Homebrew Kobold - Blood of Io Species Details

Kobolds are often dismissed as timid, foolish, and weak, but these little reptilian creatures actually have a strong social structure that stresses devotion to the tribe, are clever with their hands, and viciously work together in order to overcome their physical limitations.

Some human communities hire kobolds to dig their sewer tunnels, paying them with food and tools not easily gained on their own. If they are treated well and left alone to do the job, the kobolds work industriously and build a network of passages beneath the streets, connecting them to a nearby waterway and greatly improving the town’s sanitation. If the kobolds like the area and aren’t mistreated by the humans, they might build a warren and make a permanent home there, while continuing to expand the town’s sewers as the community grows. These so-called “city kobolds” live underground but might make occasional nighttime forays up to the surface. Roughly one quarter of the towns and cities in the world have kobold communities living under them, but the kobolds are so good at staying hidden that the surface-dwelling citizens in the area often don’t know what lies beneath them.

Because the kobolds make sure they stay out of the way of anyone more dangerous than themselves, grow their own subterranean food, and prefer to sneak about at night, the people of a town might go for weeks or months without noticing evidence that kobolds are in the area, and years between actual sightings.

 

Able Scavengers and Innovative Crafters

Kobolds are adept at identifying broken, misplaced, discarded, or leftover crafted items from other creatures that can still be put to use. They prefer to scavenge objects that have clearly been lost or thrown away, which is easy to do without attracting attention. They enjoy taking the waste or broken things and refurbishing it into something new and sometimes not related to it's original purpose. On rare occasions where they can't trade or scavenge the things they need they may try and take the item from a creature.

When they go after items that aren’t free for the taking, kobolds try to remain undetected and don’t give their targets reason to harm them. For example, a group of city kobolds might sneak into a cobbler’s house at night to loot it of knives, leather bits, nails, and other useful items, but if they are at risk of discovery, they run away rather than attack anyone in the house. By fleeing before they can be seen or identified, they avoid getting into a situation where the townsfolk would try to hunt down all kobolds and put the tribe’s survival at risk.

Some aggressive individual kobolds and tribes do exist, but in general kobolds don’t purposely provoke retaliatory attacks from the creatures they steal from. It’s better to be cautious and overlooked than to be considered dangerous and a threat.

 

Arcane Magic Users

Unlike some other humanoids, kobolds don’t fear or shun arcane magic. They see magic as part of their connection to dragons, and are proud to be blessed with the ability to wield such power. Young kobold sorcerers are trained by elders, and the training has an almost religious significance. Most kobold sorcerers are of the draconic bloodline origin and specialize in either damaging magic (which can also be used in mining), augmentation (of materials or allies), or divination (to find raw materials and foresee threats to the tribe).

The main reason why kobolds depend on arcane magic is that they so frail that a single hit from most creature’s weapon can kill them out right. Kobold shamans are very rare; priests of Io, when they reveal themselves, are easily recognized by cloak of many colors (usually patched together from swatches of discarded clothes) decorated with an image of a fire opal wreathed with dragon wings.

 

Life and Outlook

Kobolds have a tribal society in which they all take on specialized roles that protect and sustain the tribe. The strongest kobolds are trained to be hunters and warriors, the most clever are crafters and strategists, the toughest are miners and beast-wranglers, and so on. Even the smallest or lowliest kobold is given a role in the tribe, whether something as simple as picking mushrooms for food or watching over hatchlings, and they all understand that their actions contribute to the survival of the group. The tribe practices for the eventuality of defending the lair against intruders, and their plans always include knowing the best escape routes and who is responsible for blocking tunnels to deter pursuit.

 

Kobolds feel a cool affinity or something like kinship for other members of their tribe, but they are rarely affectionate with each other. Two kobolds who’ve known each other for over a decade might consider each other friends or enemies, but the strength of this sentiment is much fainter than any comparable human emotion. Since most of their waking time is spent working, adversarial kobolds rarely have opportunities to exchange insults, let alone come to blows over their differences.

Kobolds choose mates primarily for convenience. Their lack of emotional bonding means they have no concept of marriage or permanent family relationships. Their eggs are placed in a common tribal hatchery with no effort to keep track of who each one’s mother is. This practice and the communal raising of the hatchlings mean that the tribe operates like a group of cousins.

Because they lay eggs, and the eggs don’t require much tending, kobold females aren’t exempted from war or work. Furthermore, kobolds can slowly change sex. If most males or females of a tribe are killed, some survivors change over several months until the tribe is balanced again. In this way, the tribe can quickly repopulate with just a few survivors. Because of these factors, kobolds don’t have assigned gender roles for young or adults. A leader, sorcerer, miner, or crafter is as likely to be female as male.

 

Grow Fast, Eat Everything

Kobolds grow and mature much more swiftly than members of other humanoid races. At 6 years old a kobold is considered an adult. Do to their careful nature and affinity for remaining undetected most creatures assume Kobolds are short lived like Goblins, but a kobold can live for up to 120 years — a longevity they attribute to being distantly related to dragons. A female can lay up to six eggs per year, and an egg matures for two to three months before it hatches. Due to their long lives and careful nature their warrens are kept under close eye to ensure they never overpopulate and force their tribe to go without necessities.

Although their sharp teeth would suggest they are carnivores, kobolds are actually omnivores, and can eat just about anything, including meat, fruit, tree bark, bone, leather, and eggshells (a newly hatched kobold’s first meal is usually its own shell). A hungry tribe leaves nothing behind from a kill, eating everything that’s edible and using the rest to make tools or adornments.

Kobolds shed teeth as they wear out and grow new ones their entire lives. Many wear their own shed teeth as jewelry, with more teeth indicating an older — and wiser — kobold. Some unscrupulous individuals wear teeth stolen or harvested from others in an attempt to make them seem older and more respectable.

A few tribes, particularly those in lightly populated areas, practice cannibalism, believing that by giving their body back to the tribe the helping it's continued survival. These tribes, while few, are not unheard of and have prompted an apprehensive attitude toward Kobolds in places where Kobolds are rare. These kobold tribes avoid eating what they call “talking meat” — intelligent creatures — because such behavior prompts retaliation.

Kobolds don’t engage in funeral ceremonies; a dead kobold’s body is burned or disposed of in some other convenient way (or, in a cannibalistic tribe, eaten). Kobolds believe that if they die in service to their tribe, Io immediately sends each of them back to life as the next egg laid in the hatchery. If a particularly important or respected member of a tribe dies, the hatchery is closely monitored. The next egg laid is immediately separated from the rest and carefully protected. Once they hatch, the resultanting kobold is groomed to fill a position of importance.

 

Grudges Unforgotten

Because the gnome god Garl Glittergold trapped the kobold god Kurtulmak in an inescapable maze, kobolds have at best a tense rivalry and at worst bitterly hateful toward gnomes. Although they usually don’t seek out gnomes to do them violence, if hostile kobolds encounter a mixed group of gnomes and other humanoids, the kobolds instinctively attack the gnomes. Kobolds in battle with gnomes are much less likely to run away because their hatred overrules their sense of self-preservation.

A kobold’s cautious nature doesn’t mean it can’t get angry. The blood of dragons flows in its veins, and like a raging drake, a kobold that is pushed too far or has its back against the wall can become a miniature storm of fangs and claws as it desperately tries to defend its life. Likewise, kinship to their own tribe can prompt kobolds to battle another kobold tribe for resources or territory. Such conflicts aren’t common, because two tribes will always prefer to expand in different directions if they come into contact, but they do happen.

For example, two neighboring tribes that want exclusive claim to a flock of mountain goats might skirmish with each other every few days. Eventually the leader of one warring tribe realizes it is losing due to attrition and moves its tribe to another area, ceding the contested territory to its more successful neighbors.

As demonstrated by their complex relationship with gnomes, kobolds have a persecution complex and easily take offense at the actions or deeds of other races. They might forgive a slight, but they will never forget it. If the slight is great enough they nurse their resentment until they get a chance to wreak revenge on the creature or race that has wronged them.

 

Environment

Kobolds are cold-blooded and thus prefer temperate and tropical climates. Kobold tribes in colder regions tend to be smaller in population and more aggressive in their hunting, since food is relatively scarce in such areas.

Partly out of fear and partly because their eyes are sensitive to sunlight, kobolds prefer the security of a cave to living in the open air, and can be found in any sort of terrain that can support tunneling. In a swamp or along a coastline where digging into the soft ground is problematic, kobolds entrench themselves in dense woods, hills, or large rock outcroppings, creating warrens above the water line.

Kobolds reside most commonly in hilly or mountainous terrain. Such locations usually have natural caves suitable for living space, plenty of room to dig, and ready sources of food. Although lairing in these locations puts kobolds in competition with surface-dwelling humanoids, their ability to avoid detection often means their warrens go unnoticed by their larger rivals. If it’s lucky, a tribe of kobolds that is discovered by a group of larger humanoids might form a mutually beneficial arrangement, relying on the humanoids for protection from invaders and in return providing services such as excavating new living spaces and disposing of trash. If it’s unlucky, the tribe is enslaved by the other humanoids, and the kobolds serve similar roles but under threat of death.

Kobold - Blood of Io Traits

Your kobold character has the following racial traits.

Ability Score Increase

One of your Ability scores is increased by 2, and another Ability score is increased by 1.

Natural Armor

You have tough, scaly skin. When you aren’t wearing armor, your AC is 13 + your Dexterity modifier. You can use your natural armor to determine your AC if the armor you wear would leave you with a lower AC. A shield’s benefits apply as normal while you use your natural armor.

Age

Kobolds reach adulthood at age 6 and can live up to 120 years but rarely do so.

Alignment

Kobolds reliance on the strength of their group makes them trend toward law and their fear of confrontation pushes them toward neutral.

Size

Kobolds are between 2 and 3 feet tall and weigh between 25 and 35 pounds. Your size is Small.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Darkvision

You can see in dim light within 120 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Grovel, Cower, Beg

As an action on your turn, you can cower pathetically to distract nearby foes. Until the end of your next turn, your allies gain advantage on attack rolls against enemies within 10 feet of you that can see you. Once you use this trait, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

Pack Tactics

You have advantage on an attack roll against a creature if at least one of your allies is within 5 feet of the creature and the ally isn’t incapacitated.

Sunlight Sensitivity

You have disadvantage on attack rolls and on Perception checks that rely on sight when you, your target, or whatever you are trying to perceive is in direct sunlight.

Language

You can speak, read, and write Common and Draconic.

Diminutive form

Kobolds wish to remain unnoticed and unobserved by those larger and stronger than them has paid off, granting the proficiency in the stealth skill.