Would an Ancient Green Dragon consider adopting an orphaned copper wyrmling?

In traditional D&D lore and setting... what might go down in a meeting between an ancient green dragon and an orphaned young copper wyrmling?

I know green dragons are traditionally manipulative and evil, whereas copper dragons are more playful and good.

This type of situation may occur in an adventure I'm running. Through a series of events, the party has this copper wyrmling following them around and they are most likely going to lead it straight to an ancient green dragon's lair.

I've got the party meets dragon bit prepared. But, I'm looking for suggestions on how the green dragon reacts to the copper wyrmling?

Ideas? Suggestions? Thoughts?

Perhaps in an effort to recruit the wyrmling to its side, the green dragon lies to it, saying either that the green wyrm is actually a copper dragon that is so old it has a green patina on its copper scales or that the copper dragon is actually a green dragon that has not yet gotten its proper color yet. It then tries to turn its heart against the PCs. I would give it some charm or illusion spells so it can augment its lies with magic. This essentially becomes a social interaction challenge for the PCs to convince the wyrmling the green dragon is lying with the green dragon's ability checks contesting the PCs ability checks when a character's task comes down to a roll.

Well, many employers offer benefits related to adoption. Additionally, there is a nice tax credit for adoption. Given their greed, they might just do it for the money.

The green will kill the copper. Even in the most cooperative circumstances, he will see the dragon as a future threat and will take it out before it ever gets strong enough to challenge it. Heck a green dragon would most likely kill a when king green if it's not its child.

neogod22 said:

The green will kill the copper. Even in the most cooperative circumstances, he will see the dragon as a future threat and will take it out before it ever gets strong enough to challenge it. Heck a green dragon would most likely kill a when king green if it's not its child.

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Totally a DM call, and I don’t think this would be the most interesting take. But if you’re playing straight from basic lore, I’d say this is how it would go.

Logic states that the green dragon gobbles up the copper wyrmling. However, what I would personally find far more interesting is the green dragon rearing the wyrmling and using it in some great scheme. Either it corrupts the wyrmling or just as likely it dupes the wyrmling into doing something that it wants once it grows up a bit.

Should note that a Copper Wyrmling is already much more intelligent then the average person. A baby dragon is not much like a baby other animal. They are already fully mentally mature and understand their place in the world better. A newborn copper dragon is already superior to the average human in every way. They are just good by nature and are unlikey to try and lord their superiority over other creatures, unlike the Chromatics.

Anyway the Green would view the young dragon as a potential future threat and more to the point a hateful Metallic Dragon that is best horribly killed.

Likely the Green would try to capture the baby dragon, try interrogate it and find out if it has started up a hoard yet and try to take that for itself, then torture it to death for fun, as it's not a threat at this age and the Dragon can do whatever it pleases to it.

Well, they're intelligent creatures, so maybe it finds the little copper thing totally adorable. Becomes ridiculously protective of it, and uses examples of other metallics trying to "save" the little thing to turn it to evil.

There's no reason why it couldn't care for the copper wyrmling. Perhaps it lost a child of its own to adventurers and takes the copper in as means to replace the loss. The copper wyrmling's personality might rub off on the green, or vice versa. It could also be that the green truly cares for the copper wyrmling. It treats others, like adventurers, as a typical evil dragon would but when it comes to the wyrmling it acts in a compassionate but stern manner. It makes it more interesting to have the dragon have a soft spot for the wyrmling instead of just saying outright that it kills it because it might be a threat, it misses out on what I feel are some interesting opportunities for the game.

In my homebrew campaign, I played green dragons as exceptionally intelligent, scheming, and power hungry. They wouldn't just "gobble" up a metallic wyrmling. They would look for some way to profit off of it or use it to advance its goals. At the very least, it might try to hold it hostage for treasure or come concession from other copper dragons.

Also, copper dragons are known to "possess a covetous, miserly streak, and can become dangerous when their hoards are threatened." An older green dragon would try to take advantage of this to manipulate a copper dragon that it is raising. Maybe it could warp the copper's "trickster" impulses into something more sinister.

One issue that could arise is that the lawful nature of the green dragon could clash with the coppers natural chaotic disposition. This could lead to a green dragon losing patience with the copper in any long-con situation and may lead to it taking a harsher approach.

Yes, a green dragon may just determine that a copper wyrmling is not worth the nuisance and to prevent it from growing into a threat, the green may kill the copper. But it would certainly look at it from all angles before doing so. And if it decides to kill it, perhaps it will do it in a way that makes it look like one of its adversarys did it, in an attempt to have other coppers or friends of coppers exact revenge.

A white dragon? Yeah, copper yummy. Mmm. A green? Not how I play 'em.