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Message: <blockquote data-quote="jaer" data-source="post: 3985795" data-attributes="member: 57861">Thanks for the reply.  I more fully understadn now.It seems that what it all really comes down to is the intent the DM has for the dragon.It is difficult for a dragon to be the Puppetmaster/crimeboss type, but it is not impossible.  A dragon has wealth and power, both of which readily attract people.  It is not difficult to picture a dragon, for nothing more than fun, attacking a caravan.  He's intelligent enough to realize that he is not attacking merchants, but rather some brigands who raided the caravan earlier that day.  In exchange for sparing their lives and giving them some of their loot back, the dragon now has minions.  Weak ones, but minions none-the-less.Barring magic, how does he communicate with them?  They must know where his lair is.  Perhaps a few of them actually stay in the lair to attend to the dragon's needs: writing, trap buidling, message-carrying.  The brandits know that they are no match for this creature, so they can't fathom using the information of the lair to their advantage.  They can't steal from the dragon, it would know (perhaps some tried and were eaten already).  It seems to see all, and knows exaclty every coin in the lair.However, working with the dragon offers them some protection as well.  The dragon is a good schemer and when the wealth is worth it, it personally comes and helps the raids.  It is mutually beneficial, and continues to be so as the bandits gain wealth and power.  At the dragon's behest, they start bribing and infultrating the local power structure.  Soon, the bandits are allied with the local thieves guild and have eliminated the local assassin's guild with the help of the dragon's planning and wealth.  Soon the dragon has corrupt politians in its pockets, and it is the mob-lord of the entire area.  There are enough locals in power to deter and prevent adventures from taking on the dragon, and it has spies enough to know when someone it making an attempt to find the lair.  It has a thieves guild and a bandit camp to help defend it, and surely it has a few new traps in its lair from the thieves guild.Sure there are plenty of people who could betray the dragon and if they all worked together, they might be able to bring it down, but individually they are weak, greedy, and intimidatable, and they don't all know about each other or trust anyone else.  As such, the dragon rules all with fear and wealth without needing to leave it's lair.  It's done more easily with magic, yes, but this example has the dragon as the puppet master, it has minions that do not out-shine it, and is plausible why the dragon has a custom, defendible lair.I think that WotC's intent, however, is to have more Smaug-like dragons: big, power creautres of such destructive force that they don't worry about their presence being known because there is nothing out there they fear (though that does not mean there is nothing out there which cannot kill them; they just arrogantly refuse to believe in the possibility).  Most don't need a lair full of traps, they just need a place to sleep and store their gold.  They don't spend a lot of time at home, building their home; they spend it outside, flying to high for eyes to see or scouring the land for food, new wealth, or another lair that has more room to fit its growing treasure.Dragons can be used as masterminds and cunnying campaign opponents, but the intension is for them to be mass destruction given scaley form.</blockquote>

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