Metallic Dragons Need Not Apply?

[Shawn Kehoe]

Hello All,

I've recently been reading through the Draconimicon and trying to determine what dragon species exist in my campagin setting. I've established that Chromatics exist, and the PC's have clashed with three of them at various points. However, I'm uncertain about using metallics.

In my setting, dragons first entered the world as part of a vast mind flayer invasion force, along with elves and most other fantasy creatures. The humans under assault eventually used a bomb that combined magic and dimensional science to destroy most of the invaders and seal the dimensional rift. This also saturated the world with magic and destroyed the technology base; the current campaign takes place thousands of years after these events, so the tech level is standard D&D.

Given the dragon's origins, metallic dragons seem a little out of place; the mind flayers would be far mor likely to use chromatics for invading in my opinion. I'm considering using Gem Dragons as a subsitute for the metallics - after breaking free from the Mind Flayer influence, they have developed strong psionic powers of their own.

Thoughts?

Thanks,
Shawn

 

[mhacdebhandia]

That sounds reasonable. Gem dragons, being neutral, also increase the ambiguity for the PCs by being not evil like the mind flayers' dragons, but also not actively good. Their psionic nature adds to this ambiguity - how trustworthy can they be if they display the same powers as the illithids?

 

[Shawn Kehoe]

That sounds reasonable. Gem dragons, being neutral, also increase the ambiguity for the PCs by being not evil like the mind flayers' dragons, but also not actively good. Their psionic nature adds to this ambiguity - how trustworthy can they be if they display the same powers as the illithids?

Very True. I'm using the movie "Dark City" as my model in a sense: the mind flayers have psionics, and they don't want anyone else to develop them. I can see the Gem Dragons as being difficult to enlist in a conflict; even the non-chaotic ones are intent never to be a prisoner again.

Perhaps a high-level adventure down the line will involve plane-hopping to bring good dragon eggs to this world, although that has its own moral conflicts.


-Shawn

 

[Alzrius]

Just out of curiosity, this sounds like it could be extended to any monster with a naturally good alignment. How do you justify, say, blink dogs in your campaign world then, and why wouldn't that work for metallic dragons?

 

[Chimera]

In the current incarnation of my setting world (where I'm preparing to play thousands of years previous to campaigns I ran many years ago), the entry in my Player's Guide says "There are no 'good' or 'evil' Dragons. They all consider you nothing more than food."

Yes, there are metallic Dragons IMC. It is just that we are in a period where they have yet to recognize Humans and Demi-Humans as worthwhile species. They still see Humanoids as nothing more than another foodstock.

This will change, in time, starting with individual Dragons. But for now...munchy munchy!

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

The metallic dragons could have been transformed chromatic dragons during the invasion - or they were enemies of the Mind Flayers and followed them to help the humans (wether they were needed or came just late enough to be trapped in this realm is up to you )

In a world where Alignment is so powerful as in Standard D&D, maybe you could also make the dragons color a result from the alignment. So, if a chaotic evil dragon suddenly decides to become chaotic evil, his colo changes from red to a metallic bronze...
So, metallic dragons were those that somehow were capable of escaping the Mind Flayer influence and began to do good work, for whatever reasons they might had...

 

[Lord Pendragon]

So, metallic dragons were those that somehow were capable of escaping the Mind Flayer influence and began to do good work, for whatever reasons they might had...

This is a nice idea, because it would provide a reason for the metallic dragons to want to help the human resistance. Perhaps there are only metallic dragons, but when enthralled by mind flayers, their colors dull. Silver-->White, Copper-->Green, Bronze-->Black, Brass-->White, Gold-->Red.

 

[Shawn Kehoe]

Just out of curiosity, this sounds like it could be extended to any monster with a naturally good alignment. How do you justify, say, blink dogs in your campaign world then, and why wouldn't that work for metallic dragons?

Well, I figure that the dragons would be difficult to dominate anyways without the added trouble of alignment qualms. Other good creatures with weaker will saves could be better controlled.

Also, I'm considering having high elves evolve from dark elves in my setting, in the years after the invasion.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Why not just make all the metallic dragons evil too? Everyone needs dual-mode breath weapons!

 

[Shawn Kehoe]

OK, I've decided to include Metallics after all. Here's my reasoning:

Some time after the mind flayers were defeated, the chromatic dragons rose to dominate the landscape.

Due to the dimesional damage wrought by the human's bomb, the dream plane began to leak into their world. This allowed common people to shape their most fevrent desires. Empires rose and fell in a day, and much of the remaining technology was swept away.

With the threat of the chromatics rising, and the gem dragons too self-involved to intervene, a group of powerful mages used the energies from the dream plane to bring the first metallic dragons to the world.

Thus we are left with:

Chromatics - descended from the original dragons that were used by the mind flayers to invade.

Gem - transformed by the bomb's detonation, they have withdrawn from the Prime and developed psionic powers. The modern gem dragons have preserved the most accurate histories regarding the MF invasion of old.

Metallics - Created via the dream rift to counterbalance the chromatic dragons.