D&D General What if every dragon was unique?

[bedir than]

Rather than the major chromatics being a species of dragons and collection of those that grow from egg to ancient wyrm, could D&D instead be a space where every dragon has different abilities, different temperaments and different looks?

Sure, you'd still have a red -- Smaug like, hoarding of treasure, breather of fire, bad at riddles.

But may Themberchaud isn't red. Instead they are the little sparky fires, hoarder of rich foods, gluttonous, willing destroyer.

Another may be like the jaculus. They like baubles and jewelry, a thief that breathes lightning.

Mythmakers, spell thieves, spell builders (like Strixhaven's), ale drakes, paper dragons, and more -- all singular. A book of dragons would be a dictionary of these massive creatures that grew of a spark of hoarding into a vast being who exists everywhere.

 

[Bae'zel]

If I was running my own fantasy setting, I’d do this for sure.

Make Dragons diverse again. I know that people like their mythical taxonomies, but it takes some of the magic out of it all, ya know?

Dragons with 2 wings, 2 arms and 2 legs. Dragons without the arms. Dragons with NO limbs, only wings. Dragons with limbs but no wings (but can “swim” through the air). Terrestrial wyrms, dragons that don’t breathe fire but have incredibly lethal poisonous bite. Dragons that have multiple heads (and or multiple tails). Dragons with leonine faces, spiky shells, white fur, twenty legs etc etc

I love it.

Edit: in before someone tells me “but those aren’t dragons”. Says who?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I think that's probably a better system, but hard to pull off for all DMs.

Dungeon Crawl Classics, notably, started from a position of "every monster is unique; here's the barest handful to get you started." And Goodman now publishes big books of monsters for DCC, because it turns out that not every DM wants to make up a new beastie every time. (I make up at least one monster per Shadowdark game, but I am a weirdo.)

Dragons are probably not going to be in every adventure, so it's not as hard, but unless there are a lot of tools made available from the get-go in your game, a lot of DMs will find making every dragon unique challenging.

 

[bedir than]

If I was running my own fantasy setting, I’d do this for sure.

Make Dragons diverse again. I know that people like their mythical taxonomies, but it takes some of the magic out of it all, ya know?

Dragons with 2 wings, 2 arms and 2 legs. Dragons without the arms. Dragons with NO limbs, only wings. Dragons with limbs but no wings (but can “swim” through the air). Terrestrial wyrms, dragons that don’t breathe fire but have incredibly lethal poisonous bite. Dragons that have multiple heads (and or multiple tails). Dragons with leonine faces, spiky shells, white fur, twenty legs etc etc

I love it.

Edit: in before someone tells me “but those aren’t dragons”. Says who?

Yeah, I buy Dragons of Wales books because I love Andy's takes on dragons using dragon/wyrm/drake/etc forms.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1520405485/dragons-of-deep-time-book?ref=elp_anchor_listing&sts=1

I'm tempted to go through the massive amount of effort to convert all of his dragons into my D&D world

 

[LordBP]

I think that's probably a better system, but hard to pull off for all DMs.

Dungeon Crawl Classics, notably, started from a position of "every monster is unique; here's the barest handful to get you started." And Goodman now publishes big books of monsters for DCC, because it turns out that not every DM wants to make up a new beastie every time. (I make up at least one monster per Shadowdark game, but I am a weirdo.)

Dragons are probably not going to be in every adventure, so it's not as hard, but unless there are a lot of tools made available from the get-go in your game, a lot of DMs will find making every dragon unique challenging.

DCC has random tables (Size, Age, Breath Weapon, Spell Use, Martial Powers, Unique Powers, Appearance, Alignment) for Dragons in their main rulebook, so it's not too hard to make a Dragon unique unless you get the same rolls over and over.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

DCC has random tables (Size, Age, Breath Weapon, Spell Use, Martial Powers, Unique Powers, Appearance, Alignment) for Dragons in their main rulebook, so it's not too hard to make a Dragon unique unless you get the same rolls over and over.

I was speaking more generally, not about DCC. But yeah, those are the kinds of generators I'm talking about.

Obligatory: See the Monster Overhaul for a book that's almost nothing but generators to make cool bespoke monsters.

 

[Reynard]

I'm a big fan of "every monster is unique." There is A CHIMERA, and A GORGON, etc...

 

[jdrakeh]

This is pretty much how I run dragons. I also run them as massive, unfathomably powerful, forces of nature (oftentimes tied to an actual element, not always). A party of adventurers almost certainly can't put one down, barring some ridiculously powerful magic (e.g. a wish spell). They are the kind of things that a small army of soldiers will have to work together to slay, utilizing siege engines and other large scale weaponry. Blame Dennis L. McKiernan for this.

 

[Cordwainer Fish]

This is my dragon. There are many like it but this one is mine.

 

[zarionofarabel]

I'm a big fan of "every monster is unique." There is A CHIMERA, and A GORGON, etc...

Yes! I much prefer "monsters" to be akin to the creatures of mythology. I have never liked the idea of "monsters" being natural. They should be strange and unworldly, creations of magic or dark powers, not part of the natural ecosystem.

This is pretty much how I run dragons. I also run them as massive, unfathomably powerful, forces of nature (oftentimes tied to an actual element, not always). A party of adventurers almost certainly can't put one down, barring some ridiculously powerful magic (e.g. a wish spell). They are the kind of things that a small army of soldiers will have to work together to slay, utilizing siege engines and other large scale weaponry. Blame Dennis L. McKiernan for this.

Yes!!! They really ruined Dragons when they made them "run of the mill" and easily defeated by a small party of heroes. Dragons should be a campaign ending foe, not a "monster of the week" feature.