D&D 5E D&D Gem Dragons Are Officially Back

So if you're (not) like me and you don't have the time or patience to watch Spoilers & Swag, you may have missed this awesome reveal... Gem Dragons are back! And I don't just mean back in a third-party book like Matt Colville's Strongholds and Followers (great book, check it out), I mean back officially for D&D 5e.

In case you don't know, Gem Dragons are the third-wheel of dragonkind... they are not Good (Metallic) or Evil (Chromatic), they are Neutral. This makes them easily overlooked in the struggle of good vs. evil, but they've popped up here and there in previous editions.

But it looks like Gem Dragons have returned, first to promote the sale of a very expensive sapphire dice set. This little paper fold-out is included (screenshots below), complete with lore for gem dragons and a statblock for the Adult Sapphire Dragon specifically.

Of course, if you don't want to buy a pricey set of dice for a statblock... you're in luck, as Nathan Stewart reveals that everybody else will get access to it "early in 2020, where we [WotC] will have some fun ways to get that out there." So it looks like some product will be released including the Neutral Dragons, a new adventure or maybe a new monster book!

Feel free to speculate, here's the images;

 

[Urriak Uruk]

That idea isn't silly, as the wedding ring thing, ofcourse, is a result of the aforementioned trade in economics dealing with Russian, that's why there is a high demand outside of technology, science, and health usage. If it was known of much diamond are REALLY supposed to be worth in the stock market exchange, diamonds wouldn't be in such a high demand outside of the listed usages, like tech, science, and health/safety.

Also, I wasn't fighting for anything on diamonds, and I never said they weren't valuable, as shown in the quote. I don't know where you got that from. And ofcourse they are worth more than crystal, which is kind of the problem. The dragon named crystal is supposed to be the weakest gem dragon, and diamond is anything but weak.

I seriously doubt this; in fact, I think if diamonds were cheaper, demand would just go up for them. Diamonds are so valuable not because of this Russian stock market thing, they're valuable mostly because demand is so high. They are by far the most in-demand gemstone, probably because they lack color (and match better for things like weddings). A better suite of outfits and parties pair with "clear" and "white" than with a specific color.

TLDR: Diamonds aren't popular because their expensive, they are expensive because they're popular.

The second thing is that you're moving the goal posts on why there shouldn't be a "diamond dragon." You say that diamonds aren't that valuable so shouldn't be a dragon, but crystals are way less valuable, so by that metric the crystal should be booted.

 

[ZAR22]

The second thing is that you're moving the goal posts on why there shouldn't be a "diamond dragon." You say that diamonds aren't that valuable so shouldn't be a dragon, but crystals are way less valuable, so by that metric the crystal should be booted.

Goal posts? What? I said diamonds aren't valued the same way back then in medieval times, and that it replacing crystal wouldn't be a good idea because crystal dragons are supposed to be weak, not stronger.

And the diamonds are popular because of what has been said about them being rare and other exaggerations about them to increase the demand for them via popularity and marketing.

Plus, there already IS a dragon NAMED diamond, but they are not a "diamond" dragon. They are some form of astral dragon god who keeps that name.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

Goal posts? What? I said diamonds aren't valued the same way back then in medieval times, and that it replacing crystal wouldn't be a good idea because crystal dragons are supposed to be weak, not stronger.

And the diamonds are popular because of what has been said about them being rare and other exaggerations about them to increase the demand for them via popularity and marketing.

Plus, there already IS a dragon NAMED diamond, but they are not a "diamond" dragon. They are some form of astral dragon god who keeps that name.

This is what you said;

Diamond wouldn't fit the theme, because not only is that NOT a precious gem IRL (that's due to the Russian stock market agreement made by jeweling companies in Africa to make it rare), it was not one company valued and found in Eurasia except for small incidents, and wasn't looked at as a gem of royality in most medieval times. Also diamond being strong and tough would put it at the top, and even above ruby, which is a no-no to be above the gem god, so another semi to fully translucent white gem would be needed that's weaker than the other gems.

You say that diamonds aren't precious, and that they weren't viewed as valuable in medieval times by royalty. This is arguably not true at all but that's beside the point, as in these respects crystals are considered way less precious and valuable than diamonds. So why you think arguing that diamonds aren't valuable is an important point, I have no idea.

 

[ZAR22]

This is what you said;

Diamond wouldn't fit the theme, because not only is that NOT a precious gem IRL (that's due to the Russian stock market agreement made by jeweling companies in Africa to make it rare), it was not one company valued and found in Eurasia except for small incidents, and wasn't looked at as a gem of royality in most medieval times. Also diamond being strong and tough would put it at the top, and even above ruby, which is a no-no to be above the gem god, so another semi to fully translucent white gem would be needed that's weaker than the other gems.

You say that diamonds aren't precious, and that they weren't viewed as valuable in medieval times by royalty. This is arguably not true at all but that's beside the point, as in these respects crystals are considered way less precious and valuable than diamonds. So why you think arguing that diamonds aren't valuable is an important point, I have no idea.

OK, so if I did say that, let me rephrase this then, diamond is NOT AS precious as people believe it is, primarily precious due to marketing, and diamonds weren't really a thing around in European medieval times (seeing as they didn't naturally form in Europe, and trade with India for diamonds wasn't as great now and primarily done in southern eastern Europe for diamonds) unlike the other gems used for the gem dragon like ruby and sapphire.

And on the note of ruby and sapphire, depending on the purity and type of ruby/sapphire, they can be more valuable than a diamond. And I did say having diamond above the dragon god is a no-no. So diamonds aren't as valuable as most people make it seem, is a new point (not necessarily really important in some regard) I will attempt to make.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

OK, so if I did say that, let me rephrase this then, diamond is NOT AS precious as people believe it is, primarily precious due to marketing, and diamonds weren't really a thing around in European medieval times (seeing as they didn't naturally form in Europe, and trade with India for diamonds wasn't as great now and primarily done in southern eastern Europe for diamonds) unlike the other gems used for the gem dragon like ruby and sapphire.

And on the note of ruby and sapphire, depending on the purity and type of ruby/sapphire, they can be more valuable than a diamond. And I did say having diamond above the dragon god is a no-no. So diamonds aren't as valuable as most people make it seem, is a new point (not necessarily really important in some regard) I will attempt to make.

I don't disagree with anything here.

I don't see why replacing crystal with diamond is so big an issue if as you say diamond can be worth less than gems like sapphire/ruby. After all, metallic dragons are i believe ranked by value/rareness and not actual strength of the metal. Gold is a very soft metal.

 

[ZAR22]

I don't disagree with anything here.

I don't see why replacing crystal with diamond is so big an issue if as you say diamond can be worth less than gems like sapphire/ruby. After all, metallic dragons are i believe ranked by value/rareness and not actual strength of the metal. Gold is a very soft metal.

Well, I was ranking in BOTH hardness in value seen during the medieval times, as to not be exactly ranked like metallics, but not too off course in the value ranking like them, after all they are the "true neutral dragons" of the main trio of dragons.

And again, there is already a dragon who is named diamond, appearing in one of the dragon magazines I believe talking about the "great dragon".

 

[Son of the Serpent]

I disagree on some of the choices you picked for gem dragons, as some of those are organic gems, also a pearl dragon already exists.


Also disagree on iron in generally, as we already have (cough Mary-sue-like for humans cough) silver dragons who do the whole polymorph gemic in the same vein, but also because I found bronze distinct and well written compared to all the metallics, even golds.

You said some of the stones i listed were organic.

Nope.

One was. Just pearl.

Also meh on them needing to be inorganic.

 

[dave2008]

So they could be up to 3 million feet long (which is over 500 miles), but only had a movement rate of 48.

Being big doesn't mean you move fast. Mountains are enormous, but move pretty slow.

Actually, as things get bigger they tend to move really slow. Elephants are a lot bigger than cheetahs (or rhinos) and quite a bit slower than both.

 

[dave2008]

While this is great and all, I am not a fan of this redesign, or the fact people STILL think they are made out of the literal gems.

I haven't seen the art close up, but I don't think it looks like it is made of gems, but then again it doesn't look like it is scaled either. I also like the floaty bits - just seems a bit "psionic" to me.

FYI, I don't know how this relates to the old gems, but this adult sapphire dragon has the same CR as an adult green dragon.

EDIT: I just checked and the 2e green and sapphire were both 13 HD monsters. So I guess that part checks out.

 

[dave2008]

But I do hope they become the LEAD dragon group of the gems, because then you would have all the primary colors as leaders: red, yellow (golden), and blue (sapphire).

Not sure what you mean by "lead" dragon, but in 2e the amethyst dragon had more HD