Dragon stuff

[Inconsequenti-AL]

I had dragon mating rituals make a nice sidetrack in my last campaign...

I stole the basis for this from a great ideas thread a year or so ago.

Male Blue dragons build giant stone pillars near their lair. The larger the pillar, the smarter and more powerful the dragon is. So the better mating potential they have.

The dragon in question was the equivalent to an awkward 15 year old... He'd made a deal with some Yuan-Ti - they used magic to build him the mother of all towers, he'd help them out.

They defeated the dragon, but didn't realise what was up until they found his lair... covered in cushions, scented candles everywhere... and an ancient tome entitled 'How to attract a mate'. The thought of a swarm of loved up blue dragons terrified them. Had a lot of fun working out how to demolish the oversized tower!


As for eating habits, I made chromatic dragons a bit like cats. Frightened food tastes better! So, they normally play with their food before eating it. Herd food would be boring as it'd be harder to scare.

I've allowed them to use magic items, the blue from above had a cape of the mountebank as a wristband. I'd say staves and wands would be fine, if a little difficult to manipulate. Rings resize to fit the wearer. Considered allowing dragon barding, but figured that might be a bit sick.

Also included dragon furniture. Figured piles of coins and gems wouldn't be very comfortable. I went with cushions, usually with a resistance against the element of their breath weapon - just in case they have a bad dream. Dragon furniture sounds even better. Will have to work some out for use in the future.

Moving things or excavation would normally be done by slaves or willing allies. Obviously they are capable of doing the work themselves, although they're too proud and lazy for that. Older dragons could use magic, but again that would be a bit embarrasing.

 

[Jesus_marley]

Fine. Spirit bears are white. Albino black bears are also white. They're most easily distinguished by their eyes. I was only illustrating a point, but maybe polar bears were a bad example.

Looking back on my post, I see it was a bit snippy. I apologize.

 

[Gez]

Dragons are big and smart. This leaves me wandering a lot of things. Fill us in on what oyu think and ask your own questions.

Magic items:
Are dragon Wands staff sized? Can a humanoid find a way to wear a dragon ring?

A dragon may be hatched Small and die of old age Colossal (silver dragon). Other are hatched Tiny and die Gargantuan (black, brass, copper, white). Some are hatched Medium and end up Colossal (gold, red), or Small to Gargantuan (blue, bronze, green).

What's my point here? That dragons are probably the inventors of magic-items-that-resize-to-fit-their-owner. If you're going to pass through up to seven size categories, you're going to want items that will go through these seven size categories with you.

Mundane stuff:
How do they move all their stuff around? Are there dragon backpacks? Is there dragon furniture? (Surely hyperintelligent quadrapeds have some version fo the chair?) Do they ever construct their own layers?(rather than excavate or claim) Does that eman there are bog ol' dragon hammers and dragon adzes someplace?

A dragon that needs to move a large quantity of goods will have several options at his disposal. He may have portable holes in his loot. (I must remember to include a portable hole so large PCs will be unable to transport it sometime in a dragon's lair. Except maybe by stuffing it into that handy bag of holding. )

A gargantuan or colossal chromatic dragon would not hesitate much before snatching a small ship in a harbor, bring it to its lair, and use it as a travel case.

Also, all dragons have a few innate levels of sorcerer ("few" meaning "up to 19" for the most powerful great wyrms). They acquire them between ages Young and Adult, depending on the exact species. They can have some spells useful for excavating, such as stone shape (level 4) or disintegrate (level 6).

Finally, dragons are immensely powerful and charismatic. Who says "powerful" and "charismatic" also say "flocks of people wanting to benefit from the dragon's protection". A dragon won't have any trouble having a few clans or tribes or kobolds (chromatic), dwarves (bronze, silver, and gold), or gnomes (brass and copper) working for them, and each of these three races of humanoids are all skilled at creating underground complexes.

Biology:
Do they have herds they maintain to eat? Do they eat less or more frequently? Hibernate/estivate? What is dragon gestation? Eggs or live birth? Does it "Take two to tango"?

Dragons lay eggs, and are not hermaphroditic, yes. But for the other questions, it depends on the species. Dragons can live on anything, including rock. Furthermore, as highly magical creatures, feeding is not just a question of mere calories and joules. A Huge brass dragon, for example, can be fed to satiety just by licking morning dew from one cactus in his desert. A colossal gold dragon can be happy with a single pearl or a few gold pieces as his meal.

That doesn't prevent them from being able to eat 50 sheep as well if so they want. Draconic ecology is more a matter of individual taste than biology. A glutton dragon may enjoy eating a lot of meat, an ascetic one may be happy with just a few sand grains. Neither will be obese or anaemic.

In other words, it's all a question of plot hook. If the DM needs a dragon that threaten to inflict famine on a small region by devouring all cattle and even grazing whole fields, he can. If he wants a dragon that actually has hired shepherds to tend to his own cattle herd, he can as well. If he wants a dragon with a herd of elephants, or baleen, or other big beasts, he can as well. If he wants a dragon that just shapechange into a humanoid form and goes to eat at the local pizzeria, he can as well.

Relations:
Do they keep track of the whole vrother.sister/grandpa thing? Do they hang out together?

Depends heavily on the species. Lawful good dragons (bronze, silver, gold) will tend to keep close contact with their family. Chaotic good dragons (brass, copper) will be less close to their kin, but still care about them and check on them once in a while. Lawful evil dragons (blue, green) will be somewhat close to their family like LG dragons would be, but more in an attempt to be able to coerce their offsprings and weaker siblings into working for them and giving them parts of their own hoard. Chaotic evil dragon (black, red, white) will try to kill their siblings and their parents as soon as possible to claim the whole of their relatives' hoards as their own.

Bizarre:
There are chromatic dragons, does this means there can be albino chromatic dragons? What is the metallic equivalent of an albino chromatic dragon?

Although the idea is interesting, I don't think I will have albino dragons existing IMC. Anyway, the Albino Metallic Dragon would be a Tin Dragon. ("Tin" is often called fer blanc, "white iron", in French.)