2. More
encounters for role-playing. For
example, Abraham Lincoln once said, “Do I not destroy my enemies when I make
them my friends?”
In the original German folklore, “A kobold is a general
or generic name for the household spirit (hausgeist) in German folklore. It may
invisibly make noises (i.e., be a poltergeist), or helpfully perform kitchen
chores or stable work. But it can be a prankster as well. It may expect a bribe
or offering of milk, etc. for its efforts or good behavior. When mistreated (cf.
fig. right), its reprisal can be utterly cruel.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobold
My kobolds have good behavior when treated well, or
have bad behavior when mistreated. Because,
if kobolds are always evil no matter how they are treated; they become targets
for experience point farming. This in
turn quickly makes encounters with kobolds repetitive and boring.
Kobolds are related to dragons and therefore have a
large amount of respect for dragons and those related to dragons, such as my
player character dragonborn.
In my campaign, my party’s persuasive bard asked the
Kobold Chieftain if following the creed of Chaos was working out for himself
and his tribe. After talking for a few
minutes, this Chieftain admitted that his followers, most of them blood
relatives, are abused, robbed, or murdered and sometimes sacrificed on the altar
located in the Chapel of Evil Chaos by the more bloodthirsty species of the
Caves of Chaos.
My bard was able to persuade the Kobold Chieftain that
he and his tribal members would live better lives, by taking up the creed of
Law. That his people would be eat
healthier food, wear better clothing, live in better homes, and be safer from
harm, while creating much needed farms around the Keep; then to continue to
follow the creed of Chaos, being robbed and murdered for their misplaced allegiance. As our group’s Dungeon Master, I found the
bard’s player talk was persuasive; the bard didn’t need a dice roll, as his
words alone were sufficient to persuade the Kobold Chieftain.
With the Castellan’s assistance, my player characters bought
many expensive tools and a cartload of different seeds, as well as building
underground homes for the rehabilitated Kobolds to create fruitful farms around
the Keep. By growing several types of
crops, caring for farm animals for meat, as well as fishing the river for fish
these Kobolds made both themselves and the Keep inhabitants more food secure.
Note: I give the
same amount of experience points when my player characters win over their
enemies with persuasion, as I do when they defeat their enemies with combat.
Note: I like kobolds
that are cousins to Chromatic dragons.
This allows first level player characters to encounter a type of dragon
species. Also, I like that kobolds are
no longer smaller versions of gnolls.
