"Kobolds are green now?" Topic

Are we okay with that? I didnt get the memo.

I dunno, shouldn't they be whatever color their associated dragon is?

That's my thought too. Whatever colour their benevolent dragon overlord is.

@Rogzombie, did you get the memo that their draconic and not little dog men? :D

This is all according to what self-appointed authority?

Since "kobold" comes from the same linguistic root as "cobalt", I always imagined them to be a rather nice blue colour -- rather like Smurfs, but more heavily armed.

Then again, I imagine that they are normally viewed in a pretty dim light.

All the best,

John.

Green ? Blue ? Dragon overlord ??
Well, according to my original source, the old vintage D&D red book of the Dungeon Master, Kobolds are small creatures with dog heads. I always though they were actually brown !

I concur.

They're whatever color you paint them.
-Kle.

I thought they were invisible…

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobold

I am with Lyondry and paradoxically with average joe!

If anyone has ever seen a kobold, please could they tell us what colour it was?

Green.

The last time I saw one it was chartreuse and his girlfriend
was puce.

@ Extra Crispy

That's Packers fans you're thinking of. Easy mistake to make! :)

I figure if it's fantasy, anything goes. I don't recall ever painting Kobolds, but I just painted some purple gorillas and some fiery-colored dogs*. I think they look cool.

*Mutants, really, but close enough.

rather like Smurfs, but more heavily armed.

And scrawnier – I always pictured them as lean and rangy, and hungry … for what it's better not to know. Was totally unaware of the dragon connection.

Doug

Do you guys live under rocks? D&D kobolds have always been little lizard dudes. Dog faced but scaly. I could be wrong but I think the 1e Monster Manual describes eggs in their lairs.

They've been associated with Dragons at least since the early 80s when the second Flame the red dragon adventure appeared in Dungeon magazine. Flame was supported by the Kamikaze Kobold Corps, who also solidified their reputation as masters of traps.

Do you guys live under rocks?

Only on weekends.

In the Palladium RPG, Kobolds were sort of the dwarves of the dark side. Somewhere in between a goblin and a hobgoblin in stature and appearance, but good craftsmen … or craftskobolds … or whatever.

Doug

And you guys make fun of us Historical players with our buttonhole lace.

In the Palladium RPG

Well, there's your problem right there.

;)

Now I'm gonna buy some kobolds, and paint'em plaid just to anger up some nerds :)

"Now I'm gonna buy some kobolds, and paint'em plaid just to anger up some nerds :)"

I'm going to paint them blue and name each one.

This is Joker Kobold, this is Happy Kobold, this is Grumpy Kobold, this is Pappa Kobold and the one with long hair is Koboldette. Not only did you fall into Joker Kobold's trap, but they are seriously going to Kobold you up.

Well, there's your problem right there.

Ain't it the truth. The books had some GREAT art in them though, and also some interesting concepts, back when they were new.

Doug

Apparently they are red :) link

And you guys make fun of us Historical players with our buttonhole lace.

If this was a Historical thread somebody would be in the dawg house by now. :-)

LLC aka Ron

Of late I've thought of them in terms of the little rat-like fellows in World of Warcraft… picture One of my favorite mobs in that game.
'You no take candle!'

It doesn't matter what color you paint them, they always end up red and gooey very fast!

they always end up red and gooey very fast!

Bot sometimes not enough of them. First dungeon crawl I ever participated in, and probably the first for the DM, too, our party of maybe 5 1st level characters opened a door in the dungeon to find I think it was 96 kobolds. That's how many the dice said there were (and the basic edition told you how many dice to roll), so that's what we got. The few that survived threw the corpses of those that didn't at the swarm to slow them down, while we slammed the door shut and ran away. As I recall it, was a short game.

Doug

I missed all the memos on kobolds. I thought they were orange, lol.

I get the part about being associated with dragons now.
I am reading a D&D book where they work for a green dragon.

Thanks for the input and of course feel free to paint your kobolds however you like. Unless you are worried about getting laughed out of a con somewhere have it your way :)

The one I have to paint should look cool green.

To quote the MM 1st ed " hide runs from very dark rusty brown to a rusty black…no hair..eyes are reddish and their small horns are tan to white"

Perhaps they changed color in that heretical 4th edition. .

If this was a historical thread half of use would be in the dawghouse.

You do have to admit though John, discussing historical players lace button holes can lead to some merriment.

D&D has changed their monster colors alot over the years.
I want to try and sell this kobold but I'm not sure what most people would want so I am defaulting to the current color because I think the tie in with dragons is cool.

BTW I think people prefer green goblins to yellow.

I always thought they were reddish…

It was D&D 3rd edition when they morphed from Dog faced creatures into the Draconic type creatures. They've had a big connection with dragons for quite some time. The most rememberable for me is the TSR boxed adventure Dragon Mountain, in which a Red Dragon had a mountain full of Kobold defenders. It was a pretty tough adventure as it was designed to compensate for their weaknesses. There were also some Kobold characters that were fairly tough, which surprised most players.

Paizo has fully embrased the new look and has a trilogy of adventures based on them.

link
link
link

According the new look of them from Paizo, they also don't have one racial color. They are red, black, blue, green, and white. I like the new look more than the old dog faced look.

My Kobolds fought in Impi's. The players chose descretion over valor when they heard the yipping of 1000 disciplined Kobbos. : )

Back in the day I created the Killer Kobold, 10 hit dice AC 0 strength 18… The players were having the usually one-swing-per-level and "hit hit hit" "Umm, what did you roll?" "Four" "You missed"… They looked just like everybody else too. That was back when you didn't worry too much about viable cultures, just killing things and taking their loot.

Since Kobolds only live underground and do not venture forth, and therefore when seen are seen only by torchlight, lantern or magical light, perhaps their coloration is as much a matter of perception as actual state:

"Holy Cuthbert! Something just stabbed the halfling!"

"Did you see it?"

"Maybe a lizard? A dog? I can barely see in this blasted torchlight as is."

"What color was it?"

"What color was it? Who cares what color it was! It killed Holbo, and it's still in the tunnel with us!"

It was D&D 3rd edition when they morphed from Dog faced creatures into the Draconic type creatures.

But they've always had scales. In AD&D 1e only their voices were described as dog-like yapping.

It was D&D 3rd edition when they morphed from Dog faced creatures into the Draconic type creatures.

But they've always had scales. In AD&D 1e only their voices were described as dog-like yapping.

True, but the DCS and DAT illustrations both depicted Kobolds as dog-headed, scaly humanoids. (I note that DAT's illustration in the DMG depicted a fight between a group of kobolds and a dragon who used a gaseous breath weapon on them, so the 3e retcon to make them "draconoid" is mildly ironic.)

Unless those were red kobolds fighting the green dragon.

Unless those were red kobolds fighting the green dragon.

Ah, but it's a black and white drawing! (Probably has something to do with infravision. )

If they're going to be mammalian, skip dogs and go straight to Pangolins.
link

Hmmm if we are going to assign a new look then I would present this one to the floor…

Heterocephalus glaber, the East Africa Sand Puppy picture picture picture picture

Personally, as far as minis go I like mine dog faced and reddish.

That said, I painted all the textures for the Kobolds for the video game Dungeons @ Dragons online. Did every colour except green.

According to the old blue book (1974-79)… Here's the kobold description:

Evil dwarf-like creatures behave much like goblins, but are less powerful. A chieftain fights like a gnoll, as does his bodyguard of 1-6. Kobolds are highly resistant to magic and get +3 on all saving throw dice except dragon breath. They have infravision.

Seems that they got "colorized" in the 80s. Also seems, despite their later association with dragons, they were quite vulnerable to dragon breath… Moths to flame, I guess.

In the MM, the description goes:

The hide of kobolds runs from very dark, rusty brown to a rusty black. They have no hair. Their eyes are reddish and their small horns are tan to white. They favor red and orange garb. Kobolds live up to 135 years.

So they question now…

Are they still bald even?

:-)

ps-in a couple weeks i'll be releasing a free WEGS Old Skool adventure, "Kobolds in Dragonbreath Vale". Stay tuned to TMP for more exciting details!

2nd Ed D&D took them in a direction different from the 1st Ed, making them look more like they were part of the greater humanoid family. They got big goggly eyes and no snout at all. They abandoned this design later before the change to 3rd Ed/4E.

Here is the evolution of the kobold –

picture

-Eli

emu2020 hit it right on the head, especially with the pictures. I have a bunch of old figures from the early 80's and they look just like picture #1.