Kobold 5e: Stats, Pack Tactics and the 2024 Kobold Warrior

This is the kobold monster stat block, the one the DM runs, not the playable kobold species. A kobold is a CR 1/8 Small creature worth 25 XP, with AC 12, 5 hit points and a +4 dagger or sling that deals 4 damage. Alone it is barely a threat. In a group it gets Pack Tactics (advantage on attacks when an ally is next to the target), and that turns six kobolds into a fight that can drop a level 1 character in a single round. Its weakness is Sunlight Sensitivity, which cancels Pack Tactics outdoors. The 2024 rules replace it with the Kobold Warrior: AC 14, 7 hit points, no sling, and a new creature type, Dragon.

Table of Contents

• •Kobold Stat Block (2014)
• •The 2024 Kobold Warrior
• •How Kobolds Fight
• •How Many Kobolds for a Level 1 Party?
• •How Players Beat Kobolds
• •Kobold Encounter Ideas
• •Frequently Asked Questions

Kobold Stat Block (2014)

This is the kobold from the 2014 rules (SRD 5.1).

The ability scores tell you how to play it. Strength 7, Constitution 9, 5 hit points: a kobold dies to almost any hit and loses almost any shove or grapple. Dexterity 15 gives it the same +4 to hit as a goblin, so its attacks are not the weak part. Wisdom 7 means a passive Perception of 8, which makes kobolds poor sentries. Sneaking past kobolds is easy. Fighting them on their ground is not.

Two traits do the rest:

• •Pack Tactics. Advantage on an attack roll if an ally that isn't incapacitated is within 5 feet of the target. The trait does not care whether the attack is melee or ranged.
• •Sunlight Sensitivity. In sunlight, disadvantage on attack rolls and on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight.

The 2024 Kobold Warrior

The 2024 rules (SRD 5.2.1) have one kobold stat block, the Kobold Warrior. It costs the same 25 XP.

What changed from 2014:

What that means at the table:

• •They are tougher to kill. A character with +5 to hit lands on a 7 or higher against AC 12 (70%) but needs a 9 against AC 14 (60%). Seven hit points also survive some hits that would kill a 2014 kobold: a 1d6 + 3 shortsword (4 to 9 damage) kills a 5 HP kobold five times in six but a 7 HP kobold only half the time.
• •No more sling line. The 2024 kobold has three daggers and a 60-foot long range. After three throws it has to pick a dagger up or close to melee. The 2014 tactic of eight slingers on a ledge 100 feet away does not exist in 2024.
• •They are Dragons now. Hold Person and Charm Person target Humanoids, so they no longer work on 2024 kobolds. Protection from Evil and Good doesn't cover Dragons either. Spells that work on any creature, like Sleep and Command, are unaffected.
• •Sunlight hurts more. In the 2024 version sunlight imposes disadvantage on every ability check, including Stealth and the Strength check to escape a grapple.

How Kobolds Fight

A kobold's job is to stand next to someone so that every other kobold gets advantage. Run them that way and the numbers change completely.

The math. Against a front-liner with AC 16:

Eighteen damage a round is more than a level 1 fighter's hit points. Against a wizard with AC 12 each kobold hits 65% of the time without advantage and almost 88% with it.

One kobold in melee, the rest anywhere. Pack Tactics only needs one conscious ally within 5 feet of the target. Send one or two kobolds to stick to the strongest character and keep the rest shooting. With the 2014 sling (30/120 feet), the shooters can be behind a barricade or on a ledge the party can't easily reach.

Swarm the isolated target. The player who scouts ahead or stands at the back alone is the ideal target: three kobolds around them each get advantage, and the healer is too far away.

Stay out of the sun. In sunlight, advantage from Pack Tactics and disadvantage from Sunlight Sensitivity cancel. Each kobold drops back to a straight roll (about 2 damage per attack against AC 16). The 2024 kobold also rolls ability checks with disadvantage, so it can't hide well either. Kobolds should fight at night, in tunnels, in thick forest or indoors. If a fight starts at noon, they retreat into the dark and make the party follow.

Use their numbers, not their bodies. A kobold that steps into melee with a fighter will die on the next hit. Have kobolds rotate: one engages, another throws or shoots, and when the engaged one falls, the next one steps up so Pack Tactics never stops working.

Traps and terrain. The stat block gives kobolds no trap ability, but their weakness in a straight fight makes prepared ground a natural fit. A pit, a collapsing ceiling or a corridor 5 feet wide stops the party from using its numbers. Tunnels sized for Small creatures help too. Under the 2014 squeezing rules, a Medium character in a space meant for a Small creature spends 1 extra foot per foot moved, has disadvantage on attack rolls and Dexterity saves, and is attacked with advantage. Kobolds move through the same tunnel normally.

When to flee. Five hit points is not much courage. When half the group is down, the rest run. Running kobolds that come back later with a trap is more fun than a fight to the last kobold.

How Many Kobolds for a Level 1 Party?

Use the XP budget for your rules version. For four level 1 characters under the 2024 rules (SRD 5.2.1):

The 2024 budget is generous with kobolds because it has no group multiplier. Running twelve kobolds is slow at the table, and each extra kobold adds another attack with advantage.

The 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide guidelines, which our encounter calculator uses, go the other way:

• •4 kobolds: 100 XP, doubled to 200 for a group of 3 to 6. Medium for four level 1 characters.
• •6 kobolds: 150 XP, doubled to 300. Hard.
• •8 kobolds: 200 XP, multiplied by 2.5 to 500. Past Deadly (400).

So the 2024 rules call eight kobolds Low and the 2014 rules call them Deadly. At the table the answer depends on light and terrain. In the dark, with a front line to pin someone, six kobolds is a real fight for level 1. In daylight on open ground, eight is easy.

Practical sizes:

• •Level 1: 4 to 6 kobolds in the dark.
• •Level 2 and 3: 8 to 10 kobolds plus a trap, or a few kobolds supporting something tougher like a pair of giant weasels.
• •Level 4 and up: kobolds as a crowd around a bigger creature. A red dragon wyrmling (CR 4, 1,100 XP) with six kobolds (150 XP) is 1,250 XP, a Moderate encounter for four level 4 characters under 2024 rules (1,250 of the 1,500 Moderate budget).

How Players Beat Kobolds

Kobolds are a damage problem when they are crowded and a non-problem when they are scattered.

• •Kill the pinning kobold first. Pack Tactics needs an ally next to the target. Kill or shove away the kobold next to you and the ranged kobolds lose advantage.
• •Bring light. Sunlight is the counter. The 2024 Daylight spell creates actual sunlight in a 60-foot sphere. The 2014 Daylight spell creates bright light but doesn't call it sunlight, so whether it triggers Sunlight Sensitivity is the DM's ruling.
• •Area damage. At 5 hit points, a 2014 kobold dies to Burning Hands (3d6) even on a successful save about 62% of the time, and to Thunderwave (2d8) on a failed save about 91% of the time. The 7 HP Kobold Warrior is harder: Burning Hands still kills it 91% of the time on a failed save, but only about a quarter of the time on a success.
• •Target Wisdom. Wisdom 7 is a −2 save. Against the 2024 Sleep spell, a kobold fails each DC 13 Wisdom save 70% of the time: one failure leaves it Incapacitated, and a second failure the next turn puts it to sleep (about 49% overall). The 2014 Sleep spell rolls 5d8 hit points (average 22.5) and starts with the lowest, so it puts three 2014 kobolds (15 HP) to sleep about 94% of the time and four (20 HP) about 72% of the time.
• •Don't split up. Swarming works on the character who is alone. Moving in pairs means a kobold that steps in to pin someone is standing next to two characters, and it won't survive the round.
• •Check the edition before casting. Hold Person and Charm Person work on a 2014 kobold (Humanoid). They can't target a 2024 Kobold Warrior (Dragon).

Kobold Encounter Ideas

The mine shift. A silver mine has a new night shift nobody hired. Kobolds come up a side tunnel every night after dark and work the deepest vein. They are not hostile until someone blocks the tunnel. The mine owner wants them gone. The kobolds have a better map of the mine than the owner does, and they know the lower level is flooding.

The noon parley. A kobold band is camped in a ruined chapel, and the party approaches at midday. The kobolds know they can't fight in the sun, so they send one kobold out under a white rag to negotiate and stall until sunset. If the party agrees to wait for "the chief," the fight that follows happens in the dark, on the kobolds' terms.

The dragon's tax collectors. Eight kobolds collect a "tribute" of iron and copper from a hill village every new moon. They claim a dragon will burn the village if anyone refuses. The truth is that the dragon left years ago, and the kobolds have kept the tax going for themselves. They will fight to keep the story alive, but they will fight harder to keep the village from learning the truth.

For kobold names that are not just "Snik," try the kobold name generator.

Frequently Asked Questions

What CR is a kobold in 5e?

The 2014 kobold is CR 1/8 (25 XP). The 2024 Kobold Warrior is also CR 1/8 (25 XP), with AC 14 and 7 hit points instead of AC 12 and 5.

How does Pack Tactics work?

A kobold has advantage on an attack roll against a creature if at least one of its allies that isn't incapacitated is within 5 feet of that creature. It works for melee and ranged attacks alike, so one kobold standing next to a target gives every other kobold advantage against it.

Do Pack Tactics and Sunlight Sensitivity cancel out?

Yes. In sunlight a kobold has disadvantage on attack rolls, and if it also has advantage from Pack Tactics, the two cancel and it rolls one d20. That is why kobolds should fight in the dark.

Are kobolds dragons in 5e?

In the 2024 rules, yes: the Kobold Warrior is a Small Dragon. In the 2014 rules the kobold is a Small Humanoid (kobold). The type matters for spells like Hold Person and Charm Person, which only target Humanoids.

Is this the same as the playable kobold?

No. This page covers the monster stat block that DMs use for enemies. The playable kobold species is not in either SRD and has its own traits.

How much XP is a kobold worth?

25 XP for both the 2014 kobold and the 2024 Kobold Warrior. Eight kobolds are 200 XP, the full Low-difficulty budget for four level 1 characters under 2024 rules.

Stat blocks: System Reference Document 5.1 (2014) and 5.2.1 (2024), Wizards of the Coast, CC-BY-4.0. Tactics, encounter math and ideas are Loreify's own.