D&D 3E/3.5 Helping Boz with CC 3.5: Converting Dragons.

I'm not sure how they should smell, really. Jasmine, from what I see, would imply a level of vegetation not normally found in the dragon's surroundings... which may be a reason to use it, of course.

Knight Otu said:

I'm not sure how they should smell, really. Jasmine, from what I see, would imply a level of vegetation not normally found in the dragon's surroundings... which may be a reason to use it, of course.

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Jasmin it is then.

How about the rainbow dragon (From Dragon #144)? As you can see from my iser name, I like dragons too.

GrayLinnorm said:

How about the rainbow dragon (From Dragon #144)? As you can see from my iser name, I like dragons too.

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Get me the 2E stats and I'll convert it. If I find it interresting enough.

Krishnath said:

Get me the 2E stats and I'll convert it. If I find it interresting enough.

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Unfortunately, I haven't seen any 2e stats for this creature. These are the original (1e) stats from Dragon #144:

Rainbow Dragon
Created by Gregory Detwiler

Frequency: Very Rare
No. Appearing: 1 (5% of 2)
Armor Class: -2
Move: 9"/24" (MC: E)
Hit Dice: 10-12
% In Lair: 60%
Treasure Type: H, S, T, U
No. of Attacks: 2 claws and 1 bite
Damage/Attack: 1-8/1-8/3-30
Special Attacks: Major breath weapon, exceptional damage from bite, night blinding, spell use
Special Defenses: Sun dazzle, low armor class, high intelligence, detect invisible/hidden beings, saving throw bonus with age
Magic Resistance: Standard
Intelligence: Exceptional
Alignment: Neutral evil
Size: L (50' long)
Psionic Ability: Nil
Chance of:
Speaking: 100%
Magic Use: 100%
Sleeping: 20%
Level/XP Value: 10 HD: IX/6,750+14 per hit point; 11-12 HD: IX/8,050 per hit point (I'm typing it as it's written)

The rainbow dragon is one of the most powerful of all evil dragons. It is also the most beautiful, its hide displaying an everchanging display of iridescent hues of all colors. When the dragon is in bright desert light, this dazzling play of colors gleams so brightly that it is painful to the eyes, causing any attackers to attack at -2 to hit, or -4 in addition to penalties for fighting in the light if the attackers (like orcs or drow) are not accustomed to direct sunlight.
The rainbow dragon usually fights with a claw/claw/bite routine. Five times per day, it can use its breath weapon of pure energy, which looks like a rainbow-hued blast of light. This weapon does damage equal to the dragon's hit points, but affects only one target per attack. The breath weapon is a 5'-wide beam of energy that extends for 100'. So bright is this light that if the dragon attacks at night, everyone within 100' of the beam must save vs. spells or be blinded for 1-4 rounds.
In addition to this, all rainbow dragons are capable of spell use. Very young and young stages of growth allow the rainbow dragon to acquire one first-level spell at each stage; at subadult and young adult stages each, it may acquire a second level spell. A third level spell is gained at both the adult and old stages, and a fourth level spell at both the very old and ancient stages. All rainbow dragons can speak and enjoy negotiating for ever-larger tributes and payoffs from cities that wish to keep such dragons from attacking them.
Rainbow dragons aggressively patrol their territories (especially in daytime) and prefer to attack when the sun is out so as to take advantage of their light enhancing defenses. Rainbow dragons prefer brightly lit desert and plains regions, making their lairs in old ruins and caverns.
The blood of these beasts can be used as ingredients in scroll ink for the spells color spray, prismatic sphere, prismatic spray, and prismatic wall (my note: these would make good spell-like abilities). A bit of bone from a rainbow dragon is said to tip the best wands of conjuration.
Attacks based on elemental sources (earth, air, fire, and water) affect the rainbow dragon normally. Electrical attacks are taken with a -1 hp/HD penalty to damage, which is helpful if the rainbow dragon fights a blue dragon for the same territory.
From "The Dragon's Bestiary", Dragon #146 (June 1989)

If this isn't helpful, I'm sorry, but these are the only stats I have. If it helps, it sounds like this creature should be the equal of a gold dragon.

GrayLinnorm said:

Unfortunately, I haven't seen any 2e stats for this creature. These are the original (1e) stats from Dragon #144:

<snip>
If this isn't helpful, I'm sorry, but these are the only stats I have. If it helps, it sounds like this creature should be the equal of a gold dragon.

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Close enough. 2nd edition would have been better, but 1E is good. I'll see what I can do.

Edit: I will probably change the breathweapon to something that deals elemental damage, not much about the different age groups, so I'll have to improvise a bit regarding spellcasting ability and spell-like abilities.

stat suggestion: compare this dragon to other 1E dragons before deciding what its power level should be. if, say, it is more powerful than a 1E black dragon but less than a 1E red, then it should still be so in 3.5.

BOZ said:

stat suggestion: compare this dragon to other 1E dragons before deciding what its power level should be. if, say, it is more powerful than a 1E black dragon but less than a 1E red, then it should still be so in 3.5.

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I'll look into it, but the more I read the dragons description, the more similar it looks to the Prismatic dragon, similar breathweapon, similar look, and similar aura. I am afraid that the closer I come to finishing the conversion, the more similar they become, and that is not good. The only real difference between them so far, is the prismatic dragons higher challenge rating and different alignment.