So I did a quick search through the forums, and found a few entries for this, but my players have pulled a fast one on me that I need some advice on.
Kobold, as a race, is listed as -2 CR.
Half Dragon, as a template, is listed as +2 CR
Does this mean a Kobold Half Dragon is actually a 0 CR race?
If your players are trying to state that a half dragon kobold is a 0 CR race and therefor an optional PC race, you should tell them "no". Kobold is a race. A half-dragon kobold is an encounter.
You should probably also disallow "advanced skeletal champion kobolds", "young juju zombie tieflings", "kobold liches", and similar insanity as PC races for the same reason - the #'s are only a guideline for a reason.
-TimD
Who needs a half-dragon kobold? Get those alternative racial abilities and you have most of the fun ...
... unless all you want is that huge strength bonus.
Isn't the template one that can be added to any race? What if you wanted to play a half dragon?. If a Template exists, why can't it be applied to races unless it specifically says not?
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Isn't the template one that can be added to any race? What if you wanted to play a half dragon?. If a Template exists, why can't it be applied to races unless it specifically says not?
I think the point is not that a kobold can't be a half-dragon, but that slapping the strong half-dragon template on the weak kobold does not balance out to be exactly equal to a dwarf or a halfling.
Sort of a 'half-dragon kobolds are fine, but you can't play one here, 'cause if we had LA, it wouldn't be LA +0' argument.
But in "Playing Monsters as PC's", you can take a monster's / template's CR and add it on top of the character levels.
Isn't that pretty well the same thing?
Templates aren't generally intended to be applied to PCs in the first place. If this is a case of players trying to make an argument that they're entitled to do that, just shout no.
You have to ask yourself; do I really want the hassle of a PC Half-Dragon Kobold? Sure, it's probably technically legal RAW, but the template also has things in it that scale to the HD of the base creature, if I remember correctly. If that scales, since a PC Kolbold would have class levels as its HD, then the player would likely begin asking for these improved abilities as he leveled. And then you could quite possibly have a power spiral, and a likely power imbalance to the rest of the party, as he gains cool new abilities the rest of the party wouldn't have. Personally, I would say no to this as a PC race option, unless you ramp up the power level of the whole game, rest of party included, to compensate.
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If you want a more draconic kobold, look either at the Advanced Race Guide's guidelines to add things on (right now Kobolds are 5 RP, whereas the core races are all 9 - 11 RP; one idea would be to give them the Dragon-Scaled and Gliding Wings alternate traits for free to balance things out a bit), or you could also look at Super Genius Games' Races Revisited: The Kobold Kings. for an entire subrace of strongly draconic kobolds.