Converting True Dragons

[Cleon]

Typeless damage for the jade is ok, but I do like half fire for the ruby curse.

And I'd keep the jade curse with a frequency in hours while giving the ruby curse a frequency of minutes. The original ruby breath destroys things faster than the jade breath does.

I'd rather make it minutes for the Jade Curse and rounds for the Ruby Curse.

 

[freyar]

Sure, that would be ok by me.

 

[Cleon]

Sure, that would be ok by me.

Updating the Mystaran Amber Dragon Working Draft.

I put in the following rough outline for the Ruby Curse:

Ruby Curse: This curse is harmless to creatures, but objects affected by it begin to melt away. Anything affected by the curse takes damage every round as indicated in the Amber Dragon Breath Weapon table. The damage is half fire and half typeless. [other stuff]

We still need to set the typeless damage the Jade Curse does to objects every minute. Any preferences? Should it be some multiple of the Con damage, or just the same?

 

[freyar]

I'd probably go with what you have in the Con damage table for the Jade curse object damage. The original isn't too high.

The ruby outline is fine. Maybe the damage should be twice the Jade Con damage?

 

[Cleon]

I'd probably go with what you have in the Con damage table for the Jade curse object damage. The original isn't too high.

The ruby outline is fine. Maybe the damage should be twice the Jade Con damage?

I'm okay on using the Jade Con damage for its typeless damage too, but fancy tweaking the Ruby damage so it's listed in pairs of dice - 2d3, 2d4 or even 2d12. It'd allow the "half fire" damage to be a simple matter of a dice of each.

We might even list it as such in the table, e.g. "1d3 plus 1d3 fire".

 

[freyar]

Well, doubling the jade Con damage would automatically give pairs of dice, wouldn't it?

 

[Cleon]

Well, doubling the jade Con damage would automatically give pairs of dice, wouldn't it?

Obviously. I just have an irrational urge to tweak the numbers a bit.

Updating the Mystaran Amber Dragon Working Draft.

 

[freyar]

OK, that breath weapon seems done. Move on to special abilities?

 

[Cleon]

OK, that breath weapon seems done. Move on to special abilities?

Sure!

We don't have anything to go on from the BECMI original.

We could crib from the Monstrous Manual versions of Gold Dragon and Brown Dragon, which are supposedly rough-equivalents of the 2E Mystaran Brown.

In 3E, those have:

Brown Dragon

Sandstorm (Sp): Once per day, an adult brown dragon can create a vortex of violently churning sand at a distance up to 80 yards away. All creatures within a 60-foot radius of the center of the sandstorm take 1d6 points of damage each round they remain within the sandstorm. Characters in the swirling sands are blinded and must make a Balance check (DC 15) during each round they move more than 5 feet or fall prone.

Summon Huge Air Elemental (Sp): Once per day, an old brown dragon can cast summon nature’s ally VII to summon one Huge air elemental, 1d3 Large air elementals, or 1d4+1 air elementals of smaller size.

Summon Greater Air Elemental (Sp): Once per day, an ancient brown dragon can cast summon nature’s ally VIII to summon one greater air elemental, 1d3 Huge air elementals, or 1d4+1 air elementals of smaller size.

Other Spell-Like Abilities: 1/day—create water, disintegrate.

Gold Dragon
Luck Bonus (Sp): Once per day an adult or older gold dragon can touch a gem, usually one embedded in the dragon’s hide, and enspell it to bring good luck. As long as the dragon carries the gem, it and every good creature in a 10-foot radius per age category of the dragon receives a +1 luck bonus on all saving throws and similar rolls, as for a stone of good luck. If the dragon gives an enspelled gem to another creature, only that bearer gets the bonus. The effect lasts 1d3 hours plus 3 hours per age category of the dragon but ends if the gem is destroyed. This ability is the equivalent of a 2nd-level spell.

Detect Gems (Sp): An old or older gold dragon can use this ability three times per day. This is a divination effect similar to a detect magic spell, except that it finds only gems. The dragon can scan a 60-degree arc each round: By concentrating for 1 round it knows if there are any gems within the arc; 2 rounds of concentration reveal the exact number of gems; and 3 rounds reveal their exact location, type, and value. This ability is the equivalent of a 2ndlevel spell.

Other Spell-Like Abilities: 3/day—bless (juvenile or older); 1/day—geas/quest (old or older), sunburst (ancient or older), foresight (great wyrm).

 

[Cleon]

We could crib from the Monstrous Manual versions of Gold Dragon and Brown Dragon, which are supposedly rough-equivalents of the 2E Mystaran Brown.

Okay, of the above the Gold Dragon seems to have most of the best options.

That said, I like the Brown Dragon's disintegrate SLA for our Mystaran dragon, since it fits the general "destroying stuff" vibe of its breath weapons.

Maybe give it the same Luck Bonus ability, except it works for Chaotic Creatures rather than Good ones?

Shall we have it keep Detect Gems ability too?

As for the SLAs, bless and sunburst seems inappropriate, but the geas/quest and foresight seem OK. Maybe swap the sunburst for disintegration and give it, say, protection from law instead of bless?