Good stuff.
Have you read the writeup for the Kobolds in the Monster Codex? In may give you some ideas for the different roles individuals would play in Kobold society.
Also, did you see any of my previous posts? I actually did address the issue of what you can do to adjust your encounters a bit if you think they are too short.
D-man,
Yes on both counts. I actually just picked up the Monster Codex before kicking off this new game. It's given me some leader ideas for the Rootrenders, as the campaign progresses. Another boon for me has been the Familiar Folio.
The one thing kobolds have going for them is NPC levels. They are NPC Level-3 for CR, instead of the standard -2. This means a CR 1/2 encounter with a kobold is an Adept 2/Warrior 1.
This kobold has BAB +2, decent saves, and 12 HP. It also has some useful level 1 spells. Finally it has a Tiny sized flying dinosaur sitting on its shoulder that can: cast Guidance every round, grant its master a second shot at a Will save 1/day or fly out and using the power of the Evil domain it can make a touch attack to Sicken a PC for a round, no save, 1/day.
If you instead want to go the more brutal route you could give the adept a Donkey Rat familiar and make it a Mauler. Now the rat transforms into a Str 13, Medium sized war-rat with a Bite +4 (1d6+1) that can bear its kobold rider on land or in water (Swim speed). Given that the Rootrenders descend from a black dragon some of their commandos have the racial trait of being swimmers who can hold their breath twice as long so pairing them with these mauler rats just seemed natural.
As for your other point I like the idea of putting a timer on it. Part of that advice though is to be specific about said timer. Its not enough to tell the PCs: the room is filling with lava. You need to set the timer by saynig: the room is filling with lava; at this rate you'll be knee-deep in it at the start of round 5, so here we are in round 1. You have 4 rounds to deal with this. Go.
That falls in line with the lesson I taught myself last night: choose specific over descriptive.
In last night's game session there were 2 paths. One was a series of Small-sized tunnels the kobolds were using and the other was a steep earthen ramp the kobolds were guarding through murder holes with improved cover. Rather than use flowery, descriptive narration to set the scene I simply told the players the RAW of the situation. If they pursue the caves they'll be Squeezing and fighting at -4, but they can take the fight directly to kobolds they KNOW are in there. If they go up the ramp they'll have to make DC 5 Climb checks; not enough for them to be challenging, but steep enough to slow their move by half. With the 2 murder holes the kobolds have access to the entire ramp so with the party moving slow you can't just run through the gauntlet trusting your speed to protect you.
Since we play in 3 hour sessions I felt delivering the RAW was prudent, time wise. To my surprise though a magical thing happened. Usually my fancy descriptions are fun to listen to but bog down play into debate as the players try to reason out EXACTLY what the pros and cons are in a situation I've described. Since they didn't HAVE to debate they seemed a lot more secure in making the final decision to go up the ramp and they made a very sound plan.
Anyway I think I'm starting to find my footing again as a GM. In upcoming sessions the PCs are going to assault the kobolds' position whole hog. I intend on taking your advice to create a timed fight scene based on the release of foul waters. The fight will also carry a sadistic choice for the heroes: if the PCs defeat the high-priest Imvyryx but allow the water to be released they keep him from turning into a bigger threat later, however this triggers the awakening of a Nuckelavee, a CR 9 fey creature (PCs are APL2). If however they focus their efforts on stopping the water then Imvyryx gets away so he can be turned into a half-dragon later.
I'm still working out the details but those are my thoughts. Thanks for the advice and sorry for derailing my own discussion thread...
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My thoughts about Kobolds and intelligence (coming from a Kobold fanboy):
Just because a Kobold is as intelligent as a human it does not mean a tribe of them would have access to trade or advanced technologies. 'Humans' have had essentially the same intelligence mod throughout their history, yet we have not always had stable trade or a society that reinforces education and technologies.
There is a cultural/societal aspect to a lot of what we fold under intelligence. Just because Kobolds are as smart as humans does not change the structure of their society to a point where things like trade are feasible.
EDIT: Pretty much a lot of what LazarX has said.
As for your other point I like the idea of putting a timer on it. Part of that advice though is to be specific about said timer. Its not enough to tell the PCs: the room is filling with lava. You need to set the timer by saynig: the room is filling with lava; at this rate you'll be knee-deep in it at the start of round 5, so here we are in round 1. You have 4 rounds to deal with this. Go.
That falls in line with the lesson I taught myself last night: choose specific over descriptive.
In last night's game session there were 2 paths. One was a series of Small-sized tunnels the kobolds were using and the other was a steep earthen ramp the kobolds were guarding through murder holes with improved cover. Rather than use flowery, descriptive narration to set the scene I simply told the players the RAW of the situation. If they pursue the caves they'll be Squeezing and fighting at -4, but they can take the fight directly to kobolds they KNOW are in there. If they go up the ramp they'll have to make DC 5 Climb checks; not enough for them to be challenging, but steep enough to slow their move by half. With the 2 murder holes the kobolds have access to the entire ramp so with the party moving slow you can't just run through the gauntlet trusting your speed to protect you.
Since we play in 3 hour sessions I felt delivering the RAW was prudent, time wise. To my surprise though a magical thing happened. Usually my fancy descriptions are fun to listen to but bog down play into debate as the players try to reason out EXACTLY what the pros and cons are in a situation I've described. Since they didn't HAVE to debate they seemed a lot more secure in making the final decision to go up the ramp and they made a very sound plan.
Anyway I think I'm starting to find my footing again as a GM. In upcoming sessions the PCs are going to assault the kobolds' position whole hog. I intend on taking your advice to create a timed fight scene based on the release of foul waters. The fight will also carry a sadistic choice for the heroes: if the PCs defeat the high-priest Imvyryx but allow the water to be released they keep him from turning into a bigger threat later, however this triggers the awakening of a Nuckelavee, a CR 9 fey creature (PCs are APL2). If however they focus their efforts on stopping the water then Imvyryx gets away so he can be turned into a half-dragon later.
Excellent. I always advocate for being direct with the players about what is happening instead of giving them clues and expecting them to figure it out based on how your words translate into pictures in their mind. Its amazing how much resistance I get for that one point.
That sounds like a really fun campaign you are running, and the encounter design sounds great.
I ran an encounter recently that required the group to split up to accomplish two goals at once. I'll give you the jist of it so you can decide how something like that might function in your game if you ever found need of it.
The encounter is set in a walled fortress-city called Sanctuary on Mirth Island. The city is in turmoil, the gates are hanging wide open as the city residents have split into warring factions for control of the city after the current pope has been declared an open servant of the Grand Necromancer (equivilant to the devil in the world). High ranking members of the Clergy have sealed themselves away in the high towers of the Cathedral, dark speech is echoing from their chambers as a maelstrom begins to take shape swirling overhead. They are casting a ritual spell to create a storm of darkness over the city. It would appear the Cathedral guard are under the affect of some sort of spell and have repelled attempts by the citizenry and city guard to gain entry to the Cathedral. At the same time a vast army of Ghouls is bearing down on the unattended gates of the city, using the swirling darkness above to shield them from the sun (sunlight in this world incinerates undead). I gave them the specifics, making it absolutely clear through use of time and distance that if the party focused wholly on one goal, the other goal would be a failure. They did not have enough time to send everyone to the Cathedral and stop the ritual before the army of ghouls reached the gate. Likewise, if they sealed the gate it would not buy them enough time to reach the cathedral and stop the ritual before the gate was breached. They had to do both at once.
It worked out beautifully. The group that went to the gates managed to get them sealed and held off the breach until two rounds before the group that went to the cathedral reached the towers and interrupted the ritual. The sun burst through the clouds incinerating the overwhelmed forces at the gates just as it looked like all hope was lost. (one PC at the gates was cut in half, the others were completely out of resources)
EDIT: For anyone wondering why the assualt simply didn't take place at night, the Lord of Aed has created a star that perpetually hovers over the city of sanctuary, ensuring that it is never cast into darkness.
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They're still xenophobes in regards to anything that's not a dragon or a kobold. (and rivals to other kobold tribes) They view things as evil creatures do, in matters of strength, enslave those you overcome and knuckle down under those powerful enough to enslave you. What you did with the Rootrenders is brilliant, but it still fits within the standard kobold paradigm.In regards to kobolds: unless they trade out their racial traits, they get a +2 to Profession: mining and its a class skill. The standard go-to for a kobold if they're not dying at the hands of evil adventurers is to mine and build traps.
So... mining. Why? What are they digging for, fun? No, generally resources. So if it's not metal, what resources would you mine for?
Stone: I suppose, to build stuff with a la Minecraft
Gems: this would imply they give it to each other, possibly masters, with the gems holding an economic value.
Within all the fluff in the Bestiary ecology I can't find anything that indicates they intended to be xenophobes. In the writeup for them as a race it suggests that there's ongoing relations among different communities of kobolds. Also they willingly knuckle under for monstrous or draconic overlords and will find ways to placate nearby monsters in order to use them as a portion of their defenses.
In short: there's a strong suggestion of economy.
Now all of this is subjective, not RAW. You can do this however you want in your games. In mine I've taken all of this and added it up to mean that a few kobold tribes have been around in one form or another, on the edge of mortal society, for at least 600 years, maybe longer. Some tribes have risen and fallen into nothing while other new ones have been born. One though that's survived since antiquity though is the Rootrenders.
** spoiler omitted **...
Wait, what was that whole middle part? About me doing something brilliant?
...
Ok, sorry. I still maintain that, depending on how you choose to interpret the fluff around kobolds there may be an opportunity for economy between kobold tribes. If each tribe is about 200 combatants and then equal that in non-combatants you've got the equivalent of roughly a Small Town in PF standards.
Living in the forest is a second tribe of kobolds. They are adapted for forest life, losing the proficency in mining and replacing it with stealth and survival. They are adept snipers and trappers utilizing ropes in nearly all of their defenses. They make their homes through the whole of the forest, concealing small dens and shrines in the boles of trees, in bough-borne nests and in camoflagued caves.
Yet a third tribe lives in watery caves half submerged in fetid bogs. Along one edge of the woods is a waterlogged vale amid the trees. Due to poor drainage over millenia streams and rivulets have flooded here but never properly run off creating peat bogs and mounds as well as sodden ground for miles. Here the kobolds have mastered not their environment but the beasts therein, replacing their natural mining instincts with dominance over rats, lizards and other bog-dwellers.
Every new moon the three tribes meet. The Nachtmoot Market is held in earthen caves beneath the roots of an ancient oak so great and gnarled that it is larger than most wizards' towers. Here kobold merchants from all three tribes exchange gold and information, attempt to settle petty feuds and plot schemes of revenge against the encroaching pestilence that is mortalkind. Each Nachtmoot begins with the presentation of tithes to the Verdant Queen, an old Green Dragon who makes her lair beneath the tree's roots. Based on the splendor of the tithe she selects a group of kobolds from a particular tribe for the honor of guarding the queen.
While this tithe takes much of the merchant wealth brought to the Nachtmoot, the remainder of the night is spent bartering and haggling with the leftover scraps. Mundane equipment siezed in raids, ore and gems brought up out of the earth, masterworks in leather such as armor and books. The merchants quibble and hawk from their carts while buyers stroll the Nachtmoot with baskets and sacks. Warriors get their armor and weapons replaced or place orders for the next Moot; arcane and divine casters trade spells and tales; the vain and wealthy adorn their tails with beaded bangles to preen for one another.
The Nachtmoot concludes with a ritualized feast. Each of the tribes brings foods and brewed concoctions from their respective regions. Depending on placement at the table, order of toasts and other seemingly innocuous details feuds are either begun or ended. Once the eating finally begins there is an expectation that descision makers for the tribes will resolve business that affects all of the kobolds. Finally the Nachtmoot Market ends with the Oath of Dragonkind during which all three tribes reaffirm not only their love for their queen but their commitment to draconic ideals and their quest for true dragonhood.
Just before dawn while the sky is still gray the kobolds shuffle out, back to their respective quadrant of the wilds. So far no mortal has witnessed a Nachtmoot and survived, though this has more to do with the fact that they are held on the doorstep of the Verdant Queen's lair than the kobold assemblies. Still these gatherings have been reported by captured kobolds under duress and have been sought for an age by mortal adventurers.
So let sound the dragon roarers, let the Market Guard perform the Disarming of the Traps, let the Grand Marshals open the Nachtmoot Market once more!
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Economy between kobolds is a given. They're intelligent creatures that live in their own societies, have magicians that pop up in their ranks, presumably have clerics (and probably adepts and such). Are noted as at least being of the tech level to mine for ore and make elaborate traps and tunnels that won't collapse on them.
The idea that they wouldn't have an economy because they are phobic of outside races is about as insane as arguing that humans can't have an economy or develop culture without elves and dwarfs. (o_o)
They also traditionally have the backings of dragons which are generally smart and worldly enough to educate a few kobolds on things that would better allow the kobolds to serve said dragon. :|
This whole "economy" thing is just weird to me.
That said, the only thing that makes me wonder about kobold economics is actually how much time is spent above-ground or if they have massive caverns of farmed animals and such that they use for resources such as leather, or subterranean trees that they get the wood for those spears from.
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@ Ash; Hardwares: the fluff on kobolds often depicts them living in the darkest parts of a woodland. Some of the alternate racial traits confirm that at least some of them forsake mining for Survival, Ride, and other woodland skills.
For the guys that live entirely underground, remember: unless immersed in full daylight or targeted with a daylight spell their light sensitivity is an annoyance to kobolds, but not a hindrance. As a result I could imagine that some of their cave chambers closer to the surface might have some grates or holes in the ceiling that allow filtered daylight in. The floor of the cave could be a mix of soil, loam and fertilizer (bat guano and such) and it would watered by ground seep and whatever descended through the grates. As such they could raise some underground gardens and such. Any shade plants that are also edible, tubers, mushrooms and such. Their protien sources could be rats, insects, bats, and larger animals that make their lairs in caves like wolves, bears and what not.
If either habitat doesn't provide all the nutrition they need, there's three other sources they can explore: water (underground lakes, forest streams, etc), economy with other kobolds and the most fun: raiding. Why spend resources farming some underground garden and rigging it all up when, come harvest time, you can just send a few commando teams out to the farmstead nearby to take everything you need?
To clarify on my earlier post: of course Kobolds should be as diverse and varied as humans are, it only makes sense. But as a small race that would likely have a tendency to get bossed around and displaced often, it is probably difficult to develop stable relations outside of the grouping. Those kobolds who live in deep, deep snarls are likely to be more safe but have a difficulty transfering goods for trade. Alignment tendencies and draconic-esque pride being common among those who rise to the top probably don't help, either.
That's how I see it, anyways.
@ Ash; Hardwares: the fluff on kobolds often depicts them living in the darkest parts of a woodland. Some of the alternate racial traits confirm that at least some of them forsake mining for Survival, Ride, and other woodland skills.
For the guys that live entirely underground, remember: unless immersed in full daylight or targeted with a daylight spell their light sensitivity is an annoyance to kobolds, but not a hindrance. As a result I could imagine that some of their cave chambers closer to the surface might have some grates or holes in the ceiling that allow filtered daylight in. The floor of the cave could be a mix of soil, loam and fertilizer (bat guano and such) and it would watered by ground seep and whatever descended through the grates. As such they could raise some underground gardens and such. Any shade plants that are also edible, tubers, mushrooms and such. Their protien sources could be rats, insects, bats, and larger animals that make their lairs in caves like wolves, bears and what not.
If either habitat doesn't provide all the nutrition they need, there's three other sources they can explore: water (underground lakes, forest streams, etc), economy with other kobolds and the most fun: raiding. Why spend resources farming some underground garden and rigging it all up when, come harvest time, you can just send a few commando teams out to the farmstead nearby to take everything you need?
All great points. It's this sort of ecological information that's the most fascinating to me. I see a lot of people steadfastly trying to make a lot of assessments of the entirety of kobolds as a species merely because the default kobold warrior is using a spear, a sling, and some leather armor.
I want to know where he got the materials for those in the first place, since making metal equipment seems more practical use of resources in a mostly subterranean habitat on a race that's extra-great at mining. :P
If they live a subterranean existence while also regularly collecting resources from the surface, that's a good explanation. Magic (such as from kobold adepts) can help make settlements easier in exotic locations, and there are some human-build subterranean cities that have been discovered throughout the world so it should be possible!
Then we can also get into the fantasy elements. For example, drow were noted in a lot of lore to cultivate and eat a sort of glowing cave moss which was also used as a light source. Might there be any subterranean wood-alternatives like strange mushrooms that could substitute for wood?
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Even in absence of technology, an intelligent creature should be able to make use of cover and difficult terrain.
In addition, humans are resourceful. Even isolated groups without anything we would recognize as technology or formal education tend to make some pretty useful stuff out of their environment.
Mining culture implies metalworking, so such kobolds should have metal armour such as chain shirts, metal shields, and probably shortswords that could be used with finesse rather than spears. For the standard kobold warrior that amounts to +4 AC and +2 to hit in melee (with about 1 less damage on average but a better crit range).
Kobolds living in the forest might carry bows instead of slings, or possibly blowguns with poisoned darts. They might also carry longspears instead of their standard spears in order to benefit from increased reach. These kobolds would be more punishing to approach.
This is on top of any raided treasure or token gifts from a draconic overlord.
It's possible that a group of kobolds could get pushed into an isolated territory where they had no useful resources, but then they wouldn't have the expected 260gp worth of gear, so while they would be easier to fight they'd also be less rewarding.