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So I’m prepping to run ‘Crown of the Kobold King’ for my group and I’m finding one great, impassable roadblock: I don’t really care about kobolds. While Burnt Offerings has renewed my enjoyment of goblins, I’m not finding any similar hooks for the kobolds that will make me or my players take notice. Even their illustrations make them look more pathetic than vicious. I need something to break them out of the “this is what we fight at 1st level” status and into the “holy $%@#, kobolds!” rank.
Any thoughts? How do you see kobolds that make them distinct in your game worlds? How do you play them to make them memorable to your players?
My suggestion would be to play the kobolds as they are and let your players have a "oh, we've fought these before" feel throughout the module. Do this up until you get to Merlokrep and his guards, which I suggest playing as Xerxes from "300". If the combination of skilled fighting AND spellslinging doesn't leave an impression on your PCs, the distinct change from the "yap-yap" voice to a deep, smooth, almost sensual one for the kobold king should do the trick.
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So I’m prepping to run ‘Crown of the Kobold King’ for my group and I’m finding one great, impassable roadblock: I don’t really care about kobolds. While Burnt Offerings has renewed my enjoyment of goblins, I’m not finding any similar hooks for the kobolds that will make me or my players take notice. Even their illustrations make them look more pathetic than vicious. I need something to break them out of the “this is what we fight at 1st level” status and into the “holy $%@#, kobolds!” rank.
Any thoughts? How do you see kobolds that make them distinct in your game worlds? How do you play them to make them memorable to your players?
1st kobolds are more structured, they have a class of slaves, slave-masters, warriors, high-end warriors (black scales), ect. because of this I run them like a normal medieval town, just weaker, and speaking their own language.
2nd This IS their home - I usually play anything backed into fight or flight mode as fighting until at -5 HP.
3rd - I play Kobolds as more fiercly loyal to their place in society. they not only accept their place, but try to excel at their role, because even though they cannot go up in rank, there are always those lower than you, and one bad mistake can drop you below them, and give a newer hatchling your role. and you don't want to be a blackscle warrior slavedriving like an orange scale... thats just demeaning
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So I’m prepping to run ‘Crown of the Kobold King’ for my group and I’m finding one great, impassable roadblock: I don’t really care about kobolds. While Burnt Offerings has renewed my enjoyment of goblins, I’m not finding any similar hooks for the kobolds that will make me or my players take notice. Even their illustrations make them look more pathetic than vicious. I need something to break them out of the “this is what we fight at 1st level” status and into the “holy $%@#, kobolds!” rank.
Any thoughts? How do you see kobolds that make them distinct in your game worlds? How do you play them to make them memorable to your players?
I would make them into half-fiend kobolds.
Makes them a lil tougher but not overpowering even to level one PCs. They get a boost in stats and get DR 5/magic, plus some SR and resistances, but still leaves them at CR 1, character levels not withstanding.
It will definitely give PCs pause and shock to realize that the lowly lil kobold can shake off spells and hit a lil harder.
And going with the "Crown of the Kobold King" is good if you do the half-fiend kobold, because IMHO it provides way powerful loot, more loot and items then a normal kobold should have.
Just finished running my 7th level group through a much modified "Crown of the Kobold King".
Kobold Half-Dragons!
Flushed party into the center of trap filled maze, 4 foot wide, 4 foot tall passageways. Almost every trap CR8 or lower from the DMG and Dungeonscape. Stopped them with a Symbol of Sleep and a pair of kobold thieves with saps.
Strip the party, and prepare them for sacrifice ala "Crown of the Kobold King".
Unarmed 7th level adventurers in their underoos vs kobold half-dragon guards and King in throne room.
Make them run a gauntlet, no rests, no breaks, no resupply, no new spells. Destroy their gear, weapons, armor, magic items.
Just make sure there's enough loot to compensate, and watch them cringe, whine, moan and b*~@$ as they learn to hate kobolds.
My inspiration comes from "Tucker's Kobolds".
I've always remembered reading about "Tucker's Kobolds" from an old editoral by Roger E. Moore in Dragon magazine. Been waiting for a chance to do them.
Hmm...I don't think I'm ready to fiend them or half-dragon them, but all your comments do inspire one idea.
One of the Designer's Notes in the module talks about the "Night of a Million Jillion Bad Guys" and that sounds like it might be a great way to default to. Once they hit level two, they could encounter some kobolds, one of which escapes to warn the rest of the lair. If I can play up the building dread of "nothing happens", I'd likely make my players a bit nervous.
When they finally reach the king, they can find themselves surrounded by dozens of the little blighters. Instead of a bunch of little encounters, one grand one. I'll have to look into the details and see how that could be played out.
How do you play them to make them memorable to your players?
I personally don’t care much for 3rd edition’s depiction of kobolds as draconic little pests. I preferred the previous edition's image of a horned canine-like monstrous humanoid that excelled at trap-making and swarm tactics.
So when I visualize a kobold it’s a growling horned little b@$#@rd wearing beat-up tattered leather armor and a headband with gruesome fetishes laying in wait under a bush (or even a corpse) waiting to jump out and attack with its poisoned blade.
...I don’t really care about kobolds...
Now one idea I’m considering for Crown of the Kobold King is to replace the kobolds altogether (mostly because I’ve already used kobolds so many times I think it would be fun to try something new: Xvarts [from Dragon 339, I think that’s the issue]).
I would replace the king with a barghest (because barghests are just cool) who kidnapped the children in the hopes of luring some adventurer’s to his lair so that he could consume them and become more powerful.
Yeah, I've been a little underwhelmed by the kobolds of Pathfinder too. The slurks are a little weak sauce, and yeah the new art is a little more wet sad dog than I'd prefer. I've been trying to flavor them up a bit. Granted I don't own the adventure (mostly because I don't dig the portrayal of said kobolds much) so if my advice here goes against what's said about kobolds in the adventure, then let me know so I can revise stuff as needed.
Kobolds come from dragons, enough so that they share the same color coding schtick. So what if the kobolds have inherited a bunch of the character traits of their draconic forebearers as well. Reds are proud and arrogant with a bent toward melodramatic monologuing. Blues are brash warrior souls that never back down from a conflict. Blacks are slimy and loathsome, constantly scheming and spinning lies and deceptions. That sort of thing. Mind you, it doesn't make them beautiful enough to warrant their vanity, tough enough to back up their bravery, or smart enough to come up with stellar schemes. They're still kobolds, hence a good portion of the humor and frustration that defines them. Like a dysfunctional family, they are drawn to each other, living in tight circles--but because of their clashing and often strong personalities they can't stand each other for long.
Doesn't make them tougher or scarier per se, but I think it adds a bit of much needed personality.
I think it'd be nice to go in and add a bit of color to the slurks too. They just seem a little meh. I think if they felt a little more well put together it'd help the whole kobold thing work a little better too.
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Reds are proud and arrogant with a bent toward melodramatic monologuing. Blues are brash warrior souls that never back down from a conflict. Blacks are slimy and loathsome, constantly scheming and spinning lies and deceptions. That sort of thing. Mind you, it doesn't make them beautiful enough to warrant their vanity, tough enough to back up their bravery, or smart enough to come up with stellar schemes. They're still kobolds
This is similar to whats there, if you extrapolate the data a little (see my post a little higher.. it doesn't so much show in the physical traits, other than color, but mentality-wise..
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So I’m prepping to run ‘Crown of the Kobold King’ for my group and I’m finding one great, impassable roadblock: I don’t really care about kobolds. While Burnt Offerings has renewed my enjoyment of goblins, I’m not finding any similar hooks for the kobolds that will make me or my players take notice. Even their illustrations make them look more pathetic than vicious. I need something to break them out of the “this is what we fight at 1st level” status and into the “holy $%@#, kobolds!” rank.
Any thoughts? How do you see kobolds that make them distinct in your game worlds? How do you play them to make them memorable to your players?
Try to get hold of a certain 2nd Ed. Adventure called Dragon Mountain - I never needed anything else to keep interest in kobolds.
http://paizo.com/store/downloads/wizardsOfTheCoast/aDAndD2/adventures/v5748 btpy7mfn&source=search
Hou ! Hou ! Me ! Me! (Waving hand wildly, hoping to be picked...)
I always love using kobolds against more or less powerful PC groups. I don't have the 'Crown of the kobold King' but I think can relate, I acutaly had my group encounter Children-Kidnapping-Kobolds four years ago and they still talk about it.
You have to play it dirty and mean. I see kobolds with a reptilian mindset, low on the emotional side but high on the passive-aggressive and determination sides.
I usually run them with traps and similar tactics: caltrops, alchemical items (requiring only ranged touch attacks), rough terrain, oil slicks and ranged attacks with cover and concealment. Avoid melee combat, if it gets to that use massive "aid another" to actually "trip" and "disarm" the PCs.
Also, take out the PCs gear (mentioned by an earlier poster and going back to the old 'Dragon Mountain' module), snuff out the torches, smash lanterns, thrown acid at their armor, snatch component pouches and holy symbols, break potion bottles, etc. The kobolds may not even succeed in many of those tactics but I guarantee you players will hate them with a passion very fast. Every fight could leave a pile of kobold corpses behind but if the PCs lost some asset.
The mood of such an encounter has something that's close to the 'attention-deficit-fighting' goblins of Pathfinder but with a methodical mean streak. You have to be careful about the PCs being able to either get stuff back in the end, buy some replacements or get it fixed because it creates frustration (a lot in some type of players) and decreases the end value of the loot.
I'm personally working on a 'damaged item system' where 'cleaving' wouldn't be an 'all-or-nothing-proposition' that makes me hold back on it. Damaged weapons would get penalties on attack, armor could lose some of it's bonus or get worst in the check penalty and magic item could gain a spell-failure percentile or a save DC penalty. The items could get fixed with appropriate Craft skills, 'mending', 'make hole' ore even 'repair ... damage' spells. Any suggestions or references would be appreciated (or is that threadjacking ? I'm still getting the hang of this).
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My suggestion would be to play the kobolds as they are and let your players have a "oh, we've fought these before" feel throughout the module. Do this up until you get to Merlokrep and his guards, which I suggest playing as Xerxes from "300". If the combination of skilled fighting AND spellslinging doesn't leave an impression on your PCs, the distinct change from the "yap-yap" voice to a deep, smooth, almost sensual one for the kobold king should do the trick.
I had Merlokrep be quite eloquent in his speaking to the party, even convincing them to sit down to a nice meal of insects and grubs (I had Indiana Jones on my mind). The party and the king conversed over "dinner", until the wrong thing was said and it broke down into a fight that ended with a party TPK. Kobolds who coup-de-grace sleeping party members is just something awful.
I usually run them with traps and similar tactics: caltrops, alchemical items (requiring only ranged touch attacks), rough terrain, oil slicks and ranged attacks with cover and concealment. Avoid melee combat, if it gets to that use massive "aid another" to actually "trip" and "disarm" the PCs.
That's awesome stuff. It'd be like the PCs facing an entire dungeon filled with rust monsters. THAT'S sure to get their attentions. I'd balked at the dependence on sundering and disarming because the kobolds are so small and weak that I doubt they'd ever win a contest like that. But attacking non-weapons (or ranged weapons) is easier. Stealing things like spell pouches and light sources is a wicked tactic.
Hou ! Hou ! Me ! Me! (Waving hand wildly, hoping to be picked...)
I always love using kobolds against more or less powerful PC groups. I don't have the 'Crown of the kobold King' but I think can relate, I acutaly had my group encounter Children-Kidnapping-Kobolds four years ago and they still talk about it.
You have to play it dirty and mean. I see kobolds with a reptilian mindset, low on the emotional side but high on the passive-aggressive and determination sides.
I usually run them with traps and similar tactics: caltrops, alchemical items (requiring only ranged touch attacks), rough terrain, oil slicks and ranged attacks with cover and concealment. Avoid melee combat, if it gets to that use massive "aid another" to actually "trip" and "disarm" the PCs.
Also, take out the PCs gear (mentioned by an earlier poster and going back to the old 'Dragon Mountain' module), snuff out the torches, smash lanterns, thrown acid at their armor, snatch component pouches and holy symbols, break potion bottles, etc. The kobolds may not even succeed in many of those tactics but I guarantee you players will hate them with a passion very fast. Every fight could leave a pile of kobold corpses behind but if the PCs lost some asset.
The mood of such an encounter has something that's close to the 'attention-deficit-fighting' goblins of Pathfinder but with a methodical mean streak. You have to be careful about the PCs being able to either get stuff back in the end, buy some replacements or get it fixed because it creates frustration (a lot in some type of players) and decreases the end value of the loot.
I'm personally working on a 'damaged item system' where 'cleaving' wouldn't be an 'all-or-nothing-proposition' that makes me hold back on it. Damaged weapons would get penalties on attack, armor could lose some of it's bonus or get worst in the check penalty and magic item could gain a spell-failure percentile or a save DC penalty. The items could get fixed with appropriate Craft skills, 'mending', 'make hole' ore...
Wow! Great ideas, Slime. You've made the Kobolds like Goblins but with a scary, almost alien reptilian intent. Love the idea of them trying to take the PCs apart rather than fight them head on (whereas goblins would swarm or try hit and run tactics, with a little sadism thrown in for good measure).
... I'd balked at the dependence on sundering and disarming because the kobolds are so small and weak that I doubt they'd ever win a contest like that. But attacking non-weapons (or ranged weapons) is easier. Stealing things like spell pouches and light sources is a wicked tactic.
I'm glad you like the tactics, I personaly find they have another advantage: they are fun for the DM! Just don't get into the DM vs Players situation.
I also like to have kobolds group their attacks or gang up on the physically weaker PCs (usualy arcane caster or sneaks) who can usualy be 'grappled' even by a group of kobolds.
If the kobolds have a good tactical support (a combat-smart leader) they can also set-up 'tiny' sized passages witch they can 'sqeeze' threw to retreat and no be followed by, mostly medium, PCs or worst make them split the 'small' PCs from the other. They can also (again inspired by 'Dragon Mountain') harras the group every 4 hours to mess up spell recovery and prevent rest-healing and make sure they have individuals responsible for reporting the PCs capacities, magic items and even record command-words and other activation methods for the items they may try to take away from the group.
My meanest tactic (I didn't get to use it, but had planed for it) was to have the kobolds grab and run away with the first unconcious PC to use as a hostage.
Depending on your group, you could also use 'Mafia-diplomacy' leaving a note of 'YOU LEAVING OR HATCHLINGS DYING' with a cut of ear or digit from the current hostages (kids) for the party to find, but that's a real dirty one and may change the dynamics of your game in a way you don't like.
Again, I don't have the module your playing so I don't know what applies to your game. But I'm happy to help take the Kobolds into the spotlight I feel they deserve to be hated for...
Enjoy the little monsters.
Note: I did mean 'Sundering' instead of 'Cleaving'.
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I like to beef up kobolds by doing the one or more of the following. These ideas play upon kobolds' reputation as instinctually vicious killers that even the odds against physically stronger foes by using dirty tricks and tactics:
Have the kobolds hurl crude gourds or flasks filled with spiders, fire ants, scorpions or the like. Low level adventurers will find it difficult to deal with swarms brought on this way. It helps to mod the adventure with a logical place they could aquire these creatures, so be sure to place a breeding pen or other means of access to a quantity of Diminutive vermin. The flasks I used made 5' swarms (one square) rather than "standard" swarms (4 squares), but worked great. If you are in a nastier mood, fill the gourds with yellow mold or for a truely nasty exprience, a combination of the two: some kobolds hurl "swarm flasks" while the others throw gourds of yellow mold.
I once had kobolds ride carrion crawlers into battle using special harnesses and gear that (almost) prevented the crawler from attacking its rider. Nothing spreads fear through adventurers like seeing a lance-weilding kobold on a carrion crawler.
Have the kobolds release captured giant vermin like scorpions or spiders. I typically arranged a tunnel where a retreating kobold could pull a lever that dropped a crude portillicus behind him and simultaniously opened a gate that released a penned beast on the party. I also used stirges and rough chain netting the kobolds hastily dropped to keep the stirges in the tunnels with the party.
Have them pour lamp oil from a captured cask down a corridor and throw a lighted brand on it as the party approaches.
Have them hurl or shoot poisoned missles or bolts smeared with dung to induce disease.
Since kobolds are small, have them use spears through murder holes and make these places accessible via Small tunnels, requiring Medium or larger opponents to squeeze to reach them.
When I ran CotKK, I ran it as a side quest for two 8th level players (3/3/2 mystic theurge and a rogue). Using some of the tricks above, hit and run tactics, raising HP of the kobolds to maximum and beefing up the number of kobolds encountered, the characters *barely* made it out of there with the crown. The players were afforded no rest and had no easy means of escape once they penetrated into the lair. The two players still talk about CotKK and the difficulty they had raiding the lair.
Okay. Thanks to y'all, I've a pretty good stable of ideas on how to make battles with kobolds distinct and memorable.
Anybody have any good ideas on flavor text?
How do you describe a 3' kobold (or even a bunch of them) in ways that will make my players go "wha-?"
Though someone has likely already said this, I wish to put in my two coppers:
Play the kobolds smart. They are not silly, dopey crocodile men (so I don't want to hear that joke anymore!), they are nasty, vindictive creatures who wish to bring about the character's deaths. Make them act like the characters do. Let them retreat, let them hang back, use cunning tactics, have them go for the mages. Make the players hate kobolds, and groan when they see one.
Make kobolds scary.
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Though someone has likely already said this, I wish to put in my two coppers:
Play the kobolds smart. They are not silly, dopey crocodile men (so I don't want to hear that joke anymore!), they are nasty, vindictive creatures who wish to bring about the character's deaths. Make them act like the characters do. Let them retreat, let them hang back, use cunning tactics, have them go for the mages. Make the players hate kobolds, and groan when they see one.
Make kobolds scary.
In other words, they cheat. :D
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Anybody have any good ideas on flavor text?
How do you describe a 3' kobold (or even a bunch of them) in ways that will make my players go "wha-?"
These Kobolds may prefer to keep their foes in suspense, and carry an assortment of alchemical torch-smothering gear (perhaps just flasks of ink / walnut stain that they throw at lanterns and the like). The only description that will be forthcoming for the first half of the adventure will be scritching noises as they sneak about and hurl things from the darkness, nasty things like bugs and snakes and body parts of animals they've been eating. The first PC that takes 1d4 subdual damage as he's hit in the face by the severed head of a goat might be itching to find the little blighter that thought this was funny...
Total darkness (and not lame magical 'kinda darkness') would be preferred, to take advantage of their Darkvision, with their snipers trying to ranged Sunder or otherwise take out lightsources as soon as possible, and retreating in the face of a cast Daylight spell or the light, waiting for it to fade away before returning.
Their own territory should be rife with places for them to hide, and small or tiny-sized burrows for them to squeeze into and wriggle away. (If not using the 'slight frame' option that allows Small sized Kobolds to fit into Tiny spaces, they might have access to a mundane or alchemical grease that they 'lube up' with to allow them to slip through Tiny spaces with a bit of effort, although this may have the unpleasant side-effect of making them extra flammable, becoming a two-edged sword...) Even when the players can see them, they should have trouble reaching them.
The advantage of numbers could be used to have various Kobolds use Aid Another to give each other AC or Attack bonuses (their might be a Kobold next to each sniper / archer, carrying a Kobold-sized large shield and attempting to provide cover for his 'gunman'). Murder holes or blinds up in the trees or arrow slits in the tunnel walls down at ankle level should allow the Kobolds to take potshots at the party while having near total cover from return fire. When the Kobolds finally do have to engage in melee combat, have them swarm the party, moving into their squares, grappling and attacking with daggers. Medium-sized PCs will be forced to use smaller weapons and / or use actions to attempt to disengage from the grapples. Kobolds are typically going to suck at this tactic, but up to *eight* small-sized Kobolds can attempt to grapple a Medium-sized human, dwarf or elf in a single round. Sadly the Improved Grapple feat is out of their reach, but attacking from surprise or from within darkness will help to avoid Attacks of Opportunity (that will surely kill the little fellows, they *do not* want to get hit!).
When the Kobolds are finally visible, have them be dangling with 'stuff.' Every Kobold in this Clan might try to keep a 'trophy' of it's kills, and so the warriors and chieftan will have dozens of clattering animal bones and feathers and strips of hide and (gulp) humanoid scalps hanging from their person. The 'non-combatants' of 1st Edition kobold adventures who hid in the back of the cave could be replaced with 'throwers.' Every Kobold with the strength to do so would fling every rock, stick, skull or chunk of debris they can get their hands on at invaders, who each suffer a half-dozen or so attacks that will only do 1 pt. of damage from the pelting, pelting that may also end up placing the PCs on unstable terrain (assuming the Kobolds didn't already arrange to meet the larger PCs in a location that was terribly inconvenient for them, with 4 ft. ceilings and foot long sharpened sticks jutting from the ground!).
Again, the kobolds will want to stay out of melee, unless they can grapple and overwhelm targets, denying them the use of their larger and deadly weapons (and spells). Assuming that a large central cavern is inevitable and the Kobolds can't find a nice twisty turny set of tunnels, they can improvise by running lines and ropes and vines all up the cavern walls, nailing them in place with pitons. The Kobold warriors could climb up this impromptu 'trellis' and hang from out of reach on the cavern walls, throwing missle weapons that they've stored in hanging quivers way up in the rope-strewn heights of the cavern. They might even be clever enough to use safety lines attached to their little waists, so that if they lose their grip or are knocked unconscious, they don't plummet to their deaths! (Unless the safety line breaks. "Aaaiii!!" [Splorch]) Particularly brave, or, yanno, *crazy,* Kobolds might even try to swing out on their lines to jab at the PCs, like tiny scaly Errol Flynn wannabes, complete with high-pitched echoing war-cry! (Or use lines to 'swing' other stuff into them, like sacks filled with icky fluids that will nauseate them, or rusty spiked morning star heads they've scavenged from previous vistors or logs filled with nails.)
If the Kobolds have access to (weak) poisons, they will likely use them (I used Tiny Monstrous Centipede venom the last time I used Kobolds, since anything larger would probably be beyond their means to actually subdue and 'milk' for venom!), and it's not like smearing weapons with stinky Kobold poop to infect targets with Filth Fever will be terribly hard to arrange.
A Kobold Adept with a moderate proficiency in Craft (alchemy) could also make for some handy stuff, such as the slippery oils used to navigate tight spaces, or the torch-snuffing throwables, or a 'potion' that makes a Kobold warrior go into a Rage for an unpredictable amount of time and used for suicide runs by those weaker warriors who don't yet have any status or any good ranged weapons. Survivors of said 'suicide runs,' assuming their fellows can calm them down (or avoid them until they collapse in exhaustion), gain adult warrior status, and can hide in the back, or up on the walls, like the rest!
In my last campaign, all Kobolds were descended from chromatic dragons, and colored appropriately. Each had a limited amount of Resistance to whatever energy type their ancestor used (fire, acid, cold, electricity). A black Kobold clan could have corrosive waters ankle deep in the 'travel' passages of their lair, knowing that they will not suffer any damage from the acid, but that intruders have no such resistance. They might also use metal-corroding fluid 'grenades' on attackers, hoping to degrade or weaken their metal armor and weapons, to make them easier to Sunder / pierce / survive. A red Kobold clan with Fire Resistance 5 might coat themselves in oil and set themselves on fire, screaming out of the darkness like little demons, wailing like banshees, grappling and scorching anyone who comes near!
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RPG Superstar 2013
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Dude: You are getting a lot of good advice here, but I say ignore it all. : }
Don't make kobolds anything other than what they are in Logue's dungeon. The introduction says it all. It's a doomed-ass kobold kingdom and the Mrs Merlokrep is the cause of all their problems.
Make the ghouls and the 'ghost' scary. My wife is running us through it and the 'ghost' encounter is very memorable.
Also, play up the innocent little girl angle because the party is gonna know something's up. No one trusts children in DnD. My one frustration with CotKK is the little girl, because I think that is sort of a tired trick. Some players are at the point where they reflexively smite or coup-de-grace small children on the assumption that Vecna's hiding in there somewhere. Anyway - the party will spend a lot of time focused on the surropundings. The story is the fallen dwarves, not the kobolds. The magma room and the makeshift elevator. The skeletons that throw their 'eads at you. The adventure has plenty of memorable moments. Save beefing up kobolds for when the little buggers are really up to something world-threatening.
The 'smoky ball of hate' (that's what her kobold NPCs call the forge-spurned) is gonna keep them occupied too. They aren't gonna think the adventure isn't tough. The kobolds give the PCs a satisfying ego trip. They also give you a humorous, pathetic NPC to play. Interrogating kobolds is a classic scene for DMs to play. Sad, treacherous, hopeless, spiteful, crafty, stupid beyond repair. Those are my wife's kobolds, and our party is both howling in laughter because kobolds suck so bad (sorry, wolfgang), and bringing extra underwear because we're all afraid of the smokey ball of hate and whatever else lurks in the darkness.
Oh, my wife sort of skipped this part, but she's a rookie so I forgive her. The ghouls can terrify your party. They are smart, and there's no reason for them not to run. They frustrate even characters with reasonable saves at 1-2 level. I should know. My monk spent the entire first combat with them hoping not to get CdG'd. The ghouls can flee a combat and come back to ambush the party at just the wrong time.
If I had a party spending days in the kobold warrens, I'd have the ghouls 'turn' a few kobolds. 'Go kill the surface heroes, and we'll show you how to use your new abilities to be the new kobold kings!'
That's an approach if you really want the kobolds to be beefed up. Make a few of them ghouls.
Of course, Falcon's Hollow is screwed if the party dies and the new kobold ghouls become expansion minded. Maybe a future game, win or lose for the PCs, involves a gravetouched ghoul kobold slave, ascended to the throne and now ready to get even with all surface-folk. Hmmm.
If you want to spice up your kobolds and make them not the laughing stock of low-level adventurers, Boomer and the others have really good advice. I say screw the kobolds. Bottom-rung is where they belong. That way your heroes get to feel heroic, and they are damn funny during and after surrender.
... The only description that will be forthcoming for the first half of the adventure will be scritching noises as they sneak about and hurl things from the darkness...
I agree it's to best way to make their apperances more memorable when the party finaly gets a glimpse. Make them silent and cool in their wait (they are reptilians).
I also like the point of view of ancientsensei who ensentially tells you to ignore all the advice (mine included) and make them tragically-dumb as nails and concentrate on the other sections of the adventure. I would recommand giving them the advantage of huge numbers of individuals if they are not going to just speed bumps and more like sand-blast on the PCs.
As for look elements, I like to have kobolds wear gear made from dead-adventurer gear they split up (and mostly ruined) to fit many of the critter. I figure you gan gear about 12 Kobolds with studded-leather equivalent armor made from a single ex-masterwork Medium Full-plate (the Paladin in my game had a long rant after seeing that).
You really want to mess with your PC's heres what you do. You let them see a couple of Kobolds standing guard, but they see you players and run into the cave. When your PC's go after them, have them run into a group of 15-30 kobolds, depending on number of PC's in the group, the difference is before your PC's reached the Kobolds they all drank variuos potions some of which include, bulls strength, potion of enlargement, potion of speed and what ever else you want them to drink. Also no one ever expects there to be a higher level Kobold Sorcerer with some nicely enchanted items.
I have been DMing CotKK for the last weeks and my players are nearly through it now. They're a bunch of experienced players who played together through all of AoW, so it first felt like a challenge to get them interested in Kobold-hunting.
Since they know the game in and out and they characters are very optimized, I did the following:
1- I did not use any kobold straight out of MM. All were at least one of the evolved versions you can find in the module. I especially enjoyed using the variant with two levels of rogues (sneak, flank, evasion).
2 - Not all encounters with Kobolds need to be a fight: the Kobolds have a problem of their own and think that sacrifices are what will help them out. But maybe the newcomers/heroes can be turned into something useful, so I played up the "rebellious" faction that wants to topple the king and install a new reign.
So, the game is slowly evolving from a Kobold-hunt to a new approach where they are trying to negotiate and see what the Kobolds would want them to do to get some of the kids back and leave Falcon's Hollow in peace.
Bocklin