Of Dragons and Tooth Picks

[Tonguez]

I say you want an elf that crushes stones - then DO IT. In a world of roleplaying you don't need to follow the rules - Dragons is Dragons-is Elves in disguise...

 

[Macbrea]

Two questions. First, pretty simple:
Secondly, and this is more a roleplaying look then a pure rules look, but still:

As it stands, Polymorph doesn't give you any of the Su or Ex of the form you become, nor do you keep any of yours. This is made so PCs do not abuse it.

However, if a Green dragon, of any age category changed into say, a Wood elf... She would have a 10 str, 13 Dex, and 8 Con. She would have none of her Ex or Su abilities. She would look, act, be a normal elf.

Any thoughts?

Have I missed a errata change of polymorph other (self) since tomb and blood? According to that you get to keep all your extraordinary, spells and spell like abilities. If that is true still that Green dragon would still have Frightful presence as an elf.

Now, I could possibly have missed something somewhere.

 

[Xarlen]

Wouldn't that kind've give her away? Unless she purposely 'turned it off'.

 

[Macbrea]

Heh, I guess she could turn off her frightful presence but she could turn it on for a round.....then turn it back off.

Players might wonder why they are shaken by the encounter. Was it the way she looked at them or the fact something wasn't quite right about her.


I picture it kind of the way Gandalf seems to grow in size and power when Bilbo wouldn't give up the ring. As if a little bit of his true power was reveiled.

It might work. Depends how you wish to play it up. That is assuming that it can be turned off and on. If not a polymorphed dragon might be alittle too scary as a mortal walking about.

 

[Jack Haggerty]

Wouldn't that kind've give her away? Unless she purposely 'turned it off'.

Not necessarily.

With a slightly fanged grimace and an unreasoning wave of cold fear, the characters may very well mistake the polymorphed dragon for a polymorphed Pit Fiend.

However, a dragon must attack, charge, or fly overhead to activate the ability.

Other abilities the green dragon will keep in its "elf" form:

Spells... as a Sorcerer of the appropriate level.
Immunities... to acid, sleep and paralysis.
Water Breathing... its amphibious.
Spell Resistance... depending on its age.
Blindsight... to a range of 30' x its age category.
Keen Senses... it sees 4 times as well as a human in dim light, and has darkvision to 100' x its age category.

Lots of options there. Though I'd tend to agree with Piratecat. A quick flash of dragon eyes, horns, fangs or forked tongue would do the same trick. It'll be up to your players to guess what kind of beast they're dealing with, they guess lucky, they may not.

 

[Xarlen]

Thanks, folks! I've got ideas.

Here's what I'm thinking: This is going to take place in a clearing, where the Dragon in Elf form is going to offer the PCs a business deal. Basicly, asking them to pay her. The setup is, she's making the same offer to their enemies. If the PCs pay her, and the enemies don't, she'll offer a little help. If the enemies pay her and the PCs don't, they have another adversery to deal with. If both pay, she stays out.

I figure that the following could scare them, but not immediately tip them off:
1) When they arrive at the clearing, the birds are singing in the trees. Then go silent. And when the elf walks into the clearing, they flee from the trees.
2) As she's casually talking to them, she's going to pick up a rock. Play with it. And, as she's talking, idly toss chunks that have simply cracked off, since she's been squeezing on it.
3) The Frightening Presence could easily be a way to keep cocky or overconfident characters on their toes. They get upidy, she pulls a Gandalf on them, as pointed out by Macbrea.
4) When she walks away, her shadow could be...not that of an elf.

The membrain (like the second eyelid from MiB), serpentine tongue, or pupil could work for later meetings.

If the PCs want proof of what she can do, the Dragon made elf would simply ask them to return in an hour. Since they want proof of what she, or her resources can do, she asks them to return in an hour. If they do, they'd find several trees have been broken, shattered, or are in pieces. And the smiling elf is in the center of the mess.

How does that sound, folks? And, if anyone's interested, she's an Adult Green Dragon. Modified, that is.

 

[Gromm]

The way I've always done it is with what the polymorphed character says and acts.
Imagine the PCs find this unarmed, unarmored elf that implies that is something much more terrible than it appears. It references things (like the taste of elven flesh, screams of deer when you slowly dismember them, etc), that no elf would reference or be able to do. It treats the party like it would small, harmless children that it could destroy without effort.

Then, if you like, let the PCs make Sense Motive rolls if they want. When they roll really high and realize hes not bluffing they'll be terrified.

I've seen party's cowed by unarmed midgets that never did anything to them, all because of the way he acted and spoke (though in the party's defense it was really a demon IIRC).

Knocking down trees is cool, so is crushing stones, but knowing you could do those things and then some is scarier. The unknown is more frightening than the known. As long as the PCs think theres "something wierd" about this elf they'll be scared, especially if you're the type of DM to occasionally throw in plot characters much more powerful than the party can handle.

 

[Jack Haggerty]

Thinking about this again, I have to ask...

Why does this polymorphed dragon want the to imply that she isn't a real elf? Is she trying to impress the PCs? Frighten them?

It sounds like she's trying to use a disguise to make the PCs more ameniable to this business proposition. So then, why ruin the disguise by playing dragon tricks?

Or, if she was trying to impress them with her mighty dragon powers, why not just show up as a fully-fledged dragon in the first place?

 

[Xarlen]

Because she wants payment.

If she shows up as a dragon, then most likely their initial reaction would be A) Fight, B) Run, or C) Distrust her. She IS a green dragon. If they know right off the bat what she is, they could make assumptions of her capabilities, of her weaknesses, etc, etc.

If she acts simply as an elf, then they're not going to believe she can back up the claims, or at the very least, see no reason why they should pay to have her neutral, or on their side.

If they think that she's... Got Something up her sleeve, if she's *something* that isn't very clear, then they'll Wonder. My players are Very paranoid. They'll likely work her up to be something much more then a simple dragon. And if they're not sure what she is, they can't prepare to deal with her. I want to get them to sweat.

 

[Jack Haggerty]

What I'm trying to get at is... If she's pretending to be an elf, she may not need to intimidate the characters. Perhaps she can sweet talk them instead.

How big a dragon is she? She may have Suggestion or Dominate Person 3 times/day, plus any Sorcerer spells she knows... An elven sorceress/enchantress would be a powerufl ally/enemy for a party of adventurers, and should have plenty of persuasive power, eh?

Don't you think she would try every other option, before revealing (however slightly) her true form as a Trump card?