How Much for that Dragon in the Window?

[roguerouge]

How much would a captured Very Young White Dragon be worth in the open market of a cold region? Presume interested buyers and a high level campaign.

I know that there are prices for things like Owl Bear Eggs, but this one's got me puzzled.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

How much would a captured Very Young White Dragon be worth in the open market of a cold region? Presume interested buyers and a high level campaign.

I know that there are prices for things like Owl Bear Eggs, but this one's got me puzzled.

I think a trade for three immature remorhaz would be fair. Or perhaps a mature, fully war-trained winter wolf.

 

[Reynard]

I think a trade for three immature remorhaz would be fair. Or perhaps a mature, fully war-trained winter wolf.

Excuse me, sire, I'm going to need to see your license for that animal...

 

[Umbran]

How much would a captured Very Young White Dragon be worth in the open market of a cold region?

I would not expect there to be much "open market" for such a thing. It isn't like just anyone has the resources to feed, train, and house such a creature. The list of folks who will be able to deal with it as it grows will be small.

So, it'd be better to ask yourself who in the campaign world would be interested, and what use they'd get from it. That would answer what they'd be willing to pay.

 

[Camelot]

Plus, unlike owlbears, dragons are intelligent, meaning that selling them would be like slavery. Plus they're way more powerful than any normal slavers, and would eventually grow so powerful that they'd escape and kill their captors in the process.

Even if I was the most malicious, well-prepared, and powerful slaver in the world, I wouldn't buy a dragon, even a young one.

Unless of course you plan on eating it.

 

[roguerouge]

Okay, clearly I'm going to need to provide background from the campaign.

The 4 very young white dragons were captured, rather than killed by the PC, a CG bard. She just didn't want to kill babies.

She had a long conversation with her followers. The pseudodragon argued for simply killing the very young white dragons, as "white dragons are little more than animals, unworthy of our heritage." Her librarian cleric argued for studying them under controlled circumstances, like a zoo or at his temple, which is in the tropics. The PC expressed the idea of training them to be good-aligned creatures. (She had nearly pulled this off with one goblin in the early phase of this campaign, so it's not a crazy thing to say.)

During the bitter cold trek back to civilization, the dragons showcased their chaotic evil personality, with petulance, backstabbing, straining on the leash etc. The runt even helped another white dragon escape, just to see what would happen. (It got caught.)

Recently, the player mentioned that she might trade some of the dragons. Potential buyers thus include: an ice dwarf merchant enclave, the Dragon Claw Viking clan, an ice elf clan that's LG-aligned, the temple to the knowledge god in the tropics, and possibly her own country's military (with the dragons serving as war mounts).

Basically, I need a best-guess GP price in my head so that I can adjudicate the horse-trading and bartering.

Again, the party level is 14th.

 

[Camelot]

Well, if you want them to be able to, set the price at whatever you think they should have at that level. I'm coming from a 4e perspective, so what I would do is give them a few treasure parcels from a higher level and take it out of the treasure later, so it balances. The price can be whatever you as the DM choose for it to be.

 

[The Little Raven]

The pseudodragon argued for simply killing the very young white dragons, as "white dragons are little more than animals, unworthy of our heritage." Her librarian cleric argued for studying them under controlled circumstances, like a zoo or at his temple, which is in the tropics. The PC expressed the idea of training them to be good-aligned creatures. (She had nearly pulled this off with one goblin in the early phase of this campaign, so it's not a crazy thing to say.)

I'd say the last PC's suggestion is probably the most likely to be successful. Treating them like animals when they are intelligent beings will allow hate and rage against the party to fester. It's like kidnapping a 5-year-old child and raising them in a cage like an animal.

During the bitter cold trek back to civilization, the dragons showcased their chaotic evil personality, with petulance, backstabbing, straining on the leash etc. The runt even helped another white dragon escape, just to see what would happen. (It got caught.)

I think that sounds like normal children to me.

Recently, the player mentioned that she might trade some of the dragons. Potential buyers thus include: an ice dwarf merchant enclave, the Dragon Claw Viking clan, an ice elf clan that's LG-aligned, the temple to the knowledge god in the tropics, and possibly her own country's military (with the dragons serving as war mounts).

Basically, I need a best-guess GP price in my head so that I can adjudicate the horse-trading and bartering.

Again, the party level is 14th.

I would make the player set the price they demand, then the various buyers would haggle. How much is essentially selling a child into slavery to an owner it might eventually kill worth to the player?

You need to really drive home the fact that this isn't selling a pet or a beast of burden, this is enslaving a creature. A child, no less. A child that will grow into a majestic and terrifying adult in many years. And chromatic dragons aren't known for being forgiving.

This is especially important, because the character in question is Chaotic Good, an alignment that is known for loving freedom.

 

[roguerouge]

I'd say the last PC's suggestion is probably the most likely to be successful. Treating them like animals when they are intelligent beings will allow hate and rage against the party to fester. It's like kidnapping a 5-year-old child and raising them in a cage like an animal.

I've got to question this "they're children" line. They're NOT normal. They were born with evil tendencies and raised to be evil for ten years. More than that, they're children who go around armed with the equivalent of two knives and a short sword. And that's before taking into account their ability to burrow and fly. I'm not sure that these are basically 5 year-olds.

That having been said, obviously selling sentient beings into slavery would be a bad thing for a CG character to do. Trust me, I have that part under control. The zoo might fit your description, but listed above as well are some viable foster homes that either reform the dragons or channel their instincts into productive channels.

Basically, my goal is to give the player an out if she doesn't want to spend game time laboriously raising baby dragons, especially since we've already role played something similar. It's not fair if I give her a choice of killing the baby dragons in combat, selling the dragons into slavery or raising them in-game. That's no choice at all.

Owl bear chicks go for 3,000 gp each, with a professional trainer costing 2,000 gp to train one for you. What do you think a very young dragon would be worth?

My concern about having the player set the initial price is that she's a bard. She's got tons of skills and bardic knowledge. The player's going to ask me what a reasonable price would be.

 

[jefgorbach]

The bard needs to keep in mind dragons are sentient creatures so her treatment/disposal of these immature dragons will definitely affect her outlook on life/alignment. It will also begin a recurring subplot regarding how the unmentioned parent/relatives react upon eventually learning the youngsters' fates.
Turning them over to nearby kin, while unfavorable with the locals, would surely gather favor with both the draconic clan, local druids, and perhaps her patheon's deity(s) of family, love, and nature.

Finding a metallic clan to foster them in hopes of overcoming their natural tendencies might mitigate some fallout, selling them into slavery (regardless of buyer) as proposed will surely alter her alignment to at least CN and definitely earn the draconic clan's eternal enmity - making her best option trading them to her local government in exchange for a significant titled position stationed well away from the region to provide her with a decent head-start on the draconic revenge.