In an upcoming quest my party needs to seek out an ancient white dragon by the name of Arveiaturace. The reason is o get the magic Mcguffin for a quest. I have never had to play a dragon in rp before and would greatly appreciate some pointers and tips.
I also would like some ideas about what a dragon would be willing to trade for an item from its hoard
First and foremost, feel free to disregard anything I say because the dragon's primary duty is to serve the story.
That being said, there are things about white dragons that can benefit the way you play them. Fizban's book is a great resource for this and has sections specifically for role-playing a dragon in different situations. White dragons are considered the most bestial and "basic" of dragons, but any ancient dragon is likely going to have the wisdom of centuries of life and its high perception is going to quickly understand each member in the party and what their abilities and weaknesses are. If the players are approaching the dragon's lair, it won't like it, so you should give the players a brief chance upfront to explain why they are intruding on the dragon's most sacred domain. Do they have something to offer the dragon? Are they there to threaten the dragon? A dragon will not be excited about the idea of the players coming for something from its treasure hoard. They should approach the encounter with a thought out proposal, and then be ready to run or fight when that proposal (probably) fails.
If the party is approaching the dragon away from its lair, it may be more interested in engaging them because it would be confident it can just blast them with frost breath and fly away if things take a turn.
When I first started running Dragon of Icespire Peak I dove down that rabbit hole of how the dragon is suppose to behave as well. Mr. Rexx on youtube has a nice video covering lore and behavior that might be a great aid to you!
A thing to keep in mind is White Dragons are 'feral' and first-and-foremost, apex predators of their environment. They hunt and know how to use the environment to their advantages. Their scales start shiny white when born and become dusky gray as they age to match a tundra's terrain to more easily blend. They would likely regard adventurers as 'future prey' more-so than equals or even ones coming to parley. So with years of wisdom behind them, they would definitely know who among the team is the most-likely 'easiest target' and is likely well-aware of those likely to cast magic.
Oh, ye wants sumpin o'mine, do ye? well now, I gots me a pretty and I likes it, and I see that you have many pretties and I think y'should just put down all yer pretties and take the lives ya got now, afore I gets a rumbly in my tumbly and do it fer meself.
'Ere now, y'tink you can give me something worth yer lives and yer shinies and my shiny, d'ye? And what might that improbability be?
Oh, I see, I see, aye, I can indeed tink o sumpin i wants. (huge grin as it leans forward) I'll take me a fancy Red egg.
Ah, too rich fer yer blood is it? Well, that be what I want. The child of that old chimney brain down the way would get ya what I wants. And if'n ya were t'say nay to me, why, I might be feeling that rumbly in my tumbly. And I like me snacks to be crunchy...
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Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities .-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-. An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more. Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
Mr. Rexx on youtube has a nice video covering lore and behavior that might be a great aid to you!
If you want to run it like that character, my brief summary would be that they are relative used to humans for an evil dragon, probably willing to talk or negotiate. They are a little bit insane carrying around the corpse of their dead rider that they sometimes talk to. They pretend they are still alive using their spells to mimic their casting. They are also prone to fits of rage s other party should be very careful.
You may need to add additional spell casting to the dragon for her to fit up to her lore. You could even as a trick pretend to have a lich in the fight as well with it appearing to do spells as the dragon flies around when in reality its a deluded Arveiaturace. That would work well with the book suggests of the dragon losing it's rider if the players hit it.
If you want to run it like that character, my brief summary would be that they are relative used to humans for an evil dragon, probably willing to talk or negotiate. They are a little bit insane carrying around the corpse of their dead rider that they sometimes talk to. They pretend they are still alive using their spells to mimic their casting. They are also prone to fits of rage s other party should be very careful.
You may need to add additional spell casting to the dragon for her to fit up to her lore. You could even as a trick pretend to have a lich in the fight as well with it appearing to do spells as the dragon flies around when in reality its a deluded Arveiaturace. That would work well with the book suggests of the dragon losing it's rider if the players hit it.
i like the idea of her being crazy now, Unfortunately that adds more research cuz i don't want to be a lazy storyteller. but thank you for your input, And to everyone else who contributed
1) They are all gender fluid/ non-binary. They have to mate but they do not require specific 'genders' to create viable eggs; any two dragons can do this.
2) Any dragon older than youngling can polymorph at will. As such they typically appear as a race that benefits the moment they're in. So that could be an elf among humans to stand out or "just another orc" to blend in with a tribe.
3) Even dumb dragons are still clever. Int 10 is at least average compared to typical humans so a "dumb dragon" is still ahead of half the human race. I will not comment on this further.
4) Every dragon has a "thing" they want to horde and it's not always gold. Maybe a white dragon would be willing to trade a thing from it's collection for something more suited to it's desires like a rare meat, or a kind of weapon or even a point of status.
For me, dragons are way more fun when they are demigods and forces of nature or at the very least individuals rather than "oh, it's a white dragon, we know all about this". If you want a monster to be killed there are lots of those; dragons are my go to for "this is serious now".
In an upcoming quest my party needs to seek out an ancient white dragon by the name of Arveiaturace. The reason is o get the magic Mcguffin for a quest. I have never had to play a dragon in rp before and would greatly appreciate some pointers and tips.
I also would like some ideas about what a dragon would be willing to trade for an item from its hoard
First and foremost, feel free to disregard anything I say because the dragon's primary duty is to serve the story.
That being said, there are things about white dragons that can benefit the way you play them. Fizban's book is a great resource for this and has sections specifically for role-playing a dragon in different situations. White dragons are considered the most bestial and "basic" of dragons, but any ancient dragon is likely going to have the wisdom of centuries of life and its high perception is going to quickly understand each member in the party and what their abilities and weaknesses are. If the players are approaching the dragon's lair, it won't like it, so you should give the players a brief chance upfront to explain why they are intruding on the dragon's most sacred domain. Do they have something to offer the dragon? Are they there to threaten the dragon? A dragon will not be excited about the idea of the players coming for something from its treasure hoard. They should approach the encounter with a thought out proposal, and then be ready to run or fight when that proposal (probably) fails.
If the party is approaching the dragon away from its lair, it may be more interested in engaging them because it would be confident it can just blast them with frost breath and fly away if things take a turn.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
When I first started running Dragon of Icespire Peak I dove down that rabbit hole of how the dragon is suppose to behave as well. Mr. Rexx on youtube has a nice video covering lore and behavior that might be a great aid to you!
A thing to keep in mind is White Dragons are 'feral' and first-and-foremost, apex predators of their environment. They hunt and know how to use the environment to their advantages. Their scales start shiny white when born and become dusky gray as they age to match a tundra's terrain to more easily blend. They would likely regard adventurers as 'future prey' more-so than equals or even ones coming to parley. So with years of wisdom behind them, they would definitely know who among the team is the most-likely 'easiest target' and is likely well-aware of those likely to cast magic.
*tap tap tap*
This thing on? Yeah. ok, here we go...
Allo, foods!
Oh, ye wants sumpin o'mine, do ye? well now, I gots me a pretty and I likes it, and I see that you have many pretties and I think y'should just put down all yer pretties and take the lives ya got now, afore I gets a rumbly in my tumbly and do it fer meself.
'Ere now, y'tink you can give me something worth yer lives and yer shinies and my shiny, d'ye? And what might that improbability be?
Oh, I see, I see, aye, I can indeed tink o sumpin i wants. (huge grin as it leans forward) I'll take me a fancy Red egg.
Ah, too rich fer yer blood is it? Well, that be what I want. The child of that old chimney brain down the way would get ya what I wants. And if'n ya were t'say nay to me, why, I might be feeling that rumbly in my tumbly. And I like me snacks to be crunchy...
Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities
.-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-.
An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more.
Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
With dragons you can
1) Make a unique character.
2) Play the default character that's hinted by the stat block.
3)Choose a dragon from the lore by going to a wiki or looking at adventures.
Arveiaturace has a wiki page if you want to look at that. Also this.
If you want to run it like that character, my brief summary would be that they are relative used to humans for an evil dragon, probably willing to talk or negotiate. They are a little bit insane carrying around the corpse of their dead rider that they sometimes talk to. They pretend they are still alive using their spells to mimic their casting. They are also prone to fits of rage s other party should be very careful.
You may need to add additional spell casting to the dragon for her to fit up to her lore. You could even as a trick pretend to have a lich in the fight as well with it appearing to do spells as the dragon flies around when in reality its a deluded Arveiaturace. That would work well with the book suggests of the dragon losing it's rider if the players hit it.
Like a mafia don.
i like the idea of her being crazy now, Unfortunately that adds more research cuz i don't want to be a lazy storyteller. but thank you for your input, And to everyone else who contributed
Some things about Dragons in my worlds:
1) They are all gender fluid/ non-binary. They have to mate but they do not require specific 'genders' to create viable eggs; any two dragons can do this.
2) Any dragon older than youngling can polymorph at will. As such they typically appear as a race that benefits the moment they're in. So that could be an elf among humans to stand out or "just another orc" to blend in with a tribe.
3) Even dumb dragons are still clever. Int 10 is at least average compared to typical humans so a "dumb dragon" is still ahead of half the human race. I will not comment on this further.
4) Every dragon has a "thing" they want to horde and it's not always gold. Maybe a white dragon would be willing to trade a thing from it's collection for something more suited to it's desires like a rare meat, or a kind of weapon or even a point of status.
For me, dragons are way more fun when they are demigods and forces of nature or at the very least individuals rather than "oh, it's a white dragon, we know all about this". If you want a monster to be killed there are lots of those; dragons are my go to for "this is serious now".
"Teller of tales, dreamer of dreams"
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