Kobolds' CRs in the Monster Codex

[shadram]

Hey,

I'm building some encounters for a low level quest using kobolds from the Monster Codex, but am a bit confused about the CRs in the examples given in that book.

The Bestiary states that kobolds' CRs when they have class levels is 2 less than their number of hit dice (so a Kobold Fighter 4 would be CR2). This isn't the case for the kobolds in the Monster Codex, though: they have the usual HD-1 challenge rating.

Is there something special about the Monster Codex kobolds that increase their CR? I'm pretty new to the game, so I may well be missing something obvious to others.

Hero Labs seems to agree with the Bestiary on this, assigning CRs 2 less than the HD of the kobold when I try to enter the Codex stat blocks into it (which is how I noticed the issue).

I mostly just want to ensure that the encounters I build are appropriate for my party. This includes both using the stat blocks from the Codex, and creating my own kobold characters, so it would be good to ensure that I've interpreted the rules correctly.

Thanks!

[Trekkie90909]

Several things affect CR; the base Kobold is a CR 1/4 creature - this means he is effectively a LVL -2 creature (0 = cr 1/2, -1 = 1/3, -2 = 1/4). So you have that part correct, a LVL -2 Kobold with 4 character levels is a LVL 2 Kobold effectively.

There are other things which affect CR however, the important one here being gear. The CR 1/4 rating is based on a completely naked, or at least very poorly geared Kobold - if you give it level appropriate gear its CR increases by one. The Kobolds in the Codex tend to have reasonable gear, so the designers probably upped their challenge rating.

[shadram]

I think you might be right. Most of CR 1-2 kobolds have masterwork weapons, which is beyond the recommended value of gear for NPCs of that CR.

Thanks for the help!