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General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
4E Dragons - Where's the beef?
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<blockquote data-quote="Skallgrim" data-source="post: 4730801" data-attributes="member: 79271"><p>Reading this thread, I started looking at this question from another perspective.</p><p></p><p>Rather than looking at the dragon and asking "Why don't the rules reflect what I envision the dragon doing?", you might ask "What does I envision the dragon doing, based upon these rules?".</p><p></p><p>The reason, I suspect, that the Adult Red Dragon doesn't breath down a fiery holocaust, immediately incinerating the 3rd level PCs isn't because the designers don't envision such gameplay, or don't wish you to engage in level +9 fights. </p><p></p><p>I suspect that it is because they no longer envision dragon's breath as being a fiery holocaust that simply reduces the opposition to ash. Dragon breath is now a fairly wide ranged, usually accurate, moderately damaging ranged attack. It can typically be used several times in a fight (thanks to the recharge) and always used if the dragon is hard pressed (thanks to the recharge on bloodied). It simply isn't SUPPOSED to be this Godzilla style nuclear holocaust that it used to be (I remember when a red dragon did damage equal to its hit points with the breath weapon!). It's simply one of MANY different attributes of a dragon, not the crowning "hit point vacuum" for the dragon.</p><p></p><p>There may be all sorts of game designery reasons why the damage expression isn't astronomical, and many people have touched upon those. However, I don't think you should underestimate the effect the visualization has on the rules. Dragon's aren't deadly just because they swoop down and kill everybody on round one with their opening gambit. They are engines of destruction incarnate, not a thrown bomb.</p><p></p><p>Kudos also to DracoSuave for his persuasive and vivid description of how terrifying and evil a powerful dragon should appear. That image is different, and intentionally different, from a relatively fragile flying lizard with a nasty breath weapon.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Skallgrim, post: 4730801, member: 79271"] Reading this thread, I started looking at this question from another perspective. Rather than looking at the dragon and asking "Why don't the rules reflect what I envision the dragon doing?", you might ask "What does I envision the dragon doing, based upon these rules?". The reason, I suspect, that the Adult Red Dragon doesn't breath down a fiery holocaust, immediately incinerating the 3rd level PCs isn't because the designers don't envision such gameplay, or don't wish you to engage in level +9 fights. I suspect that it is because they no longer envision dragon's breath as being a fiery holocaust that simply reduces the opposition to ash. Dragon breath is now a fairly wide ranged, usually accurate, moderately damaging ranged attack. It can typically be used several times in a fight (thanks to the recharge) and always used if the dragon is hard pressed (thanks to the recharge on bloodied). It simply isn't SUPPOSED to be this Godzilla style nuclear holocaust that it used to be (I remember when a red dragon did damage equal to its hit points with the breath weapon!). It's simply one of MANY different attributes of a dragon, not the crowning "hit point vacuum" for the dragon. There may be all sorts of game designery reasons why the damage expression isn't astronomical, and many people have touched upon those. However, I don't think you should underestimate the effect the visualization has on the rules. Dragon's aren't deadly just because they swoop down and kill everybody on round one with their opening gambit. They are engines of destruction incarnate, not a thrown bomb. Kudos also to DracoSuave for his persuasive and vivid description of how terrifying and evil a powerful dragon should appear. That image is different, and intentionally different, from a relatively fragile flying lizard with a nasty breath weapon. [/QUOTE]
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