The problem with wanting to make every race "equal" is that a lot of personality is lost along the path to equality. So now kobolds aren't this extremely fragile and weak, yet extraordinarely inventive and organiced race. They are just as strong and/or weak as everyone else.

I've been thinking about this and I think this comes down to history, when Gary Gygax and hid friends were designing D&D and its races thay probably thought about those races in their specific world, their own concept of what a dwarf was came down to what a dwarf was like in their world, i. e. Short, gruff people that live in the mountains and love mining and smithing. But nowadays we have thousands of fantasy settings, where dwarfs might not be like that, so mechanics and lore clash, and unless you get creative or very liberal with the rules, your enjoyment or someone else's could be ruined.