The Kobold Lair (An Encounter Area for 5th Edition)

This 24-page sourcebook is devoted to a detailed encounter area occupied by about six-dozen Kobolds and a number of affiliated creatures and includes stats for all of them and a fully-keyed map that also covers the outdoor areas leading up to it.

“The Kobold Lair” is designed to present a challenge for a party of four or five 1st or 2nd level characters and can easily be expanded using included guidelines to be suitable for characters of up to 4th level. It can be dropped into virtually any setting and used as part of an ongoing campaign — especially as the starting adventure for one — as a one-off session, or in just about any other way.

This encounter area is also an expanded D&D 5th Edition version of the Kobold lair that appears in the classic Basic D&D adventure “Keep on the Borderlands.” It includes 5E stats for all of the creatures that appear in that scenario so that anyone who wants to play it with the existing maps and descriptions but with the new system can easily do so. The custom map included with this book has both numbered areas corresponding to those in the classic module and five new ones that are optional and which contain extra creatures and challenges.

Additional monsters that appear in this module include a number of specialist Kobold NPCs, among them a Beastmaster, a Trapmaker, and a Shaman (along with descriptions for three new spells that the latter character wields).

“The Kobold Lair” was written by veteran game designer Michael O. Varhola and includes a cover illustration by fantasy artist Amanda Kahl and maps by cartographer William T. Thrasher.