be and tell if there were any major events in the area they are standing in)
4) Try to avoid the race increasing the maximum possible numbers on a roll. The race shouldn't automatically get higher rolls than any other racial choice with a maxed out attribute. Instead, they ought to merely give an increased chance for those higher numbers to come up via advantage or a chance to get a good number at all by granting access to a skill or proficiency or language. You most certainly don't want the race to increase the maximum possible AC or their maximum possible attack rolls as particularly that aspect of the game is being tried to keep in check. The main exception to this is damage... increasing damage, increasing HP or decreasing damage done to the character within reason (probably doing damage reduction per round rather than per hit) is not unacceptable.
5) Try to make it on par with all other races. Most importantly, one shouldn't be able to look at the race and say either "well, I COULD take this race, but that race in the PHB gives me absolutely all of this and more" or "Well, I am definitey using this-- it gives me everything one of the PHB races gives in addition to several other bonuses." |
| #8quexulAug 30, 2014 16:46:10 | Found this homebrew Kobold
http://that70sgame.wordpress.com/2014/08/29/dd-5e-kobolds/ |
| #9rampantAug 30, 2014 17:07:08 | those are awful, the bonuses and penalties are too extreme and innapropriate for a PC race |
| #10Goober4473Sep 02, 2014 7:24:07 | I actually came up with a new idea for PC kobolds. Since the monster entry has high Dex, and low everything else, no special abilities besides the pack tactics thing that isn't appropriate for PCS, no natural armor or weapons, and no "dragon-like" abilities, this is my thought:
+2 Dex Small 30 ft. movement Darkvision Sunlight Sensativity (maybe?) Advantage against traps/traps don't have advantage on them (drop this if no sunlight sensativity) Always add double proficiency when making, setting, or hiding traps Bonus feat
Now, you may be asking yourself, "why would the lowly kobold get a feat?" And the reason is, any kobold that is capable of being an adventurer is exceptional in some way. They have something special about them that set them apart from the drabble. That way, what makes them balanced with other races is personal, rather than some special kobold power. |
| (Reply to #10)Hailrobonia |
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| (Reply to #11)Goober4473 |
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