Playable Kobolds?

[Bjond]

There was also some community weariness about kobold related content at that time.

"Wariness!?" The entire reason I created a ranged DPS was to kill kobolds and especially kill them in their stinky jumpy sewers. Now y'all are considering making me GROUP with them!? If you do it, please please flag them as NPCs so that I might kill them.

I would hunt kobolds in their beds,​

and then shoot them in their heads,​

I'd chase them through the snow,​

and thump them toe to toe.​

​

I would slap them with a trout,​

and then turn their pockets out,​

I'd run them up a pole,​

and heckle every kobold soul.​

​

In a barrel, in a boat,​

I'd wring each scaly throat --​

no matter young nor old,​

I'd slaughter every kobold!​

 

[ClickFlint]

"Wariness!?" The entire reason I created a ranged DPS was to kill kobolds and especially kill them in their stinky jumpy sewers. Now y'all are considering making me GROUP with them!? If you do it, please please flag them as NPCs so that I might kill them.

I would hunt kobolds in their beds,​

and then shoot them in their heads,​

I'd chase them through the snow,​

and thump them toe to toe.​

​

I would slap them with a trout,​

and then turn their pockets out,​

I'd run them up a pole,​

and heckle every kobold soul.​

​

In a barrel, in a boat,​

I'd wring each scaly throat --​

no matter young nor old,​

I'd slaughter every kobold!​

You really don't like fun, do you?

 

[FaceDancer]

Kobold ARE Eberron, they have Eberron specific lore, 3 distinct kinds in fact. Plenty of lore for them to build on.

Right from the horses mouth so to speak: https://keith-baker.com/tag/kobolds/

P.S. Was playing Sharn the other day and I must say that Keith Baker did a great job narrating!

 

[CellyCharms]

Took awhile for my account to be log-in-able but I've been part of this thread for awhile kind of quietly lmfao
There's always a race in an MMORPG that people are theatrically awful towards. Gnomes in WoW, Lalafell in FFXIV. Even in this thread I see folks referencing the kind of theatrical culture of rejection that the idea of playable kobolds lived in for a long time. Usually, it's rooted in real-world stuff that is pretty sussy, like...people making claims that "every lalafell player in FFXIV is XYZ type of specific criminal IRL". Stuff I think is not really appropriate to reference here.

To be so clear, that kind of theatrics is a very different thing from people genuinely not wanting these things in the game! Some people don't like whimsy, and some people do - the most important questions are "can you have fun with this" and "do they belong in the setting", and both answers are really genuinely yes, regardless of whether or not people decide to go "urr urr another thing to kick from every party". There's tons of kobolds in lore, there's tons of room for them in Eberron, and there're a lot of ideas for ways to make the gameplay fun without spending a ton of time decoding the "fantasy racism" of it all. There are loads of friendly kobold NPCs in the game already. That's a moot point.

Source: I ran a stream series for like half a year focused entirely on DDO and the addition of playable kobolds, as a kobold VTuber, and got a lot of eyes on the game and made a lot of content around the idea of a playable kobold. I am not a kobold on stream anymore but this is still close to my heart.

 

[FaceDancer]

I would prefer changelings or clashtar. and I would want scout warforge before that

Both of those would be neat (changlings would probably be construed as an elf race though... )

If you do a scout... you have to do a charger too.

 

[Fnordian]

There were a bunch of reasons we shifted away from Kobold, but technical considerations were in the mix. There was also some community weariness about kobold related content at that time.

Personally, I thought playable Kobolds would be a lot of fun! Pretty sure I voted for them last them.

 

[Fnordian]

Have an entire "hardcore like" season where everyone who's running the event (both the light and perma-death versions) has to play a Kobold to take part in the event... That would be a heck of a cool way to introduce a new race.

That does sound rather fun actually!

 

[Bjond]

You really don't like fun, do you?

Uh, killing kobolds is the very definition of fun!

<holds up a fat trout>​

Say hello, my little friend.​

 

[Mornyngstar]

Lets think outside the box, how about KENDER!

 

[Bjond]

Lets think outside the box, how about KENDER!

OK. I agree to Kobolds. :(

 

[Zavina]

i remember tonquin (during his Lynnabel days) in a dev chat on Lammania (when we had those), saying it came down to a coin toss between dragonborn and kobold. I think Cocomajobo was the other dev on duty that night (so it's going back a while).

 

[Zavina]

Lets think outside the box, how about KENDER!

Kender Sentient Gem with a 1% chance of an unlocked magical item going permanently missing, and saying "i didn't steal anything. I borrowed it!" when it vanishes.

 

[ClickFlint]

Something interesting I've noted is that the people who are excited to get kobolds are just generally excited and enthusiastic

And the people that vehemently hate kobolds seem like their gameplay experience won't change but they might start inventing new slurs.

Not an accusation, just a thoughtful observation!

 

[Phoenicis]

Lets think outside the box, how about KENDER!

Kender would, by necessity come along with a whole slew of Dragonlance things, most of which are completely incompatible with Eberron.

 

[Hobgoblin]

Something interesting I've noted is that the people who are excited to get kobolds are just generally excited and enthusiastic

And the people that vehemently hate kobolds seem like their gameplay experience won't change but they might start inventing new slurs.

Not an accusation, just a thoughtful observation!

in the ancient words how is that thoughtful or an observation?

 

[ClickFlint]

in the ancient words how is that thoughtful or an observation?

Because I observed it multiple times, and it made me think it was a pattern

 

[Mornyngstar]

Kender would, by necessity come along with a whole slew of Dragonlance things, most of which are completely incompatible with Eberron.

But but it is a wide multiverse, anything is possible.

And who wouldn't want to use a Dragonlance (Legendary ammo) to hit dragons?

 

[JangoEX]

i remember tonquin (during his Lynnabel days) in a dev chat on Lammania (when we had those), saying it came down to a coin toss between dragonborn and kobold. I think Cocomajobo was the other dev on duty that night (so it's going back a while).

sigh so we almost got kobold but went the bland route

 

[ClickFlint]

sigh so we almost got kobold but went the bland route

Dragonborn don't even have yarking tails!

 

[Alternative]

I'm pretty sure people asking for kobolds are trolling, no one would actually want to play a scaly rat. What's next, a playable frog?