For nostalgia, Rick Riordan. The Percy Jackson series was formative in getting me interested in fantasy.
For current reading, Brandon Sanderson. I haven't kept up with his most recent books, but the Stormlight Archive has some of my favorite characters from all of fantasy.
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Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
So, after several months of break and starting a campaign, I have finally started to figure out more about my dragons, lol.
It is a lot. I wanted to use a particular structure, since Dragons are extremely magical, very mystical, but still part of the core concept that I had about the indigenous life of the planet. there are Dragons, Drakes, Wyrms, and Wyverns.
Dragons and Drakes have four limbs, two wings, and a single tail. Wyrms have three tails, four limbs, are serpentine, and no wings. Wyverns have two wings, two limbs, and three tails.
Drakes, Wyrms, and Wyverns are “normal” animals, in comparison to Dragons, who are not normal.
They molt and they cocoon. Wyvern to Wyrm to Drake, they go through a rapid evolution and change. Drakes then have a chance of become a dragon (assuming that one of the Dragons has passed on).
There are seven broad categories of Dragons: Sun, Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water, and Moon. Within each category there are five types, and within each type there are three individuals. So I have a lot more dragons that I expected, to start with, and they are more closely related tot he western concepts of an “elemental” than existing D&D dragons — a wood dragon is made of wood, a fire dragon is made of fire, with the Sun and Moon being Light and Darkness, respectively.
Still might change as I am focused mostly on how they interact with the biomes at this moment, and that ma change a lot of things (have to account for their appetites, lol).
Dragons change through each of the seven categories — so a Sun dragon will become a wood dragon will become a fire dragon will become an earth dragon, etc. THe underling goal is to combine the two forms of the elements (western and Eastern) and come out with something quite different.
It being the year of the Wood Dragon and all, I think it is important.
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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
Nice. I've always found Dnd dragons a little bland. I prefer to think of dragons on a case by case basis. Mine can't be fit into nice categories like red, blue, green, or metallic, chromatic, and gem. Each dragon is its own supernatural individual that is distinct from any other dragon. Of course there are "lesser" dragons that have more clearly defined species like drakes, lyndworms, tatzelworms, hydras, and wyverns.
Nice. I've always found Dnd dragons a little bland. I prefer to think of dragons on a case by case basis. Mine can't be fit into nice categories like red, blue, green, or metallic, chromatic, and gem. Each dragon is its own supernatural individual that is distinct from any other dragon. Of course there are "lesser" dragons that have more clearly defined species like drakes, lyndworms, tatzelworms, hydras, and wyverns.
If you can get your hands on it, the 3.5e Draconomicon would like a word with you. It really brought dragons to life for me.
If I had to pick one, I'd go with Tolkien. My teacher reading The Hobbit to the 4th grade class I was in changed my life.
Other authors I'd rank very high - are Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman (for Dragonlance, but also the Death Gate Cycle, the Darksword Trilogy - although that last book went side ways..., the Dragonships series was incredible!) The two paired together are an incredible force.
But also C.S. Lewis (Narnia), Lloyd Alexander, Richard A. Knaak, Richard Adams, the list really goes on and on.
quick scan of my little pad where I am laying out the finer details and organization. Includes a lot of “associations” and linkages, if you can handle my scrawls, and gives the structure for how each phase of a dragon’s life includes three molts — each is a period of 25 years, making Dragons the longest lived beings on the planet (525 years for full growth, with another 475 years at Moon stage).
This lets me have a really interesting structure for dragon culture, which will be very important in a couple years for my current campaign.
dragons are the only sapient and sentient indigenous species, affected by both the terraforming and then by the entry of magic into the world. There are very few old dragons, who rule over their clutches. Dragons have an eidetic ancestral memory as well — so they remember the coming of people to the world, and their own climb to awareness, and what the world looked like once upon a time.
In other news, I am writing up the intro adventure still, alongside rewrites of spells, and adjusting the assorted special,abilities to work with that new system.
i may have to,add another session — my folks are loving the new stuff I have set up, and how I have poured everything I know about this darn game into creating a pretty crazy world.
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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
Those are some cool dragons! I might just steal some of those ideas. But that gives me an idea for a...
Question Of The Day: Have you taken a boring DND monster (5e dragons are very boring, IMO) and made it cool? If so, why do you think the existing monster is boring and how did you change it?
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Hey, It's me, RaccoonMaster! I'm back! I disappeared for a while there, but now everything's good and I'm trying to get into more games!
I'm an actor, writer, singer (opera, musical theatre, and rock are my preferred genres), backpacker, and tall person (6'5 and counting). Pronouns are whatever, I mostly use They/Them though.
My Characters: Elsenia Selevarum:The Popular Paladin, Aasimar Noble, Level 5 Paladin of Redemption;
Question Of The Day: Have you taken a boring DND monster (5e dragons are very boring, IMO) and made it cool? If so, why do you think the existing monster is boring and how did you change it?
Those are some cool dragons! I might just steal some of those ideas. But that gives me an idea for a...
Question Of The Day: Have you taken a boring DND monster (5e dragons are very boring, IMO) and made it cool? If so, why do you think the existing monster is boring and how did you change it?
Nah, I tend to make homebrew monsters from scratch, and tear off pieces of other monsters as I go, rather than starting from a template.
I’m currently running a campaign for a few friends, and they all want DnD monsters as pets. I told them if they can defeat a monster, I’ll let them have it as a pet, but they said that the monster would just die if they beat it. Now I’m trying to make a kind of pokeball esque amulet that absorbs a creatures essence, but I need help balancing it. Any suggestions?
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Hi, I’m DrakenBrine, here’s my Sig and characters
I’m currently running a campaign for a few friends, and they all want DnD monsters as pets. I told them if they can defeat a monster, I’ll let them have it as a pet, but they said that the monster would just die if they beat it. Now I’m trying to make a kind of pokeball esque amulet that absorbs a creatures essence, but I need help balancing it. Any suggestions?
Depends on what you call "pets." If they encounter kobolds and try to keep kobolds as pets; I don't think that's going to last.
Now, that said - alignment on D&D - is just like everything else on that character stat block. It's a suggestion of what probably the D&D universe considers "average."
You could, however, make a kobold whose alignment is different. You could make a kobold with much more (or less) hit points. You could make them more intelligent, stronger, higher constitution, etc.
Now, in my off week game - which (I've mentioned this a billion times - is very RP heavy!) - they've gone around this island they're trapped on, befriending other beings. They've befriended goblins, but rescuing one of their friends from a haunted manor; they've befriended kobolds in a swamp after dealing with catoblepas; and then helped establish a trade between the kobolds (for a unique plant that grows in the swamp that is used to create healing potions) with a nearby town (which supplies them with leathers, better weapons, etc., that are not readily available in a swamp).
So making allies, I can see with intelligent races. But pets? Probably not.
But - it's your world, your game - if that works for you, then I say go for it.
What matters in the end is that you and your players are having fun - even if it means bending or breaking rules along the way.
I’m currently running a campaign for a few friends, and they all want DnD monsters as pets. I told them if they can defeat a monster, I’ll let them have it as a pet, but they said that the monster would just die if they beat it. Now I’m trying to make a kind of pokeball esque amulet that absorbs a creatures essence, but I need help balancing it. Any suggestions?
I think what Tawmis is trying to say is that you can’t make pets out of sentient creatures like dragons. Even raising a baby dragon would be more like taking care of a baby than raising a pet. What kind of monsters do your players want as pets?
I’m currently running a campaign for a few friends, and they all want DnD monsters as pets. I told them if they can defeat a monster, I’ll let them have it as a pet, but they said that the monster would just die if they beat it. Now I’m trying to make a kind of pokeball esque amulet that absorbs a creatures essence, but I need help balancing it. Any suggestions?
I think what Tawmis is trying to say is that you can’t make pets out of sentient creatures like dragons. Even raising a baby dragon would be more like taking care of a baby than raising a pet. What kind of monsters do your players want as pets?
One wants an owlbear, another wants a blue dragon wyrmling, and the third wants a spirit naga
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Hi, I’m DrakenBrine, here’s my Sig and characters
I’m currently running a campaign for a few friends, and they all want DnD monsters as pets. I told them if they can defeat a monster, I’ll let them have it as a pet, but they said that the monster would just die if they beat it. Now I’m trying to make a kind of pokeball esque amulet that absorbs a creatures essence, but I need help balancing it. Any suggestions?
I think what Tawmis is trying to say is that you can’t make pets out of sentient creatures like dragons. Even raising a baby dragon would be more like taking care of a baby than raising a pet. What kind of monsters do your players want as pets?
One wants an owlbear, another wants a blue dragon wyrmling, and the third wants a spirit naga
I would recommended rephrasing it from “pet” to “companion.” Save the owlbear, these creatures are intelligent and powerful beings. They also are both evil. As mentioned before, alignment can be changed, but I recommend, when dealing with self-aware and intelligent beings, your players could make a pact (not a Warlock pact) with them, but they should not expect obedience or anything else one gets from a pet. They would effectively be NPCs that aren’t humanoid.
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I don't have just one favorite author, but reading China Miéville changed my creative thought process. I'm now a weirder person than I once was.
Neil Gaiman, with Terry Pratchett as a secondary.
Look at what you've done. You spoiled it. You have nobody to blame but yourself. Go sit and think about your actions.
How I'm posting based on text formatting: Mod Hat Off - Mod Hat Also Off (I'm not a mod)
For nostalgia, Rick Riordan. The Percy Jackson series was formative in getting me interested in fantasy.
For current reading, Brandon Sanderson. I haven't kept up with his most recent books, but the Stormlight Archive has some of my favorite characters from all of fantasy.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
So, after several months of break and starting a campaign, I have finally started to figure out more about my dragons, lol.
It is a lot. I wanted to use a particular structure, since Dragons are extremely magical, very mystical, but still part of the core concept that I had about the indigenous life of the planet. there are Dragons, Drakes, Wyrms, and Wyverns.
Dragons and Drakes have four limbs, two wings, and a single tail. Wyrms have three tails, four limbs, are serpentine, and no wings. Wyverns have two wings, two limbs, and three tails.
Drakes, Wyrms, and Wyverns are “normal” animals, in comparison to Dragons, who are not normal.
They molt and they cocoon. Wyvern to Wyrm to Drake, they go through a rapid evolution and change. Drakes then have a chance of become a dragon (assuming that one of the Dragons has passed on).
There are seven broad categories of Dragons: Sun, Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water, and Moon. Within each category there are five types, and within each type there are three individuals. So I have a lot more dragons that I expected, to start with, and they are more closely related tot he western concepts of an “elemental” than existing D&D dragons — a wood dragon is made of wood, a fire dragon is made of fire, with the Sun and Moon being Light and Darkness, respectively.
Still might change as I am focused mostly on how they interact with the biomes at this moment, and that ma change a lot of things (have to account for their appetites, lol).
Dragons change through each of the seven categories — so a Sun dragon will become a wood dragon will become a fire dragon will become an earth dragon, etc. THe underling goal is to combine the two forms of the elements (western and Eastern) and come out with something quite different.
It being the year of the Wood Dragon and all, I think it is important.
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
Nice. I've always found Dnd dragons a little bland. I prefer to think of dragons on a case by case basis. Mine can't be fit into nice categories like red, blue, green, or metallic, chromatic, and gem. Each dragon is its own supernatural individual that is distinct from any other dragon. Of course there are "lesser" dragons that have more clearly defined species like drakes, lyndworms, tatzelworms, hydras, and wyverns.
If you can get your hands on it, the 3.5e Draconomicon would like a word with you. It really brought dragons to life for me.
If I had to pick one, I'd go with Tolkien. My teacher reading The Hobbit to the 4th grade class I was in changed my life.
Other authors I'd rank very high - are Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman (for Dragonlance, but also the Death Gate Cycle, the Darksword Trilogy - although that last book went side ways..., the Dragonships series was incredible!) The two paired together are an incredible force.
But also C.S. Lewis (Narnia), Lloyd Alexander, Richard A. Knaak, Richard Adams, the list really goes on and on.
Flattery will get you everywhere.
Although I can't draw. I dabble. lol
Check out my publication on DMs Guild: https://www.dmsguild.com/browse.php?author=Tawmis%20Logue
Check out my comedy web series - Neverending Nights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Wr4-u9-zw0&list=PLbRG7dzFI-u3EJd0usasgDrrFO3mZ1lOZ
Need a character story/background written up? I do it for free (but also take donations!) - https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?591882-Need-a-character-background-written-up
So, an example of how much thought is going into my dragons, lol.
quick scan of my little pad where I am laying out the finer details and organization. Includes a lot of “associations” and linkages, if you can handle my scrawls, and gives the structure for how each phase of a dragon’s life includes three molts — each is a period of 25 years, making Dragons the longest lived beings on the planet (525 years for full growth, with another 475 years at Moon stage).
This lets me have a really interesting structure for dragon culture, which will be very important in a couple years for my current campaign.
dragons are the only sapient and sentient indigenous species, affected by both the terraforming and then by the entry of magic into the world. There are very few old dragons, who rule over their clutches. Dragons have an eidetic ancestral memory as well — so they remember the coming of people to the world, and their own climb to awareness, and what the world looked like once upon a time.
In other news, I am writing up the intro adventure still, alongside rewrites of spells, and adjusting the assorted special,abilities to work with that new system.
i may have to,add another session — my folks are loving the new stuff I have set up, and how I have poured everything I know about this darn game into creating a pretty crazy world.
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
Those are some cool dragons! I might just steal some of those ideas. But that gives me an idea for a...
Hey, It's me, RaccoonMaster! I'm back! I disappeared for a while there, but now everything's good and I'm trying to get into more games!
I'm an actor, writer, singer (opera, musical theatre, and rock are my preferred genres), backpacker, and tall person (6'5 and counting). Pronouns are whatever, I mostly use They/Them though.
My Characters: Elsenia Selevarum: The Popular Paladin, Aasimar Noble, Level 5 Paladin of Redemption;
Hope to see you around!
Yes, I take the commoner and make it cool all the time: (https://www.dndbeyond.com/homebrew/monsters?filter-type=0&filter-search=&filter-cr-min=&filter-cr-max=&filter-armor-class-min=&filter-armor-class-max=&filter-average-hp-min=&filter-average-hp-max=&filter-is-legendary=&filter-has-lair=&filter-author=IamSposta&filter-author-previous=IamSposta&filter-author-symbol=102118565&filter-rating=-9).
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Nah, I tend to make homebrew monsters from scratch, and tear off pieces of other monsters as I go, rather than starting from a template.
I’m currently running a campaign for a few friends, and they all want DnD monsters as pets. I told them if they can defeat a monster, I’ll let them have it as a pet, but they said that the monster would just die if they beat it. Now I’m trying to make a kind of pokeball esque amulet that absorbs a creatures essence, but I need help balancing it. Any suggestions?
Hi, I’m DrakenBrine, here’s my Sig and characters
I am The Grand Envisioner!
The monster doesn’t have to die when the defeat it. They can choose to not kill it. For one thing, there’s the Knocking a Creature Out rules: (https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/combat#KnockingaCreatureOut). For another, even monsters can technically get death saves, just most DMs don’t: (https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/combat#DeathSavingThrows). So even if the drop a monster to 0 HP they can still stabilize it and heal it if they try.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Thanks for reminding me. I always forget those rules.
Hi, I’m DrakenBrine, here’s my Sig and characters
I am The Grand Envisioner!
You can use an item similar to the Iron Flask or customize it.
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
As someone in a campaign with an Iron Flask I recommend a modified or weakened version of the Iron Flask because it is very easily abused.
Depends on what you call "pets." If they encounter kobolds and try to keep kobolds as pets; I don't think that's going to last.
Now, that said - alignment on D&D - is just like everything else on that character stat block. It's a suggestion of what probably the D&D universe considers "average."
You could, however, make a kobold whose alignment is different. You could make a kobold with much more (or less) hit points. You could make them more intelligent, stronger, higher constitution, etc.
Now, in my off week game - which (I've mentioned this a billion times - is very RP heavy!) - they've gone around this island they're trapped on, befriending other beings. They've befriended goblins, but rescuing one of their friends from a haunted manor; they've befriended kobolds in a swamp after dealing with catoblepas; and then helped establish a trade between the kobolds (for a unique plant that grows in the swamp that is used to create healing potions) with a nearby town (which supplies them with leathers, better weapons, etc., that are not readily available in a swamp).
So making allies, I can see with intelligent races. But pets? Probably not.
But - it's your world, your game - if that works for you, then I say go for it.
What matters in the end is that you and your players are having fun - even if it means bending or breaking rules along the way.
Check out my publication on DMs Guild: https://www.dmsguild.com/browse.php?author=Tawmis%20Logue
Check out my comedy web series - Neverending Nights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Wr4-u9-zw0&list=PLbRG7dzFI-u3EJd0usasgDrrFO3mZ1lOZ
Need a character story/background written up? I do it for free (but also take donations!) - https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?591882-Need-a-character-background-written-up
I think what Tawmis is trying to say is that you can’t make pets out of sentient creatures like dragons. Even raising a baby dragon would be more like taking care of a baby than raising a pet. What kind of monsters do your players want as pets?
I really like D&D, especially Ravenloft and Forgotten Realms. My pronouns are she/they.
I like reading and writing too, but I’m not much of an artist.
One wants an owlbear, another wants a blue dragon wyrmling, and the third wants a spirit naga
Hi, I’m DrakenBrine, here’s my Sig and characters
I am The Grand Envisioner!
I would recommended rephrasing it from “pet” to “companion.” Save the owlbear, these creatures are intelligent and powerful beings. They also are both evil. As mentioned before, alignment can be changed, but I recommend, when dealing with self-aware and intelligent beings, your players could make a pact (not a Warlock pact) with them, but they should not expect obedience or anything else one gets from a pet. They would effectively be NPCs that aren’t humanoid.