[D&D-5e] Rise of the Redscales - Get your Kobold On

[kymrel]

What a great concept for a game, I simply have to throw my hat in the ring! And what a hat it is, see picture! I assume we are not looking for the most optimal of characters, in terms of game-mechanics at least, so I’ll put forward a concept I’ve been burdened with for a while now but never got to play, a very angry but charismatic bardbarian!

Blurb Queep has always been big and strong with an explosive temper, but he has never let his impressive physique define him. Although still called upon to use brute force by his bosses, he chooses to wear a really fancy hat and spends whatever free time he has pursuing poetry, music and litterrature. Leeteritrure. Literr... Books. He reads books. And beats up people that make fun of him for reading the books. With the books. That will show them!

Application Name: Queep Race: Kobold Class: Bardbarian. Yes. That’s totally a thing. (Barbarian 2, Bard 2) Personality: Queep loves the limelight and to wag his silver tongue, but has learned to be careful about who he shows off his incredible wit and charisma to. It seems prudent since jealous bosses might just have him killed in a variety of gruesome ways if he sticks his head too far above the others intellectually. And the others are so very close to the ground. Like maggots. As a lover of good stories, songs and poetry, Queep prefers to solve problems with his mouth, but if he’s really pushed his barely dormant bad temper often gets the best of him and he resorts to impressive levels of violence for someone barely pushing 3 feet in height. To be fair, those bouts of violence also often involve the use of his mouth, mostly his very sharp teeth. Appearance: Queep is a rather impressive specimen, for a kobold. Which, truth be told, isn’t saying very much at all. He has always been among the tallest and strongest, which makes him stick out and marked the path he had to take within the tribe as a warrior. But he also has a fashion sense unrivaled in the entire tribe. He “inherited” the clothes of a halfling traveler that were conveniently brownish-red tinted and therefore hid the blood from the previous owner perfectly. And the pièce de résistance is the hat. Oh, the glorious hat. It compliments Queep’s features, making his strong, masculine jaw and underbite stand out. He has had to replace the feathers, but fortunately there is rarely a shortage of bird feathers around to make his hat look even more fabulous. Brief Backstory: Queep had a clearly defined path in front of him from a young age. It started the day he strangled one of his clutchmates when he was less than a month old. Or so he told everyone who wanted to hear the details. No one could dispute that he was one of the biggest and strongest of his clutch and had the temper to match. Obviously his path was that of one of the tribe’s warriors, with his bosses giving him no choice whatsoever for a less violent future. But Queep was always more intelligent than most of his peers and knew he was destined for more. He just never knew what, until one day when his boss punished him for one of his frequent but this time particularly ill-timed outbursts of anger. His punishment was to do guard duty in the deepest of dungeons, which was a problem since kobolds chosen for that duty were hardly any better off than the prisoners, and often forgotten by the bosses and doomed to end their lives in the very dungeons they guarded. In the deepest dungeon Queep met, and eventually befriended, a human prisoner who introduced himself as Trevor, a traveling minstrel. The human had managed to keep his spirits up, despite a rather desperate situation. When he met a guard who spoke the common tongue and seemed a bit more intelligent than the other jailers he stuck up a friendship with the creature. The creature in question, Queep, was for his parts desperate for intelligent conversation, stories, poetry and songs. He eventually found Trevor’s lute, harp and tiny flute and smuggled the instruments into his cell. The man played wonderful songs in the middle of the night when only Queep was on duty and even taught the kobold the basics of how to play. The friendship lasted several months, with Queep smuggling extra food and other luxuries to the prisoner. At last Queep had found a friend who understood him on an intellectual level. Which is why the betrayal hurt so much. Apparently, Trevor’s music allowed him to perform magic. After finding out all he needed to escape, the prisoner betrayed Queep’s confidence and used that magic on the kobold guard to escape. Lucky for Queep he managed to use his silver tongue to shift the blame to another guard, a particularly annoying blue-scale idiot who did not get a chance to defend himself due to getting beheaded as he was opening his mouth to speak. Queep’s cleverness not only got him off the hook, it also got him rewarded by getting him out of doing guard duty. Which was a double blessing in his book and helped him recover swiftly from the sting of betrayal. With both Trevor and Queep escaping the cells that day, Queep couldn’t blame the human for what he did. Especially when he found Trevor’s lute, left behind by the human as he made his escape. In Queep’s mind Trevor had left him the lute and he refused to even acknowledge the possibility that the human simply had his hands full and couldn’t carry the bulky instrument. Regardless of how, Queep is now free of the dreary guard duty and has a fancy instrument to play. With enough time he has slowly started to master the music, even writing songs of his own, much to the chagrin of the other redscales. To his amazement he found that he could even use the lute to work some magic of his own, but he has been careful not to show the others his newfound magic. Bluescales, yuk: Queep still remembers the fantastic, multi-color feathers that came with the hat he pilfered from that very fancy but also very dead halfling traveler. They were magnificent, fine as down, blue and green and with what looked like an eye at the end. Perhaps it was the blue color that made them so desirable by the rotten bluescales. One day when Queep was minding his own business, heading back to the warren with a book he stole from some bluescale weakling to save it from being used to wipe the intimate parts of his anatomy, he was set upon by a group of stinking bluescales. They tried to steal the hat, but despite being beaten severely, Queep refused to let the garment go. In the end the blues stole all the magnificent feathers from the hat, leaving the formerly very fancy Queep a lot less well dressed than he used to be. For weeks after, Queep was forced to watch as the ugly blue-scaled archers and javelin-tossers walked around with shafts adorned with his beautiful feathers. Queep swore he would have his revenge. And at the very top of the list over blues he wants to murder for stealing his feathers is Eeket, the stupid but very brutal leader of one of the hunting teams. It is a long list. Behind Eeket on the list over blues to be murdered is every other member of the bluescales. And Queep really intends to slowly work his way down the list until the bluescales are no more. An ambitious task to be sure, but one he has embraced. But there is a natural order to things, and the natural order is to start with Eeket. All he needs is an opportunity. I Can Write Funny: I hope the rest of the application is humorous enough to show how I would approach writing for Queep. Instead of writing more from his point of view, here is a post from a game that sadly has ended. It is written from the point of view of Roberto Lorenzo III a young, foppish noble from Waterdeep. He has found himself in a tavern with some friends, discussing how to start a life of adventure and fun. Not to be confused with camping.

[Touketsu]

Oh my goodness... not only a 97mg game, but one that presents me the opportunity to resurrect a beloved, barely used PC of mine! SIGN ME UP!

[Touketsu]

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Gage Rustclaw GAGE RUSTCLAW Class: Battlesmith Artificer Background: Reflavored Clan Crafter with possible substitute feature, pending DM approval.Colony Smithy Personality Trait 1: I always want to know how things work and what makes people tick. Personality Trait 2: I don’t mind getting my hands dirty. Ideal: Aspiration: I work hard to be the best there is at my craft. Bond: Most of my creations will be used to enrich my community. Flaw: I don’t know when to throw something away. You never know when it might be useful again. Appearance: Gage is a crimson-scaled kobold of medium build; somewhat lithe for someone who lifts metal pieces a lot, possible due to his constant, nervous movement. He has slightly beady eyes, though they are usually enlarged by a trademark set of goggles that the kobold has taken to wearing most everywhere to protect them from the sparks and shards and flying bits of things he often encounters in his work. The scales around his hands are weathered from constant work, and sporadic, mild pock marks and singes across his body paint a tapestry of incidents involving smithing and spell work. Not especially obsessed with personal style, Gage tends to dress for utility, wearing simple tunics that move easily with him and layered with garments full of pockets, complete with a thoroughly overstuffed tool belt. Personality: The first thing one might notice about Gage is that he is immediately friendly to anyone he meets. The reality is that he is simply excited whenever he is thinking about work... which is always... and the result is that Gage possesses a bright, energetic demeanor in all aspects of his life. In fact, he'll talk your ear right off your body if you let him, going on for ages about dwarven carving techniques and the superior method of heat-treating a breastplate. However, those with the patience to put up with the scatter-brained kobold will find a useful and loyal companion. Gage loves hard work and puzzles, reveling in a good problem when it presents itself. He will bend over backwards for others, rarely thinking of himself, as using his talents to benefit the community is its own reward in his eyes. Backstory:   An essential aspect in which a kobold society is run is that workers lead themselves. Kobolds are naturally motivated and satisfied by the ritual of daily work without need for much micromanaging, perhaps none more than Gage, who showed at a very early age that he needed no encouragement to busy his hands. Before he was even old enough to begin training in a profession, the red-scaled youngling was often running off to watch the smiths at work on tools and weapons, often having tools taken from his tiny hands as he tried to take a crack at what the adults were doing. It wasn't just smithing either; almost any form of crafting, be it woodworking or masonry, drew the child's attention. By age three, he was apprenticing for the tribe's armorer, learning the fine points of what he loved doing most; taking raw materials and making them into something useful. Gage proved himself an expert in kobold metalworking almost immediately, but he quickly became frustrated by the limited ceiling on kobold knowledge of the subject. He wanted to learn more... get better... master more things. He began to aid in the building of new enclosures, learning about structural engineering and stonework in the process. He learned to weave, and to fletch, and to carve, his clawed fingers always working at a project... never idle. For all of his newfound interests though, the kobold's first talent remained metalwork, and he could often be found at an anvil or in the forge working over a piece of iron, trying to develop new techniques that he might increase his mastery... and so when a tome full of instructions on dwarven runecraft and weapon working found its way into the tribe amongst some supplies one day, it was a relatively easy decision as to where the book would go. Gage was ecstatic. With the help of the tribe sorcerers, he went to work translating and transcribing the book, adding its information to his own mastery of craftsmanship. Learning, not just of how to craft with metal or stone, but how to craft with magic. The kobold's productivity increased tenfold, and he quickly became a staple in the community as he helped improve the quality of everything he could. Outfitting the workers and warriors with better equipment. Fortifying the borders with magically-enhanced traps. Introducing rudimentary plumbing (that one took some convincing, but the results were generally well received outside of a handful of floodings). Yes, it was safe to say that the quality of life in the tribe was on a definite upturn indeed... but when the Dragon Queen departed, leaving behind a veritable trove of wealth and magical items, the skies were the limit on just how much more the tribe might progress. The only problem, of course, was the damnable Bluescales, who of course thought that the had a rival claim to the spoils. Good thing Gage Rustclaw liked problems. Bluescales, yuk:   Well, Gage isn't normally the sort to hate anybody.... in fact, he always thought it was a little odd how many of his fellow Redscales seemed to have little to no concrete reason for hating their Blue rivals beyond rumors and generational prejudice... ... but hells if he's going to SAY that to anybody! Useful skillset or not, Gage's social standing is usually on pretty thin ice, his technological breakthroughs only barely making up for the catastrophic aftermaths of his early attempts. There are still plenty of Redscales who talk behind Gage's back about the time he "found" a hammer of thunderbolts in some loot brushed aside by the Dragon Queen, tried to reverse-engineer the enchantment, and somehow set off all the charges at once, destroying the hammer and collapsing one of the lesser caverns. (That one took... a lot of explaining.) So no, Gage has no interest in ruffling scales by sticking up for the Bluescales, and when insults and slander start flying, he always makes sure to be the loudest. They're smelly! They're weak! They're stupid! They're treacherous! They're smelly- wait we already covered that- THEY'RE EEEEEXTRA SMELLY! Funny Sample:   *CRASH!* "No no n-… HOGG! Come here! Not that way!" The mechanical drake, Nidhogg v3.8, cocked its head toward its master, pulling itself free of a pulverized wooden chest sitting a good 5 feet to the left of the painted target. Gage groaned, his face resting in his hands. "You see? This is what I’m talking about! The rending capability of the foreclaws is coming along nicely… but something in the targeting is off! He needs to be recalibrated! Maybe a different sensory enchantment… if I reduced overall detection capacity in order to more finely hone the-" The babbling craftsman fell silent suddenly as the recipient of his ramblings cleared their throat. Rava, one of the tribe's more respected guards, stood in the doorway of Gage’s workshop enclosure, exactly where she’d been standing since her arrival a good ten minutes prior. She’d made the rookie mistake of asking the engineer the simple question of if he was in the middle of something important… next time, she’d just say “hello.” "Gage, you do realize that I didn't get anything you just said, right? I was just trying to be polite… honestly, I still don’t quite get what in the Nine Hells THAT thing-" She gestured at Hogg with a wag of her chin. "- even is." Gage stared at the other kobold, nonplussed. "Well… isn’t it obvious? Nature was kind enough to provide the design for one of the finest hunters known to us, the ambush drake. Using their biology as a schematic, I was able to-" "Gage! Gage… I wasn’t asking." Gage’s face noticeably fell. Shoulders slumping, he turned back toward his construct and knelt down opening a side panel. As he pulled a pair of pliers out of his belt and began to fiddle with some of the inner mechanisms, Rava sighed, massaging her scaly temples to fight the headache growing in her skull. "Listen… I just came to tell you the chief wants to speak with you tomorrow." Gage froze momentarily, though he said nothing immediately back, slowly resuming his work. After a moment’s pause, he turned back toward Rava, expression noticeably tight. "This… isn’t about that pipe that exploded the other day is it?" He forced a smile. "I TOLD everybody I needed to flush the system out and run some tests… those soldiers weren’t supposed to be standing there! Besides, there was no permanent damage; I’m told the healers successfully dug all the shrapnel out of Krieger’s backside." Rava snorted, cracking her first smile since entering Gage’s workshop. "Ha! No, it’s unrelated to that… I think anyway." Gage’s brow lifted a bit. THAT wasn’t reassuring at ALL. "So, wait... you honestly haven't heard?" Rava stepped the rest of the way inside, closing the door behind her. "It’s not just you getting summoned; a few other “specialists” in the tribe have been told to report in. The Dragon Queen's been gone for over a week! We're going to move on her hoard before those damn Bluescales get any ideas!" The craftsman froze in the middle of locking a gear into place, slowly turning back toward Rava. "Wait... so all those magic artifacts... they're just... up for grabs?!" Gage closed the panel and gave Hogg a pat, standing up quickly. "Well, I wouldn't say "up for grabs", but we definitely want to claim them first, and maybe expand our territory- oh no." Gage’s eyes were lit up with excitement. Pumping his fists into the air, he was about to shout something when Rava lunged forward, clamping her hand around his snout. "HEY! Don’t make a scene! A lot of kobolds are still wary about you going near the trove after... last time." After a long, awkward silence she slowly released the artificer, sighing and turning back toward the door. "Anyway… don’t be late tomorrow." Gage chuckled, falling quickly silent as Rava gave him a warning look over her shoulder. "I’ll be there… and I’ll be prepared. If I’m going into the field, there’s no time to waste. Hogg needs to be ready sooner than expected!" The artificer dashed over to a small shelf of books, running his finger along the row until he found one with bizarre script on the binding. Rava watched him curiously for a few seconds. "Squirrely little Gage, up against the Bluescales. You're not even a little bit scared?" Gage didn’t even look up, shaking his head and grinning. "You must be kidding! New artifacts... new territory Rava! This isn't just an opportunity, it's THE opportunity! Fresh materials to elevate our tribe to a new echelon!" The guard grimaced slightly. This was sounding like the start of another rant…

[97mg]

Thank you kymrel and Touketsu!

All these apps are looking so great

I've popped a table of applications in the first post.

[JaDeX105]

Originally Posted by 97mg

This sounds like quite the build! I think riding your defender as a mount sounds pretty classy So I'll confess to having not had to adjudicate much mounted combat in 5e in the past, but we could re-fluff the defender to be some kind of blend between controlled and independent... maybe. You give it instructions, and the DM then interprets them as though it is an NPC. Does this sound fun and viable? Probably separate movement, but I would need to think on it a bit more (and do some research lol).

I have seen no consensus online as to how it is supposed to be run, so I'm in the same boat as you. In a perfect world, you'd imagine riding up to an enemy, attacking it (maybe the SD can also do one of its actions?) and possibly riding away if there's leftover movement.

However, Tasha's says it "shares your initiative count, but it takes its turn immediately after yours." So, do I need to constantly be using the Ready action to "attack the enemy when the SD runs up close enough for me to hit it"? This uses up my Reaction so that I'd never be able to cast Reaction spells or take an Opportunity Attack. And then at level 5, I can't use my Extra Attack. Buuuut, this just refers to its general place in a combat situation; does it change when I mount it? PHB says "it[controlled mount] moves as you direct it," so then would that be during my turn and not require the Ready action?

WotC made some rules for mounted combat, but didn't fully flesh them out, leaving us with a clunky result.

[Touketsu]

I feel bad now because I didn’t see JaDex was asking defender questions when I put up my Gage application: I just looked at the list of applications, saw there wasn’t a Battlesmith artificer yet, and jumped in. Gage’s mechanical ambush drake Nidhogg (Hogg for short) will be pleased to know riding is on the table though.

[Togot]

If you want me to change the description of mortis scale color I won't mind. I was just going off the picture and didn't think about it.

Most of hslis comedy will come from him playing straight man foil to everyone else. He's also egotistical, easily frustrated, and rambles needlessly complex instructions and explinations

[squirmonkey]

I have completed Mikriti's application with a sample of funny-writing. I hope it will be to your liking!

[97mg]

Originally Posted by JaDeX105

However, Tasha's says it "shares your initiative count, but it takes its turn immediately after yours." So, do I need to constantly be using the Ready action to "attack the enemy when the SD runs up close enough for me to hit it"? This uses up my Reaction so that I'd never be able to cast Reaction spells or take an Opportunity Attack. And then at level 5, I can't use my Extra Attack. Buuuut, this just refers to its general place in a combat situation; does it change when I mount it? PHB says "it[controlled mount] moves as you direct it," so then would that be during my turn and not require the Ready action?

Hi JaDeX105! I'd be happy to rule that the rider and beastie just do their business simultaneously, so no need to have ready actions all the time.

Originally Posted by Touketsu

I feel bad now because I didn’t see JaDex was asking defender questions when I put up my Gage application: I just looked at the list of applications, saw there wasn’t a Battlesmith artificer yet, and jumped in. Gage’s mechanical ambush drake Nidhogg (Hogg for short) will be pleased to know riding is on the table though.

Don't feel bad! Maybe we'll end up with two battlesmiths on the team, anything is possible!

Here's a hypothetical question though... bare with me because I probably haven't thought this through properly... so... if two battlesmiths did apply and I made a painful decision to only allow one... would the other battlesmith artificer applicant be at all interested in playing the actual Defender for the other player? That could be a really fun way to inject some surprise and personality into a construct. We could fluff things to make it more interactive and fun. It could even be a tag-team affair, where a future second adventure is run the other way around. The Defender player gets to bring in their Kobold, and the previous Kobold player gets to control the other person's Defender Or, am I crazy? Put it this way... if a player in a game were to ask me to NPC their horse (which has never happened lol), I'd would be soooo up for it! Not everyone might find such ideas liberating though, so... I'm just tossing the idea out there.

Originally Posted by Togot

If you want me to change the description of mortis scale color I won't mind. I was just going off the picture and didn't think about it.

I love that he's a green redscale! Nothing to change at all Squirmonkey's idea that either Mortis or the redscale leader is color-blind, is gold. Genius actually XD.

Originally Posted by squirmonkey

I have completed Mikriti's application with a sample of funny-writing. I hope it will be to your liking!

Love it! It was nice to be able to read that at work and escape for a while and have a chuckle Thank you!

[kymrel]

My application is now complete and Queep the Kobold Bardbarian is ready to face the music. As always it is worth noting that nothing is written in stone so I can alter the concept if needed to fit in. Although Queep is used to not fitting in...

[DemonSlayer]

Hey there! This game looks like it is going to be a lot of fun, but unfortunately I will be hard-pressed to finish an application in time, as I will be away for the weekend. I'm hoping that I'll have enough time to finish the application on Monday!

You mentioned the kobolds having to feed the tamed monsters and fighting the oozes, which immediately made me think of, basically, a kobold park ranger who does exactly that- keep all the tamed creatures happy, while keeping out, redirecting or befriending the wild animals/oozes/what have you. So far I am thinking of playing a shadow sorcerer (because they get a dog later in the game, which just fits great thematically), but flavour it more as someone who is accustomed to working with various animals and, therefore, all sorts of camouflage.

or she, haven't decided yetHe's definitely going to be the helpful, friendly type (well, to the redscales, anyway), but not too bright- heart of gold, head filled with sawdust.

Anyway, I will think up an application over the weekend, and get back to you on (hopefully) Monday. Either way, best of luck with the campaign !

[JaDeX105]

Originally Posted by 97mg

Hi JaDeX105! I'd be happy to rule that the rider and beastie just do their business simultaneously, so no need to have ready actions all the time.

(...)

playing the actual Defender for the other player?

That seems to make the most sense, and Treantmonk has a video looking into it that seems to come to the same agreement, using some of Jeremy Crawford's statements about it too.

Controlling the SD for the other player could be fun, however I think I would just let Touketsu play it as they envision it if they are chosen over me (also, @Touketsu don't feel bad about it, everyone should be able to apply with the idea they want)

I will work on an application soon

[JaDeX105]

Application Character Name: Klank Class & Subclasses: Battle Smith Artificer Personality: Tirelessly excited to share his inventions/ideas with others, and equally as annoyed/grumpy when the other Kobolds don't understand what he's talking about. Quite often he is mumbling something to himself, usually a solution to a completely different project than the current problem at hand, and only half-listening to any conversation he might be part of. Appearance: Klank is "tall" by Kobold standards, standing at 3'-1", and has a more serpentine body than the typical proportions for a Kobold (think Chinese dragons, Mushu from Disney's Mulan), lending to the impression of height. Most of the scales on his body from his neck down are a reddish-burnt orange color; however, the closer you get to his nose, the darker and greasier/sootier the scales become—leading to a snout as black as coal. If it weren't for the bright orange ring of scales around his eyes where his work goggles cover, one might assume his face was naturally this color. Bluescales, yuk: "Bluescales are always touchin Klank's stuff. I can't find a gear? A Bluescale prolly took it. Klank's hammer isn't where he left it? A Bluescale prolly moved it. Klank's special screwdrivertwisty-turn stick is bent? A Bluescale prolly used it for a backscratcher. Then they send Keeble, says she wants to help and learn to be a maker like Klank. But us Redscales know better—she's a spy, seein what Klank has and what's worth takin. Keeble can tell 'em Klank has a corner that she gets to stand in and NOT TOUCH ANYTHING!" I Can Write Funny:   With the shell of his Steel Defender raised up on a makeshift platform, Klank began dragging over a box full of random scrap parts that he saved in case they come in handy some day. "Didn't fit in the... this might work for that other... missin some gear teeth... knot's startin to fray" he mumbles as he tosses fittings and other pieces over his shoulder. One of these haphazard projectiles rolls into Keeble's feet, where she lets out the slightest whimper. Klank pauses to let out an exasperated sigh mixed with an annoyed grunt. "Bring that back over here, then get back to the corner. And don't leave slobber on Klank's walls again!" The smaller Kobold does as she's told, barely getting close enough to drop the piece into Klank's outstretched hand before hurrying back to the safety of the corner. Focusing on the box again, Klank spots the spring he was searching for and holds it up. Turning to his unsolicited apprentice, he says, "I'm gonna insert this here," gesturing to the internals of the Steel Defender, "and when it's in place, you need to spin this," gesturing to another location inside the contraption. "But you stay there till I says, got it?" She nods timidly as the larger Kobold begins struggling to compress the spring at all by hand. He begins attempting to lodge the spring up into its position, straining to properly get it into place, "Almost there, just a little further, just one more..." *puhTING* As his grip slips, the spring rockets off, up over mounds of rubble and other piles of debris that the Kobolds had been too lazy to clear. "KEEBLE, why didn't you help?" the Redscale roars. "If you see Klank strugglin, you give 'im a hand!" At this point, she was experienced enough to know what would be following, and bolted away from the workshop. Pulling a wrench out of his toolbelt, Klank flings it in the general direction of the Bluescale's camp, shouting, "Feeble Keeble, you egg-of-a-Wyvern!" ... And now she lost my wrench!

[Amarga]

97mg, you always know how to make a knockout ad. This has me cooking up ideas despite my better judgement

[Dechado]

Added some funny writing this time. I like chaotic romance or something, at least I thought it was funny.
Hope you all get a chuckle or two at my Kobold's shortcomings.