D&D 5E What can a dragon do to accelerate its aging?

[Livemike]

My suggestion, have it discover there can only be so many dragons of a particular size (age category equivalent). Something about a limit to the total amount of dragon energy*. To grow more powerful someone higher up the pyramid must die. That particular dragon doesn't technically have to kill them, but it makes it far likelier that they'll be the ones to grow. And of course they can't wait around for an older dragon to kick it.

Suddenly lots of humans and demihumans start learning the location and weaknesses of older dragons. They could even frame older dragons for attacks on settlements, causing adventurers to hunt them down. Bonus points if you can give some clues that it's them pulling the strings.



* Kayne West or Donald Trump could explain this concept better than I, ask them.

 

[Dausuul]

Me too, but I could see playing the mystery up, having it be an ongoing theme long after the dragon is defeated. Maybe other dragons seek out the players to grill them about it. But keep putting obstacles in the way to keep the players from find an answer.

You can do that for a while, but it's jerk DMing to set up a mystery and then refuse to let the players ever solve it. And if they're going to solve it eventually, you need to have the solution... which brings us back to this thread.

I like the idea of having the dragon coerce a sphinx. Note that monster-driven aging, whether from a sphinx or a ghost, can be undone by a greater restoration spell, and the spell does not require a willing target or grant a saving throw. This is a good explanation for why dragons do not normally use this shortcut to power: You are opening yourself up to the kind of threats and challenges faced by an adult or ancient dragon, and any joker with a 5th-level cleric spell can zap you back to young or hatchling status.

In fact, if the PCs have a divine caster in the party, discovering the dragon's secret could be the key to their eventual triumph. You do have to get within touch range to use greater restoration, and the dragon will obviously be very paranoid about letting anyone near it, using traps, allies, and its full range of combat abilities to keep enemies at a distance.

 

[Umbran]

Advancing age categories is the primary method dragons use to get more power: if there was a "shortcut" then you can be sure that it would be fairly widely used by dragons wanting power.

This is an excellent point. If every young dragon could just pop down to the Nine Hells and talk with Tiamat to get a boost... they'd all do it.

So, in terms of verisimilitude and story, it would be important to telegraph to the players the effort the dragon has gone through, and the prices the dragon has paid, to up their power to beat the party. "Tiamat had me fight a pit fiend to prove my worth, and I lost an eye in the struggle" kind of stuff. If the dragon goes to the Feywild... who gets them there? What ripples through the fey courts does this action have? How can you make this clear to the players? And so o, with whatever channel he dragon chooses.

Shortcuts have consequences. Make it clear to the party that this dragon hates them so much he is willing to pay major prices to beat them.

 

[Kobold Stew]

Time passes differently on other planes. No bargaining necessary: this dragon has had a full life, and every 40-50 years of its life, he encounters the same annouying PCs. They are a small part of his larger existence, which is a full, meaningful, draconic life. He is their nemesis, but they are insignificant to him, a minor nuisance he deals with from time to time.

 

[Oofta]

Personally I'd have an issue with a dragon being artificially "aged" with a supernatural ability such as a ghost aging them as a player. Age categories are not just size, it's the dragon growing into it's power.

Which is why I think ritual (with associated plot thread) or going to different plane of existence works better.

YMMV of course.

 

[Maxperson]

Personally I'd have an issue with a dragon being artificially "aged" with a supernatural ability such as a ghost aging them as a player. Age categories are not just size, it's the dragon growing into it's power.

Which is why I think ritual (with associated plot thread) or going to different plane of existence works better.

YMMV of course.

Or the ingesting of a dragon orb. An artifact fueling the change is rare enough and powerful enough to accomplish it.

 

[Oofta]

Or the ingesting of a dragon orb. An artifact fueling the change is rare enough and powerful enough to accomplish it.

That would be another option.

But using something that is supposed to be a penalty as a boon ... nope. I mean, I'd go along with it because the DM is always right, but it just wouldn't sit right with me.

 

[Maxperson]

That would be another option.

But using something that is supposed to be a penalty as a boon ... nope. I mean, I'd go along with it because the DM is always right, but it just wouldn't sit right with me.

What penalty?

 

[Oofta]

What penalty?

Being aged by a ghost is supposed to be a bad thing, not a way for a dragon to gain power IMHO.

 

[Maxperson]

Being aged by a ghost is supposed to be a bad thing, not a way for a dragon to gain power IMHO.

Oh, sorry. I thought you were talking about the artifact idea with that portion. I didn't realize you had gone back to the ghost idea.

I also agree that the ghost aging should not work. Even back during 1e we didn't give the mental bonuses when you got aged by a ghost, because the experiences of age didn't come with it.