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Yep those (1 & 2) are both what are more interesting, and difficult, IMO.

I wasn't thinking of keeping the design the same, just the concept. I think a series of redesigns will be needed.

Bat wings are quite bit more flexible than bird or airplane wings. I only remember reading one paper on it a while ago so my memory is faulty and likely outdated, but they achieve similar function with quite different mechanics. Thy were surprised how much so after really studying it with...

Two issues: wing size and strength of materials. Dragon wings would have to be much larger to produce the required lift and the bones and particularly the muscles would have to me much stronger than currently known. This related to weight of course too. We can handwave these because of magic...

No, I still want them to be backward, that is the whole fun of this exercise. My current concept is a version of a h. bird wing but in reverse. You of course need more than that, but that is the concept. The point is the h. bird can move backward with wings aerodynamic in the forward direction...

Agreed, but the analogy I was trying to make was between technology and magic I think there are degrees here, not a hard edge. Insects, birds, and bats all have functional wings that get to flight in different ways. None of those methods really works for any full grown D&D dragon we just accept...

The analogy with the X-29 is that he plane cannot fly without its computer making constant adjustments. It is a design that can't fly that we make fly through technology. The analogy is we replace technology with magic. Yes, the whole point is to make some changes to the design to make it work.

Now your getting it! That is exactly the type of inspired idea I am talking about. Now we have yet another reason to have this type of design. A massive sonic attack - great thinking!

These wings are the wrong shape. Notice how hummingbird wings are shaped. They are smooth and continuous on both edges, leading and trailing, so that they can slice through the air either way. The topaz wings are not, and would cause enormous turbulence if you tried to use them that way. That is...

That you think it is an issue shows that you're not actually understanding why it is not an issue. I am pretty sure I understand your point, what you seem to missing is that I am not talking about trying to explain why the dragon is designed the way it is, but how we can change it to make the...

I mean that is true of a gargantuan sized dragon too (or a giant or about a hundred other things in D&D). So I hardly thing that is the issue. You can't look at RL physics for your full answer.

But that is not a good argument when we have psionics / magic involved - aerodynamics (and physics in general) have only a passing importance. Magic can easily make up for such issues. I mean what are the RL energy requirements for magic. It seems to me magic can handle things much more...

Question: the humming bird can fly forwards, up, down, and backwards with its wings. Why couldn't this work for the dragon but in reverse. If the bird can fly backwards with its forward leading wings, why couldn't this dragon (with a little tweaking) fly forwards with its backward leading...

That is fine, personally I don't have gem dragons in my world - solves the issue rather easily. However, this whole discussion has not made me interested in making a crazy topaz dragon design with backward wings that make some sense for some bizarre reason. Saying the simply dislocate and...

I am not sure what you are asking, but the 5e24 assassin (CR 8) would be CR 10.5 by the 2014 CR guide. On the other hand, the 5e14 assassin is a CR 6.5 per the 2014 CR guide. So the assassin jumped from an effective CR 6.5 to 10.5 in 5e24. It really depends on the group. For most of the people...

I actually am interested in starting with this topaz dragon design and then making the fewest additional changes to give the dragon an irrational but quasiplausible design. So the wings are backward but structured in such way that the flap/swing/rotate in such a way to provide lift / propulsion...

The Mig 31 Firefox - I did enjoy that movie as a child. Remember, you have to think in Russian to fire the missiles!

There are no formal rules. I just did what you described, as many others have done. I created a spreadsheet with all the 2014 & 2024 MM monsters and compared the CR based on the 2014 rules and then looked for the delta with the actual 2024 MM CR. I came up with basically the same results as...

Actually half-orcs are very much still a thing.

Of course it could make it a more dynamic flyer like the X-29. So maybe the Topaz is the most dynamic/agile flying dragon?! To be clear, like my quetzalcoatlus post before, I am being a bit cheeky / silly with this. I don't think there is any logical reason to have backward working wings...