Dragons are my favorite creature type in D&D (and fantasy in general). Outside of just them being cool creatures with lots of lore though, they (in my opinion) are one of the few creature types out of all except humanoid that can fill nearly any role you need to fill.
They can be quest givers or patrons to parties. They can be the leader of an organization such as a church, a guild, a school, or some other company. They can be a benevolent ruler or iron fisted dictator. They can be fabled saviors or prophesized forces of disaster and destruction. They can be a solitary entity to fight or make dealings with, or have whole armies of minions that fill all manner of roles. The dragon might be a constant presence in the campaign, an elusive entity that only appears near the end when they think victory is at hand, or a shadow master that never gets truly revealed was behind it all and quietly slinks away to plot anew. They can be champions of gods or slaves to malevolent forces. They can be allies, friends, rivals, enemies, or anything in between.
All of this is just scratching the surface of what you can do with a dragon. This doesn't even go into the ideologies of each dragon species or even introducing dragons from previous editions like the Neutral aligned, Psionic dragons of 3.5 or the primordial twisted Catastrophic Dragons that are living embodiments of natural disasters and elemental forces, or the dragons touched by different planes.
You can do anything you want with them, and there are infinite possibilities that you can use them for. Homebrewing a spell? Draconic origination. Magic item? Created by dragons or dragon parts. Need a tyrannical dictator for low level parties? Most young dragons except white dragons should work.(Green works best.)
In my world, giants and dragons pretty much went to war with each other as soon as they met. The war went on and off for almost 2000 years, before a catastrophic event caused immense casualties on both sides, ending the war on a large scale. Dragons have always played the chaotic side compared to the lawful one of the giants: even lawfully aligned dragons live alone, and dragons do not have a set leader or overarching societal laws. Most dragons in the modern era still retain their ancestral hatred of the giants, and would likely be willing to aid adventurers who promised to slay or otherwise harm one.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
All stars fade. Some stars forever fall. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Homebrew (Mostly Outdated):Magic Items,Monsters,Spells,Subclasses ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
Meanwhile, in my personal world, Dragons and Giants are relatively peaceful towards each other (now). There was a big war, yes, but then the Goddess of Destruction was freed from her prison, and the continent where they were fighting was...messed up. Badly. They ended up signing a treaty, and helped each other recover. Now, the Dragons control the Western half of the continent, with the Empire of New Xanor (kiiindaaa a tyrannical monarchy, but mostly fine) controlling the majority of that area, and the Democratically Elected Heptarchy of Aj'Sanaga controlling the other part (mostly Dragonborns on the Council, but a Silver Dragon is the residing High Councilwoman).
Other Changes:
Alignment is not determined by Color (never liked that, it's mostly gone for all monsters)
White Dragons are Allies, and sometimes Mounts, to the Dwarf and Orc Clans of the North
Elves have hunted Green Dragons to near Extinction (Elves are basically Colonialist jerks in my world, unfortunately)
Red and Brass Dragons work with the Metalmasters of Kasen (small island, lots of Artificers and Forge Clerics), usually powering their Forges (willingly or unwillingly...)
Black and Blue Dragons are about the same as they are in the MM
Silver and Bronze Dragons are also about the same
Copper Dragons are primarily Evil, and control large areas of Erath and Tialas (two shattered continents [formerly one, large magical disaster broke them apart])
Gold Dragons are the Royals of the Dragons, and lead New Xanor
Seven there shall be/In the halls of the eighth/Eights shall witness/Eight and eight and eight and eight/Blood of the father/Blood of the sun/Endless darkness/Day is done
I've always been a fan of Zelazney's "The George Business" (which turned up as a major plot arc many years later in Dragonheart): A dragon and "knight" scheme together to get what they want and both fail but decide to keep working together and run a racket of lightly (and harmlessly) terrorizing a town and hiring a "dragonslayer".
Going just a little further from there, I envision a society where Dragons aren't isolated but coexisting among everyone else - thieves, shopkeepers, crafters, soldiers, duchesses, farmers, adventurers, mystics, charlatans, murderers, artists, bosses, peons, miners, tutors, etc. ...and nobody in the region bats an eye. Though, travelers initially freak out when the visit for the first time.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider. My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong. I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲 “It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
Alignment is not determined by Color (never liked that, it's mostly gone for all monsters)
In my world, the god the giants cursed the dragons (this happened several centuries after the Dragon Wars) so that their color would match their alignment. It's not that all chromatic dragons are innately evil- it's that all dragons that are evil are chromatic dragons.
All stars fade. Some stars forever fall. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Homebrew (Mostly Outdated):Magic Items,Monsters,Spells,Subclasses ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
Use them sparingly. They are like mini gods, treat them as such. As soon as the party is enough level to walk over and punch the dragon in the nose and get away with it - it is time to roll up and begin from level one again.
Dragons are overrated. There are so many way more interesting monsters in DnD, but everyone seems to always come back to boring old 2-claws+bite and breath weapon template we played to death and get bored from years ago. All they really have are big bumbers - big to-hit mods, big damage, big DCs for breath attacks, big AC and HP. Just a high-level character built by GM and equipped with some magic items makes for a better boss-fight.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Everyone loves them,everyone uses them,as good allies or as fear foes,but if it were up to you... how would you use dragons in your campaign?
Got any fresh ideas,or takes on how to use dragons?
Share down below!
Dragons are my favorite creature type in D&D (and fantasy in general). Outside of just them being cool creatures with lots of lore though, they (in my opinion) are one of the few creature types out of all except humanoid that can fill nearly any role you need to fill.
They can be quest givers or patrons to parties. They can be the leader of an organization such as a church, a guild, a school, or some other company. They can be a benevolent ruler or iron fisted dictator. They can be fabled saviors or prophesized forces of disaster and destruction. They can be a solitary entity to fight or make dealings with, or have whole armies of minions that fill all manner of roles. The dragon might be a constant presence in the campaign, an elusive entity that only appears near the end when they think victory is at hand, or a shadow master that never gets truly revealed was behind it all and quietly slinks away to plot anew. They can be champions of gods or slaves to malevolent forces. They can be allies, friends, rivals, enemies, or anything in between.
All of this is just scratching the surface of what you can do with a dragon. This doesn't even go into the ideologies of each dragon species or even introducing dragons from previous editions like the Neutral aligned, Psionic dragons of 3.5 or the primordial twisted Catastrophic Dragons that are living embodiments of natural disasters and elemental forces, or the dragons touched by different planes.
"Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crunchy and taste good with ketchup."
Characters for Tenebris Sine Fine
RoughCoronet's Greater Wills
You can do anything you want with them, and there are infinite possibilities that you can use them for. Homebrewing a spell? Draconic origination. Magic item? Created by dragons or dragon parts. Need a tyrannical dictator for low level parties? Most young dragons except white dragons should work.(Green works best.)
The fire giants made a gundam wheeeeee
In my world, giants and dragons pretty much went to war with each other as soon as they met. The war went on and off for almost 2000 years, before a catastrophic event caused immense casualties on both sides, ending the war on a large scale. Dragons have always played the chaotic side compared to the lawful one of the giants: even lawfully aligned dragons live alone, and dragons do not have a set leader or overarching societal laws. Most dragons in the modern era still retain their ancestral hatred of the giants, and would likely be willing to aid adventurers who promised to slay or otherwise harm one.
All stars fade. Some stars forever fall.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Homebrew (Mostly Outdated): Magic Items, Monsters, Spells, Subclasses
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
Meanwhile, in my personal world, Dragons and Giants are relatively peaceful towards each other (now). There was a big war, yes, but then the Goddess of Destruction was freed from her prison, and the continent where they were fighting was...messed up. Badly. They ended up signing a treaty, and helped each other recover. Now, the Dragons control the Western half of the continent, with the Empire of New Xanor (kiiindaaa a tyrannical monarchy, but mostly fine) controlling the majority of that area, and the Democratically Elected Heptarchy of Aj'Sanaga controlling the other part (mostly Dragonborns on the Council, but a Silver Dragon is the residing High Councilwoman).
Other Changes:
Seven there shall be/In the halls of the eighth/Eights shall witness/Eight and eight and eight and eight/Blood of the father/Blood of the sun/Endless darkness/Day is done
Savior/Sovereign/Saint Foresworn/Traitor/Trusted/Tortured Truthborn/Chosen/Cursed
Created by deities/Created by mortals/Created by powers unseen/Unheard of
Fate speaks of one/Fate speaks to none/Eternal shadows/Day is Done.
I've always been a fan of Zelazney's "The George Business" (which turned up as a major plot arc many years later in Dragonheart): A dragon and "knight" scheme together to get what they want and both fail but decide to keep working together and run a racket of lightly (and harmlessly) terrorizing a town and hiring a "dragonslayer".
Going just a little further from there, I envision a society where Dragons aren't isolated but coexisting among everyone else - thieves, shopkeepers, crafters, soldiers, duchesses, farmers, adventurers, mystics, charlatans, murderers, artists, bosses, peons, miners, tutors, etc. ...and nobody in the region bats an eye. Though, travelers initially freak out when the visit for the first time.
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider.
My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong.
I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲
“It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
In my world, the god the giants cursed the dragons (this happened several centuries after the Dragon Wars) so that their color would match their alignment. It's not that all chromatic dragons are innately evil- it's that all dragons that are evil are chromatic dragons.
All stars fade. Some stars forever fall.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Homebrew (Mostly Outdated): Magic Items, Monsters, Spells, Subclasses
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
Use them sparingly. They are like mini gods, treat them as such. As soon as the party is enough level to walk over and punch the dragon in the nose and get away with it - it is time to roll up and begin from level one again.
Dragons are overrated. There are so many way more interesting monsters in DnD, but everyone seems to always come back to boring old 2-claws+bite and breath weapon template we played to death and get bored from years ago. All they really have are big bumbers - big to-hit mods, big damage, big DCs for breath attacks, big AC and HP. Just a high-level character built by GM and equipped with some magic items makes for a better boss-fight.