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;

 

[vecna00]

No, the last iteration was so badly received they threw out the entire design. We haven't seen a new take yet.

Was that the case? I know Mearls was working on a different version, but I didn't know the Mystic was that badly received. I mostly just remember the complaints that it could do "Everything."

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

A Council of Wyrms would need its own setting, and this would mean fans creating their own version, for example the minidragon, a pseudodragon's cousin from AD&D 2nd Ed Dragon Magazine, or the dragons from the Pathfinder SRD, and too many dragons means less space, less preys to be hunted, and fight for the territory. If we are lucky this setting will include the crystal sphere where to put other species in the rest of celestial objects.

And maybe they should add a new class as the dragon shaman, the dragonfire adept, or the dracolyte (a 3.5 prestige class) as base class, because some players want to be dragons. And the giants could be the right nemesis, natural enemies as vampires vs werewolves. And this setting could be perfect for a new class as pokemon trainer or digimon tamer, a popular videogame subgenre now.

 

[Parmandur]

Was that the case? I know Mearls was working on a different version, but I didn't know the Mystic was that badly received. I mostly just remember the complaints that it could do "Everything."

Yup, the Happy Fun Hour stuff was the back to the drawing board phase: they threw out the old Mystic.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

And this setting could be perfect for a new class as pokemon trainer or digimon tamer, a popular videogame subgenre now.

You mean, the ranger ?

 

[Salthorae]

A Council of Wyrms would need its own setting

I actually think that Argonnessen, the Dragon Continent of Eberron, that has never really been detailed, would be a perfect place to drop a revised 5e version of the Council of Wyrms.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

I am thinking about Chris Perkins' homegrown world, "Iomandra", but this is mostly oceanic, without great continents. I have imagine Io's blood islands as a demiplane to be used by dragons as their own version of Sigil, to travel to different crystal spheres. This would allow new sources of adventures, for example they explore a new world ruled by lungs (oriental lungs), whose true origin is ordinary mortals who used special magic to "digievolution", or other discovered, explored, conquered and controlled by outer dragons, and secret cults asking help to primal powers are blessed with the gift to "digievolution" to giants, and after a rebellion these become the new tyrants, but now some primal powers are starting to give mystical powers to members of secret fey brotherhoods.

 

[Mecheon]

I had an idea of what to do about a playing-as-dragons setting, and while there is a place for the "Fighting things that pose you a challenge", you're a dragon. Gotta match that up with "Overthrowing kingdoms and getting them to work for you"

Mind the ideas I was floating around were less of it being really traditional D&D and more like where each player is a dragon off doing their own thing and sort of cross-scheming to out-do each other without actual violence. So uh, not really D&D at all.

 

[FlyingChihuahua]

Oh hey, this may mean psionics.

 

[Parmandur]

Oh hey, this may mean psionics.

Maaaaaybe, but the Psionic abilities in this state block are in line with older 5E Psionic monsters like the Mindflayer or Gith.

 

[vecna00]

Maaaaaybe, but the Psionic abilities in this state block are in line with older 5E Psionic monsters like the Mindflayer or Gith.

Still could happen soon-ish!