So, there’s a question that’s been bothering me for a while now about the Kobolds in this game: what exactly are they? I mean, Kobold usually makes me think of the kinds you see in modern D&D/Pathfinder (the little lizard people that are descended from dragons), but the description of Kobolds in-game doesn’t sound like that… or any other interpretation of Kobolds that I’m aware of, actually. Are these Kobolds an original design?
Also, is there a specific limit to how short your character can get? Because I’ve never been able to make my character get shorter than about 43.9", I think it was.
Depends highly where they are from, either mountains, valleys, ect. not only that but what iteration. After all there are the kobolds that look like rats, the kobolds that look like tiny dragon folk, the furry version of a kobold, the goblin version of the kobold. Really there is quite a few and it all really comes down to how you want to view them in your head.
The Kobolds in the game owe more to their Germanic origins (specifically the mine spirits here, leading eventually to the naming of the element Cobalt) rather than the DnD (later versions?) kind. This was a deliberate choice driven in part by a choice to go back to the origin of these creatures, and because the DnD kind is copyright to WotC.
There’s not a specific limit, no. The average Kobold height in game is around 36" and the sd is around 1.5". When a transformation begins a hash called tfcode is generated, based on your original character features and where it begins, and this is used to pick your eventual height based on the species mean, sd, and your current sex. Currently though there’s a limitation in that neither the neck or head are being transformed in size, so your character won’t end up as short as intended.
I’m not a lawyer, but I do feel it’s important to point out that kobolds are also used by Paizo in Pathfinder, where they have most of the same role and flavor (minus gods and traditional racial animosity), including their physiology. While that’s not necessarily open-and-shut, it does show that they do not specifically protect their iteration of the kobold. Moreover, only a specific list of creatures is actually considered by them to be “product identity,” and does not include the kobold.
Also of note is WotC’s Open Game License, which allows the use of some of their concepts and ideas in the creation of third-party products. You cannot plagiarize their Monster Manual descriptions, nor can you copy their stories or unique characters, nor can you use their artwork, but otherwise, kobolds are fair game as diminuitive greedy lizard people with a penchant for underground dwelling and trapmaking.
Granted, there is likely some nuance that I’ve missed, but at large, kobolds as envisioned by D&D should be permissible so long as you don’t use any art that appears on WotC websites, books or other materials and write your own characters, descriptions and history.
Which is not to say you should change YOUR kobolds to be more in-line with D&D, of course. Nothing wrong with being distinct.
Oh hey ye olde D&D lore. D&D has had kobolds since the earliest versions of the game, but if I remember right their currently well-known draconic/reptilian form was only solidified for good in third edition. The earliest D&D kobolds were goblinoids, and were more in the doglike or ratlike category that’s much closer to the Germanic mythology version. But it turned out that ‘weaker version of a goblin that less people know about’ wasn’t really a niche that needed filling from a gameplay perspective, so they ended up branching off into the adorable dragon-serving yipping lizards that D&D has today.
So, what does that mean, appearance-wise? Besides their shortness, it seems like kobolds’ appearances vary a lot in Germanic folklore, and a fair few of the descriptions in-game just refer to their features as being “kobold-like.” I kinda get the general picture, but the general picture is kinda missing some pieces. Do they look frumpy, like… say, the Seven Dwarves from Snow White? Or are they more elegant, like the modern idea of elves? Or do they look altogether different from both of those?
