A silt-runner, which looks like a little purple lizard dude running very fast while carrying a spear.

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The Lore

Silt Runners are basically Athasian Kobolds. While they’re not described as “savage”, all of the usual kobold slander is also present here. They’re small reptilian humanoids who are intensely xenophobic and whose entire society is based on raiding other humanoid settlements. They wield stolen weapons and wear bits of clothing and body parts from their victims as trophies, eating the rest.

The main differences here seem to be that Silt Runners are more related to ssurrans (Athasian lizardfolk) than to dragons, and that they’re much more nomadic and aggressive. They gather in warrens linked by tunnels and located near their prospective raid targets, but are quick to abandon those hideouts when their targets attempt a retaliatory strike.

For some reason, silt runners hate the fey, and have been known to ignore far more vulnerable targets in favor of attacking well-protected elves and eladrin.

The Numbers

Silt Runners are low-level and fit right alongside kobolds as Small Natural Humanoids with the Reptile tag. But while standard kobolds have the Shifty trait, Silt Runners have Silt Runner Swarm, which causes any enemy adjacent to 2 or more silt runners to take 2 damage at the start of their turn. They also have low-light vision and a surprisingly zippy ground speed of 7.

Silt Runner Darter

These Level 1 Artillery menaces have 25 HP and wield blowguns with an assortment of darts. They keep to the edges of the battle and shoot whoever they can.

The Blowgun deals standard damage and has Range 12, so they can keep a fair distance away from the scrum. Some of their shots will be with Poisoned Darts (recharge 5+), which deal heavy poison damage and immobilize (save ends). As an aftereffect, the target is slowed (save ends). A miss deals half damage and slows for a turn, which is very strong for a rechargeable attack.

If engaged in melee, they can defend themselves with Wooden Daggers, but those are nothing to write home about.

Silt Runner Rager

Ragers are Level 1 Brutes with 34 HP. The Bone Spears they wield look comically large, but have Reach 2 and are very effective. In addition to standard attacks, they can use them in Brutal Spear maneuvers that deal increased damage and recharge when first bloodied, or in a Penetrating Spear maneuver that also deals increased damage and makes the target Vulnerable 5 to all damage for a turn.

Silt Runner Inciter

This one is a Level 2 Controller with the Leader tag and 38 HP. If they had a PC class, they would be Ardents, as they have psionic powers capable of causing strong emotions on their allies - fury, in this case.

Inciters can make a decent show of themselves in melee with their Bone Swords, and they can attack at range with a Psionic Detonation (area 1 within 10, recharge 6+) that deals force damage and creates a zone that lasts for a turn and is difficult terrain for enemies.

They can also Incite Fury in a close blast 5, causing each ally within the blast to shift 1 square and make a free basic attack either before or after the shift. When first bloodied, they can do that again as a free action, and Incite Fury recharges, which means they could use this power a total of three times per encounter.

Inciters want to drop that difficult terrain zone as soon as possible and then have their allies swarm the PCs caught inside so that Incite Fury is maximally effective.

Encounters and Final Impressions

Silt Runners mostly stick together, but will sometimes cooperate with other reptilian humanoids, and keep reptilian beasts as pets.

So yeah, they’re Athasian Kobolds. You can easily take standard kobold stat blocks, increase their speed to 7, and replace Shifty with Silt Runner Swarm to increase your collection of silt runner stat blocks.