I am new to pathfinder in general and my 3.X experience is limited to some pre 3.5 stuff.Anywho, I am working on a game and want to make a Kobold Sorc that I want to turn into a little GM NPC for the party to befriend and such after a RP sceen of saving it and some others story NPCs lives.
So looking over the book and such I am a tad confused on how to roll up a kobold with a hero class level.
Can anyone give me some advice and ideas? I am looking to make something fun and interesting for my players and to be honest, a plain kick for me to NPC as well.
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-lists-and-details/-k/kobold
Scroll down to Kobold Characters.
Only Kobolds with NPC class levels are considered -2 CR. If they have PC class levels (such as Sorc) then CR= class level, sometimes CL-1 if the class doesn;t really suit them (A kobold Fighter, for example). Despite their physical weakness, Kobolds get some nice perks (30 ft movement for a small creature, small traits, +1 NA, and dark vision) and make for pretty strong characters after a few levels. Dragon Bloodline Sorc would be the obvious choice, but really, there are few bad choices (flavor wise) for Sorcs. Adding 1/2 Dragon would give you a HUGE boost in stats, PLUS flight, PLUS a breath weapon, so CR 3 for a 1/2 Dragon Kobold Sorc seems about right, possibly a bit low. Also, he will have +5 AC, +2 Dex, and +1 AC for small, so base AC before adding extra dex or spells is 17, which isn't too shabby for a Sorc. Add a couple points of Dex and Mage Armor, and he will be nigh unhittable by a 1-3 level party, IMO.
This guy sounds fun, I may yoink him now :)
well CR is class level -1 for the standard races, arguably for kobolds CR would be class level -2.
the half-dragon template would make the kobold CR equal class level, which is 1 CR better than standard races. The wings might be considered too powerful for early levels in any case.
Draconic sorcerer bloodline will be thematically sound, but the benefits for a half-dragon overlap quite a bit I think. Easily houseruled though.
I highly suggest taking a look through the Races of the Dragon 3.5 book by WotC. It has a lot of feats specific for Kobolds with dragon blood in them (such as giving them wings and the like), adding dragon traits, and for sorcerers with dragon blood ancestry. It also has a cool list of dragon themed spells, dragon related prestige classes, and so on.
You can make a really awesome Kobold dragon blood sorceror using it.
The half-dragon indeed add +2 CR BUT the minimum CR of a half-dragon creature is always 3, meaning that both a half-dragon kobold and a half-dragon human have CR 3.
Now if both have 1 level of sorcerer they are still CR 3. With 2 levels of sorcerer still CR 3.But with 3 levels of sorcerer the human has CR 4 while the kobold CR 3, and this goes up to 20 lvl. By that time the 20 level sorcerer half-dragon human has CR 21 and the 20 level sorcerer half-dragon kobold CR 20.
First, by playing a half-dragon kobold you must be prepared for the worst attidude by NPCs (a monster with obvious dragon characteristics is not what i would describe as friendly and harmless ), but this is up to DM.
Second, you understand that by adding the template you instantly become more powerful, the rest of the party members are nothing compared to you especially at low levels (1-5). And even after those levels you still have 4 buffed stats from the template, wings, +4 AC and pretty handy immunities. That is a +3 LA adjustment template by 3.5 rules, and your DM should consider this, because otherwise all players will add powerfull templates to their characters without penalties and become overpowered.
If your DM and the rest party members are ok with the fact that you will be by far, far , far more powerful with no penalties then its a wonderful idea.
By the way KOBOLDS RULE :D
Might be fun to experiment with the witch class a bit otherwise, allowing him to use some weird hexes, a little healing, minor aids like fortune, without actually casting spells. Maybe Gurgy is a fairly potent witch, but can not cast actual spells, since his piglet familiar has been lost/kidnapped. Maybe one of his wings is lame, so he can not actualy fly for more than a round at a time. Such things make your players more sympathetic towards your npc probably. Maybe add a few rogue levels for some nice skills and tricks.
TL;DR: Don't take the half-dragon template. Start as a draconic sorcerer and go into dragon disciple.
This is based on my experience here: Although this was not for a kobold (it was built for a drow)--I took a character who was supposed to be a half-dragon and built her two ways--the first was with the half-dragon template and draconic sorcerer bloodline.
The second was with no template and a draconic sorcerer bloodline leveling into dragon disciple.
Because of adjusting for CR, in my personal experience I found the Dragon Disciple build ultimately far more effective in the long run (and has pretty much all the relevant half-dragon abilities and then some). What happens is--well, what always happens for adjusting for CR. At early levels, the template gives you an advantage, but as you become more powerful, it's MUCH more effective to have the more class levels (and particularly for a sorcerer, the higher caster levels, although dragon disciple mitigates that somewhat).
IMO/in my personal experience of course, and ultimately I support doing whatever will allow you to have the most fun.
Ha, Gurgy, nice call :)
Well I've never really been a fan of multi-classing. Feats are to rare for the magical types I would rather not waste them.
Is that a response to my suggestion to go the Dragon Disciple route? Because I'm not getting where you are getting the "wasting feats" idea from. The only prereqs are draconic bloodline and 5 ranks in Knowledge Arcana, which most a sorcerer build is likely to have anyway.
Dragon Disciple as a PRC is less a "multiclass" and more an "alternate path" for a draconic bloodline sorcerer, where you sacrifice some spell caster levels for some additional dragon-ness. There are no prerequisite feats, and you still even get your bloodline feats when you level in the PrC.
But for that matter, if he's going kobold draconic sorcerer anyway, even staying straight up in that class is going to eventually give him many draconic features. And if he's not a PC, making him powerful should not be a priority.
Anther option I was toying with was making something of my own. Some kind of dragonkin like thing. Take the half-dragon template and reverse engineer it into a critter.
Noooo, no dragonborn! ;) Draconians, maybe....
Some would also argue that kobolds are already tiny dragonkin already.
Now I have the problem of trying to figure out how to make the party willing to let him tag along and not kill him when they first come along him.
He could hire them, they could hire him, he could offer them something they need and/or otherwise prove himself useful in a way that doesn't overshadow the party.
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DM NPC's are usually a bad idea IMO since they can overshadow the rest of the party if they have access to templates and resources the rest of the party doesn't. I would avoid them like the plague.
If you're dead set on adding one, I'd keep the kobold as a normal, run-of-the-mill kobold with NPC class levels. This keeps the kobold's role clearly as a second-tier character/helper instead of a prime mover. A kobold adept is actually pretty effective, but OTOH I think a kobold witch would be really cool!
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If you're dead set on the "Draconic Kobold Spellcaster" idea, your best bet is probably straight Sorcerer into Dragon Disciple. You'll drop a couple of Caster Levels (gasp), but in return get all kinds of AC, Str, and other tasty draconic bits.
For a GM NPC (do you mean, stays with the party, takes action during combat, you get to play a PC while DM'ing style?) a Sorcerer can go either way.
If you take buff and utility spells (enlarge person, spider climb, haste, for example) you help the party and make them more powerful. This is very useful for small parties or one with a specific hole in their makeup; no Arcane Caster for this particular character to fill in.
If you take fight-ending spells (color spray, glitterdust, charm, dominate), you take the power away from the PC's and give the knockout punch to a GM run character. Not the most recommended way of play, but to each his own.
As a helpful, friendly little mini-dragon, a few levels of Sorcerer won't hurt the party, ESPECIALLY if he excels in running away, hiding, and reconnaissance. This way, you're giving the PC's information for their own handling, rather than just making things happen around them.
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DMPCs can be done, they can even be done very well.
The thing to remember is to not step on the toes of the players.
If 1 is a fighter and the other a bard, a sorcerer (or witch, for some extra healing and support magic) will fit right in.
Another option may be to have each player handle 2 PC's. I don't know if that would help in your particular situation, but it would keep the # of characters in line with projected CR.
As far as RP, you can't beat the funny voiced comic sidekick. ..and kobolds are great for that.
Well this is a small group of friends. just 2 players and 1 GM. They are playing a fighter and a bard so.... magic shouldn't hurt would it?I kind of want to have something for them to do things with other than the usual crawl dungeon, kill things, loot and sell. I read alot of the stuff in the games today and its always lacking in the RP area save for what I consider a Token gesture at it.
If he doesn't turn out to be a good thing for the group I'll just have him die or run off.
This does seem like a good idea if the group is a bit below average. If they have trouble with encounters, you could also give them treasure above their level. If the fighter has a +2 sword at 5th level he's not going to care that the NPC has a template, I guarantee it.
And if your group, like mine, likes having an increased chance of living, they will really like NPCs. At present both groups I'm running have each recruited several NPCs each, and I usually limit them to one a combat. All of them are, weirdly enough, monster races, but I do have a decent number of turncoats in my game, so I suppose it adds up.
Dragon Disciple is actually quite a good prestige class now if you still want to do that, and I can give some help since I've made more than one front-line kobold in the past. Races of the Dragon helps a lot for this.
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I'm currently playing a kobold dragon disciple 5/bard 8 right now and it could not be more fun! The slow progression towards draconic goodness keeps the character in line with the rest of the party, and gives me something to look forward to each level. He's really becoming a powerhouse in melee combat (claws, bite and power attack are scary)
The danger about LA templates is that you loose out on BAB, HD and saves. This can turn the character into a glass cannon (hits hard, but really vulnerable), so I recommend the PrC route.