Raising baby dragon against alignment?

[WanderingMonster]

Try this:

The hatchling will follow any rules set before it by its adopted parent (Lawful), but will act to serve it's own needs, or in even grossly inappropriate ways if there is no rule in place to stop it from doing so (evil).

The dragon initially recognizes the ranger as a superior (in strength and power) and respects his position. As the dragon matures, it may begin to question the ranger more openly and gain a feeling of superiority over the ranger. It may never act to harm the ranger (out of love, respect, or whatever), but it has recognized that the ranger is a flawed creature that the laws of a flawed society cannot apply to a superior being.

At least that's how I would do it. I wouldn't have the dragon rolling over for belly rubs or anything like that. I would rule that with an "Always" alignment, you'd be successful if you got a one-step change in the individual's ethos or morals (NE or LN). As a DM, I would think making the dragon a "problem child" would be much more interesting than a playing it as a model child.

 

[Hand of Evil]

It all comes down to you views, animals and humans, "imprint" for the most part when young, this COULD be taking to mean in a fantasy setting that things like alignment and magic are transferred to young from the parent.

I once kicked around a story of an elf raised by a dragon, he ate meat, was bigger than a normal elf, had some little dragon powers natural damage reduction, see invisible, but none of the elf's magical abilities. But this was a view of magic.

It is up to you and your views.

 

[Cerubus Dark]

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?

Normaly I would not allow something like this but in this situation I would rule that the hatchling would learn to imitate the actions of its "parent" in this case the ranger. Do good and the dragon would learn to do good. Do evil and the dragon would do evil. Ignore the Always in the alignment listing, thats for normal dragons raised by their natural parents. Of course the little green monster will outlive his human parent but its fun to try to try.

 

[Feathercircle]

As per Second Edition's Monster Manual, at least, it's potentially possible...

..However, a rare crystal dragon will adopt a young white dragon, to teach it to be friendly...

Seeing as I've never really played 2e, despite having books for it, I can't say whether alignment tendancies are more or less flexible now than they were then, but I can at least verify that 're-educating' young chromatics isn't entirely unheard of.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I remember an old "Jungle Doctor" story, called "little leopards become big leopards".

A tribal chief kills a dangerous leopard, and they discover it had a tiny cub. The cup is going to be slain but the nearby children plead for its life. The cute little cub grows up with the children, eats milk and vegetables and grows up cute and cuddly. Then one day it accidentally tastes blood, its natural instincts are aroused and it kills three people before the tribal chief manages to kill it while taking severe injuries himself.

paraphrased, you can take the leopard out of the jungle, but you can't take the jungle out of the leopard.

Thats how I'd work it with the green dragon. Things could seem to go well, but the moment something slips (perhaps the dragon tastes blood or whatever) its true internal nature starts to assert itself.

I'd have it start to become a problem child, then seriously disturbed and eventually end up with an oedipus complex.

"Daddy dear, please come out there is something I want to show you..."

 

[Kae'Yoss]

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...

The Draconomicon is the best source for information. See the rules sidebar on page 13.

It basically says that you have to make a Diplomacy or Intimidate check (obbosed by a Sense Motive Check, the dragon gets a +15 racial bonus on it) to make it accept your guidance. The dragon's check can be modified with several circumstances: Whether you tended the egg while it was incubating (-2), whether you were present at the hatching (-5), and whether your alignment is the same as the dragon's (-5 per axis, so a LE character would cause the green dragon's check to get down by 10). After 5 years, you also have to make a handle animal check to be able to train the dragon.

 

[Driddle]

The Draconomicon is the best source for information. See the rules sidebar on page 13.

It basically says that you have to make a Diplomacy or Intimidate check (obbosed by a Sense Motive Check, the dragon gets a +15 racial bonus on it) to make it accept your guidance. The dragon's check can be modified with several circumstances: Whether you tended the egg while it was incubating (-2), whether you were present at the hatching (-5), and whether your alignment is the same as the dragon's (-5 per axis, so a LE character would cause the green dragon's check to get down by 10). After 5 years, you also have to make a handle animal check to be able to train the dragon.

Sounds suspiciously like Hackmaster. Are there modifiers for diet and seasonal disposition? Dragon gender? Handedness? Would it make any difference if the dragon is nearsighted? What colors the ranger wears around the dragon?

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Sounds suspiciously like Hackmaster. Are there modifiers for diet and seasonal disposition? Dragon gender? Handedness? Would it make any difference if the dragon is nearsighted? What colors the ranger wears around the dragon?

No, just for alignment and your prior involvement with that wyrmling. Good thing dragons can eat anything.