I’ve been writing a series on personality features for each individual non-human race for awhile now, and today – thanks to a request from a reader – I’m covering kobolds, one of the only remotely PC-playable races that even goblins can look down on. The lore around kobolds has changed a lot over the years, but for this post I’m embracing the draconic connection, rather than digging too much into kobolds of Germanic legend. (The Germanic concept is cool too, but far from the default shown in the Monster Manual or most D&D settings.)

Edit: Please note that this post has been re-edited and released in Through Their Own Eyes, now available on DriveThruRPG.

Elves | Dwarves | Halflings | Gnomes | Half-orcs | Homunculi | Dragonborn | Tieflings | Goblins | Aasimar | Kobolds | Drow | Thri-Kreen | Veytikka

One of the real challenges of this post is that I’ve already tried to sell goblins as generally cowardly (let’s say they have a strong strategic preference for mitigating personal risk), and kobolds need to be the same but a lot more so. At the same time, I don’t want them to be entirely despicable, because if you’re using these charts, you plan to be a protagonist – or you’re a DM trying to make a kobold NPC stand out, so some exceptionalism is fine.

What I have here, then, is a species and culture obsessed with dragons, but never really able to share in the dragon’s wealth, power, or prestige. Because metallic dragons don’t generally seek out whole tribes of servitors in settings other than Council of Wyrms, and because of irreconcilable differences with Kurtulmak, metallics have rejected kobolds. At least from the kobold perspective, this is a sign that metallics aren’t as virtuous as everyone thinks. Based on this species-wide endemic poverty and culture of the oppressed, then, I’ve taken a lot of inspiration from the Urchin background – again, much like goblins, but more so.

Personality Traits

Ideals

Bonds

Flaws

Design Notes

I’ve said this with every post in this series so far, and it’s true here as well. A lot of these personality features set you up to be unpleasant to be around, because they’re intended to drive small conflicts as well as larger ones. Use these sparingly, and pay close attention to your group’s dynamic and how much intra-party conflict is okay. No amount of “it’s what my character would do” balances out ruining the fun of other people at the table.

There are a lot of little in-jokes sprinkled through the list. Trait 2, for example, could be rephrased as “You no take candle!” with no change in meaning. Trait 4 is a fond reference to a late friend of mine who always wound up preferring what other people ordered at restaurants. And so on.

I think one of the core virtues of kobolds is individual as well as generational persistence. I mean, their stat block indicates one of the most vulnerable creatures that still passes for sapient, right? The general course of the narrative involves adventurers slaughtering them by the dozens or tens of dozens; humans and other races think of them in about the same terms as particularly undesirable rats. A lot of kobolds die by violence, but the ones that survive just never. give. up. They have an almost pathological tenacity. Not in the heat of battle, but afterward, the moment they’re safe again, they go back to pursuing the same goal as before, but with adjustments in location, approach, or leadership. For most tribes, this goal is a blend of Make More Kobolds and whatever their draconic master has assigned them to do. For a PC, it’s more like looking at every problem as a system to test and never over-committing to a conflict. Remember, you worked hard to get your current set of allies, but the only thing that can stop you from replacing them is being dead.

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