http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/excerpt-kobold
Bart Carroll gives us a look back and forward at a Dragon's best friend.
eleran wrote:
Yeah, the art looks good. I don't do cutesy kobolds or the like. I want nasty monsters.
Daggers and slings now, doesn't work for me, will switch weapons. Not sure about the art, technically nice, but doesn't really say kobold to me.
eleran wrote:
Kobold and Winged Kobold stats are in the free online supplement for HotDQ on the Wizards site.
That Pack Tactics is an evil ability. I learned real quick the other night I was FAR better off as a caster fighting wolves in hand to hand one on one by myself than I was standing near the warrior who had two on him because of that nasty ability. But from a meta view, I do like how it stresses the danger of kobolds in number. Hurlers standing side by side are an absolute nightmare in a tight confine because of it.
(I can't believe I didn't notice that the actual stats were available the first time I clicked on the page. D'oh!)
I like the section about how regular kobolds don't like flying ones.... you know this will never come into play. Like how drow were supposed to detest and despise driders as failures, who were supposed to hate drow... yet they always seemed to be working together happily.
Brock_Landers wrote:
The 1st Ed one has more vibe, and is wearing clothes (and proper weapons).
Trading the sling for a rock probably ended up making the winged kobold less of a threat than the regular kiobold which is only half the XP.
But I liked the dog-faced kobolds...
Seriously, I'm liking the look on these guys - more draconic than reptilian. The horns go a long ways on that. I'm also liking the evolution of the mythos, with Kurt being a trapped deity (and Garl being tricky, but not a total ass.
They're also quite ripped. Apparently they and the goblins went in on a group membership to Acheron Fitness.
Joe_the_Rat wrote:
eleran wrote:
Joe_the_Rat wrote:
That 2e pic was a goblin...at least I thought so. It's been a long time.
The art's good, the writing is good, but the stats don't do it for me. They're boring, and will only be made interesting for me by taking extra time to add class levels. I'm sad.
Xeviat-DM wrote:
I like the art but the stat block is really dull.
Are there more Kobolds in the MM besides these two, or is all basic attacks all the time with kobolds in this edition?
Granted, I can come up with more intresting mechanical things besides basic attack on my own, but if most monster in the MM just spam basic attacks that what good is this book to me as a DM?
eleran wrote:
Huntsman57 wrote:
I also like the simple Kobold. But I see where people would think it is boring. If there was a way to add Kobold traits and increase its CR..
I understand the idea of linking the Kobold with the dragon, but we have Dragonborn now for that.
I'm more in favor of Kobolds being the opponents of Dwarves and giving their sling weapons some alchemy
The Kobold Shaman was cool.
kira3696.tripod.com
Darth_Caffeineus wrote:
These Kobolds are a far different version compared to the ones I was first 'exposed' to when I was eventually introduced to the game by family.
The first Kobolds I ever encountered were the ones inhabiting the ruins of Castle Mistamere from the mid-80s Basic Rules set. 
When I think of Kobolds, they will always be what I picture first in my mind, but this new iteration works too.
seti wrote:
Timborama wrote:
seti wrote:
Part of the reason for no class levels is there's no caster levels in 5e so a lich doesn't need wizard levels to be a competent and dangerous caster of wizard spells. Using a separate creation mechanism for NPCs / monsters allows for more variety and surprise for the party than by limiting monsters to the PC creation rules. It also speeds up monster creation because monsters often don't have a long lifespan in the game and shouldn't require as much time to generate as a PC.
seti wrote:
I like the flying kobold. However, I have locked myself into the "kobolds live in caves" kind of thinking.
The regular kobold doesn't do much for me. Slogging through the same 1st-3rd level monsters every edition (and other games and video games) gets a little tiring after a while.
It would be nice to have an edition that only featured CR10 and higher kobolds or just Swarms of Kobolds.
Of course, if they did that, people would complain that there are no low-level kobolds.
I like them to have proper weapons and wear clothes, not be buff, stone age, dragon-boys.
Mind_Flayer_Monk wrote:
Brock_Landers wrote:
Shasarak wrote:
arderkrag wrote:
Amusing how they like traps and snares except when gnomes use them.
I personally like the kobolds that were an indistinct mix of dog, rat, and lizard (just small, creepy things), but this kobold art is nonetheless pretty. As for who's posing for it, we've seen an gradual decline in their economic prosperity over the editions (save for that black sheep 4e). Why, if there are any more editions, they'll be naked and fighting with rocks! They were doing better before D&D got so popular and adventureres kept taking their treasure.
Stat-wise, we don't have alchemist's fire, poisoned darts, acid, and nets right there in the block, but at least I know where to look.
Its a nice drawing, but the picture in no way matches the description of "physically weak". - Str 7.
DM12345 wrote: