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Kobold

Scrappy, foul-mouthed, and often ill-tempered, kobolds are short, wiry humanoids whose features are evocative of true dragons. Infamous for their ability to create traps and their obsession with anything they perceive to be remotely of value, kobolds are often looked down upon by other, more influential races much to their chagrin.

Physical Description

Kobolds are reptilian creatures, possessing scale-covered bodies as well as reptilian snouts, eyes, and tails. Their hands and digitigrade legs are clawed, and their bodies do not possess hair of any kind. Kobolds come in a myriad of different colorations spanning the full girth of the color spectrum, including metallic colors such as gold or silver. Kobolds consider the most beautiful of their kind to be those whose scales, fins, and ridges perfectly match the qualities of a true dragon, from the proud, regal bearings of gold dragons to the sinister, intimidating presence of red dragons and everything in between. Kobolds who don’t meet this standard of beauty, either from having wrongly-colored scales, incorrectly proportioned ridges or features, or both, commonly rely on surgery, transmutation magic, or illusion magic to give themselves a “proper” appearance if they can afford the cost of such treatments.

Home World

Kobolds originally originated on a world filled with other races, where they constantly squabbled and warred with humanity and themselves over precious metals, jewels, and virtually anything associated with wealth. Often squatting in small mines, these ancient kobolds possessed very little influence and spent far more time scheming then actually doing anything truly noteworthy. But as humanity slowly united under the banner of an empire, many of kobold kind’s grander thinkers began to wonder if they should do the same to defend their place in life. In the end, ten dozen leaders worked together to steal several star ships from the new empire and take to the stars themselves. In time, the kobolds of this group ultimately chose to settle on remote moons and asteroids across the galaxy where they would be left along, burrowing into these lifeless rocks for the jewels and metals secreted within.

In time, the group blossomed into the galaxy’s most lucrative asteroid mining company, trading unwanted stones and ores for the necessities needed to survive in barren environments. Although their home world is now gone, the leaders of the group proclaim that the future of kobold kind has never been brighter. That is, provided kobold kind’s dream is to ceaselessly toil in the lifeless, sunless depths of an asteroid or foreign moon for the profit of their leaders.

Society And Alignment

Kobold society is organized chaos. Whether working or in leisure, kobolds scurry about in an anxious frenzy to optimize their output at whatever it is they’re currently doing. If working, kobolds seek to work the hardest. If playing, kobolds seek to play the hardest. If lounging in front of a holocaust, kobolds seek to be the most relaxed.

Ultimately, kobold society places a strong emphasis on the importance of superiority, and the social pressure that kobolds feel to be the best leads to a permeating sense of inadequacy among most their kind, which often manifests as one or more kinds of mental illness. By some estimates, as much as 45% of kobolds suffer from extreme anxiety, stress, or depression among others, with the likelihood of many more cases going unreported and untreated. Worse, kobold employers often encourage extreme levels of competition between their kobold employees, further adding to this mental unhealthiness.

For this reason, it isn’t uncommon for kobolds to snap and cause mayhem and destruction to those around them; incidents that kobold leaders are all-too quick to deflect onto the individual rather than take any responsibility for their unethical and unhealthy practices.

Relations

Kobolds don’t get along particularly well with anyone, including their own kind. Kobold anxiety and paranoia causes them to largely assume that everyone is out to get them, and so they don’t make friends particularly fast, especially with individuals unwilling to invest a disproportionately large amount of their own time and energy growing the relationship. Kobolds often get along best with those of draconic heritage or descent, who they view as being far worthier of praise and adoration than nearly everyone else. Despite their overall unpleasant attitudes, most other races don’t take offense to kobolds beyond slight annoyance unless the kobold is especially unsavory, and many non-kobolds even find kobold anxiety to be endearing, often referring to them as “spaz wyrms,” a nickname that most self-respecting kobolds (at least, those pretending to be self-respecting) loathe.

Adventurers

Despite the stresses of everyday life that kobolds face, most prefer the order and regiment of normalcy to the terrifying freedom and uncertainty of a life of adventure. However, those kobolds who break under the extreme pressure that society often places upon them before they completely lose their minds often choose to cast off their self-imposed shackles and take to a life of adventure, often intoxicated by the thrill of simply living outside of the regiment. Kobolds are naturally gifted with machinery and mechanical devices, causing many to become mechanics. Their small size and deft bodies also make kobolds skilled operatives, however, and they even make good soldiers provided they eschew melee combat—after all, kobolds are many things, but physically imposing is not one of them.

Names

Kobold names are entirely Draconic in origin, and they favor names that hint at hidden powers or unearned grandeur. Although one might assume that a race obsessed with its own self-importance might favor long, complicated names, kobold names are usually direct and to the point, ultimately lacking much of the sophistication that the Draconic language offers. Some examples of kobold names are Adriaak, Draahzin, Eadoo, Harkail, Ipmkeerk, Jamada, Kib, Makroo, Morpi, Neeral, Olp, Poro, Regs, Saassraa, Takzo, Tarka, Vevnu, Vok, Yraalik, Zehze, and Zornesk.

Racial Traits

+2 Dex, –2 Str, +2 Con

Hit Points: 2

Size and Type

Kobolds are humanoid creatures with the reptilian subtype and are Small. They have a base speed of 30 feet.

Special Abilities

Ambusher: Kobolds add half their level (minimum +2) to damage rolls with attacks and spells against foes who are flat-footed, off-kilter, or denied their Dexterity bonus to AC.

Crafty: Kobolds gain a +2 racial bonus on Engineering, Perception, Profession, and Stealth checks.

Natural Weapons: Kobolds are always considered armed. They can deal 1d2 lethal damage with unarmed strikes and the attack doesn’t count as archaic. Kobolds gain a unique weapon specialization with their natural weapons at 3rd level, allowing them to add 1-1/2 x their character level to damage rolls with their natural weapons (instead of adding their level, as usual).

Scrappy: Despite their small size and feeble frames, kobolds are surprisingly resilient. Kobolds gain 1 additional Resolve Point at 1st level.

Tunnel Vision: Kobolds have darkvision, allowing them to see with no light source at all to a range of 60 feet in black and white only. Kobolds are dazzled in areas of bright sunlight or within the radius of a daylight spell. See low-light vision and darkvision.

Section 15: Copyright Notice

Starfarer’s Companion © 2017, Rogue Genius Games, LLC; Authors: Alexander Augunas and Matthew Morris