Spirit dragons, sometimes called song dragons, are powerful dragons whose powers stem from the magic and history of fallen realms.
Some of the changes are good and I do like the Spirit Dragons, but I feel like they missed two of the biggest features of a Song Dragon.
Song Dragon Features old:
metallic Dragons with silver scales and the physical traits of a copper dragon. (theorized they were a mix of copper and silver dragons, also theorized a goddess turned a human women into the first of their kind)
Usually Chaotic Good sometimes Chaotic Nuetral.
Lived in human settlements usually cities
dislikes other dragons
Always human shapedshifted unless some unavoidable forced them to show their true form as a Dragon.
Their human shapeshift was always as a human women.
Mysterious herstory and breeding but had something to do with Moonshae Isles
Protectors of the natural world as well.
True Sight
Electric Gas Breat weapon.
Spirit Dragons:
When a dragon egg is found buried among ancient rubble and given the right conditions, a spirit dragon wyrmling might hatch from the egg. Left to its own devices, a wyrmling wanders the ruins that the dragon originated from.
I think this is a good addition to their lore, keeps the mystery of their origin, also gives us a full range of stats from wyrmling to ancient. also roll a d6 to determin which ancient ruins. Which has a couple options that had settlements around North Faerûn, specifically Netheril, Ostoria, and Myth Drannor (Now Cormyr).
Their lairs also are wierd, but can fit with an urban dragon, musical advantage and long lives for all within a mile of a spirit dragon.
Now for my issues.
Alignment: Neutral
Look:
Green Dragon with mythical elk horns with reddish brown hints and brown wings.
Art: New Spirit aka Song Dragon
Old Song Dragon
Sure the alignment may seem minor, and as I low key hate alignment it's a problem because these are not evil dragons, they are metalic dragons.
Which is why the art is while nice looking is terrible. The color is wrong in a setting where a dragons color means everything.
Also they changed the breath weapon from an electrical gas to necrotic and a time warp.
This may seem a tiny nit pick, but I feel it is off putting as I like the inclusion of my favorite species of Dragon, but it's like they made a dragon and then attached song dragon as an after thought. It's like someone was watch Dungeon Dad and realized they missed a dragon just before publishing so they added a half line to another creature.
I whole heartedly agree with you. This feels like a great dragon, but not like a song dragon. They could have said 'When a song dragon egg is seemingly forgotten to time and left alone in a place where great magic once took place. The egg may hatch, but the dragon that comes from it has been totally changed by its environment..."
And for a normal song dragon to hatch it would need the opposite. Like 'For a healty song dragon to be born from its egg it needs to (directly or indirectly) be surrounded by many humanoids. It's said Song dragons don't just hatch when the time is right. They wait for the right time. For the time their presence might make the biggest impact on the lives of the humanoids it has been hearing for the past months'...
Are you reading an Ed Greenwood book or playing the Dungeons & Dragons 5e 2024 TTRPG?
When is the last time Ed Greenwood ACTIVELY wrote for the games?
Game, 1990s. Fearun and the Forgotten Realms this year he's releasing new books.
Also that's like saying it's ok to rewrite Dune because when was the last time Frank Herbert wrote something.
They rewrote Gygax. They can rewrite Greenwood, Salvatore, Hickman, Weiss, Baker, & all of the others.
Greenwood(& other setting authors) should not have supreme continuity power. This is a longstanding issue I have with the inherited contract from TSR that Hasbro has yet to rectify. He can contradict the games & it leads to people assuming things about the actual game based on things they read in the books.
The situation is like people having expected the Star Wars EU material to have been made into Episode VII because of their parasocial relation with LucasFilm & a ton of authors. There are SO many reasons that doesn't work.
The complaint about the colors and visuals seems contrived to me - and a lot like sticking to a worse version of the past rather than accepting a far superior update. Under the current version, “No two spirit dragons are exactly alike; each individual bears features distinct to the empire from which it hails.”
These are not static creatures that look like slightly thin metallic dragons - they are true creatures of spirit, that take on the physical characterization of the very entities they draw a spiritual connection to - their physicality reflects the ancient “song” of the land that they live in and protect, making it more than just a simple connection, but a very part of them. Maybe that is not what you are used to - and you can always use the old lore if you want - but it is a far more interesting, flavorful, and unique design the at really makes these creatures stand out amongst the many other dragon kin in the game.
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A quote from the new book:
Some of the changes are good and I do like the Spirit Dragons, but I feel like they missed two of the biggest features of a Song Dragon.
Song Dragon Features old:
Spirit Dragons:
I think this is a good addition to their lore, keeps the mystery of their origin, also gives us a full range of stats from wyrmling to ancient. also roll a d6 to determin which ancient ruins. Which has a couple options that had settlements around North Faerûn, specifically Netheril, Ostoria, and Myth Drannor (Now Cormyr).
Their lairs also are wierd, but can fit with an urban dragon, musical advantage and long lives for all within a mile of a spirit dragon.
Now for my issues.
Alignment: Neutral
Look:
Green Dragon with mythical elk horns with reddish brown hints and brown wings.
Art: New Spirit aka Song Dragon
Old Song Dragon
Sure the alignment may seem minor, and as I low key hate alignment it's a problem because these are not evil dragons, they are metalic dragons.
Which is why the art is while nice looking is terrible. The color is wrong in a setting where a dragons color means everything.
Also they changed the breath weapon from an electrical gas to necrotic and a time warp.
This may seem a tiny nit pick, but I feel it is off putting as I like the inclusion of my favorite species of Dragon, but it's like they made a dragon and then attached song dragon as an after thought. It's like someone was watch Dungeon Dad and realized they missed a dragon just before publishing so they added a half line to another creature.
Also no true sight...
I whole heartedly agree with you. This feels like a great dragon, but not like a song dragon. They could have said 'When a song dragon egg is seemingly forgotten to time and left alone in a place where great magic once took place. The egg may hatch, but the dragon that comes from it has been totally changed by its environment..."
And for a normal song dragon to hatch it would need the opposite. Like 'For a healty song dragon to be born from its egg it needs to (directly or indirectly) be surrounded by many humanoids. It's said Song dragons don't just hatch when the time is right. They wait for the right time. For the time their presence might make the biggest impact on the lives of the humanoids it has been hearing for the past months'...
Are you reading an Ed Greenwood book or playing the Dungeons & Dragons 5e 2024 TTRPG?
When is the last time Ed Greenwood ACTIVELY wrote for the games?
DM, player & homebrewer(Current homebrew project is an unofficial conversion of SBURB/SGRUB from Homestuck into DND 5e)
Once made Maxwell's Silver Hammer come down upon Strahd's head to make sure he was dead.
Always study & sharpen philosophical razors. They save a lot of trouble.
Personally, I like the new art, but I don't have any experience with the old lore.
Game, 1990s. Fearun and the Forgotten Realms this year he's releasing new books.
Also that's like saying it's ok to rewrite Dune because when was the last time Frank Herbert wrote something.
They rewrote Gygax. They can rewrite Greenwood, Salvatore, Hickman, Weiss, Baker, & all of the others.
Greenwood(& other setting authors) should not have supreme continuity power. This is a longstanding issue I have with the inherited contract from TSR that Hasbro has yet to rectify. He can contradict the games & it leads to people assuming things about the actual game based on things they read in the books.
The situation is like people having expected the Star Wars EU material to have been made into Episode VII because of their parasocial relation with LucasFilm & a ton of authors. There are SO many reasons that doesn't work.
DM, player & homebrewer(Current homebrew project is an unofficial conversion of SBURB/SGRUB from Homestuck into DND 5e)
Once made Maxwell's Silver Hammer come down upon Strahd's head to make sure he was dead.
Always study & sharpen philosophical razors. They save a lot of trouble.
The complaint about the colors and visuals seems contrived to me - and a lot like sticking to a worse version of the past rather than accepting a far superior update. Under the current version, “No two spirit dragons are exactly alike; each individual bears features distinct to the empire from which it hails.”
These are not static creatures that look like slightly thin metallic dragons - they are true creatures of spirit, that take on the physical characterization of the very entities they draw a spiritual connection to - their physicality reflects the ancient “song” of the land that they live in and protect, making it more than just a simple connection, but a very part of them. Maybe that is not what you are used to - and you can always use the old lore if you want - but it is a far more interesting, flavorful, and unique design the at really makes these creatures stand out amongst the many other dragon kin in the game.