The Kobolds of Aetolia
Kobolds are the hare-brained tinkerers and stone-cutters of Sapience, short canid humanoids whose history stretches back to the First Epoch and whose creator goddess is centuries dead. If you want a race built on hare-brained inventiveness and casual mischief, with a dead creator goddess nobody can quite live up to anymore, the Kobolds fit.
At a glance
| At a glance | |
|---|---|
| Native region | Sehal (origin); later dispersed across Sapience |
| Cultural home | Two settlements: Rock Bottom (near the Great Rock) and Siha Dylis (caverns beneath Azdun) |
| Spiritual frame | Children of Khepri the Trickster (now dead); some retain spellcraft inherited from the Indoron Empire |
| Distinctive trait | Small canid tinkerers and scavengers with a sister-race bond to Goblins and a kinship to Imps |
| Suits play styles | Mischief-driven roleplay, tinkering and crafting, scholarly magic, underground exploration |
| Gender lock | None |
Kobold lore and origin
Kobolds appeared as early as the First Epoch as the children of Khepri the Trickster. Along with their sister race the Goblins, they were prototypes she made before her favored Imps, and Sehal drove them out for what was judged as inferiority. Khepri herself is long dead. Kerrithrim swallowed her after she claimed his rampage as her own work, and a later attempt to return as Ysmali fell apart, leaving only a monster behind. The Kobolds have outlived their creator by ages.
Through the Second Epoch they hired on as mercenaries and lackeys to the dark mages of the Indoron Empire. That history left a residue: today’s Kobolds still inherit a knack for spellcraft, even though full-blood Indoron descendants are vanishingly rare. They were spread wide across Sapience, seen as far south as El’Jazira and as far north as the Great Rock, where they warred against the Ophidians. Eventually something pulled them together and compelled them to dig out the underground castle now called Azdun.
Modern Kobolds live in two main settlements, and the split says a lot about how the race plays. The Rock Bottom Kobolds, tucked under the Great Rock with their old Ophidian rivals turned allies, trend rat-faced and lean hard into tinkering and rough magical contraptions. They sit politically close to Bloodloch and Spinesreach after the war of the Liruma. The Siha Dylis Kobolds, beneath Azdun, trend dog-faced and practice elemental and spiritual magery alongside the Goblins, fighting off the encroaching Chiav. Many of them train through Enorian’s Beacon guilds. Picking a settlement is most of picking a Kobold concept.
Kobold appearance
Kobolds resemble tailless, humanoid canines, bipedal with a distinct hunch to their backs. They run four to four and a half feet tall (roughly 1.1 to 1.4 metres), which is small enough that other races consistently underestimate them and large enough that the assumption gets people hurt. Eye colours run through golds, browns, and greys, with green appearing rarely. Pelts come in ivory, greys, browns, russets, and black.
Across the Epochs the race has drifted in two directions: Rock Bottom Kobolds trend toward rat-like faces, while Siha Dylis Kobolds trend toward dog or hyena-like ones. Both forms are equally Kobold, and conflating either with the actual animal is a fast way to draw a grumpy reaction. “Puppy,” “rat,” “vermin,” “yapper,” and “fog” are all known offences. Petting unfamiliar Kobolds, even the affable-looking ones, is rolling the dice.
Kobold racial abilities
Kobolds carry three racial abilities, unlocked at character creation, level 31, and level 61.
- Hoarder (available at character creation). Passive. Fast fingers make for greater treasures. You can pick up an extra 25 items at once.
- Scavenge (unlocks at Level 31). Syntax: `SCAVENGE
`. Take apart a crafted item for a chance to recover some of the commodities used in its construction, destroying the item in the process. The chance is higher when more time remains until the item decays. - Tinkering (unlocks at Level 61). Passive. A quick mind spots the best use case for bombs and traps, so your knowledge-sourced damage is increased by 1%.
The package is built around scavenging, crafting, and inventive combat through bombs and traps. Hoarder rewards Kobolds who haul. Scavenge gives a real reason to take apart old crafted gear instead of just selling it. Tinkering only triggers for knowledge-sourced classes, so it pays off best for Kobolds who go down the magical and trap-laying paths their lore points at.
Kobold base statistics
Aetolia uses statpacks, a separate choice from race that sets your five base stats. The values below are the racial baseline before statpacks apply.
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Strength | 13 |
| Dexterity | 10 |
| Intelligence | 14 |
| Constitution | 9 |
| Wisdom | 13 |
Kobolds lead with Intelligence and Wisdom, with a respectable Strength and a low Constitution. That profile reads as a clever, durable-enough caster or trapsmith rather than a heavy-armour brawler. The fragile Constitution rewards Kobolds who keep range or fight from behind a contraption.
How to roleplay a Kobold in Aetolia
- Cultural anchor. Pick a settlement first. Rock Bottom Kobolds are rat-faced tinkerers under the Great Rock, allied with the Ophidians and politically close to Bloodloch and Spinesreach. Siha Dylis Kobolds are dog-faced mages under Azdun, allied with the Goblins and trained through Enorian‘s Beacon guilds. Both work for a new character, and the settlement choice is where most Kobold roleplay starts.
- Faction-cultural alignment. Kobolds stay independent in the broad sense, but Rock Bottom Kobolds lean toward Bloodloch and Spinesreach while Siha Dylis Kobolds lean toward Enorian. None of this is a mechanical lock. A Rock Bottom Kobold can defect to Spirit, a Siha Dylis Kobold can take Shadow service, and either choice opens roleplay.
- Religious texture. Khepri is dead. Kobolds remember her, and the loss colours the race’s relationship with chaos and mischief, but no living deity claims them the way Severn claims the Minotaurs or Khepri once claimed the Imps. Some Kobolds carry on Khepri’s principles of disorder and trickery anyway. Others find a Goddess of Sapience to follow.
- Common archetypes. Other players expect a Kobold to be loud, curious, mischievous, and short on impulse control. Kobold roleplay leans hard into the endlessly curious type: pokes everyone about everything, no brain-to-mouth filter, with mischief that tends toward the destructive end. Lean in or play against it. A quiet, methodical Kobold archivist who fact-checks her own race’s stereotypes is just as Kobold as the bomb-happy one.
Which Aetolia classes fit a Kobold
Any race in Aetolia can play any class. Race never locks you out. Some class archetypes share a thematic resonance with Kobold lore and culture, which can make for a naturally cohesive character.
Sciomancer
Shadow magery out of Spinesreach. The Indoron Empire’s old dark mages worked Kobolds as mercenaries, and that lineage still echoes in Kobold spellcraft. A Rock Bottom Kobold Sciomancer reads as a clean expression of that inherited tradition, transplanted into the modern Spires.
Indorani
The closest possible link to the Kobolds’ Second Epoch. Indorani draw directly on the Indoron Empire’s tarot and chaos magic. A Kobold Indorani is, in a real sense, picking up the work their ancestors did under that empire.
Archivist
Knowledge-sourced casting and scholarly magery. Kobolds are tinkerers and inventors, and the Tinkering ability itself buffs knowledge-sourced damage. An Archivist Kobold gets both the lore fit and the strongest mechanical payoff from the level 61 racial.
Earthcaller
Earthlore, evocation, and stone-shaping out of Spinesreach. Kobolds were expert stone and gemcutters in their distant past, and Earthcaller takes that craft to its magical extreme. Good fit for a Kobold who wants to work stone instead of just digging through it.