Dragons: how do they carry treasure?

[jdrakeh]

Clearly this is where the "other orifices" bit comes in!

Yeah, I wondered about the "other orifices" bit, 'cause. . . like. . . aren't nostrils, eyes, ears, and. . . ah. . . ah. . . that place. . . the only other orifices that dragons have? I mean, this is still D&D, not The Shield with Special Guest: Dragons, right?

 

[FATDRAGONGAMES]

They could also just eat it... A few days later it... re-emerges... Might need a bit of a cleaning but hey, it'd be effective.

My dog did that a while back with a dime. Sure enough, it came out a few days later.

 

[Doug McCrae]

So they can't stick gold in their mouths and nostrils cause of the fire. And they got too much dignity to shove it up their bumholes. That leaves ears.

So you got a dragon with a bunch of gold shoved in its ears. This is where an expert knowledge of the ways of dragons can be used to set up an ambush. The big lizard won't be able to hear the adventurers coming until it's too late. Advantage, PCs.

But then - plot twist - turns out the dragon can hear fine cause he shoved all the gold up his urethra. Advantage, monster!

 

[CoatRackOfDoom]

There are several great ideas here that pretty much cover it. Magic, or carrying carts/sacks/victims, or forcing slaves to move the treasure, etc. Most of the time I imagine the way a dragon gets his gold into his lair is dependent upon how it's acquired in the first place:

1. Obtained in battle - it's unlikely battles would result in large quantities of treasure. Probably there is about enough to fit in the largest adventurer pack. The dragon could even pick and choose if he/she likes (though probably it's more of a take-all and sort it later kind of thing)

2. Obtained through extortion - Dragons terrorize their homeland. Local denizens surely pay some kind of tribute to the dragon. Probably the dragon's kobold minions deal with the details.

3. Inherited from the previous inhabitant - this cave was probably some OTHER dragon's home once.

And besides, dragons live for hundreds of years. There's no reason that treasure had to be collected quickly.

 

[taliesin15]

One person suggested a Dragon could carry all coins back to his/her lair in a pack--I kind of reject this out of hand because many dragons are just so huge that I doubt with their giant claws they can ably dangle a tiny (to them) humanoid backpack. Kinda like the opposite problem of a halfling trying to wield a Hill Giant's club.

Someone else suggested Dragons are intelligent enough to make their own packs. My first reaction to this is wouldn't it make the Dragon look rather comical? Aren't Dragons fiercely proud? Do they really wanna look like a college dweeb on his way to Organic Chemistry class? Do they want to look like they've just returned from a trip to REI, Urban Outfitters or the outlet mall? Seems to me it would be a bit tricky to make a pack large enough for a Dragon--there just aren't cows big enough to have enough contiguous leather to make any significant part of the pack out of one piece--clearly they would have to stitch together pieces, or have the strap made from Hemp Rope or something. And don't get me started on the notion of a Dragon trying to thread a tiny needle with leather binding twine--its hard enough for me to do.

These might seem like silly diversions to some people, but the players IMC usually are sticklers for RW versimillitude. One of them took a mule with his party down into a dungeon and was wondering out loud why there were so many more wandering monster encounters than usual--the NPC Gnome Illusionist pointed out that maybe the mule's hooves are echoing off the rough hewn stone walls. The player then spent the next few adventures experimenting with different designs of *mule mufflers* (the subject of one of my first posts to EN World).

Besides, I'm trying to design a continent with a more coherent and organic feel to it so it doesn't end up as a hack and slash videogame type campaign which rather bores everyone to death.

 

[taliesin15]

doug mccrae writes:

And they got too much dignity to shove it up their bumholes.

Maybe not, but swallowing it and as all things must pass, that doesn't seem too bad of an option. In an sense, it does mark the treasure as territory in a vital way (imagine what Freud might say). Animals do roll around in their own filth or rub up against where they've marked their territory. Plus that's a real disgusting thing the characters have to deal with if they kill a dragon. OTOH, in some campaigns, Dragon dung might be an ingredient for potions or other magic items. Or maybe even for some homebrew spells.

You know, in all honesty, this seems like the best option of all. The Dragon will look like a greedy pig shoving everything in his/her mouth. Very primal.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

One person suggested a Dragon could carry all coins back to his/her lair in a pack--I kind of reject this out of hand because many dragons are just so huge that I doubt with their giant claws they can ably dangle a tiny (to them) humanoid backpack. Kinda like the opposite problem of a halfling trying to wield a Hill Giant's club.

Someone else suggested Dragons are intelligent enough to make their own packs. My first reaction to this is wouldn't it make the Dragon look rather comical? Aren't Dragons fiercely proud? Do they really wanna look like a college dweeb on his way to Organic Chemistry class? Do they want to look like they've just returned from a trip to REI, Urban Outfitters or the outlet mall?

A dragon knows that burning corpses can't see you carrying off loot. That's why they are so vicious.

Of course, Dragons also have slaves and worshippers. Use Kobolds (or Dragonborn or other humanoids). A Dragon intimidates a Kobold tribe, and the Kobolds of the tribe will retrieve the loot he makes when he goes hunting.
After a few Kobold Generations (I suppose around 20 years, especially with a vicious Dragon around), the Kobolds will forget that there was a time without the Dragon and worship him as their protector and guide. They will even go out by themselves to find treasure for their Dragon, inadvertently luring inexperienced adventurers near the Dragons lair and to their certain doom.

 

[Nightson]

The dragon can always kill those that see it doing something embarrassing.


Swallowing the treasure is probably the best course, as per the Draconomicon the Dragon's breath weapon works through the lungs and dragons control it, meaning they aren't going to accidentally melt all their gold together.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Really big purses. Though I hear moneybelts are making a comeback among the brass dragons.

 

[erikdenizen]

Dragons don't carry treasure, dragons go to where the treasure is, kill or rout the treasure owners and then setup a lair where the treasure is located. Dragons are too lazy to move a treasure hoard by themselves and they are too greedy and paranoid to have someone else move it for them.

A dragon's main weakness is its tie to its treasure hoard. Imagine if a dragon did not have a treasure hoard in its lair. Why would it even have a lair? What would stop it from just flying around destroying anything and everything it comes across? Dragonslayers, you say. Nope. You send dragonslayers after the dragon and it just flys far away and just starts doing the destruction thing again. And what fun would dragonslaying be without getting to take a dragon's stuff.

Treasure keeps the dragon tethered. Sure it comes out every once and awhile and burns a few villages and what not but eventually its going to return to its lair because it is going to become paranoid someone is going to steal its loot. Even if it has million mindless constructs and traps guarding its treasure a the dragon knows the best guardian for a dragon hoard is a dragon. And when it returns the dragonslayers know just where to go to get them some dragon. Its a vicious cycle. Man gains wealth. Dragon kills man and steals wealth. Man kills dragon to get back wealth. Can't we all just get along.