Favorite Dragon? [Archive] - Giant in the Playground Forums

Kyberwulf

2012-06-30, 05:07 AM

Hello everyone, I am curious. Curious as to what type of Dragon is your favorite? Include Type, and Age catagory. Please limit yourself to one dragon of your choice. Please include a brief history ( a Paragraph or two) for the Dragon if you have a specific one in mind. Please limit yourself to D&D dragons.

For example, I am partial to Mature adult Blue Dragons. If, for no other reason, they are neither the most powerful Dragon or the weakest. They provide decent challenges for most groups.

candycorn

2012-06-30, 05:15 AM

I am fond of Ancient Blue dragons. Most of their better SLA's exist, and they have the power level needed to terrify a player. They get epic feats, which can result in some powerful casting abilities, and have some brutal options for their breath weapon. Voice Mimicry has a high DC, allowing for subterfuge, and they have good base casting abilities.

A well designed blue at this level can seriously threaten an equal CR party.

Arcanist

2012-06-30, 05:29 AM

I'm personally a fan to Great Wyrm Gold Dragons. If you fill there Gizzards with stones and gut them out then you are one step closer to godhood :smallwink:

They are a respectable and honorable breed. They are like Paladins, I personally find the Paladin class to be a little... Misguided however, I still respect the class none the less. Mechanically? I like Alternate Form and the Irony of them having the Fire subtype and still possessing the ability to breath under water. I've always wanted to play a game where I can play a Tainted Gold Dragon [Dragon Ascendant] That aims to surpass Bahamut so he can bring order to all of Dragonkind. Just seems like it would be an interesting character :smalltongue:

kharmakazy

2012-06-30, 06:27 AM

Double. Alternatively, kobolds.

LadyLexi

2012-06-30, 09:47 AM

Waker

2012-06-30, 09:55 AM

Non-Epic Dragon, would be the Silver Dragon. Don't really have a particular age category that I like.
Epic Dragon, that would be the Time Dragon.

ShadowFireLance

2012-06-30, 09:56 AM

Of course, what else but the Styx dragon?

Masters of the sea, Immune to the river Styx, whats not to love?

Annos

2012-06-30, 10:02 AM

Great Wyrm Drocolich Shadow Dragons.:smallbiggrin:

Annos

2012-06-30, 10:06 AM

Ianuagonde

2012-06-30, 10:09 AM

Black Dragons, because of water breathing. A lair with an underwater entrance (or an entire underwater lair!) is much more difficult to breach. Just imagine the would-be hoard thieves without ranged weapons, without spells with verbal components, without a speed worth mentioning, and one Dispel Magic away from panic.

Also: grapple + dive underwater. Such fun!

Bard for Kicks

2012-06-30, 10:24 AM

Copper Dragons. (any age category, really)

They don't have the LG attitude since they are CG and they love telling jokes. :smallbiggrin: Usually, PCs won't have much conflict with them since Copper dragons are genial and would rather play a prank than legitimately harm someone. They also have to put up with Red dragons pissing them off but they can take the heat.

Tvtyrant

2012-06-30, 12:49 PM

I like the Ancient Incarnum Dragon myself. I use its feats to open up more chakras, and bind the Mage' Spectacles so the dragon has a high UMD score and can use magic items.

Zaydos

2012-06-30, 12:56 PM

Out of all the dragons I have seen... Bronze. Probably young adult or there about, old enough to feel really draconic but young enough to be usable in most games.

Why bronze? They interact with humans from behind a veil of secrecy in the form of soldiers and animals. They have a sense of honor and duty towards what is good, taking part in mortal wars which makes them truer to Lawful Good than silver dragons who just intervene to protect their special pets (which is really neutral) and gold dragons who have so much power but do nothing. Also I just love the concept of a bronze paladin of Bahamut (one of my avatars is just that). Lastly at-will speak with animals.

Ranting Fool

2012-06-30, 12:59 PM

For some reason I always end up going back to throwing Young-Adult Green Dragons at my Players.

They like forrests which for some reason my players always like to wonder through.

And I like the Lawful Evil part because they don't always have to be running around killing things :smallbiggrin: Instead they tend to just blackmail towns into giving them tribute.

Alleran

2012-06-30, 01:04 PM

Gold dragon. As a matter of fact, all the gold dragons that have ever appeared in a campaign I ran always had a habit of stroking their beard-tendrils, or beard if they happened to be in human form. The younger ones did it with very dramatic gestures (think Sokka-as-Wang-Fire in The Last Airbender...), while the older ones were frequently just pondering things that happened to occur to them at that moment.

Keneth

2012-06-30, 01:11 PM

Sunwyrm (http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee8/eric_dono/Dungeons%20and%20Dragons/sunwyrm.jpg) — because he's a pretty cool guy and doesn't afraid of anything.

I also like Bronze dragons, mostly because Lockwood made them look awesome (like everything else he draws/paints).

Dragons are like gods in our campaigns; Very rarely seen and beyond anything the PCs could touch, even for epic characters. Therefore their stats are irrelevant, my criteria for judging dragons are "hey, that pic looks sweet".

CTrees

2012-06-30, 01:37 PM

Pyroclastic, to be honest. There's just something about disintigration breath.

I'd like the prismatic dragon more if it were LESS powerful. Just, it's epic, the weapon is nasty, etc. I've thought about mocking up a non-epic rainbow dragon, with a breathe weapon starting at Color Spray and working it's way up to Prismatic Spray, but... time requirements, other projects, etc.

Also I tend to like the lesser dragons a lot. There's justification for playing them as big scary brutes, with all the dragon flavor. I have a problem not playing enemies according to their intelligence and abilities, and the true dragons can be really nasty enemies, as written. Most of the lessers, not so much.

Gavinfoxx

2012-06-30, 01:39 PM

Shadow, Tome, and Steel.

Also, half-dragon dragons...

Metahuman1

2012-06-30, 01:43 PM

I just flat like Metallic or other good aligned dragons in general and on principle, I like different ones for different things. =)

dantiesilva

2012-06-30, 01:44 PM

Tarterian Dragon. Come on it can make you be imprisoned and put you in a labyrinth and guards the plane that is a big prison. What is not to love.

Marnath

2012-06-30, 01:54 PM

Brown Dragons. They're the only flightless true dragon as far as I know, and the art is really cool. Plus they get tremorsense out to 500 feet, which is just ridiculous. Sometime I'd like to play a "friendly" brown that's only true neutral instead of neutral evil.

Invader

2012-06-30, 05:00 PM

I always like copper dragons specifically Galadaeros the "Sunset Flame" from Wyrms of the North. There are actually quite a few specific dragon personalities I like from that series of articles but in general it would go

1. Copper because of their personalities
2. Bronze because of their relationship with the races
3. Silver because of their power and because they're not gold dragons
4. All other metallic dragons
5. All Chromatic Dragons

Really they can be any age for me if its not one of the specific ones on WotN.

Gavinfoxx

2012-06-30, 05:06 PM

Steel, Brass, Mercury, and Song. The talkers, jokesters, socialites. The social dragons!

Prime32

2012-06-30, 05:38 PM

Purple dragons are up there. They can turn their breath into a lightsaber - how can you not love that?

Mithril Leaf

2012-06-30, 07:45 PM

To kill? Great Wyrm Prismatic, highest CR'd monster in the book, no epic spellcasting or poison resistance by default. The source of many a theoretical fortune in my games.

To associate with? Copper or Steel. Copper is a fun trickster and Steel hangs out in town and talks to people while running a bookshop.

Thurbane

2012-06-30, 09:48 PM

I've always had a bit of a thing for Black Dragon (any age category). Probably because I love swamp-based adventures.

For non-core, the Fang Dragon is a favourite (again, any age category), simply for being bad-ass without having a breath weapon.

Honest Tiefling

2012-06-30, 10:21 PM

Faerie dragons, because I think it would be nifty to either play as one, or to have one as a familiar or cohort. I think I have some desire to kill things while spitting euphoria at people and having fantastic butterfly wings.

Scarlet-Devil

2012-07-01, 12:15 AM

I love Styx dragons, from their three round acid breath weapon, to their twin tail blades, cool abilities, living in the river Styx, etc.

I'm also a big fan of Bronze dragons, partly because of their appearance, partly because they live in the ocean. I like their breath weapons too, and their personalities (taking the form of old beach bums to test the virtue of humanoids and rewarding the ones who show good character).

White_Drake

2012-07-01, 12:53 AM

Pseudodragons all the way. I like telepathy, adaptive camouflage, and all the other great stuff they get. Also, they're fantastic familiars. The best thing about pseudodragons though, is their personalities (I like cats).

Alleran

2012-07-01, 02:35 AM

I always like copper dragons specifically Galadaeros the "Sunset Flame" from Wyrms of the North.
I found the Mercury Dragon (the one who's fond of going to parties, playing pranks on all the guests, and then leaving) in there to be amusing as well. Unless that one was in Dragons of Faerun, I can't quite recall.

ravenkid

2012-07-01, 04:28 AM

Preface: There are no Psionic Characters, the only Psionic Powers exist on Monsters with innate psionic powers such an Yuan-ti.... Having said that

Fav Dragons are the Gem stone Psionic Dragons, often with levels in some Psi class or another for fun easy player frustration.

For Total Party Wipe Dragons: Black dragons, come on Rot of Ages is just horribly wrong, and what self respecting black dragon is not just going to Control water the entire party to death.....:smallbiggrin:

Grail

2012-07-01, 08:20 AM

When I run games, I don't prescribe to Chromatic Dragons being Evil and Metallic being good. Dragons are dragons, and regardless of their colour they are able to be pernicious, capricious and cruel, or they can be kind, altruistic and noble.

I hate it that when players are the equivalent of babes just out of nappies (game wise) that they know all the ins and outs of Dragons.

Where's that Sense Motive skill when you need it. :D

However, for my favourite. It's got to be Black or Red dragons.

Why?

Ancalagon the Black and Smaug!

Zsaber0

2012-07-01, 10:22 AM

Song dragons can be a fun bunch to go partying with, and I'm quite partial to the Storm Drake.

That_guy_there

2012-07-01, 12:21 PM

I really like Rust dragons, they're so cuddly and friendly. Plus they rust all the things which makes them great to have as a pet. Destroying non-ferrous metals doesn't make much sense but they destroy all the gold as easily as iron.

Like a rust monster that has a breath weapon.

HAHAHA, I learned to love Rust Dragons while running an Epic level dragonslayer campaign!

The short version is: the PCs (as the only epic level characters in a world overrun by non-good dragons, they were tasked with killing the living "Dragon-God") had fought their way to a small group of dwarves that had taken refuge in an adamantine vault that just happened to be besieged by a mixed group of dragons when the PCs arrived.
This was the first time the group was using the Dragonnomicon (the PCs all had levels in Dragonslayer from it) so many of the Dragons in the monster part had never been encountered before. The Stone Giant (yup) PC got the idea to empty the vault and toss it at the biggest baddest dragon in the asault.
So he calculated the heaviest load he could toss using his Two hand throw trick from the Hulking Hurler PrC was enough to toss the 6,000 pound vault. The entire time this PC was calculating if he could toss the vault the entire group of PCs were litterally salavating at how much Gold that vault was worth. So the Giant calculates that it will be almost 70d6 of damage, and tosses the vault and hits, and criticals.

And here's where I became the meanest DM I've ever encountered... I tell him not to roll damage. Instead the dragon takes just the Giant's Strength damage from the impact as the entire vault (all GP worth) rusts away into dust immediately upon contact with the dragon's Rusting Scales.
I almost made a group of grown men cry. And they still bring up how I robbed them of rolling 140d6s.

:smallbiggrin:

Duncan_Ruadrik

2012-07-01, 12:33 PM

Pseudodragon. They be kinda cute. And not terribly threatening.

Amidus Drexel

2012-07-01, 01:02 PM

HAHAHA,
And here's where I became the meanest DM I've ever encountered... I tell him not to roll damage. Instead the dragon takes just the Giant's Strength damage from the impact as the entire vault (all GP worth) rusts away into dust immediately upon contact with the dragon's Rusting Scales.
I almost made a group of grown men cry. And they still bring up how I robbed them of rolling 140d6s.

:smallbiggrin:

XD Hilarious!

I happen to like chaos dragons, just because the players can't count on resistance to any one energy type.

Kuulvheysoon

2012-07-01, 08:04 PM

I'm partial to Chiang Lung Dragons.

I mean, Major Creation as an SLA by old age, as well as a Control Water with an area of a mile radius per age category? Yes please!

DeusMortuusEst

2012-07-02, 01:58 AM

Silver dragons, because when they are young I picture them playing in the skies and sleeping on clouds, and when they are old... Well, I still see them sleeping on clouds, but more majestic this time.

DigoDragon

2012-07-02, 07:14 AM

I'm going to go with the classic adult red dragon. Two in particular because they really were the driving force behind the campains they featured in:

Astraxia - a young adult red who loved collecting mechanical devices like steam engines and primative batteries. She managed to build a cult following and use them to try and secure an ancient technological weapon left behind by a lost civilization.
After being barely defeated by the PCs, she turned her attention to twarting another BBEG which confused the heck out of the PCs because they couldn't tell if this was going to make their lives easier or harder. Astraxia just had this knack of making a good plan that you couldn't figure out all the parts at any one time.

Miss M - An older adult red dragon who featured in a Shadowrun campaign. She always disguised herself as an elf in public and the PCs were quite fond of her as a Johnson (She was always up front about the dangers of the mission).
Her jobs usually involved data steals and at first seemed unrelated. Late in the campaign the PCs figured out that there was a pattern to the data caches. Miss M had pieced together the documents and learned that Ares Space did have evidence of an alien presence on Earth. After being paid handsomely for the last mission, Miss M disappeared into the shadows and the PCs were left watching the news feeds for any clues on what she was gonig to do with that data...

Zale

2012-07-02, 08:04 AM

I second the Half-Dragon Dragons.

hoverfrog

2012-07-02, 08:38 AM

A prefer the classic white dragon, stupid, barbaric, barely capable of speech and utterly without mercy. You don't want to meet one swooping out of a blizzard at you as you cross the icy gorge of death.

hewhosaysfish

2012-07-02, 09:10 AM

I like the Ancient Incarnum Dragon myself. I use its feats to open up more chakras, and bind the Mage' Spectacles so the dragon has a high UMD score and can use magic items.

Well, I was going to say "Red Dragons" but after reading your post I have been converted. Dragons with spectacles, all the way.

Cyan Wisp

2012-07-04, 06:06 AM

Too many to choose from! Blacks for terror, Reds for raw power, pseudodragons for their handbag dog charisma.

But the winner is...

Mature Greens. Selfish, greedy, petty and conniving. Or is that all dragons?

I love the idea of a sly, smirking, narcissistic dragon that uses threats, lies and bullying tactics to get what it wants. To me, that is a green dragon. The MM disagrees with me (says they attack without provocation) but you get that sometimes.

Got to love Tiamat too!

Malacode

2012-07-04, 09:08 AM

Purple Dragons for their lightsaber breath, Black Dragons because played right they're the biggest threat of all the core dragons and pretty much any planar dragon because of the art. For actual in-game moments, Great Wyrm Shadow Dragons with the Wight template for the memories*, and Gold Dragons for the same reason.

*The memories are largely because I had one of these as a mount at level 12 because the GM really didn't think that it would be "That OP, considering". The proof that it was "That OP, considering" was when he became fed up with me (Undead Dread Necromancer) and the Vampire Antipaladin just ending CR 20 challenges in a turn thanks to the undead-bolstering Aura of my dragon, and sent two advanced Great Wyrm Gold Dragons at us when the Wyrm was off scouting. Thirty seconds later and the Vampire and I were playing scissors-paper-rock for the rights to animate their corpses.

Larkas

2012-07-04, 01:33 PM

On lesser dragons, I'd have to go with Hellfire Wyrm (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/mm2_gallery/88268_620_69.jpg). It is by far the meanest and most badass-looking of the lesser dragons, and has a slew of SLAs that are sure to keep a group of adventurers on their toes.

Now, on true dragons I'd have to go with both Silver and Yellow. Silver because of everything everyone already said about it, Yellow because it is the only true dragon with a ****load of Dexterity. It is just funny to see a "dinosaur" (that looks more like a snake) that is nimbler than anything the players ever saw!