As a DM, how do you portray Dragons?
True dragons red, green, gold, etc.) all have innate spellcasting abilities. Other creatures of the dragon subtype may or may not depending on the creature and circumstances. A wyvern for example, would be a low int creature, barely smarter than most animals.
Dragons, are rare and powerful. In my game universe, they once had an empire that spanned many worlds (interperet that however you like). They view humans the same way most humans view kobolds or goblins. A threat if ignored, but sometimes you can negotiate with them.
Dragons are intelligent beings and the older they get the more they should not be trifled with especially the spellcasting Dragons.
In my homebrew world, there is a race of lizardmen that are ruled by a dragon goddess. Lizardmen are the elder race in my world (not elves :p ) They have the largest kingdom on the planet only followed by a group of humans and luckily for the humans they are on the other side of the planet so they are not in direct competition for resources :p
My dragons are primal spirits, basically akin to Gandolf/incarnated angels/demons. To call them a mere spellcaster is to miss the point. They ARE magic incarnate.
I like The Dragon in Dark Sun. A singular creature*, the result of an epic magical process where a human slowly metamorphosizes into a dragon. By 2nd edition rules, a 30th level Psionicist/Defiler. (MU)
*The other Sorcerer Kings are in the process of their metamorphosis.
For "typical" D&D campaigns, it depends. I like beastial dragons, but I also like intelligent ones that can cast spells. Depends on what I think will be coolest for the scenario.
Quote from: Jam The MF on May 11, 2021, 05:56:24 PM
As a DM, how do you portray Dragons?
If I'm playing D&D, they're end-of-a-campaign level enemies, if you push them to fight. They'll be hiding in human-sized guises, if they're able, or within their caves and hunting grounds otherwise, and always powerful magic-users once they hit Juvenile.
Dragons are power spellcasters in my game. I give them spells similar to the ad&d 2E monstrous manual. Most of their spells are not combat oriented since they have such powerful natural attacks.
"Never deal with a dragon." --Shadowrunner proverb
That being said, dragons take an intensely long-term view of things. When your lifespan is measured anywhere from 1000-4000 years or so, you can afford to do so. Indeed, one of their weaknesses as I see it is someone playing 'speed chess' with their schemes; sometimes they're left floundering if too many things go sideways at once.
Mind you, if they find out who's making a mess of their carefully laid schemes, expect fireworks to ensue.
Any type of 'true' dragon is capable of spellcasting. Typically as Arnwolf666 notes, they focus on buffs or other indirect spells. It should be noted that dragons can use magical items, though; a dragon is perfectly capable of fitting itself with some of its neater toys, and using them against a party.
For me, dragons are not merely casters, they are gods. Not like humanoid gods who desire worship and have human-like interests, they are destructive gods of primordial forces, perhaps even older than the gods. The (there is one) white dragon in my setting, and he is called Winter's Father, and when he awakens a great ice age will come upon the world. There are dragon cults, but the true will of the dragon(s) they worship is mysterious to even the high priests.
In most of my campaigns dragons are a loose knit civilization unto themselves and range from wild savage up to the city makers.
But in one they were beasts and in another they were intelligent but totally un-organzed and it was every lizard for themselves.
Whereas in my own book dragons are one of the early proto-races created. But failed due to a flaw of greed or powerlust. Which causes them to fight amongst themselves. After them came the Griffons who lacked the greed problem but instead were arrogant and manipulative.
Varies wildly by campaign, with the exception that an older dragon is usually more trouble than even the typical D&D stats would indicate. Sometimes the younger ones are not that much trouble and a well prepared party can tangle with most of them. Other campaigns, being born a dragon is supercharged. Haven't quite gone to the "dragon as gods' level that others have discussed above, but I've gotten pretty close a couple of times. I'm particularly inspired by the Dragon Quest dragons that have such a wide suite of abilities and options that messing with one is a losing proposition. An encounter with one is measured by how much you can mitigate the bad outcomes, not by winning. "Hey look, we only lost 60% of the party and Joe's left arm. The rest of us got away, and all we had to do was agree to go rob this complex of wraith's on the other side of the wilderness and bring the main treasures back here."
In my current D&D campaign, I went a new route: Dragons are native to the Fey plane--and pretty much the competition for rule of territory with the Seelie and Unseelie courts, frequently with buffer zones of wild territory between them. The other twist is that the dragons are not loners. Younger ones aren't that powerful, but they owe fealty to another dragon that is. They are willing to talk Let's the players operate with them on a level of intrigue. Fighting one is even more serious business, not because of their individual power but because of the political implications. Dragons are relatively rare on the material plane. The smaller ones can sneak through portals occasionally for a raid. The bigger ones can use magic to open portals. They are all reluctant to do this for long because it breaks their connection with their territory while off the plane, and thus their ability to supernaturally sense what is happening there. One of the few times you can get the best of a dragon is to find one stuck on the material plane. They'll agree to a lot for help getting back, and most of them will honor the pledge to the letter and almost as many will honor the spirit. :D They want associates they can trust to operate on the material plane.
I'm not a fan of dragons casting spells like people do. I am a fan of dragons having thematically linked innate powers that express the nature of a particular dragon (or type of dragon in settings where dragons are more common). This way a "fire dragon" or a "river dragon" each have a narrow range of powers that will surpass those of spellcasters in power, but not in overall utility/scope/flexibility.
As for intelligence, I don't mind bestial dragons more on par with Godzilla (an "atomic sea dragon") than what is commonly seen in D&D.
It varies.
I like to delve into folklore for inspirations. Dragon folklore is wonderfully diverse.
I like the old Scandinavian "Drakar & Demoner" version of dragons. They get much bigger, smarter, and more powerful in every way as they age. Ancient dragons are much more intelligent than most people and you would normally need an army to kill it.
Quote from: Jam The MF on May 11, 2021, 05:56:24 PM
As a DM, how do you portray Dragons?
Dragons are the shit that shits up your shit. Maybe by might. Maybe by magic. They vary greatly by individual. But what they tend to have in common is that it's better to face them now, on your terms, than later on the dragon's terms. So despite all the nasty ways they can hurt you, it behooves you to confront them.
IMHO, if properly portrayed, Dragons are absolutely strongest D&D monsters in the Monster Manual(s). Even before characterising them in narrative terms, it is worth mentioning what they can do.
They can fly. While this should be Captain Obvious, I lost count of the times when the party saw an incoming dragon and made plans to attack it "when it landed." As a consequence, I lost count of the times that a party was plastered from the air by a dragon who had no intention to land.
They can cast spells. Another obvious thing sadly, and strangely, often overlooked.
One of the biggest carnages I ever saw in a game was during Dragonlance 8 "Dragons of War", in a "Battlesystem" battle. The armies of good were defending the Tower of High Clerist against the evil "Blue Wing". We are talking about Elite Knights vs. Blue Dragons. So, the blue dragons arrive, in a line, high in the sky and, on the first turn, they swoop down (shaking some units with their fear area in the process) and unleash a barrage of fireballs, lighting bolts and magic missiles (looking for the casters first; main rule of any battlefield: hit the enemy artillery first); then they fired their lightning breath weapons (three times for dragon); and then they landed and made short work of the survivors... The players were just stunned ;D
A dragon can "Fly". Yes, but clumsily, right? Well, no if the dragon can casts a "Fly" spell on himself. All of sudden his manoeuvrability is "good". This means that he can move and strike with the agility and fury of a AH-64D Apache "Longbow" helo. There is nothing like a hovering Red Dragon that rotates in place while unleashing his breath weapon. He can also do special numbers, like hovering in place while looking straight up or down - useful if he is hiding in the darkness under, let's say, a crumbling bridge. Or faking a "suspended animation - nothing to fear here..."
Dragons have acute senses all around. A thief "silently approaches the sleeping dragon". The dragon, of course, smells her, but does nothing. Once the thief moves past the dragon, he opens his eyes. There, nothing else is needed. The rest of the party, who was hiding behind some columns, instantaneously tries to warn the poor companion that the dragon is awake - usually by using desperate sign language. The dragon then proceeds to nuke them out of existence before, if he is a fan of Tarantino, sitting down with the lonely, remaining thief and starting a conversation about "what she wants to do about her (very brief) future." (I actually was able to pull this stunt twice).
All the above examples never fail to generate the "There must be a rule against this!" reaction. In my knowledge, from 1E to 3.5E there isn't. In 3.5E "Draconomicon" the dragons actually have the means to be even more SoBs.
Yup. I'll dig out the letter when I get home, but there's a really nasty description of an encounter with a blue dragon in one issue of Dragon Magazine. Involving clever use of spells, magic items, charmed minions, and other ways to frag a party.
5E added Lair Actions to adult and older dragon options, which are particularly obnoxious.
Quote from: Ghostmaker on May 12, 2021, 12:18:26 PM
5E added Lair Actions to adult and older dragon options, which are particularly obnoxious.
OTOH, the 5e dragons don't have spell slots or caster levels.
Quote from: HappyDaze on May 12, 2021, 12:27:16 PM
Quote from: Ghostmaker on May 12, 2021, 12:18:26 PM
5E added Lair Actions to adult and older dragon options, which are particularly obnoxious.
OTOH, the 5e dragons don't have spell slots or caster levels.
At least part, of the inspiration for this thread. 5E nerfed Dragons.
I view dragons as forces of nature in the game world. They can possibly cast spells, they talk, they are the equivalent of a natural disaster with the sense of humor of a cat playing with its next meal. Some are even worshipped as demigods.
Quote from: jeff37923 on May 12, 2021, 01:05:51 PM
I view dragons as forces of nature in the game world. They can possibly cast spells, they talk, they are the equivalent of a natural disaster with the sense of humor of a cat playing with its next meal. Some are even worshipped as demigods.
Heh. I've described Dragon Quest dragons as combining the worst personality traits of the worst humans, dwarfs, elves, cats, and snakes.
I would run them as magical wielding intelligent dinosaurs.
Quote from: HappyDaze on May 12, 2021, 12:27:16 PM
Quote from: Ghostmaker on May 12, 2021, 12:18:26 PM
5E added Lair Actions to adult and older dragon options, which are particularly obnoxious.
OTOH, the 5e dragons don't have spell slots or caster levels.
It wasn't automatic in older editions, either. In 1e, evil dragons had a 5%, 10%, 20%, 30%, and 40% chance to cast spells (white to red). The median's 1 in 5. Even just being able to speak wasn't that common -- only the two mightiest evil dragons had a better than even chance (blue and red).
Which I kind of like, because it gives dragons more uses and makes them more playable.
So I dug this out. This is from Dragon #149, the Forum. Stats and mechanics are for 1E/2E, as near as I can tell.
---
Razisiz the Smart: AC 2; MV 9"/24"; HD 10; hp 80; #AT 3; Dmg 1-6/1-6/3-24; SA breath weapon, spell use, fear aura, saving-throw bonus, detect invisible and hidden objects. His spells are: charm person, reduce, shield, darkness 15' radius, invisibility, mirror image, fireball, and phantasmal force. He is asleep deep in a cave located near the top of a mountain. His cave is approached by the same ' +5 everything' adventurers who, in Mr. Friedlander's scenario, tried to assault Razisiz II. Since Razisiz the Smart has no magic resistance, the party wizard memorizes project image and chain lightning instead of Tenser's transformation. Looks like poor Razisiz hasn't got a chance, right? Wrong.
(Sidenote: The party in question is composed of the following: two 13th level fighters (100 hp each), a 12th level cleric (80 hp), a 13th level magic-user (40 hp), and a 13th level thief (60 hp). The fighters are equipped with gauntlets of ogre power and carrying long swords +5, the cleric carries a mace +5, the thief carries a short sword +5, and the magic-user carries a dagger +5 and has minor globe of invulnerability and mirror image active (the latter has four images)). All party members have constitutions of 16 or better, and each has also purchased protection from lightning from a friendly druid (giving them +4 to saves vs lightning and reducing damage further -- half on a failed save, a quarter on a successful one). Each has enough magical protections and armor to give themselves AC -4.) (taken from Dragon #134)
Also, evidently in 1E, dragons didn't have immunity to damage that was the same as their elemental breath weapon. Huh.)
Long before the party has approached the cave, the PCs have been spotted by the dragon's charmed servants. Most of them are zero-level peasants, but one is a 4th-level illusionist who uses his whispering wind spell to alert a 5th level charmed thief sitting just inside the cave's mouth. The thief promptly wakes her master, and Razisiz prepares for battle. He casts invisibility upon himself, followed by phantasmal force, creating an illusion of himself sleeping. The adventurers' clairvoyance will now show the dragon where he is not, and the cleric's silence spell will miss the head. The dragon's charmed thief picks a magic dagger from the treasure pile and slips into a side passage.
As the party enters the cave, a magic mouth in the ceiling emits a quiet, batlike chirp. The adventurers notice it, but they think the dragon is silenced and hears nothing. They are wrong. Having heard the alarm, the invisible Razisiz casts his darkness spell at a hole in the ceiling that leads to the surface, followed by reduce (on himself), shield, and mirror image, in that order; the shortest-duration spell is the last. As the adventurers negotiate a small chasm across the cave, Razisiz, now 10' long, spreads his wings, picks a wand from the treasure pile, and flies out of the cave through the darkened hole in the ceiling. The battle begins!
(Sidenote: You can tell it's gonna be ugly...)
Round 1: The party crosses the chasm and reaches the dragon's chamber. Before the PCs realize just where the monster has gone, Razisiz (back to his normal size) drops a barrel of oil on the PCs from the hole in the ceiling, followed by a fireball. The spell does 40 hp damage, and the oil explosion adds 25 hp more. The wizard, protected by minor globe of invulnerability, takes only 25 hp; the thief and both fighters make their saves and take 32 hp apiece; and the cleric fails his saving throw and gets the brunt of the attack.
Round 2: The wizard extinguishes the flames with a cloudburst spell; the cleric brings himself up to 30 hp with a cure critical wounds spell; and the thief uses his wand of illumination to light up the hole in the ceiling. One of the fighters drinks a potion of flying and prepares to chase the party's adversary.
Round 3: The wizard casts a fly spell and takes off behind the fighter. As they near the opening, a magic mouth shouts a warning, and Razisiz, no longer invisible but safely out of sight, pulls on a stout bush, which in reality is a trap lever. A portcullis gate in the chute leading outside crashes shut and traps the wizard in the cave. Now the fighter must face the dragon alone.
Round 4: The cleric, the thief, and the second fighter hurry toward the main cave opening, while the wizard begins casting project image. As the first fighter rushes out into the open, he finds Razisiz and his three mirror images flying down at him. The dragon breathes lightning into the cave, bringing down the boulders that were carefully arranged beforehand to cave in. Fighter number two is the only one actually struck by the lightning; he makes his save and takes quarter damage (20 hp), but he is also buried under the tons of rock, as are the thief and the cleric; all three take another 15 hp damage from the cave-in.
Round 5: The charmed thief leaps from the shadows and backstabs the wizard for 11 hp damage (triple damage with a dagger +2). Meanwhile, Razisiz uses his wand of polymorphing on the charmed illusionist, turning him into another blue dragon! Now the flying fighter is confronted by five dragons (three are mirror images), and while the wizard might help him with projected image, the wizard has his own problems (the next hit from the dragon's puny servant may very well kill him). Which way is the fighter going to fly?
(Sidenote: There's a slight problem here: the magic-user should still have his mirror images up and the backstab should miss. That being said, being mobbed by the thief will most certainly distract him from aiding the fighter or getting over to assist the rest of the party.)
Thoughts?
EDIT: fixed some text issues from C&P'ing this out of a PDF.
In my campaigns, powerful casters. And also, painfully aware that the eldest, greatest, and most pussiant great wyrms, beings which are power and sorcery incarnate, naturally cap out at CL 19. Also aware that, while when serving as level-appropriate boss monsters they are on the order of magically capable of an equivalent human, they have no promise of getting those level-balanced encounters and absolutely can run into individual humans more personally powerful than them for most of their life.
The metallic dragons generally either ignore this fact or try to make use of it by gently steering local humanoid civilizations in a good, productive, and non-dragon-stabby direction, while the evil ones generally end up carrying over hatchling-era resentment of humanoid populations that made them feel weak, and thus act appropriately.
---
Dragons are definitely one of those monsters which should shift the default tactics of militaries just by the possibility of their presence. But methods to deal with them absolutely exist. One basic one from the old 3.5E days was distributed longbow squads with a few magic arrows and well-positioned bards to buff them and provide marginal-but-useful fear resistance. If you're fighting the dragon overland, then you can get a hellacious number of ranged attacks against it, and 5% of a hundred low-level archers rolling their 20s will hurt you, bit by bit. And while you're dealing with them, you're not dealing with the actual leveled adventurers on the field, who can rally the troops, try to lure you into low-flight range where their own shorter-ranged magics can contend with your own, and if you're not careful, you can run into a Wingbind or equivalent magic from a hidden wizard, and then you're proper fucked with all those archers still on the field, because being able to pick out would-be stealthy thieves is one thing, but finding which of the random archers on the ground is actually wearing illusory armor and casting spells at you when all of those finely-tuned senses is getting flash-banged by the chaos of battle is another thing entirely.
And finally, there's always the risk that while you're away dealing with the army, the actual threat has quietly teleported back into your lair and is looting it and preparing an ambush for when you return, battered and bruised but successful. And the more humanoids you've pissed off with the magical enslavement and raiding for valuables and random acts of cruelty, the more volunteers you'll have both for the dragon-hunting armies, and for the high-level infiltrate-and-ambush teams.
So, dragons are arrogant and proud, but also aware that they need to wield these aspects of themselves carefully, because although they are mightier and cleverer than humanoids, luck plays a part in every battle, and the dragon only needs to be extremely unlucky once in its very long lifespan for that life to end.
Quote from: robertliguori on May 13, 2021, 10:11:19 AM
In my campaigns, powerful casters. And also, painfully aware that the eldest, greatest, and most pussiant great wyrms, beings which are power and sorcery incarnate, naturally cap out at CL 19. Also aware that, while when serving as level-appropriate boss monsters they are on the order of magically capable of an equivalent human, they have no promise of getting those level-balanced encounters and absolutely can run into individual humans more personally powerful than them for most of their life.
The metallic dragons generally either ignore this fact or try to make use of it by gently steering local humanoid civilizations in a good, productive, and non-dragon-stabby direction, while the evil ones generally end up carrying over hatchling-era resentment of humanoid populations that made them feel weak, and thus act appropriately.
---
Dragons are definitely one of those monsters which should shift the default tactics of militaries just by the possibility of their presence. But methods to deal with them absolutely exist. One basic one from the old 3.5E days was distributed longbow squads with a few magic arrows and well-positioned bards to buff them and provide marginal-but-useful fear resistance. If you're fighting the dragon overland, then you can get a hellacious number of ranged attacks against it, and 5% of a hundred low-level archers rolling their 20s will hurt you, bit by bit. And while you're dealing with them, you're not dealing with the actual leveled adventurers on the field, who can rally the troops, try to lure you into low-flight range where their own shorter-ranged magics can contend with your own, and if you're not careful, you can run into a Wingbind or equivalent magic from a hidden wizard, and then you're proper fucked with all those archers still on the field, because being able to pick out would-be stealthy thieves is one thing, but finding which of the random archers on the ground is actually wearing illusory armor and casting spells at you when all of those finely-tuned senses is getting flash-banged by the chaos of battle is another thing entirely.
And finally, there's always the risk that while you're away dealing with the army, the actual threat has quietly teleported back into your lair and is looting it and preparing an ambush for when you return, battered and bruised but successful. And the more humanoids you've pissed off with the magical enslavement and raiding for valuables and random acts of cruelty, the more volunteers you'll have both for the dragon-hunting armies, and for the high-level infiltrate-and-ambush teams.
So, dragons are arrogant and proud, but also aware that they need to wield these aspects of themselves carefully, because although they are mightier and cleverer than humanoids, luck plays a part in every battle, and the dragon only needs to be extremely unlucky once in its very long lifespan for that life to end.
Interesting. This is like an inversion of how I portrayed silver dragons; their foes never wind up fighting -just- the silver dragon, but all their allies as well; two tribes of elves, a dwarven clan with a penchant for artillery, three adventurer parties that the dragon helped direct, the kingdom's royal guard because the dragon's hatchling is spending time at court incognito... and so on :)
Quote from: Ghostmaker on May 13, 2021, 11:47:33 AM
Quote from: robertliguori on May 13, 2021, 10:11:19 AM
In my campaigns, powerful casters. And also, painfully aware that the eldest, greatest, and most pussiant great wyrms, beings which are power and sorcery incarnate, naturally cap out at CL 19. Also aware that, while when serving as level-appropriate boss monsters they are on the order of magically capable of an equivalent human, they have no promise of getting those level-balanced encounters and absolutely can run into individual humans more personally powerful than them for most of their life.
The metallic dragons generally either ignore this fact or try to make use of it by gently steering local humanoid civilizations in a good, productive, and non-dragon-stabby direction, while the evil ones generally end up carrying over hatchling-era resentment of humanoid populations that made them feel weak, and thus act appropriately.
---
Dragons are definitely one of those monsters which should shift the default tactics of militaries just by the possibility of their presence. But methods to deal with them absolutely exist. One basic one from the old 3.5E days was distributed longbow squads with a few magic arrows and well-positioned bards to buff them and provide marginal-but-useful fear resistance. If you're fighting the dragon overland, then you can get a hellacious number of ranged attacks against it, and 5% of a hundred low-level archers rolling their 20s will hurt you, bit by bit. And while you're dealing with them, you're not dealing with the actual leveled adventurers on the field, who can rally the troops, try to lure you into low-flight range where their own shorter-ranged magics can contend with your own, and if you're not careful, you can run into a Wingbind or equivalent magic from a hidden wizard, and then you're proper fucked with all those archers still on the field, because being able to pick out would-be stealthy thieves is one thing, but finding which of the random archers on the ground is actually wearing illusory armor and casting spells at you when all of those finely-tuned senses is getting flash-banged by the chaos of battle is another thing entirely.
And finally, there's always the risk that while you're away dealing with the army, the actual threat has quietly teleported back into your lair and is looting it and preparing an ambush for when you return, battered and bruised but successful. And the more humanoids you've pissed off with the magical enslavement and raiding for valuables and random acts of cruelty, the more volunteers you'll have both for the dragon-hunting armies, and for the high-level infiltrate-and-ambush teams.
So, dragons are arrogant and proud, but also aware that they need to wield these aspects of themselves carefully, because although they are mightier and cleverer than humanoids, luck plays a part in every battle, and the dragon only needs to be extremely unlucky once in its very long lifespan for that life to end.
Interesting. This is like an inversion of how I portrayed silver dragons; their foes never wind up fighting -just- the silver dragon, but all their allies as well; two tribes of elves, a dwarven clan with a penchant for artillery, three adventurer parties that the dragon helped direct, the kingdom's royal guard because the dragon's hatchling is spending time at court incognito... and so on :)
Yeah, different dragons have different strategies, but one of the things that I emphasized was that the two big ones that got practiced were either to live some place so remote that you never had to worry about massed humanoids making it there (as many dragons did lairing on drifting glaciers or in volcanic caves or undead-infested swamps, always telling themselves that their lairs represented their strength and prowess and had nothing, nothing whatsoever to do with the gnawing fear of a dozen dragonbane ballistas on the horizon), or to insert themselves directly into the local humanoid populace and ensure that they had their own counter to a giant mass of humanoids bent on their blood and treasure. Silver dragons would absolutely cultivate a network of allies, while gold dragons might directly interact with the monarchs of the nearby kingdoms and ensure that they had solid mutual-defense treaties writ in stone, and even most of the chromatics would at least keep a tribe of worshipful kobolds around.
Of course, your draconic mileage may vary. One notable NPC from a previous campaign was a wyrmling gold dragon who determined that he absolutely was obliged to get onto the powerful-adventuring-humanoid-allies train, and did his best to appear to the party in the guise of an ancient and noble wizard, directing them to generalized acts of goodness and valor. He was moderately indignant when the party saw through his disguise basically instantly, pronounced him adorable scaly babby, and "agreed to benefit from his wisdom and direction" (read: adopted him).
---
Myself, I like being able to contrast between young and old dragons, in a way that makes it clear that the most ancient and feared wyrm of legend was once as derpy as the wyrmling above. It gets at one of the inherent themes of D&D, of starting at low levels, full of potential, and recognizing that potential slowly over time, until you tower over who you once were, while still remaining recognizably them.
Quote from: robertliguori on May 13, 2021, 12:32:53 PM
Of course, your draconic mileage may vary. One notable NPC from a previous campaign was a wyrmling gold dragon who determined that he absolutely was obliged to get onto the powerful-adventuring-humanoid-allies train, and did his best to appear to the party in the guise of an ancient and noble wizard, directing them to generalized acts of goodness and valor. He was moderately indignant when the party saw through his disguise basically instantly, pronounced him adorable scaly babby, and "agreed to benefit from his wisdom and direction" (read: adopted him).
'adorable scaly babby'. I laughed so hard at this :D
Dragons are the "Apex Predator" of many D&D settings. They prey on everything, NOTHING preys on them. When they appear, the most voracious attacker should flee immediately. And they have the intelligence of the wolf pack: dragons might ANTICIPATE what their prey does next. Their instincts are far superior to all other creatures.
They could portray a beast very much akin to an "elemental disaster": like a tornado or hurricane. Something so terrible it terrified the best armies. Their ferocity drives the nightmarish rumors that drift across a kingdom.
RPed well and tactically, dragons are a nearly invincible foe that a smart group of PCs could turn into an ally.
One thing I've really come to like about dragons is the sheer variety in various legends. Dragons like poisonous, regenerating serpents. Dragons with shells, dragons with fur, dragons with multiple heads, and a zillion other options. I always meant to create a dragon-generator, using those myths to make each new dragon unique.
Like all things, DCC has a random table for generating dragons and i really likemhaving uniquendragons. Though honestly i think the table. could have even more added to it.
Yeah, it's really easy to whip together a first draft of a random dragon table. But covering a wide range of legends, and thinking through the consequences, can take a lot more effort. (Yes, I'm probably overthinking it.)
Quote from: Theory of Games on May 13, 2021, 01:48:44 PM
Dragons are the "Apex Predator" of many D&D settings. They prey on everything, NOTHING preys on them. When they appear, the most voracious attacker should flee immediately. And they have the intelligence of the wolf pack: dragons might ANTICIPATE what their prey does next. Their instincts are far superior to all other creatures.
They could portray a beast very much akin to an "elemental disaster": like a tornado or hurricane. Something so terrible it terrified the best armies. Their ferocity drives the nightmarish rumors that drift across a kingdom.
...
I have never liked the idea of Dragons as spellcasters.
Because they shouldn't need it.
Smaug from the hobbit, and similar dragons from myths have always been my model.
I always have seen them as The Apex predator. Old, cunning, and not to be awakened from their long slumbers.
No PC can fight a Dragon one on one and live. Or even a group for that matter.
Want to kill that dragon? A big pointy stick lance/pike, in its sleep, and you better kill it with one shot!
Oh, you woke it up?
Now it is time to outfit a bunch of hirelings with pikes and lie your ass off and promise them more treasure than you are actually willing to give. Its ok though because they will mostly go up in a fiery inferno.
Gotta get mules to haul that ballista up the mountain to the mouth of its lair.
Everyone gets a tall shield so you have a wisp of a chance if it breaths fire on you.
Oh and you better set that Giant Falling spear trap well: (Like this but think BIG.)
(https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/antiquarianauctions/main/1515155402DSCF0914.JPG)
You only got one shot motherfucker.
And then of course there is the issue of finding someone crazy enough to go into the lair and lure the thing out...
Oh your trap missed? And your ballista shot missed?
Your pike rush failed?
Well on the one hand you no longer have to back up any of your promises to your hirelings.
On the other hand you're half burnt, and all your horses are dead or running.
Time to find a nice hole to hide in, and wait until the damn thing goes back in its cave.
Then when a window of opportunity presents itself you can then bravely and in the finest heroic tradition; make a break for it.
they're an oppressed people unjustly hunted by humans and are looking to initiate dialog viss-a-viss the reappropriation of their hordes
Greetings!
Indeed, Dragons are of course an iconic and terrifying creature within a campaign world. In my own campaign world, I generally use three different kinds of dragons; Linnorms--a kind of Nordic style dragon, usually at least semi-intelligent, and physically powerful, but not generally known as spellcasters. Then, there are a kind of standard Drake--basically similar in statistics and abilities as Linnorms, but having a different appearance. Then, there are the primordial Dragons, which have magical powers, spellcasting abilities, in addition to their impressive and awe-inspiring physical abilities, much like a quasi-natural disaster striking an area, like a flood, hurricane, or a volcano blasting off in eruption. I like having a variety of dragons in the campaign. It is always nice having some super-epic monstrosity as an encounter in an great, heroic adventure, for higher-level characters. That kind of encounter gets armies marching, kings involved, with economy-swaying influences, as well as having significant impact on the campaign region as a whole. However, especially for lower-level character parties, it is also great fun to have lower-level dragons living in various dungeons and lairs across the land, serving as low-to-mid-tier opponents, as well as potential allies and friends, in an environment where fighting them and defeating them serves as a huge embellishment of the Character's reputations, infusion of wealth and treasures, as well as acting as potentially very important story or plot points during the campaign--all while not necessarily having some huge impact on the region's economy or political environment as a whole.
Semper Fidelis,
SHARK
I have had dragons of both types in past games, and I guarantee you that the players in those were more frightened of the spellcasting dragons.
I haven't quite made up my mind what type I'd like to use in my next AD&D 2E game but it will be either Dark Sun or Planescape or Glantri depending upon my players' selection. Ravaging beast for certain in Dark Sun, probably caster for Planescape, and possibly a mix of both for Glantri.
Quote from: Pat on May 13, 2021, 04:02:18 PM
One thing I've really come to like about dragons is the sheer variety in various legends. Dragons like poisonous, regenerating serpents. Dragons with shells, dragons with fur, dragons with multiple heads, and a zillion other options. I always meant to create a dragon-generator, using those myths to make each new dragon unique.
https://cyborgsandsorcerers.blogspot.com/2020/05/making-dragons-awesome-again.html
http://oldguardgamingaccoutrements.blogspot.com/2009/10/unexpurgated-dragon-generator.html
https://www.reddit.com/r/DnDBehindTheScreen/comments/5k7g67/random_dragon_generator/