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<blockquote data-quote="FourthBear" data-source="post: 3983170" data-attributes="member: 55846">As I can recall, *no* edition of D&amp;D has ever given dragons in their write-ups the magical power to create the lairs and the traps therein.&nbsp; Certainly none of the dragons I recall in 1e or 2e had such powers in their write-ups.&nbsp; And in 3e, their spellcasting power typically wasn't adequate to do so until very high or epic levels (and even then, as noted, they typically did not have use their limited spells in write-ups for such).&nbsp; You seem to be arguing that dragons have never been written well in D&amp;D (the TSR era to the present day) because they've never been given certain magic powers.&nbsp; If over the past 30-someodd-years, dragon write-ups have managed to get by without giving all dragons &quot;Create Level-Appropriate Trap&quot;, &quot;Create Adventurer Proof Wards&quot; and &quot;Shape Walls of Lair&quot;, I suspect that they don't really need them now in 4e.&nbsp; Further, in 4e the monster and NPC creation philosophy is based far more around particular monsters being written with the particular powers appropriate for the encounter.&nbsp; If a DM wants a dragon with the power to scry out enemies in a magical pool, there's absolutely no need for him to have to declare that *all* dragons have this power.&nbsp; He either grants that power to that particular dragon, if he deems it level appropriate, or he declares the pool itself magical or any number of other explanations.&nbsp; This helps eliminate the ridiculous stat-block and power creep in 3e.&nbsp; If we need a dragon mastermind with the power to create cavernous lairs and to create wards, just give those power to *that* dragon.&nbsp; There's no need to give those powers to all dragons.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="FourthBear, post: 3983170, member: 55846"] As I can recall, *no* edition of D&D has ever given dragons in their write-ups the magical power to create the lairs and the traps therein. Certainly none of the dragons I recall in 1e or 2e had such powers in their write-ups. And in 3e, their spellcasting power typically wasn't adequate to do so until very high or epic levels (and even then, as noted, they typically did not have use their limited spells in write-ups for such). You seem to be arguing that dragons have never been written well in D&D (the TSR era to the present day) because they've never been given certain magic powers. If over the past 30-someodd-years, dragon write-ups have managed to get by without giving all dragons "Create Level-Appropriate Trap", "Create Adventurer Proof Wards" and "Shape Walls of Lair", I suspect that they don't really need them now in 4e. Further, in 4e the monster and NPC creation philosophy is based far more around particular monsters being written with the particular powers appropriate for the encounter. If a DM wants a dragon with the power to scry out enemies in a magical pool, there's absolutely no need for him to have to declare that *all* dragons have this power. He either grants that power to that particular dragon, if he deems it level appropriate, or he declares the pool itself magical or any number of other explanations. This helps eliminate the ridiculous stat-block and power creep in 3e. If we need a dragon mastermind with the power to create cavernous lairs and to create wards, just give those power to *that* dragon. There's no need to give those powers to all dragons. [/QUOTE]

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