Running through the Stolen Lands, and had a general question about the Sootscale Kobolds. As presented, I'm just not sure why they're sporting an Evil alignment. Chief Sootscale, for example - he wants to get control of his tribe back, but he doesn't come across as really Evil. Tartuk, sure, but I don't see why the rest of the tribe's kobolds, as presented in the material, deserve anything other than a Neutral alignment.
So, I'm just wondering about other people's take on this. Are your Sootscales evil? And if so, why?
Running through the Stolen Lands, and had a general question about the Sootscale Kobolds. As presented, I'm just not sure why they're sporting an Evil alignment. Chief Sootscale, for example - he wants to get control of his tribe back, but he doesn't come across as really Evil. Tartuk, sure, but I don't see why the rest of the tribe's kobolds, as presented in the material, deserve anything other than a Neutral alignment.
So, I'm just wondering about other people's take on this. Are your Sootscales evil? And if so, why?
Because they are kobolds and kobolds are evil as per the PRD?
Running through the Stolen Lands, and had a general question about the Sootscale Kobolds. As presented, I'm just not sure why they're sporting an Evil alignment. Chief Sootscale, for example - he wants to get control of his tribe back, but he doesn't come across as really Evil. Tartuk, sure, but I don't see why the rest of the tribe's kobolds, as presented in the material, deserve anything other than a Neutral alignment.
So, I'm just wondering about other people's take on this. Are your Sootscales evil? And if so, why?
I think it is purely based on their racial norms. Kobolds have a natural bent toward evil. They are tricky, if cowardly, aggressive predators and raiders. The AP presents an interesting moral diklemna for a lot of advanturing groups, as it gives the option of helping Sootscale regain control of his tribe and allying with him, rather than just wiping them out, as would be typical. I think both paths have potential problems, from an ethical point of view. Wiping them out when they are not immediately threatening and willing to negotiate peacefully is ethically very questionable. On the other hand, leaving them be could have a lot of problems in the long run, as it is probably inevitable that they would eventually start raiding and terrorizing homesteaders and commercial traffic in the region, if left to their own devices. This can go lots of different ways, and I'm fascinated to see how my players (with mostly good-aligned characters, including a paladin) will deal with it. They already encountered the zoned-out kobolds in the radish patch, and should be reaching the Sooscale caverns some time in the next two game sessions, depending on how their explorting takes them.
They're Lawful Evil so perhaps you can play more on the lawful aspect? I guess you can play up the viciousness too.
My players killed the chief while the sorcerer ran.. and they were left with 12 or so kobolds. One of the PCs took it as an opportunity to reopen the mine eventually and made a deal with them.. including naming a new lieutenant(Nakpik) who might have a power trip depending how I'm feeling it..
The party first met Mikmek in the mite lair but let him go to warn his chief.. and Tartuk got him sacrified.
I had the remaining kobold pierce the mite prisonner with sharp sticks until death while the group's paladin wasn't around to look at..the war is over afterall!
As long as they have someone to keep them in check, they shouldn't be much trouble but the evil nature will resurface now and then.
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My players helped liberate the kobolds from their evil shaman leader.
They offered them a deal. The kobolds work the mines (yes mines - they gave them the gold mine too) and in return, they won't have to raid and pillage to get food and resources.
So far, all is good.
It's nice to see the opportunity to solve problems without the usual RPG genocide.
It's nice to see the opportunity to solve problems without the usual RPG genocide.
+1
Creative Director
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The kobolds may be a little cowardly, but that doesn't mean that they abandon their nature. They're evil... they're just not powerful. The fact that they're evil is intentional—the PCs get to agonize over whether it's a good idea to ally with an evil group.
THAT SAID! If the PCs treat them nice and support them and do a lot of missionary or diplomacy or other type of interaction to try to show the Sootscales the errors of their ways, I think that it'd be pretty cool to allow the PCs to convert the tribe to neutral or, perhaps, even good with enough work.
But left to their own, once the mite problem and their own internal problems are dealt with, the Sootscales will indeed go back to being evil little critters if they don't have impressive non-evil role models!
I...dunno. Considering the hue and cry that's been going on over alignment these past few weeks, I don't want to get too deeply into this, but I'd say their current problems have more to do with their society, not so much their ethics or morals. Any group of individuals in that type of society would find themselves in a pickle in that situation regardless of their alignment. Still, I'll have to re-read that part of the adventure.
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Creative Director
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I...dunno. Considering the hue and cry that's been going on over alignment these past few weeks, I don't want to get too deeply into this, but I'd say their current problems have more to do with their society, not so much their ethics or morals. Any group of individuals in that type of society would find themselves in a pickle in that situation regardless of their alignment. Still, I'll have to re-read that part of the adventure.
There's no sudden new hue and cry over alignment. That hue and cry's been going on since the Internet was born. It just goes in cycles.
Jack Baur is lawful good, Batman is chaotic good, James Bond is lawful evil... that sort of thing. :-P
The Sootscales are so presented so as to give...
...the opportunity to solve problems without the usual RPG genocide...
...but, if your players are playing genocidal simpletons, it's imprimatur to slay with feckless abandon. It's win-win, really.
For my group, it was more that Kobolds are Lawful that is important (as opposed to Evil), having decided to establish a Lawful Neutral kingdom. The thing to remember is that, while evil, opportunistic little buggers, they are cowardly and tend to cow-tow to those in a stronger position. For my game, this means they have been happily working hard in their Silver Mine, and making a fair wage in the kingdom's economy (making them common enough for me to offer them as yet another option for new characters - not something any of my players have yet to do, sadly).
The twist (evil GM laugh inserted here) is that the Court's npc General and former fallen Paladin (no, not the one you're likely thinking of, if you know how KM1 plays out) who just took up the faith of Gyrrona and switched to being an Antipaladin (what can I say, she has issues), and has been pandering to the Kobolds' baser natures and putting them up to the sorts of no good they excel at.
So the question for me at this point is not how to deal with "evil vs. good" but "lawful vs. chaotic."
So the question for me at this point is not how to deal with "evil vs. good" but "lawful vs. chaotic."
by far the number 1 morale issue of our group too is Law versus Chaos
"Toe the line and flourish, progress through power, order is everything, etc"
I...dunno. Considering the hue and cry that's been going on over alignment these past few weeks, I don't want to get too deeply into this, but I'd say their current problems have more to do with their society, not so much their ethics or morals. Any group of individuals in that type of society would find themselves in a pickle in that situation regardless of their alignment. Still, I'll have to re-read that part of the adventure.There's no sudden new hue and cry over alignment. That hue and cry's been going on since the Internet was born. It just goes in cycles.
Jack Baur is lawful good, Batman is chaotic good, James Bond is lawful evil... that sort of thing. :-P
Well of course. James Bond is British. It's expected.
*GDR* ;)
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My players have never cast a single "Detect Alignment" spell, and mostly have judged each person based on their actions. Heck, they aren't even positive if wiping out the TATZLWYRMs is a good idea. I think a mangled trapper corpse might change their minds about that.
In any case I see the kobolds as vicious by nature, but eminently redeemable, should the PCs put some effort into it.
My players
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My group loves the little biters.
They swim, boat, mine, have a ridiculous breeding rate, & are considered "monsters", so legal issues of slavery & the like ate pretty much moot.
The tribe has bloomed in the 1st few months of the campaign, with some mining silver, others mining gold, and the majority running riverboats and fishing in the rivers to the east of Tuskwater.
Things should get interesting come the Feud event soon......
It does help that most of the party is either evil or leaning that way.
The devil is in the details. I have always raised an eyebrow when PC's begin to purge things simply based on alignment. Now there is a whole super sidetrack wank fest we could engage in on actions vs alignment and whether one begets the other or vice versa...it's a tired debate.
What should be taken from the published interactions with the Sootscales is that they CAN be judged off of their interactions with the PC's rather than having a Red name plate and targetting reticule on them. Now if you and your group are in the "scan for evil alignments and then call down a nuke strike" camp...well I think Kingmaker will still work just fine. But for those that want to be able to deal with the little gutter snipes and maintain the LE angle it is fairly simple.
Kobolds are at the foremost concerned with winning the survival race. Kobolds breed like hamsters during summer vacation in a 5th grade class room (a recent bit of /facepalm comedy my wife dealt with). Because there are an unending supply of little spikey toothed mouths to feed there is a very cold blooded and blase viewpoint on the sanctity of life and importance of sharing with the group. Unlike some more benevolently geared races the kobolds aren't so much concerned with the survival of their species or even the prosperity of their tribe as a whole. They want to be on the winning side and they want to personally win the race to have the most of everything (food, power, fun, more power, comfy clothes, more power, etc).
Okay so that is where we ge the Evil angle from, but their lawful nature derives from the fact that they are tiny and extremely cowardly. To properly understand a Kobold's cowardice you have to take a look at the places in which they dwell. The Darklands are full of so many awful things that a coward tends to still be a living coward after the Copyright Protectithids come through gathering up slaves. Same goes for mountain or forest dwelling kobolds living near some pretty terrifying surface monstrosities (dragons, orcs, humans, etc). Okay so they are a bunch of cowards, how does that make them lawful?
Well Sonny Jim the best way for a coward to assure his survival is to get in line behind the larger or more cunning kobold in front of you...then once he dies you loot his corpse and use your new booty to flagelate and cow the kobolds behind you into fighting your fights and dying for you so that you can remain safe and sound back home counting out your treasure and eating all the best food. The same thing is true with kobolds and their typical alliance/enslavement by other races. Sure hobgoblins are a bunch of bullying d-bags, but at least they scare off a lot of things that usually eat a kobold, their scraps are delicious and it sure beats having to work that much harder to stay alive...now you just have to make sure you blame your watchmate Kreekle for that time you fell asleep and those pesky humans infiltrated the camp and killed the hobgoblin leader...
As we steer this tangent boat back into Kingmaker, I have presented the Sootscales as a pack of opportunists that currently follow their chief. It is entirely possible for a group of quickthinking adventurers to secure something of a peace with Kobolds because it's not like any of them really want to fight, and if they can benefit from the pacification of the Stolen Lands then why not avoid eating the pinkins that come to live here. However, kobolds aren't stupid and they'll probably negotiate their "cessation of conquest" in return for a little hunk of semi-autonomous land or control of something valuable like a gold mine and the ability to mosey into a human settlement without being beaten with sticks.
Of course once the leadership of the tribe shifts, or they no longer feel adequately sated by the "alliance" (always a danger with the greedy little buggers) they will undoubtedly betray their human counterparts in favor of someone or something more powerful. All the PC's have to do is keep the kobolds affraid of them and I'm sure it could be quite a beneficial alliance with ample saluting and mildly comical interactions on both sides (I keep envisioning a kobold diplomat living in the capital lording his great standing and power over the common folk that live in town).
Both of my Groups made friends with the Kobalds, and Both have Sootscale on there council. I also put in the Blue Kobalds at the moon radish patch. Party 1 taught them trade (and traded them for the radishes), and the 2nd party just scared them off.
I played the Sootscale as practical and clever people, primitive but adapted to a land now settled with humans. They tend to be sadistic but submissive.
Their friendship with the players and the kingdom is giving them more benefits than troubles. They now channel their sadistic instincts enjoying public executions.
Over time, there will be kobolds more civilized and less cruel.
We've used the kobolds as a great oportunity of Roleplaying.
I'm fully agree with Herbo. The Soothscales are trying to survive and takes all the oportunities they can afford.
So, my party found first the kobolds in the radish patch. The kobolds were intoxicated by the moonradish and felt strong enough to attack them. Instead of beating them to dead, my PC party saved the life of two of them (that I turned to be Mikmek and Napkip) and send them to their chief as envoys announcing the comming of the PCs.
Later, they agreed with chief Soothscale to finish the "blue menace" of the mites and "signed paper" with the kobolds. The agreement (negotiated through several uses of Diplomacy, Bluff, Intimidate and Sense Motives from the two parties) was:
1-the kobolds will get their own "kingdom" free of "big people" where they rule as they wish. As the game has evolved, the kobolds has looted several innocent people that has crossed their land.
2- The kobold "kingdom" were their lair and surroundings (in game therms, the hex where is located the lair). The chief Soothscale has tried opportunistically to take more land from the neighbouring hexes, wich has obligated the PCs to intervene again.
3- The kobolds has "free passage" to the radish hex to gather the plants they are fond of.
4- They will mine the silver of their mine and trade some silver for other stuff to the PC. In game therms, the party can use the hex "mine bonus" if they can build a road to the lair.
5- The kobbolds agree not to attack "big people" outside their kingdom and the big people cannot attack kobolds unpunished in the PC kingdom. Of course, there is allways debate of what "big people" means... Do the term includes childs? Or halflings, gnomes and the like?
The kobolds are always fitting the words of the agreement, but trying to bend the spirit of the agreement in his benefit. They are trying to puss the boundaries of the agreement further in their benefit, creating very interesting role-playing situations.
Also, I played Mikmek and Napkip very nice and lovely (like helpful tiny pets that want to be heroes) and they are the lieutenants of Chief Soothscale, so my party seems them like an annoyance of little kids that must be edducated.
We're finishing Rivers Run Red and they are forging a great alliance based in understanding and commercial relationship enough strong to allow my players the use of a Huge Army of Kobolds when the War of the River Kings erupts.
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The group I DM for has made peace with the tribe in exchange for getting their statue back from the mites.
The group I DM for has made peace with the tribe in exchange for getting their statue back from the mites.
** spoiler omitted **
That's totally awesome Nebelwerfer!
It makes me want to add another quick jab on kobolds before I shut my trap and retreat to my GM Demiplane...There are plenty of unfair acts of racial profiling that occur on a daily basis that good hearted characters can see right through. For example halflings and Varisians have some stereotypes that aren't always true (ie being a pack of double crossing, baby snatching, chaos spawned theives and/or murderers).
Kobolds, on the other hand, fully deserve their racial profiling. They WILL cause trouble, they WILL bring down neighboring property values (one stolen spoon or cat at a time), and they WILL make for some problematic rulership situations, but they most certainly CAN be dealt with without genocide to the benefit of the PC's kingdom. You've just got to stay one step ahead of them physically (referring here to their impressive breeding) and about two steps ahead of them mentally (they will easily take offense and always twist things to their best benefit or at least to your greatest annoyance).
But hey, at least they aren't Goblins...
The group I DM for has made peace with the tribe in exchange for getting their statue back from the mites.
** spoiler omitted **
That involves a lot of funny situations !! As someone has said before, the only way to deal with kobolds is through intimidation. Give them reasons to be good guys. 'Carrot and stick' tactic. But don't be too hard. Ultimately, Kobolds are adorable.
Greetings, fellow travellers.
My group had the first encounter with the little buggers in the radish patch and it went like expected: death, blood, looting the corpses.
Really disappointing.
Also, the kobolds are level 1 so their alignment will not even show up on a detect!
I think the biggest hinderance is the mixing of player and character knowledge (and xenophobia): little scaly buggers - go kill 'em.
In my encounter they even cried out: "Go away, big folk, this is ours!" The response of the paladin: I charge them and deal them a lesson for being insolent! .. what can I say.
One of the kobolds escaped and I think they will meet him again, and if it is just to play on the conscience of the paladin.
Ruyan.
If you guys like the idea of Kobolds in a "normal" city setting, check out Wolfgang Baur's Free City of Zobeck over at OpenDesign: http://www.wolfgangbaur.com/projects/Tales_of_Zobeck.php / http://www.koboldquarterly.com/
Greetings, fellow travellers.
My group had the first encounter with the little buggers in the radish patch and it went like expected: death, blood, looting the corpses.
Really disappointing.Also, the kobolds are level 1 so their alignment will not even show up on a detect!
I think the biggest hinderance is the mixing of player and character knowledge (and xenophobia): little scaly buggers - go kill 'em.
In my encounter they even cried out: "Go away, big folk, this is ours!" The response of the paladin: I charge them and deal them a lesson for being insolent! .. what can I say.
One of the kobolds escaped and I think they will meet him again, and if it is just to play on the conscience of the paladin.
Ruyan.
I like the design decision of making Chief Sootscale lvl 3 and Tartuk 5. It means the chief does not detect but Tartuk is faint evil.
My players have the Sootscales eating out of their pocket right now. None of them could read the diary, but with a nat 20 slight of hand check the rogue planted one of the Stag Lord's medalions on Tartuk and convinced the chief that he was a plot sent to destroy the tribe, "since it is obvious that they are a threat to him." They played to the chief's ego and now he is their puppet. They will be using kobolds to help man the siege engines to stom the Stag Lord fort :) Nothing can go wrong with that plan.
I think our group had a more unique solution to the Sootscale problem. We spared some of the Kobolds (our Baron killed one in the Mite cave!) but after we liberated them from Tartuk we invited the Kobolds to remain allies with us and I (as the Town Warden or Marshall as we renamed it) incorporated them into my guard!
It's a bit of a stretch having a Paladin using Kobolds as guards, but I'm converting them to worship Abadar and I give the Kobolds the respect they deserve. To be honest I trust them more than the freaking elves who have been nothing but problems!
Our group just put down Tartuk in a tough fight. Sootscales helped us in the fight (sort of, but didn't hit once) but one of our party died.
This was my speech to him after the fight,
Malthir goes and sits down beside the body of Edric and places his hand on his head, Edric my friend, we have failed you. Together we were going to build a place of peace and safety, but we failed to protect our own. You gave your life for this dream and you will not be forgotten. We will return you to your family and let them know that your sacrifice will not be in vain and we will honor your ideals in the days to come. Yelena, what do you want us to do with him? I know we should take him back to Oleg's for the short term but we will help you with whatever arrangements are needed. an undertone of anger simmers in his voice.He stands up and walks over to Sootscales and roughly grabs him by the vest and lifts him up into the air easily, he makes sure Sootscales can see Edric's body lying on the cave floor, This brave comrade of ours died for you and yours. His name was Edric, do not dare forget his name. Don't make his sacrifice a waste. You can treat with us, learn from us, work with us, and live side by side with us. You can have peace and security with us. Or you can have war with us. You know we have already defeated the Mites, you have seen what we are capable of. We would rather be friends with you and your people or you can leave the GreenBelt now and never return. You decide, but if you stay and go back on your word of peace and working with the humans, the full wrath of the Guardians will be among you, and there will be no more mercy! We will not leave until we have your answer. He lets Sootscales down softly and awaits his answer.
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I've never been one for the speciest alignment designations, since the behavior of a lizardfolk tribe can be just as savage as that of a kobold tribe and they both fill the same role as antagonists, albeit with different tactics. One is somehow less evil intrinsically than the other. If I didn't hand wave most alignment questions depending on story needs, I'd roll an alignment die for every npc that isn't from an aligned plane. It should be just as common for alignment variance in kobolds as it is in the player character races.
If anything, the suggested alignment in the bestiary is a legacy game mechanic that's meant to simplify the game. I'm sure there are occasional debates and disagreements when certain characters get statted up behind the scenes at Paizo(a certain alchemist springs to mind). As James Jacobs said, these debates have always been around(my favorite is the Batman as hero or part of the problem debate).
Our group just put down Tartuk in a tough fight. Sootscales helped us in the fight (sort of, but didn't hit once) but one of our party died.
This was my speech to him after the fight,
Malthir goes and sits down beside the body of Edric and places his hand on his head, Edric my friend, we have failed you. Together we were going to build a place of peace and safety, but we failed to protect our own. You gave your life for this dream and you will not be forgotten. We will return you to your family and let them know that your sacrifice will not be in vain and we will honor your ideals in the days to come. Yelena, what do you want us to do with him? I know we should take him back to Oleg's for the short term but we will help you with whatever arrangements are needed. an undertone of anger simmers in his voice.He stands up and walks over to Sootscales and roughly grabs him by the vest and lifts him up into the air easily, he makes sure Sootscales can see Edric's body lying on the cave floor, This brave comrade of ours died for you and yours. His name was Edric, do not dare forget his name. Don't make his sacrifice a waste. You can treat with us, learn from us, work with us, and live side by side with us. You can have peace and security with us. Or you can have war with us. You know we have already defeated the Mites, you have seen what we are capable of. We would rather be friends with you and your people or you can leave the GreenBelt now and never return. You decide, but if you stay and go back on your word of peace and working with the humans, the full wrath of the Guardians will be among you, and there will be no more mercy! We will not leave until we have your answer. He lets Sootscales down softly and awaits his answer.
Wow... that was just awesome.
Spoiler:No one died during the attack on Tartuk with my group, but two (technically three... if you include an animal companion that is) anyway... I killed three during the mites encounter. I have 6 players in my game... so I beefed up this encounter (using a lot of Alexander Kilcoyne's (sp?) suggestions by the way) but the druid and cavalier died (probably because they "charged" ahead into the room/chamber with those 6 mites... although I added a few mites to the encounter as written. And the only reason I'm going on about this is, no one got the slightest bit "worked up" by the deaths of Drelith (human druid), and Iroh (dwarf cavalier). Not a syllable uttered, not one word of a vengeful oath.
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stuff about standard deviations
I like this idea to describe a population. Of course, I'd probably go with 68% as being the stated alignment then go to 95% for those one step away and so on.
For kobolds, you can expect in a large enough population that the distribution would be:
68.0% - LE
13.5% - NE
13.5% - LN
1.66% - LG
1.66% - N
1.66% - CE
and any other alignment being exceptionally rare or even absent.
You could also use two or more "base" alignments such as a LG/NG human settlement which would give the following breakdown:
34% - LG
34% - NG
9.0% - LN
9.0% - N
9.0% - CG
1.5% - CN
1.5% - NE
1.5% - LE
0.5% - CE
(with some rounding, of course)
My players liberated them from Tartuk and chased the shaman down when he tried to run (he almost got away but his illusion didn't quite fool the PCs and one of them was a very good tracker.) Then they negotiated into giving the kobolds the silver mine and they are now happy and productive citizens of a lawful neutral kingdom.
Well, except for the occasional demands for a Real Brewery. And maybe a few more things will happen as the kobold tribe begins to grow...
The PCs did find another kobold group which they invited to settle on their lands as well, but the Hellknights (invited by one of the PCs who happens to be the Baron) wiped them out for being thieves. There were some survivors...
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Our group is trying to convert them to Abadar worship - no-one in the party worships him, but we figured a Lawful Neutral deity that liked civilization was our best bet. We built a watchtower and barracks Right On Top of their lair just in case (along with a temple of Abadar and a mansion for the chief) and have been teaching promising (read: uppity and too smart for their own good) young kobolds at the academy in our capital city.
Kobolds are sneaky, clever, operate best out of sight, and set ambushes and traps while blissfully free of conscience. To me that doesn't say "genocide", it says "hire them as lawyers". And maybe traders to foreign lands that haven't been polite recently.
My group set up a trading contract with the Kobolds. Silver for food/luxeries. Then one of the play set up a side deal. Silver that fell off the cart for weapons. I'm not sure he understands what he is doing, but he told me he planned on arming them anyway. :)
The Sootscales in our campaign have been relocated to a gold mine to keep them more under thumb and closer to the capital. They have similarly made a deal where the kingdom trades finished goods for gold ore and a pact not to attack/eat citizens/visitors of our nation. The kobolds have emulated the big folk in starting a town that is rapidly becoming a source of black market dealings for the kingdom but they have been very faithful to their original agreement and the gold has flowed quite regularly...along with other things. The kingdom's loyalty and stability have suffered slightly but the economic benefit has been quite good. Things are relatively peaceful despite several anti-kobold citizen and political groups that have become rather vocal and active.
The kingdom has also granted a kobold the title of Sootscale Trade Ambassador (he styles himself "Lordly Sir Mekmek the Fanged and Terrible")and this little bugger lives in our capital and engages in political and business endeavors for the advantage of himself, and every now and then the Sootscales when his position is threatened by Cheif Sootscale or the party. He also runs a river transport business that provides mostly safe and extremely affordable travel up and down the rivers of the greenbelt (passage fares range from a sandwich to the contents of a traveler's purse).
In our version of Kingmaker I've put more emphasis on the political maneuverings of Rostland and Issia so the kobolds have been an interesting addition to that pool (both for good and bad).
All in all, kobolds are a fun aspect of our game.
My players just defeated the Stag Lord with the help of Kobolds. My party had just encountered them and solved the Mite problem by the time-honored practice of genocide. I had the Kobolds there to shore up the the party's deficiency of a Magus and 2 casters in the final battle of the chapter.
It worked well, they smuggled in the Kobolds as slaves new slaves for the Stag Lord/horderves for the owlbear. A pretty good plan, didn't have to lean on them to give them idea. They were speed-bumps, and a Deus Ex'ed the chief to keep alive, but they are developing a rapport with them now.
They did allow the Kobolds to eat the fallen foes after the battle, which was 'payment' for the work. My idea was to allow them to appoint Sootscale in the government. Now I've got the juices flowing on How this will affect my party's alignment and their kingdom as a whole (Note: they are all LN, TN, or CN, no actual good players).
BTW,
removing the Sootscales removes also an allied army in the long run.
Kobold Skirmishers CR 4
Gargantuan army of kobolds (warrior 1)
Combat
hp 22; DV 14; OM +4
Tactics Dirty Fighters
Logistics
Speed 2; Consumption 2
Prerequisite Allied with Sootscale kobolds
My group wiped out the kobolds in the radish patch without a second thought. The kobolds acted in a hostile manner, so had to go, in the party's mind.
They debated how they were going to handle the kobold tribe in general...it was a pretty even split between alliance and genocide as a solution.
When they actually met Mikmek, however, he was helpless and being tortured, so their immediate inclination was rescue, which led to assisting the tribe with the statue problem...which led to alliance.
For me, their racial alignment colors their actions, but is not an overriding factor. The entire tribe was reduced to about 12 members, and Mikmek was spreading tales of the group's martial prowess, so Chief Sootscale was *very* inclined to bargain. They'll hold to their agreements, but they negotiated for as much as possible, and they signed the treaty on Tartuk's hastily tanned hide. (as a side note, when the party when the party mentioned that the torture of the Mite in front of the cave bothered them, the kobolds shrugged and killed him as a gesture of friendship)
The Sootscales have negiotiated for their own hex and the former hex of the Mites as 'Sovereign Sootscale Territory', with free passage for humans in their lands (and free passage for Sootscales in human lands), and with the right to charge river tolls in the area that they control.
Even at an accelerated breeding rate, it's going to be years before they feel any need for more territory, and as they have a silver mine for trade, they've got most of their needs met. Over time, I expect non-Sootscale kobolds will be invited to join the Sootscale 'kingdom'...as slaves.
My group immediately subdued the kobolds in the radish patch, carried them away, and deposited them safely away from what they were positive were hallucinogenic vegetables, confiscating the baskets.
After Tartuk, the group used the baskets of moon radishes as part of a deal to secure the Boots from Tartuk's stash, and pointed out to the kobolds that they were inhabiting a silver mine. They invited the kobolds to trade silver for goods at Oleg's. Still, Chief Sootscale is of the opinion that 'the whole world wants to kill kobolds,' which is not untrue. If he gets his way, He'll trap the Sootscale cave more, and more, and more. And even when they start becoming civilized, they'll probably build trapped farms, with trapped homes, protected by trapped gates, and everything has an escape tunnel and defensible fallback position.
The first major custom addition I'm going to make to my Kingmaker game is, I think, Oleg's first encounter with the kobolds for silver trade. They're both entering the situation cautiously friendly, but I'm going to have some serious culture clashes shake things up a bit.
The PCs have also left iconography and scripture of their deities behind, painted onto the wall by a sootscale artist. Interesting kobold-colored misinterpretations of those deities' will is going to be another point for the future.
Ramarren, you do realise, that the toll is against the 3. River Freedom?
While the group is vaguely aware of the River Freedoms, I don't see them as being stringently practiced in Brevoy, where they are from.
...and the Kobolds, of course, could care less.
Once the kingdom is up and running, and the Sootscales have grown large enough to actually patrol the river, I may set up an event where the townsfolk demand something be done about 'those damn kobolds violating the river.'
Not that the shrike is particularly well traveled, given the waterfalls. If the party thinks to arrange for some sort of canal, or places a town at each of the waterfalls, I'll declare the Shrike fully navigable, grant a permanent +2 or +4 to Economy, and make the Sootscale tolls a major issue.
Really? Even charging a toll for passage?
Reading back over Guide to the River Kingdoms, it seems to be more about lords not being able to block travel or charging tolls for passing ("except for non-riverfolk").
So the law seems more concerned with preventing oppression by the government, than from preventing some industrious gentleperson from constructing a tollbridge.
Granted, the Freedoms are whatever you can argue them to be, and considering you're talking about kobolds, people are probably going to interpret the situation in the worst possible way.
Also it's up to the PC's to decide if they consider themselves part of the River Kingdoms or not. If not they can charge tolls but are less likely to find allies in the River Kingdoms and the Outlaw Council might grow concerned. If they do become part of the River Kingdoms then they have to follow the River Freedoms and get involved in the Machiavellian politics of the region. If your campaign features more of the politics of Brevoy than the AP assumes then being part of the River Kingdoms is a good bluff to convince the Regent that you don't owe loyalty to Restov.
Exactly. Remember that the party's sponsors are from Brevoy, not the River Kingdoms. It is ultimately up to the PCs to determine what type of government they will have and what its laws and traditions will be.
My own group has pretty much rejected the River Kingdoms and does not consider their Barony of the Elk to be a nascent River Kingsom. They still identify pretty much with Brevoy.
They are, however, having to deal with the fact that their populace consists of a mix of folks from Brevoy, the River Kingdoms and Galt, with small minorities from other places. The River Kingdoms immigrants do bring an expectation with them of some basic freedoms.
As for the Sootscales, the party originally made a deal with them in which the Sootscales agreed to provide "mine security" and not to raid human or demihumans in the region, and the PCs gave them a portion of the profits from the Sootscale mine and limited sovereignty and self-rule within a ten-mile radius of the mine. The Sootscales profited greatly and other kobolds flocked to the mine and bred like, well like kobolds, producing a huge increase in their numbers. Unfortunately, this population explosion led to incidents with the human and dwarven miners, and young kobolds breaking the deal and going raiding. After the PCs encountered the Narthropple Expedition after its run-in with kobolds (which I ruled had been with renegade kobolds) they determined the little buggers had to go. As they prepared to launch their assault, Chief Sootscale got word of it and the kobolds fled rather than fight. They will remain an irritant in the region.