DragonLancer
Hero
Or even more simply, its a new breed of Stirge. Just because the template you are applying is called Half-Dragon doesn't mean that thats what it has to be.
Need ideas: origin of half-dragon stirge?
- Thread starter Driddle
- Start date
Tav_Behemoth
First Post
Driddle said:
Maybe it was against the dragon's will -- to combine some of the ideas others have suggested, perhaps an insane wizard (the kind that all campaign worlds are full of) captured a dragon and, through magical means, spread its "bloodline" traits through its bloodstream so that when the wizard allowed stirges to feed on the dragon, they acquired some of its hereditary characteristics. I used a similar idea to make a non-humanoid bloodsucker into a vampire in Swarm of Stirges.
I'd love to see the stats on the half-dragon stirge, especially if you make a swarm of 'em! There are stats for a regular swarm of stirges in my book, as you'd guess from the title, and also in Throwing Dice Games' forthcoming Notebook Essentials: Swarms, Stampedes and Skirmishes, using a different mechanic & with a higher CR. (Your dog-walking experience is another possible example of why you, Joe Muchiello, and I all independently came up with stirge-swarm ideas at around the same time; the explanation I came up with is that "stirge" and "swarm" are on the same page of the 3.5 MM. Your concept is much more twisted, though; hats off to you!)
By the way, did you ever notice that there's no spell that protects you from mosquitos? I mean, you can call flame strikes from the heavens and journey to other planes, but there's no such thing as magical bug repellent. Just another thing that gives me sympathy for the poor D&D character!
That would be the evil Lifecrafters fault...
Yup, those evil Lifecrafting wizards did it again...as if Owlbears and Chimeras didn't push the limits of sanity.
What's next? A fiendish flumph? Somebody needs to head an expedition into the wastelands west of civilization and destroy their powerbase..before they create something that breeds...
Yup, those evil Lifecrafting wizards did it again...as if Owlbears and Chimeras didn't push the limits of sanity.
What's next? A fiendish flumph? Somebody needs to head an expedition into the wastelands west of civilization and destroy their powerbase..before they create something that breeds...
Incenjucar
Legend
Tav_Behemoth said:
There was one in 2e, in the Necromancer's handbook.
As for stirges and dragons... just give the dragon a naughty magazine (Yaun-Ti Centerfolds or something) and a cauldron, and then, when the dragon's done, just dunk the female stirges in, or get some sort of turkey baster...
Crude, but effective, and much less disgusting for the poor dragon.
Of course, a great way to drive a dragoness insane... go the other direction after she's been subdued...
How would -you- feel if you were forced to give birth to a bunch of mosquitos?
*shudders*
Master Gunns
First Post
The REAL Story...
“They were created by an Evil Corporate Geneticist[sic] **cough, cough** (I can’t name the company here or my life is forfeit), which acquired the DNA samples (both Draconic and stirge) from Section 7 (Transdimensional Research) to whip up a new Bio-Engineered weapon for their Military Arms branch (Section 5) to use in Iraq."
"Once a viable strain was engineered utilizing a reverse transcriptase rhino virus, things got out of hand [rumors state that 42 company personnel were killed in the clean-up], and the botched experiment was thrown through a transdimensional portal in Section 7 to get rid of the evidence.”
“They were horrible… **wheeze** [at this point Mr. Smith loses consciousness for a few moments.] **Cough, cough, gasp…** They were invulnerable to fire, acid and electricity. We tried everything on them and nothing worked except overwhelming trauma until Section 12 (Magical Research) came up with a Magically enhanced Methyl Carbamate derivative. Once we had that, we threw all the remaining eggs and other research matter through the Restricted Gate on level 4.”
--Dying testimony of “John Smith” to the Grand Jury investigation team into the matter surrounding the disappearance of Doctors Johansen and Riebold at Classified DARPA Research Project near Tooele, UT 14 June 2004 moments before his death by exsanguination.--
“By the time our investigators arrived at the scene, the entire 4th level of the complex had been sealed due to an accidental release of an irradiated Bio-Modified “Buthus Androctonus Crassicauda (Arabian Fattailed Scorpion) said to be 3m long and radiating lethal levels of Gamma radiation. The best guess by our experts is that the Buthus will be able to survive on internal stores for about 27 months. Once that time has elapsed, we plan to resume the investigation.”
--Closing remarks by lead investigator, Agent Marcus Jones, 7 September 2008--
“They were created by an Evil Corporate Geneticist[sic] **cough, cough** (I can’t name the company here or my life is forfeit), which acquired the DNA samples (both Draconic and stirge) from Section 7 (Transdimensional Research) to whip up a new Bio-Engineered weapon for their Military Arms branch (Section 5) to use in Iraq."
"Once a viable strain was engineered utilizing a reverse transcriptase rhino virus, things got out of hand [rumors state that 42 company personnel were killed in the clean-up], and the botched experiment was thrown through a transdimensional portal in Section 7 to get rid of the evidence.”
“They were horrible… **wheeze** [at this point Mr. Smith loses consciousness for a few moments.] **Cough, cough, gasp…** They were invulnerable to fire, acid and electricity. We tried everything on them and nothing worked except overwhelming trauma until Section 12 (Magical Research) came up with a Magically enhanced Methyl Carbamate derivative. Once we had that, we threw all the remaining eggs and other research matter through the Restricted Gate on level 4.”
--Dying testimony of “John Smith” to the Grand Jury investigation team into the matter surrounding the disappearance of Doctors Johansen and Riebold at Classified DARPA Research Project near Tooele, UT 14 June 2004 moments before his death by exsanguination.--
“By the time our investigators arrived at the scene, the entire 4th level of the complex had been sealed due to an accidental release of an irradiated Bio-Modified “Buthus Androctonus Crassicauda (Arabian Fattailed Scorpion) said to be 3m long and radiating lethal levels of Gamma radiation. The best guess by our experts is that the Buthus will be able to survive on internal stores for about 27 months. Once that time has elapsed, we plan to resume the investigation.”
--Closing remarks by lead investigator, Agent Marcus Jones, 7 September 2008--
Chaos Drake
First Post
BTW, if you're dealing with stirges, do pick up Behemoth3's A Swarm of Stirges. Lotsa neat ideas in it! My players will never know what him them. *MWAHAHAHA*
FireLance
Legend
How about a vampiric dragon who wanted to hide his presence modified a group of stirges so that part of the blood they drained flowed back to him via a mystical connection. Over time (and a few generations of stirges), the connection worked both ways and the stirges acquired draconic traits.
Owen K.C. Stephens
Adventurer
Assume some wizard somewhere researched a higher level version of baleful polymorph that turns creatures into magical beasts rather than animals. He once managed to nail a young dragon with it, turning it into a 1 HD stirge. The thing losts its mind, and went through stirge life... but when it did breed, it turned out that some draconic blood was lfet, and passed on to its children.
Steve Jung
Explorer
Pseudodragons are Tiny dragons. What about them?
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