D&D 5E Dragon themes

[Morrus]

So I've been thinking a bit about dragons, and what themes the various types embody. They're more than just a colour and a damage type, so here's what I came up with. I might try these out in my own games. It's just a mild extrapolation on what's there, nothing new really, and YMMV.

Red -- these guys are just all about the damage. Fire damage. Lots of fire. And damage. Even balrogs are afraid of ancient reds.

Blue -- rather than desert dwellers, what if these were 'storm' themed dragons with powers of thunderstorms and lightning? They live in high mountaintops.

Green -- these are pretty much as we known them -- swamps and poison and charm. Insidious manipulators.

Black -- darkness, horror ambushers. I'm thinking Aliens. Leaning into the horror.

White -- ice lairs scream illusion to me. Images reflected off the ice, reflected light, illusions.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Blue -- rather than desert dwellers, what if these were 'storm' themed dragons with powers of thunderstorms and lightning? They live in high mountaintops.

I really love the desert association for blue dragons myself, if you make them thunderstorm dragons I think they suddenly become drastically less interesting and more expected.

 

[embee]

White -- ice lairs scream illusion to me. Images reflected off the ice, reflected light, illusions.

I'd go a slightly different direction.

Cold and brutal (think of being mauled by a polar bear), blinding speed and power (avalanches, snowstorms) and interested in inflicting pain and madness (think of frostbite, gangrene, snow blindness, and being trapped).

 

[jmartkdr2]

I always saw blues as the BBEG wizards of the dragon world: ancient, intelligent and knowledgeable, with no real empathy - just a thirst for power.

They tend towards deserts because you get fewer distractions/rude visitors out there, but could locate themselves anywhere if they wanted to.

(Red dragons are cruel masters, but don't seem to be spellcasters per se, more like BBEG kings. They have wealth, minions, and the ability to crush those who challenge them personally with raw power, but can be outwitted. White dragons as illusionists works, but the text is more barbarian-y.)

 

[Xeviat]

The 4E roles lined up nicely with the Chromatics. Black was stalker, Blue was artillery, Green was controller, red was soldier, white was brute.

Black had darkness and blindness and stealth abilities. They robbed you of your senses and used their blindsense to still attack. Their swimming and water breathing let them get around their environment in ways most PCs couldn't.

Blue had tons of ranged attack options. Their breath was a strike of lightning that arced between targets. They could spit a lightning ball. They had a reaction ranged attack. They kept their distance and rained thunder and lightning.

Greens were manipulative. Charming, dominating, controlling. You'd possibly be fighting an ally, or at least be struggling to control yourself.

Reds were all about damage and controlling space. They could grab with their bites and claws. Older ones got a damage aura. They could burn away fire resistance. Scary stuff.

Whites were feral. They'd charge over you and shrug off attacks.

4E dragons were cool.

 

[darjr]

Ice

add isolation and blindness. Like being torn from your friends lost and snowblind in a blizzard.

 

[MNblockhead]

Green -- these are pretty much as we known them -- swamps and poison and charm. Insidious manipulators.

I prefer my green dragons to be forest dwellers, not swamp creatures. There ego wouldn't permit them to lair in a swamp and it is hard to be charming in a swamp.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

Greens: Chameleon-like, be it in social situations or in battle, use enchantment and illusion.

Whites: Artic water predators, a winged mix of orcas and polar bears.

Blacks: Mix of krakens and xenomorph. I keep the swamp theme.

Reds: I downplay the fire angle and go all-in on greed: they can transmute someone in pure gold statues, instill greed, cover themselves in armor of gold and gems (think Smaug).

Blues: I quite love the desert theme, so I tend to leave them unchanged. I do increase their use of illusions to double-down on the ''mirage'' ideas, but also make them like avid collectors of relics of the ancient pasts (''the sands of time'').

 

[fba827]

If you squint your eyes while looking sideways at dragon color characteristics, they could (sort of) align with magic the gathering mana color spell characteristics. Ie red is very direct damage; white is very defensive; green gives off that rampage feeling; blue has some water/air themes; black has that murky swamp feel

but anyway that’s not exactly the question of this thread. Apologies for the tangent.

 

[MasterTrancer]

Black -- darkness, horror ambushers. I'm thinking Aliens. Leaning into the horror.

I love the Xenomorph-like Dragon