WotC has a milking machine now (Draconomicon I)

[ThirdWizard]

You are not supposed to select the abilities the dragon has. They are fixed depending on the dragon type.

Far be it for me to suggest this, but perhaps the Draconomicon will have a few more options for DMs to give dragons.

 

[Steely Dan]

4-5 signature abilities. Hrm. Lesseee:

• Breath Weapon
• Melee Schtick (like a wing buffet or a tail sweep)
• Some sort of defensive power
• Some sort of domination/fear power
• Access to rituals

What else do you need? Even with 5 options, you could come up with hundreds of variations.

And most 3rd Ed combats, in my experiences, don't even make it to 5 rounds.

 

[Wormwood]

And most 3rd Ed combats, in my experiences, don't even make it to 5 rounds.

But those 4 rounds are two hours well spent.

 

[Derren]

Far be it for me to suggest this, but perhaps the Draconomicon will have a few more options for DMs to give dragons.

Perhaps, but wouldn't this go against 4Es philosophy of streamlined monsters? Of course you can say "Those are dragons, you can make an exception for them". Sure, but once you start this it will probably not take long till Demons or Mind Flayers get the same treatment. And not to forget that so far there has always been a power creep when WotC creates additional abilities.

 

[Lackhand]

Perhaps, but wouldn't this go against 4Es philosophy of streamlined monsters? Of course you can say "Those are dragons, you can make an exception for them". Sure, but once you start this it will probably not take long till Demons or Mind Flayers get the same treatment. And not to forget that so far there has always been a power creep when WotC creates additional abilities.

[hong]Those are solo monsters, you can make an exception for them[/hong].

Wait, he's actually back. Does that mean I need new tags?

 

[Steely Dan]

But those 4 rounds are two hours well spent.

Yeah, my group is seriously sick of having a 2 hour long of real life time epic battle to find out only 24 seconds went by for the characters.

 

[Hussar]

You are not supposed to select the abilities the dragon has. They are fixed depending on the dragon type.

Again, umm what?

Did you not read the previews that talk about building monsters? That you can take pretty much any creature and build a custom critter in a very short period of time?

Is there a reason you think this won't apply to dragons?

 

[hong]

I'm reminded of a thread on the Rules forum where someone argued that giving a hobgoblin a greataxe was a "house rule", because its MM statblock used a scimitar.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Yeah, my group is seriously sick of having a 2 hour long of real life time epic battle to find out only 24 seconds went by for the characters.

Hah! Try Shadowrun. Combat actions are 3 rounds in that game, and characters get multiple initiative passes per round. That means a reflex-boosted Street Samurai kills 3-5 average corporation guards in one round. They get to shoot back twice.
On top of that, the accompanying Decker maybe gets to shoot twice, too. (Though you could say that's better than the zero actions the other crew members get when he is hacking. Or the zero actions the mundane characters get while the mage is astrally exploring the world)
And don't believe that this plays any faster than D&D (I got close to getting a headache from calculating all combat modifiers for 6 players or so...) in real time...

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Again, umm what?

Did you not read the previews that talk about building monsters? That you can take pretty much any creature and build a custom critter in a very short period of time?

Is there a reason you think this won't apply to dragons?

The game is called Dungeons & Dragons - the monster building rules certainly can't be applied to Dungeons, so why should they be applied to Dragons?