How common are dragons in YOUR world?

[blackshirt5]

I'm still trying to get a gauge on dragons IMW. On the one hand, the elders are ALWAYS these earth-shaking, sky-shattering creatures of destruction, and all of them are unique(Reyah the Phoenix, Voragian, Baylos, are just a few of them on the main continent; that's not even counting in the other parts of the world). On the other hand, I want to include younger dragons, but I don't want to ruin the feel of dragons(that of these incredibly dangerous forces of nature that blight the land around them and kill any who oppose them).

In addition, I'm also including more dragons in the backstory(from the Phoorn who were allies of the elves, to the well-known Erkanian "batwing" dragons who are hired to assist in hunts). Is this a bad idea? I'm just not sure what to do. I don't want to ruin the feel and the majesty of the elder dragons, but at the same time, I'd really like to include this stuff!

 

[alsih2o]

in my campaign there are 2 kinds of dragons. the first is the mm dragons, powerful, but still "standard". the second are nature forces, one of them has been around since before history, he actually invented the alphabet that made humanity possible.

dragons can be seen like humanoids, many different power levels and uses. i think you should feel free to have various incarnations of dragonkind, as it adds to the mystery and awe of the creatures.

 

[blackshirt5]

Thanks alish2o, that helps to put it into perspective. I'm gonna name one of my primal dragons "Slag" in honor of your kiln.

Also, what books are good for customizing dragons? I've already got Savage Species and Monster's Handbook.

 

[Someone]

In addition, I'm also including more dragons in the backstory(from the Phoorn who were allies of the elves, to the well-known Erkanian "batwing" dragons who are hired to assist in hunts). Is this a bad idea? I'm just not sure what to do. I don't want to ruin the feel and the majesty of the elder dragons, but at the same time, I'd really like to include this stuff!

I´d say it´s not a bad idea. Keep "real" dragons huge, scary,, deadly and almost impossible to kill, and introduce lesser, (but not younger) versions for your players to deal with.

 

[Draco Paladin]

Dragons.

My world's Draco-centric in a sense. The creator figure in almost all myths is a dragon or a serpent (somewhat like Io), and many powerful gods are depicted as dragons. I've taken my cue from Dragonlance. The chief good god is Palasar, the Celestial Paladin, the Platinum Dragon, who sits in judgment on the highest peak of the highest Heaven. His great adversary is Marya, Queen of Chaos and Darkness, Devourer of Worlds, Slayer of Gods, the Chromatic Dragon, whose eternal fall continually carves out the infinite layers of the Abyss.

As the eldest of all races, dragons are usually unique creatures. I use the various dragon types in the various books, but there are usually only one to three specimens of each type extant at any given time. And most of them are ancient creatures who have seen the rise and fall of civilizations. The Chromatic and Metallic Dragons represent the conflict and balance of Good and Evil. The Gem Dragons represent the powers of mind and matter. The Linnorms of the North are primal creatures tied to the very creation of the world. The Lung of the Far East are keepers of the Cosmic Order.

Any true dragon can breed with any true dragon and produce a true dragon, who does not necessarily take after either parent, but somehow embodies the age she was born in, or is specialized to fill a niche yet unfilled, or is born perfectly adapted to the environment of her birth.

Anyway, I'm keeping dragons very, very rare, and very, very powerful. So rare that most people believe they're either extinct or maybe even just religious allegories.

 

[jeffers]

Dragons in Caleon

Dragons in Caleon are gods. No one has ever seen one, let alone kill one in thousands of years.

Caleots refer to things they don't believe in as "Dragons."

4500 years from the current 7th Century Campaign the existance of dragons will be proven, as the Kyeonezar (Dharzooni for Dragon) will be proven to be the race that birthed most of the other races.

So... as cool as Dragons are, I just can't see a PC killing a "True Dragon." Now... lesser wyrms... like those in the MM's and FF... Maybe... we'll see...

 

[Wormwood]

Depends on which Dungeon Level the Party is on.

 

[carpedavid]

I do something similar to alsih2o, in that there are the dragons that characters can excounter (and subsequently defeat), and the dragons who are very nearly the equivalent of gods (who no character is ever likely to meet - just hear about).

In my campaign, I've got a metaphysical device to explain the two levels of power. One of the world's religions envisions the creator diety as a great dragon, but also believes in reincarnation. They believe that dragons are the highest form of terrestrial life.

Being reincarnated into the form of an ultrapowerful dragon can be corrupting to the soul, however, so many younger dragons fall prey to lust, greed, and power - thus crossing paths with adventurers, and getting themselves set back a few notches in their spiritual progression.

It's those dragons that have the wisdom to handle their powerful, new, timeless forms, and avoid interacting with the common races that eventually grow old enough to become forces of nature.

 

[barsoomcore]

There's one dragon on Barsoom. And he's dead, and everybody thinks he was a guy. When my party meets him, there will be jaw-dropping unlike there has ever been before.

 

[Scarbonac]

IMC, I decided that dragons were nearly extinct on the base world; since I make extensive use of Spelljammer, I relocated most of the dragons to other planets in the system, so that some worlds are dominated while others have the ''standard'' number of dragons, and others have none.


Those that do remain on the main campaign world are a mixed bag of power levels and colors. In their stead, I introduced the Vyrrn (based off of the wyvern), a weaker collection of bastardized draco-wyvern crossbred half-species (chromatic only; the metallics wouldn't lower themselves to breed with wyverns).


Thy're much smaller than dragons, have the wyvern physique (but are the color of their particular draconic ancestor), including the poisonous tail-stinger, and have a weaker breath-weapon that their draconic forbears. The cool bit is that the stinger, in some specimens, is modified by freaky magical genetics, to allow a version of the forbears' breath-weapon attack in addition to the normal breath-weapon.


A red Vyrrn can opt to squirt and ignite its poison, rather like a flame-thrower; a white Vyrrn can spray a cone of frosty-cold venom, and the black Vyrrn's poison is actually a concentrated acid which can be injected, squirted as a stream or sprayed as a choking, corrosive cloud. Blues spray an electrified gel.


A bit of a narsty surprise, indeed, me old China.


Most of my players have only encountered Vyrrns, with two very weak red dragons tossed into the mix, over a 15-year period. On the plus side (for me as DM), Vyrrn have much lesser treasure than dragons.


When they finally meet some real arse-kicking dragons, I expect to hear them cry for their mommies like pre-schoolers being sent to a daycare run by Freddie Krueger.