D&D 5E D&D Gem Dragons Are Officially Back

So if you're (not) like me and you don't have the time or patience to watch Spoilers & Swag, you may have missed this awesome reveal... Gem Dragons are back! And I don't just mean back in a third-party book like Matt Colville's Strongholds and Followers (great book, check it out), I mean back officially for D&D 5e.

In case you don't know, Gem Dragons are the third-wheel of dragonkind... they are not Good (Metallic) or Evil (Chromatic), they are Neutral. This makes them easily overlooked in the struggle of good vs. evil, but they've popped up here and there in previous editions.

But it looks like Gem Dragons have returned, first to promote the sale of a very expensive sapphire dice set. This little paper fold-out is included (screenshots below), complete with lore for gem dragons and a statblock for the Adult Sapphire Dragon specifically.

Of course, if you don't want to buy a pricey set of dice for a statblock... you're in luck, as Nathan Stewart reveals that everybody else will get access to it "early in 2020, where we [WotC] will have some fun ways to get that out there." So it looks like some product will be released including the Neutral Dragons, a new adventure or maybe a new monster book!

Feel free to speculate, here's the images;

 

[dave2008]

They were in the Monstrous Manual, which is 2nd edition I believe.

FYI @Urriak Uruk said: "...since 3rd..." The implication being they were in 1st, 2nd, & 3rd, but not 4th or as of yet 5th.

 

[Azzy]

I don't know if I would fully wager on a Dragons only book...but given the history of the game, there is certainly enough Dragon material for a full book, and it certainly looks like they've tipped their cards for a Dragon heavy book.

Let's not forget the Chinese-inspired "lung" dragons. If going dragon-heavy, they could easily be tapped.

 

[dave2008]

Let's not forget the Chinese-inspired "lung" dragons. If going dragon-heavy, they could easily be tapped.

And the nordic-inspired Linnorms from 2e

 

[Yaarel]

And the nordic Lindworms form 2e

Those ‘Lindworms’ are more D&D fiction, than actually Nordic.

But the idea of a snake with arms seems Nordic enough.

 

[dave2008]

Those ‘Lindworms’ are more D&D fiction, than actually Nordic.

But the idea of a snake with arms seems Nordic enough.

As they should be IMO, but I should have said "Nordic-inspired"

 

[gyor]

FYI, the bolded monsters are not 'types' per page 7 of the MM. Types still to be covered would be:

• Celestials
• Dragons
• Fey
• Monstrosities
• Oozes
• Plants
• Undead

Aberations were covered wiht the Beholders in Volos and Mind Flayers in Volos, but you could definitely do something with Aboleths as yoiu mention.

I don't see Oozes and Plants as a priority, most are sentient or form complex societies and cultures (with the exception of Killerin/Wildrin plant people).

I think the most likely 5 are Dragons (possibly including dragonborn), something Celestial (because Celestials need the attention, Celestials monsters and lore have not been explored much in 5e, possibly with a Aasimar mention), Undead, Modrons (and including constructs made by Modrons, maybe even Slaadi discussed on a conflict level with the Modrons), Lycanthropes.

 

[Yaarel]

As they should be IMO, but I should have said "Nordic inspired"

Yeah, that is why I like the suffix ‘-esque’. Super handy!

Even so, it is better to avoid a reallife name, such as a specific ethnic group or region of ethnic groups, unless the D&D version is accurate according to reallife traditions − at least to reasonable degree.

 

[ddaley]

FYI @Urriak Uruk said: "...since 3rd..." The implication being they were in 1st, 2nd, & 3rd, but not 4th or as of yet 5th.

Well, they weren't in the 1st edition monster manual... I checked. I don't consider dragon magazine to be official content for an edition.

 

[Parmandur]

Let's not forget the Chinese-inspired "lung" dragons. If going dragon-heavy, they could easily be tapped.

Yeah, if they just put out something that reprints every Dragon, Draconic and Dragon-adjacent monster (Dragonne, Lung Dragon, Dragonborn, Draconians, etc.)... that's pretty close to a book, just by length, and covers a lot of territory.

Now, what we have here is a Sapphire Dragon that has two pages, plus a two page stat block for just the Adult version. The Chromatic and Metallic Dragons took up 33 pages in the MM altogether, and I think this looks like a 16-17 page economy for the Gem Dragons would be about right.

 

[gyor]

FYI my favourite Chromatic Dragon is the Purple aka Deep Dragon, and for the metallic dragons Steel Dragon, Orchium Copper, and Mitheril Dragons. For other Dragons I like Song Dragons, Shadow Dragons, Dragon Turles, Fairy/Persaudo Dragons, Niv Mizzet (what ever he is).