D&D 5E (2024) Opinions on the Topaz Dragon Reverse Wings?

[dave2008]

The staying power of the Blue, no doubt. TBH, did any of the True Dragons really need a remake of their looks for 2024 D&D?

Yes. I was calling for it shortly after 5e14 was released. I even made a thread about it. I would link to it, but I need to jump into a meeting (and then I really need to work)!

PS - I think almost all of the 5e24 designs are improvements over the 3e-4e-5e era of designs.

PSS - I don't feel like working yet, so here is my thread (from 2018): Interested in new dragon designs for 5e (5.5e or 6e)?

 

[dave2008]

The other two are trivial; the third image is 4e, the fourth image is 3e.

How can you tell?

 

[Sulicius]

So interestingly, the gem dragons were not as redesigned for 5e24. I love pretty much all of the redesigns, even the blue has found a place for me.

The Topaz dragon just doesn’t look right to me. I wish it did, I wish I liked this weird design, but it looks just as silly as if its head and tail were swapped.

 

[Corinnguard]

PSS - I don't feel like working yet, so here is my thread (from 2018): Interested in new dragon designs for 5e (5.5e or 6e)?

I briefly checked out this old forum thread (2 years before I joined EN World ). While I do like the dragon designs that have been around since 3e, I also like it when artists try their hand of making their own takes of the dragons in D&D.

Like this Forest Dragon, for instance:

It would make for a good Green Dragon. Or a good Forest Landwyrm.

Landwyrm

Landwyrms were a type of lesser, wingless dragon, each species of which was near-perfectly adapted to its environment.[1] Landwyrms were large, wingless dragons. Their appearance varied greatly between species.[1] Landwyrms were strong-willed and had independent natures.[1] Like other dragons...

forgottenrealms.fandom.com

 

[dave2008]

I briefly checked out this old forum thread (2 years before I joined EN World ). While I do like the dragon designs that have been around since 3e, I also like it when artists try their hand of making their own takes of the dragons in D&D.

Like this Forest Dragon, for instance:

It would make for a good Green Dragon. Or a good Forest Landwyrm.

Landwyrm

Landwyrms were a type of lesser, wingless dragon, each species of which was near-perfectly adapted to its environment.[1] Landwyrms were large, wingless dragons. Their appearance varied greatly between species.[1] Landwyrms were strong-willed and had independent natures.[1] Like other dragons...

forgottenrealms.fandom.com

The green is a hard one for me. I really like the 5e24 design, and it makes sense from the mythological / folklore of serpents and green's as manipulators. However, it is far from its origins and doesn't really say "forest dragon."

 

[Corinnguard]

The green is a hard one for me. I really like the 5e24 design,

The green's new looks certainly made the Green Dragonborn more appealing to me.

 

[Rainbow Scissors]

I don't like that the new dragonborn are more strictly color coded. I liked it better when dragonborn were related to dragons but not necessarily 1-to-1 miniature representations of the dragons.

In general, I'm not a big fan of 5e24's art direction. I cannot deny that some of the art is technically great artwork. But, despite the actual techniques to create the art being measurably better and of higher quality, I still like the style and presentation of it a lot less.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

How can you tell?

I just...do? It's completely obvious to me which picture came from 3e and which came from 4e. The details, the style, just make it completely obvious.

It's like asking how one can tell the difference between a pencil sketch and a painting. I can tell because pencil lines are different from brush strokes.

No the first two are both 1e: white and blue dragons. If you can't tell the difference then I suspect your pattern recognizing abilities are less than the average person. I mean one has a nose horn (nose horn = blue*) and one has a head sail (head sail = white). Those features have been consistent through all editions (though the white in 5e24 much less so).

If you couldn't tell the difference between a 3e white and blue without the color than I stand by my statement: your pattern recognizing abilities are undeveloped compared to most humans.

I imagine that probably means you are exceptional in some other area!

*previous to 5e24 the ears of the blue were "iconic" as well. That is one of the few changes of the chromatic dragons that 5e24 has made the I don't agree with.

This is incredibly rude.

More importantly, my point wasn't that they look identical. It's that I have no idea which appearance is which dragon type.

If you gave me a red dragon that had been digitally recolored to be black, or took a B&W sketch of a red dragon and colored it black to begin with, I could with nearly 100% confidence identify that as a red dragon that was simply colored black for whatever reason, and vice versa. Red, green, and black dragons have iconic appearance details, such as horns and facial structure. I don't need the color of their scales to tell at a glance.

With Blue and White? Having looked it up recently, I know that Blue has the club like horn on its snout and White doesn't, but other than that they are extremely visually similar. I have never been able to remember "horn means blue, no horn means white", and must verify which is which essentially every time. A person could hand me a sketch of a white dragon recolored blue, or a blue dragon recolored white, and I almost certainly wouldn't notice, as long as the recolor was well-executed rather than sloppy.

No need to cast aspersions about my skills.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

I don't like that the new dragonborn are more strictly color coded. I liked it better when dragonborn were related to dragons but not necessarily 1-to-1 miniature representations of the dragons.

Yeah, definitely. I like them better when they are just draconic humanoids that might be distantly related to the dragons, and that's how they are in my setting.

 

[Corinnguard]

I don't like that the new dragonborn are more strictly color coded.

My only quibble about them being color coded is that they aren't being treated as 15 different subspecies. It would be neat if each of them had a signature trait or two that set them apart from one another.