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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Illithidbix" data-source="post: 7177399" data-attributes="member: 12283">Like many others have found, 4E and 5E four age categories work very well.It means that you can have them fully statted out, and both 4E and 5E managed fairly consistently to fit the four stat blocks across two pages and include a picture.Four age categories for the 5 core chromatics and 5 core metallics (which admittedly 4E tried to redefine) gives 40 usable monsters straight from the books, instead of 80-120 that you mostly had to partially create yourself, and those feats, skills and spells could take some time.You also end up with many very monsters with very similar stats (an issue I noticed somewhat with 5E's 40 dragons)Now personally I prefer 4E's "Young, Adult, Elder, Ancient"  to 5E's "Wyrmling, Young, Adult, Ancient" – the gap between “Elder” and “Ancient” works in my headThe guidelines for my envisioned actual categories are a tad mash up of 3E, 4E and 5E,Young: Large, - a big flying rhino in size. Roughly 5-100 years old.Adult: Huge, - An elephant or T-Rex with wings. Roughly 100-500 years old.Elder Gargantuan – A sauropod or blue whale with wings, Over 500 years old.Ancient – REALLY GARGANTUAN! Colossal if 3E Competing with the Kraken and Tarrasque, simply bigger than any dinosaur or whale. - Millennia old, from a different aeon, perhaps transcending from limitations of physicality and the equals of demigods.From a CR point of view, I would like the weakest of the Young Dragons (White?) to be a serious threat but defeatable for a party of 2nd-3rd level characters.BUT WON’T SOMEONE THINK OF THE CHIL-WYRMLINGS!So of course, I somewhat lie because 4E introduced stats for all kinds of Wyrmlings in both the (excellent) Draconomicons, as did Monster Manual 3 for the Catastrophic Dragons, creating the 5th age category that carried into 5E.I remain a tad unconvinced every dragon type needs to have a separately stated wyrmling/hatchling.Whilst wyrmlings might well be encountered in a dragon’s lair, I don’t see them as primarily a combat challenge.I also found that certainly 5E’s stats for wyrmlings tended to be very, very similar. 4E had a little more latitude in having them Elites along with the different monster roles and special powers that edition emphasised, but it still was somewhat stretched.I personally feel that there could just be a single stat block with tweaks for it’s breath weapon and damage/immunities based upon their type.*(I am also a little unconvinced between the difference in power between a CR 2 White Dragon Wyrmling and a CR 4 Red Dragon Wyrmling, but that might just be dubious eyeballing by me)</blockquote>

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