Dreamscarred Press Announces: Psionic Dragons Beta

[Lord_Gareth]

As their designer, I am excited and terrified to announce the official playtest release of Dreamscarred Press's psionic dragons (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iNMRG4W70xmTc-P03mh1K9tEOtU_cTeDqvxDy2g6Yn4/edit?usp=sharing)! Any and all feedback is appreciated.

EDIT - You may now find the live-updating document for the sample dragons here (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VowdMEEgL4VCgj8htHNSEJHMelanMigS38zguXJNeiU/edit?usp=sharing).

For those of you who have been following this particular project since before I became part of it, here's the breakdown:

The Lorican dragon possesses an affinity for the Astral plane and channels the powers of the Aegis class.

The Cypher dragon contemplates the deep mysteries of the border planes; its powers resemble the Cryptic class.

The fearsome Scourge dragon is an apex predator of terror; it preys only on those that are feared and dreaded. Its shadowy powers resemble the Dread.

Imagos dragons hail from the deep, alien reaches of the Ethereal plane, far removed from anything even remotely resembling morality. Their power from, and over, dreams gives them manifesting similar to the Wilder.

The bubbly, enthusiastic Keris dragons are born in the Positive Energy plane as living fonts of psionically-charged energy. They channel that energy like a Kineticist, crushing their enemies beneath their glory and majesty.

And finally, the base, animalistic Ksarite dragons are a scourge on civilization. Lacking in true thought, they cut swathes of devastation through civilized lands in their neverending quest for food and metal to hoard in their scrapheap lairs.

Thank you for your time and feedback!

- Jade Ripley
Freelancer, Dreamscarred Press

[NineThePuma]

Ksarite's are best dragons. Like Tarrasque but not a chump.

[137beth]

Wait, you are Prince_of_Knives? I hadn't realized:redface:

I'll have more time to go through this later, but the first thing I notice is that you are a bit inconsistent in the dragon type's name. For example, under Lorican

Aegis dragons manifest as psychic warriors of the level indicated on the table below.
Should that be "Lorican dragons"?
Also, a table for Ksarite dragons appears to be missing, although they don't manifest so maybe that was intentional.

Most importantly, why no vitalist dragon?

[Lord_Gareth]

The thing you caught on Lorican has been fixed, thanks muchly for the catch.

Ksarite Dragon doesn't have a table because it's not a True Dragon; it does not advance by age categories, have true manifestation, increase its statistics based on age, etc, so forth. It instead has a normal stat block like most creatures, though it is possessed of many traits that are similar to true dragons (such as a breath weapon, 120-foot blindsight, etc, so forth).

EDIT - Just caught the Vitalist thing. These dragons are the initial ones for this bestiary; more may be coming in the future. That in mind, I'm having difficulty imagining a 'vitalist' dragon. Dragons are powerfully solitary creatures. Their need for 'me' time is immense.

[137beth]

The thing you caught on Lorican has been fixed, thanks muchly for the catch.

Ksarite Dragon doesn't have a table because it's not a True Dragon; it does not advance by age categories, have true manifestation, increase its statistics based on age, etc, so forth. It instead has a normal stat block like most creatures, though it is possessed of many traits that are similar to true dragons (such as a breath weapon, 120-foot blindsight, etc, so forth).


Got it.


EDIT - Just caught the Vitalist thing. These dragons are the initial ones for this bestiary; more may be coming in the future. That in mind, I'm having difficulty imagining a 'vitalist' dragon. Dragons are powerfully solitary creatures. Their need for 'me' time is immense.
That was one of the reasons I asked, I was trying to imagine what a vitalist dragon would entail.

[Eldest]

I like the dragons, though I actually posted because I imagined a vitalist dragon as a force of the wild, I guess, adding whatever's nearby to it's collective against their will and then controlling them through it. A tactician dragon might actually be similar, except it slumbers for most of a decade before awakening for a war. (it's really early morning, hope this makes sense)

[Prime32]

That in mind, I'm having difficulty imagining a 'vitalist' dragon. Dragons are powerfully solitary creatures. Their need for 'me' time is immense.Hivemind of tiny dragons clumped together into a big one?

[Lord_Gareth]

The following has been added to Ksarite Dragons of all stripes:


Body of Will (Su) A ksarite dragon's body is at least partially composed of psionic energy, which helps to shield its bestial mind. If the ksarite dragon would be dealt Intelligence damage, it is instead dealt an equal amount of Constitution damage.

[deuxhero]

This doesn't apply to penalties or drain as it currently is.

[Lord_Gareth]

This doesn't apply to penalties or drain as it currently is.

This has been (belatedly) fixed.

[Renen]

DSP are gods! All hail DSP

[Lord_Gareth]

Alright folks, we're getting some sample dragons prepared! Each true dragon presented here will have a sample stat block at 3 ages - Young, Adult, and Ancient - to give an idea of what an 'average' dragon of its type is like. There's no need for you to obey these stat blocks! They're there for convenience, inspiration, and, if we're being honest, because that's the format Paizo used and we wanna stick with the familiar method of presenting something as classic and iconic as true dragons.

You can find the document here (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VowdMEEgL4VCgj8htHNSEJHMelanMigS38zguXJNeiU/edit?usp=sharing); I'll also edit the link into the opening post. Right now, only Lorican Dragon is up and ready to go. I deeply appreciate any and all feedback given, but especially going over my numbers to make sure I didn't mess up one of the moving parts. Thank you very much, and I hope you enjoy!

[Lord_Gareth]

And sample Cypher dragons have been added! The format has also been edited to be bestiary-compliant (which means no explanations of the special abilities, I'm sad to say - you'll have to reference back to the core document).