Mal Malenkirk
First Post
Several factors made me think about DMing dragons. (running beyond the veil, BADD posts, previous experience and future plans).
And the bottom line is that I want them to be dangerous yet dignified. I want to stay away from the cheese.
A lot of dragon tactics/design can be devastating while being at the same time ridiculous even by D&D standard. And yet believe me, I like my game wacky.
So I've been trying to make a list of things that are dragonesque and things that are goofy.
Here are a few things that I think are cool/cheesy and maybe you'll see what I mean.
Cheese;
Teleport: I understand how using teleport could be very useful for a dragon. Surprised? Teleport away. Come back later. But this tactic will elicit groans from the players, not whisper of awe.
Haste: An ever popular spell. And a very useful one, too. But... try to imagine a gargantuan dragon on speed. It's not very dignified.
Heal: Now we all now that it's very unlikely that you'll manage to work an instakill spell on a dragon. SR plus absurd save = Not going to disintegrate the beast. You pretty much have to bring down his HP.
Knowing this, how fun do you think it would be to fight the same dragon again? And again? And for crying out loud AGAIN!? I can imagine the PCs reaction. "Look, I get it: you don't want us to win. Just kill us or enslave us, but end this! It's getting unbearable!"
VERY powerful spell for a dragon. And a certain recipe for making your players' eyeballs roll in their socket.
Goodness
Control Weather
Call lightning
And any other spell that control winds and weather.
How cool is that; The PC are entering a dragon's territory and suddenly the elements seem to turn against them. A terrible hurricane engulf the previously sunny forest, the winds are so strong that they threaten to blow the weaker party members into the air. Suddenly the sky darkens even more and a terrible roar can be heard clearly above the storm: The Dragon has arrived! (This is your cue to make your save against dragon fear)
Most enchantment: The subtle nature of enchantments fits well with conception I have of Dragon Magic.
They probably even deserve their own special enchantments. A spell that can sap the will of an entire city for example. Or magic that can alter the rules of nature within the dragon's domain. Magic that protects against scrying and teleport. Magic that can charm and influence every weak willed (low HD) creature in a large area.
You know, epic stuff. Not cheesy stuff.
I guess what I want is to scrap entirely the fact that Dragons are sorcerer and replace this entirely by better dragonesque spell-like abilities. And when I say spell-like, some of these would far outstrip standard spell.
I think I could design a basic spell-like list for all dragons based on their age. And then I could vamp up the racial spell-like abilities of each dragon kind. A red dragon could gain the ability to enflame a large circular area around him even in barren rocks. This cool effect might deal fire damage to anyone withing 50-100 feet of the dragon, thus sapping the protection from fire spell and readying the PCs for the crisping of a life time. Every dragons could get cool abilities of that kind.
What do you think? Would it be worth the effort? I am I crazy to think that granting the heal spell to a dragon is not conductive to a fun dragon encounter? Any comment at all?
And the bottom line is that I want them to be dangerous yet dignified. I want to stay away from the cheese.
A lot of dragon tactics/design can be devastating while being at the same time ridiculous even by D&D standard. And yet believe me, I like my game wacky.
So I've been trying to make a list of things that are dragonesque and things that are goofy.
Here are a few things that I think are cool/cheesy and maybe you'll see what I mean.
Cheese;
Teleport: I understand how using teleport could be very useful for a dragon. Surprised? Teleport away. Come back later. But this tactic will elicit groans from the players, not whisper of awe.
Haste: An ever popular spell. And a very useful one, too. But... try to imagine a gargantuan dragon on speed. It's not very dignified.
Heal: Now we all now that it's very unlikely that you'll manage to work an instakill spell on a dragon. SR plus absurd save = Not going to disintegrate the beast. You pretty much have to bring down his HP.
Knowing this, how fun do you think it would be to fight the same dragon again? And again? And for crying out loud AGAIN!? I can imagine the PCs reaction. "Look, I get it: you don't want us to win. Just kill us or enslave us, but end this! It's getting unbearable!"
VERY powerful spell for a dragon. And a certain recipe for making your players' eyeballs roll in their socket.
Goodness
Control Weather
Call lightning
And any other spell that control winds and weather.
How cool is that; The PC are entering a dragon's territory and suddenly the elements seem to turn against them. A terrible hurricane engulf the previously sunny forest, the winds are so strong that they threaten to blow the weaker party members into the air. Suddenly the sky darkens even more and a terrible roar can be heard clearly above the storm: The Dragon has arrived! (This is your cue to make your save against dragon fear)
Most enchantment: The subtle nature of enchantments fits well with conception I have of Dragon Magic.
They probably even deserve their own special enchantments. A spell that can sap the will of an entire city for example. Or magic that can alter the rules of nature within the dragon's domain. Magic that protects against scrying and teleport. Magic that can charm and influence every weak willed (low HD) creature in a large area.
You know, epic stuff. Not cheesy stuff.
I guess what I want is to scrap entirely the fact that Dragons are sorcerer and replace this entirely by better dragonesque spell-like abilities. And when I say spell-like, some of these would far outstrip standard spell.
I think I could design a basic spell-like list for all dragons based on their age. And then I could vamp up the racial spell-like abilities of each dragon kind. A red dragon could gain the ability to enflame a large circular area around him even in barren rocks. This cool effect might deal fire damage to anyone withing 50-100 feet of the dragon, thus sapping the protection from fire spell and readying the PCs for the crisping of a life time. Every dragons could get cool abilities of that kind.
What do you think? Would it be worth the effort? I am I crazy to think that granting the heal spell to a dragon is not conductive to a fun dragon encounter? Any comment at all?
