D&D 5E Dragon Age Categories: The Poll!

[dave2008]

Shouldn't the ages you know mean something?

A wyrmling dragon is basically a intelligent monster. They area bout mentally as smart as human children with the higher tier dragons being like child prodigies and the lower tier ones like dumb kids.

A young dragon is when all dragons have at least matched or surpassed the minds of the most basic mortals of decent education... maybe. They have not experienced the length of life to truly feel about time. Young dragons are much like humans in dragon bodies.

Adult is when a dragon has full control of all their dragon aspects. However this is just recent and they are just now deciding on what they are doing with their life.

Mature/Old dragons have spent enough time in one place and stopped fighting foes actively enough to start developing their inner sorcery full.

Elder dragons have implemented the basis of their long term plans. They have created a permanent lair or two and fully remodeled them. Elder dragons have minions and connections that are more that simple hobbies and trophies but items of worth.

Ancient dragons is where few dragons get to after they have completed their main goals in life. This is where some dragon get bored and sleep.

Wyrms are bored old lizard kitties.

1	Wyrmling
2	Young	Unlocks Multiattack
3	Juvenile	Unlocks Frighting Presence	May start hording. Acts like a mortal.
4	Young Adult	Unlocks Legendary Resistance	Can lay eggs
5	Adult	Unlocks Legendary Actions and basic Magic	Can make special lairs
6	Mature	Unlocks Full Sorcery and Elementalism	Might support organizations, causes, and minions fully
7	Old	Unlocks Elementalism and some lair actions
8	Elder	Unlocks all liar actions	Has fully upgraded Permanent lairs
9	Ancient		Stops reproducing
10	Wyrm

I agree with your concept, just not the execution I want to determine the # of categories and then determine what they mean and what attributes the dragons get.

 

[dave2008]

it had all the 2E ones but Great Wyrm was followed by Ancient and then Legendary. The last category was what the dragon overlords like Malystryx were. I think iirc Malys was over 400 feet with a 500 feet wingspan.

FYI, what was called "Ancient" in 3e (and my chart) was called "Venerable" in 2e. So they didn't have two "Ancient" age categories - just wanted to clarify.

 

[QuentinGeorge]

FYI, what was called "Ancient" in 3e (and my chart) was called "Venerable" in 2e. So they didn't have two "Ancient" age categories - just wanted to clarify.

Yeah SAGA had Venerable and Ancient as separate, like 2E.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

Thank you for the input! I'm a little confused, do you prefer #1 or #7? Not the actual names, but the category arrangement?

Yeah, I was a little confusing. #1

 

[Minigiant]

I agree with your concept, just not the execution I want to determine the # of categories and then determine what they mean and what attributes the dragons get.

I can get that. Either way works.
The only drawback of Categories first is the temptation to "check grids and fill boxes". I don't see the point of having 2 different dragon stat blocks of same things but at different levels. The dragon age categories should mean something and it should feel organic and not forced.

 

[TheBoredGM]

Shouldn't the ages you know mean something?

A wyrmling dragon is basically a intelligent monster. They area bout mentally as smart as human children with the higher tier dragons being like child prodigies and the lower tier ones like dumb kids.

A young dragon is when all dragons have at least matched or surpassed the minds of the most basic mortals of decent education... maybe. They have not experienced the length of life to truly feel about time. Young dragons are much like humans in dragon bodies.

Adult is when a dragon has full control of all their dragon aspects. However this is just recent and they are just now deciding on what they are doing with their life.

Mature/Old dragons have spent enough time in one place and stopped fighting foes actively enough to start developing their inner sorcery full.

Elder dragons have implemented the basis of their long term plans. They have created a permanent lair or two and fully remodeled them. Elder dragons have minions and connections that are more that simple hobbies and trophies but items of worth.

Ancient dragons is where few dragons get to after they have completed their main goals in life. This is where some dragon get bored and sleep.

Wyrms are bored old lizard kitties.

1	Wyrmling
2	Young	Unlocks Multiattack
3	Juvenile	Unlocks Frighting Presence	May start hording. Acts like a mortal.
4	Young Adult	Unlocks Legendary Resistance	Can lay eggs
5	Adult	Unlocks Legendary Actions and basic Magic	Can make special lairs
6	Mature	Unlocks Full Sorcery and Elementalism	Might support organizations, causes, and minions fully
7	Old	Unlocks Elementalism and some lair actions
8	Elder	Unlocks all liar actions	Has fully upgraded Permanent lairs
9	Ancient		Stops reproducing
10	Wyrm

Interesting.
I didn't put special abilities into my own chart, it would be too big.

 

[dave2008]

I can get that. Either way works.
The only drawback of Categories first is the temptation to "check grids and fill boxes". I don't see the point of having 2 different dragon stat blocks of same things but at different levels. The dragon age categories should mean something and it should feel organic and not forced.

I agree completely. There will be a progression through the ages without a doubt (another reason I want to keep the list small). I also want the different types of dragons to feel different and not all be the same (I am looking at you MM).

 

[dave2008]

Interesting.
I didn't put special abilities into my own chart, it would be too big.

well unless you want to create a chart for all 10 types of chromatics and metallics, I wouldn't do it. Each type of dragon should be unique IMO.

That is the problem with a big chart. At some point it becomes unwieldy and it just easier / better to have individual stat blocks.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Actually I am not fond of the dragons in the MME. He really didn't so anything interesting with them IMO. I will be posting my own designs on these forums (5e Monster Updates), I have drafts of the Elder, Ancient, and Great Wyrm Red dragons up, but I will update them after this poll.

When it comes to MME, he was just filling in age categories, so he couldn't make those more interesting than the default MM ones, or it would beg the question - why are young adult dragons more mechanically interesting than adult dragons? So the young adult, mature adult, and the juvenile (which is in MME2) are perfectly fine for what they are in comparison to the official dragon age categories. Now, he could have alternatively spiced up the default MM age categories with some extra powers, but that's a different story. And he's implied that he may do a MME3 in the near future, which could include such variants.

So, if we include the MM age categories, and the MME and MME2 categories, that makes seven, so all we really need now (in my opinion of course) is a great wyrm age category with mythic actions for the most powerful and feared dragons in existence. So, for me (and for Dick Van Patten - I'm really dating myself here), eight is enough.

 

[dave2008]

so all we really need now (in my opinion of course) is a great wyrm age category with mythic actions for the most powerful and feared dragons in existence.

Oh, you mean like this: Great Wyrm Red Dragon

I do plan to update my dragons after the poll is complete.