Creature by Poll #7 - Dragon Discussion!

[Conaill]

Yeah, I guess the way it's in the file would work. I just wanted to simplify it a bit. I.e. whenever the target would otherwise get disintegrated, it gets nullified instead. No extra rules, just nullify instead of disintegrate.

The "wouldn't want to keep track of the total amount of damage" comment referred to the new version you suggested: "When a creature suffers damage equal to its normal maximum hit points from the breath weapon ..." That makes it sound like you should keep track of the *total* damage done by the breath weapon. So even if the target had gotten healed in between, one more hit with the breath weapon and *fwoosh*! That would just be way too much bookkeeping.

 

[Knight Otu]

Yeah, I guess the way it's in the file would work. I just wanted to simplify it a bit. I.e. whenever the target would otherwise get disintegrated, it gets nullified instead. No extra rules, just nullify instead of disintegrate.

Without a save, you mean?

The "wouldn't want to keep track of the total amount of damage" comment referred to the new version you suggested: "When a creature suffers damage equal to its normal maximum hit points from the breath weapon ..." That makes it sound like you should keep track of the *total* damage done by the breath weapon. So even if the target had gotten healed in between, one more hit with the breath weapon and *fwoosh*! That would just be way too much bookkeeping.

As I said, I meant that as a single blast from the breath weapon, so if you have a max of 100 hp, and a single breath would deal 104 points of damage, nullification would kick in. I guess I have been confused by that "only" in your post.

 

[SpuneDagr]

This creature looks really great! It's always nice to see the creative juices really flowing out here!

Has anybody read any of the Dragonlance books? In... I think it was Dragons of Summer Flame, there were these demons that destroyed people and erased any memory of them.

Also, in the description of the creature, you may want to stay away from the (somewhat unimaginative) explaination of "a magic ritual gone horribly wrong." It seems that's how EVERYTHING is created in D&D.

-It could be a servant of Nothinus, the God of the Void.
-Or an anti-matter being from a parallel anti-universe.
-Or the spawn of an ancient dragon-god, whose body rots in the astral plane, forgotten by his followers from ancient days. Kinda ties in the Nullification breath. "You've forgotten us? Now all will forget you!"

 

[Knight Otu]

Also, in the description of the creature, you may want to stay away from the (somewhat unimaginative) explaination of "a magic ritual gone horribly wrong." It seems that's how EVERYTHING is created in D&D.

Well, it didn't exactly go wrong, if it happened at all. But yes, you're right, it is somewhat overused.

-It could be a servant of Nothinus, the God of the Void.
-Or an anti-matter being from a parallel anti-universe.
-Or the spawn of an ancient dragon-god, whose body rots in the astral plane, forgotten by his followers from ancient days. Kinda ties in the Nullification breath. "You've forgotten us? Now all will forget you!"

Of these, I like the dragon-god idea best.

"One thing that is known about the XXX is that they commonly meet at an enormous dragon-shaped rock floating through the astral plane, which seems to have religious meaning to them. It seems likely that it is the body of a forgotten dragon god, dead so long that not even the living dragon gods remember it."

How about adding that to the description and leaving the ritual theory intact?

 

[SpuneDagr]

I'm a big fan of incorporating possible plot-hooks into the monster description. I like the mystery of it all. I mean, who's really gonna know
the truth?

 

[Conaill]

Let's make it a rumor. Rumors are good.

It probably shouldn't be a very widely known rumor either, considering how nasty these critters are. There's not going to be too many live witnesses when a bunch of them congregate on the astral plane...

"Some say that the XXX are the result of a draconic ritual gone wrong. Trying to combine the best of the ageless traits of the astral and the time of the material plane, a powerful chromatic dragon devised a ritual to allow it to live forever. But for some reason, the ritual failed, and the XXX are now caught in between the two planes.

Other rumors say that the XXX sometimes meet at an enormous dragon-shaped rock floating through the astral plane, which seems to have religious meaning to them. It seems likely that it is the body of a forgotten dragon god, dead so long that not even the living dragon gods remember it."

 

[Krishnath]

Question: Alignment?

 

[Knight Otu]

Answer: Neutral evil.

Yes, it is wrong in the doc I have attached. I thought I had managed to get rid of all leftovers of the red dragon...

Rumor is good. Mystery is good. That will happen.

 

[Conaill]

The rift aspect makes it seem more Chaotic than Neutral, but I'm not particularly attached to that alignment. Chaotic alignment is too often used as an excuse to play the creature stupid anyway. NE is fine with me.

 

[Knight Otu]

I don't quite see the chaos aspect, myself.

Note that the original concept put the creature at a neutral evil alignment, but gave no alignment frequency. We could thus make it usually ne, or always e (usually n), or something like that.