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View Full Version : The kobolds from the Landover novels by Terry Brooks (Please move to homebrew)



realbombchu
2010-01-22, 11:00 AM
Oh, this is for DnD v.4.0, but if you have a 3.5 suggestion, I'd love to see it, too. This is kind of a long post, so I hope you'll bear with me.

I've thought about these guys for a while, and even tried creating stats for them a couple times, but I'm not sure it can be done in any kind of balanced way. I would like some help and suggestions please.

Yes, I know the Shannara series is better than Landover, but I liked parts of the world of Landover, including its kobolds. For those of you who have never read the books, his kobolds are almost the antithesis of the DnD kobolds. They aren't very big (about the size of a monkey, so maybe Tiny). And they look like monkeys, too, if monkeys had row upon row of sharp teeth, long sharp claws, usable hands instead of feet, a prehensile tail (note: not all monkeys do, you know), large Dumbo-like ears, wore clothes, were fey creatures, were faster and had stronger lungs than a horse, and were a match for almost anything.

I don't know how I'm going to fit all that into a balanced race. The appearance isn't such a problem, except the Tiny size. The match for anything idea isn't the problem it seems to be, because I could just say they often have class levels. Being fey just means they have the fey origin trait. I guess the problem is in their speed and natural attacks. Also, there is a language barrier, because they refuse to speak another language, even if they understand it.

Finally, there's the fact that they choose haunts. It doesn't mean they're undead, it just means that sometimes they swear to serve something, and when they do, they can't escape, it's a forever thing for reasons unknown. The court runner in the novels, Bunion, may run as far away as he likes, but must always return to the king, for example. Anyway, I've rambled enough. Any help would be really great. Thanks!

I just realized that this is homebrewing. I'm sorry I put it in the wrong forum. If you're a moderator, please move this for me. I hope some of you will still reply. Thanks again.

Jayabalard
2010-01-22, 11:38 AM
Yes, I know the Shannara series is better than LandoverI don't really agree; I've always kind of preferred Landover. I kind of lost interest in Shannara after Wishsong even though I read a few of the books after that.

Interestingly According to this News release (http://terrybrooks.net/landover.html), the first book of this series is now available as a free ebook but I can't seem to find it following that link.


For those of you who have never read the books, his kobolds are almost the antithesis of the DnD kobolds. They aren't very big (about the size of a monkey, so maybe Tiny). And they look like monkeys, too, if monkeys had row upon row of sharp teeth, long sharp claws, usable hands instead of feet, a prehensile tail (note: not all monkeys do, you know), large Dumbo-like ears, wore clothes, were fey creatures, were faster and had stronger lungs than a horse, and were a match for almost anything.I think you're trying to narrow tem down too much; kobolds are more a class of creatures, rather than a specific race. Parsnip and Bunion aren't even really the same type of creature, even though they're both Kobolds; they have radically different backgrounds, with one being a true Fairy, the other being more of a forest creature and just generically a Kobold. They have prehensile toes, not tails as I recall.

I think tiny is an exaggeration, since I don't recall them ever being described as particularly small, but I haven't read the most recent book, so it's possible that they've were described in more detail there.

realbombchu
2010-01-22, 03:40 PM
Hey, you're right, it did say toes, not tails. I like both series, so maybe I shouldn't have said Shannara was better.

You are also right about Bunion, he is generically a kobold, but the court wizard (Questor, if I remember correctly) actually describes him as a wight(not in the undead context). Parsnip is supposed to be a more typical fey kobold. I don't know, though, whether that means kobolds are usually plump, or if his weight is a joke because he is the court chef.

Maybe they're Small-sized? I looked up a monkey in the MM, and it said Tiny, and maybe that colored my image of them in my mind. I know they're not as big as a riding dog because they could go through the g'home gnomes' dog-tunnel real easily, while Abernathy (a scribe turned soft-coated dog) could barely fit.