D&D (2024) Interested in new dragon designs for 5e (5.5e or 6e)?

[Son of the Serpent]

My money is on the one in the left side of the bottom picture

Its cuteness will melt zilla's heart

 

[MechaTarrasque]

Godzooki, look at how you've grown!

 

[Laurefindel]

I care about biology, but I understand biology and physics well enough to know dragon biology is generally impossible (a creature that big just can't fly). I also know just because a dragon looks like it could fly (big wings) doesn't mean it actually could (there not big enough!). However, I to adhere to some type of fantasy biology. The dragon looks reasonable at least. However, I am also willing to let their inherent magical nature overcome their biological limitations. One of the things I have been think about doing away with is the super large and muscled wings. The dragon has magic - it doesn't need muscles!

I hear you; this is fantasy, not hard sci-fi. But biology doesn't need to be "correct" to make some internal sense. So dragons share gross physical attributes. It may help to define those attributes and start from a narrower paradigm. (as in any creative process, this is a back-and forth exchange between design and execution).

The iconic colours don't have to be plain and solid to be distinctive, so aesthetically speaking, you could take some distance without betraying the source. Their respective environments are also iconic and should give clues to their appearance; mountains require strong grip to cling to cliffs, it's hard to manoeuvre a large body in a forest, so greens are probably sleek. Deserts and badlands give lots of space for flyers who can spot preys from afar; superior flyers probably have the choicest spots. Or perhaps blues are crappy flyers and that's why they ended up there? Cold is almost anathema to the classical fire-breathing dragon. Ice breath? really? Well it is, so what pushed that evolutionary branch? Swamps and bogs require good swimming skills etc.

Then there are the newer attributes: black's horns, blue's nasal tusk, red's frills and straight horns, green's head fin, white's thick skull. You can decide to include them for continuity's sake, or not.

...hum, where was I going with all this? Crap, I can't think of a sensible conclusion

 

[Son of the Serpent]

I hear you; this is fantasy, not hard sci-fi. But biology doesn't need to be "correct" to make some internal sense. So dragons share gross physical attributes. It may help to define those attributes and start from a narrower paradigm. (as in any creative process, this is a back-and forth exchange between design and execution).

The iconic colours don't have to be plain and solid to be distinctive, so aesthetically speaking, you could take some distance without betraying the source. Their respective environments are also iconic and should give clues to their appearance; mountains require strong grip to cling to cliffs, it's hard to manoeuvre a large body in a forest, so greens are probably sleek. Deserts and badlands give lots of space for flyers who can spot preys from afar; superior flyers probably have the choicest spots. Or perhaps blues are crappy flyers and that's why they ended up there? Cold is almost anathema to the classical fire-breathing dragon. Ice breath? really? Well it is, so what pushed that evolutionary branch? Swamps and bogs require good swimming skills etc.

Then there are the newer attributes: black's horns, blue's nasal tusk, red's frills and straight horns, green's head fin, white's thick skull. You can decide to include them for continuity's sake, or not.

...hum, where was I going with all this? Crap, I can't think of a sensible conclusion

The protrusion on the blue is not a tusk. Its a horn. Tusks are made of tooth. Sorry for the nit pick but it was bugging me.

 

[dave2008]

The protrusion on the blue is not a tusk. Its a horn. Tusks are made of tooth. Sorry for the nit pick but it was bugging me.

Well technically we don't know what the blue's horn is made of, so it could be a tusk (like a narwhal's 'horn').

 

[Son of the Serpent]

Well technically we don't know what the blue's horn is made of, so it could be a tusk (like a narwhal's 'horn').

No. It cant be a tusk. There are several possibilities but that isnt one. Also a narwhal's "tusk" is made if tooth but its not a tusk. Its actually a unique organ in the animal kingdom. There is nothing else like it. Tusk is a misnomer.

Various similar things and what they are made of, some of which are an option for what that thing on the blue is

Tusk - tooth

Horn - permanent bone fixture with keratin sheath

Antler - dead repetitively growing and shedding bone

Scute - in animals such as cocodilids a bone plate overlaid with skin (scales). Tortoise shells are massive scutes forming carapace like sections which are fused into a single continuous ossium. Much as bones in the skull are a single structure made of smaller ones with fissures where they fused.

A blue dragon's horn is almost certainly a true horn. And most definitely not a tusk at the very least.

 

[Son of the Serpent]

all that said, if a blue dragon's horn and black dragon's horns had some of the biological capabilities of a narwhals tusk (which would be a major stretch) it woukd be so damn cool. Look up some of the crazy naughty word thay thing can do.

Actually, in my game's im now house ruling that they have these capabilities. Its a great idea.

They arent teeth though.

Imagine a blue dragon being able to tell the electromagnetic charge currently in its general area of the atmosphere with its horn. Very neat.

 

[dave2008]

No. It cant be a tusk. There are several possibilities but that isnt one. Also a narwhal's "tusk" is made if tooth but its not a tusk. Its actually a unique organ in the animal kingdom. There is nothing else like it. Tusk is a misnomer.

Various similar things and what they are made of, some of which are an option for what that thing on the blue is

Tusk - tooth

Horn - permanent bone fixture with keratin sheath

Antler - dead repetitively growing and shedding bone

Scute - in animals such as cocodilids a bone plate overlaid with skin (scales). Tortoise shells are massive scutes forming carapace like sections which are fused into a single continuous ossium. Much as bones in the skull are a single structure made of smaller ones with fissures where they fused.

A blue dragon's horn is almost certainly a true horn. And most definitely not a tusk at the very least.

If I remember correctly the Narwhal horn is actually a tooth so how is it different from a tusk? Just to be clear, this is an earnest question. I’m really interested in the technical answer here.

 

[dave2008]

all that said, if a blue dragon's horn and black dragon's horns had some of the biological capabilities of a narwhals tusk (which would be a major stretch) it woukd be so damn cool. Look up some of the crazy naughty word thay thing can do.

Actually, in my game's im now house ruling that they have these capabilities. Its a great idea.

They arent teeth though.

Imagine a blue dragon being able to tell the electromagnetic charge currently in its general area of the atmosphere with its horn. Very neat.

I guess I will half to look it up. Not something I’ve looked at in a long long long long time.

 

[Son of the Serpent]

If I remember correctly the Narwhal horn is actually a tooth so how is it different from a tusk? Just to be clear, this is an earnest question. I’m really interested in the technical answer here.

Well its sort of like the reason we dont just refer to antlers as bones. The narwhal tusk is a tooth. In a literal sense. But its an insanely complex tooth anatomically speaking. And its range of function itls vastly greater than what we attribute to a tusk. Further, its anatomical complexity (which allows fir the function) is also nowhere near the norm for tusks or even teeth in general.

They can sense the salinity level of water, pressure, depth, their bodily orientation, electrical current, temperature, and a whole host of other things. A tusk is generally a basic but very large tooth. This is why a narwhals horn is sometimes called a tusk (because its a signifficatly protruding tooth) but probably shouldnt be. Because it has features and functions making it so abnormal that it really is its own type of tooth. All alone and unique.