D&D General What creature did you introduce against type that turned out great?

[Reynard]

I have, historically, portrayed dragons as bestial forces of nature who are not easily defeated, even by a party of heroes (in many cases, a sizable compliment of soldiers and siege weapons are required to defeat dragons in my campaigns).

This is cool and I have done similar things, but I'm not sure it is "against type" for dragons.

 

[the Jester]

Hampoop the Happy Otyugh is the most current example of this type of thing- an otyugh who lives in the sewers beneath the city, who loves to make friends, and who will fish things out of the sewage as gifts for his friends when he makes them.

 

[J.Quondam]

Hampoop the Happy Otyugh is the most current example of this type of thing- an otyugh who lives in the sewers beneath the city, who loves to make friends, and who will fish things out of the sewage as gifts for his friends when he makes them.

I used an otyugh as a local crime boss named Glarbage Gligh, aka "Mister G". His organization was mostly a smuggling ring, though he could make pretty much anything or anyone disappear for a price. Payment for his services generally involved some combo of gold (for his henchmen) and a big bag of whatever sort of exotic filth tickled his fancy at the moment.

 

[jdrakeh]

This is cool and I have done similar things, but I'm not sure it is "against type" for dragons.

Well, in my experience, most D&D dragons (there are exceptions) follow a certain model: Very much human gentlemen in a lizard's skin who are quite chatty and hoard treasure. Also meant to be defeated by a small party of heroes. My dragons are nothing like that - they don't speak (they only possess animal cunning), they rarely (if ever) hoard treasure in the way that D&D dragons do (that's a human trait if ever I've seen one), and they certainly can't be subdued by a small party of adventurers (this is not even a possibility).

 

[Stormonu]

I don't know if this counts, but when I ran Ravenloft in 3E, the party arrived in Barovia and got the usual tales of "The Devil Strahd". Making their way to the castle, they encountered Strahd, who was a peaceable, likeable and pityful fellow. He informed the group the castle was under a curse by an evil spirit that was committing horrid acts across the countryside in his family's name. He was the last of his line, and should he die, the evil spirit would be free to wreck havoc across the land beyond the bounds of Barovia. The party offered to track down the spirit (which lurked in the castle's catacombs) and destroy it, which would lift the curse on his lineage.

As the party made their way through the castle to arm up with gear provided by Strahd, the party began to realize that one of their members had been possessed and was under the control of the evil spirit, who was secretly observing them and waiting for the right moment to strike. Conversely and secretly, the party (via passed notes) made plans to get the possessed character to Strahd's lab where they could overcome the party member and excise the evil spirit.

The plan almost worked - the "possessed" character, who happened to be the group's cleric was isolated and the party used one of Strahd's gifted items to drive the spirit out ... only for the party to realized they'd all been charmed by Strahd (except the cleric) and he'd used his influence to trick them to turn on the character most likely to be a problem. Unfortunately, they didn't realize what was really going on until after the cleric was dead and they had returned to the village thinking they'd freed Strahd of his "curse".

Never played a group like a fiddle so well before or after that.

 

[Barolo]

Well, in my experience, most D&D dragons (there are exceptions) follow a certain model: Very much human gentlemen in a lizard's skin who are quite chatty and hoard treasure. Also meant to be defeated by a small party of heroes. My dragons are nothing like that - they don't speak (they only possess animal cunning), they rarely (if ever) hoard treasure in the way that D&D dragons do (that's a human trait if ever I've seen one), and they certainly can't be subdued by a small party of adventurers (this is not even a possibility).

I really like your approach. If I may ask, how do you implement it with the D&D ruleset?

 

[Richards]

I once had the party searching for a legendary longsword that had been the primary magic weapon of a deceased paladin. It was buried with him in his hidden tomb, and when they unearthed it, an avoral appeared and explained that the paladin's wishes were that anyone seeking to claim the sword for themselves would summon him forth, so they could fight to the death for it. As the avoral explained it, if they managed to slay him he'd simply reform back on the celestial planes and no real harm done, and if he slew them they were first of all, not worthy of bearing the sword, and secondly, if they were of a good alignment they'd go to their own celestial afterlife where they'd eventually become a celestial being like himself - and they certainly could use more celestial forces in the fight against the fiends on the outer planes. So either way, the forces of good win.

So I had basically found a good reason for a good-aligned party to fight a good-aligned avoral, something they normally wouldn't be fighting to the death. (I ran him normally, but the very fact they were fighting an angel was against type.) And they absolutely hated him, because he was unceasingly polite even during combat, congratulating the heroes when they got in a good hit and suggesting pointers to them when they missed (he expressly told the barbarian that sometimes finesse is more important than brute strength, after he just missed the avoral with a greatsword blow). Anyway, they finally killed him, he returned to the celestial realms, and they ended up with the sword - but they decided they really hated fighting polite foes.

Johnathan

 

[jdrakeh]

I really like your approach. If I may ask, how do you implement it with the D&D ruleset?

A lot of it is pretty easy. Tone down the intellect and do away with the funny talk. If they hoard treasure, treat it more as animal attraction (e.g. ravens) than a human quality like greed. The hardest part are the actual combat numbers. Typically I up the AC by 50% and multiply the HP depending upon how hard I think the specific dragon should be to put down. I also typically multiply damage output to reflect that they're living forces of nature, not just big animals.

 

[Reynard]

A lot of it is pretty easy. Tone down the intellect and do away with the funny talk. If they hoard treasure, treat it more as animal attraction (e.g. ravens) than a human quality like greed. The hardest part are the actual combat numbers. Typically I up the AC by 50% and multiply the HP depending upon how hard I think the specific dragon should be to put down. I also typically multiply damage output to reflect that they're living forces of nature, not just big animals.

I like letting them use "lair actions" wherever they are. It enhances the elemtal/force of nature aspect.

I like my dragons as massive city busters,too, so scale is essentially Double Plus Gargantuan. They don't fit in any mortal spell area of effect and have (for all intents and purposes) unlimited reach and range.

 

[jdrakeh]

I like letting them use "lair actions" wherever they are. It enhances the elemtal/force of nature aspect.

I like my dragons as massive city busters,too, so scale is essentially Double Plus Gargantuan. They don't fit in any mortal spell area of effect and have (for all intents and purposes) unlimited reach and range.

I haven't really run a dragon in 5e (just in earlier editions), but using lair actions and making their size matter re: AoE spells are both good suggestions.