Homebrew Gregorian Kobold Species Details

People say that Kobolds weren't worth saving, yet I believed in the few who were.

- Gregor

 

Common kobolds are commonly considered to be one of the weakest, unintelligent, and cowardly of all the races, yet within the Great Gregor Mountains a rather interesting breed started to populate Id. While the mountain itself held no interesting properties, the focus on the mountain from multiple factions gave rise to some of the hardiest Kobolds the world has ever seen. Not to say they're strong, as they most definitely aren't, but instead they make up for it in their independent mischievousness, agility, and cunning.

While some say that draconic beings never change, after the overthrowing of the dragons that kept them under control, they proved their collective strength through simple strategic cunning, driving the dwarves from their homes in the Great Gregor Mountains and rising to prominence throughout multiple nations all around the world.  

A Strange Dichotomy

Gregorian Kobolds live a relatively similar life to Common Kobolds, albeit in better conditions. Within the mountains, Gregorian Kobolds build underground networks that eventually grow large enough to be cities in their own right. While unified architecture is something only recently thought of, the largest nest to Gregorian Kobolds is almost a single unified structure. Kobolds of any race simply have a knack at excavating and digging, having an uncanny ability to find pockets of rare minerals used to help construct their opulent undertakings. 

However, with their introduction to a very limited amount of societies, Gregorian Kobolds tend to withdraw, being shunned consistantly throughout every nation and finding solace in the strength of their original homeland. For the Kobolds that do venture out, their constant struggles against the populace often leads to a chaotic personality, wanting to change or break free of the restrictive and reductive laws that typically govern the land.

This leads to an interesting development, Kobolds travelling away from the mountain tend to become more individualistic and chaotic, while the ones who stay closer are almost always dependant on their brethren, giving unquestionable authority to their tribe, being collectively lawful to their very core.

Adept Investigators

Kobolds are well known for their knack at finding trinkets of value, not to mention their kleptomania. While some may assume that it may be different for this breed of Kobolds, the same applies to them as well. Their unusual tendency to find small, useful things is almost unmatched. Almost.

The real risk that Kobolds bring to the modern world is their tendency to want to steal anything and everything. Be it small or large, if the item has value the Kobold will have a natural inclination to steal it. With no tribe to worry about, and no brethren to turn to, many a Gregorian Kobold learn to suppress the urge by attempting to steal things that may be useful, but less monetarily valuable. Due to this collective kleptomania, Kobolds developed a secret language that is commonly used to mark streets or houses with certain information. Using this language, kobolds navigate through the streets knowing where it's safe to loot, or where it's dangerous to even walk. As in any case, kobolds attempt to remain undetected to prevent ire from the people they attempt to steal from, but in some cases are caught anyways, perpetuating the other race's scorn of their kind. 

That's not to say that all Kobolds are selfish, even if most are. Kobolds are regularly hired by nations to use their knack at finding things and learning about areas to investigate crime, and solve the strange occurrences that happen throughout the land.

A Rejection of Their Birthright

While many Gregorian Kobolds think they have draconic blood within them due to the other race's stigma against draconic beings (and thus, them), most if not all Gregorian Kobolds, following the Overthrowing, actively reject the principles of dragons, instead turning to their own different traits that they consider of value instead. While this leads to a very different culture overall, this line of thinking leads them oftentimes into conflict with Dragonborn, giving a tense relationship between the two races.

It's unknown how or why this rejection started, however some theorize it's due to an aspect of Tiamat betraying an ancient loyal kobold pack. 

Arcane Magic Wielders

Gregorian Kobolds have a complicated relationship with arcane magic. While they see magic as part of their connection to dragons, and thus don't generally want to use it, the weakening of magic throughout the land has brought them to use this natural gift at magic to spur their economic foothold throughout Id. Young kobold sorcerers are trained by elders, and the training has an important aspect of material wealth connected to it. 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 their kin).

Life and Outlook

Gregorian Kobolds live in a much different time than the days long ago. This is especially apparent when it comes to standards of living, yet, even with the difference in living conditions, several things have stayed the same over time. One especially important aspect of their society is the concept of finding a role to fill in the world. While living with their kin in the mountains, any Kobold, if well suited to a role, are oftentimes simply given the role, regardless of age, gender, or tribe.

With manual labor ever decreasing, kobolds are developing much more complex social networks than before. This still shocks some older kobolds, as their increased lifespans and rapidly changing culture leads to some tears throughout their once homogenous mindset.

It was only recently that kobolds have actually emotionally bonded, in reality. Because permanent family relationships are extremely rare if nonexistent, finding two young Kobolds in what could only be thought of as "friendship" creates a divisive issue. Their eggs are still placed in a common hatchery with no effort to keep track of who each one’s mother is. Many elder kobolds find the tight-knit friendly bonds between two kobolds heretical at best, and an antithesis to their culture at worst. The collectivist mindset within the mountains leads to a strange push away from closed bonds.

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, although this occurs much less often now than before, not due to cultural changes, but instead due to the drastic increase in their lifespans.

The Crises of Age

While many can attribute increased life-spans as a positive, the problem of a Kobold's natural lengthy lifespan comes into view once thoroughly explained. Many kobolds simply work within their nest, and attacks on their societies are much, much less common. Due to this and revolutionary advancements in agriculture, aquaducting, and housing, many kobolds are living out to their maximum viable age, typically around 120 years, but in some extreme cases living to 200. With their constantly shifting culture, many Kobolds within the mountains are constantly bickering over tradition and progression, which is in and of itself a very un-kobold thing to do. 

The main problem comes from caring for the elderly. Kobold societies never generally had to do such a thing, as they typically died young and often, yet with the increased lifespans, there are no social norms whatsoever to deal with the increase in elders. The problem of overpopulation isn't necessarily bad, as they can continue to build ever larger nests, but the problem of an old generation of kobolds with no people to turn to for help is rather worrying.

Food

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 kobold typically can, if hungry, pick anything down to the bone if it's truly in need of nourishment.

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 kobold. Although, with the increase in age, and the recent culture wars between the different generations of Kobolds, many younger ones are rejecting this tradition.

Most kobold tribes avoid eating what they call “talking meat” — intelligent creatures — because such behavior prompts retaliation. The fear of starvation can make them flexible about this principle, however, and if their options are either attacking such creatures or going hungry, kobolds are practical. However, with the aforementioned advancements in agriculture, kobolds rarely if ever actually want to provoke ire from outer nations, and typically stay to themselves.

War

One thing that is consistent throughout every Gregorian Kobold, no matter the age or place of origin, is their hatred of dwarves. Not because of how they act, but because of a long and complicated history with them. Dwarves for centuries attacked and slaughtered many, many kobolds, as they viewed their race inhabiting the mountains as an "infestation" that had to be cleansed. With the dragon long ago terrorizing the nations surrounding the mountains, and with the kobolds under the dragon's influence, it's no wonder that other nations agreed with this concept. 

It's unknown exactly how the Overthrowing occured, but some speculate that one nation turned on the dwarves once the aspect of Tiamat was killed due to the better economic deal from the Kobolds in comparison to the dwarves when it came to mining and shipment of goods.

Environment

Like Common Kobolds, Gregorian Kobolds are cold-blooded, but are built differently in order to accommodate colder climates atop mountains, with important thermoregulators and defense mechanisms that help them survive.They tend to be aggressive hunters, but most commonly grow crops that can survive the harsh weather conditions as well.

Because their eyes are sensitive to sunlight and prolonged exposure to the cold air, Gregorian Kobolds prefer the security of a cave to living in the open, and can be found beneath virtually any surface within the mountain.

Many kobolds who venture away from the mountains wear protective eye-wear in the form of dark goggles in order to protect their sensitive eyes, however this can be expensive as a special glass has to be imported from a faraway land. The thermoregulators that previously helped the Kobold atop the mountains are incredibly counterintuitive once they reach the lowlands, and many kobold migrants actively cut their thermoregulating tufts in order to combat their buildup of heat. However, Gregorian Kobolds cannot hope to survive within extremely hot and arid environments, and instinctively attempt to burrow if they're overheating or having a sunstroke.

General Appearance

Despite being cold-blooded, due to living in colder climates they evolved several characteristics that are important to take into consideration. While Common Kobolds have thick, scaly skin suited to help with protecting their internal organs, Gregorian Kobolds have a finer, smoother scales in order to lower the amount of skin in contact with the air and improve their preservation of internal body-heat generated from doing strenuous labor. In order to preserve this internal body heat around the cranial area, many Gregorian Kobolds have long, sharp, rigid, yet flexible tufts of hair adorning their head, covering the base of the back of their neck as well. The amount of follicles depends on the kobold, with some of them having quite a large amount around the nape area and others having little to none at all. This is not only a thermoregulator, but also a defense mechanism, as the ends of the hair are generally unpleasant to touch due to their sharpness and other allergenic properties. It should be noted that the unpleasant effects of the tufts don't affect things with scales or other hard hide.

Roleplaying a Kobold

Kobolds in mountains are typically alienated from other races, and are not used to interacting with anyone but their brethren. This typically manifests in an almost silly fear of the outer nations and other people, and a feeling of being small within a larger-than-life world. Expect mountain kobolds to communicate in broken common, if they can speak it at all, due to their lack of interaction with other races within Id.

The further you move away from the mountains, however, you'll find more individualistic kobolds. They become prone to expressing their ideas, to the point of being vulgar and rude. However, their cunning and chaotic nature comes out when they start to become isolated, and this can manifest in an attempt(s) to change the society around them. The more isolated they are, the more chaotic they can get, to the point of being almost suicidal in their attempts for change.

However, while most kobolds would naturally fit an evil alignment, many kobolds are, because of the relative culture shock within the mountains (and the culture shock of leaving the mountains altogether) becoming more and more polarized. Expect either good or bad alignments, with nary a kobold in between.

 All Gregorian Kobolds are aware of their breed's homeland in the mountains, and will find attempts to mock or demean it as a personal insult akin to being spat upon. 

Gregorian Kobold Traits

With their small stature and comparatively weak bodies, it's no wonder that they'd be built differently than other races.

Ability Score Increase

Your Strength score is reduced by 2, your Dexterity score increases by 2, your Intelligence score increases by 1, and your Charisma score increases by 1.

Birthplace

You have a birthplace. Choose one location from the table below. Your language and ability score increase are affected by your birthplace.

Location	Language	Bonus Ability Score Increase
Mountain	Common, Draconic	+1 STR
Urban	Common, Knack	+1 CHA
Rural	Common	+2 CON

Age

Kobolds reach adulthood at age 6 and can generally live up to 120.

Alignment

Kobolds living closer to the mountains typically live with an alignment towards lawful, while kobolds living in societies away from the mountains typically have chaotic alignments. Kobolds are generally either selfish, or altruistic, depending on their age, with the eldest being paragons for traditional isolation, and the young being proponents of shared common good. It's extremely rare for a Kobold to be neutral at any age.

Size

Gregorian Kobolds are typically between 2 and 3 feet tall and weigh between 20 and 40 pounds. Your size is Small.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Darkvision

You can see in dim light within 60 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.

Prickly Hair

As a reaction, if you are wearing no article of clothing or armor over both the head and the neck, and an enemy attacks you within melee range, you may curl your head inward and hurt the attacking foe. The attacker must make a Dexterity saving throw. The attacking creature takes 1d2 piercing damage and has disadvantage on all attack rolls their next turn on a failed save. Once you use this trait, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest. This trait does not affect any creature with scales or hard hide.

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 Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight when you, the target of your attack, or whatever you are trying to perceive is in direct sunlight.

Languages

You can speak, read and write Common. You can speak, read and write Draconic if born from the mountains, and you can read and write Knack if born in the cities.

Draconic is thought to be one of the oldest languages and is often used in the study of magic. The language sounds harsh to most other creatures and includes numerous hard consonants and sibilants.

Knack is a hidden language used to communicate information about certain locations, and is used by Kobolds to either steal from other races or to keep safe from dangerous areas.