aco175
Legend
This was what I was thinking about when reading the OP.
A dragon's lair creates the element as well. PCs will need fire protection to be able to withstand going into the red dragon's lair and hope to fight it.
D&D General cooler dragon themes?
A dragon's lair creates the element as well. PCs will need fire protection to be able to withstand going into the red dragon's lair and hope to fight it.
Tales and Chronicles
Jewel of the North, formerly know as vincegetorix
I think I'd remove dragons from the creature types and instead have the dragons as a possible mutation/evolution of the other type of creature:
Aberrant Dragon
Fey Dragon
Elemental Dragon
Ooze Dragon
Monstrosity Dragon
Giant Dragon
etc
Aberrant Dragon
Fey Dragon
Elemental Dragon
Ooze Dragon
Monstrosity Dragon
Giant Dragon
etc
CreamCloud0
One day, I hope to actually play DnD.
i feel like DnD could really benefit from branching out into more types of dragon than just the classic western archetype, have an eastern dragon that excells at using magic effects, a sea-serpent-esc dragon that has aura effects around itself and focuses on unique breath weapon spreads, a groundbound armoured dragon who lacks a breath weapon but deals physical elemental damage with their claws, a speedly little hawk-like dragon who gets more turns per round.
Faolyn
(she/her)
A "fun" list of natural disasters to choose from:
Avalanche
Blizzard
Cold wave
Cyclone
Drought
Dust storm
Earthquake
Flood
Hail
Heat wave
Hurricane
Ice storm
Landslide
Limnic eruption
Pandemic
Sinkhole
Thunderstorm
Tornado
Tsunami
Volcanic eruption
Wildfire
I'd also include whirlpool/maelstrom/vortex in there as well.
I think most of these would make for quite interesting dragons!
Mind of tempest
(he/him)advocate for 5e psionics
heads are all off to the point of non-functionality they are magic but have to you know live.
BookTenTiger
He / Him
And don't forget the Personal Disaster dragons!
Toxic Loan Dragon
Bad Breakup Dragon
Flat Tire Dragon
Spoiled Creamer Dragon
Forgot To Use The Bathroom Before Watching Oppenheimer Dragon
BookTenTiger
He / Him
I am replying without joking this time because honestly this is a really cool, evocative list of dragon ideas.
A Sinkhole Dragon burrowing beneath farms and swallowing up fields of cows.
A Heat Wave Dragon flying overhead, the city sizzling beneath its wings.
A Tornado Dragon barely glimpsed within the howling maelstrom winds surrounding it.
EzekielRaiden
Follower of the Way
Two paths, one from my current game, one from a potential future game I might run someday. Warning: LONG.
First path, current game:
Dragons are one of a handful of subtypes of a class of being called "Guardians." In the Jewel of the Desert cosmology, there are fundamentally four types of sapient being. Outsiders, which includes both alien things and the angelic-derived trifecta (Celestials/Servants, Devils/Fallen, Demons/Corrupted); Guardians, which include dragons, genies, and (seemingly) fey nobility (never seen but strongly implied); Spirits, which include the more powerful types of elementals and other emanations and abstractions that have attained sapience; and Mortals, which includes all playable races.
Guardians are always initially created, but can create lineages later on. To become a Guardian, one must make a sacred and powerful oath. This oath can only be made willingly, and requires a willing Servant or Spirit to provide the power. In effect, Guardians have transcended mortality just a little bit. I have represented this as the idea that all Outsiders (and some very old Spirits, usually ones that have become powerful) are poly-dimensional beings, ones that must "squeeze" into merely three dimensions. Normally mortals can't see these extra dimensions, which is a good thing because it's often disturbing or terrifying even when the being in question is nothing but positive.
Guardians, in making their oath, become partially like the beings they have made their oath to. All genies were once mortals, probably a mix of human, elf, and orc stock, as those are the most common races in the general area where genies once ruled. They made sacred oaths to various powerful spirits, becoming Guardians, and their job was to shepherd and protect mortals. Unfortunately, they did so mostly by becoming cruel and powerful tyrants, most of them practicing slavery and the like, but they did protect their lands from danger and corruption. Devils, demons, and dangerous Outsiders were kept at bay for thousands of years, and the Genie-Rajahs of old properly conducted their oaths, relinquishing them when they had attained great age and passing the power on to future generations of rulers.
However, they slowly began to abandon the tenets of their oaths, and when the nature of magic in the world changed two millennia ago, they chose to abandon it entirely and live in the elemental otherworld, Al-Akirah, instead. This has had very deleterious consequences for those genies who abandoned their oaths; in effect, the oath will force them to fulfill their duties, by slowly transforming them into actual elemental spirits, stripping them of their mortal characteristics entirely. Their offspring, however, can sometimes--randomly--inherit the power and immortality without the oath. Most of the former Genie-Rajahs have either died or transformed now, only a tiny handful remain; their children and grandchildren now rule as manipulative, backstabbing nobility, very Game of Thrones-y, but with a huge emphasis on keeping up appearances and saving face.
Dragons, on the other hand, have mostly kept their oaths. They speak of a very different perspective on the cosmos--seeing themselves as agents of the August Jade Emperor, having semi-formal appointments within the Bureaucracy of Heaven, each assigned to protect and nurture some part of Yuxia, the "Jade Home." Safiqi theologians recognize in the August Jade Emperor an aspect of the One, the creator, protector, and sustainer of the universe, generally seeing it as just an alternative name for Their most widely-worshiped aspect, the Great Architect. (This is particularly noteworthy, because the Safiqi get quite ruffled about improper reverence toward the One, so for them to accept another land's teachings as simply kinda-weird heterodoxy, rather than heresy, is a Big Deal.)
Dragons who keep their oaths have either metallic or gemstone-colored scales, e.g. there are Jade, Ruby, Gold, Silver, etc. dragons. Those who break their oaths are punished as betrayers--they still have the power, but they are marked by their betrayal, becoming merely chromatic dragons. The only color the party knows exists is Black, but via dragonborn they've met, White and Red are almost assuredly also such colors; Black probably comes from Iron, Silver, or Jet dragons, while Reds may have been Copper or Ruby. More or less, just as there is power in making and keeping an oath, there is also power in breaking an oath--and dragons represent this. This is why all chromatic dragons are evil; their nature is defined by their actions, not the other way around. Dragonborn are implicitly connected to this somehow, but the connection is not something nailed down yet.
Guardians are always initially created, but can create lineages later on. To become a Guardian, one must make a sacred and powerful oath. This oath can only be made willingly, and requires a willing Servant or Spirit to provide the power. In effect, Guardians have transcended mortality just a little bit. I have represented this as the idea that all Outsiders (and some very old Spirits, usually ones that have become powerful) are poly-dimensional beings, ones that must "squeeze" into merely three dimensions. Normally mortals can't see these extra dimensions, which is a good thing because it's often disturbing or terrifying even when the being in question is nothing but positive.
Guardians, in making their oath, become partially like the beings they have made their oath to. All genies were once mortals, probably a mix of human, elf, and orc stock, as those are the most common races in the general area where genies once ruled. They made sacred oaths to various powerful spirits, becoming Guardians, and their job was to shepherd and protect mortals. Unfortunately, they did so mostly by becoming cruel and powerful tyrants, most of them practicing slavery and the like, but they did protect their lands from danger and corruption. Devils, demons, and dangerous Outsiders were kept at bay for thousands of years, and the Genie-Rajahs of old properly conducted their oaths, relinquishing them when they had attained great age and passing the power on to future generations of rulers.
However, they slowly began to abandon the tenets of their oaths, and when the nature of magic in the world changed two millennia ago, they chose to abandon it entirely and live in the elemental otherworld, Al-Akirah, instead. This has had very deleterious consequences for those genies who abandoned their oaths; in effect, the oath will force them to fulfill their duties, by slowly transforming them into actual elemental spirits, stripping them of their mortal characteristics entirely. Their offspring, however, can sometimes--randomly--inherit the power and immortality without the oath. Most of the former Genie-Rajahs have either died or transformed now, only a tiny handful remain; their children and grandchildren now rule as manipulative, backstabbing nobility, very Game of Thrones-y, but with a huge emphasis on keeping up appearances and saving face.
Dragons, on the other hand, have mostly kept their oaths. They speak of a very different perspective on the cosmos--seeing themselves as agents of the August Jade Emperor, having semi-formal appointments within the Bureaucracy of Heaven, each assigned to protect and nurture some part of Yuxia, the "Jade Home." Safiqi theologians recognize in the August Jade Emperor an aspect of the One, the creator, protector, and sustainer of the universe, generally seeing it as just an alternative name for Their most widely-worshiped aspect, the Great Architect. (This is particularly noteworthy, because the Safiqi get quite ruffled about improper reverence toward the One, so for them to accept another land's teachings as simply kinda-weird heterodoxy, rather than heresy, is a Big Deal.)
Dragons who keep their oaths have either metallic or gemstone-colored scales, e.g. there are Jade, Ruby, Gold, Silver, etc. dragons. Those who break their oaths are punished as betrayers--they still have the power, but they are marked by their betrayal, becoming merely chromatic dragons. The only color the party knows exists is Black, but via dragonborn they've met, White and Red are almost assuredly also such colors; Black probably comes from Iron, Silver, or Jet dragons, while Reds may have been Copper or Ruby. More or less, just as there is power in making and keeping an oath, there is also power in breaking an oath--and dragons represent this. This is why all chromatic dragons are evil; their nature is defined by their actions, not the other way around. Dragonborn are implicitly connected to this somehow, but the connection is not something nailed down yet.
The alternative I've been considering:
Dragons are angels (or gods) and angels(/gods) are dragons. At the beginning of time, Greatfather Io, Whose-One-Is-All, metaphysically slew himself, fracturing into innumerable pieces, some of them of his design. This both created the physical universe and its first denizens, and possibly permitted the existence of individual souls. Of these, the greatest children were dragons like him, and the greatest of them are the gods. Originally, Skythia, Whose-Guile-Is-Power, was the ruler of this pantheon; for dragons, gender is a choice, so it is equally valid to view Skythia as male or female, but generally Skythia seems to have chosen female more often. Thus she was Daughter/Hunter/Queen (but also Son/Hunter/King); and her intentionally-crafted partner was (and is) Arkhos, Whose-Might-Is-Wisdom, generally choosing male aspect, and thus Brother/Scholar/Priest (but also Sister/Scholar/Priestess). Skythia ruled and Arkhos salved; she struck, he studied; she inherited, he protected.
The two of them produced an egg, and prophecy claimed it would give rise to the true successor to Dead Io, the being who would outlast time itself and go on to engender the world that would come after. But the egg was stolen by wicked things, things which wish to see not merely the end of the cycle, but the ruination of all it creates; an eternal torment of the current world. These demons tricked Skythia into thinking Arkhos had destroyed the egg, and tricked Arkhos into thinking the egg was a thing of evil, on the very day that Skythia and Arkhos were to be bound in matrimony. They fought, but Skythia was wild with rage, while Arkhos held his senses, and drove her back.
She has since sworn vengeance for a wrong that never happened, and thus her own mind wars against itself, shattering her into seven colors and sundering her from noble Skythia into twisted Sutela, and tainting her Prismatic brood into fallen Chromatic dragons. But two colors--Yellow and Purple, once Topaz and Amethyst--remain suppressed, for reasons unknown, and no dragon of any of these types has been seen since the Fall. In truth, both Sutela's Yellow and Purple heads are suppressed, for they contradict what the other heads desire, as they seek forgiveness and rapproachment. Thus the Topaz and Amethyst dragons secretly remain, bound and hidden from all eyes, and even Sutela no longer remembers them.
Now Arkhos rules alone, unfit to the task but unable to relinquish it to anyone else, designed as he was to be advisor, not ruler. And the hole in his heart cannot mend, because he was made for Skythia, and cannot help but see his Beloved in the fallen Sutela, no matter how many millennia may pass. Thus is the world marred nigh even unto its birth, because the one meant to rule it has fallen into darkness and corruption. Perhaps, some day, this wrong may be righted. None, save the wicked ones who caused it, know the truth of the Egg and the dark design that wrought such pain upon the children of Dead Io. But no secret is so safe that it cannot be learned, if its secret-keepers still live to exploit it.
TL;DR: Dragons here are angels, the Metallic brood belongs to Arkhos, the Chromatic (fallen Prismatic) brood belongs to Sutela (formerly Skythia). All Metallic dragons are pure metals: Gold, Silver, Iron, Copper, Mercury, Cobalt, and Wolfram. All Prismatic dragons are crystalline: Topaz, Diamond, Onyx, Ruby, Amethyst, Sapphire, and Emerald, corresponding to Yellow, White, Black, Red, Purple, Blue, and Green. Other dragon-gods generally do not have broods (or, if they do, their brood is simply smaller versions of themselves), and feature non-metallic and (generally) non-crystalline materials, e.g. Opal, Pearl, Coral, Jet, Amber, Ivory, Flint, Hyaline (aka glass), etc.
The two of them produced an egg, and prophecy claimed it would give rise to the true successor to Dead Io, the being who would outlast time itself and go on to engender the world that would come after. But the egg was stolen by wicked things, things which wish to see not merely the end of the cycle, but the ruination of all it creates; an eternal torment of the current world. These demons tricked Skythia into thinking Arkhos had destroyed the egg, and tricked Arkhos into thinking the egg was a thing of evil, on the very day that Skythia and Arkhos were to be bound in matrimony. They fought, but Skythia was wild with rage, while Arkhos held his senses, and drove her back.
She has since sworn vengeance for a wrong that never happened, and thus her own mind wars against itself, shattering her into seven colors and sundering her from noble Skythia into twisted Sutela, and tainting her Prismatic brood into fallen Chromatic dragons. But two colors--Yellow and Purple, once Topaz and Amethyst--remain suppressed, for reasons unknown, and no dragon of any of these types has been seen since the Fall. In truth, both Sutela's Yellow and Purple heads are suppressed, for they contradict what the other heads desire, as they seek forgiveness and rapproachment. Thus the Topaz and Amethyst dragons secretly remain, bound and hidden from all eyes, and even Sutela no longer remembers them.
Now Arkhos rules alone, unfit to the task but unable to relinquish it to anyone else, designed as he was to be advisor, not ruler. And the hole in his heart cannot mend, because he was made for Skythia, and cannot help but see his Beloved in the fallen Sutela, no matter how many millennia may pass. Thus is the world marred nigh even unto its birth, because the one meant to rule it has fallen into darkness and corruption. Perhaps, some day, this wrong may be righted. None, save the wicked ones who caused it, know the truth of the Egg and the dark design that wrought such pain upon the children of Dead Io. But no secret is so safe that it cannot be learned, if its secret-keepers still live to exploit it.
TL;DR: Dragons here are angels, the Metallic brood belongs to Arkhos, the Chromatic (fallen Prismatic) brood belongs to Sutela (formerly Skythia). All Metallic dragons are pure metals: Gold, Silver, Iron, Copper, Mercury, Cobalt, and Wolfram. All Prismatic dragons are crystalline: Topaz, Diamond, Onyx, Ruby, Amethyst, Sapphire, and Emerald, corresponding to Yellow, White, Black, Red, Purple, Blue, and Green. Other dragon-gods generally do not have broods (or, if they do, their brood is simply smaller versions of themselves), and feature non-metallic and (generally) non-crystalline materials, e.g. Opal, Pearl, Coral, Jet, Amber, Ivory, Flint, Hyaline (aka glass), etc.
For JotD, it's because being a Gold Dragon means you have to have upheld a certain kind of oath, and you can only become a Black Dragon by breaking a similar oath. For the "Dragons are Angels" thing, it's that dragons are effectively angelic or devilish beings, and thus in some sense made of good/evil--having the same justification as devils and demons do for being "always X."
dave2008
Legend
D&D already has a lot of dragons that are not chromatic / metallic / gem:
here are some from 2e (sorry it wasn't easy to cut out the chromatic, metallic, and gem so you get them all):
And the catastrophic dragons from 4e:
- Avalanche dragon
- Blizzard dragon
- Earthquake dragon
- Tornado dragon
- Typhoon dragon
- Wildfire dragon
- Volcanic dragon
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