A KoBe is an extremely newbie friendly character imho.
If you want to give it more tries here's my advice:
Initially, ditch the whip and get the first short blade you can find. You can always stick with maces and flails but I like s.blades a lot more and Kobolds are much better at using them than maces. Turn all skills off except short blades, take it up to 8 to reach minimum delay for quick blade or up to 10 for dagger or 12 for short sword or 14 for sabre then turn it off. Hitting minimum delay on your weapon is the best thing you should use your XP on early on. Trog is going to gift a decent short blade soon enough once you hit 5-6 stars of piety. After minimum delay is dealt with, go for dodging up to a respectable level (like 13) and then some fighting.
Feel free to spare some xp for Stealth in early D but don't overdo it. It's definitely worth it for the majority of the game and it's a pretty cheap skill in terms of XP cost. Kobolds have great aptitudes for it too.
Don't ever forget your god abilities. Kobolds can stuff themselves silly with chunks of monster meat, so berserking is your casual panic button. It shouldn't be used recklessly though. Also, Brothers In Arms (it's the 5 * piety ability) will handle situations like Death Yaks and a Hydra that might have cornered you (do mind, out of short blades, short swords and sabres multiply hydra heads when you cut one. on the other hand, if you have a short sword/sabre of flaming, you can cut their heads for good, which makes them much less threatening. daggers and quick blades don't cut heads, so feel free to attack with those). Stone Giants/Trolls are the best you can get out of Brothers in Arms. Ogres tend to be squishy but can also help if you're tanking the monster and letting them attack it freely.