Raising baby dragon against alignment?

[Driddle]

Let's say a good-hearted ranger is thrust into a situation where he feels he should adopt and raise a newly hatched dragon. The only problem is that the critter's scales are green.

How do you reconcile the innocence of a newborn with the game-imposed fate that it have an 'evil' nature? Can the ranger expect the green dragon to turn against him some day, or will it be possible to adjust its alignment toward good?

 

[Trainz]

There are two ways alignment are stated in the MM: Usually, and Always. For example, an orc is "Usually Evil"...

... but a green dragon is listed as "Always lawful evil".

If your DM states that it WILL become evil, then you should slay this spawn of malevolence. On the other hand, if your DM states that even creatures that have an "Always" alignment can be redeemed, then it would be quite in character to raise it in the ways of goodness and mercy.

I refer you to the Book of Exalted Deeds for a more comprehensive take on the subject.

 

[Stormborn]

It depends on your campaign:
Rules wise the "always" mentioned above stands. Thats the way it it and if it is important to you to stick to the letter of the law then thats the ruling.
On the other hand, if it was campaign scheduled to run a long time, I would let the Ranger and the NPC Dragon grow. I would say the Dragon had a tendency to be evil, one it had to fight hard to overcome, but that if the Ranger was willing to struggle, and succeded in being very convincing, that might change. I would however, keep all the penalities normally associated with having a cohort or whatever of a different allignment. It wont be easy.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

If your DM states that it WILL become evil, then you should slay this spawn of malevolence. On the other hand, if your DM states that even creatures that have an "Always" alignment can be redeemed, then it would be quite in character to raise it in the ways of goodness and mercy.

Chances are that it will not become evil. It already is. Dragons inherit a great body of knowledge of their parents, and alignment is probably something that will be inherited along with knowledge about arcane matters.

 

[kenjib]

Whatever makes for a good game. If that "always" word in the Green Dragon's alignment is getting in the way of the direction your group wants to head, or what might make for some memorable moments, then just ignore it. If you think that the green dragon's presence would be disruptful to the game, then stick to it a little more and make it more difficult to deal with.

In a strict sense, I would think the dragon would grow to be friendly toward, and perhaps even protective of, it's adopted parent, but with everyone else it really wouldn't see what's so wrong with eating a person here and there. This of course would cause problems for the ranger. After a while it becomes a problem not so much of how to hang on to the dragon's loyalty, but how to get rid of it...

 

[Hida Bukkorosu]

Always: The creature is born with the listed alignment. The creature may have a hereditary disposition to the alignment or come from a plane that predetermines it. It is possible for such individuals to change alignment, but such individuals are either unique or one-in-a-million exceptions.

The underlined text means that your dragon could be one of those one-in-a-million exceptions.

 

[Driddle]

Interesting. The first few responses here defaulted to the game book standard before allowing for personal choice.

"Always evil" doesn't sit well with me, but (shrug) if that's what the rules say ...

Thanks. That's all I needed.

 

[Olive]

The underlined text means that your dragon could be one of those one-in-a-million exceptions.

Exactly.

 

[Trickstergod]

There are two ways alignment are stated in the MM: Usually, and Always. For example, an orc is "Usually Evil"...

... but a green dragon is listed as "Always lawful evil".

If your DM states that it WILL become evil, then you should slay this spawn of malevolence. On the other hand, if your DM states that even creatures that have an "Always" alignment can be redeemed, then it would be quite in character to raise it in the ways of goodness and mercy.

I refer you to the Book of Exalted Deeds for a more comprehensive take on the subject.

As an aside, I don't really think the DM should be mentioning information like that in the first place - it's not like the ranger is going to know the answer to that question. If the ranger wanted to find some sort of in-game answer, via communing with a god, seeking out a bard who might have a little tale to help or the like, that's all well and good, but the yes or no shouldn't be given from the DM to the player.

For my part, to answer your question, Driddle, even the rules allow a one in a million exception. For my part, I'd never interpret always as always; even angels fall, after all.

I would, however, likely not let the ranger shift the dragons alignment by more than one place. Either to Lawful Neutral, or Neutral Evil, but it would take a lot more than just a proper up-bringing, so to speak, to eliminate the creatures natural tendencies. I'd interpret an "always" as being a bit more like an anchorpoint around which the creature can only swing so far, or in a certain direction.

 

[Saeviomagy]

Interesting. The first few responses here defaulted to the game book standard before allowing for personal choice.

"Always evil" doesn't sit well with me, but (shrug) if that's what the rules say ...

Thanks. That's all I needed.

At first I thought it might be possible to get the thing to agree to an 'atonement' spell cast upon it.

Then I noticed "this spell doesn't work on outsiders or anything else incapable of naturally changing it's alignment".

Which, frankly, sucks.