D&D 5E The Virtues of a Dragon

[Blue]

I've been running a campaign for a little over three years and it's coming to an end. The very last thing they will likely do is reverse the magical genocide of the dwarves over 600 years ago. The main component of the massive ritual was the slaying of the last-of-a-kind that was at least as sentient as a dwarf. In this case, it was the last of the Dragons. And they need to bring it back to reverse the genocide.

Now, the skeleton of that dragon has actually been visible the entire campaign, hanging in the huge dome of the Imperial Library. And they will have access to a one-use item that can cast True Resurrection - a way to bring back one of the long dead members of the Imperial family in case of dire need. But True Resurrection only works for those dead up to 200 years.

This campaign is unique in that each of the characters is a Mask Bearer, one who has woken one of the 101 sentient artifact masks that history lies and says was made by the Imperium at it's peak. The true story is that they are the fossilized ghosts of the firstborn of the goddess who's body makes up the land. The Child-Empress they serve also woke a mask, who claims to be the one that "dreamt the dragons into existence".

So, I'm going to let them go to where the dragon dreams are and get a soul, and allow that to get around the time limitation of the True Resurrection. Originally I was going to have them go to a plane of dragon dreams, track down that dragon's soul, and fight it to come back. But we really just had a huge running battle involving the Regent who the Council of Nobles installed over the Child-Empress, etc. etc. I don't want the next few sessions to be another big battle.

The magical power the masks have access to is so much less it was than when the world was new. I was thinking that Mask could bring them to the place of the dragon dreams and dream up a new proto-dragon. And there would be a number of challenges, each designed to pick between two extremes to educate the soul of this dragon. Now, they are literally building the personality of the dragon they want, but it's going to go into an Ancient Dragon body, so there's a bias towards making it a noble, good-aligned dragon. But the trick will be that many of the traits that would be negative to the prey, I mean civilized races, are quite "dragon-like". And if they make a soul that isn't "dragon shaped", then the Resurrection -- and the reversal of the genocide -- will fail. But go to far, and they will be unleashing an Ancient Dragon in the middle of the capitol city.

So what I'm looking for are pairs of virtue-ish/vice-ish things, with thoughts on if each is particularly "dragon-like", and what color would it tend towards.

For example, I could have "Cowardly / Rash". Cowardness is rather un-dragonlike, but of the dragons it might tend towards Black. Rashness could describe Red. "Greedy / Altruistic", etc.

A intend that there are challenges that have overlap with previous ones, at least in one node. For example, picking "Rash" in one and "Determined" in another could end up with "Courageous" - knowing the dangers but moving forward anyhow.

What are your Draconic Virtues and Vices?

 

[Voadam]

I go pretty classic for dragon connotations

Pride (Blue)
Wrath (Red)
Greed (Green)
Gluttony
Envy (Black)
Sloth
Lust

Whites I see as the most animalistic so can fit in with any of the remaining three physical ones.

This matches up well with treasure hoards, sleeping dragons, half dragons, etc. also.

 

[Savage Wombat]

I wrote up something like that a while back, for a pair of dragonborn PCs - I primarily remember that dragons considered Avarice to be a virtue, sort of the opposite of Sloth. Like how some humans consider Ambition to be a virtue while others don't.

 

[jmartkdr2]

I go pretty classic for dragon connotations

Pride (Blue)
Wrath (Red)
Greed (Green)
Gluttony
Envy (Black)
Sloth
Lust

Whites I see as the most animalistic so can fit in with any of the remaining three physical ones.

This matches up well with treasure hoards, sleeping dragons, half dragons, etc. also.

I'd give white dragons gluttony, beast like to eat all the time.

For counter-virtues:
Blue - pride - patience
Red - Wrath - decisiveness
Green - greed - long-term thinking
White - gluttony - persistence
Black - envy - ambition

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Vices in italics, virtues underlined. I'll generally be taking an Aristotelian tack here--there is a right balance point between two extremes, deficiency and excess, which will produce a new soul that is both sufficiently draconic to do the resurrection, and also sufficiently virtuous to be worthy of the power so granted.

Pride vs Humility: Pride is clearly a common draconic vice. Appropriate pride befits a majestic being like a dragon, but all too often dragons fall into hubris instead. Ideally, you want something like Nobility, a resolute soul full of determination and respect (for self and others), but not one that falls for flattering words or thinks itself too good to learn even from the Least. Overall, I would say this should be the most difficult of the "how should we design this soul" challenges to get right--but if it succeeds, it would bode very well for the final product.

Sloth vs Diligence: This is one of the more obvious "dragons can fall prey to this, but don't have to" areas. An effective dragon is not actually slothful, but most dragons do enjoy taking their leisure. Here, the balance point is more about not turning the dragon into an "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" person. I would call this Vigor, a soul with the energy and drive to accomplish its goals, but also the self-awareness and heart to enjoy fitting times of leisure. I don't think this one would produce a particularly bad soul if it's failed, but it could lead to a weak dragon, which might be a problem in other ways.

Gluttony vs Temperance: Keep in mind that "Gluttony" is not SOLELY a matter of excessive consumption; thinking it is can lead to a failure to see a serious character fault. Instead, gluttony is a matter of making consumption the overriding priority, even above other more worthy concerns. (C.S. Lewis gives the example of an older woman given to the gluttony of particularity: constantly vexing those around her by needing everything to be made perfect and making a show of consuming less than others, etc.) I would actually say that, overall, dragons are not really gluttonous creatures, as that tends to degrade their majesty; temperance reflects a soul that is poised, efficient, and intelligent in the use of resources. If you're looking for any of these to be a pretty straightforward lesson, temperance is probably the go-to choice.

Wrath vs Patience: This is actually a really interesting one, because BOTH of these are draconic "virtues"! Dragons are (in)famous for their incredible destructive potential, even genuinely good ones. But it's pretty clear which end the players would like to see things tend toward. A super-wrathful dragon with zero patience would be, very simply, super dangerous. They'll likely want to err on the side of caution here, so this might be a good opportunity for a subversive "you actually don't want that as much as you think you do." Perhaps Patience, as a virtue, comes with a side of complacency (different from sloth/diligence: this is more like perfectionism or flippancy rather than insufficient drive to act), something that dragons really shouldn't ever display. I think this makes for a good way to demonstrate that maybe it's better, sometimes, to be a little less "virtuous" if it means being more true to your nature.

Greed vs. Charity: Almost certainly the toughest one here, because Greed is THE draconic vice bar none. Even Bahamut, the goodiest good dragon who ever gooded a goodly good, maintains a hoard (in his case, it takes the form of his palace on Celestia and a handful of artifacts he keeps.) A good-aligned dragon has to find the right balance-point between mere grabby-hands acquisitiveness and prudent investment/acquisition/dispensation. Of all the vice/virtue pairs on here, I think this is the most subtle, because Greed is so key to the draconic identity and yet good dragons subvert that so much. This, along with Wrath and Pride, seem like the "identity vices" that any dragon, even a good one, should contain to SOME measure, a good one just tempers these vices with wisdom and positive regard for others, so that the negative impulses are curtailed while useful ones are pursued with Vigor.

Lust vs Chastity: Ironically, I'm not really sure either of these has much impact on dragons. Despite the many jokes about how dragons can mate with anything, overall, they tend to be shown to...not really think about these things. It's not so much chastity--which implies purity and self-denial--so much as just...these things don't matter to a dragon. This could be useful if you want a challenge where the right choice is to not choose anything at all, or if you want to give the party a chance to correct a fault in the dragons of yore by actually, y'know, giving them a procreation drive so they don't go extinct again. Overall, I think you have a lot of room to play here, because there's not really any strong associations, meaning there's no right answer...but also no wrong answer.

Envy vs Kindness: This is similar to the previous, but for completely different reasons. Dragons are incredibly powerful, long-lived, intelligent, dangerous beings. They just don't really have much to envy! (Remembering that "envy" is desiring what others have, while "jealousy" is paranoia about others taking what you have.) Greed and Pride already cover most of the strict definition of "jealousy," so Envy is mostly left with the "tear others down" angle. So, as said, dragons don't tend to be particularly envious, mostly because they're so convinced of their own superiority (and the universe does little to dissuade them.) However...many dragons are cruel, which most would consider even more opposed to Kindness than Envy is. You could take this one of two ways, either this is an almost make-or-break part that ensures you get a good dragon vs a neutral/evil one; or this is a thorny problem where too much Kindness is a serious problem but too little means you create a hellion rather than a healer.

TL;DR:
I think the players' "ideal" state ends with

Pride/Humility: Truly balanced (or possibly slightly Prideful)*
Sloth/Diligence: Leaning Diligent, but not exclusively
Gluttony/Temperance: Truly Temperate
Wrath/Patience: Truly balanced*
Greed/Charity: Truly balanced (or possibly slightly Greedy--"enlightened self-interest")*
Lust/Chastity: Anything goes?
Envy/Kindness: Truly Kind or Leaning Kind

The further they deviate from this, the worse the outcome is for them. Things marked with asterisks are places where being "too virtuous" risks producing a soul that doesn't work for the ritual, especially Pride/Humility.