Shiny, Bearer of the Pokystick
2006-11-07, 12:30 AM
Mere-dragon
Put-upon cousins twice, thrice, and thrice twice removed from their larger brethren, the mere-dragon carries his shoulder chip with genteel resignation.
Kelsrim was fairly certain Oran had nearly had enough at this point.
The blueskin had, initially, accepted the teasing and the mocking winks with a red-tinged sarcasm, but gradually- and especially after the incident in Graltham Alley- his eye, the left one, the pretty one, had started to twitch. Gradually the twitch had grown...
Oran drew the dagger back and plunged it forward in a motion as ecstatic as any lover's thrust, feeling it bury itself in the cursed lizard's flesh with a resounding Tink.
Tink?
"Too slow" Kelsrim tittered, ruffling his ridiculous wings and rattling their shield-burden like a drum. Oran cursed and he and the lizard walked on, friends once more.
The Mere-dragon is a creature caught between the lure of what it is not, and the harshness of what it is; an eventual (though, everyone says, quite far removed) descendant of the mightiest of creatures, true dragons, these creatures of swamp, fen and muck-ditch hardly inspire confidence in their abilities, perspicuity, or even sentience. Indeed, Mere-dragons were once, monstrously, hunted by unenlightened human outriders who composed a plethora of humble but tasty soup recipes on the theme of their succulent (if somewhat gamey) flesh.
Mere-dragons are in some respects not far removed from this history; though they now enjoy full benefits of civilization if any is to be found in the lands they haunt, nonetheless, they are considered at best pathetic and at worst abominable by creatures who are foolish or thoughtless enough to consider them as a group. Those who live with the Mere-dragon, however, are inclined to note that its ungainly gait nonetheless carries it along with ox-like strength, and its eyes, though hardly eagle-sharp, are capable of picking apart the follies and vagaries of other cultures with a devastating wit.
Personality: Mere-dragons tend to manifest their individuality at one of two primary extremes. On the one hand, many Mere-dragon adventurers are acerbic, possessed of a cutting knack for pastiche they seldom hesitate to put to good and constant use to cut prettier, bigger, or simply more popinjay-inclined creatures down to size. The other and equally likely path is one of timidity, unprepossessing quietude and self-deprecation, often nearly to the point of groveling- and passive agression sufficient to make a minor demon chortle with glee. In either case, it's worth noting that both sarcasm and timidity fade whensoever a true emergency arises, exposing an animalistic fatalism and an iron-hard will to survive.
Physical description:Mere-dragons resemble an unflattering crossbreed of a tiny and unattractive Dragon and an exceptionally large vulture, with perhaps a dash of some eldritch ape for flavor. Their mouths are beaklike, filled with rows of tiny needle teeth; their eyes tend to pale hues of orange, yellow and red or darker shades of black and green, and their ears flare out from the head like ribbed fins. A bobbing, searching head surmounts a long, thin neck placed on a thick, dumpy body, with powerfully muscled arms and legs and a ridged, fleshy tail. A Mere-dragon's scales tend to be muck-brown or moss-green, striped and patterned at random. A Mere-dragon also carries a tiny pair of vestigial wings with dark, batlike membranes crisscrossed with pale blue blood vessels.
Relations: Traveling companions of a Mere-dragon, of any race, often find they get along best if they pretend to be deaf at certain points in any given conversation, whether to avoid endless protestations of worthlessness or equally grating tirades. That said, Mere-dragons are capable, affable (underneath the timid or the gruff) and can be relied upon to return treatment-good or ill- in kind. Whether this benefits their companions or not depends entirely on the sort of treatment such a companion is liable to provide, and Mere-dragons are great believers in the case-by-case basis for judgments of character.
Alignment: Mere-dragons tend toward middle-of-the-road alignments, with neutral being the most common. Few of their ilk have the societal rank necessary to be much interested in goodness and order, but few, too, have the capacity for wantonness to be true paragons of slaughter. Their conceptions of philosophy are as muted, and as timeless, as the murk in which they dwell, tending to favor fatalism over rash extremism.
Mere-dragon Lands: The race of the Mere scratches out a hardscrabble nomadic existence on the border of more permanent settlements of humans or other races, preferring the marshes, lakes, and moors that give them their name.
Religion:The least dragons tend to have a 'more or less' attitude toward religion; while they don't particularly oppose it, they certainly don't endorse it with any great fervor, and those that do tend to be reticent in discussing their beliefs with anyone, fellow Mere-dragon or no.
Language:Mere-dragons speak their own dialect of Draconic, understandable but debased to those more familiar with the noble form of that tongue. Many also speak Sylvan, and all but the dullest of mind grasp Common.
Names:The race of Mere tend toward sharp, cacophonous names, particularly often beggining with K or X, such as Kelsrim or Xiniktat.
Adventurers:Mere-dragon adventurers are the product of a long mercenary tradition; for nigh on a hundred generations, the promise of gold and mayhaps acceptance by the greater races has drawn out the "swamp lizards" in droves, to the extent that a surprisingly large number of mercenary companies led or peopled by Mere-dragons exist. Thus, most adventurers of the race are fond of coin and less so of adventure for its own sake. Those who spend what their elders would likely consider too much time with those of other blood may have more noble goals in mind, but in so thinking, they rebel against, rather than conform to the standard of, their race.
Mere-dragon Racial Traits:
+2 con, +2 wis, -2 dex, -2 cha; while resilient and naturally wary, Mere-dragons are unprepossesing and fumble-fingered.
Mere-dragon base land speed is 30 feet.
Medium: As medium creatures, Mere-dragons have no special bonuses or penalties due to size.
+2 racial bonus on hide and move silently checks; Mere-dragons are furtive by dint of long practice.
Breath Weapon: 1/day, a Mere-dragon may spew forth a line of acid ten feet in length, dealing 1d6 damage to anyone caught in it both the round it is breathed and the subsequent round (reflex negates). To produce this weapon successfully, the Mere-dragon must ingest a special tincture of powdered limestone.
Marshswimmer: Mere-dragons are apt swimmers and waders, and may always take ten on swim checks, even when circumstances would usually forbid them from doing so.
Vestigial Wings: A Mere-dragon's vestigial wings function in some respects like an additional pair of arms, with the following restrictions; they can only carry items up to the size and weight of a small steel shield, they cannot attack (being poorly positioned for such activity) and any attempt to utilize the wings for a dexterity-based check involving manipulation is undertaken at a -6 penalty.
A Mere-dragon still incurs the armor check penalty and arcane spell failure chance from shields worn on their wings.
Lizardframe: Mere-dragons cannot wear ordinary armor or clothing designed for more nearly humanoid creatures, though magical armor reshapes to fit as is usual; they must have such items specially tailored to their frame (though this usually does not increase its cost).
Scent: Mere-dragons have the Scent ability (MM p.314).
Spell-like Abilities: 1/day, a Mere-dragon can use speak with animals as a spell-like ability, though they can only use it to communicate with reptilian creatures and its duration is only a single minute.
Favored class: Barbarian. A multiclass Mere-dragon's Barbarian class does not count does not when determining whether he or she takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing.
Welllll, folks, I just thought this would be funny initially but I'm thinking now that's it viable and I'm going to include it in my homebrew setting. Tell me what you think of the balance n' flavor, everybody, please!
Put-upon cousins twice, thrice, and thrice twice removed from their larger brethren, the mere-dragon carries his shoulder chip with genteel resignation.
Kelsrim was fairly certain Oran had nearly had enough at this point.
The blueskin had, initially, accepted the teasing and the mocking winks with a red-tinged sarcasm, but gradually- and especially after the incident in Graltham Alley- his eye, the left one, the pretty one, had started to twitch. Gradually the twitch had grown...
Oran drew the dagger back and plunged it forward in a motion as ecstatic as any lover's thrust, feeling it bury itself in the cursed lizard's flesh with a resounding Tink.
Tink?
"Too slow" Kelsrim tittered, ruffling his ridiculous wings and rattling their shield-burden like a drum. Oran cursed and he and the lizard walked on, friends once more.
The Mere-dragon is a creature caught between the lure of what it is not, and the harshness of what it is; an eventual (though, everyone says, quite far removed) descendant of the mightiest of creatures, true dragons, these creatures of swamp, fen and muck-ditch hardly inspire confidence in their abilities, perspicuity, or even sentience. Indeed, Mere-dragons were once, monstrously, hunted by unenlightened human outriders who composed a plethora of humble but tasty soup recipes on the theme of their succulent (if somewhat gamey) flesh.
Mere-dragons are in some respects not far removed from this history; though they now enjoy full benefits of civilization if any is to be found in the lands they haunt, nonetheless, they are considered at best pathetic and at worst abominable by creatures who are foolish or thoughtless enough to consider them as a group. Those who live with the Mere-dragon, however, are inclined to note that its ungainly gait nonetheless carries it along with ox-like strength, and its eyes, though hardly eagle-sharp, are capable of picking apart the follies and vagaries of other cultures with a devastating wit.
Personality: Mere-dragons tend to manifest their individuality at one of two primary extremes. On the one hand, many Mere-dragon adventurers are acerbic, possessed of a cutting knack for pastiche they seldom hesitate to put to good and constant use to cut prettier, bigger, or simply more popinjay-inclined creatures down to size. The other and equally likely path is one of timidity, unprepossessing quietude and self-deprecation, often nearly to the point of groveling- and passive agression sufficient to make a minor demon chortle with glee. In either case, it's worth noting that both sarcasm and timidity fade whensoever a true emergency arises, exposing an animalistic fatalism and an iron-hard will to survive.
Physical description:Mere-dragons resemble an unflattering crossbreed of a tiny and unattractive Dragon and an exceptionally large vulture, with perhaps a dash of some eldritch ape for flavor. Their mouths are beaklike, filled with rows of tiny needle teeth; their eyes tend to pale hues of orange, yellow and red or darker shades of black and green, and their ears flare out from the head like ribbed fins. A bobbing, searching head surmounts a long, thin neck placed on a thick, dumpy body, with powerfully muscled arms and legs and a ridged, fleshy tail. A Mere-dragon's scales tend to be muck-brown or moss-green, striped and patterned at random. A Mere-dragon also carries a tiny pair of vestigial wings with dark, batlike membranes crisscrossed with pale blue blood vessels.
Relations: Traveling companions of a Mere-dragon, of any race, often find they get along best if they pretend to be deaf at certain points in any given conversation, whether to avoid endless protestations of worthlessness or equally grating tirades. That said, Mere-dragons are capable, affable (underneath the timid or the gruff) and can be relied upon to return treatment-good or ill- in kind. Whether this benefits their companions or not depends entirely on the sort of treatment such a companion is liable to provide, and Mere-dragons are great believers in the case-by-case basis for judgments of character.
Alignment: Mere-dragons tend toward middle-of-the-road alignments, with neutral being the most common. Few of their ilk have the societal rank necessary to be much interested in goodness and order, but few, too, have the capacity for wantonness to be true paragons of slaughter. Their conceptions of philosophy are as muted, and as timeless, as the murk in which they dwell, tending to favor fatalism over rash extremism.
Mere-dragon Lands: The race of the Mere scratches out a hardscrabble nomadic existence on the border of more permanent settlements of humans or other races, preferring the marshes, lakes, and moors that give them their name.
Religion:The least dragons tend to have a 'more or less' attitude toward religion; while they don't particularly oppose it, they certainly don't endorse it with any great fervor, and those that do tend to be reticent in discussing their beliefs with anyone, fellow Mere-dragon or no.
Language:Mere-dragons speak their own dialect of Draconic, understandable but debased to those more familiar with the noble form of that tongue. Many also speak Sylvan, and all but the dullest of mind grasp Common.
Names:The race of Mere tend toward sharp, cacophonous names, particularly often beggining with K or X, such as Kelsrim or Xiniktat.
Adventurers:Mere-dragon adventurers are the product of a long mercenary tradition; for nigh on a hundred generations, the promise of gold and mayhaps acceptance by the greater races has drawn out the "swamp lizards" in droves, to the extent that a surprisingly large number of mercenary companies led or peopled by Mere-dragons exist. Thus, most adventurers of the race are fond of coin and less so of adventure for its own sake. Those who spend what their elders would likely consider too much time with those of other blood may have more noble goals in mind, but in so thinking, they rebel against, rather than conform to the standard of, their race.
Mere-dragon Racial Traits:
+2 con, +2 wis, -2 dex, -2 cha; while resilient and naturally wary, Mere-dragons are unprepossesing and fumble-fingered.
Mere-dragon base land speed is 30 feet.
Medium: As medium creatures, Mere-dragons have no special bonuses or penalties due to size.
+2 racial bonus on hide and move silently checks; Mere-dragons are furtive by dint of long practice.
Breath Weapon: 1/day, a Mere-dragon may spew forth a line of acid ten feet in length, dealing 1d6 damage to anyone caught in it both the round it is breathed and the subsequent round (reflex negates). To produce this weapon successfully, the Mere-dragon must ingest a special tincture of powdered limestone.
Marshswimmer: Mere-dragons are apt swimmers and waders, and may always take ten on swim checks, even when circumstances would usually forbid them from doing so.
Vestigial Wings: A Mere-dragon's vestigial wings function in some respects like an additional pair of arms, with the following restrictions; they can only carry items up to the size and weight of a small steel shield, they cannot attack (being poorly positioned for such activity) and any attempt to utilize the wings for a dexterity-based check involving manipulation is undertaken at a -6 penalty.
A Mere-dragon still incurs the armor check penalty and arcane spell failure chance from shields worn on their wings.
Lizardframe: Mere-dragons cannot wear ordinary armor or clothing designed for more nearly humanoid creatures, though magical armor reshapes to fit as is usual; they must have such items specially tailored to their frame (though this usually does not increase its cost).
Scent: Mere-dragons have the Scent ability (MM p.314).
Spell-like Abilities: 1/day, a Mere-dragon can use speak with animals as a spell-like ability, though they can only use it to communicate with reptilian creatures and its duration is only a single minute.
Favored class: Barbarian. A multiclass Mere-dragon's Barbarian class does not count does not when determining whether he or she takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing.
Welllll, folks, I just thought this would be funny initially but I'm thinking now that's it viable and I'm going to include it in my homebrew setting. Tell me what you think of the balance n' flavor, everybody, please!