Not much interest in the Draconomicon?

[Fallen Seraph]

Ehh, I never have been much of a Dragon fan. At the most they serve the purpose of being the major predators of a setting. I like my Dragons as feral, hidden predators that lay in the deep swamps, forests, caves, etc. waiting for food. So lots of the stuff presented just aren't needed.

Plus, all the monsters, rituals, etc. I can get from the Compendium and then refluff as I wish.

 

[Vayden]

Looking for an actual review from someone who has the book and plays 4e? Look no further.

Overall impressions - The book is for DMs. The old "sprinkle in some player bits into every book to increase sales" approach appears to be gone in 4e, and I'm all for it. Being in 3 games, only one of which is at my house, I appreciate not having to lug my entire library around on the off chance I'll need part of it that night. The art is nice in my opinion, and the book is a good mix of fluff and crunch, old and new (though really, did the world need a purple dragon?)

Section by section breakdown:
Chapter 1, Dragon Lore:
Good but not great - I never picked up the 3e Draconomicon, so a lot of it may be re-printed. I especially enjoyed the Chromatic Dragons In Detail section, which does a nice job of breaking down temperment, terrain preference, and favorite hoard objects in detail. Lots of little bits that I can see myself building out into adventures.

Chapter 2, DM's guide to Dragons:
Some very solid stuff here - lots of adventure ideas, campaign ideas, briefly sketched out Dragon NPCs, lots of hoards, some traps (I like the one that turns anyone who attempts to steal from the hoard into solid gold, making them part of the hoard), 4 artifacts, and some dragon rituals.

Chapter 3, Dragon Lairs:
3 heroic, 3 paragon, and 3 epic dragon lairs, each which is basically a mini-adventure (think dungeon delve with a bit more). Nice little bits which can be fit into just about any campaign. The last epic one is a nice shout-out to Red Hand of Doom for those who enjoyed that adventure.

Chapter 4, New Monsters:
First, let's start with the big deals, the three new dragons -

Brown Dragons: These are nasty, nasty boys. The blinding sand attacks, combined with the extra damage when the dragon has combat advantage, make for a vicious synergy. While I'm a little annoyed that they stole the desert from my favorite dragons (the Blues), they make good desert predators, and the gourmand fluff is interesting, though a little odd in the desert. Overall, good dragon, though I think I'll call them Sand Dragons instead of Brown Dragons to make them a bit more intimidating.

Gray Dragons: I really like the fluff for these guys - pure predators, they live for the thrill of hunt. Unlike most other chromatics, they don't spend as much time in their lairs, and are more nomadic hunters. The petrification attacks are quite nasty as well. Very nice dragon, will definitely see use in my campaigns.

Purple Dragons: Gag me with a spoon. I don't like these guys at all - the underdark theme, the psychic damage, and let's not forget, the fact that they're PURPLE . . . not everyone who does psychic damage needs to be the same color as mind-flayers, people. Total loss from my view, though they may be great fits for someone else. Loser Dragon.
Other monsters:

Wyrmlings - if you wanted baby dragons, you have them. Not much to say, though the art makes them very cute and adorable looking little engines of destruction (oversized head and feet, etc).

Planar dragons - some good, some bad. I'm not sure about the whole idea of non-solo dragons, and they're all slightly off-center away from the basic idead of dragon. Meh. The Shadow Dragon and Fairy Dragons make nice returns though (Shadow Dragon = scary).

The rest - a lot of familiar faces show up again - abishai, dragonspawn, etc. Decent spread of monsters from level 1-29. Nothing you could make a whole campaign out of, but you can probably find some stuff you like.

Dragon Hall of Fame: this section is pure win. Consider it your "epic tier opponents to smack the life out of your party with" section. Ashardalon, Cyan Bloodbane, and a few other famous dragons get write-ups, as well as several new dragons with some good backstory, and of course, 4th edition's first fully statted out deity, the unholy level 35 terror that is Tiamat. This is by far my favorite section of the book, and I'm already batting around several high level campaign ideas to make use of it.

Finally, there's some substitute powers to vary your dragons up a bit, along with a couple monster templates for your monsters (Draconic and Dragon Guard).

All in all, it's a good read, and if you're planning on running a campaign or adventure that makes heavy use of dragons, I'd definitely recommend it. You can definitely live without it, but I don't think you'll regret picking it up. The Gray Dragons and Tiamat are my favorite portions, though there's lots of good stuff to go around.

 

[Vael]

My PCs just fought and then fought a fighting retreat from a Young Purple Dragon. It was impressive, the breath weapon and dominating ability made it a difficult foe. Add that the party had expended most of their daily effects by then, and the party soon decided to flee.

 

[yesnomu]

Looking for an actual review from someone who has the book and plays 4e? Look no further.

Great review-- and I think I'll like Purple Dragons a bit more than you, since I liked the 3.5 Deep Dragons. I can't wait for my copy to arrive, those famous dragons sound like amazing campaign capstones.

 

[Shemeska]

The rest - a lot of familiar faces show up again - abishai, dragonspawn, etc.

Did they make abishai dragons? Or did they (hopefully) keep them as actual fiends? Yes, Tiamat had a hand in creating them pre-4e along with the Lot9, but as actual baatezu I've always found it bizarre to try to keep linking them to dragons.

 

[Tuerny]

They are immortal humanoids. They still have draconic associations, as always, but they are definitely not dragons.

 

[Jack99]

Looking for an actual review from someone who has the book and plays 4e? Look no further.

Thanks, definitely seems useful.

 

[RichGreen]

Looking for an actual review from someone who has the book and plays 4e? Look no further.

Great review - thanks!


Richard

 

[Nightchilde-2]

3.x's Draconomicon was one of my favorite books for 3.x and the same holds true for 4e's Draconomicon I. I love this book. I thought the artwork in the 3.x version was better, but it's not a dealbreaker for sure.

Though the book does focus on the chormatics, it has a bunch of general dragon info. Also, there's some info on the planar, scourge and catastrophic dragons as well (though no stats save for a handful of planars).

As has been said before, there is almost nothing in here for players, and I like it that way m'self.

On the three new dragons, I do dig all three of 'em. The grey dragon is the fang dragon, but with a story that has changed it from what it used to be to what it is now. The purple dragon is just the old deep dragon.

There are a lot of new critters in this book, including abashai, some new dragonspawn, a few new undead dragons (including a few new dracoliches, skeletal dragons, vampiric dragons and zombie dragons) and wyrmling dragons. Plus, a couple of new templates.

Oh, and we get some info on how deities are handled in 4e as well (to begin with, if you're under 20th level, you can't touch 'em).

I do have one beef with the book, and that's Tiamat being a Huge creature. No. Not Tiamat's avatar, Tiamat herself. This is easily remedied by pretending the line says "Gargantuan" and, in play, using my Colossal red and saying "pretend this is Tiamat."

Overall, I give it a 4.5 out of 5.

 

[Mercurius]

I never got the 3e version as I was kind of sick of dragons there for awhile, so cannot compare the two, but I bought the 4e book and like it a lot. It exemplifies what a 4e book should be, imo: a nice combination of fluff and crunch (I tend to find books like Martial Power kind of boring because of the lack of fluff). Good book, although I would only buy it if A) You like dragons, B) You like/play 4e and/or C) Don't have the 3e book. If, for example, you like dragons but don't play 4e and have the 3e book, don't buy it.