D&D 5E Making Dragons cool again: New Dragon Traits

[dave2008]

It all depends on how long last fight against dragon in your game.
Dragon breathing on round 1,3,5 make look an increase to CR but it require that the dragon survive till round 3!

My dragons always outlast my PCs!

 

[dave2008]

And I can respect the idea of going with more damage, but part of my desire with these is simplicity (for example many of your redesigns for dragons are already great if you want a more complex dragon, but for this I was looking for a thing that was easy and quick to run).

I agree with the idea of simplicity, I've started another redesign of my dragons with that goal as well. However, I can't, for my dragons, boil that down to some traits I can slap on the standard stat block. I think that is a great idea, but I want to rebuild my dragons from the ground up.

 

[Rabulias]

When wouldn't a dragon use their best ability?!? Even if it only affects 1 PC, it's still likely better than a full round of multi-attack, especially since they get to do at least half damage.

I assume that the dragon will still need to make the recharge roll for their breath weapon, so it won't always be available.

I don't see pudgy on that list!

Just a quick stab at it:

Pudgy. The sheer bulk of the dragon prevents it from flying and lowers its walking Speed by 10 feet. It has Damage Resistance to everything except Psychic damage. The dragon's maximum Hit Points are increased by 50%. The mass behind the dragon's Claw and Tail attacks do an additional base die of damage. The dragon also gains the Siege Monster trait, doing double damage against objects and structures, and the Trampling Roll action.

Trampling Roll. The dragon rolls over smaller opponents, using its great weight against them. The dragon moves up to its Speed in a straight line. It can move through the spaces of other creatures in its path as long as all of them are smaller than the dragon, and this movement does not count as difficult terrain. Every creature in the dragon's path must make a Dexterity saving throw (DC same as the dragon's breath weapon), taking bludgeoning damage equal to double the dragon's tail attack (including the bonus die from Pudgy) on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful save. The dragon cannot end its turn sharing a space with another creature. The dragon counts as prone during this action, but ends the trampling roll back on its feet.

 

[Quickleaf]

Here's an experimental trait that serves as a bridge between interaction and combat, stealing from mind spike spell...

Riddling Dragon. When the dragon poses a difficult question or riddle that goes unanswered, the dragon know the location of each creature in its lair that could not give it an answer, but only while on the same plane of existence. While the dragon can sense the creature's tension or doubt, the creature can’t become hidden from the dragon, and if the creature is invisible, it gains no benefit from that condition against the dragon. However, once a creature gives an answer, the dragon can no longer sense its tension or doubt.

Here's one that gives a dispelling-like property to a dragon's roar...

Legendary Action: Revealing Roar. The dragon unleashes a terrible roar. Each creature within a 100 foot cone that is wildshaped, polymorphed, or hidden by illusion or disguise must succeed a Constitution save or be forced into its true form. If the creature was immune to the dragon's Frightful Presence, it is no longer immune when it is forced into its true form.

Here's one which leans on the "moment of weakness" idea we see in movies...

Legendary Action: Recharge Breath. The dragon begins recharging its breath weapon, which becomes fully recharged at the start of its next turn. During this time, the dragon might take full damage from a damage type it is usually resistant or immune to, or it might take vulnerability to a certain type of attack, or some of its defenses might be lowered.

 

[ad_hoc]

I think the lair and lair actions are a great opportunity to make unique and interesting encounters.

Just like with a Beholder the lair (and minions) can make a fight downright unfair.

 

[dave2008]

@Stalker0, how about this for when you want suggest the PCs into melee.

Dragon armor. The dragon has a +5 bonus to its AC against ranged attacks.

Elder Dragon Armor. The dragon has a +5 bonus to its AC against ranged attacks and it Dexterity saving throws.

 

[Evilhalfling]

Im gearing up for a (gold) dragon fight soon, and the problem is the group's gloomstaker/archer. she ignores cover, and range penalties, 90 first-round damage has been normal. (L10)
A total win for the party is to cast greater restoration on it, curing its insanity, and allowing negotiation.
- but that needs to burn through legendary resistances. and the 4-person party doesn't force many saves.

killing it will also free it, and it will ask to be raised with its last breath

mostly I just gave it +34 hp (20% increase)
Perhaps a bloodied trigger? Dragon gains +5 AC or resistance to all ranged attack damage when it becomes bloodied. ill keep that in my back pocket.

Current Lair actions:
Banish target to dream world (can return with save or investigation skill roll) max 1 inhabitant
- the dream world contains campaign clues...
Activate Lair Defenses - Pillars in the lair do cold damage (10r) in a predictable sequence.
this dragon breathes fire, so a little cold damage is helpful against rivals /hunters.

Is it too video gamey to force players to rotate around the room to avoid environmental damage?

 

[Quickleaf]

Im gearing up for a (gold) dragon fight soon, and the problem is the group's gloomstaker/archer. she ignores cover, and range penalties, 90 first-round damage has been normal. (L10)
A total win for the party is to cast greater restoration on it, curing its insanity, and allowing negotiation.
- but that needs to burn through legendary resistances. and the 4-person party doesn't force many saves.

killing it will also free it, and it will ask to be raised with its last breath

mostly I just gave it +34 hp (20% increase)
Perhaps a bloodied trigger? Dragon gains +5 AC or resistance to all ranged attack damage when it becomes bloodied. ill keep that in my back pocket.

I've run for a gloomstalker/sharpshooter ranger before – it's probably one of the more "broken" aspects of 5e in that it requires significant GM adaptation to maintain the sense of threat in most fights. DMDavid gives a solid breakdown of the sharpshooter feat's issues. There's a strong argument to be made for house ruling / nerfing it, but I'm gonna assume you'll keep the build as-is, so I'll give some suggestions about how to adapt (like your bloodied trigger):

• What if this dragon has scales that give it resistance to damage from ranged weapons? You might include caveats like a special "Aimed Shot" action (i.e. no multi-attacks, possibly requiring a check) can spot a chink in the scales to bypass this resistance.
• What if, while it's recharging its breath weapon (and assume the dragon is recharging from the start of combat), its scales superheat to the point that non-magical ammunition melts before striking the dragon? So it's immune to ranged weapons except for the round in which it uses its breath weapon, encouraging the ranger PC to wait for an opening and/or Ready her attack.
• What if the pillars are massive enough to provide Total Cover to the dragon? This would require the PCs move around to get a clear shot.
• What if the pillars cause slow-type effects to the point of freezing projectiles that pass through a cold aura mid-flight? This would might require using some actions to destroy some pillars.
• What if the dragon can breathe fire on a cold pillar, creating a huge cloud of steam that Heavily Obscures the area until the start of its next turn?
• What if, on the first turn of combat in which the Gloomstalker ranger PC would benefit from Dread Ambusher, the dragon begins behind, or quickly flies behind, total cover?
• What if, for this encounter, the ranger PC can make special "whistling shots" that tradeoff damage to reduce the Legendary Resistances of the dragon? For ex, if the ranger PC would deal 45+ damage (or whatever target # you choose), she may instead opt to deal no damage, but reduce the dragon's Legendary Resistances by one. This might be narrated as whispering to her arrows and the arrows nicking the dragon and delivering the whispered message. Heck, you could extend this to other PCs as well.

If those ideas are too much, you can always fall back on the encounter being more about the Moral Dilemma (e.g. maybe raising the dragon is fallible, or not guaranteed, or involves risk) than about the tactics/strategy involved.

Current Lair actions:
Banish target to dream world (can return with save or investigation skill roll) max 1 inhabitant
- the dream world contains campaign clues...
Activate Lair Defenses - Pillars in the lair do cold damage (10r) in a predictable sequence.
this dragon breathes fire, so a little cold damage is helpful against rivals /hunters.

Is it too video gamey to force players to rotate around the room to avoid environmental damage?

Those are interesting lair actions.

While yes, it's "video gamey", it does accomplish the goal of getting PCs moving rather than turtling together and shooting their way to victory.

But there are other ways to encourage that – some of my above suggestions present "carrot" methods to encourage movement (as opposed to the cold damage being a "stick" method).

If you prefer the "stick" method (or some combo of the two), you can mitigate the transparent "video gameness" by layering some narrative about why the pillars become infused with terrible cold in some sequence. Maybe the spirits of the dragon's dead wyrmlings haunt the chamber, and their flight pattern (perceivable with see invisibility / Dragonsight) explains the sequence of cold pillar activation? Maybe the pillars are engraved with Draconic runes that spell out the dragon's True Name reversed/backwards (and if PCs realize this and speak its True Name in the right order that removes 1 or more Legendary Resistances from it)?

 

[Tonguez]

A Dragon in the Walls

the Dragons lair is a cavern at the center of a labyrinthine network of multiple narrow tunnels, with openings in the floor, ceiling and walls. The serpentine dragon lurks in the tunnels unseen and covered, until it dashes in to ambush intruders in fast flyby attacks before disappearing into another tunnel, twisting back on itself and attacking again from another angle.
Set lair actions the dragon can trigger as it disappears into a tunnel

 

[Yaarel]

@Stalker0

I like the Draconic Armor.

It means that younger Dragons at lower levels can feel "difficult" to hit, while still being not impossible to hit.

Also, the need to think about how to gain advantage against the Dragon emphasizes the flavor of strategy and tactics.

Dragons become a formidable opponent at any level.