I've made a version of the kobold using the Advanced Race Guide and would like some feedback.
My changes are:
Ability scores: +2 Dex, -2 Str, +2 Int
Remove the Light Sensitivity trait.
Add the following: Miner’s Familiarity: Some kobolds focus on training with mining equipment; they gain proficiency with the light pick, heavy pick, and pickaxe and may treat the greatpick (found here) as a martial weapon.
Add the following Alternative Racial Traits:
Deepsight: Some kobold tribes have lived in deep mines and caverns for generations, and better adapted for seeing in these conditions, they gain darkvision 90 feet; however they are automatically dazzled in bright light and take a –2 penalty on saving throws against effects with the light descriptor. This replaces the darkvision racial trait.
Vestigial Wings: Members of this race have wings that do not provide the lift required for actual flight, but do have enough power to aid flight attained by some other method, and grant a +4 racial bonus on Fly checks. This replaces Miner’s Familiarity.
Reptilian Sorcery: Some kobolds have a stronger link to the magic of their draconic heritage; a kobold with this trait that is a sorcerer with the Draconic or Kobold bloodline, treats its Charisma score as 2 higher for all sorcerer class abilities. This replaces the armor trait.
Natural Weapons: Some kobolds are born with sharp claws and teeth like their draconic kin, they gain a bite attack that deals 1d3 points of damage and two claws that each deal 1d3 points of damage. These attacks are primary natural attacks. At 5th level their claws increase to 1d4 points of damage, this does not stack with the improved natural weapon feat. This replaces crafty.
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The problem is that, as monsters, Kobolds were always intended to be weaker.
So, to change that is to change what a Kobold is.
This is one of the logical fallacies of the Advanced Race Guide. Many monster races were created to fill a niche, not as Player Character options, so they did not have to be balanced as if they were PCs.
Also, the build information on page 244 of the Advanced Race Guide is incorrect.
They are actually 7 points as is.
Thus (-3)+(2)+(2)+(2)+(2)+(1)+(2)+(-1) = 7 RP
Consider that the Half-Orc is only 8 RP and you see that Kobolds are not that bad.
As many people would Correctly point out, "Race Points" are only part of the story.
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Let's look at your original goal, which I think is a good one if the race is to be used as a Player Character.
Consider these changes ...
This weighs in at 10 RP.
Treat the PC as a normal Kobold. (But do not refigure Kobold NPCs.)
Removed the skill training, as the races was getting cheated. Removed the Light Sensitivity, as a PC Kobold has had to adapt to life on the surface.
Kept the -4 penalty to Strength, due to the reasons I expressed above. (Kobolds are intended to be small and weak.)
One of the problems I see with this variant is that it Strongly channels the race to being a Rogue. Despite the logic of a "small & weak creature" developing those skills to survive, a well-constructed race should not be too oriented to a single PC class.
In order to reconcile my version of the kobold with the common Pathfinder version (weaker & niche), I ended up altering the backstory of them. The very brief meat of it is as follows:
PC level: These kobolds are the result of intentional alteration of the eggs produced by the dragon in question (the mother). Their scales match the dragon, so on and so forth. They're created as servitors of said dragon. They are only produced by the intentional alteration of the eggs, as determined by the egg producer.
NPC level: These kobolds are the result of the PC level kobolds breeding.
My PC version is really close to Lord Fyre's version, except I didn't give them "multitalented", but "Greed" instead, left them with "light sensitivity", and gave them "vestigal wings" (like the OP). Additionally, I gave them a bonus to Charisma and not Intelligence.
Here's mine. Kobolds are a core race in my homebrew setting, taking over the niche normally occupied by Dwarves (who got moved to basically owning the oceans, being pirates, sailors, and explorers as a race rather than miners and smiths).
Children of the deepest earth since Finiens was young, Kobold legend claims their origins came from the vast below: in the earliest dawning of the world, the blood of the earth bled up into the mines and caverns of the mountains, and from this the Kobolds were crafted, made to mine, forged to forge. In time they surfaced, and spread across the globe wherever stone could be found to mine, gems to unearth, metal to refine, and craftwork to be done. The little reptilian folk are a hardy, resilient, and above all hardworking people, with their culture revolving around the delving of the deep places of the earth for Chthon’s hidden bounty.
Kobold racial adjustments:
* Ability Score Racial Traits: Kobolds are fast and nimble, and have become hardy and resilient after years spent toiling beneath the earth, but their small size makes them individually weak. They gain +2 Dexterity, +2 Constitution, and –2 Strength.
* Type: Kobolds are Humanoid creatures with the reptilian subtype.
* Size: Kobolds are Small creatures and gain a +1 size bonus to their AC, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, a –1 penalty to their CMB and CMD, and a +4 size bonus on Stealth checks.
* Base Speed: Kobolds have a base speed of 30 feet.
* Languages: Kobolds begin play speaking Common and Draconic. Kobolds with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following: Aklo, Giant, Goblin, Naga, Orc, Terran, and Undercommon.
* Armored: A Kobold's naturally scaly skin grants them a +1 natural armor bonus.
* Crafty: Kobolds gain a +2 racial bonus on Craft (trapmaking), Craft (any metalworking), Perception, and Profession (miner) checks. Craft (traps), Craft (any metalworking), and Stealth are always class skills for a kobold.
* Weapon Familiarity: Kobolds are proficient with all picks and hammers, and treat any of the following weapons as a martial weapon: boulder helmet, dorn degrar, longhammer.
* Minesight: Kobolds can see perfectly in the dark up to 90 feet, but are automatically dazzled in bright light and take a –2 penalty on saving throws against effects with the light descriptor. Kobolds regularly produce sundark goggles from obsidian or onyx chips to protect their eyes when traveling on the surface; kobolds wearing such goggles lose the dazzled effect from light and reduce their save penalty versus light spells to -1.
Looks like, from this thread at least, that Paizo's vision of the kobold didn't quite fit the expectations.
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If you want Kobolds as low-level dangers or underdog troublemakers in the vein that they are as monsters, Paizo's stats work fine for them. Clever thinking and use of their low-level abilities can still pull out Tucker's Kobolds type situations after all.
However, I didn't want them in that role for my world, I wanted them to be one of the civilized races, respected and recognized for their skills, doubly so when I gave them complete hold of the "semi-subterranean, mining-and-crafting focused community culture" role that normally Dwarves filled and moved the latter to the pirates-and-sailors niche. Once I'd done that, they really did need to be on-par with the core races, at the very least, and a respectable race statistically to keep up with their lore as a respectable race culturally and historically.
Looks like, from this thread at least, that Paizo's vision of the kobold didn't quite fit the expectations.
On the contrary, there is no problem until one tries to use them as Player Characters.
Thanks for the feedback and other suggestions. My intention is to keep NPC/monster kobolds as the book version but to make another version (Elite Kobold or something similar) that could be used for PCs and would need to be more in line with what the other races get. Once I get some more free time, I'll have a go at fixing my version using the ideas posted here.
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The Kobold in the Midgard Campaign setting has a small tweak that I like. It's really just the base Kobold in the ARG with the small change of DEX +4. I haven't played one myself, but other players seem to find them fun to play.
s to their background in that setting they're significant movers and shakers in the central city of Zobeck and even have their King of Kings on that cities' Free Council. They also are amongst the most noted crafters in that region.
Super Genius games offers just such an update in their product The Kobold Kings including a plausible backstory for including both normal weaker kobolds and these upgraded versions.