Kobold

Moore, Roger E. (July 1982) Dragon #63, p.26

The kobolds’ major deity, Kurtulmak, is said to have given the kobold race life and taught them personally the important arts of living off other creatures (by theft, looting, pillaging, and the like).

Kurtulmak intended his race to live in the deep reaches of unfriendly forests and shallow caves because of their value as hideouts and shelters, and was enraged when his subjects were forced to compete with the gnomes, who wanted the same living space. Militarily, gnomes are considerably stronger, more organized, and thereby better off than kobolds, and most battles between members of the two races result in defeat for the kobolds. Only their preference for hit-and-run assaults and their relatively high rate of reproduction give kobolds even a reasonable chance to avoid eventual extinction.

As with the other humanoid races, kobolds are prone to pick on creatures smaller than themselves, and seem to take crude delight in inflicting pain and misery upon their captives. Though they generally are aware (and resentful) of their physical disadvantages when compared to the larger humanoids, humans, and demi-humans, they are also very respectful of authority and will do as they are ordered if ruled by an obviously more powerful (and lawful evil) creature or being. However, kobolds automatically dislike anyone much larger than themselves on the basis of size alone, and though they will carry out their leader’s will in such cases, they will likely also seek to pervert the intent of their orders in some minor ways to show their resentment.

Kobold religion is centered around the tenets of survival, safety in numbers, destruction of all other (larger) races through attrition, and obedience. Kurtulmak is supposedly served by a variety of minor demigods, the deified heroes (chieftains or priests) of their race.

A kobold “hero” does not necessarily have the courage and fighting ability that one normally associates with the one so called; kobold “heroes” are renowned for their skill at “indirect combat” (such skills as attacking the defenseless, ambushing, trap-setting, and torturing). Though they try to disavow the image, a few kobold heroes appear more like master scavengers than fighters. Heroes usually avoid personal combat unless backed up (supported) by “regular” kobolds, and tend whenever possible to assume roles of leadership from the rear and command from afar:

Pantheon

Kurtulmak

Deities & Demigods Cyclopedia

Lesser god

Armor Class

0

Move

12″

Hit Points

219

No. of Attacks

2

Damage/Attack

2–24/1–6

Special Attacks

Poison

Special Defenses

Fear aura, +2 or better weapon to hit

Magic Resistance

55%

Size

M (5½′ tall)

Alignment

Lawful evil

Worshiper’s Align

Lawful evil (kobolds)

Symbol

Skull (gnomish)

Plane

Nine Hells

Cleric/Druid

10th level cleric

Fighter

As 16+ HD monster

Magic-User/Illusionist

Nil

Thief/Assassin

12th level assassin

Monk/Bard

Nil

Psionic Ability

VI

S

22 (+4,+10)

D

19

C

19

I

19

W

9

Ch

19

Kurtulmak appears as a giant kobold (5½′ tall) with scales of steel and a tail with a poisonous stinger. He hates all life but kobolds, and is said to have taught the first kobolds the important arts of mining, ambushing and looting.

Kurtulmak can smell gnomes up to a mile away, the scent of which drives him into a killing frenzy. He exudes a fear aura, and all enemies who come within 10′ of him must save vs. spells or flee in panic (gnomes save at −4). He wields a +4 spear that strikes for 2–24 points of damage. He can also attack with his tail, which stings for 1–6 points plus poison (save or die).

Kobold shamans always wear orange robes with a white death’s-head sigil on the chest. They can rise up to the 5th level of clerical ability.

Dakarnok

Moore, Roger E. (July 1982) Dragon #63

Kobold Demigod

Armor Class

4

Move

9″

Hit Points

65

No. of Attacks

1

Damage/Attack

3–9 (+2)

Special Attacks

Nil

Special Defenses

+1 or better weapon to hit; 95% hide in shadows

Magic Resistance

15%

Size

S (3½′ tall)

Alignment

Lawful evil

Worshiper’s Align

Lawful evil (kobolds), in particular raiders and bandits

Symbol

Black spiked club over broken skull

Plane

Nine Hells

Cleric/Druid

5th level cleric

Fighter

As 10 HD monster

Magic-User/Illusionist

Nil

Thief/Assassin

6th level assassin

Monk/Bard

Nil

Psionic Ability

Nil

S

18 (+1,+2)

D

17

C

18

I

16

W

10

Ch

8 (18 to kobolds)

The chief kobold deity is Kurtulmak (see the Deities & Demigods Cyclopedia), who lives in the twisted spectral forests and caves of his home in the Nine Hells. His chief servants are the deified heroes of the kobold folk, who best demonstrated the most revered qualities of their people when they were alive. The heroes that become demigod helpers of Kurtulmak upon their deaths are those who also caused the greatest destruction and havoc among demi-humans and humans (especially gnomes), and increased the wealth and might of their home gens. There are a number of these minor deities, none of them of exceptional power compared to most deities, and it would appear that they are continually engaged in power conflicts with one another in their drive to become Kurtulmak’s most favored aide. Typical of these lesser demi-godlings is the hero Dakarnok.

In life, Dakarnok was a shaman/chieftain who conquered all the other kobold gens near his own tribe, and then moved against human and gnome settlements scattered along his frontier. He enjoyed considerable military success against the poorly organized opposition, and specialized in fast, light raids against the smaller villages, driving the populace toward the distant major cities.

It is said that Dakarnok gained god-hood through the use of certain magical devices; whatever the means, upon his death his people continued to revere him, and shamans found they were able to cast spells after prayer and ceremony dedicated to his memory. His worship has spread, though not evenly, to a number of other gens, since his people scattered when his home gen-empire was conquered after his death by more powerful human, dwarven, and gnome armies.

Shamans of Dakarnok may be found in kobold gens also having shamans or witch doctors devoted to Kurtulmak; the clerical level of Dakarnok’s priests will never equal or exceed that of Kurtulmak’s shamans, and the former are generally subservient to the latter.

Dakarnok’s shamans frequently lead raiding parties, and gain respect and more followers after especially successful (or lucky) acts of thievery, looting, and destruction. These shamans are typically armed with a black, spiked club (2–7 points damage, treat otherwise as a normal club) that doubles as their holy symbol. These shamans are quite aggressive in the spread of their form of religion, and though they accept Kurtulmak’s clerics as their superiors, they have been known to attack the shamans and witch doctors of other kobold demi-godlings on sight.

Dakarnok is usually depicted as an unusually muscular kobold with silver-black scales and tiny red eyes. He uses (two-handed) a +1 spiked club made of dark oak. His shamans cannot attain higher than 3rd level in clerical ability. The particulars of his worship are the same as for Kurtulmak, save that there is no holy animal and the holy color in his worship is black.

Gaknulak

Monster Mythology

Kuraulyek

Monster Mythology

Tucker’s Kobolds

Moore, Roger E. (November 1987) Dragon #127, p.28

This month’s editorial is about Tucker’s kobolds. We get letters on occasion asking for advice on creating high-level AD&D® game adventures, and Tucker’s kobolds seem to fit the bill.

Many high-level characters have little to do because they’re not challenged. They yawn at tarrasques and must be forcibly kept awake when a lich appears. The DMs involved don’t know what to do, so they stop dealing with the problem and the characters go into Character Limbo. Getting to high level is hard, but doing anything once you get there is worse.

One of the key problems in adventure design lies in creating opponents who can challenge powerful characters. Singular monsters like tarrasques and liches are easy to gang up on; the party can concentrate its firepower on the target until the target falls down dead and wiggles its little feet in the air.

Designing monsters more powerful than a tarrasque is self-defeating; if the group kills your super-monster, what will you do next—send in its mother? That didn’t work on Beowulf, and it probably won’t work here.

Worse yet, singular super-monsters rarely have to think. They just use their trusty, predictable claw/claw/bite. This shouldn’t be the measure of a campaign. These games fall apart because there’s no challenge to them, no mental stimulation—no danger.

In all the games that I’ve seen, the worst, most horrible, most awful-beyond-comparison opponents ever seen were often weaker than the characters who fought them. They were simply well-armed and intelligent beings who were played by the DM to be utterly ruthless and clever. Tucker’s kobolds were like that.

Tucker ran an incredibly dangerous dungeon in the days I was stationed at Ft. Bragg, N.C. This dungeon had corridors that changed all of your donkeys into huge flaming demons or dropped the whole party into acid baths, but the demons were wienies compared to the kobolds on Level One. These kobolds were just regular kobolds, with 1–4 hp and all that, but they were mean. When I say they were mean, I mean they were bad, Jim. They graduated magna cum laude from the Sauron Institute for the Criminally Vicious.

When I joined the gaming group, some of the PCs had already met Tucker’s kobolds, and they were not eager to repeat the experience. The party leader went over the penciled map of the dungeon and tried to find ways to avoid the little critters, but it was not possible. The group resigned itself to making a run for it through Level One to get to the elevators, where we could go down to Level Ten and fight “okay” monsters like huge flaming demons.

It didn’t work. The kobolds caught us about 60 feet into the dungeon and locked the door behind us and barred it. Then they set the corridor on fire, while we were still in it.

“NOOOOOO!!!” screamed the party leader. “It’s THEM! Run!!!”

Thus encouraged, our party scrambled down a side passage, only to be ambushed by more kobolds firing with light crossbows through murder holes in the walls and ceilings. Kobolds with metal armor and shields flung Molotov cocktails at us from the other sides of huge piles of flaming debris, which other kobolds pushed ahead of their formation using long metal poles like broomsticks. There was no mistake about it. These kobolds were bad.

We turned to our group leader for advice.

“AAAAAAGH!!!” he cried, hands clasped over his face to shut out the tactical situation.

We abandoned most of our carried items and donkeys to speed our flight toward the elevators, but we were cut off by kobold snipers who could split-move and fire, ducking back behind stones and corners after launching steel-tipped bolts and arrows, javelins, hand axes, and more flaming oil bottles. We ran into an unexplored section of Level One, taking damage all the time. It was then we discovered that these kobolds had honeycombed the first level with small tunnels to speed their movements. Kobold commandos were everywhere. All of our hirelings died. Most of our henchmen followed. We were next.

I recall we had a 12th-level magic-user with us, and we asked him to throw a spell or something. “Blast ’em!” we yelled as we ran. “Fireball ’em! Get those little @#+$%*&!!”

“What, in these narrow corridors?” he yelled back. “You want I should burn us all up instead of them?”

Our panicked flight suddenly took us to a dead-end corridor, where a giant airshaft dropped straight down into unspeakable darkness, far past Level Ten. Here we hastily pounded spikes into the floors and walls, flung ropes over the ledge, and climbed straight down into that unspeakable darkness, because anything we met down there was sure to be better than those kobolds.

We escaped, met some huge flaming demons on Level Ten, and even managed to kill one after about an hour of combat and the lives of half the group. We felt pretty good—but the group leader could not be cheered up.

“We still have to go out the way we came in,” he said as he gloomily prepared to divide up the treasure.

Tucker’s kobolds were the worst things we could imagine. They ate all our donkeys and took our treasure and did everything they could to make us miserable, but they had style and brains and tenacity and courage. We respected them and loved them, sort of, because they were never boring.

If kobolds could do this to a group of PCs from 6th to 12th level, picture what a few ores and some low-level NPCs could do to a 12th—16th level group, or a gang of mid-level NPCs and monsters to groups of up to 20th level. Then give it a try. Sometimes, it’s the little things—used well—that count.