Converting True Dragons

[Shade]

Sorry guys, I've been incredibly busy both at work and home. I'll try to get this guy up to date in Homebrews in the next day or two.

 

[Shade]

Updated in Homebrews.

Can anyone suggest a better name for the Deflection ability?

What should be its class skills? I'm thinking Spellcraft is a no-brainer, and Disguise and Hide seem like good options.

What should we do with this?

If slain, a paper dragon may be unfolded like an origami figure; if the unfolder passes a dexterity check on 1d20 (to keep from tearing the paper) and if the paper dragon was not damaged in any way by its cause of death, the dragon unfolds into a 1'-square sheet of paper upon which the contents of the last scroll it has eaten are written down.

Here's something similar from the elemental grues:

"...these creatures are prized by many wizards, for at the heart of each grue lies a pearllike magic object the size of a fist, each carefully etched with the arcane workings of an elemental spell suitable for copying into a spellbook. This spell object's origins lies in the grue's own magical beginning, and is the only thing that remains of the creature if it is slain. See the individual elemental grue descriptions for details."

 

[freyar]

Can anyone suggest a better name for the Deflection ability?

Arcane Deflection? Still kind of blah, though.

What should be its class skills? I'm thinking Spellcraft is a no-brainer, and Disguise and Hide seem like good options.

Can't think of anything else more appropriate. Appraise, Bluff, and Sense Motive might be ok from the little we have about personality.

What should we do with this?

Let's try, "Unlike most dragons, whose hides can be made into armor, the bodies of paper dragons are useful for spellcasters of all types. Assuming that the paper dragon has not been damaged by a slashing weapon, the paper can be unfolded (as if from an origami construction) to reveal the contents of the last scroll eaten by the paper dragon. Unfolding the paper dragon without damaging it requires a DC15? Dex (or Sleight of Hand) check." If this should be an SQ, maybe we could call it "Origami" or something.

 

[JiCi]

Updated in Homebrews.

Look it over one last time, and if everyone's happy we'll move on to the next one.

I've been reading the pink dragon and I thought ""How about making it a true non-'April fool' chromatic dragon ?"

Shade, can you post some guidelines to convert "joke" dragons into "serious" ones ?

I was thinking about things like these:
- make the alignment Chaotic Evil
- make the breath weapon deal acid damage, with possible splash damage if an attack is made inside the breath area
- make it a devilish prankster, as an evil counterpart of the copper dragon
- add an ability to pathetic presence: if a target fails its save, it is considered flat-footed for the next attack the pink dragon makes (you know the good old "Don't hurt me ! I'll be gentle... fooled ya !" *backstabs*)

What do you say ?

 

[Shade]

Arcane Deflection? Still kind of blah, though.

It's better than simply "Deflection", though!

Can't think of anything else more appropriate. Appraise, Bluff, and Sense Motive might be ok from the little we have about personality.

Sense Motive is a class skill for true dragons in general. The other two are definitely worth consideration.

Let's try, "Unlike most dragons, whose hides can be made into armor, the bodies of paper dragons are useful for spellcasters of all types. Assuming that the paper dragon has not been damaged by a slashing weapon, the paper can be unfolded (as if from an origami construction) to reveal the contents of the last scroll eaten by the paper dragon. Unfolding the paper dragon without damaging it requires a DC15? Dex (or Sleight of Hand) check." If this should be an SQ, maybe we could call it "Origami" or something.

That looks good. Maybe the DC should increase with age category to make it less automatic?

 

[Shade]

I've been reading the pink dragon and I thought ""How about making it a true non-'April fool' chromatic dragon ?"

Shade, can you post some guidelines to convert "joke" dragons into "serious" ones ?

I was thinking about things like these:
- make the alignment Chaotic Evil
- make the breath weapon deal acid damage, with possible splash damage if an attack is made inside the breath area
- make it a devilish prankster, as an evil counterpart of the copper dragon
- add an ability to pathetic presence: if a target fails its save, it is considered flat-footed for the next attack the pink dragon makes (you know the good old "Don't hurt me ! I'll be gentle... fooled ya !" *backstabs*)

What do you say ?

I think they work OK even as semi-serious creatures, as even the silly abilities are sometimes used by other serious creatures (check out the mud slaad or skeroloth for abilities similar to pathetic presence).

If you want to make it a true chromatic dragon, though, I think your suggestions are fantastic. You could even mix in some fire damage to make it "hot pink".

 

[Mortis]

If you want to make it a true chromatic dragon, though, I think your suggestions are fantastic. You could even mix in some fire damage to make it "hot pink".

I would suggest that a 'true' pink dragon would be a red-white hybrid. Which would be interesting given that they are opposites given their, respective, fire and cold natures.

Regards
Mortis

 

[JiCi]

I think they work OK even as semi-serious creatures, as even the silly abilities are sometimes used by other serious creatures (check out the mud slaad or skeroloth for abilities similar to pathetic presence).

If you want to make it a true chromatic dragon, though, I think your suggestions are fantastic. You could even mix in some fire damage to make it "hot pink".

Thanks !

The idea behind acid damage was simple: Ever dropped soap or shampoo in your eyes ? it burns, not from heat (associated with fire), but more from alchemical reactions (often associated with acid)

I'll modify your pink dragon when I get a chance. Thanks again for your... huh... "approval", may I say.

 

[RavinRay]

..Which would be interesting given that they are opposites given their, respective, fire and cold natures.

And we've already got a fire-and-cold dragon in the two-headed dread linnorm.

Since the paper dragon is already dead when its body is unfolded, maybe we can call that ability "necro-" or "thanato-" something. A successful Craft (paperfolding or origami) check can also be used.

 

[JiCi]

I believe he meant a dragon with both the Fire and Cold subtype RavinRay. I'll be working on a new chromatic dragon, the teal, which has a rimefire breath weapon.