So pretty much for my campaign a lot of the big bosses are dragons released by the bbeg tiamat, and so since tiamats the last fight i want to give them a pretty good chance of actually beating her since most of them are new players, and i was planning on doing this in a similar way that fizbans treasury recommends by giving them rewards based on the dragon they’ve defeated.
i was looking for ideas that wouldn’t be too game breaking, but also not useless like an ac or stat bonus for beating a metal dragon, or gaining an equivalent fire blast like firebolt for killing an adult red, and any other ideas would be very much appreciated.
A fairly typical trope for this kind of thing is magic items from previous people that intended to fight the dragons.
That is, their should be a quiver of dragon slaying arrows in a dragon's loot. The poor guy got eaten before he hit.
Also a White Dragon cape - an item that grants resistance to cold that is not attuned. Found of course in the lair of a white dragon, possible on an altar, lovingly preserved as the last remaining part of a corpse of loved one.
If you want to grant boon etc, then you could give out homebrew something up - spell or magic item - that grants a boon based on what dragon part is used.
For example a Draconic Flask of Potion making. Put some dragon scale in and it permanently grants resistance to appropriate element. Put an eye in and it grants darkvision, with a chance of getting blindsight. Make a chart up but do not tell them what they get before hand, even with an Identify spell. Instead let them experiment.
The scaled ornament is amazing. Immunity to the dragon-fear, a flying speed equal to the character's walking speed, and 1/day get healed by a breath attack of the corresponding element instead of taking damage from it... In my mind it is the magic item to have for any character about to fight Tiamat if it's available.
Anything that gives bonuses on the characters' attack rolls or save DCs to improve their chances of actually landing damage on Tiamat would be good too.
You'd be hard-pressed to get your saving throw bonuses or AC high enough for it to make much of a difference, so I agree that items that improve those wouldn't be nearly as helpful.
Personally for something like a dragon which is so innately magical I'd let players make suggestions of items from them then just balance them. Most often you'll get suggestions like dragon scale mail but clever players may come up with something more interesting. Of course they have to put effort into getting what they need to make it so they can become mini challenges. Like you make a deal with a hag that if you bring it a dragons eye it will make you an orb of scrying but maybe it also wants the other eye and a favor. Alternatively you have to make a special sword that's enchanted by a wizard and you have to get the sword hit by its breath weapon a certain amount of times. Get an orb of the dragon kind by sneaking it into a dragons hoard and leaving it to drain a dragons power for a while then kill the dragon or some how capture it in the orb. Loads of options
I've had this discussion about making items from dragons before so I have some old ideas:
Orb of dragon eye has the effects of an crystal ball but with additional effects based on the dragon type for example it would have blind sight if the dragon does or it might allow you to cast clairvoyance on bodies of water like some dragons lair actions do. You may even be able to do other effects like telepathy if the dragon has it ect...
teeth of skeleton summoning it summons a skeleton it's from an old myth and is basically just a spell scroll but an item
Bottled dragon breath which does their breath effect in an aoe when you throw it
Dragon tooth weapons, which do elemental damage
Dragons blood tattoo's their blood can be used to make magical ink for tattoos which imbue you with some of the dragons powers for example on of their spells once a day
Gem dragon shard which can be used to cast spells as psionics ( invisible, no material or somatic components)
You can also give any item from a dragon hoard the draconic effect from the DMG
Dragon. This item is made from scales and talons shed by a dragon. Perhaps it incorporates precious metals and gems from the dragon’s hoard. It grows slightly warm when within 120 feet of a dragon.
A Dragon slayer sword is a good magic item that gives you an extra 3d6 damage against dragons.
Edit: The dragon does not have to realize the swords identity, it probably has a massive hoard anyways. Still, the sword would be very useful in a dragon based campaign.
A Dragon slayer sword is a good magic item that gives you an extra 3d6 damage against dragons.
Why would a dragon keep a Dragon Slayer Sword in its own hoard? Better to just toss it in the sea.
Maybe try making the items specific to the type of region the dragon lives in. So if the Red Dragon lives in an old dwarven catacomb city that has become sulphuric and a bit volcano-y, then it could have a Belt of Dwarvenkind, a Necklace of Fireballs, a Battleaxe +2 and so on.
I wouldn't just give out new abilities for beating the dragons, they'll either be too good and replace the PC's own abilities, or won't be as good and won't get used (e.g. you give a Champion fighter a Firebolt spell - better off just chucking a javelin).
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So pretty much for my campaign a lot of the big bosses are dragons released by the bbeg tiamat, and so since tiamats the last fight i want to give them a pretty good chance of actually beating her since most of them are new players, and i was planning on doing this in a similar way that fizbans treasury recommends by giving them rewards based on the dragon they’ve defeated.
i was looking for ideas that wouldn’t be too game breaking, but also not useless like an ac or stat bonus for beating a metal dragon, or gaining an equivalent fire blast like firebolt for killing an adult red, and any other ideas would be very much appreciated.
A fairly typical trope for this kind of thing is magic items from previous people that intended to fight the dragons.
That is, their should be a quiver of dragon slaying arrows in a dragon's loot. The poor guy got eaten before he hit.
Also a White Dragon cape - an item that grants resistance to cold that is not attuned. Found of course in the lair of a white dragon, possible on an altar, lovingly preserved as the last remaining part of a corpse of loved one.
If you want to grant boon etc, then you could give out homebrew something up - spell or magic item - that grants a boon based on what dragon part is used.
For example a Draconic Flask of Potion making. Put some dragon scale in and it permanently grants resistance to appropriate element. Put an eye in and it grants darkvision, with a chance of getting blindsight. Make a chart up but do not tell them what they get before hand, even with an Identify spell. Instead let them experiment.
The scaled ornament is amazing. Immunity to the dragon-fear, a flying speed equal to the character's walking speed, and 1/day get healed by a breath attack of the corresponding element instead of taking damage from it... In my mind it is the magic item to have for any character about to fight Tiamat if it's available.
Anything that gives bonuses on the characters' attack rolls or save DCs to improve their chances of actually landing damage on Tiamat would be good too.
You'd be hard-pressed to get your saving throw bonuses or AC high enough for it to make much of a difference, so I agree that items that improve those wouldn't be nearly as helpful.
Personally for something like a dragon which is so innately magical I'd let players make suggestions of items from them then just balance them. Most often you'll get suggestions like dragon scale mail but clever players may come up with something more interesting. Of course they have to put effort into getting what they need to make it so they can become mini challenges. Like you make a deal with a hag that if you bring it a dragons eye it will make you an orb of scrying but maybe it also wants the other eye and a favor. Alternatively you have to make a special sword that's enchanted by a wizard and you have to get the sword hit by its breath weapon a certain amount of times. Get an orb of the dragon kind by sneaking it into a dragons hoard and leaving it to drain a dragons power for a while then kill the dragon or some how capture it in the orb. Loads of options
I've had this discussion about making items from dragons before so I have some old ideas:
You can also give any item from a dragon hoard the draconic effect from the DMG
A Dragon slayer sword is a good magic item that gives you an extra 3d6 damage against dragons.
Edit: The dragon does not have to realize the swords identity, it probably has a massive hoard anyways. Still, the sword would be very useful in a dragon based campaign.
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HERE.Why would a dragon keep a Dragon Slayer Sword in its own hoard? Better to just toss it in the sea.
Maybe try making the items specific to the type of region the dragon lives in. So if the Red Dragon lives in an old dwarven catacomb city that has become sulphuric and a bit volcano-y, then it could have a Belt of Dwarvenkind, a Necklace of Fireballs, a Battleaxe +2 and so on.
I wouldn't just give out new abilities for beating the dragons, they'll either be too good and replace the PC's own abilities, or won't be as good and won't get used (e.g. you give a Champion fighter a Firebolt spell - better off just chucking a javelin).