Do flying red dragons leave contrails?

[Nifft]

A flying red dragon might leave a smoke trail, but not a contrail.

-- N

 

[Ambrus]

what about dragon droppings? I imagine the flying dragon leaves a fairly large dragon doo behind.

Well, dragons can eat virtually anything, including rocks, and gain sustenance from it. Since there's little nutritional value in rocks, I imagine that a dragon's digestive system is exceedingly efficient in breaking down matter and making use of as much of it as it can. The Draconomicon describes an organ, the draconis fundamentum, which sounds like something of a magical fusion reactor; taking ingested matter and converting it directly into magical energy that fuels the dragon's body. After this kind of process, I imagine that there is little waste matter left to excrete. Consequently, I've always imagined that dragon droppings are minuscule and very hard. I've described them to PCs in game as a small pile of clay marbles.

Since air resistance is lower the higher you go (as is lift), I've assumed dragons would fly as high as they could for sake of efficiency.

Well since some birds can manage to fly over 30,000 feet I suppose a dragon could do the same. The only problem I imagine is that it gets colder and colder the higher you go; a development that fire breathing dragons most likely wouldn't enjoy overmuch. They may also not enjoy being short of breath.

 

[Sejs]

No, I'd venture to say that they do not.

 

[Nyeshet]

Hmm, I think it would depend greatly on the nature of dragons in your campaign world. Personlly, I would think not - or perhaps only in exceedingly perfect (ie: rare) circumstances (for such a development to occur). As for the dragon doo question, does anyone remember the first meeting with the White Dragon in Lunar? The adventurers, I think, may have been a little surprised by the source of the 'diamond' in the dragon's lair. Of course, the dragon's response was worded in such a way that they may not have realized it, even while the player did.

 

[Crothian]

Only when they want to

 

[Pure Puppet]

My first thought upon seeing the thread's title was as follows:

"Get that poor Dragon some Pepto-Bismol!"

And, yeah, I remember that scene from Lunar. What really cracked me up was when they were trying to sell it, the shopkeeper asked why it smelled so funny. The game manual even referred to it as a 'Butt-Nugget'.

God, I wish I was making that up.

Also, I feel The Shaman's views of dragons leaving contrails is logical and consistent with how he portrays dragons, and I congratulate him on a very nicely done view of dragons.

 

[The Shaman]

Also, I feel The Shaman's views of dragons leaving contrails is logical and consistent with how he portrays dragons, and I congratulate him on a very nicely done view of dragons.

Thank you, Pure Puppet.

 

[Cergorach]

In the news: Pedestrian killed by falling dragon droppings.

*grins evily*

I suddenly feel a plot device comming up. Family of said pedestrian contacts our party of 'heroes' to kill tjhe dragon that dropped 'something', they can't bear the stain upon their honor. Hmm... I see an adventure here ;-)

 

[Dinkeldog]

Remember not to inject the real world into our fantasy. Especially if it's racist, thanks.

 

[reveal]

Remember not to inject the real world into our fantasy. Especially if it's racist, thanks.

My apologies to those who mistook my joke for racist commentary. It was definitely not. Again, I apologize.