Aluminium dragon? Taupe* dragon? Oooh, oooh, Cheese dragon!

Dirigible · Jan 25, 2004

* We Are Not Even Sure Taupe Is A Colour.

So, I read people complaining about elven subraces. Fair enough. While in my campaign I've written them so that they do adapt to their terrain in a bio-magical way, I can certianly see why this annoys some people, perhaps those wanting more Tolkeinesque elves.

I don't, however, recall seeing anyone complaining about the vast, mutated mob of dragon species. God, they annoy me. I see on WotC's site we now have ectoplasmic dragons to go along with our force, prismatic, shadow, cloud blah blah blah varieties. Now, in my (albeit) limited knowledge of East Asian folklore, I think there were many types of dragon, in European we had only one that I know of: big, scaly, firebreathing Bad Thing. (Not counting the Worm of Basingstoke, linnorms, wyverns... OK, shut up. You know what I mean).

I really don't see the need for all these wyrmbreeds. The best dragons in D&D materials I can think of are the four god-rending terrors of the Iron Kingdoms, the six (or so) unique dragons of BirthRight. None of these conform to a colour or metal.

Anyway, does anyone else dislike the chromatic/metallic/gemstone/elemental/meterial dragon types? Anyone care to defend them, or better still, off a cogent explanation of what they're doing her ein the first place?

Am I ranting, or is it the sugar?

Dark Jezter · Jan 25, 2004

I once created a Bubble Wrap Dragon, but it didn't last long because nobody who encountered it could resist the urge to poke at it.

AFGNCAAP · Jan 25, 2004

To a degree, yes.

To tell the truth, I don't think it bothered me as much in OD&D, because there (basically) was 1 type of dragon per element/energy, rather than the current metallic/chromatic/gemstone/etc. dinstinction there is now.

As for my current campaign, I've been debating on whether or not I want to keep the dinstinctions. I'm contemplating going with a dragon type per element/energy type (fire/fire, air/electricity, water/cold, earth/acid, & possibly force/sonic, & magic/arcane energy).

However, the chromatic dragons fit nicely (somewhat) with a Magic: the Gathering-themed set of foes (The red dragon dwelling on a volcanic mountain range; the white dragon on a frozen plain; the green dragon in a forest; the black dragon in a swamp; and the blue dragon on a desert isle). And, since I'm trying to go with a (more or less) "standard" D&D game, the various dragon types are somewhat expected.

I think there's too many, but whether I make a change in my game is another (unfinished) story.

CRGreathouse · Jan 25, 2004

Dirigible said:
Anyway, does anyone else dislike the chromatic/metallic/gemstone/elemental/meterial dragon types? Anyone care to defend them, or better still, off a cogent explanation of what they're doing her ein the first place?

I don't like the chromatic/matallic/etc. dragons either. I've implemented a system somewhat similar to the one AFGNCAAP mentioned: one dragon type for each element plus an 'unaligned' dragon.

Agback · Jan 25, 2004

Dirigible said:
Anyway, does anyone else dislike the chromatic/metallic/gemstone/elemental/meterial dragon types? Anyone care to defend them, or better still, off a cogent explanation of what they're doing her ein the first place?

They are all of a piece with the ridiculous profusion of monster types in general. I often think that D&D writers and GMs put in new monsters because they can't think up new situations.

I am usually pretty happy with one type of dragon, the occasional leopard, tiger, w4eretier, or ogre, a werewolf or two, and the occasional zombie. On special occasions I break out a gathin, mujina, or dogface Joe. NPCs are infinitely more interesting than monsters.

Regards,

Agback

babomb · Jan 25, 2004

Dirigible said:
* We Are Not Even Sure Taupe Is A Colour.

It's a brownish-gray.

I stick to the chromatic and metallic dragons, maybe with some half-breeds. Shadow, force, ectoplasmic: a jedi needs not these dragons.

Dirigible · Jan 25, 2004

It's a brownish-gray.

Tell that to the Auditors.

Shadow, force, ectoplasmic: a jedi needs not these dragons.

Midichlorion dragon?

I stick to the chromatic and metallic dragons, maybe with some half-breeds.

My point is, do you need even that? What does a black dragon or a green dragon give that that a red (arguably the default, or most archetypical breed) doesn't?

eg, Verminthrax, the dragon from Dragonslayer lived in a swamp, breathed fire, and was a nasty gray-brown-green colour. So, what was it? A black dragon for terrain, a red for breath weapon, a green or brown for appearence? Obviously, there are flaws in this argument, as it was never designed to fit into the D&D scheme.

Why not have basic dragon stats which can them be customised with feats or special ability 'slots'. That was the approach Neo used when adapting dragons for Midnight. (look around at www.againsttheshadow.org ; there's a PDF of the unified dragon species there somewhere).

hong · Jan 25, 2004

Dirigible said:
Why not have basic dragon stats which can them be customised with feats or special ability 'slots'. That was the approach Neo used when adapting dragons for Midnight. (look around at www.againsttheshadow.org ; there's a PDF of the unified dragon species there somewhere).

Keep the faith, brother, for the creeping HEROization of D&D will soon be completed.

Dirigible · Jan 25, 2004

Touche.

Dirigible · Jan 25, 2004

Ok, so taking the opposite tack...

What other metals and colours haven't they done?

* The Laser Red dragon. Lives in the mountains of Ferraros.
* The Beige dragon: Lame, yet gross.
* The Technitium dragon: A highly unstable wyrm that can exist only for short periods. Created by research whyzicists.
* The Francium dragon: Sadly, extinct due to exploding. A lot.

Actually, a whole tribe of Lanthanide dragons would be neat.