Embark on a thrilling Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) 5e quest with your Kobold character as we unveil the top five backgrounds meticulously chosen to amplify their unique traits and weave an enthralling narrative.
Selecting the perfect background is a pivotal step in shaping your Kobold adventurer’s story, and in this guide, we present a curated list seamlessly aligned with their weak-willed yet resourceful nature.
Contents
What Are Backgrounds in D&D 5e?
Backgrounds are more than simple stat boosts in Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition. They reveal where your character came from, why you became an adventurer, and your place in the world.
Before choosing your Background, ask yourself a few questions:
- What was I before I became an adventurer?
- Why did I stop doing what my Background explains and become an adventurer?
- Where did I get the money to buy my starting equipment?
- Where did I learn the skills used in my class?
- What’s different about me compared to others with the same Background?
Best Backgrounds for Kobolds
5. Knight of the Order
Skill Proficiencies – Persuasion, plus one among Religion, Nature, History, and Arcana, as appropriate for your knights order
Tool Proficiencies – One type of gaming set or a musical instrument
Languages – Choose one
Equipment – A seal representing your place or rank in the order, a set of traveler’s clothes, a banner, a signet, and a pouch with 10GP.
Why the Knight of the Order?
Knight of the Order gives your Kobold Knightly Regard, meaning you and your party will receive food, healing, shelter, and, at times, physical aid.
Kobolds with the Knight of the Order background have a lot of options, as they can belong to orders serving dragons, others making soldiers, or some more divine orders.
4. Faction Agent
Skill Proficiencies – Insight and one Charisma, Wisdom, or Intelligence skill you choose that’s appropriate to your faction
Tool Proficiencies – None
Languages – Two you choose
Equipment – A copy of a seminal faction text (or a code book for a covert faction), the badge or emblem of your faction, a set of common clothes, and a pouch with 15GP.
Why the Faction Agent?
Faction Agents have the Safe Haven feature that lets them access a secret network of operatives and supporters that assist them in their adventures.
These operatives can provide you with access to hidden safe houses, assistance in finding information, and a free room.
Kobolds are seldom loners, wanting to belong to a greater order. One of the easiest ways is by joining and supporting a specific faction in the Material World.
3. Acolyte
Skill Proficiencies – Religion, Insight
Tool Proficiencies – None
Languages – Choose two
Equipment – One holy symbol (gift to you when you entered the priesthood), a set of common clothes, a prayer book or prayer wheel, 5 sticks of incense, vestments, and a pouch with 15GP.
Why the Acolyte?
Acolytes receive the Shelter of the Faithful feature, granting you access to resources of temples and sanctuaries sharing your faith.
This allows you to receive free healing, food, and stay, though you’ll have to compensate them for any materials used in spells.
Many Kobolds end up serving dragon deities, and others turn away from these deities, often becoming Paladins or Clerics, and follow the path of other deities, some seeking peace and others seeking revenge.
2. Soldier
Skill Proficiencies – Intimidation, Athletics
Tool Proficiencies – Vehicles (land), One type of gaming set
Languages – None
Equipment – A trophy you took from a fallen enemy (a piece of a banner, dagger, or broken blade), a set of common clothes, a deck of cards or a set of bone dice, an insignia of rank, and a pouch with 10GP.
Why the Soldier?
Soldiers receive the Military Rank feature, allowing you to exert your rank and impose authority over soldiers lower than you.
This authority can grant you and your party access to fortresses, encampments, simple equipment, and horses.
Kobolds are stronger in groups, and dragons understand this, which is why Kobolds usually make up the bulk of a dragon’s army, serving them in their lair and on the battlefield.
1. Dragon Casualty
Skill Proficiencies – Survival, Intimidation
Tool Proficiencies – Special (see origins table)
Languages – Draconic
Equipment – A small cast-off scale belonging to Vorgansharax – the Maimed Virulence, a load of moldy bread, tattered rags, a dagger, and a pouch with 5GP of various coins (salvaged during your escape from Phlan).
| d8 | Origin (Occupation) | Tool Proficiency |
| 1 | Dockworker/Fisherman | Vehicles (water) |
| 2 | Tradesperson/Merchant | Artisan’s Tools |
| 3 | Black Fist Soldier | Gaming Set or Vehicles (land) |
| 4 | Adventurer/Visitor | Vehicles (land) |
| 5 | Entertainer | Musical Instrument |
| 6 | Scholar/Healer | Alchemist’s Supplies or Herbalism Kit |
| 7 | Criminal | Thieves’ Tools, Forgery Kit, or Disguise Kit |
| 8 | Unskilled Laborer | Gaming Set |
Why the Dragon Casualty?
Dragon Casualties have the Dragonscarred feature that shows their inhuman torture at the hands of Vorgansharax and his minions.
You will be the center of attention when noticed by your disfigured appearance, which will bring the company of nobles, mages, and scholars who want to unearth the secrets of the evil dragon.
Whether you were once a follower of Vorgansharax or an enemy that was captured as a Kobold, this background opens up your campaign to much more than other backgrounds.
Final Thoughts
Whether serving a divine god as an Acolyte, surviving the torture of evil dragons as a Dragon Casualty, or fighting for your horde as a Soldier, your selected background becomes the palette upon which your character’s story unfolds.
Choose with purpose, delve into the intricacies of your selected background, and let it infuse your Kobold’s journey with depth in the expansive realms of D&D.