Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Generic Dragon: Help with CR/LA!
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Nifft" data-source="post: 1489515" data-attributes="member: 6562"><p>This is my attempt to divorce dragon stats from their "color" (breath weapon). I absolutely hate that there's a chance for players to know so very much about a dragon simply by knowing its color and size. IMO, the color should be an indication of its breath weapon and energy immunity only.</p><p></p><p></p><p>[code]</p><p>Age Size Years HD (hp) Str Dex Con / Int Wis Cha</p><p></p><p>Wyrmling T 0-5 4d12+4 (30) 11 10 13 / 10 10 12</p><p>Very Young S 6-15 8d12+16 (68) 15 10 15 / 12 11 12</p><p>Young S 16-25 12d12+24 (102) 17 10 15 / 14 12 14</p><p>Juvenile M 26-50 14d12+42 (133) 21 10 17 / 14 13 14</p><p>Young Adult M 51-100 18d12+54 (171) 23 10 17 / 16 13 16</p><p>Adult L 101+ 22d12+88 (231) 29 10 19 / 16 15 18</p><p>Mature Adult L 201+ 26d12+130 (299) 31 10 21 / 18 15 20</p><p>Old H 401+ 30d12+180 (375) 35 10 23 / 18 17 22</p><p>Very Old H 601+ 33d12+231 (445) 37 10 25 / 20 19 24</p><p>Ancient G 801+ 36d12+360 (594) 41 10 31 / 22 21 26</p><p>Wyrm G 1001+ 39d12+429 (682) 43 10 33 / 24 23 28</p><p>Great Wyrm C 1201+ 42d12+504 (777) 45 10 35 / 26 25 30</p><p>[/code]</p><p></p><p>The first thing you'll notice is that they start at size Tiny, and go to size Colossal. They don't spend as much time being Huge as the typical D&D dragon, either. This is certainly a change, but I feel it's necessary to fit the very wide range of dragon mythology into a single usable archtype. The eggs have to be small enough for a child to carry, while the end result should be as big as anything ever gets.</p><p></p><p>Their stats end up like greater dragons (red or gold), but start smaller.</p><p></p><p>[code]</p><p>Age BW Dmg (DC) Poison Line/Cone BAB/Grapple</p><p></p><p>Wyrmling 2d10 (13) 1/1d2 Con 30 / 15 +4/ -4</p><p>Very Young 4d10 (16) 1/1d4 Con 40 / 20 +8/ +6</p><p>Young 6d10 (18) 1d2/1d4 Con 40 / 20 +12/+11</p><p>Juvenile 8d10 (20) 1d4/1d6 Con 60 / 30 +14/+19</p><p>Young Adult 10d10 (22) 1d6/1d8 Con 60 / 30 +18/+24</p><p>Adult 12d10 (25) 2d4/2d4 Con 80 / 40 +22/+35</p><p>Mature Adult 14d10 (28) 2d6/2d6 Con 80 / 40 +26/+36</p><p>Old 16d10 (31) 2d8/2d8 Con 100 / 50 +30/+50</p><p>Very Old 18d10 (33) 3d6/3d6 Con 100 / 50 +33/+54</p><p>Ancient 20d10 (38) 3d8/3d8 Con 120 / 60 +36/+63</p><p>Wyrm 22d10 (40) 4d6/4d6 Con 120 / 60 +39/+67</p><p>Great Wyrm 24d10 (43) 4d8/4d8 Con 140 / 70 +42/+75</p><p>[/code]</p><p></p><p>Since breath weapon size is linked to dragon size, and I've linked size to age catagory, we can simplify the annoying dragon-table-mania. Now you can see damage and size in the same table! Woo-hoo! I've included what I think is reasonable poison damage for a dragon whose got a stinger and/or has a poison breath weapon (like the old 1e green dragon, or the grossly overpowered steel dragon).</p><p></p><p>We can also pre-calculate damage by age catagory:</p><p>[code]</p><p>Age Bite Full Attack</p><p></p><p>Wyrmling +6 1d4 +1 (2 claws 1d3)</p><p>Very Young +11 1d6+2 +6 (2 claws 1d4+1)</p><p>Young +16 1d6+3 +11 (2 claws 1d4+1)</p><p>Juvenile +19 1d8+5 +14 (2 claws 1d6+2, 2 wings 1d4+2)</p><p>Young Adult +23 1d8+6 +18 (2 claws 1d6+3, 2 wings 1d4+3)</p><p>Adult +30 2d6+9 +25 (2 claws 1d8+4, 2 wings 1d6+4, slap 1d8+13)</p><p>Mature Adult +35 2d6+10 +30 (2 claws 1d8+5, 2 wings 1d6+5, slap 1d8+15)</p><p>Old +40 2d8+12 +35 (2 claws 2d6+6, 2 wings 1d8+6, slap 2d6+18, crush 2d8+18)</p><p>Very Old +44 2d8+13 +39 (2 claws 2d6+6, 2 wings 1d8+6, slap 2d6+19, crush 2d8+19)</p><p>Ancient +47 4d6+15 +42 (2 claws 2d8+7, 2 wings 2d6+7, slap 2d8+22, crush 4d6+22, sweep 2d6+22)</p><p>Wyrm +51 4d6+16 +46 (2 claws 2d8+8, 2 wings 2d6+8, slap 2d8+24, crush 4d6+24, sweep 2d6+24)</p><p>Great Wyrm +51 4d8+17 +46 (2 claws 4d6+8, 2 wings 2d8+8, slap 4d6+25, crush 4d8+25, sweep 2d8+25)</p><p>[/code]</p><p></p><p>(Obviously, a Full Attack would also involve a Bite...)</p><p></p><p></p><p>[code]</p><p>Age CL/SR/Fear Special F / R / W AC / Touch / Flat</p><p></p><p>Wyrmling --/--/-- Bloodline +5/ +4/ +4 18 (+2 Size, +6 Natural) / 12 / 18</p><p>Very Young --/--/-- Shift Environ +8/ +6/ +6 20 (+1 Size, +9 Natural) / 11 / 20</p><p>Young 1/--/-- Alternate Form +11/ +8/ +9 23 (+1 Size, +12 Natural) / 11 / 23</p><p>Juvenile 3/19/-- DR 5/magic +13/ +9/+10 25 (+15 Natural) / 10 / 25</p><p>Young Adult 5/21/-- Suggestion 1/d +15/+11/+12 28 (+18 Natural) / 10 / 28</p><p>Adult 7/23/25 DR 10/magic +17/+13/+15 30 (+21 Natural, -1 Size) / 9 / 30</p><p>Mature Adult 9/25/28 Suggestion 2/d +20/+15/+17 33 (+24 Natural, -1 Size) / 9 / 33</p><p>Old 11/27/31 DR 15/magic +22/+17/+20 35 (+27 Natural, -2 Size) / 8 / 35</p><p>Very Old 13/28/33 Suggestion 3/d +25/+18/+22 38 (+30 Natural, -2 Size) / 8 / 38</p><p>Ancient 15/30/36 DR 20/magic +30/+20/+25 39 (+33 Natural, -4 Size) / 6 / 39</p><p>Wyrm 17/32/38 Mass Sug. 1/d +32/+21/+27 42 (+36 Natural, -4 Size) / 6 / 42</p><p>Great Wyrm 19/34/41 DR 15/epic +36/+24/+31 41 (+39 Natural, -8 Size) / 2 / 41</p><p>[/code]</p><p></p><p>The above lists Caster Level (Sorcerer, of course), Spell Resistance and Frightful Presence DC, then the generic special abilities that every dragon gets. Some are not self-explanatory:</p><p></p><p><strong>Alternate Form</strong>: The dragon picks a single specific humanoid form into which it can shift at will as a standard action. Dragons often pick attractive human or elven forms, but dwarven, gnome and halfling forms are not unknown.</p><p></p><p><strong>Bloodline</strong>: This is the dragon's subtype (Fire, Cold, etc.), which determines its breath weapon and racial energy immunity (and perhaps vulnerability). It might determine even more than that, if you use Hellfire Wyrms or the like.</p><p></p><p><strong>Shift Environment</strong>: At 5 years of age, a dragon can choose to move from one environment to another. When leaving its "native" environment, it loses all environment-granted abilities (see below). When it's lived consistantly in a new environment for one year, it may choose to gain the abilities associated with its new environment, which thereafter becomes its "native" environment.</p><p></p><p>[code]</p><p>Age/Environ Desert Forest Mountain Ocean Swamp Ice</p><p></p><p>Wyrmling Create Water Speak w/ Anim. Spider Climb Water Breath Water Breath Icewalking</p><p>Very Young Destroy Water </p><p>Young End. Elements Entangle Feather Fall Fog Cloud Entangle Fog Cloud</p><p>Juvenile </p><p>Young Adult </p><p>Adult </p><p>Mature Adult Hal. Terrain Plant Growth Find the Path Control Winds Plant Growth Freezing Fog</p><p>Old </p><p>Very Old Veil Tpt. via Plant Create Food Control Water Control Water Wall of Ice</p><p>Ancient </p><p>Wyrm Mirage Arcana Command Plants Move Earth Control Weather Command Plants Control Weather</p><p>Great Wyrm </p><p>[/code]</p><p></p><p>Sorry for the side-scrolling. It's a wide table.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Anyway, the above allows me to create strong dragons for nearly every environment which are faithful to the spirit of the 3.5e color-coded dragons but are hopefully balanced against each other.</p><p></p><p>Now, assuming I've done an amazing job, and actually balanced these beasties against each other, what would the CR be for each age catagory?</p><p></p><p>Anyone got a genius system for finding CR? <em>*bats eyebrows at Upper_Krust*</em></p><p></p><p>Thanks, -- N</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Nifft, post: 1489515, member: 6562"] This is my attempt to divorce dragon stats from their "color" (breath weapon). I absolutely hate that there's a chance for players to know so very much about a dragon simply by knowing its color and size. IMO, the color should be an indication of its breath weapon and energy immunity only. [code] Age Size Years HD (hp) Str Dex Con / Int Wis Cha Wyrmling T 0-5 4d12+4 (30) 11 10 13 / 10 10 12 Very Young S 6-15 8d12+16 (68) 15 10 15 / 12 11 12 Young S 16-25 12d12+24 (102) 17 10 15 / 14 12 14 Juvenile M 26-50 14d12+42 (133) 21 10 17 / 14 13 14 Young Adult M 51-100 18d12+54 (171) 23 10 17 / 16 13 16 Adult L 101+ 22d12+88 (231) 29 10 19 / 16 15 18 Mature Adult L 201+ 26d12+130 (299) 31 10 21 / 18 15 20 Old H 401+ 30d12+180 (375) 35 10 23 / 18 17 22 Very Old H 601+ 33d12+231 (445) 37 10 25 / 20 19 24 Ancient G 801+ 36d12+360 (594) 41 10 31 / 22 21 26 Wyrm G 1001+ 39d12+429 (682) 43 10 33 / 24 23 28 Great Wyrm C 1201+ 42d12+504 (777) 45 10 35 / 26 25 30 [/code] The first thing you'll notice is that they start at size Tiny, and go to size Colossal. They don't spend as much time being Huge as the typical D&D dragon, either. This is certainly a change, but I feel it's necessary to fit the very wide range of dragon mythology into a single usable archtype. The eggs have to be small enough for a child to carry, while the end result should be as big as anything ever gets. Their stats end up like greater dragons (red or gold), but start smaller. [code] Age BW Dmg (DC) Poison Line/Cone BAB/Grapple Wyrmling 2d10 (13) 1/1d2 Con 30 / 15 +4/ -4 Very Young 4d10 (16) 1/1d4 Con 40 / 20 +8/ +6 Young 6d10 (18) 1d2/1d4 Con 40 / 20 +12/+11 Juvenile 8d10 (20) 1d4/1d6 Con 60 / 30 +14/+19 Young Adult 10d10 (22) 1d6/1d8 Con 60 / 30 +18/+24 Adult 12d10 (25) 2d4/2d4 Con 80 / 40 +22/+35 Mature Adult 14d10 (28) 2d6/2d6 Con 80 / 40 +26/+36 Old 16d10 (31) 2d8/2d8 Con 100 / 50 +30/+50 Very Old 18d10 (33) 3d6/3d6 Con 100 / 50 +33/+54 Ancient 20d10 (38) 3d8/3d8 Con 120 / 60 +36/+63 Wyrm 22d10 (40) 4d6/4d6 Con 120 / 60 +39/+67 Great Wyrm 24d10 (43) 4d8/4d8 Con 140 / 70 +42/+75 [/code] Since breath weapon size is linked to dragon size, and I've linked size to age catagory, we can simplify the annoying dragon-table-mania. Now you can see damage and size in the same table! Woo-hoo! I've included what I think is reasonable poison damage for a dragon whose got a stinger and/or has a poison breath weapon (like the old 1e green dragon, or the grossly overpowered steel dragon). We can also pre-calculate damage by age catagory: [code] Age Bite Full Attack Wyrmling +6 1d4 +1 (2 claws 1d3) Very Young +11 1d6+2 +6 (2 claws 1d4+1) Young +16 1d6+3 +11 (2 claws 1d4+1) Juvenile +19 1d8+5 +14 (2 claws 1d6+2, 2 wings 1d4+2) Young Adult +23 1d8+6 +18 (2 claws 1d6+3, 2 wings 1d4+3) Adult +30 2d6+9 +25 (2 claws 1d8+4, 2 wings 1d6+4, slap 1d8+13) Mature Adult +35 2d6+10 +30 (2 claws 1d8+5, 2 wings 1d6+5, slap 1d8+15) Old +40 2d8+12 +35 (2 claws 2d6+6, 2 wings 1d8+6, slap 2d6+18, crush 2d8+18) Very Old +44 2d8+13 +39 (2 claws 2d6+6, 2 wings 1d8+6, slap 2d6+19, crush 2d8+19) Ancient +47 4d6+15 +42 (2 claws 2d8+7, 2 wings 2d6+7, slap 2d8+22, crush 4d6+22, sweep 2d6+22) Wyrm +51 4d6+16 +46 (2 claws 2d8+8, 2 wings 2d6+8, slap 2d8+24, crush 4d6+24, sweep 2d6+24) Great Wyrm +51 4d8+17 +46 (2 claws 4d6+8, 2 wings 2d8+8, slap 4d6+25, crush 4d8+25, sweep 2d8+25) [/code] (Obviously, a Full Attack would also involve a Bite...) [code] Age CL/SR/Fear Special F / R / W AC / Touch / Flat Wyrmling --/--/-- Bloodline +5/ +4/ +4 18 (+2 Size, +6 Natural) / 12 / 18 Very Young --/--/-- Shift Environ +8/ +6/ +6 20 (+1 Size, +9 Natural) / 11 / 20 Young 1/--/-- Alternate Form +11/ +8/ +9 23 (+1 Size, +12 Natural) / 11 / 23 Juvenile 3/19/-- DR 5/magic +13/ +9/+10 25 (+15 Natural) / 10 / 25 Young Adult 5/21/-- Suggestion 1/d +15/+11/+12 28 (+18 Natural) / 10 / 28 Adult 7/23/25 DR 10/magic +17/+13/+15 30 (+21 Natural, -1 Size) / 9 / 30 Mature Adult 9/25/28 Suggestion 2/d +20/+15/+17 33 (+24 Natural, -1 Size) / 9 / 33 Old 11/27/31 DR 15/magic +22/+17/+20 35 (+27 Natural, -2 Size) / 8 / 35 Very Old 13/28/33 Suggestion 3/d +25/+18/+22 38 (+30 Natural, -2 Size) / 8 / 38 Ancient 15/30/36 DR 20/magic +30/+20/+25 39 (+33 Natural, -4 Size) / 6 / 39 Wyrm 17/32/38 Mass Sug. 1/d +32/+21/+27 42 (+36 Natural, -4 Size) / 6 / 42 Great Wyrm 19/34/41 DR 15/epic +36/+24/+31 41 (+39 Natural, -8 Size) / 2 / 41 [/code] The above lists Caster Level (Sorcerer, of course), Spell Resistance and Frightful Presence DC, then the generic special abilities that every dragon gets. Some are not self-explanatory: [b]Alternate Form[/b]: The dragon picks a single specific humanoid form into which it can shift at will as a standard action. Dragons often pick attractive human or elven forms, but dwarven, gnome and halfling forms are not unknown. [b]Bloodline[/b]: This is the dragon's subtype (Fire, Cold, etc.), which determines its breath weapon and racial energy immunity (and perhaps vulnerability). It might determine even more than that, if you use Hellfire Wyrms or the like. [b]Shift Environment[/b]: At 5 years of age, a dragon can choose to move from one environment to another. When leaving its "native" environment, it loses all environment-granted abilities (see below). When it's lived consistantly in a new environment for one year, it may choose to gain the abilities associated with its new environment, which thereafter becomes its "native" environment. [code] Age/Environ Desert Forest Mountain Ocean Swamp Ice Wyrmling Create Water Speak w/ Anim. Spider Climb Water Breath Water Breath Icewalking Very Young Destroy Water Young End. Elements Entangle Feather Fall Fog Cloud Entangle Fog Cloud Juvenile Young Adult Adult Mature Adult Hal. Terrain Plant Growth Find the Path Control Winds Plant Growth Freezing Fog Old Very Old Veil Tpt. via Plant Create Food Control Water Control Water Wall of Ice Ancient Wyrm Mirage Arcana Command Plants Move Earth Control Weather Command Plants Control Weather Great Wyrm [/code] Sorry for the side-scrolling. It's a wide table. Anyway, the above allows me to create strong dragons for nearly every environment which are faithful to the spirit of the 3.5e color-coded dragons but are hopefully balanced against each other. Now, assuming I've done an amazing job, and actually balanced these beasties against each other, what would the CR be for each age catagory? Anyone got a genius system for finding CR? [i]*bats eyebrows at Upper_Krust*[/i] Thanks, -- N [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Generic Dragon: Help with CR/LA!
Top