Kobolds D&D | Let's Build an Encounter | D&D Quest Ideas

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Kobolds are a staple in the Dungeons and Dragons community for their fun encounters and particularly deadly traps.
So in today's encounter, we are going to play into that by going over some trap ideas and how to implement those traps into your D&D quests and campaigns.
The encounter created in this video uses D&D 5e stats but can be easily altered in order to suit any Dungeons and Dragons game, no matter what edition you prefer.
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Timestamps/Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
01:15 - Kobold Lore & Background Info
03:15 - Kobold Abilities/Actions
05:10 - Homebrew Change
05:52 - The Kobold Encounter
07:28 - Types of Traps/Trap Advice
11:36 - The Kobold Encounter Continued
16:10 - How to spice it up!
16:56 - Outro
**Disclaimer: Note that I cannot plan for every single outcome in these videos or they would become multiple hours long. Also, a player's actions can heavily affect the outcome of any encounter. If encounters don't pan out exactly as I've described, remember - that's okay. Uncertainty and the power of actions are what make D&D so great!
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[@HiddenNerdySide]

Thanks for watching! I wanted to release this video a while ago but recording audio in my new place is a nightmare. Currently converting the closet into a recording booth so we can cut down future editing time significantly. Anyways - enjoy! If you enjoyed this video, check out the rest of the Let's Build an Encounter Series here: kzbin.info/aero/PLN3EWMJpTElMPfoxgFTAMuY3qdC7sGz_7

[@godzillatemybaby4263]

Ah yes the kobold. Everyone's favorite dog people turned mini dragon

[@HiddenNerdySide]

Ya gotta love em!

[@rachdarastrix5251]

Ancient Greeks: "We will have them be cave dwelling goblinoids." Ancient Germans: "I like this idea." Dungeons And Dragons 2E: "Let's make them dog people." 3.5E: "No, Dragonoids! They have been loyal to dragons since Antiquity. They've earned it." 4E: "I agree with this." 5E: "Yes." Deviantart: "Needs mammal chest mountains to appear attractive in the perspective of humans." Kobolds: "Wtf... What??!!" Deviantart: "Did I stutter?"

[@DMachoMickey]

Kobold are such a great dungeon grind monster. One of my favorite DM sessions was luring my Level 4 players with a hook that asked them to eliminate a kobold warren that were terrorizing a gnomish neighborhood from their lair in the catacombs below. Seeing this as a low-risk quest, the party dove right in, plowing through the dungeon with impunity as they cut down the kobolds with ease...at first. A few traps, pack-tactics, and hit and run encounters later, and the party was barricading themselves inside a makeshift kitchen, hoping to get in a short rest just to recover enough hit points to survive. Now the kobolds had even more time to prepare, and by the time the party got to the boss, they were nearly out of resources and survived with the fighter standing, one hit away from going down. Of course, the twist was that the party took this seemingly easy quest over the more difficult one of dealing with the rampaging bronze dragon in the city above. Turns out the dragon was rampaging, looking for its egg, which was stolen by the kobolds. The party emerged from the grind with the egg, and were now facing an angry dragon, lol. Suckers. ;)

[@ACP4ONeill]

I'd love to see a mummy lord encounter! I find it hard to not just create a pretty lich, when really they should be so much more.

[@HiddenNerdySide]

I’ll put it on the list!

[@gamedokter]

I have a campaign where the players are going to break into a kobold lair. There will be a door described in such a way that the players will want to kick it down. If they decide to kick it down, they will get their foot stuck in the door. Then, the kobolds behind their door will start tickling their feet!

[@mrapeaslee8003]

God kobolds and goblins are my two favorite races so much my players always make sure they know goblin and draconic as languages. I love making traps where dodging it is actually worse than just taking the trap. Like jumping out of the way of a swinging tree log, only for the only available place to jump is into something much worse than some blunt force trauma

[@HiddenNerdySide]

Very evil - I love it!

[@moonringXD]

Excellent video as usual! Also another cool idea for a kobold encounter is kobold who have been turned undead and are serving a dracolich and are protecting a ancient Library!

[@HiddenNerdySide]

Love me some dracoliches!

[@dirmusloner7963]

The first game I run as a DM, my dungeon was a 3 floored dungeon. In the first floor was Kobolds that trapped THE ENTIRE first floor (tunnels in kobold size so they can move quickly, sniper holes to walls and floor for poisoned darts and crossbow bolts to hit the pc 's) traps that locks the doors behind them and set rooms or corridors in fire and sorcerer cast summon construct, and blast them before disengaging to darkness. Traps that has the simple mechanic, a ramp that leads to a door it contains two rocks (Kobolds surround the rock with cloth and put oil to the cloth then set the cloth on fire and when a pc tries to pass the door let the flaming rock roll dealing 2 points of fire damage and 3 d8 bludgeoning damage. Pit traps that when a pc steps on them the result is a 40 ft fall into a pit where a gelatinous cube await the pc to devour him. Or traps put in front the locked door that leads to the second floor a simple rope (perception DC 18 because the first floor is NOT ILLUMINATED AT ALL) is rarely seen a kobold cuts down the rope and a gelatinous cube crush in front of the door and on to a pc that was unlucky and try to open the door (poor rogue). Or in the room before the hallway that is the door that leads to second floor, pc's see the floor painted in different colors like a chess table board. (DC 17 to see the small holes on the floor) and on the floor bones that reminds them skeletons (3 winged Kobolds with strings, use the skeletons like puppets, and 4 attack the players with poisoned crossbow bolts) when a pc steps on the floor of the room 1. Skeletons "animated" by the winged Kobolds that have the strings 2. In every 1d4 rounds the trap triggers and poisoned darts and spears hit the pc from below so the pc's along fight the skeleton the must succeed a DC 16 perform like dance to avoid the darts and the spears, avoid the skeletons attacks And avoid the poisoned crossbow bolts of the winged Kobolds at the ceiling OR in the sniper holes at the walls. At every 1 d6 rounds a second trap at the "chess room" activated when the last darts from the floor triggered and fired, from the ceiling at the same time comes scythe that has the movement from one wall to another and moving horizontal across the chess floor. It was an encounter that based at my players that played that, the encounters in that dungeon were OK but they respect more the Kobolds from the first floor and they actually liked that those Kobolds put them a real challenge and said that I was their first DM that had push them to their limits and give them time to prepare before approaching this dungeon (3 floors. 1st floor Kobolds, 2nd floor intellect devourers and thralls, 3rd floor Mind flayer with intellect devourers, thralls and shadows

[@AParker3247]

I love the addition of a chase sequence! This covers so much material that I often struggle to fit into my campaign. Travel sequences, traps, covert theft, combat, and tons of opportunities for lore drops! Awesome video!

[@AParker3247]

Side-note, would love to see a video on celestials. Planning to integrate an empyrean into my campaign soon, but a video on planetars, deva, or solars would be great!

[@HiddenNerdySide]

Thank you! And I've have a few celestial requests so I'll definitely get getting to them one day!

[@Sir_Grimcode]

I will run this quest eventually, I will have to adapt it because my party,... well, they just made jet packs using magic so ya. I have to give them props for the clever design that isn’t so broken that it’s a problem.

[@HiddenNerdySide]

Good on you for giving your players the freedom to do such things!

[@MarcinEstkowski]

Thanks for scratching my imagination, and making it ready to go.

[@bigbubbagaming5474]

So, I usually like to go with the Backstabber trope (The person who hired the party is the villain and is just trying to get the party killed) and having a Mine Ran by a swarm of Kobolds who are led by a Gemstone/Metallic Dragonborn or Dragon, The kobolds being Simple workers who in return for mining the Resources will be given a Larger and more fortifiable home once the Mine is expended of resources The Employer is actual a Warmonger and is the Dragonborn (if it is a Dragonborn) is an Employee to them, The Kobolds pay the resources from their Home to the Employer to protect them while they expand and the Employer is Hiring the party to attack an "evil" Tribe of Kobolds who infested one of their mines, paying minimal to Cause a Problem and getting paid in much more so the kobolds get better protection, Although any party member with a Passive perception of 10 or Higher and is within 40ft of a Fleeing Kobold will hear the employer's name being called and saying that his protection services are worthless and that it was the 4th attack that week

[@JNJTabletop]

Everyone must pay their taxes and the trap tax is no different lol Traps are definitely something that can feel this way but they are deeply imbedded in kobold lore and no kobold adventure is complete without them. Does it seem odd to anyone else that they aren't supposed to be too intelligent but they put together intricate traps? Don't be afraid to make them a bit smarter if need be! This would be an incredible addition to any adventure. Kobolds are so great because mobs can help the party feel powerful by taking out a ton of them. Spicing it up even more... having that big bad kobold escape and serve the bigger dragon makes for another recurring villain to bring along. Perhaps they are using this swamp for some nefarious ritual that's all part of a bigger plan the ancient dragon has in mind! This quest has a lot of potential to grow and really make a game your own and come alive! Great video as always, my friend!

[@HiddenNerdySide]

Thank you, my friend!

[@MrGreenman137]

Would love to see your ideas on a Tyrannosaurus Rex encounter. I wanna get one into my campaign, but can't think of any good ideas how to

[@keelsron634]

I don't want to spoil anything for other Adventures so spoilers for Tome of annihilation. You've been warned...... Scroll further down. "The king of feathers is for sure interesting" it has legendary resistance can innately cast Misty step with no components meaning it's uncounterable.

[@keelsron634]

Fun fact did you all know that monsters with innate spellcasting ability that say require NO components cannot be countered? Also saw this Homebrew were-T-Rex that seems pretty scary even more scary if one of your player characters got cursed by it.

[@HiddenNerdySide]

I'll put it on the list! I've only used them once in my games and they weren't the focal point but something to shock the players later. During combat against a cult that was known for having exotic creatures, after three rounds it came bursting through the wall. Doing something like that could be great because it makes combat immediately feel more dangerous since a new threat has entered and it's a BIG threat.

[@mitchhaelann9215]

Something to consider: Swap the black dragon for a green. Back in 2nd edition, Greens didn't just have 'poison breath', it specified it was a poisonous **CHLORINE GAS**. OK, sure. It's highly caustic and very, very poisonous. On the surface. But a skilled chemist, or alchemist, or just anyone who paid attention in high School Chemistry and/or had a job cleaning pools would know that chlorine gas has some very interesting properties that make it even more dangerous. It's highly explosive, especially when compressed. It's also very flammable. So consider giving the kobolds rudimentary grenades filled with compressed chlorine. Simple explosive-based technology based on flammable gas, maybe a crude internal combustion/steam engine powered off chlorine the way some vehicles power off of propane. Did you know methane and natural gas were once proposed as alternatives to gunpowder? True fact. So a crude metal-spike-flinging cannon (use the stats from a standard heavy crossbow) mounted on a pintle-stand or tripod could defend a long corridor or oversee the path to the lair's entrance. Statistically, it's just a three-man team of kobolds wasting three actions a round to fire and reload a heavy crossbow, but in appearance, it's devastatingly intimidating. And that's what you need. Don't tell the players what the stats are, just describe it in such a way that they start crying about how unfair it is.

[@minnion2871]

Slides in the Kobolds lair... Pair it with ropes to swing from and a good old fashioned pit trap.... Well the Kobold goes down the slide grabs the rope to swing across the pit trap and since there is only one rope the player chasing them slides off into the pit trap... The Kobolds can then proceed to rain arrows and rocks and whatever else from the high ground as the player at the bottom of the pit figures out how to get to someplace safer than some pit or chasam in the middle of a Kobold lair....

[@BewareTheCarpenter]

I like the idea of a kobold tribe without dragons who worship a god called Kevin McCallister. So far as traps go you could do some brutal setups involving tar pits. It's not flammable and probably won't kill you but leads to a lot of exhaustion points. The campaign idea I had was a tribe of kobolds who practice voice mimicry and ventriloquism as popular sports in a jungle filled with natural tar pits. Party is looking for some missing peoples. There is a narrow pathway between a tar pit and a steep cliff, jutting out from the path is a narrow fallen tree with one of the people they were looking for tied to the end of the tree in the middle of the tar pit (head and shoulders above tar, everything else under). The nimble player character is expected to walk across the tree branch, untie the rope, bring the rope back to the party on shore so they can pull the prisoner to safety. They start pulling, their hands sticking to the tar-covered rope when the kobolds release a heavyweight on the other end of the pit. The rope gets pulled taught, coming out of the tar and they see that the head and shoulders were the only parts of the prisoner left with the rest having been eaten. There's a save to see how quickly they can let go of the rope if they all hold on they might be able to balance out the weight and if they all let go they're fine. If only half hold on they get pulled into the sticky tar pit. Meanwhile, a second rope that had been hidden in the cliff behind them is also pulled out by a second heavy weight, traying to push them into the tar from behind. Tar is slightly heavier than humans so you only sink in about shoulder deep, but getting back is going to lead to a lot of exhaustion points and if half the party is busy trying to pull the other half out then that makes the perfect time for an ambush.

[@HiddenNerdySide]

Would the kobold tribe be defending their loot after their family left them to go on vacation to the Sword Coast? And adding some tar is always great!

[@BewareTheCarpenter]

@@HiddenNerdySide I prefer to just have the aged kobold priest preaching a sermon from the sacred text of Warren Alone.

[@the_epipan]

02:40 That version of the story sounds like the gnomes' version, or maybe what really happened. But I think it is important to note that, according to the official D&D supplement Races of the Dragon, what the kobolds believe is the version that the first kobold, that kobold demi-god, after gaining freedom after serving the dragon god who created him, he went to build a great underground city for himself and his race of kobolds that he created. The god of the gnomes felt envy and suspicion and decided to "play a little prank" on them by collapsing the entire city and burying everyone alive... including the kobold demi-god. According to this... the kobolds perceive or really believe that they are an orphan race and victim of injustice, which, together with the general rejection of civilized races, it is not unusual for them to accept and seek refuge in a more powerful creature (especially dragons with whom they feel related and whom they admire for their size/power and the legends that they were created by a divine chromatic dragon (not Tiamath)) and to feel animosity towards others, especially the gnomes. Furthermore, it must be said that both gnomes and kobolds have been attacking each other for centuries, such as the gnomes occupying sacred lands where the kobolds make pilgrimages to raise their best eggs that will be the future leaders of tribes.

[@The_Golden_King]

Always on the look out for your encounter videos! Enjoy the content and always want more. I've ran a lot of D&D games for my players and still run games weekly, so it's refreshing to hear your encounter building ideas. They've helped me a lot with clearing the good old DM writing block a few times now. My players particularly enjoyed your Thri-kreen encounter I ran for them in our Eberron game, and the Sahuagin's off the coast of Chult. Keep up the fine work, I know myself and other DMs out there appreciate it greatly.

[@HiddenNerdySide]

That's awesome! Love to hear it. Thanks for the kind words!

[@peterkonig5580]

Thanx man love ur stuff 👍

[@HiddenNerdySide]

Thank you!

[@ServerQu]

In my years of running D&D I’ve never used kobolds, I always use the over some goblins instead.. but this video will def change that! Also can you add my favorite monster to your no doubt infinite list? The Rakshasa

[@HiddenNerdySide]

Already on the list! Haha

[@EnnuiElpis]

Something you may want to look into if you're running kobolds, or really any game that features dragons heavily, is the Dracopedia series of books. It's a series of art books/bestiaries that introduce renditions of many types of dragons and dragon-adjacent creatures, including a large number of different kinds of drakes. 5e has the ambush and guard drakes as it is, but introducing more might spice up any dragon-centric encounters you run. The series has a lot in it, although there's currently only 4 books in it. You can get it at Barnes & Noble or probably Amazon.

[@HiddenNerdySide]

That sounds really cool. I'll have to check it out!

[@bobfost3740]

I would love to see a video on Abishai’s and how each type offers different scenarios! Thanks for all the great ideas!

[@HiddenNerdySide]

I'll put 'em on this list!

[@DT-qx7yn]

ooh new video, great as always

[@HiddenNerdySide]

Eyyy thank you!

[@Bluefoot65]

I like using the dog like Kobolds Giant flies laying rot grubs eggs into the players

[@russellsanders8259]

I need to report an error to KZbin, I checked the stat block for HNS. It says he is a small humanoid. He should be a large elemental. This guy is on fire!

[@skyrexotron5031]

Ah ha, it was kobolds! Still would have preferred a su-monster video or bandits but still I love kobolds. I personally use icewind kobolds from rime of the frostmaiden because they are a bit bulkier.

[@skyrexotron5031]

Oh wait a video about the bhaal cultists would be amazing, the deaths head can just straight up ignore damage.

[@michaelmcgee5478]

I love kobolds. An encounter I like is actually a "positive" interaction with them. Some Kobold merchants very angrily bartering with a dwarf Jewlery Smith. The dwarf is haggling over the quality of the materials saying that there are flaws that make it worth less. The kobolds are calling him out.

[@brendanpatrick9861]

Very timely... I'm about to introduce a black dragon as the bbeg for resuming a covid-postponed campaign and want to use the clever kobold lots along the way.

[@HiddenNerdySide]

Glad I could help!

[@daoyang5988]

I started is actor played voices of Mason and Alex the Kobolds Brothers from the stranger things

[@johnbutler5239]

How about hunting down an assassin, necromantic cult, or some type of elemental?

[@HiddenNerdySide]

I got a couple of elemental and cult ideas already on the list and I'll toss assassin on there as well!

[@jacksonmann3764]

Are there any maps or stat blocks? I was just wondering where I can find VTT info to bring this encounter to life.

[@mistersteven3614]

UMBER HULK (Hulk smash big monster...ok, wrong Hulk.)

[@HiddenNerdySide]

Love em and you got it!

[@an8strengthkobold360]

Yeeesssssss

[@HiddenNerdySide]

I saw you were on a binge spree, so why not add to it?

[@grandmamaroquet-bennet9581]

Matt, I'll be your nerdy friend

[@antonioalaniz6967]

I mids having a bunch of nerfy friends. I just got a group fof dnd together. I havent played in close to a decade.... its so sad. Pray for me. First time dm and i hope it all goes well. Cant lose my new nerd group throufh a bad campaign 😂😂😂😅😅😅😅😅

[@RachDarastric2]

Why do kobolds even bother wearing a loincloth? The purpose of a loincloth isn't even to cover anything, it is to protect a body part that they don't even have from getting caught in the foliage. It doesn't make sense.

[@yusufkandur2173]

I actually have an encounter similar to this coming up in a few sessions; the group has heard the whispers of a new royal who calls herself the Corrosive Queen and this queen I s trying to recruit the Kobolds from a near by city where they are actually peaceful in their community and dig sewers and gems and get paid. As you might have guessed the Queen is actually a female Black Dragon who built an outpost (or took residence according to the parties level) at a nearby island. There are also disruptions in a drug trade where the Rouge of the party took a side quest to investigate what is going on. What is going on is the dragon uses the local Kobolds and Lizardfolk to plant eggs (either her own offspring or Drake s haven’t decided on that part yet) which requires the soil to be acidified which in turns kill all plants which means there is no Echo (the aforementioned drug). I might steal the chase sequence and some of the traps :)

[@HiddenNerdySide]

Steal away! And that sounds like the beginnings of a great quest!

[@yusufkandur2173]

@@HiddenNerdySide thank you; hearing that from you truly feels validating

[@DiMadHatter]

Will you do an encounter with lamias and jackalweres, please :) keep up the great work!

[@HiddenNerdySide]

They are awesome creatures so I'll put them on this list!

[@DiMadHatter]

@@HiddenNerdySide can't wait to see the result! Love your content, its so creative!

[@godzillatemybaby4263]

I would love to see a video about them