D&D General can we make better dragons?

[Dannyalcatraz]

With just D&D dragons, I played up their intelligence, age and nature as predators used to operating in 3 dimensions. The nastiest ones were spellcasters, but more like sorcerers than wizards: knowing a few spells that they spam.

Some stood out:

1) A blue who was partnered with a martial spellcaster who rode him. They attacked the party’s airship while they were in the clouds…from below. The dragon clung to the ship’s underside while it darted its head over the front to bite or breathe, and it’s tail over the back to sweep the deck. The ship shielded most of its body. It’s parner boarded the ship to provide additional support. When the battle turned against it, it simply released its gip and disappeared back into the clouds.

2) The party was approaching what they had been told was the dragon’s lair. Then they saw it approaching,then diving for a strafing run. Being a high-level snd hubristic bunch, they prepped themselves for combat in situ rather than scrambling off to the roadsides. As a result, they were prepared for the dragon to breathe on them from the front. They were NOT prepared for that attack to be an illusion cast by the dragon- he dropped a few claws-full of boulders on them as he passed over them from their rear.

3) Another, cornered in his lair, shoved a big pile of his trove at the party, limiting their mobility and even knocking some down. Then he slagged some of the treasure they were standing in…

 

[RangerWickett]

In the ZEITGEIST setting, dragons were allegedly hunted to extinction two hundred years ago after somehow the laws of reality shifted and flight magic became weaker, rendering the creatures land-bound. However, a few survived, either going into a prolonged sleep in hidden lairs or allying with a national ruler who promised to protect them . . . and protect their hoards.

Rumor is that during the recent industrial revolution, some of those latter dragons parlayed their immense fortunes into factories and machinery, becoming titans of technology, keeping their identities hidden but still wielding just as much fear and power as ever in their pursuit of treasures. But now that the nature of air magic has seemingly been repaired, people fear these steel lords will reveal themselves once again.

Also, a few years ago a group of explorers trying to map the fey realm known as the Dreaming awoke a slumbering dragon, which has led to the appearance of numerous others, their bodies changed from two centuries in the lands of the faeries into shapes of wood and leaf and stream and swarm. Even stranger, though, are their impulses, as the already mercurial wyrms have not adopted the quirks and manias of the fey.

Who knows what they will desire when they set out on the world?

 

[Neonchameleon]

This simplicity can be done by only listing the "typical" spells that the creature is likely to cast in combat, with the spell descriptions without needing to look up a spell. Only if the DM wants to swap in other spells, the DM can do the reference work.

Oh, there are a number of ways it can be done and I support many of them. But as things stand it isn't being done

 

[Tonguez]

The Norse dragon has two arms, and slithers while upright, and no legs. Rarely, some sprout wings which seem as if evolved legs.
The British dragon includes two arms, two legs, and two wings.
The East Asian dragon is a snake with four legs.
The West Asian dragon is also a snake with four legs. But certain creatures that could be draconic seem like lion with wings.

All of them have scales and serpentine tails. (East Asian is fish scales. The others are snake scales.)

British Dragons include the Welsh-type four legged winged Dragon, the English Worm (no limbs and rather Eel-like), the Knucker (wingless water dragon/water horse) and the two legged winged Wyvern (who flew in with the Danes)

 

[dave2008]

Oh, there are a number of ways it can be done and I support many of them. But as things stand it isn't being done

They absolutely are - just not by WotC. There on many revised dragons on DMsGuild and on these forums (including my own) for 5e. There is no need to limit yourself to what WotC has to offer.

 

[Yaarel]

British Dragons include the Welsh-type four legged winged Dragon, the English Worm (no limbs and rather Eel-like), the Knucker (wingless water dragon/water horse) and the two legged winged Wyvern (who flew in with the Danes)

Yeah, the Welsh dragon is definitely a snake with arms, legs, and wings. But the head seems more wolf-like than lion-like, and the wings seem more bat-like than eagle-like.

And when I look at illuminated medieval manuscripts, and old coats of arms, the body of the dragon is definitely wolf-like, often identical and symmetric with a dog.

Certainly, there are other dragon variants. In the manuscripts, one can see the "evolution" of the British dragons, from limbless snake to snake with arms or legs, to snake with arms or legs plus wings, then a snake with arms plus a set a wings and with legs with its own set wings totaling eight limbs (!), and finally seeming to stabilize with arms, legs, and wings at six limbs.

 

[CleverNickName]

For my campaign, I make several mechanical adjustments to dragons.

• Dragons are named for the color of their breath weapons, not the color of their scales. Dragons are always mottled grayish-green, and you need an Arcana check to tell a "white" dragon from a "black" one.
• Dragons can change the color of their scales the same way that chameleons can (Advantage on Stealth)
• Dragons don't cast spells like sorcerers, they rage like barbarians.
• Dragons have a ranged attack, where they spit a blob of their breath weapon at one or more targets (ranged attack, 60/240 feet). Doesn't require recharge, works well with Multiattack.
• Dragons have magical Auras. "White" dragons of a certain age can radiate an aura of slowness (foes that enter the aura or begin their turn there must make a Strength save. Those that fail can't take reactions and their movement is reduced by half until the end of their next turn.) "Black" dragons of a certain age can radiate an aura of exhaustion (foes that enter the aura or begin their turn there must make a Constitution save. Those that fail take a point of exhaustion.) And so on.

There are other smaller tweaks to the lore, too.

 

[Yaarel]

Oh, there are a number of ways it can be done and I support many of them. But as things stand it isn't being done

In my own setting, a Norse dragon is a playable character, called a Drekar.

The Drekar dragon is born appearing identical to a European Adder, generally some pattern of silver and black, but can be fully silver or fully black, while the female tends to have a bronze sheen or can be completely bronze.

Soon after birth, the snake sprouts horns, which are really an aspect of the V-shaped horn-like pattern on the snakes head.

The Drekar sheds its skin, and undergoes transformations while aging.

When reaching adulthood (at age 20 like human), the Drekar spouts arms. For the character both the arms and the tail are prehensile.

At the professional tier (levels 5 to 8), the player can choose to become Large.

At the master tier (levels 9 to 12), the player can choose to sprout eagle-like wings.

At the leader tier (levels 13 to 16), the Drekar can become Huge. As a snake, the character can still slither thru some tight places.

At epic level, the character can become Gargantuan if the player wants.

The breath weapon deals cold and psychic damage, personifying "venomous" very painful supercooled arctic streams.

 

[jasper]

Yes we can but I need 6,000,000.00 GP to do it.

 

[Weiley31]

As mentioned before, in regards to Dragons, the 3.5 Dragononmicon and the 4E Dragononmicons are probably your best bet in regards to dragon lore/info/and stuff. If your able to get the webpages working or find the saved version of them, the old WoTC 3.0/3.5 website had a great ton of Dragon profiles for various named Dragons in the realm and their info.

In regards to mechanics, well if your lucky enough to have snagged a copy of it or if-VERBHOTEN: not to be mentioned- the "Lonely Mountain Region Guide" from Adventures in Middle-Earth 5E has a legit section in it where you can create your own dragons. It comes with various templates and age categories complete with ability score modifiers, and allows you to pick various traits to add onto your dragon. The only stipulation about the traits section is that your Dragon has to take a trait where they have an Exposed Weakness(said trait DOES NOT take up any of your available trait slots, which vary based on the age of the Dragon IIRC. But a Trait where the Dragon covers said Exposed Weakness with bits and pieces of its own Hoard can fix that issue at the cost of using up a slot.)

Its really neat and I totally want to jack it for my 5E games in regards to making Dragons. And thats not even counting the Addition of Class Levels/Spellcasting Variant rule if used with it.

Now if only the Scalpers and their prices weren't so stupid..........