D&D (2024) Check Out D&D's New Gold Dragon Redesign

In the new 2024 edition of Dungeons & Dragons, WotC is redesigning its iconic dragons. ComicBook.com got a close-up and personal look at the brand new gold dragon, with a gorgeous art piece by Chase Stone. The dragon is, as can be seen, wingless--or at least with greatly reduced wings--in a nod to older editions of D&D--in AD&D 1E, gold dragons were more inspired by Asian dragons, but gained large wings in later editions. ComicBook's Christian Hoffer spoke to WotC's art director Josh Herman, who said "The wing change was really to give it a little bit of something extra, but also hopefully make it clear that they don't need their wings to fly all the time".

You can read the full article and interview here.

 

[Kardiac]

Looks better on the ground.

 

[Kardiac]

So it's less of a redesign than it is an "un-redesign" taking it back to its 2nd Edition AD&D roots. I always preferred the more Asian look of the gold dragon back in the day.

 

[MNblockhead]

I love, love, love the image of the gold dragon in the air. Captures how I've always run them. I lean far heavier into Chinese mythology for my gold dragons in my games, esp. my homebrew setting. I'm not a huge fan of the triangular "wings", but in the air it looks good. On the ground, I like it less. I'm interested in seeing the stat block. I always rework gold dragon stat blocks to give them strong weather-controlling magic.

I think that the D&D gold dragon as depicted here and in 1e do a good job at giving a nod to the Chinese yellow dragon (Huánglóng) without stepping over the line into being disrespectful to a cultural and national symbol and real-life religious beliefs.

 

[Charlaquin]

Looks like gold redesign is the biggest departure from the 2014 designs, but in a way that harkens back to the pre-3e designs, and I’m here for it. Makes me wish they had pushed the diversity of the other redesigns even harder. We have 10 types of “true dragons” (15 if you count gem, and more if you count dragon turtles), why limit ourselves to the standard European dragon body plan for all of them? This gold dragon design is downright inspiring if you ask me.

 

[Nathaniel Lee]

It's all just a ploy so that WizKids can sell more $100 dragon minis.

 

[Demetrios1453]

So far for me, as a huge dragon lover, these are all improvements on the 3e and earlier designs while also being true to the source material.

To be clear I am talking about the ones we have official concept art of: red, gold, and bronze (?). I think we have seen all the chromatics, but I am not 100% sure what we've seen is the final word on those.

We've seen silver too.

 

[John R Davis]

Ew. Not for me. Not keen on the wings of many of the new designs.

 

[Kobold Stew]

This looks pretty bad. The super long tail and the ribbon/flatworm shape is one thing, but Moose antlers? Eww..

Not seeing antlers.

 

[Lucas Yew]

Good design. Regardless of my (lack of) approval for neither WotC nor Hasbro... (wicked grin)

 

[Autumnal]

This is wonderful work. This is the level of fantasy fantasticness I like in my RPGs.