Tucker's Kobolds and Pathfinder

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Whoops, lost the plot.

Requia/Cram:  There is no Knowledge (alchemy) skill in Pathfinder.  There is craft (alchemy), knowledge (arcana) and spellcraft.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Also, having a few of the kobolds have levels in Alchemist would be interesting.

Nothing like pint-sized bomb-throwing maniacs.  You know, like Ireland in D&D.

[Sister Fracture]

Also, having a few of the kobolds have levels in Alchemist would be interesting.

Nothing like pint-sized bomb-throwing maniacs.  You know, like Ireland in D&D.

  Yes.

[Requia ☣]

Also, having a few of the kobolds have levels in Alchemist would be interesting.

Nothing like pint-sized bomb-throwing maniacs.  You know, like Ireland in D&D.

Done, also my kobolds now have (bad) Irish accents 

[President Television]

Also, having a few of the kobolds have levels in Alchemist would be interesting.

Nothing like pint-sized bomb-throwing maniacs.  You know, like Ireland in D&D.

How well does the Alchemist class actually work? I imagine it plays radically different from any of the core classes.

[Requia ☣]

Not really, though I haven't read it since playtesting, will have to check it again when I start statting the kobolds.  It has a limited number/day bombs (that can be modified for different kinds of bombs as you level) half spellcasting in the form of potions that are prepared once a day, and a buff ability, fairly normal play but takes a bit to learn the class.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Also, having a few of the kobolds have levels in Alchemist would be interesting.

Nothing like pint-sized bomb-throwing maniacs.  You know, like Ireland in D&D.

How well does the Alchemist class actually work? I imagine it plays radically different from any of the core classes.

It's crap as a PC class, really.  It makes a good bad guy, but it's unplayable as a PC.  Basically, you make little bombs and Jekyl and Hyde potions & shit.  It's gimmicky, but perfect for kobolds.

[Sister Fracture]

Also, having a few of the kobolds have levels in Alchemist would be interesting.

Nothing like pint-sized bomb-throwing maniacs.  You know, like Ireland in D&D.

How well does the Alchemist class actually work? I imagine it plays radically different from any of the core classes.

It's crap as a PC class, really.  It makes a good bad guy, but it's unplayable as a PC.  Basically, you make little bombs and Jekyl and Hyde potions & shit.  It's gimmicky, but perfect for kobolds.

If gimmicky is your thing, however, this is right up your alley. (Speaking to a generalized "you".) Just stay out of the way when the fight starts, and stop asking how high the damn roof is, because you're NOT going to fit past the fighters when you're enlarged.

Fracture,
Didn't particularly like playing with that character running around. (Not a jibe at the player, however. I still think the lot of them are rad.)

[Golden Applesauce]

You're definitely on the right track with setting up the murder holes in such a way as to give the kobolds flanking bonuses.

Make liberal use of difficult terrain.  Maybe the kobolds strung a bunch of nets at ankle level above the floor, making it near impossible to run without falling flat on your face, giving the kobolds time to fire and retreat.  IIRC some types of difficult terrain give Reflex save penalties, which is handy for your kobold grenadiers/casters.

Shafts can be strategically useful as well.  Make the PCs climb a chimney-type shaft while a team of kobolds push heavy rocks down the chute on top of them, or have the obvious path involve hand/footholds carved into a wall.  Any character dumb enough to insert a hand into a dark nook in a kobold cave deserves what's coming to him.

Use poison.  A cleric with a wand of CLW can reverse the damage from random crossbow hits very effectively, but enough nicks in from poisoned weapons - even crappy stuff like greenblood oil - will eventually slow the party down.  A kobold elite who's mastered the art of throwing shuriken can be very good at this.

Kobolds know exactly the right monster for the job.  A pit trap is annoying, a pit trap with a gelatinous cube or an assassin vine at the bottom can be deadly.  Some monsters - assassin vines and darkmantles in particular - are good at obstructing the PCs while the better prepared kobolds have developed some way to get around whatever the problem is.  Higher level campaigns have some problems here, because it's harder to justify kobolds having tamed CR 10+ monsters, but kobolds know enough biology to understand that feeding an ooze organic matter -> bigger ooze.

Water can be powerful as well.  If the kobold cave is deep enough, an underground lake might fit in.  The kobolds, of course, have figured out that insulated coracles (combined with their natural cold blooded-ness) prevent the heat-sensitive (but blind) cave sharks from detecting them as they cross to the vault located on an island in the center of the lake.  If there's a surface lake nearby, the kobolds have a waterproof door that opens directly to the bottom of the lake, flooding the lower levels of the burrow, used either as a trap or a self-destruct device.

Make sure the kobolds have (where appropriate) low-tech solutions to common spells.  A sink located near the front will prevent a single cloudkill from exterminating the entire nest.  An inch of standing water makes invisible characters obvious.  Hanging sheets block line of effect without impeding movement much, and crossbow bolts will go right through them (less penalties for soft cover.)  Silence fields are a poor mans antimagic field, and prevent the party from coordinating as effectively.  For the kobold spellcasters themselves, they've taken the spells they know into account when designing their lair.  A kobold sorc with lightning bolt implies that somewhere in the lair is series of 300' long, 2' wide straight switchbacks with a web spells triggered to activate under the right circumstances.  One with dimension door has tiny sealed rooms stocked with food and healing potions within 800' of him at all times.

Doors that can be secured from one side are a must for the constantly retreating kobolds.  (I'm thinking 18" steel hatch covers with that bolt shut from one side.)

Fog Cloud and Darkness are cheap and hinder PCs greatly, but traps (or sorcs with AoE spells) don't need to see their targets anyway.

[Requia ☣]

Looking at Alchemist, it solves my original problem nicely.  If they miss the target they still do a couple points of splash damage at level 1 (reflex half), that's guaranteed pot shots for a single hit points against anybody without evasion (and the whole party if they cluster together).

[Sister Fracture]

Except for

You're definitely on the right track with setting up the murder holes in such a way as to give the kobolds flanking bonuses.

because I think she was wanting to go with crossbows, and you can't flank with a ranged weapon, that whole post is awesome and speaks of a great amount of DM experience. Yes?

[Golden Applesauce]

Except for

You're definitely on the right track with setting up the murder holes in such a way as to give the kobolds flanking bonuses.

because I think she was wanting to go with crossbows, and you can't flank with a ranged weapon, that whole post is awesome and speaks of a great amount of DM experience. Yes?

Longspears were mentioned.

And I love running kobold lairs.

[Sister Fracture]

Except for

You're definitely on the right track with setting up the murder holes in such a way as to give the kobolds flanking bonuses.

because I think she was wanting to go with crossbows, and you can't flank with a ranged weapon, that whole post is awesome and speaks of a great amount of DM experience. Yes?

Longspears were mentioned.

And I love running kobold lairs.

Longspears, oyah, You've got it down pat then.

I would LOVE to run in one of your kobold lairs if that's just a sample of what Could Be. Also because I wish I could play as a character in the same game as Roger playing a PC. That would be EPIC.

[Requia ☣]

Got the first character sheet in my email.  The Rogue only took 5 ranks in disable device.   

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Got the first character sheet in my email.  The Rogue only took 5 ranks in disable device.   

Where do you get people like this?

What level are they starting at?  Because any rogue worth a fuck has maxed perception and disable device, plus masterwork thieves' tools, and maybe a feat or two to beef those two skills up.