Krafty Kobold Encounters in your D&D Games
The Nerdarchists are at it again but this time they’re talking about something that I truly love — kobolds in Dungeons & Dragons. Nerdarchists Dave and Ted take a mechanical bend, talking about negative effects and conditions you can place on your player characters to make fights tactically harder. I enjoyed that angle, but I want to talk about what D&D kobolds mean to me and how I use kobold encounters. In doing this, I hope to convert those who don’t see the joy of kobold dungeons and maybe inspire those that already do.
Kobolds as seen in the fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons Volo’s Guide to Monsters. Tons of lore, tactics and more for the ‘little dragons’ and a bunch of other monsters awaits inside the pages of that tome. [Image courtesy Wizards of the Coast]
D&D kobolds skulking in the dark
D&D kobolds make for wonderful minions. There are loads of them allowing the players to feel the heroics of cutting through many foes. Their spineless nature and weak form makes them flexible for different boss schemes, and their crafty thinking makes them able to be a threat at nearly every tier of play. Kobold societies tend to have a high population and with that we get the desirable power fantasy of felling many foes — once the heroes can get to them.
And that’s the key to kobold encounters, right? It’s fun to make attack rolls and remove monster minis, but it’s super satisfying if you increasingly dislike the foe. Having the kobolds harry the foe throughout many halls and chambers in the dungeon and retreat after each engagement can frustrate the party. Once frustration gets to an appropriate height, that valve can be turned and the tension vented by cutting through a few of those cheeky monsters. Murder holes, pit traps, falling rocks, centipede jars, bear-traps, and all manner of simple yet effective traps can give the kobolds a fighting chance.
These little creatures are fairly cowardly and even better, can be eager to serve creatures like dragons. These factors make them easy to incorporate in just about any dungeon. Kobolds are wiling to go along with any plan if it means survival or even praise from their leader. The flexibility of use has made kobolds an easy injection into every campaign I’ve run, to include different party levels in the same campaign.
The kobold’s reliance on traps and bigger, dumber creatures makes them so easy to re-deploy against higher level parties. I always love the feeling of using creatures in small number, then five levels later pumping up the tactics and numbers and letting the party see how far they’ve come. They get an easy scale to see how much more effective they become, and this can be powerful and deeply enjoyable for parties. Fighting with under-strength monsters allows a venerable or devious Dungeon Master to fight with more brutal tactics without fear of trouncing a party. A party fighting a weaker but more clever force can be humbling and very rewarding when they rally, pushing them back.
Kobolds are very important for me, right up there with bulettes, otyughs, and hobgoblins as some of my favorite creatures to us within the hobby. What about you? What’re some of your favorites? How do you use kobolds to make them unique compared to similar strength creatures? Does the kobold section of Volo’s Guide to Monsters give you all sorts of devious ideas to bring to the gaming table? What’s your best kobold related story from either side of the table? Let us know in the comments below.
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AshtierD
June 22, 2018 at 12:02 pm“History’s Most Epic Kobold Battle” or “The Tragic Fall of Vellix”
My party was put up against a hoarde of kobolds led by a kobold sorceror. We were on an open field at night. Now it needs to be stressed that we had an interim DM running the campaign. And he had grand designs on that sorceror playing a pivotal role later on in the campaign.
So when we all decided to gang up on the sorceror, all of a sudden the environment became difficult to manage. It was at night time but, “due to overcast”’, it was as if it was pitch black outside.
The fight become long and burdensome. My character, a fighter thief, was up against a random kobold. But due to many low rolls of the dice on both sides, neither of us could injure the other for 6+ rounds. We decided to call a truce and withdrew from the combat.
Eventually, the sorceror got away (surprise) and we were able to take out the remaining kobolds. Except for my new friend.
So a Druid in my party wanted to kill the kobold. I fought against it stating how he could not be killedby normal means (since I could not hit him) and noted our truce. The Druid shapeshifter and went to attack and I intervened to protect the kobold. Eventually my Druid companion ceased and whispered to me, “don’t sleep to soundly tonight.”
When he turned away, I sneak attacked. The Druid fell. His name was Vellix.
Kobolds are great!