I'm creating a campaign where the players are on a large island with three kingdoms on it.
The Dragon (Ancient Red Dragon) has created an army of half dragons and dragon born to take over the island and create a place for all dragon kind with the Red Dragon leading all others.
My question is, in my story there is only one actual dragon, but would a dragon ever team up with another dragon, Let's say a young black dragon? The black dragon would rule the seas around the island and the Red Dragon could have the land.
I know of Aqua dragons the could work with other dragons in exchange for protection but apparently lore says they wouldn't deal with Red dragons.
Any thoughts? Could dragons team up? and if so, whats the best to team up with a Red Dragon
Dragons are certainly very intelligent, all are smarter than the average human, so they could certainly team up. On the other hand, personality-wise, most dragons would not want to - if you read https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/mm/monsters-d#Dragons , the evil chromatic dragons don't seem like the kind of creatures that play nicely with others, they would much rather have minions than collaborators. If two dragons teamed up, there'd be a decent chance they spend half the time each thinking about how to destroy their rival and take his hoard.
So I'd guess if two dragons worked together, there would have to be a really good reason why.
In the Forgotten Realms lore the best example of chromatic dragons working together I can think of is the two black dragons in the Mere of Dead Men on the Sword Coast, about midway between Neverwinter and Waterdeep. They're twins, which is unusual for dragons. They keep their existence as twins secret and hunt prey and adventurers by using speed, confusion and the swampy geography of the Mere to make it seem like there's just one black dragon that appears to be in two places at once.
Beyond that, I can't think of any other chromatic dragons off the top of my head that work together without some sort of "make the dragons obey orders" macguffin coming in to play.
But...
You're the DM. If it's what you need for the story you want to tell and the world you want your players to experience, have at it. Dragons being territorial, if you're setting it up in such a way that two dragons are basically agreeing that each has their own turf and they'll protect each other from shared threats but otherwise mind their own business, that isn't much of a stretch from established lore anyway.
This really depends on how you want to run your world.
In my opinion, dragons could team up, but the alliance is always tenuous. It's one where both are seeking to gain advantage. In your scenario, the black dragon could choose to listen to the red dragon for awhile (in exchange for the red dragon not outright killing them) in the hopes of either gaining power and/or escaping. this can lead to interesting allegiances and a chance for a party to sow discord.
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"An' things ha' come to a pretty pass, ye ken, if people are going to leave stuff like that aroound where innocent people could accidentally smash the door doon and lever the bars aside and take the big chain off'f the cupboard and pick the lock and drink it!"
Dragons can easily team up, especially in a home brew world. The world I'm currently designing won't even have dragons tied to an alignment. IE: there can by Evil gold dragons, good Red dragons. (I think this is the same as the original basic/expert setting in Mystara.
Dragons are too intelligent to be tied to a particular alignment, and as intelligent creatures they're more than capable of teaming up/using other dragons to assist them.
Dragons are certainly able to team up, but chaotic evil monsters are fairly likely to backstab one another if they see opportunity, so it's not very stable unless you're talking blue or green dragons.
I think, considering your story has two chromatic dragons involved, it would make sense to include Tiamat in the story. Chromatic dragons are notoriously selfish and unlikely to cooperate with each other, but the influence of Tiamat might movtivate dragons to cooperate for the purpose of acquiring more treasure and riches. There's not much reason, within the written D&D lore (unless you're going with homebrew) for a black dragon to ally with a Red dragon. But Tiamat is known for allying chromatic dragons regardless of their coloring, promising gold and power to those willing to obey her whims.
The easiest to add (following the lore of D&D) would be a green one who has their own plans and works temporarely with the red to acomplish their own goals, or a white one that got beaten into submission.
I'm creating a campaign where the players are on a large island with three kingdoms on it.
The Dragon (Ancient Red Dragon) has created an army of half dragons and dragon born to take over the island and create a place for all dragon kind with the Red Dragon leading all others.
My question is, in my story there is only one actual dragon, but would a dragon ever team up with another dragon, Let's say a young black dragon? The black dragon would rule the seas around the island and the Red Dragon could have the land.
I know of Aqua dragons the could work with other dragons in exchange for protection but apparently lore says they wouldn't deal with Red dragons.
Any thoughts? Could dragons team up? and if so, whats the best to team up with a Red Dragon
Dragons are certainly very intelligent, all are smarter than the average human, so they could certainly team up. On the other hand, personality-wise, most dragons would not want to - if you read https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/mm/monsters-d#Dragons , the evil chromatic dragons don't seem like the kind of creatures that play nicely with others, they would much rather have minions than collaborators. If two dragons teamed up, there'd be a decent chance they spend half the time each thinking about how to destroy their rival and take his hoard.
So I'd guess if two dragons worked together, there would have to be a really good reason why.
In the Forgotten Realms lore the best example of chromatic dragons working together I can think of is the two black dragons in the Mere of Dead Men on the Sword Coast, about midway between Neverwinter and Waterdeep. They're twins, which is unusual for dragons. They keep their existence as twins secret and hunt prey and adventurers by using speed, confusion and the swampy geography of the Mere to make it seem like there's just one black dragon that appears to be in two places at once.
Beyond that, I can't think of any other chromatic dragons off the top of my head that work together without some sort of "make the dragons obey orders" macguffin coming in to play.
But...
You're the DM. If it's what you need for the story you want to tell and the world you want your players to experience, have at it. Dragons being territorial, if you're setting it up in such a way that two dragons are basically agreeing that each has their own turf and they'll protect each other from shared threats but otherwise mind their own business, that isn't much of a stretch from established lore anyway.
This really depends on how you want to run your world.
In my opinion, dragons could team up, but the alliance is always tenuous. It's one where both are seeking to gain advantage. In your scenario, the black dragon could choose to listen to the red dragon for awhile (in exchange for the red dragon not outright killing them) in the hopes of either gaining power and/or escaping. this can lead to interesting allegiances and a chance for a party to sow discord.
"An' things ha' come to a pretty pass, ye ken, if people are going to leave stuff like that aroound where innocent people could accidentally smash the door doon and lever the bars aside and take the big chain off'f the cupboard and pick the lock and drink it!"
Dragons can easily team up, especially in a home brew world. The world I'm currently designing won't even have dragons tied to an alignment. IE: there can by Evil gold dragons, good Red dragons. (I think this is the same as the original basic/expert setting in Mystara.
Dragons are too intelligent to be tied to a particular alignment, and as intelligent creatures they're more than capable of teaming up/using other dragons to assist them.
Good luck
Dragons are certainly able to team up, but chaotic evil monsters are fairly likely to backstab one another if they see opportunity, so it's not very stable unless you're talking blue or green dragons.
I think, considering your story has two chromatic dragons involved, it would make sense to include Tiamat in the story. Chromatic dragons are notoriously selfish and unlikely to cooperate with each other, but the influence of Tiamat might movtivate dragons to cooperate for the purpose of acquiring more treasure and riches. There's not much reason, within the written D&D lore (unless you're going with homebrew) for a black dragon to ally with a Red dragon. But Tiamat is known for allying chromatic dragons regardless of their coloring, promising gold and power to those willing to obey her whims.
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The easiest to add (following the lore of D&D) would be a green one who has their own plans and works temporarely with the red to acomplish their own goals, or a white one that got beaten into submission.
Attack: [roll]3d20dl2+6[/roll] Damage: [roll](if([roll:-1:critical], =0, 1d8, 2{1d8}.expand()))+4[/roll] Sneakattack: [roll](if([roll:-2:critical], =0, 2d6, 2{2d6}.expand()))[/roll]A dominant dragon could coerce a lesser dragon through subjugation. A tyrant and vassal situation would be the most believable.