Kobold Trapsmith

Family: Kobold

Small humanoid (kobold), lawful neutral

Armor Class 14 (leather armor)
Hit Points 54 (12d6 + 12)
Speed 30 ft.

STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
7 (-2) 16 (+3) 12 (+1) 16 (+3) 13 (+1) 8 (-1)

Skills Stealth +5
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 11
Languages Common, Draconic
Challenge 2 (450 XP)
Proficiency Bonus +2

SPECIAL TRAITS

  • Improvised Tools. The kobold trapsmith can use any Tiny objects at hand to pick locks and disarm traps, as if any such object was part of a set of thieves’ tools. It is proficient in using Tiny objects in this way. In addition, the trapsmith has advantage on ability checks to pick locks and disarm traps.
  • Pack Tactics. The kobold trapsmith has advantage on attack rolls against a creature if at least one of the trapsmith’s allies is within 5 feet of the creature and the ally isn’t incapacitated.
  • Sunlight Sensitivity. While in sunlight, the kobold trapsmith has disadvantage on attack rolls, as well as on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight.

ACTIONS

  • Multiattack. The trapsmith uses Makeshift Trap then makes one Dagger or Spare Part attack.
  • Dagger. Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft. or range 20/60 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d4 + 3) piercing damage.
  • Spare Part. Ranged Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, range 20/60 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d6 + 3) bludgeoning damage or slashing damage (the trapsmith’s choice).
  • Makeshift Trap. The kobold trapsmith cobbles together a quick trap with materials at hand and throws it at a point on the ground it can see within 30 feet of it. The trapsmith chooses one of the following traps. Each creature in the trap’s area must succeed on a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw or suffer the trap’s effects.
  • Bursting Much-Heavy Net. Each creature that fails the saving throw within 10 feet of where the trap lands takes 10 (3d6) bludgeoning damage and is restrained for 1 minute. A creature can take an action to free the restrained creature by succeeding on a DC 13 Strength check.
  • Spikes-on-Spikes. Each creature within 10 feet of where the trap lands takes 10 (4d4) piercing damage and the area within 10 feet of the point is difficult terrain for 1 minute.
  • Spring-Loaded Whirly Blades. Each creature that fails the saving throw within 10 feet of where the trap lands takes 14 (4d6) slashing damage and its speed is reduced by 10 feet until the end of its next turn.
  • Static-Generating Thingamabob. Each creature that fails the saving throw within 5 feet of where the trap lands takes 9 (2d8) lightning damage and is stunned until the end of its next turn.

ABOUT

This kobold is bedecked in satchels, pouches, sacks, and bandoliers. All of these are bursting with tools, bits of scrap, wire, cogs and twine. Impossibly large eyes blink through the lenses of its goggles.

Some kobolds hatch a bit cleverer than their counterparts. These sharp-witted creatures feel driven to fiddle with the world, and those that don’t meet an early demise through accident or violence often take up tinkering. Trapsmiths make a kobold lair into a deadly gauntlet of hidden pain.

Shifting Peril. Trapsmiths aren’t warriors; they avoid direct confrontation with enemies that aren’t mired in traps or engaged with other foes. If the trapsmith senses that invaders in its lair are likely to get past its traps, it tries to hide or escape. A trapsmith delights in laying traps and snares behind invaders, along tunnels and paths they’ve already cleared and believe to be safe, then luring them back through its handiwork.

More than anything, kobolds are survivors. Their scaly skin and keen night vision as well as their dexterous claws and sensitive snouts make them quick to sense danger, and their clawed feet move them out of danger with cowardly speed. They are small but fierce when fighting on their own terms, and their weight of numbers helps them survive in places where larger but less numerous races can’t sustain a settlement. Kobolds are great miners, good gearsmiths, and modest alchemists, and they have a curiosity about the world that frequently gets them into trouble.

Underworld Merchants. Kobolds are merchants to both the surface world and the world beneath it, with their greatest cities hidden deep below the earth. Their enemies are the diabolical gnomes, the dwarves, and any other mining races that seek dominance of dark, rich territories.

Kobolds are closely allied with and related to dragonborn, drakes, and dragons. The kobold kings (and there are oh-so-many kobold kings, since no kobold ruler is satisfied with being merely a chieftain) admire dragons as the greatest sources of wisdom, power, and proper behavior.

Section 15: Copyright Notice

Tome of Beasts 1 ©2023 Open Design LLC; Authors: Daniel Kahn, Jeff Lee, and Mike Welham.

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