Dragons, Dragon Lairs, And Defenses

[SHARK]

Greetings!

Dragons, Dragon Lairs, And Defenses

Dragon lairs in published products always seem to be lacking. How do you approach creating Dragon lairs in your campaign? It seems that Dragons should have highly developed defenses for their lairs, as well as themselves. Of course, it also seems to me that if you presuppose a thousand year old dragon, then their treasure should be enormous. In published adventures, the dragon hordes always seem to be somewhat impoverished, if you think for a moment on what a Dragon can really accomplish. Dragons themselves are such horrifying creatures that they can destroy entire armies, and loot huge cities. Dragons can dominate and attract armies of followers to sweep before them all that stand in their way. I think that Dragons should be more involved in the campaign world, instead of merely hanging out in some cavern waiting for the player characters to come and slay them and take their treasure!

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

 

[Carnifex]

Greetings!



In published adventures, the dragon hordes always seem to be somewhat impoverished, if you think for a moment on what a Dragon can really accomplish. Dragons themselves are such horrifying creatures that they can destroy entire armies, and loot huge cities.

Thing is, once they've razed a city, a dragon is going to have a long, tiresome and difficult task going round the wreckage of the entire place to try and glean the treasure from it.

IMC, dragons are involved in the campaign a great deal. The religion of Urazel maintains close ties with a number of red dragons that aid the Church. The tribe of blue dragons under the command of the matriarch Sharazz Longfang effectively rule a mountain range and exact tolls from those who pass through. The elves of House Fayen have recently allied with a green dragon to attempt to kill two black dragons. These are a few examples; some of the dragons operating in my campaign are so secretive and cunning that others do not realise they are dragons at all.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Thing is, once they've razed a city, a dragon is going to have a long, tiresome and difficult task going round the wreckage of the entire place to try and glean the treasure from it.

Somehow, the idea of a dragon going through everyone's pockets for loose change just seems ... wrong.

As enticing as Smaug's hoard might be, I much prefer the smaller amounts that seem reasonable. Either a dragon took over a fortress/stronghold, and it's treasure became his, or else its treasure consists of all the treasure from all the heros who atttempted to slay it over the years and died trying.

My vote for best-designed dragon lair goes to Wormy .

 

[mystraschosen]

You do make some valid points,However keep in mind that rewarding your players overmuch(although it takes a heroic and sometimes lucky effort to defeat most worthy dragons)would unbalance the game you are trying to dm.I agree that fictionally that dragons should have large if not enormous hordes,it just makes sense eh?...also some module descriptions of dragon lairs are lacking.It all comes down to your imagination,it is up to you to create what you feel is right.
Dragons frequently are involved in campaign worlds,let me cite the case of a dragon of faerun(can't remember the exact name as I don't have my books in front of me)who adopts the shapes of different weapons and equipment,in a effort to travel the world seeing and learning new things.Unbeknownst to the owners of said weapons and equipment might I add.Now In my humble opinion that is a great idea,don't you think.On the other hand although Dragons could dominate huge masses to fight and work for them ,they are usually solitary creatures jealous of others of their kind,and with no time for "lesser beings" i.e. humans ,dwarves,etc...so on and so on.

 

[Hand of Evil]

I look at the dragon and look at what he has immunity to.

Take a Red Dragon, he has immunity to fire so his lair would be around fire to the point that the heat from it would cause damage to any invader (they would have to find some way to overcome it and even if they did how about their weapons, armor and such? Think heat metal.). The dragon would use monsters that would have the advanage of being in the heat.

Dragons in my games also clear cut lands around their lairs, this performs two functions, 1) to allow them to see vast areas around them, 2) increases heard animals to come eat the grass and allows the dragon to use flight to advanage.

 

[willpax]

IMC dragons are more than just "involved in politics"--several are worshipped as quasi-gods.

Trying to take on a dragon is the equivalent of trying to conquer a nation. Dragons, aside from their fearsome individual powers, attract many individuals who derive their power from the implied threat lurking in the background the same way a U.S. diplomat achieves authority not from personal power, but from the economic and military might of the nation he or she represents.

To even get to the sanctuary of the dragon itself, you would have to sneak around, fight through, or otherwise circumvent thousands of people, many of whom see the dragon-ruler as a preferable alternative to the other potential rulers in the neighborhood (at least you KNOW where you stand in terms of power relative to a dragon).

There is an area along a major waterway where the mere threat of a dragon destroying your ship is enough to extract passage tolls from all travelers. As intelligent creatures, I don't see why dragons would not avail themselves of the benefits of followers, institutional power structures, and income-producing schemes, especially if said followers could handle the busywork, allowing the dragon the benefit.

On the other hand, dragons would be no more immune to the downsides of institutional power--the paranoia, the frustrations with incompetence, and the real limitations on their abilities to effect their will (however far off those limitations may actually be, everyone's desires outstrip their abilities). These situational dilemmas actually go a long way to explaining the reputation of dragons as touchy and hostile--like every other dictator, their position forces their behavior to a certain extent.

Of course, I have a rather specific idea about dragons, and they are heavily involved in the culture and symbol structures of my world (representing individual power and desire, opposed to communal aid and selfless service). This model may not work well in other worlds.

 

[blackshirt5]

Dragon's Lairs IMW are always very well protected, Dragons have come to realize that they do coexist with many others(although most, especially the chromatics, still consider themselves superior to the mortal races), and that a lot of people are not fond of them(or worse, want to control them, which is very possible IMW thanks to certain magic items which are craftable by the mortal races), so that a Dragon's Lair has to have a lot of defenses around it, so they spend quite a bit of time making sure that their lairs are secure, their mortal lackeys are still loyal, people who worship them aren't getting ready to use some of their inherent divinity against them, etc.

That's also why some dragons don't have as huge a horde as some others. They are willing to spend some of it to have traps crafted, lackeys paid and equipped, etc.

 

[Angcuru]

also keep in mind that dragons don't just sit around waiting for adventurers. Remember that polymorph ability? Perhaps a dragon likes to keep his stash hidden by the facade of Nobility, I.E. his wealth is well-guarded inside of his estate, or perhaps he keeps the more valuable and powerful sections of his horde locked away in a vault. They don't just leave it lying on a cave floor for centuries at a time!

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

I think the idea of the Dragon's Hoard is somewhat misapplied. Think of Smaug from "The Hobbit". He didn't so much accumulate a hoard as merely take one over. I think of dragons as going for the one big score, rather than looting caravans repeatedly for table scraps and copper pieces.

I do generally agree with you on the subject of treasure for dragons, however. It is awfully low for the big guys.

 

[MarauderX]

IMCs Dragons are more loners than anything else. I view them as being intellegent and experienced enough to realize that there is always a bigger fish, somewhere, that can take them on if they try to push things too much. Yeah they want to amass lots o' loot, but they know that most people are aware of how rich they are.

Also a dragon weilds her treasure as a tool, to fascinate those foolish enough to think they are actually going to even touch it to paying off those who defeat her. I would say that since a dragon knows her power grows with time that she would tend to have extreme patience when it came to politics and ruling the surrounding lands. Only when something that threatens her directly will she be interested, otherwise the wars of and affairs of the humanoids tend to be beneath her attention, as they live less than half a century, typically.

As they are vastly more intelligent, they are likely to be fully aware of how man behaves and what his motivations are as well as how to use them to her advantage if she feels their alignments do not match.

Of course, that's just IMC.