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David Noonan on D&D Complexity
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<blockquote data-quote="Mark Hope" data-source="post: 3119576" data-attributes="member: 27051"><p>I was interested to read that spellcasting is seen as adding unwanted complexity to dragons. Dragons in earlier editions had little or no spellcasting abilities at all. I remember reading several letters in <em>Dragon</em>'s Forum pages (and even a few articles) that bemoaned the fact that dragons were just big scaly flamethrowers with claws and teeth. Along with the whole movement to have them presented as intelligent, ancient opponents who would more often act from behind the scenes than jump out from behind a rock and eat people, came a movement to have them become better spellcasters. </p><p></p><p>So dragons in 1e were more magical than in the original game, dragons in 2e were better spellcasters (and bigger) than in 1e, and 3e dragons have racked size and spellcasting power up another notch. </p><p></p><p>I had the impression that this upscale was happening in response to fan desires for a more spell-casting dragon, and I think that it's interesting to read that this is now being seen as a design-problem. Be careful what you wish for... <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite2" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=";)" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Mark Hope, post: 3119576, member: 27051"] I was interested to read that spellcasting is seen as adding unwanted complexity to dragons. Dragons in earlier editions had little or no spellcasting abilities at all. I remember reading several letters in [i]Dragon[/i]'s Forum pages (and even a few articles) that bemoaned the fact that dragons were just big scaly flamethrowers with claws and teeth. Along with the whole movement to have them presented as intelligent, ancient opponents who would more often act from behind the scenes than jump out from behind a rock and eat people, came a movement to have them become better spellcasters. So dragons in 1e were more magical than in the original game, dragons in 2e were better spellcasters (and bigger) than in 1e, and 3e dragons have racked size and spellcasting power up another notch. I had the impression that this upscale was happening in response to fan desires for a more spell-casting dragon, and I think that it's interesting to read that this is now being seen as a design-problem. Be careful what you wish for... ;) [/QUOTE]
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