30 Day D&D - Favorite Monster Overall

One thing I have always loved about D&D is its diversity of monsters. There are so many of them to choose from. I may not always get the latest character splat book for the latest edition, but I do always get every Monster Manual that comes out. As a DM I can present my players with a wide range of monsters without ever running out of new ones to throw at them. With that knowledge, it makes it very hard to pick just one. However, there was one monster that lept into my head all on its own...the Kobold. Kobolds are devious that way.

Kobolds are the throw-away monsters. They are what you use as filler or to let the players beat up on something. And Kobolds do that job admirably. Of course, there are those times when the Kobold surprises the party and those sneaky little pests start getting all tactical and trappy on the party. Kobolds can quickly go from cannon fodder to TPK.

And that's why I like them. They actually do have a wide range of uses in a campaign. They can be the focus of a low level adventure. They can be comic relief. They can be the minions of something truly nasty. They do tend to fall behind in their usefulness as a campaign progresses in level, but until then they can be put to many uses.