Fanny (bum) packs (bags).
Dragons: how do they carry treasure?
- Thread starter taliesin15
- Start date
taliesin15
First Post
mustrum:
I definitely like the idea of some Dragons having kobold worshippers. I had one scenario where all one pathetic tribe could do was capture a Silver Dragon Wyrmling, but they could only keep it chained up. I'd also like to have some sort of Dragon with Sorceror worshippers. What I'd really like to do with it is have a fairly high level Red Dragon running a kind of Sorceror school. I'm thinking of modifying the rules a bit for this purpose--it jibes well with that thing in the PH about Sorcerors having the "blood of Dragons" in their veins. Seems like one of the obvious ways that Sorcerors would have training. Otherwise, in previous campaigns, tutors for Sorcerors seems to always be problematic. Another idea I had is that many societies held dragons in high esteem, almost sacred. I'm wondering what people thought about Dragons being worshipped as Demigods by Humans and other Demi-humans, not because or intimidation or threat of violence, but maybe a bit out of awe and even some kind of blend of mystical fervor and love?
nightson:
Yeah, I was kind of kidding about gold melting, though have often thought that say Red Dragons might like to add things like Habanero peppers to their diets, and maybe large vats of Everclear.
olgar:
On purses and moneybelts--a Wizard recently returned from a Renaissance Faire on the East Coast tells me also that Couture bejewelled codpieces doubling as money purses made a big splash on the runway for the Fall Fashion show. Fashion critics suggest this is a kind of retro-nostalgia move hearkening back to heyday of Gene Simmons' costumes for the band Kiss in the 1970s.
I definitely like the idea of some Dragons having kobold worshippers. I had one scenario where all one pathetic tribe could do was capture a Silver Dragon Wyrmling, but they could only keep it chained up. I'd also like to have some sort of Dragon with Sorceror worshippers. What I'd really like to do with it is have a fairly high level Red Dragon running a kind of Sorceror school. I'm thinking of modifying the rules a bit for this purpose--it jibes well with that thing in the PH about Sorcerors having the "blood of Dragons" in their veins. Seems like one of the obvious ways that Sorcerors would have training. Otherwise, in previous campaigns, tutors for Sorcerors seems to always be problematic. Another idea I had is that many societies held dragons in high esteem, almost sacred. I'm wondering what people thought about Dragons being worshipped as Demigods by Humans and other Demi-humans, not because or intimidation or threat of violence, but maybe a bit out of awe and even some kind of blend of mystical fervor and love?
nightson:
Yeah, I was kind of kidding about gold melting, though have often thought that say Red Dragons might like to add things like Habanero peppers to their diets, and maybe large vats of Everclear.
olgar:
On purses and moneybelts--a Wizard recently returned from a Renaissance Faire on the East Coast tells me also that Couture bejewelled codpieces doubling as money purses made a big splash on the runway for the Fall Fashion show. Fashion critics suggest this is a kind of retro-nostalgia move hearkening back to heyday of Gene Simmons' costumes for the band Kiss in the 1970s.
I'll vote for dragon minions.
Sure, I could see a dragon carrying off a highly-valuable piece of treasure in its claws or mouth (magic sword, relic, etc). However, for all that gold? Just scare up some local monsters to do it for you.
It doesn't even have to be kobolds. Local bandits might do the dragon's dirty work, in exchange for protection from the local Law.
Dragons are supposed to be obsessed with power, and you don't have any power if you have to haul your goods around yourself. Seriously, a dragon is going to attack a caravan and then drag a wagon, by itself, miles and miles to its lair?
Why wouldn't the dragon land in front of the caravan and demand that the people reroute their goods to his layer instead... and maybe it wont eat them when they're done.
Sure, I could see a dragon carrying off a highly-valuable piece of treasure in its claws or mouth (magic sword, relic, etc). However, for all that gold? Just scare up some local monsters to do it for you.
It doesn't even have to be kobolds. Local bandits might do the dragon's dirty work, in exchange for protection from the local Law.
Dragons are supposed to be obsessed with power, and you don't have any power if you have to haul your goods around yourself. Seriously, a dragon is going to attack a caravan and then drag a wagon, by itself, miles and miles to its lair?
Why wouldn't the dragon land in front of the caravan and demand that the people reroute their goods to his layer instead... and maybe it wont eat them when they're done.
In my games, dragons are pretty darn rare and thought to be unique.
The 'Red Dragon' is a centuries old ruler of a mountain kingdom of kobolds and fire giants, with mameluke-style slave armies of hobgoblins, and a court filled with his consorts and many generations of his half-dragon or dragon-blooded spawn. If his armies take loot, they carry it back and bring him a share.
The 'Blue Dragon' has no known minions, and is an elemental force of nature that terrorizes shipping lanes, sinking ships, raising storms and basically wreaking havoc. Not only is she not known to take treasure from the ships she sinks, she isn't even known to eat anything. She just appears in the sky, trailing thunderclouds in her wake, destroys everything in sight and then flies off.
The 'White Dragon' is served by Frost Giants (although the Frost Giants have a different view of the relationship, seeing the White Dragon as a wild attack dog that they keep happy with sacrifices of food and treasure, giving them a massively powerful, but barely controlled, weapon). It's only concern is food, and it usually hunts mammoths and whales, as it's hunger is never-ending. Any treasures that it's giant 'servants' give it is ignored, and ends up rimed over and buried in ice.
The 'Green Dragon' is all but unknown, even among her servants, at least, not known to be a dragon, as she lives as the immortal elf-queen of the Singing Woods, surrounded by her sycophantic court of minstels and courtiers and advisors and socialites. They flutter and dance for her pleasure, and intrigue and gossip and tear each other down for her amusement, a people so long rotted away in spirit as to be inconsequential politically, and yet convinced of nothing so much as their own grandeur. Her treasures are vast and ornate, sculpted by the generations of elven suitors who have come before her, dazzled by her grace and wisdom, and, like their fathers before them, poisoned in mind and spirit and flesh alike by her breathy whispers.
The 'Black Dragon' lives in a blighted swamp, served by savage tribes of lizardfolk and also by hordes of undead. As with every dragon save the Blue, anything he wants carried home, is carried home, and he doesn't have to lift a scaly claw in the process.
I'm not a big fan of the flying lizards of the Realms, who get blown out of the sky by the dozens during the average Dragonrage. How they get treasure home is beyond me. Perhaps local cultists agree to carry stuff for them...
The 'Red Dragon' is a centuries old ruler of a mountain kingdom of kobolds and fire giants, with mameluke-style slave armies of hobgoblins, and a court filled with his consorts and many generations of his half-dragon or dragon-blooded spawn. If his armies take loot, they carry it back and bring him a share.
The 'Blue Dragon' has no known minions, and is an elemental force of nature that terrorizes shipping lanes, sinking ships, raising storms and basically wreaking havoc. Not only is she not known to take treasure from the ships she sinks, she isn't even known to eat anything. She just appears in the sky, trailing thunderclouds in her wake, destroys everything in sight and then flies off.
The 'White Dragon' is served by Frost Giants (although the Frost Giants have a different view of the relationship, seeing the White Dragon as a wild attack dog that they keep happy with sacrifices of food and treasure, giving them a massively powerful, but barely controlled, weapon). It's only concern is food, and it usually hunts mammoths and whales, as it's hunger is never-ending. Any treasures that it's giant 'servants' give it is ignored, and ends up rimed over and buried in ice.
The 'Green Dragon' is all but unknown, even among her servants, at least, not known to be a dragon, as she lives as the immortal elf-queen of the Singing Woods, surrounded by her sycophantic court of minstels and courtiers and advisors and socialites. They flutter and dance for her pleasure, and intrigue and gossip and tear each other down for her amusement, a people so long rotted away in spirit as to be inconsequential politically, and yet convinced of nothing so much as their own grandeur. Her treasures are vast and ornate, sculpted by the generations of elven suitors who have come before her, dazzled by her grace and wisdom, and, like their fathers before them, poisoned in mind and spirit and flesh alike by her breathy whispers.
The 'Black Dragon' lives in a blighted swamp, served by savage tribes of lizardfolk and also by hordes of undead. As with every dragon save the Blue, anything he wants carried home, is carried home, and he doesn't have to lift a scaly claw in the process.
I'm not a big fan of the flying lizards of the Realms, who get blown out of the sky by the dozens during the average Dragonrage. How they get treasure home is beyond me. Perhaps local cultists agree to carry stuff for them...
I always figured that dragons accumulated their hoards over hundreds of years, thus they don't really carry more that a clawful at a time. think about it, they'll probably pick up only a few coins and goods per raided caravan or what have you, and they could just kill everyone, pick up a wagon or a sack or just a handfull and fly home with it to sort out what is pretty and what isn't. If a dragon finds more than he can carry, he either moves in, or makes a couple of trips....its not like he's in a hurry, everyone else is already dead. Plus its customary when consulting a dragon to bring him some "don't eat me" gifts, and those pile up over time.
Dragons + minions always rings false to me. If it has followers, the dragon probably doesn't care, and certainly wouldn't trust them with its treasure.
Dragons + minions always rings false to me. If it has followers, the dragon probably doesn't care, and certainly wouldn't trust them with its treasure.
I assume they either move in where there is already some treasure, and or build it up slowly over time. I do like the idea that dragons have a "treasure crop", a pouch in their throat so they can swallow and disgorge treasure like penguins with fish.
On a vaguely related note, my daughter was asking why Smaug always wants to lay on a pile of gold. We decided he was hot on the inside and it helped him cool off. Of course, Tolkien actually does imply his dragons are hot on the inside, while D&D does not.
On a vaguely related note, my daughter was asking why Smaug always wants to lay on a pile of gold. We decided he was hot on the inside and it helped him cool off. Of course, Tolkien actually does imply his dragons are hot on the inside, while D&D does not.
Desdichado
Hero
Yeah, I'm going to go minions. I was going to say (just based on the thread title) that they don't actually carry treasure, its just that when the body fades away a few seconds after you kill it the treasure's just there where the body used to be.
Maybe they carry it the same way computer game characters carry all their items. It disappears into some kind of extradimensional menu that you can access and equip yourself with whenever you need to.
Or are these kind of jokes only applicable to 4e? I'm not really used to comparing D&D to computer games, so I'm not sure if I'm doing it correctly or not.
Maybe they carry it the same way computer game characters carry all their items. It disappears into some kind of extradimensional menu that you can access and equip yourself with whenever you need to.
Or are these kind of jokes only applicable to 4e? I'm not really used to comparing D&D to computer games, so I'm not sure if I'm doing it correctly or not.
