D&D 5E What can a dragon do to accelerate its aging?
- Thread starter Urriak Uruk
- Start date
Garthanos
Arcadian Knight
I like having more than one in story explanation for things myself, people in the real world do not agree on many of the hows of many things.
To expand on the first part of my original post, make up a ritual.
The dragon has stumbled across a ritual, or has been chosen by a cult. The ritual uses human sacrifices to speed up the growth of the dragon.
Couple of variations there - the more life time potential the sacrificial victim has the more the dragon gains. So young elves and dwarves are highly prized, but human children are easier to come by. This becomes part of an ongoing plot thread - who has been kidnapping all the children?
Possibly go the other way and the dragon is stealing the life experience and wisdom of it's sacrifices. Similar theme, but this time it's the wisest and most respected that disappear.
As a twist, the dragon is being changed by the ritual. As he absorbs the souls it's slowly changing him. Maybe into a Shadow Dragon, perhaps in other ways.
But as others have said, don't let the players know what you're doing at first.
The dragon has stumbled across a ritual, or has been chosen by a cult. The ritual uses human sacrifices to speed up the growth of the dragon.
Couple of variations there - the more life time potential the sacrificial victim has the more the dragon gains. So young elves and dwarves are highly prized, but human children are easier to come by. This becomes part of an ongoing plot thread - who has been kidnapping all the children?
Possibly go the other way and the dragon is stealing the life experience and wisdom of it's sacrifices. Similar theme, but this time it's the wisest and most respected that disappear.
As a twist, the dragon is being changed by the ritual. As he absorbs the souls it's slowly changing him. Maybe into a Shadow Dragon, perhaps in other ways.
But as others have said, don't let the players know what you're doing at first.
Paul Farquhar
Legend
I have to say, this one wouldn't play with my group. My players would want to know why, and they wouldn't leave it alone until they had an answer.
jaelis
Oh this is where the title goes?
Me too, but I could see playing the mystery up, having it be an ongoing theme long after the dragon is defeated. Maybe other dragons seek out the players to grill them about it. But keep putting obstacles in the way to keep the players from find an answer.
LuisCarlos17f
Legend
Some ideas showed here are good. My suggestion is the dragon accepts to become the "host" of a vestige, totem spirit or idol. This allow him to go to certain demiplane to hunt daikaijus (giant monsters) to become stronger. The dragon creates a cult for his "idol" and more followers means more power. Dragon becomes more powerful without waiting so many centuries.
Bawylie
A very OK person
That’s why it WOULD play. They’d go looking for an answer. First thing anyone is likely to do is figure out whether anyone heard of anything like this. Then they’d go for libraries and bards for old legends.
My players would also want to know why. They’d also try to chase down an explanation. Whether or not they ever find one is a separate (though closely related) concern.
Like a blank space on a map - it’s not that “nothing” is there - it’s just not on the map until it’s actually found.
For a single age category transition, you can just say the dragon was already nearing its birthday. "He's rather large for a Young dragon," you say, and then next time, "...Since it's been two years in game-time, he's now an Adult dragon, although on the small side. A young adult; maybe tempt him with dystopian fiction featuring a strong female protagonist?"
Paul Farquhar
Legend
But the problem is my players tend to be obsessive - until they had an answer they would refuse to move on and do anything else.
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