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Epinephrine
2009-02-09, 10:51 AM
Opinion I guess, as I don't recall seeing this anywhere - can you tell the type of dragon from its egg?

After all, shell colour doesn't need to have anything to do with the coloration of the young (see chickens, for example), and there are many eggs in the world that are pretty difficult to tell apart - honestly, apart from easily identified eggs, and using the type of nest/location, it's pretty hard to tell what bird laid an egg. But barring the nest/location/local climate, is one egg distinguishable from another?

Players will find a dragon egg in an upcoming adventure, and the parent dragon will be hunting them later. I don't necessarily want them to know what type of dragon they are facing, though they may guess at it. The dragon will actually be taking steps to cover her identity - using a hat of disguise, for example, to change her appearance. She'll pose as a white dragon, to throw off anyone who sees her, and wears anti-fire gear, since she knows that those who would target her will try fire attacks so long as she looks like a white dragon.

The players have strong knowledges, including Arcana, so I imagine they'll be thrown off by things like the location of the egg (being left with lizardmen to guard it in a swamp?), but if questioned the lizardmen will say that it was a large (or possibly huge, depending on whether they level a bit too much - they're on track for it being Huge at the moment) white dragon. The dragon will avoid using its breath weapon when not needed, as it can't hide the effects, preferring to rip things apart with its natural weapons. I was debating giveing it an item to let it make a cone of cold a couple of times a day, to throw them off a bit. After all, if they find vegetation and people clearly frozen by a blast of cold it'll reinforce the idea that it's just a very odd white dragon, leaving its egg in a temperate swamp.

kamikasei
2009-02-09, 11:02 AM
Given how different the dragons are from one another and how different their habitats are, yeah, I'd say the eggs of each should be fairly distinctive.

Wabbajack
2009-02-09, 11:24 AM
Draconomicon has informations on it. They are different sizes, have different incubation times and look different. They range from tiny/1ft 1lb to small/2ft 8lb and medium/4ft 60lb, they have the color of they parent dragon and they energie immunities.

aravol
2009-02-09, 12:33 PM
Draconomicon also makes notes that most of the dragon eggs need to be incubated very specifically. I see several options here:

First, it could one egg wrapped in an egg-shaped magical item to keep it at the appropriate temperature, or whatever condition is appropriate to the dragon type you're using
Second, it could be magically disguised, and perhaps left in the care of a shaman who was preserving the necessary conditions for the egg to survive. This could also mean the dragon has an ultimatum to retrieve her offspring, as the players cannnot keep it alive for long without identifying it.
Third, does the Draconomicon specify the rules for cross-breed dragons? :smallamused
Fourth, and my personal favorite, is to ignore the Draconomicon, since by the descriptions there, dragon eggs are too fragile to be left in the care of Lizardfolk, and particularly easily identified by players. It's your campaign, play with it :smallbiggrin:

Epinephrine
2009-02-09, 12:53 PM
Ok - I don't want to have to change D&D lore to make it fit. I'll manage with the identifiable egg. Thanks all - good to know what the books say about it.

The egg isn't actually viable - it's full of worms of Kyuss, and when it finally bursts it's meant to pour out and infect all the lizardmen/their eggs - so it wouldn't be disguised, nor would it matter that the lizardmen can't actually care for it.

I think the identifiable nature of the eggs and the difficulty of caring for them is a fine thing. It'll mean that the party has a darn good reason to be suspicious of this egg. Destroying it and the worms will upset the dragon, since it interferes with the plan to get more spawn of Kyuss going in the area.

Since they don't know what being full of Kyuss worms will do to an egg, the apparent hue might be due to the contamination. It's nice to give them a hint that the dragon might actually be black, but sightings of it report it being white. They may even decide that it's a hybrid dragon, or that it's disguised, or prepare for both - maybe one parent is white and one is black. Adds to the mystery though.

JeminiZero
2009-02-09, 08:02 PM
It's nice to give them a hint that the dragon might actually be black, but sightings of it report it being white. They may even decide that it's a hybrid dragon, or that it's disguised, or prepare for both


Since the eggs already possess energy immunity, they may, you know, decide to test it by applying small amounts of fire/cold/acid/lightning and seeing which doesn't hurt the egg.

Dublock
2009-02-09, 08:49 PM
do you know what would be fun? Let them know what kind of dragon the egg is, but have the dragon suffer from a identity crisis. This can be done a few ways. For example if an adult dragon killed another ones child, then as revenge, take over its child, by force or some other way.

it will add a nice little twist and I can picture the DM smile as he says the adult black dragon descends on the party while they hold a blue dragon's egg.

Pirate_King
2009-02-10, 12:28 AM
It's always weird for me to see someone worrying about changing lore to make it fit. It's your world, not WotC's, you can make the egg look however you want, and inform your PC's on their character's knowledge accordingly, as you can doubtlessly expect all sorts of knowledge checks.

Nightson
2009-02-10, 12:53 AM
do you know what would be fun? Let them know what kind of dragon the egg is, but have the dragon suffer from a identity crisis. This can be done a few ways. For example if an adult dragon killed another ones child, then as revenge, take over its child, by force or some other way.

it will add a nice little twist and I can picture the DM smile as he says the adult black dragon descends on the party while they hold a blue dragon's egg.

Or maybe the Black Dragon killed a White Dragon and stole their egg since it's been rendered unviable by the Black (something it might not want to do to it's own egg).

Myrmex
2009-02-10, 12:53 AM
They are delicious.

Noble Savant
2009-02-10, 03:07 AM
For the record, I believe the spell Breath Weapon Substitution from the Spell Compendium could also take care of the breath weapon aspect revealing your dragon type. It changes the elemental alignment of your personal breath weapon.

I could actually see this as an interesting series of adventures as the players keep trying to force the dragon into it's true form.