On the Origins of Dragon Species

[Coroc]

... Armor and weapons, like longsword leather armor with and without studs ring mail was there ever a chain bra btw? Lol's and the poor lead dragon....
Tbh I agree with your base sentiment but differently. I actually like the chromatic dragons, they are quite systematic. The metallic and the gem dragons not so much. Especially it should be gold silver copper since these are pure. We do d&d not an Olympic medal.

 

[Frankie1969]

Hmm, redoing the core dragons for 7 breaths, 7 colors, 7 metals.

Red: Fire
Yellow: Lightning
Green: Wind (Force)
Aqua: Acid (green-blue scales, yellow-orange breath)
Blue (indigo): Cold
Black: Death (Poison)
White: Light (Psychic? Magic? Laser?)

Gold: Fire
Silver: Cold
Copper: Lightning
Quicksilver: Light
Iron: Force (maybe magnetism)
Lead: Poison
Tin: Acid (because that's what's left)

Which leads to mixes / alloys of increasing silliness...

Orange: sparks (Fire / Lightning mix)
Purple: ???
Gray: ???

Amalgam (quicksilver + silver): ???
Bronze (copper + tin): weak breath weapon, but physically strong & durable
Electrum (gold + silver): ???
Rose Gold (gold + copper): Sonic (notifications)
Solder (lead + tin): ???

 

[Ancalagon]

Terrain (and encounter tables) may have been a consideration. You "need" a dragon for forests, thus you get a green dragon etc.

 

[MechaTarrasque]

Terrain (and encounter tables) may have been a consideration. You "need" a dragon for forests, thus you get a green dragon etc.

And there wouldn't be much forest left if the green dragon is always breathing fire (or lightning).

 

[Ancalagon]

And there wouldn't be much forest left if the green dragon is always breathing fire (or lightning).

Indeed. And the character of the dragon is driven by the "character " of the terrain- the forest is depicted as where many fey live, so the dragon too has to be conniving etc...

 

[SkidAce]

I divorced my dragons from standard colors and "factions".

They still influence or are influenced by terrain, so most "black" dragons like shadows or swamps, and since shadows and swamps are not nice...

However, the characters were surprised and enjoyed meeting "Gazorix Justicarius Rex" a female old red dragon that was the founder of the LG Knights of the Flame.


...and then there was the evil yellow/gold political manipulator behind the throne dragon, Eldeth (The Elder Death).

 

[Draegn]

I too have tossed out the typical breath weapons based on colour. In my world all dragons regardless of colour, breathe fire (hot or cold), spit acid, exhale toxic fumes and may have venomous bites, some might be able to generate a shock of static electricity.

Dragons being an apex predator should be deadly.

The differences we have are that there are four types based on the number of limbs they possess.

Dragons traditional four limbs and two wings.
Drakes two limbs and two wings, weaker than a dragon but a far more graceful agile flier.
Wyrms wingless with four limbs, incredibly tough and strong.
Serpents without limbs or wings, weaker than the others but can burrow through loose materials with simple body movements becoming concealed.

To compare them to vehicles of the Second World War

Dragon = B-17 bomber
Drakes = Me 262
Wyrms = Schwerer Gustav railway gun
Serpernts = U-boat type 21

 

[Morrus]

I’m not sure I understand the criticism. Just because we didn’t discover something until the 1700s doesn’t mean it didn’t exist. If dragons were real, nature wouldn’t limit their species only to to things humans had discovered.

 

[TwoSix]

Pretty sure Red Dragons always evolve from applying a Fire Stone to a normal dragon.

 

[Charlaquin]

Hmm, redoing the core dragons for 7 breaths, 7 colors, 7 metals.

Red: Fire
Yellow: Lightning
Green: Wind (Force)
Aqua: Acid (green-blue scales, yellow-orange breath)
Blue (indigo): Cold
Black: Death (Poison)
White: Light (Psychic? Magic? Laser?)

If you’re going to do 7 varieties of chromatic dragon, why not ROYGBIV? Alternatively, the traditional Red, Green, Blue, Black White works perfectly as the primary colors of additive color theory (swap Red for Magenta, Green for Yellow, and Blue for Cyan if you prefer subtractive), with other colors being cross breeds.

Gold: Fire
Silver: Cold
Copper: Lightning
Quicksilver: Light
Iron: Force (maybe magnetism)
Lead: Poison
Tin: Acid (because that's what's left)

I’d definitely give Iron Fire. The symbolic association is too strong to ignore. Flint and steel starts fires, fire is used to refine and mold iron into tools, weapons, and armor, iron is associated with mars, who is in turn associated with fire. Iron dragons definitely need to breathe and resist fire.

I get what you’re going for with lead being poison, but I don’t think the symbolic association is strong. Yeah, lead is poisonous, but think about what it’s used for. It is incredibly dense and insulates well against any form of radiation, so radiant damage might be appropriate, though personally I would reserve radiant damage for either quicksilver or gold. It also doesn’t transmit vibrations well, so I would go for thunder damage with its “breath weapon” being a deafening roar. Also as the basest alchemical Metal, it’s fitting that it wouldn’t have a true *breath* weapon like the more refined dragons.

Radiant works well for quicksilver, but personally, I’d rather give it to gold, and give poison to quicksilver. Mercury is also highly poisonous, and the idea of a quicksilver dragon spitting actual mercury is pretty cool. Gold is symbolically associated with the sun, so it should either be fire or radiant, and in my opinion Iron has dibs on fire. Maybe you could do one a line of fire and one a cone of fire I suppose, but I kind of like radiant as the perfected form of fire, just as gold is the perfected form of baser metals.