Why are some weapon-wielding monsters so foolishly armed?


Pathfinder First Edition General Discussion

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1. As kobolds are excelent trappers and miners, I imagine they design their defensive positions competently. 2. you dont need a 9ft spear to have a 10 ft reach, as you have 5ft unarmed. Nothing in the rules or descriptions require a small longspear to be more than 6 feet. 3. If the tunnels are so tight you cant turn yoir spear around in it, how do you imagine someone would get past it? especially when its thrre spear poits at you from adjacent kobolds.

Theres no reason to assume kobolds, famous for their traps, wouldnt design chokepoints optimal for their tactics. Thing is, with regular spears there isnt much to do, tactically. With longspears you get AoOs.


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Atarlost wrote:
Gaberlunzie wrote:
But in real life, a long spear in a tight tunnel would be perfect.
In real life a long spear in a tight tunnel would be the sort of idiocy only seen in slapstick sketches. A long spear is around nine feet long. Since small reach weapons still have 10' reach they aren't actually any shorter. Mine tunnels don't have ceilings higher than the people mining them can reach and kobolds are short. A kobold tunnel is probably 5' square at most and would have a diagonal of a bit less than 7'1". A kobold with a long spear in a tunnel mined by kobolds physically cannot change the direction his spear points without breaking his spear.

Depends on how strictly you stick to "exactly 5'" format. If the sides were just 5'9", then the 8' long spear could make it. And since the kobolds are the ones making the tunnels, they can afford adding those extra couple inches.

I mean, getting the spear around would still be a challenge, it is possible.

Of course, there is the question 'would the kobold actually need to turn the spear around in the tunnels?'. I mean, they are the ones making the maze, and they know where adventurers are coming from (the entrance to the surface) Depending on the position, they might not need to turn around because they are on only path between the entrance and their hatchery. NINJA'd by Gaberlunzie with better diction- yeah, put them at choke points. That is the word for what I was thinking


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well.... for a spear just put sharp ends on both sides, now you never have to worry about turning it around.


Drawback of doing thais if they disarm you they can poke you back :p double sided spears are quite uncommon in historical military from what ive heard, due to being unwieldy and outright dangerous in tight formations. Im not an expert though.


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lemeres wrote:

Well, that is a good reason why one should have backup weapons, like short swords. Or at least daggers (even if they are terrible flint daggers)

Gee we're investing a lot of weaponry in the fodder.

Flint daggers is a good idea, though. :P

Oh, speaking of kobold tunnel design, something I'm surprised we haven't seen more of: Cone-shaped wardens. The whole tunnel system should get progressively higher as you get further inward. This both gets the nursery and mighty kobold bossking just a little bit extra far from the Darklands nasties and gives all kobolds elevation bonuses during combat. Plus, you can pull off "boulder traps" without making people suspicious. ;P


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Gaberlunzie wrote:
Drawback of doing thais if they disarm you they can poke you back :p double sided spears are quite uncommon in historical military from what ive heard, due to being unwieldy and outright dangerous in tight formations. Im not an expert though.

humans also don't live underground


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His point is that kobolds spend a lot of time in tight formations, though. On account of being in narrow caves. :P


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Flint daggers are a stupid idea. They're less durable and -- when amortized over their expected lifetime -- more labor intensive than bronze daggers. And to be able to mine kobolds must at least have bronze. You can cast bronze over a regular fire. If you hit something too hard with a bronze dagger or pickaxe it bends and you can bend it back. For something thin like a dagger or sword you can straighten it by hand. If you hit something too hard with a flint knife you need to make a new one from scratch. If you manage to break a bronze weapon or tool you can melt it down and recycle it. If you break a flint weapon or tool you need to find more flint. Even unalloyed copper is better than flint, though I'm not sure it's up to making pickaxes.

Flint sucks and kobolds cannot do what they're famous for unless they're at least a bronze age civilization.


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Maybe they save the bronze for the mining and traps (and the dragon/bossmonster, and the kobolds with class levels, and the longspears the kobolds are apparently given in addition to the backup daggers). Conservation of resources, man. :P


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Kobold Cleaver wrote:
His point is that kobolds spend a lot of time in tight formations, though. On account of being in narrow caves. :P

yeah but in tunnels being the norm it would make sense to use reach weapons with double sides.

also yeah screw flint daggers, obsidian is where it is at, it holds the record for sharpest blade edge.


Is obsidian easy to find underground? Barring Minecraft rules?


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Atarlost wrote:

Flint daggers are a stupid idea. They're less durable and -- when amortized over their expected lifetime -- more labor intensive than bronze daggers. And to be able to mine kobolds must at least have bronze. You can cast bronze over a regular fire. If you hit something too hard with a bronze dagger or pickaxe it bends and you can bend it back. For something thin like a dagger or sword you can straighten it by hand. If you hit something too hard with a flint knife you need to make a new one from scratch. If you manage to break a bronze weapon or tool you can melt it down and recycle it. If you break a flint weapon or tool you need to find more flint. Even unalloyed copper is better than flint, though I'm not sure it's up to making pickaxes.

Flint sucks and kobolds cannot do what they're famous for unless they're at least a bronze age civilization.

Not really.

The main reason why there was a switch from bronze to iron was availability*. Bronze is an alloy made out of several metals, notably copper and tin, some of which are relatively rare compared to iron. The bronze age relied upon trade, often across long distances, in order to get the right materials. To expect that a single mine would have veins of all the necessary metals is a bit of a stretch. I know wikipedia is a bit... 'meh' here, but it does have a lengthy article on Tin sources and trade in ancient times.

Although.... the system does count copper weapons the same as bronze, so that could be done...I suppose. Either that, or the fact that the kobolds are sitting on a tin mine is a major plot point and the very reason why adventurers are being sent.

Now, I suggested flint daggers because I was thinking of how the system handles stone weapons- 1/4 price, 3/4 weight, fragile property. Sounds about right for fodder. I am not an expert on flint weapons, their feasibility issues, or availability of material underground- so I am not sure how well that works out. Still, it can be made by the fodder themselves, as compared to the need for a smith and smelting operation. **

*Side discussion- I know there is hardness problems, but with the common sword and shield style, there would typically be too many direct clashes; compare that to the fact that bronze weapons have less catastrophic failures compared to iron. Bronze bends..and can be bent back with a little effort by anyone; iron breaks. Also, with classical and medieval smithing techniques (I know this is a world of magic, but the majority of smithing is done mundanely), you can melt bronze again and reuse it easily- not so much with iron and steel (particularly if it was pattern welded)

**I just thought about something- how...do kobolds blacksmith while underground? Do they need to make specialized areas with air vents in order to avoid carbon monoxide build up? How do they avoid the smoke from becoming a clear indication of a structural weakness in their defenses? While we are on the subject, how did dwarves smith (and gained a famed cultural talent for it too) when they lived underground prior to the Quest to the Sky?


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Kobold Cleaver wrote:
Is obsidian easy to find underground? Barring Minecraft rules?

of course... oh wait, barring minecraft rules? perhaps if they lived in an inactive volcano.


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lemeres wrote:
**I just thought about something- how...do kobolds blacksmith while underground? Do they need to make specialized areas with air vents in order to avoid carbon monoxide build up? How do they avoid the smoke from becoming a clear indication of a structural weakness in their defenses? While we are on the subject, how did dwarves smith (and gained a famed cultural talent for it too) when they lived underground prior to the Quest to the Sky?

special flux agents that nom nom carbon in the melted metals.


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Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Spears fit through murder holes better than axes and hammers.


My understanding of obsidian (prepare for huge geological ignorance) is that it forms when lava cools very rapidly, i.e. falls in water.

I guess the Darklands have water, so that can probably work.


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Kobold Cleaver wrote:

My understanding of obsidian (prepare for huge geological ignorance) is that it forms when lava cools very rapidly, i.e. falls in water.

I guess the Darklands have water, so that can probably work.

nope, islands don't have huge supplies of obsidian, it's when dense lava cools and is crushed underground i believe.

edit: looked it up, it happens when this happens.


Derp. What's lava?


Bandw2 wrote:
Kobold Cleaver wrote:

My understanding of obsidian (prepare for huge geological ignorance) is that it forms when lava cools very rapidly, i.e. falls in water.

I guess the Darklands have water, so that can probably work.

nope, islands don't have huge supplies of obsidian, it's when dense lava cools and is crushed underground i believe.

edit: looked it up, it happens when this happens.

I think its magma that's underground. . . lava is only when it gets to the surface. . .

rock weapons are bad. end of story.


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Kobold Cleaver wrote:
Derp. What's lava?

Rhyolite appears to be dense lava like i said, like i know Hawaiian lava is really runny.


Wait, are you talking about the fire rock stuff that comes out of the mountains sometimes? Okay I think I'm catching up.


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Kobold Cleaver wrote:
Wait, are you talking about the fire rock stuff that comes out of the mountains sometimes? Okay I think I'm catching up.

I thought kobolds called it dragon vomit.

Admittedly, my source is not reliable, since I heard about it when I got a kobold drunk off of three dwarven meads (equivalent to roughly three taverns worth of mead...each)


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You heard about it then, did you? So the coroner was feeling chatty?


On the defensive tactics and longspear+club vs spear, here's what I mean with it being very much more useful. I imagine this would be a very basic kind of chokepoint, with the entrance coming from A and the tunnel continuing past D1. Kobolds would be at D1, D2 and D3.

If they have spears and manage to brace against a charge, someone'll charge in, it'll go like this:
1: Kobolds ready against charge.
2a: Invader charges, eats three attacks at (1d6-1)*2 each when it reaches C, and unless they die might very well kill a kobold.
2b: Invader moves up, don't take any attacks, and might kill someone.
3: Surviving kobolds attack for 1d6-1 each.

If they have longspears, instead:
1: Kobolds ready against charge.
2a: Invader charges, eats first three readied at (1d6-1)*2 each when it enters B and then three AoO's at the same damage when it leaves B, and likely dies. If they survive they might kill someone.
2b: Invader moves up, eats three trip attempt AoOs (granted at -1), if they don't fall they smash someone, if they fall they might very well miss on the attack.
3: Drop spears as free, draw clubs as move (and if the attacker is on the ground, one moves to B to flank as part of the move) and attack for 1d4-1 each.

I have a hard time seeing where having longspears would be a worse option, as they only have a single attack but have BAB+1 drawing a weapon is nearly no drawback from them and dropping one is a free action. They're much more likely to drop an attacker before it reaches them.

And this is assuming it's a small creature invading or the tunnels are made to fit medium-sized creatures; if the attackers are squeezing, they're gonna have a hard time.


Mark Hoover wrote:
Ok, so maybe the hammer is too much but seriously; why a spear and sling? For that matter mites are throwing darts? Seriously? They ride on giant vermin; poisoned darts or instead maybe a crossbow?

Are... are we thinking that the Bestiary is set in stone? I don't think I've ever run a monster as-is in the Bestiary. I apply a template, switch gear, swap feats, etc.

I have never run a dragon of large size or greater without flyby attack as a feat. If the dragon stat block doesn't have it, a feat is getting dropped to make room for it.

Modifying stat blocks is not only an option, but a superior one, since it keeps the players guessing.

My suggestion would be that even reading this thread is too much time spent on this. Never worry about this or think about it again. Just change stats to whatever you want and move on. No problems, no worries.


I believe in that example the fighter would have cover from all of the kobolds bar D2, and therefore no AoO's and a dismal hit chance.


outshyn wrote:
Mark Hoover wrote:
Ok, so maybe the hammer is too much but seriously; why a spear and sling? For that matter mites are throwing darts? Seriously? They ride on giant vermin; poisoned darts or instead maybe a crossbow?

Are... are we thinking that the Bestiary is set in stone? I don't think I've ever run a monster as-is in the Bestiary. I apply a template, switch gear, swap feats, etc.

I have never run a dragon of large size or greater without flyby attack as a feat. If the dragon stat block doesn't have it, a feat is getting dropped to make room for it.

Modifying stat blocks is not only an option, but a superior one, since it keeps the players guessing.

My suggestion would be that even reading this thread is too much time spent on this. Never worry about this or think about it again. Just change stats to whatever you want and move on. No problems, no worries.

The question at the start of the thread was why weapon using monsters use awful weapons by default. . .


These were not weapons created solely in the minds of Paizo developers, or backwards compatible creations of D&D or another game system. These are analogous to real world weapons that have actually been used by humans in human civilizations.

In real life not every space is five feet, not every resource is universally available, and there are no "stats" to tell you the most consistent way to kill another person.

Don't worry. Humanity has done just fine killing each other with slings and shortspears. And with a little creative DM'ing, your kobolds can too...!


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Mark Hoover wrote:

Let's take the lowly kobold. In my Bestiary 1 I see a pic of a kobold with a bone through its nose, a spear and it's range weapon lists a sling. Bear in mind that it is defined by its class levels. Its listed class in the stat block is Warrior 1, one of the only advantages of which is all martial weapons.

Why so cruel to the kobold?

Without changing/optimizing stats, adding PC class levels or modifying any feats I'm looking at a Str 9, Dex 13 Small sized creature. Said creature is also of average intelligence and capable of wielding ANY martial weapon, so why is he depicted with THESE weapons?

A simple change from a sling to a shortbow gives the kobold a +2 avg damage for a mere 30gp. There's not much you can do for the melee weapon but if he HAS to fight melee you could drop a Lucerne hammer in his hands; justify it as a mining hammer and pick combined. He's using 2 hands for his ranged weapons; why not max out his damage potential?

Ok, so maybe the hammer is too much but seriously; why a spear and sling? For that matter mites are throwing darts? Seriously? They ride on giant vermin; poisoned darts or instead maybe a crossbow?

I get hamstringing monsters with inferior stat arrays compared to the heroes. After all the PCs ARE presumably the heroes right? But really sub-standard gear seems like overkill on making monsters weaker than the PCs.

the real A is a complex one but :

1) creating a spear is easy and was used by low int humans (prehistoric). it's a stick with a sharpen rock. making a bow? not so easy.
2) same goes to hammer, a simple hammer is worse than a spear. a good warhammer is a lot of metal .
3) culture means a lot. i am a Dan-3 martial artist. i love to fight with a Sai. LOVE it. i am fairly good in it as well. is it better than a Katana? ofc it isnt. but i learned to specialize in something i like


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The topic of smelting underground is an interesting one. Flint weapons make sense, with the whole issue of smoke inhalation, but that would depend on the size of the cave system.

The chimney didn't come into vogue until the late 17th century, and humans have historically lived in smoke-filled (if not heavy-smoke filled) dwellings. Think caves, longhouses and the like. I don't think a kiln is necessarily out of the question if they were smart about it or delegated it to a certain part of the cave.

For the curious, this documentary showcases tudor-era lead miners, who harvest the ore with little more than hammers and chisels, build a makeshift kiln, refine and sand-cast the ore using nothing more technologically advanced than a set of bellows. They do however do most of the process outdoors, so it doesnt shed any light on ventilation, just on the level of technology involved. Nobody's expecting them to have a modern blast furnace, just some way to regulate the temperature.

There's the question of fuel. Dried dung makes the most sense to me. Although without charcoal I don't know that there would be enough carbon in the process to produce steel.

Anybody who knows anything about the subject want to weigh in?


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One thing I'd like to point out: the bestiary for "kobold" has them living in temperate underground or deep forest. They aren't ALWAYS the cave-dwelling miners.

Upthread it was said that weapon choices are made by art. I think it also ties into a pre-conceived notion, a mental snapshot designers had of creatures at the time they were entered into the bestiaries. Folks conceived of mites and went "they seem like petty weaklings; let's give 'em darts."

Add that in with the fact that mites are only supposed to be CR 1/4 and yeah, it makes sense. Now however you've got tons of new books, expanded feats, and a variety of weapons. Going with vanilla mites out of the beastiary against a group of decently optimized and armed PCs even in an APL 1 group will virtually guarantee the mites' destruction.

However if you had four PCs, level 1 with a 15 pt buy who had to stick to the CRB and core starting gold, 4 vanilla mites might actually be an Average challenge.

I feel like I've grown just a little more in my understanding and appreciation of the game...


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Twigs wrote:

The topic of smelting underground is an interesting one. Flint weapons make sense, with the whole issue of smoke inhalation, but that would depend on the size of the cave system.

The chimney didn't come into vogue until the late 17th century, and humans have historically lived in smoke-filled (if not heavy-smoke filled) dwellings. Think caves, longhouses and the like. I don't think a kiln is necessarily out of the question if they were smart about it or delegated it to a certain part of the cave.

For the curious, this documentary showcases tudor-era lead miners, who harvest the ore with little more than hammers and chisels, build a makeshift kiln, refine and sand-cast the ore using nothing more technologically advanced than a set of bellows. They do however do most of the process outdoors, so it doesnt shed any light on ventilation, just on the level of technology involved. Nobody's expecting them to have a modern blast furnace, just some way to regulate the temperature.

There's the question of fuel. Dried dung makes the most sense to me. Although without charcoal I don't know that there would be enough carbon in the process to produce steel.

Anybody who knows anything about the subject want to weigh in?

I could almost buy this line of reasoning except that Dwarves, Gnomes, and Drow all have no problem smelting underground.


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Pathfinder Lost Omens Subscriber

for carbon they could maybe use a weird resource... they could add oil to their smelting process.


Nathanael Love wrote:
I could almost buy this line of reasoning except that Dwarves, Gnomes, and Drow all have no problem smelting underground.

So, if I give you any semi-realistic reason why a weak, primitive, warren-dwelling, tribal race would use shortspears, you're going to counter with, "Nu-uh! Because Dragons!"

And if I say that kobolds use sucky weapons because Dragons, then you're going shout, "No way! There's all these pseudo-realistic reasons they might have weapons!"

Have I summed up your counter-arguments fairly accurately?

I'm pretty sure they're not going to reprint the bestiaries because you don't like the weapons they listed in the stat block. So, what's your end-game, here?


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I wonder if you could pressure cook ore...

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Bandw2 wrote:
I wonder if you could pressure cook ore...

very good question... you stuff the ore to the brim of the pressure vessel so there's very little air in there, cap it, cook it, and wait for the rock/metal separation to occur; rock probably floats on top, so have a valve at the bottom of the pressure vessel to leak the metal into a mold or gutter; make sure you hire some critters that are immune to fire to operate the red hot adamantine pressure vessel and valve! ;)


Twigs wrote:
I believe in that example the fighter would have cover from all of the kobolds bar D2, and therefore no AoO's and a dismal hit chance.

No cover. To determine cover, you choose a single corner. If you can draw straight line from that corner to all corners of the targets square, there is no cover. By looking from the top right corner of D1 and top left of D3, there is no cover (they however, have cover from the assailant).


The Crusader, that post was both really strawmanny and really inflammatory. No need to get so aggressive, please can we keep this discussion civil? I feel like it has been an unusually good and giving discussion for this kind of topic, please let it remain so?


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Purple Dragon Knight wrote:
Bandw2 wrote:
I wonder if you could pressure cook ore...
very good question... you stuff the ore to the brim of the pressure vessel so there's very little air in there, cap it, cook it, and wait for the rock/metal separation to occur; rock probably floats on top, so have a valve at the bottom of the pressure vessel to leak the metal into a mold or gutter; make sure you hire some critters that are immune to fire to operate the red hot adamantine pressure vessel and valve! ;)

kobolds can make amazing traps they can probably make a mechanism to release the ore when it's gotten hot enough.

also concrete or cement might work for the pressure cooker if it was specialized, it wouldn't be the normal stuff, but i know you can make cement do some crazy things if you add in the right materials. like how did they get adamantium without smelting it.


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Kobold Cleaver wrote:
gustavo iglesias wrote:
Kobold Cleaver wrote:
Why would you be more likely to be TPK'd by these kobolds than the default? Either monster will TPK players if the GM is inclined to TPK you. It's not the build that matters, it's what you do with it.
unless your talk about GM cheat (look! The kobold crits you! Again!), then no, by no means that's true. Your can play tactically sound with your orcs and flank and focus fire and whatever, but an orc with a club and skill focus is not goibg to be as dangerous as an orc with a great axe and power attackattack that is equally tactically sound

Except I'm not talking about cheating, nor about tactics. I'm talking about what the GM does with a monster.

That orc with the greataxe is nasty, but a good GM would send him in alone, or in very small numbers. The club-wielding orcs would likely be more numerous.

It's about ethics in encounter design. (God, some phrases just feel ruined for me at this point.)

It' a bit late, but I want to answer this.

Yeah, you are partially right. A GM could play 2 orcs with great axes and power attack, and make them roughly as dangerous as a more numerous group of club-wielding orcs. That's the point of my argument, though. If 2 orcs with great axes and power attack are as dangerous as 4 orcs with clubs and skill focus (perform), then the (effective) CR of the orcs with great axes and optimized feats isn't the same than the (effective) CR of the orcs with clubs and unoptimized feats, which is what was being discussed.


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Nathanael Love wrote:
I could almost buy this line of reasoning except that Dwarves, Gnomes, and Drow all have no problem smelting underground.

Well, I think this might have to do with underdark politics- ie- dwarves and drow are powerful enough to hold onto the huge caverns since they can fight in direct army on army warfare, and they can steam roll the other underdark denizens. Kobolds are more guerrilla fighters at best, and they need to stick to the small, often self created tunnel systems.


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lemeres wrote:
Nathanael Love wrote:
I could almost buy this line of reasoning except that Dwarves, Gnomes, and Drow all have no problem smelting underground.
Well, I think this might have to do with underdark politics- ie- dwarves and drow are powerful enough to hold onto the huge caverns since they can fight in direct army on army warfare, and they can steam roll the other underdark denizens. Kobolds are more guerrilla fighters at best, and they need to stick to the small, often self created tunnel systems.

I think i read somewhere about kobolds actually causing "accidental" cave ins to link dwarven tunnels with their enemies'.


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Bandw2 wrote:
lemeres wrote:
Nathanael Love wrote:
I could almost buy this line of reasoning except that Dwarves, Gnomes, and Drow all have no problem smelting underground.
Well, I think this might have to do with underdark politics- ie- dwarves and drow are powerful enough to hold onto the huge caverns since they can fight in direct army on army warfare, and they can steam roll the other underdark denizens. Kobolds are more guerrilla fighters at best, and they need to stick to the small, often self created tunnel systems.
I think i read somewhere about kobolds actually causing "accidental" cave ins to link dwarven tunnels with their enemies'.

Kobolds of Golarion, they link sniverblin (I have no idea how to spell it) cities to dwarf cities and then let 'em have at it.


People are generally agreed that slings are a crappy weapon and probably hard to use underground. All true. On the other hand, they are incredibly cheap and incredibly easy to carry about (it's a long piece of string; wear it as a belt). Even the ammo is free and readily available. So an average kobold who spends 99% of his time with no need for missile weapons can happily carry one, which is not remotely true of a bow or crossbow.

And speaking of "average" kobolds, that's what the Bestiary entry is. It's not really a Warrior 1, any more than all kobolds are warriors. Many of them are actually commoners. So to avoid having to include a bunch of pointless detail on how many are commoners with a flint dagger, how many are experts with picks or warriors with axes and swords, I expect the designers just chose a rough numerical average: that much + to hit, that much damage, crappy missile.

If you want to put proper warriors with armour, bows, longspears and rapiers in guardrooms, go ahead; but you might want to then downgrade the real cannon-fodder to Commoner 1 with a fragile knife.


Mudfoot, you seem to be arguing against yourself a bit. Are you claiming that the average kobold might have a sling, and that the bestiary kobold warrior is actually an average kobold commoner rather than the warrior it is stated as being? And they included it because including commoners is unnecessary?

And if that's the case, why is it that way only for kobolds? Unless you're also saying that the average hobgoblin commoner goes around with a longbow and studded leather, and the average vishkanya with shuriken and kukri?

I mean, it seems pretty clear that the kobold entry is for a kobold warrior, not a kobold commoner. It says so on the tin, even. I get why they wouldn't include the details of a commoner, as commoners aren't normally combatants that need combat stats, but warriors are, so why would the kobold warrior entry be anything but kobold warriors?

(Also, slings aren't _that_ bad as weapons in general - for an orc they make a good backup weapon for those that want more range than a javelin - it's that a weak race doesn't have much use for them)


Nathanael Love wrote:
I could almost buy this line of reasoning except that Dwarves, Gnomes, and Drow all have no problem smelting underground.

I concur, I think it makes sense, and I also don't believe metallurgy and a primitive culture are mutually exclusive.


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Twigs wrote:
Nathanael Love wrote:
I could almost buy this line of reasoning except that Dwarves, Gnomes, and Drow all have no problem smelting underground.
I concur, I think it makes sense, and I also don't believe metallurgy and a primitive culture are mutually exclusive.

I just might expect to see more copper weapons than iron (due to melting points and all)

Unless there is a naturally occurring source of heat...like lava...

I know, I am against it as a constant for kobolds (because there are only so many 'safe' volcanoes or lava vents that kobolds are willing to live near- they aren't goblins here, sacrificing books into any old big burny thing just waiting for it to explode), but it is a nice thing for a single scenario.


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Pathfinder Lost Omens Subscriber

volcanoes technically wouldn't have open lava pits if they did they would be seeping up into the open areas around them as the only reason lava is this high is because it was pushed up there. There could be mini subsurface volcanoes that just exploded into the underdark though if it's open enough.

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