90sMusic
2016-07-05, 02:54 PM
In the campaign i'm running, blood magic is a thing and it is naturally very evil and dark, requiring sacrifices to fuel it's power. It is the only way to do a variety of really powerful things, including resurrection.
I have an ancient green dragon that used this blood magic to resurrect her only offspring after his death, being lawful evil, she had no problem at all sacrificing the lives of others but she also had to sacrifice something very important to her to make it work, in her case it took away her immortality (agelessness). She loved her offspring and gladly sacrificed of herself to bring him back and she doesn't regret doing it, however she has been steadily growing weaker as age is gradually catching up to her. As best as the party can determine, she has maybe a year or two before she expires now. She has thus been scrambling to think of a way to recover this lost immortality and has decided that if she can sacrifice other dragons, she can absorb their essence and recover what she lost.
I'm thinking that as part of this process, she will also change somewhat to incorporate aspects of these other dragons into herself including changing her scale coloration slightly, gaining their breath attacks, and just a general increase to her attributes as well. She is going to get the adventurers to go slay another dragon and bring back as much of it's blood as they can and assuming they do it and are successful, she's going to have her full strength and immortality restored and gain the strengths of that dragon she consumed. I think as part of a new arc that could spring from this, is she wants more. The arrogance of dragons always believing they are better than anything else and perfect the way they are prevented them from ever trying to merge with the essence of the other kinds, but desperation drove her to do so in order to survive. But now that she has a taste for it and has seen the increase in her power, now she wants it all and seeks to combine with all types to gain all of their powers.
I'm just looking for any thoughts or ideas on a good way to go about this combining. Currently i'm going to make her scale coloration change to incorporate the color of the new dragon she has absorbed so each time it becomes a bit different, i think after combining with all of them she will eventually be somewhere between grey and brown, I was going to have her actual body change somewhat as she could grow horns and they might change shape a bit as more combine, growing and changing the various frills, etc. Her stats would increase with each one, adding a bit to all of her attributes except dexterity. She would gain the immunity and breath weapon(s) of the dragon she absorbed. Etc.
She is currently not a villain, though the players are aware of her and realize she is "evil", they don't really see a harm in her existence and i'm guessing that she will be able to persuade them to aide her initially at least. I was thinking that with this combining of the chromatics, perhaps it would change per personality as well and make her start shifting towards chaotic evil rather than lawful and as a result change her into an antagonist. And if she manages to absorb a lot of them, she could end up being the ultimate BBEG because she will become outrageously powerful.
She would essentially be going from a mostly benign forest dwelling dragon to power-hungry chaotic evil monstrosity. Also toying with the idea of having one of the methods in which to "defeat" her would involve tricking her into consuming metallic dragons and thus having her alignment shifting towards good. Eventually she would sort of level out as a neutral entity. She may not regret anything she had done, but wouldn't be trying to take over the world anymore at least. This also puts the players in a position to really question their morality: Do you willingly sacrifice these good dragons and allow them to be consumed in an effort to stop this very powerful entity from rampaging or do you try to just fight it instead? Epic boss battle vs epic questline.
At any rate, all of this stuff is just a tiny sidequest in the grand scheme of things, but depending on how things go, that dragon might eventually shift to a primary antagonist. Just wanted some input. Surely other people have thought to combine them before and might have something to add.
Also just like to note 5 evil dragons, 2 lawful, 3 chaotic, combined with 5 good dragons, 3 lawful, 2 chaotic, would result in a perfect true neutral alignment after all was said and done.
I have an ancient green dragon that used this blood magic to resurrect her only offspring after his death, being lawful evil, she had no problem at all sacrificing the lives of others but she also had to sacrifice something very important to her to make it work, in her case it took away her immortality (agelessness). She loved her offspring and gladly sacrificed of herself to bring him back and she doesn't regret doing it, however she has been steadily growing weaker as age is gradually catching up to her. As best as the party can determine, she has maybe a year or two before she expires now. She has thus been scrambling to think of a way to recover this lost immortality and has decided that if she can sacrifice other dragons, she can absorb their essence and recover what she lost.
I'm thinking that as part of this process, she will also change somewhat to incorporate aspects of these other dragons into herself including changing her scale coloration slightly, gaining their breath attacks, and just a general increase to her attributes as well. She is going to get the adventurers to go slay another dragon and bring back as much of it's blood as they can and assuming they do it and are successful, she's going to have her full strength and immortality restored and gain the strengths of that dragon she consumed. I think as part of a new arc that could spring from this, is she wants more. The arrogance of dragons always believing they are better than anything else and perfect the way they are prevented them from ever trying to merge with the essence of the other kinds, but desperation drove her to do so in order to survive. But now that she has a taste for it and has seen the increase in her power, now she wants it all and seeks to combine with all types to gain all of their powers.
I'm just looking for any thoughts or ideas on a good way to go about this combining. Currently i'm going to make her scale coloration change to incorporate the color of the new dragon she has absorbed so each time it becomes a bit different, i think after combining with all of them she will eventually be somewhere between grey and brown, I was going to have her actual body change somewhat as she could grow horns and they might change shape a bit as more combine, growing and changing the various frills, etc. Her stats would increase with each one, adding a bit to all of her attributes except dexterity. She would gain the immunity and breath weapon(s) of the dragon she absorbed. Etc.
She is currently not a villain, though the players are aware of her and realize she is "evil", they don't really see a harm in her existence and i'm guessing that she will be able to persuade them to aide her initially at least. I was thinking that with this combining of the chromatics, perhaps it would change per personality as well and make her start shifting towards chaotic evil rather than lawful and as a result change her into an antagonist. And if she manages to absorb a lot of them, she could end up being the ultimate BBEG because she will become outrageously powerful.
She would essentially be going from a mostly benign forest dwelling dragon to power-hungry chaotic evil monstrosity. Also toying with the idea of having one of the methods in which to "defeat" her would involve tricking her into consuming metallic dragons and thus having her alignment shifting towards good. Eventually she would sort of level out as a neutral entity. She may not regret anything she had done, but wouldn't be trying to take over the world anymore at least. This also puts the players in a position to really question their morality: Do you willingly sacrifice these good dragons and allow them to be consumed in an effort to stop this very powerful entity from rampaging or do you try to just fight it instead? Epic boss battle vs epic questline.
At any rate, all of this stuff is just a tiny sidequest in the grand scheme of things, but depending on how things go, that dragon might eventually shift to a primary antagonist. Just wanted some input. Surely other people have thought to combine them before and might have something to add.
Also just like to note 5 evil dragons, 2 lawful, 3 chaotic, combined with 5 good dragons, 3 lawful, 2 chaotic, would result in a perfect true neutral alignment after all was said and done.