Xorvintaal Dragon [PC race] WIP

[PetterTomBos]

I am making a race for a player my game of 3,5 D&D. The backstory is the xorvintaal dragons from MM V, dragons which play a huge game of treasure and power, with mortal kingdoms and hoards as tokens, pawns and bets. These dragons usually go in human form, infiltrates the human nobility, but their actions are all in all a stabilizing factor in the world. More backstory later.

The player wants to play a dragon, and we are thinking young adult silver dragon. The catch is: to assume dragon form is really expensive in the great game, and may allow the player to be attacked by other xorvintaal dragons. Therefore the dragon (player) is forced to undertake human, or in this case, elven form in its dealings.

My idea is to make this into an LA +1 race, and make some xorvintaal "rules sheets" that will provide benefits, in addition to regular elven traits. HP's will be handwaved to follow normal class HD's.

I'm far from done, and on a strict schedule, but writing some paragraphs in ten minutes is a better start than nothing, right? :)

Any comments/critic/opinions/etc. are most welcome.

[Zeta Kai]

1) Your player wants to play a dragon? A true dragon that could realistically compete in the Great Game? That awesome. You wanna do it at LA+1? Yeah, that's not gonna happen. These are dragons, man. Real dragons, in a millennia-long "game" of high-stakes cat-&-mouse blink-&-you-lose skullduggery, with maneuvers & machinations that can take decades to bear fruit. It's Gambit Pileup (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GambitPileup): The Game. You just can't make that work with the equivalent power of an aasimar or a tiefling. When centaurs & ogres are more powerful than you, you already lost the Game.

2) A more interesting idea in my mind would be for you to create the actual rule for how to play Xorvintaal. They can be as complicated as you can manage, & the history of the game can stretch back thousands, perhaps even millions, or years back into the primordial ages of the past. Clauses, exceptions, & corner cases covering various victory & defeat conditions would be welcome, as well as successful tactics & famous gambits. An overview of the basic structure & economy of such a game would be beneficial, both for your game in particular & Xor-fans in general.

[Amechra]

Feh, coming up with the rules for Xorvintaal isn't THAT hard; just take Nomic, and play it for around 3 hours non-stop.

Now extrapolate that out to the centuries level.

Throw in elements of Mao (rules must be learned through observation, and it is, in fact, illegal to tell anyone the rules), and you are set.

[PetterTomBos]

1) Your player wants to play a dragon? A true dragon that could realistically compete in the Great Game? That awesome. You wanna do it at LA+1? Yeah, that's not gonna happen. These are dragons, man. Real dragons, in a millennia-long "game" of high-stakes cat-&-mouse blink-&-you-lose skullduggery, with maneuvers & machinations that can take decades to bear fruit. It's Gambit Pileup (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GambitPileup): The Game. You just can't make that work with the equivalent power of an aasimar or a tiefling. When centaurs & ogres are more powerful than you, you already lost the Game.

If the idea was to make a great wyrm dragon I would agree. A young adult is 50-100 years old only, a newb in the game. Fluffwise I think it might work.

When it comes to being in dragon form: it is allready established in the world that being in dragon form is expensive in the great game. If you do it while dealing with others stronger than you, they can, and will, attack. Which is why we don't see the dragons in day to day life, but a dragon might show up to eat a peasant or two, or take out a castle now and then.

Making xorvintaal rules will be fun ! :)

Sorry for the late answer, I'm kind of over my head in stress right now. It came out of nowhere :smalleek:

[katarl]

It's easy to make a Xorvintaal Dragon, you just slap the template on a normal dragon. The hard part is getting the DM to let you play a dragon in the first place.

[Merchant]

I thought someone had made a playable dragon race. I think it was called a Runt but runt was a translation from draconic I think. I wouild say take a look at that and let it inspire you.

It was NeoSeraphi
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=206788