D&D 5E Do you like or dislike Song & Steeal Dragons being demoted to Folklore?

[Vaalingrade]

I wish there was more stuff that was "just folklore" in D&D. Having everything officially statted up really takes a lot of the mystery and wonder out of the game (for me at least).

If it doesn't have stats, how do we invade its home and mug it?

 

[Steampunkette]

Ah. Less that there's too many dragons, and more that they are the Wrong Dragon? That I can understand.

When I next run a thing that needs dragons, I'm apt to specifically discard the idea that the various types of dragons are species that breed true.

Yeah. The Wrong Dragon is a way to put it.

And, like, you can scrape off the Mayo, but some of that flavor stays on the bred no matter how hard you scrape. And it's really hard to describe the swamp-dwelling Wight Dragon (Which often look like bloated frog-like beasties) when everyone hears White and immediately jumps to "Shouldn't they be in a colder climate?" before you can get to describing their bulbous shape.

'Cause the Mayo just gets -everywhere-...

 

[Parmandur]

I think it's actually a pretty elegant solution to the bloat of prior editions. I mean, these are magical shapeshifters, after all.

 

[pukunui]

I just happen to prefer monstrous dragons rather than all dragons being hyper-intelligent immortal companions and the like and Wizards practically never wants to do those, anymore...

Me too! That's one of the things I like about the Dragon Age setting.

Yet another reason to consider switching to the Dragon Age RPG ... (I've got the original three box sets from Green Ronin but have never had a chance to use them.)

If it doesn't have stats, how do we invade its home and mug it?

You don't!

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

Yeah. The Wrong Dragon is a way to put it.

And, like, you can scrape off the Mayo, but some of that flavor stays on the bred no matter how hard you scrape. And it's really hard to describe the swamp-dwelling Wight Dragon (Which often look like bloated frog-like beasties) when everyone hears White and immediately jumps to "Shouldn't they be in a colder climate?" before you can get to describing their bulbous shape.

'Cause the Mayo just gets -everywhere-...

Um, that is a language issue, not a lore issue.

You could easily run any dragon in the MM as a beast and no one would no. There is no Mayo there really.

 

[Umbran]

And, like, you can scrape off the Mayo, but some of that flavor stays on the bred no matter how hard you scrape.

Yeah. Well, they have decades of precedent that you know they have to work with. Suddenly breaking from that wasn't going to happen.

 

[Umbran]

You could easily run any dragon in the MM as a beast and no one would no. There is no Mayo there really.

Let us not pretend that old-hand players have no expectations and do not leap to conclusions - they totally do. We, as GMs, often have to do some work to be original and avoid or subvert those expectations.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

That's like saying, "This deli has too many kinds of sandwiches."

If you can find the sandwich/dragon that you need quickly enough, the mere existence of others on the menu should not have much of an impact, should it?

Now I need to stat up a sandwich dragon.

Ah, but no chef can make 100 perfect sandwiches right? What if this deli does have a huge menu, but only 5 of the sandwiches are actually good while the rest are just kind of slapped together?

I do agree that more dragons with excellent, different stats would be great. But considering the size of 5E books, there can only be so much content in it without pushing the books beyond their "acceptable size" for WotC publishing. So more dragons competes with the remaining dragons getting more lore or lairs or PC options, etc.

Adding two more dragons in this huge book, doesn't bother me. But WotC has to draw the line somewhere, otherwise we would be seeing pink, brown, yellow, catastrophic, adamantium, orium, mithral, obsidian, electrum, pearl, gray, orange... the list goes on and on and on. So some of these got to be removed, and the more you add, the more they compete for other content. So is a book of just statblocks of dragons better than a book mixed with statblocks and other material?

So you know, not as simple as "more choice is always better."

 

[Urriak Uruk]

Don't really care much to be honest. The text leaves it open to them being separate or not, depending on your interpretation.

Would it be nice to have it? Sure, why not. But I like the stuff they've chosen to put in the book more than either of these, so I'm totally cool this is where they drew the line.

Like, if I got Steel/Song dragons but didn't get draconians, I'd be more bummed.

 

[cbwjm]

Oh no! I better tell the steel dragon in my homebrew setting that they're just a folktale!