D&D 5E The Role of Dragons in Your Game

[Maxperson]

In my games, dragons are rare mighty legends that frighten nations. Any given campaign of mine will feature 0-1 of them for the PCs to encounter, and often it's not intended to be a combat encounter.

 

[pickin_grinnin]

In 35+ years of GMing, I have never used a dragon in one of my campaigns. I just don't care for them. I tend to use the less common monsters than the more well known ones, too.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I shared the cynicism regarding that particular event. I don't think anyone is lying, and I doubt they were trying to trick us with a fake contest. But when they reach out and get responses from thousands of fans, and then hire a professional they are already working with, well it definitely leaves you feeling like you wasted your time writing up your entry. Yes, they should go with the proposal they thought was best for the game, and yes they (hopefully) expected to pick some awesome idea from someone they'd never heard of; but if there was a chance they were going to go "in house" (perhaps not literally, but it felt that way), they should have just exhausted those resources first and asked their professional connections for suggestions, and only had the contest after they decided they didn't want to go with any of those.

They way it worked out, it felt like "just kidding, we're going to hire our buddy."

Fair enough. I don't get it, but I get that ppl feel that way.

I just don't see the point of not letting freelancers who have done stuff for DnD before participate?

Seems like if they had a new contest right now, and Mike Shea won...that would be totally fair. I wouldn't expect or want them to exclude established freelancers from such a contest.

I mean, Eberron is a really good setting, and the intitial draft ideas and the gen page writeup were very compelling. It does new things with DnD while still being recognizably a DnD setting, and encourages new stories, etc. I mean I'd understand if Eberron was a kinda bland, samey setting.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

In my games, dragons are rare mighty legends that frighten nations. Any given campaign of mine will feature 0-1 of them for the PCs to encounter, and often it's not intended to be a combat encounter.

This is one of the things I do with dragons. In my worlds, dragons vary, though. The Red Dragon of Wales, whose name is known only to the most trusted Knights of The Red Dragon, might as well be a god. She is a physical being, but so ancient and powerful that the thought of fighting her is just nonsensical.

OTOH, there are lesser dragons, drakes, and wyverns that could be allies or enemies, or even companions/mounts, and I am working on a draconic race that can morph between a small dragon and a humanoid form.

 

[Beleriphon]

My home game setting has dragons. They don't venture as far south or east as area the game takes place in, but if they ever did they'd be horrifying things that would destroy vast swathes of the scenery. I've strongly implied that the reason on of the deities of the setting exists is because dragons drove her worshipers, and by extension her, east to find refuge among the local population two centuries previously.

I basically treat them like massive apex predators they are. At the most powerful a dragon treats deities as prey if given a chance.

 

[Maxperson]

This is one of the things I do with dragons. In my worlds, dragons vary, though. The Red Dragon of Wales, whose name is known only to the most trusted Knights of The Red Dragon, might as well be a god. She is a physical being, but so ancient and powerful that the thought of fighting her is just nonsensical.

OTOH, there are lesser dragons, drakes, and wyverns that could be allies or enemies, or even companions/mounts, and I am working on a draconic race that can morph between a small dragon and a humanoid form.

That's really cool.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

That's really cool.

Thanks!

 

[Rod Staffwand]

My dragons tend to dangerous monsters rather than big bads, faction leaders or even treasure keepers. They are far less intelligent than D&D dragons and driven more by emotion than reason. In some settings I've made them the personification of the Elemental Chaos--living, crazed engines of pure destruction and creation.

I also like them as threshold guardians more than final boss monsters. You might have to fight a dragon to get into the Necromancer's Tower or to cross a bridge in the Underdark. The weaker ones show up a lot as pets of more powerful masters. This was all to get more dragons in my games and its worked wonderfully.

I also throw out D&D's dragon lore completely, as well as most of the stats. Metallic dragons aren't worth the MM pages and I always found the dragons species (both chromatic and metallic) to be bland and cheesy.

Other changes:

*My dragons absorb the energies and elements of their surroundings. Their breath weapons vary and they can have a host of other abilities--acid blood, spiked tails, metal hides, invisibility, power over the weather, etc.
*Dragons are immune to mundane weapons and they regenerate all damage in an hour unless slain, though most will have a mundane weakness or limitation (such as vulnerable to fire or dislikes the sound of bells).
*Dragons have potent magic resistances (which varies by edition). In 5e this is typically advantage on saving throws vs. spells.
*No dragon fear (unless its some sort of fear dragon)
*Enhanced ability to engage whole groups of enemies at once with additional actions and attacks.
*Breath weapons tend to do less damage, but they can be used more often. Some dragons build up a super breath weapon over time and really need to be brought down quick.
*No young or wyrmling dragons. These are replaced with small and weak dragons since I don't really want to put baby dragons in the game for my PCs to kill. Plus my dragons are magical forces of nature and spontaneously arise from the Elemental Chaos, the Fire of Creation or from the Spine of the World itself and don't reproduce like mortal creatures.
*In any setting where I have a Multiverse, dragons can travel between planes. If there are multiple planets, dragons can fly through space.