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In a campaign that I'm playing, we recently freed 20 kobold slaves and then we enslaved them again. We are playing D&D 5e and are all currently level 4. I looked up "kobold race 5e" online and there was a variant race.

One of the subraces there was the loredrake subrace which allowed 2 sorcerer cantrips and one 1st-level spell. If they all learned magic missile, when I roll it online at least, they average around 175-210 damage.

Would that be allowed?

KorvinStarmast
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Eimsmaul
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    Did you find it on dandwiki.com? If so, you should see this question and its answers: Why does dandwiki have a poor reputation? In short: it has no quality control, and does a poor job of differentiating between official content and homebrew. (It's mostly poorly-balanced homebrew.) – V2Blast May 29 '18 at 05:49
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    ...Yep, it's dandwiki homebrew: https://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Kobold,Variant(5e_Race)#Loredrake_Kobold – V2Blast May 29 '18 at 05:50
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    Yes, from the dndwiki, but would it be allowed? Cause we're pretty early in the game and we can potential deal almost guaranteed over 100 damage – Eimsmaul May 29 '18 at 05:54
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    @Eimsmaul Are you asking whether homebrew should be allowed at your table? If Homebrew is generally a good idea? Even these may be a bit too opinion-based for the format. Could you find a way to approach this such like a specific problem using this subrace has caused? You could even try asking if that specific subrace is balanced. (As many questions lately seem to be along the same lines.) I would ask as a new question, th0ugh, instead of editing this one. – Jason_c_o May 29 '18 at 07:15
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    Are you asking whether the 20 slaves you took possession of could retroactively changed to be a different subrace? It's really not clear what you're asking, here. – GMJoe May 29 '18 at 10:30

2 Answers2

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Technically, yes.

The official way for a kobold to be able to cast magic missile is for them to be a Kobold Scale Sorcerer (VGtM 167). These kobolds come in at CR 1, and are 3rd level spellcasters. While their published spell list doesn't have magic missile on it, the DM is well within their rights to change one of them (probably chromatic orb) to magic missile. If these kobolds became sorcerers, they could learn to cast the spell.

Your interpretation is flawed, though.

First, your source is bad. Googling "loredrake kobold" leads me to the D&D wiki, whose page has a big "Homebrew Page" banner on it. D&D wiki is a bad source for many reasons, one of which is that its homebrew is totally untested and unsupported. Thus, your source isn't saying that the rules allow kobolds to cast magic missile. Instead, it's saying some random person on the internet allows their kobolds to cast magic missile. Additionally, it looks like this page is designed for a player character that wants to play a kobold, not for kobolds as monsters. Finally, it looks like loredrake is a specific subtype of kobold, which means that if a kobold does not start as a loredrake, then they cannot become one. Again, this is homebrew, so it's hard to say.

Anything is technically "allowed"

Because the DM is the DM, they control the game--if they decide that some kobolds exist that can learn magic missile, then that's true for your game, because DMs have final say over monsters and rulings and the like. Therefore, "allowed" is a weird term to use in this scenario: different DMs can decide what they are willing to allow in their game.

I would suggest that you talk to your DM about your plan to teach them magic missile. It's certainly possible that they will agree--I've let my players train NPCs in class levels, and I've given them command over armies too. However, I've only done so under specific circumstances and with specific restrictions. Ultimately, it boils down to the type of game you're playing, and what the DM has in mind.

Finally, I'd advise you to be a little cautious. If my players enslaved 20 kobolds and taught them a powerful spell that required no material components, they might have to worry about ending up on the receiving end of all of those magic missiles...

Icyfire
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    If my players did that, they wouldn't have to worry about being on the receiving end. These are Kobolds. They'd do it in their sleep. – Erik May 29 '18 at 07:22
  • Perhaps of note...a Sorcerer is not really something you 'become.' It's something you are from birth, and you only awaken that power one day. If those kobolds weren't born as potential Sorcerers, they cannot become a Kobold Scale Sorcerer. – guildsbounty May 30 '18 at 18:05
  • @guildsbounty the PHB does detail some situations where you can become a sorcerer, such as divine intervention or exposure to Inner Planes or Limbo. – Icyfire May 30 '18 at 18:22
  • @Icyfire Fair enough. Still not something you can really control...you could try to punt your Kobolds to another plane, but there's nothing like a guarantee that it'll work. In fact, attempts to do so are probably more likely to kill your kobolds than anything else. More my point being...you can't just teach a kobold to be a Sorcerer. – guildsbounty May 30 '18 at 18:28
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My answer is actually pretty similar to Icyfire's answer, which I liked, but with a different, and maybe a little more personal, point of view as a DM.

Up to the DM

First, anything in the game can be or not allowed by the DM.

But let's just check the RAW first.

RAW

First things first, your source is not official. It's a homebrew, so, if you are playing only with official rules, that's not allowed.

Also there are no Kobolds that know Magic Missile. So, overall, RAW that's not allowed, as sad as Kobold Apprentices can be.

Back to the Up to the DM

The thing is: from the way I read this question, your intention seems like some kind of exploit. That, along with the RAW not allowing it, should be enough reasons for the DM to not allow it. But say that's not enough, we have some other problems

  • Even if the Homebrew race is accepted, it's a subrace. It means they are born with those magical powers or learn it from their culture - not something you can teach them.
  • The same goes for the Kobold Scale Sorcerer from Volo's Guide to Monsters. These are spells that they already know, and nothing indicates you can teach them new ones.
  • EVEN if the DM says you can teach monsters new spells, you are enslaving them, not exactly a friendly relationship there. Trying to teach your slaves can be hard.
  • As Icyfire mentioned, if you ultimatelly succeed in teaching them how to cast 20 Arcane Missile in a round, they are your slaves. Creatures usually don't love being slaves. Why would they target your enemies instead of you and just get freedom like that?

So, in short, personally I would not allow it, and from my experience with other DMs, it's very likely that your DM won't either, unless this is exactly the kind of game he wants.

Community
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HellSaint
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    You could recommend that the DM allow it, and to schedule a subsequent Session 0 for rolling up new characters; or schedule a "jail break" scenario once the PC's have been taken prisoner after being reduced to 0 HP from magic missiles ... :) Sounds like fun. – KorvinStarmast May 30 '18 at 15:24