Search results

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...

The 5e24 red (also CR 24) has a DPR of 205. So this is not that far off. Did you use old or new CR guidelines in your analysis? OK, so I just checked and I am getting around a CR 21-22 (@ 252 DPR - I didn't check that) with the new CR rules.

The post you responded to was about Asian dragons which do not have a means of propulsion either.

Ok, I don't know if it is the 2hrs of sleep a covid fever dream or both, but I think I got it figured out. The topaz dragon flies backwards with is tail rigid and pointing straight out like e Quetzalcoatlus' neck! :p

balloons don't fly they float. That is why it is easy to debunk them as UFOs.

we do have RL animals that have some odd wing motions. I actually find the idea of the Topaz dragon flies like a giant hummingbird a bit interesting.