D&D 5E Rise of Tiamat Questions

[jayoungr]

What I don't think the book intends is for you to say "Nymmurh has 23 bronze dragons behind him, so how would you like to assign those dragons?"

Actually, I get the impression that the book does intend to say that--otherwise, why would they give me the exact square mileage that can be protected by one dragon? They just seem to have left out the detail of how many total dragons should be at the PCs' disposal.

 

[discosoc]

Actually, I get the impression that the book does intend to say that--otherwise, why would they give me the exact square mileage that can be protected by one dragon? They just seem to have left out the detail of how many total dragons should be at the PCs' disposal.

Because it helps give a sense of what kind of scale this conflict is at.

 

[discosoc]

Actually, I get the impression that the book does intend to say that--otherwise, why would they give me the exact square mileage that can be protected by one dragon? They just seem to have left out the detail of how many total dragons should be at the PCs' disposal.

Actually, I just found the part you're talking about. 100 mile radius "per dragon" is protected. When I think about that, it only supports my comment about the book not intending a set number of individual dragons, but instead "leaders".

It's pretty well established that the chromatic dragons are a bit numerous, especially with so many encounters or reports of them indicating multiple dragons flying around with armies. It doesn't seem very likely that a single metallic dragon could protect that kind of territory. It does, however, seem likely that a metallic dragon leader, with the backing of others of his kind, could protect that kind of area from raids and attacks.

Not to mention, if a single dragon could literally protect a 100 mile radius from these attacks, it would only take something like 10 or 11 dragons to completely blanket the inhabited areas of the sword coast at most. Just seems unlikely.

 

[jayoungr]

First off, discosoc, I get what you're saying, and it's a practical way of handling it, in the absence of exact numbers. That said...

Actually, I just found the part you're talking about. 100 mile radius "per dragon" is protected ... It doesn't seem very likely that a single metallic dragon could protect that kind of territory.

I'm not so sure about that. Elia flies the PCs 600 miles in two days. Depending on how many hours per day of flying that represents, that means she's able to cover 100 miles in eight hours at most and four hours (or even less) at the lowest estimate. If you assume the metallic dragon is largely a deterrent, it should be easy for one dragon to patrol a territory of that size daily.

Oh, also:

The way I read that is when you win the favor of a specific dragon, you gain access to other dragons he leads (those of his color).

I was under the impression that the metallic dragons' support was an all-or-nothing thing. Even if some of them (like Nymurrh) might be in favor of allying with the humanoid races, they wouldn't go rogue and do it unless the whole Council of Dragons agreed.

 

[GuardianLurker]

I'm not so sure about that. Elia flies the PCs 600 miles in two days. Depending on how many hours per day of flying that represents, that means she's able to cover 100 miles in eight hours at most and four hours (or even less) at the lowest estimate.

Yet another point where the rules changes got the writers in trouble. Your 8 hour speed estimate (which represents 48 hours of straight flying) works out to a move speed of 125. I'm pretty sure that's faster than any dragon in the game in 5e. (Of course, in 5e, dragons are getting out-flown by real-world ducks (with an estimated speed of 40 miles-per-hour, that's a 5e speed of 400).) The real answer is that she's moving at speed-of-plot, just like the castle does.

If you're not familiar with those bench marks, since 3e (because they haven't changed distance or time scales), each 10' of movement per round is roughly 1 mile-per-hour.

 

[jayoungr]

The real answer is that she's moving at speed-of-plot, just like the castle does.

Sure, and I have no problem with that. But if Elia can fly at speed-of-plot, then a single dragon can protect territory at rate-of-plot too, don't you think?

 

[Sloblock]

But if Elia can fly at speed-of-plot, then a single dragon can protect territory at rate-of-plot too

Love those phrases speed/rate of plot