D&D General What Even Is The Deal With DnD Dragons?

[Son of the Serpent]

Ok? So what are you actually looking for? Because i think when you do what i mentioned(or something similar) in my opinion it makes dragons as a whole (mostly) feel more organic. And less like just a mirroring of everything else that happens creature wise in d&d. Seems to give them more of their own structure rather than making sure at least one represents every element and that at least one occupies each alignment. Makes them seem like their own thing a bit more.

Also the chromatics im not sure of but the metalic dragons were probably influenced by the 80s mechanistic vibe. Heh...ahhh...netheril. Fell because one mad lad decided to use a spell to usurp the goddess of magic by which he caused an akira/tetsuo level event.

 

[Chaosmancer]

So, the first thing I did and something I will never reverse, is I stopped using the color code for dragons. In part, that is also because I wanted to move away from alignment for dragons, but when a dragon lands in front of a village I don't want everyone to say "oh, that's a silver one, no need to worry they're friendly" before I even say anything.

And if the silver attacked it would immediately be "Strange" and probably the work of some dark force corrupting or blackmailing it.

And, frankly, if I am working a plot like that, I don't want players to figure it out from the word go. I want there to be mystery.


Additionally, I don't like just describing them as lizards. Instead, I often describe them as elementals. The dragon isn't red with crimson scales, it is a creature of stone with lines of lava burning through it's heart and causing to it glow from the inside. Every step catches the ground alight in flame. They are just so much more viscerally obvious to be primordial forces of destruction if you describe them exactly like primordial forces. Volcanoes, glaciers, storms, you can get more out of that then the base dragon gets you I think.

 

[Hriston]

Well the thing about them, and D&D came up first with this idea, is that some of them got a different breath weapon. Whereas classic dragons only spat fire or maybe used some stuff we would call acid today, back then it was poisonous or pestilent, for their breath attack.
Color coding seems a way to further create subgenres.
Maybe it was Gygax or some buddy of him back then, wanting to surprise their gaming group with a new opponent. As everyone prepared for the fight with items or potions of fire resistance the dragon spat electric damage instead. At least I can imagine that this might be how the coloring came to be.

Right, if you look at it in terms of skilled play, the colors are important because they telegraph what sort of challenge you’re facing. Also, I can imagine someone getting a new set of miniatures paints and thinking of ways to use it.

 

[Tallifer]

and the whole idea of them embodying alignments is just...one of the worst example of the grid filling of early dnd monster creation.

It just seems like having so many types of what is really the same creature, just with differing personalities and breath weapons, dilutes the whole concept.

I love grid-filling. My own campaigns are built on it. I had my players do a quests through all seven realms which could match the seven corners of a mark of prophecy I made, meeting seven or fourteen or twenty one variations of just about everything including pumpkin spice dragons and ice cream dinosaurs. Not sure if my players love it so much sometimes <laughs>

 

[Bitbrain]

Since everyone else is doing it, I’ll now chime in with how I’m presenting dragons in my Eberron campaigns.

GEM DRAGON (Neutral)
Amber, Ruby, and Sapphire dragons are the three types of Gem Dragons. They are the ones that live in Argonnessen and focus on using the Draconic Prophecy to maintain the current balance of power.

Amber dragons are similar to Gold Metallics, except they breathe acid instead of fire, and their secondary breath weapon is like the quarantine amber from the tv show Fringe.

Ruby and Sapphire dragons are basically Red and Blue Chromatics with the Change Shape action, being able to disguise themselves as humanoids or beasts if they want to.

METALLIC DRAGONS (Good)
Silver Dragons are the only type of Metallics found in my Eberron, and they replace Couatls as the creatures which sacrificed themselves to create the silver flame.

CHROMATIC DRAGONS (Evil)
Black Dragons are the only type of Chromatics found in my Eberron, and they are your stereotypical evil, swamp-dwelling, acid vomiting, lizardfolk-conquering dragons.

 

[Hriston]

I also think it’s relevant to point out that a lot of the early (I’m thinking of the 1E MM here.) monster descriptions contain what amounts to directions for painting the miniatures. The players would know they were facing especially strong hobgoblins, for example, because of the blue dot of paint on their noses. Of course such description is literally mere color which you are free to change as suits your preference.

 

[pemerton]

defend dnd dragons if you like them, or join me in commiseration if you find them wanting.

I've GMed a fair bit of D&D over the decades but have rarely used standard dragons. Off the top of my head the only time I remember a metallic dragon in a game is when a Ranger PC had a copper dragon follower. In our 4e D&D campaign I remember a young black dragon, a blue dragon at one stage, and the mutli-headed red dragon Calastryx.

In a long-running Rolemaster Oriental Adventures game dragons played a big role, but these were various sorts of Sea and Storm Lords and mechanically (where necessary) were derived from the RM stats for Oriental Dragons plus the D&D stats and descriptions for cloud, mist, gold, chiang lung, t'ien lung, pan lung, shen lung and tun mi lung dragons, not standard D&D dragons.

 

[Coroc]

...., and their secondary breath weapon is like the quarantine amber from the tv show Fringe.

That one is evil. How do you handle this with game mechanics? Save STR or get stuck and suffocate?

I only remember the amber from the first episode fringe where it was basically gluing together the interior of an aircraft, so I cannot tell what additional properties it had.

 

[Tallifer]

This is the D&D dragon in my campaign: (fire only hardens it; swords pass through it; maces thump dully into it; ice gives it a nice frosting; twin-striking arrows sink into it)

 

[PsyzhranV2]

Since everyone else is doing it, I’ll now chime in with how I’m presenting dragons in my Eberron campaigns.

GEM DRAGON (Neutral)
Amber, Ruby, and Sapphire dragons are the three types of Gem Dragons. They are the ones that live in Argonnessen and focus on using the Draconic Prophecy to maintain the current balance of power.

Amber dragons are similar to Gold Metallics, except they breathe acid instead of fire, and their secondary breath weapon is like the quarantine amber from the tv show Fringe.

Ruby and Sapphire dragons are basically Red and Blue Chromatics with the Change Shape action, being able to disguise themselves as humanoids or beasts if they want to.

METALLIC DRAGONS (Good)
Silver Dragons are the only type of Metallics found in my Eberron, and they replace Couatls as the creatures which sacrificed themselves to create the silver flame.

CHROMATIC DRAGONS (Evil)
Black Dragons are the only type of Chromatics found in my Eberron, and they are your stereotypical evil, swamp-dwelling, acid vomiting, lizardfolk-conquering dragons.

This is the Eberron purist in me, but I have to ask: why? What's the purpose of changing the dragons of Argonessen from Metallic/Chromatic to Gem?

Also, there's also another possible place for Gem Dragons in the Eberron sourcebooks: experiments by the Inspired of Riedra to create even stronger Quori vessels. What's your take on that?