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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Stalker0" data-source="post: 8981090" data-attributes="member: 5889">So in "honor" of the recent dnd movie, I wanted to take a look at dragons. Dragons despite being the boilerplate monster, have long had issues being the pinnacle of combat encoutners. No matter how scary they look on paper, they often just don't bring the challenge and epic fight that player's expect.Having worked on dragons with others like [USER=83242]@dave2008[/USER], who has done a lot of work making dragons a lot tougher. However, for this purpose, the goal is:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">To increase the dragon's challenge.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">To make a dragon fight "distinctive". We don't just want the players to fight a bigger challenge, we want a unique challenge</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A simple list of traits that can be added on to existing dragons, rather than recreating them wholesale.</li> </ul>And so I present a list of dragon traits that you can add to an existing challenge to do just that.Note: I will use the term "bloodied" for this. This is an old 4e term means the target is at half hp or lower.Draconic Armor: Unless an attack is made with advantage, it automatically misses the dragon.Draconic Resistance (replaces legendary resistance): When a dragon fails a saving throw, they may take 1 exhaustion instead of suffering the normal effect.Draconic Stamina: A dragon that uses their breath weapon recovers 1 exhaustion.Draconic Arrogance: Bloodied opponents have advantage on attack rolls against a dragon, and the dragon has disadvantage on saves against them. This trait is lost if the dragon is bloodied.Dispelling Breath: The dragon's breath weapon removes all magic effects of X level or lower in the area (similar to dispel magic).Commentary:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Draconic armor makes the dragon noticeably tougher, but in a unique and interesting way. Instead of players just go "man I can't hit this thing", its now "ok how do I get advantage". Whether its help actions or stunts like jumping on the dragons back, the players will immediate begin getting creative about how to approach a dragon, because its the only real way to win. This immediately makes a dragon fight much more interesting. This also reflects the old LOTR lore of dragons having nigh impenetrable armor, and you needing to target very specific weak spots to hit them.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Draconic Resistance: The problem with legendary resistance is:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Its extremely boring. It failed its save.....I mean no it didn't you do absolutely nothing!</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">It scales weirdly with the number of casters. If you have 3 casters in your party, legendary resistance is more of a speedbump. If you have 1, it basically means that caster isn't contributing in any legendary fight.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">This version of draconic resistance ensures that each failed save contributes to the fight, rather than the dragon just completely shrugging it off. However, you can in theory get a lot more uses of it than legendary resistance. This simulates slowly wearing out the dragon, rather than just beating them up and then ending it with one key failed save.</li> </ul></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Draconic Stamina: Ensures the exhaustion from draconic resistance doesn't get toooo high, and gives a dragon more incentive to use their breath weapon even at moments they might not.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Draconic Arrogance: This provides some mechanics to the flavor of dragons being so arrogant and haughty. Liking to play with their food at bit, it also gives players an interesting choice, stay low health and gain benefits (though risking a big hit by the dragon that takes you out), or heal up and lose the bonus.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Dispelling Breath: This one provides the dragon a general means of dealing with player shenanigans. No longer is a dragon ensnared by a wall of force, or beaten by a caster with the one right spell. Dragons are the ultimate engine of destruction, and the inferior magic of mortals is no threat to them! This trait ensures that no matter how well a party prepares their spells and buffs, a dragon will still starting burning through them.</li> </ul></blockquote>

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