D&D (2024) Speculation on the art in the new core books

[Mirrorrorrim]

"Maple leaf-shaped wings blend into tree canopy".... how large exactly are those trees?

Big. Big enough for Large, Huge, and Gargantuan creatures to be a part of the environment.

 

[mamba]

Large going by the other image, but they are not supposed to be mistaken for single leaves just blend in.

I understand that, but having wings shaped like a single leaf do not accomplish that… If they were textured like leaves, that might help…

 

[mamba]

And it's not like forests with unnaturally large trees is a new concept in D&D, either.

trees with leaves the size of a dragon wing? Just extra large trees do not really help you here, as the wing being shaped like a leaf does not really help blending in when the wing is half the size of the tree

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

trees with leaves the size of a dragon wing? Just extra large trees do not really help you here, as the wing being shaped like a leaf does not really help blending in when the wing is half the size of the tree

Maybe not for Adult/Ancient Dragons, but maybe for Wyrmling/Young Dragons. Young animals often have camouflages that are aimed at fooling predators. Or for an especially large trees/forests, like Yggdrasil or Garden.

Also, it looks cool and makes them more distinctive from the other dragon types.

 

[mamba]

Maybe not for Adult/Ancient Dragons, but maybe for Wyrmling/Young Dragons. Or for an especially large trees/forests, like Yggdrasil or Garden.

was thinking about Wyrmlings too, but even then it is a stretch, albeit more conceivable. Yggdrasil might work, but that was not the intent here.

Also, it looks cool and makes them more distinctive from the other dragon types.

I have nothing against cool or distinctive, I have a problem with the explanation. That is like saying King Kong has the shape of a gorilla, so he can blend in with the other gorillas

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

was thinking about Wyrmlings too, but even then it is a stretch, albeit more conceivable. Yggdrasil might work, but that was not the intent here.

I agree that except in unordinary/rare circumstances, this type of camouflage probably won't help Green Dragons. But I love doing encounters in unordinary circumstances. I can think of multiple examples of how I could use this in my favorite setting, Eberron (Lammania has giant forests with trees bigger than skyscrapers, Green Dragons could specifically raise their Wyrmlings in giant forests of Argonessen/Xen'drik to take advantage of this, etc). If the goal of the artwork is to inspire encounters on how to use Green Dragons (which I've never been tempted to use before), it already worked for me.

I have nothing against cool or distinctive, I have a problem with the explanation. That is like saying King Kong has the shape of a gorilla, so he can blend in with the other gorillas

I get your point, but I also think that it's not really a big deal and perhaps missing the main aim of the new design.

 

[mamba]

I get your point, but I also think that it's not really a big deal and perhaps missing the point.

no, not a big deal, just something that immediately popped into my head when I read that sentence

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Yggdrasil might work, but that was not the intent here.

Yggdrasil is a Maple?

I kid. I definitely think that if there's anything to the "blending in" bit, it's more for when they're young. They don't need to blend in once they rule the forest.

Another thing I like about the new dragon designs - the use of OTHER colors in their color scheme. It keeps the color of the chromatics not quite so on-the-nose. So a black has a lot of swampy greens and grays, and a red has black ("singed" they call it) hands and feet and a white underbelly. The green's wings are brownish. I like it.

There's something that they've started doing in Star Trek lately that I think would work well in D&D too - they've been getting their makeup artists to put extras in multiple-era looking makeup jobs, so you'll have Romulans that look like TOS or TNG or Kelvin-Movie versions, or Klingons with more or less head-ridges, etc.

We can have halflings with silly big heads and small feet, or the long-flatter heads of 4e, or more hobbity-looking of earlier editions, or the sleek version of 3.5. Drow that range from dark to light purple-gray skin. Tieflings with fat tails and big horns, or with hooves (like they used to have).

YOUR character can look however you want it to look, just like you've always been able to do. This choice in the art would make that really, really CLEAR.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

trees with leaves the size of a dragon wing? Just extra large trees do not really help you here, as the wing being shaped like a leaf does not really help blending in when the wing is half the size of the tree

It’s brown leaf colour in the bottom of the wings. It’s supposed to blend into canopy at the top of the forest not next to a single tree.

 

[dave2008]

Bunch of new dragon art was posted a couple months back.

These are really awesome, where were the posted?

PS - Thank you for sharing (I had seen them before, but completely forgot about them)