Pathfinder 1E Half Red, Half Black Dragon? O_o

[Gfreak2x9]

I recently posted a thread about dragons and I got to thinking...Why is it that they don't interbreed? For example according to Pathfinder Wiki http://www.pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Red_dragon the Red Dragon is known as "The King of The Chromatic dragons", they are CE, and they are known for causing havoc on settlements. Now if we look into Black Dragons we see that they are CE, Love to torture, and love dominating over people. I understand that these two dragons live in very different climates but what stops them from finding a place where they can both live? Or better yet flying over long distances to meet up anyway? This idea may seem a little out there but humor me for a moment. What stops a Red Dragon from mating with a black one? Or vise versa? They are both CE, they both like to kill things, they are both dragons! Seems a fitting match to me! I mean lets say the male was a Black Dragon. They are known for cruelty, and dominance. What stops him from (to put it politely) insisting that a younger, weaker, female Red Dragon come over for a night at his lair? I have heard it said that dragons can breed with anything, so why not eachother? You have to admit a Half Red, Half Black Dragon would be one CRUEL beast. Especially if it knew that such a meeting was its own origin! And who is to say that a young Black Dragon wouldn't want to be the mate of the so called "King"? How many young ladies aspire to marry higher ups then themselves? What stops a Black Dragon from saying "He is king, my children will be more powerful, and so will I!" I can't imagine that something CE would care much for what others thought. I've been playing for about 2.5 years, but the more I think about this the more it makes sense. Red Dragon kills a town of people, sees a young Black Dragon nearby and takes her back with him! How is she going to fight him if he is already in his Adult stage? Forgive me if this is a little dark, but think about CE for a second. Does that alignment speak "kind" to any of you? [FONT=arial, sans-serif]Lets also not rule out the idea of actual love. Can a Gold Dragon not Love a Silver Dragon? All this seems a tad off to me. I understand that these are powerful creatures, but even the most skilled and intelligent warrior may be struck down by one blow. Even the strongest mind may be tortured into submission. Pain has a way of making us do as we are told, as I'm sure it would a Dragon. So if the get together was forced by the weak Dragon say "No". Let us also not forget Romeo and Juliet who fell in love when everything else said they shouldn't. Does anyone have an answer for this complicated question?[/FONT]

 

[Umbran]

Let us also not forget Romeo and Juliet who fell in love when everything else said they shouldn't.

Yes. And look how well that turned out for their kids!

So, let us set aside that some long time ago in Dragon Magazine they did some work filling out the color wheel of dragons with the yellow, orange, purple, and so on. Let us instead work with what we have - dragons of only specific colors. If dragons have existed for long periods of time, that speaks to something maintaining their breeds - either some form of biological (or magical - maybe "biomystical") or social pressure that prevents it. Otherwise, they'd have already mixed into general "brown" dragons.

The possible answers are pretty simple - perhaps dragons of different colors can and do mate, but the result isn't "half-red/half-black", but just a dragon of one color - red or black. Or maybe dragon colors don't breed true at all! Maybe dragons are rather like cats - the coat colors and patterns are not cleanly and clearly fixed by the parents, and one mother can lay eggs of several different color children. Or, perhaps the charts have it wrong, and there's really a "new-hatched" category in which dragons have no color to speak of, and they only differentiate as they grow, to meet the environment they find themselves in.

Or, maybe, though they can technically mate, dragons of one color find dragons of other colors unattractive mates. That can be purely social, or driven by biology (perhaps that mixed-breed child is not actually notably weaker than a true-breed, for example).

Take your pick, really. There's a ton of possible explanations for not having color-crossed dragons.

 

[Empirate]

And of course it would be stupid to go fighting a Pink dragon, even though it'd be immune to both cold and fire...

 

[Nimloth]

The back of RotRL 4 (Fortress of the Stone Giants) discusses this.

 

[Umbran]

And of course it would be stupid to go fighting a Pink dragon, even though it'd be immune to both cold and fire...

Yes, but then you'd also expect it to have no breath weapon, as the fire and cold would cancel each other out.

But, really, there's no reason to think that powers, immunities, and such would stack directly, any more than you figure the child has all the hit dice of each of the parents added together.

 

[MarkB]

Yes, but then you'd also expect it to have no breath weapon, as the fire and cold would cancel each other out.

But, really, there's no reason to think that powers, immunities, and such would stack directly, and more than you figure the child has all the hit dice of each of the parents added together.

Yeah, and that could come with some major downsides. A dragon with fire breath and vulnerability to fire could accidentally scorch itself to death with a burp, assuming it didn't simply self-immolate from inside.

 

[Gfreak2x9]

And of course it would be stupid to go fighting a Pink dragon, even though it'd be immune to both cold and fire...

Lmao! That made me laugh pretty hard! XD "Beware the pink annihilator! He shall come to reap the lives of all!" Valid point! Who would fight a pink one!

 

[Gfreak2x9]

The possible answers are pretty simple - perhaps dragons of different colors can and do mate, but the result isn't "half-red/half-black", but just a dragon of one color - red or black. Or maybe dragon colors don't breed true at all! Maybe dragons are rather like cats - the coat colors and patterns are not cleanly and clearly fixed by the parents, and one mother can lay eggs of several different color children. Or, perhaps the charts have it wrong, and there's really a "new-hatched" category in which dragons have no color to speak of, and they only differentiate as they grow, to meet the environment they find themselves in.

Or, maybe, though they can technically mate, dragons of one color find dragons of other colors unattractive mates. That can be purely social, or driven by biology (perhaps that mixed-breed child is not actually notably weaker than a true-breed, for example).

That seems to make sense! I hadn't thought of them giving birth to multiple solid colors. That makes way more sense than a hybrid! Come to think of it now that you mention the possible birth defects, perhaps its not worth the risk. Humans often engage in such activities for enjoyment, however a dragon might not put such a high risk on the child. All of these options even the hybrid one are great, I'll have to think about this a while longer before I make a decision in my game. Thanks for the input!

 

[Gfreak2x9]

The back of RotRL 4 (Fortress of the Stone Giants) discusses this.

What edition is it in? Do you have a link you could share? I would love to read this!

 

[Umbran]

Who would fight a pink one!

Fine. Don't fight it. It gets to keep its treasure and eat you.

Why? Because the implicit gender stereotyping underlying this statement is dumb, and any character that dumb deserves to be eaten. Darwinian action, that.