What makes a Gold dragon GOLDl?

[steeldragons]

I was doing some research/reading about gold dragons last night and was wondering, other than "they are the most powerful good dragons"...and 'They're scales are gold. Duh!"...I was wondering what elements would make a really interesting/fun/cool/pick positive adjective of choice Gold Dragon really...GOLD! Beyond just cruchy bits, I mean...the most spells, the most damaging attacks, yada yada...that's all great. They're powerful. We get it. But what would be a real "OMG it's a GOLD dragon!" extra special treat to encounter them?

BECM gold dragons were all crunch. They all speak. They all use magic. They get TWO breath weapons...and in this edition happen to be the only "Lawful" dragons there are. They use more magic than other dragons and shapechange at will...which is later stipulated to 3 times per day. But that's neither here nor there.

1e's MM does little better, stipulating their number and tiers of spells for different age brackets. You probably won't know it's a gold dragon if you encounter one since they'll be morphed into something else. But essentially everything else its the same...and there's the added tidbit under the Platinum Dragon's entry that he has huge ancient gold dragon counselors/guardians.

Edition is not at all important. What would "feel", for lack of a better term, like a great-most-powerful-lords-of-metallic-dragonkind Gold dragon for you?

I'm kinda at a loss and keep circling back to "they're just more magicky than other magicky dragons" which i feel is a bit weak as a mythic backstory for a mythic [one might even say "Legendary"?] creature, if not a complete "cop out."

What besides "the best dragon wizards" is there? Do/Have you use/d gold dragons in games? What made it/them special? Do they matter at all or could a world "top out" at Silver Dragons as the coolest/best/most powerful lord of draconic beasts?

Let the tales of awesomeness begin.

 

[DnD_Dad]

The best gold dragon is the one that is possessed by an evil power and is the main villain.

 

[steeldragons]

WOW! First post? I knew someone was going to say "make 'em evil." But first post? lol.

 

[steeldragons]

The best gold dragon is the one that is possessed by an evil power and is the main villain.

WOW! First post? I knew someone was going to say "make 'em evil." But first post? lol.

This is not to say it is a bad suggestion. Would certainly be a nice unexpected twist to a singular campaign...especially if the adventurers have been rising up through levels undertaking quests they thought were for some grand plan of the "good" gold dragon instructing them....and then, guess what? Your benefactor good guy is actually the BBEG of the whole shibang!

But I was thinking/looking for suggestions that were more...broad. I mean, I can't just make all gold dragons in the game world bad guys...I mean, obviously, sure, I could. But that's not what I'm looking to do.

I was thinking...and I doubt it is original...since I give dragons innate access to spell effects from across the spectrum of wizard/arcane magics, and in some species druid spells as well...and I've established Silvers as the philosophers/sages (with many actual studying wizards, as well, which just increases their spell slots/numbers) maybe the Golds are the Clerics of dragonkind? The crunch is, obviously, access to divine spells...but the flavor might be more farreaching. Maybe they have an innate ability...or a breath weapon....for turning/destroying undead? Not needing to actually channel divine energies, just with inbred access to those "radiant" energies...

At the same time, I'm not sure I like the implication, then, of having metallic dragonkind a kind of theocracy, ruled by their priests...but it might be something to think on...I'm warming up to it even now...

Other thoughts?

 

[DnD_Dad]

In an age where anyone who plays d&d knows what is what before you present it. The best thing you can do I break tradition and give them something new and exciting.

 

[steeldragons]

In an age where anyone who plays d&d knows what is what before you present it. The best thing you can do I break tradition and give them something new and exciting.

Very true.

But if I present it once...then the presumption is "ok, even metallic dragons are bad! [and great big XP buckets!] Let's go dragon [a.k.a. XP bucket] hunting!" and I'd prefer to avoid those assumptions as much as possible.

Don't get me wrong, orcs? Evil. Ogres and trolls? Evil. Blue dragons? Evil. If I play a singular creature of these types as a good guy...or even just a neutral/don't care/not gonna attack you on sight guy...that's one thing. But I don't want to rewrite all of the assumptions for the whole race...and making gold dragons, as a species, equally rare to what would be expected but evil, is a pretty big divergence from tradition.

Like I said...I could. But I don't think I would have to/hope I wouldn't have to to make gold dragons cool awe-inspiring lords of metallic dragonkind. Hence, this thread.

 

[DnD_Dad]

They are and you can, but alignments are old and everything becomes chaotic neutral in real-life anyways. I don't have a lot of dragons in my games because the ecosystem involved has to support them. I played in a game where I knew more dragons than npcs and it cheapened it for me. Gold dragons, there should be one, and it should be worshiped as a god.

 

[Empirate]

I haven't used actual Gold Dragons, although all the other colors have made an appearance at some point, I think. Gold Dragons were always kept in the background, sort of mythical, even to people familiar with dragons. In fact, two NPC Silver Dragons (one of them the cohort of a PC, the other that young dragon's mother) had never met an actual Golden One and only spoke in hushed tones of them.

I had the idea that Gold Dragons are somehow more connected to fate itself (hence the stone of good luck ability and the greater spellcasting ability), and were venerated as saints by other metallic dragons, while being feared and reviled by chromatic dragons as paragons of dragonkind. Sort of like Joe Commoner would view Paladins, maybe.

 

[steeldragons]

I get what you're saying...and agree.

I've often thought that gold dragons could be singular creatures. Maybe I should just do that...and forget thinking of them as a species...or would that be genus?...Genus, I guess...It could easily be made/considered immortal. So mating/reproducing/others of its kind isn't an issue...But then...what happens to Bahamut/Platinum Dragon...who is written as a singular entity?

I can just imagine playing in a campaign where you knew more dragons than npcs (wasn't the original Dragonlance module series was it? lol. I could certainly see it in that world/setting.). I would hate it...as much as I loved the Chronicles trilogy (and the Legends trilogy was good...then they lost me) and I am a "high magic/high fantasy" guy through and through. The ecosystem you mentioned being reason #1 for world internal consistency.

Having THE Gold dragon is definitely a thought, and story way to make it special...something to put a pin in.

 

[steeldragons]

I haven't used actual Gold Dragons, although all the other colors have made an appearance at some point, I think. Gold Dragons were always kept in the background, sort of mythical, even to people familiar with dragons. In fact, two NPC Silver Dragons (one of them the cohort of a PC, the other that young dragon's mother) had never met an actual Golden One and only spoke in hushed tones of them.

I had the idea that Gold Dragons are somehow more connected to fate itself (hence the stone of good luck ability and the greater spellcasting ability), and were venerated as saints by other metallic dragons, while being feared and reviled by chromatic dragons as paragons of dragonkind. Sort of like Joe Commoner would view Paladins, maybe.

Ooooo. This is good....very good...the gears are turning...Maybe gold dragons AREN'T the pinnacle of metallic dragonkind or the clerics of metallic dragonkind...but...like...the SAINTS of metallic dragonkind. They aren't "of the material world" any more...but they aren't "gods" either...

Maybe with a singular Gold who stayed behind for...some mystical unfathomable [to mortals or dragonkind] reason...

Yes...oh yes...this has possibilities.

Keep 'em coming!