Kobold (Dungeons & Dragons)

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The Kobold, as depicted in the video game Neverwinter Nights.

Kobolds are a fictional species featured In the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. Aggressive, xenophobic, yet industrious small humanoid creatures, such Kobolds are noted for their skill at building traps and preparing ambushes. In the original Dungeons & Dragons game, Kobolds were considered goblinoids but they have been depicted as reptilian humanoids since the release of the first edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game.

Kobolds are distantly related to dragons,^[1] and are often found serving them as minions. Kobolds speak a version of draconic, with a yipping accent. In some versions (particullary older ones) Kobold is an independent language. They are also vaguely similar to them in appearance, being, as they are, bipedal lizards, though in older editions of the game they were described as "dog-like".

They share their name with Kobolds, a type of goblin or gnome in German folklore, but the creatures are otherwise unrelated. In earlier editions of the game, there were winged Kobolds known as urds, who otherwise maintained separate societies from standard Kobolds.

1 Society
- 1.1 Notable Kobolds
- 1.2 Religion
2 Notes
3 References

[edit] Society

Kobold society is influenced by their lawful evil alignment. They will plan and dig mines industriously, while laying cruel traps for interlopers. If they must confront an enemy, they will mass their troops for an ambush. Among the monstrous humanoids, they are known for cunning plans, unlike many they also share those plans among the tribe. General plans and goals are common knowledge, and detailed plans are shared with all who ask to allow them to work fruitfully for the good of the tribe.

Kobolds have specialized laborers, yet the majority of Kobolds are miners. Kobold prefer exile to execution, and in some disputes, Kobolds will split tribes in order to spread their kind over a larger region. Kobolds are also extremely fecund egg layers having the highest birth rate among humanoids and mature quickly, in 6 years. They often lay eggs in a common nest, with specialized foster parents to watch over the eggs and wyrmlings (young under 1 year).

[edit] Notable Kobolds

Deekin Scalesinger is a Kobold bard who is a NPC minion found in several of the expansions to Neverwinter Nights.^[2] Deekin is shown in several screenshots of Neverwinter Nights 2 as well.

Klobt-A-Lozn appeared in the AD&D first edition module In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords as the leader of a forgotten kobold tribe in the caverns below Drachen Keep, in the Pomarj region of the World of Greyhawk campaign setting.

Meepo is a lycanthropic Kobold who shows up in a number of settings and contexts.^[3], such as the set War of the Dragon Queen for Dungeons & Dragons Miniatures.

"Tucker's kobolds," made legendary by an editorial in Dragon magazine, were an extremely brutal, clever, and nasty group of Kobolds encountered by Roger E Moore in a scenario developed by a dungeon master in Fort Bragg, North Carolina known as "Tucker."

[edit] Religion

The main deity of the Kobolds is Kurtulmak, the god of war and mining. The other main god worshipped by the Kobolds is Gaknulak the god of protection, stealth, trickery, and traps. A lesser-known Kobold demigod is Dakarnok.