So how would one go about allowing the players to obtain a pet dragon?

[ChampionWiggles]

In a future campaign, I want to play with the idea of having the players come across a dragon egg (most likely chromatic) and allow the option to nurture and hatch it to try and have a "pet" dragon. I was just curious if anyone has done this in previous games, as well as if there's established lore on things pertaining to this. The MM doesn't really go into details to answer questions of "How long does a dragon egg take to hatch? Is a wyrmling immediately medium size when it hatches? Would that make the egg medium sized and cumbersome to carry? Does the wyrmling hatch inherently knowing Draconic or would it learn that from being around parents?"

[Unoriginal]

Dragons are generally considered to hatch with their full mental capacities or near, and knowing draconic. Though 5e doesn't talk about it, so it's not "canon" per se.

Dragons aren't pet, they're people. And in the case of the chromatic ones, pretty awful people. But all of them have great pride, and would not take kindly any attempt to enslave them. Trying to keep one as a pet would last until you give the wyrmling one occasion to escape, and they'll come back once they're stronger to destroy you.

[ShadowSandbag]

I would start out using pseudodragon stats for the newborn, but not sure how else to go about it.

[Lombra]

I'd say that the egg is medium sized and the dragon hatches already with the stats of a wyrmling, with some work I'd allow players to tame its chaotic nature, but not in the early levels, and it would take large amounts of downtime. It's a nice concept and it's not inherently breaking anything if you plan the campaign accordingly.

Edit: the egg hatches when you as a DM deem appropriate, no need to be specific about it.

You may also take inspiration from the film "Dragons" which may help you figure out how to handle the taming thing and the social aspect of it, depending on your setting obviously.

[Tanarii]

PCs won't have a pet dragon in 5e unless you change something, because dragons aren't animals relative to humans or demi-humans. You can't even enslave a chromatic dragon, because they can't be humbled.

They might have an adopted dragon child if you raise it. They might have a dragon friend.

But most likely is a Dragon will have pet PCs.

[ChampionWiggles]

I'd say that the egg is medium sized and the dragon hatches already with the stats of a wyrmling, with some work I'd allow players to tame its chaotic nature, but not in the early levels, and it would take large amounts of downtime. It's a nice concept and it's not inherently breaking anything if you plan the campaign accordingly.

Edit: the egg hatches when you as a DM deem appropriate, no need to be specific about it.

You may also take inspiration from the film "Dragons" which may help you figure out how to handle the taming thing and the social aspect of it, depending on your setting obviously.

That was kind of my thought, was that the players could try and "tame" the dragon and temper its chaotic nature through various skill checks over time. The MM states right away that alignment on monsters can be changed and the given alignment is simply the default. It even gives a good aligned green dragon as an example. So my thought was that the wyrmling's alignment could end up being what its caretakers try to imprint on it, along with what it observes and compare that to its natural alignment. Would make for some good role play.

The amount of work I was thinking of having players go through for this payoff would be immense. There's the ordeal of obtaining the egg, making a knowledge check or finding the info on how to nurture the egg in order for it to hatch, then almost constantly nurturing/protecting the egg until hatching, the bias and paranoia that would come from NPCs after seeing a chromatic dragon "pet", numerous animal handling/persuasion checks to keep the thing in line or to "tame" it, protecting it from danger, keeping it happy by giving it treasure, but more importantly the looming danger from other dragons. All dragons are extremely proud and even metallic dragons would not react kindly to finding a group of adventurers keeping one as a "pet", even if it was one of their chromatic, evil kin. Any chromatic dragon would straight up try to kill the party for their audacity and then the wyrmling for allowing itself to become a pet, I would think

[Temperjoke]

I can understand the sentiment, but I don't think it's a good idea, since dragon's can't really be made into actual pets. You might want to consider would be something like a Pseudodragon (MM pg 254). It's draconic in appearance and less intelligent than dragons, as well as having fewer complications typically.

[Richard369]

In my campaign the players have enlisted the help of several dragons. One they rescued from the Abyss as a side mission that was during the course of their actual mission. Another they managed to find a bronze dragon egg in an Illithid hoard and then wound up coming across some strange temporal magic and were able to hatch it, inside of a bag of holding. For the last, a black dragon, the players managed to recover (very cleverly) an item that held the dragon in bondage (a dagger that was made out of one of her fangs) and used it to direct the evil dragon, and they eventually were able to redeem the black dragon as well.

Can be fun, I say shoot from the hip. It's been great and not as overpowering.

[BigONotation]

RAW dragons would never submit to being a pet, way too intelligent and domineering. If you're going to hombrew one, it better also be short lived by comparison and low int. I think a Wyvern would be much better

[Mellack]

5e does not have the full lore of the past editions yet, but going by the old Dragonomicon, wyrmlings are born with instinctual knowledge of their superiority. They are also smarter than probably most of the party members. There would be almost no way to raise it without being a dragon, as they wouldn't have a reason to respect or listen to the party. I think it would lessen the legendary status of dragons to have them be any less haughty and supercilious such as to listen to puny people. I will echo others in suggesting a substitute such as wyverns or griffons.

[Davrix]

The issue I think people are taking is calling it a pet.

Don't call it a pet nor treat it like one because honestly yea its a sentient creature

Instead its an allay of the party. One that was saved, maybe both its parents were killed. (hopefully not by the party)

Treating it as a friend and ally is something much different. Maybe find it a place to stay, feet it, protect it that sort of deal and yes you can even have it adventure with the party after enough time is past and it grows strong enough. Depending on party level, a young wyrmling isn't that hard to balance around.

Seeing it as an equal and treating it thus will make things easier to deal with and you could make it a plot point that the party hopes to raise a chromatic dragon that could be a force of good in the world.

[Coidzor]

I'm reminded of Guard Drakes. They could get one of those as a pet, I believe.

Kobolds are sorta like dragons and can make decent pets and/or mascots.

Pseudodragons can become familiars still if they choose to, and that's sort of like a Wizard pet.

I don't think faerie dragons exist anymore.

[Davrix]

I'm reminded of Guard Drakes. They could get one of those as a pet, I believe.

Kobolds are sorta like dragons and can make decent pets and/or mascots.

Pseudodragons can become familiars still if they choose to, and that's sort of like a Wizard pet.

I don't think faerie dragons exist anymore.

Faerie dragons do exist in 5th but its in the kobold press Tomb of beats if i recall.

kobolds are also sentient and I would call that more slavery if you called them pets

Guard drakes probably are a little to dumb for the idea of a party dragon

[danpit2991]

better off going with some kind of drake or wyvern maybe come up with some kind of home brew creature that is dragonlike but with the int of a dog or similar not only would a dragon never be a pet but a chromatic would be almost impossible to "tame" and not to mention how it would affect the balance of the game

[Eradis]

Dungeons & Dragons being a fantasy world, I say go at it. I never use official setting for my game as I care little for a predictable world or predictable behavior from some creatures while playing with players with experience with the official game world.

Depending on my game, I sometimes use chromatic dragon as beast rather than off the chart intelligent creatures and use the metallic ones as the only intelligent ones. That being said, it all comes down on how you want dragon to behave in your world. Personally, I would let my players understand that even the simplest of dragon will stay a wild card even tamed properly from birth. Yeah sure it could treat its caretakers as protectors and friends as a wyrmling, but as it grows up and grasps more clearly its strength and superiority, it might decides to test its master as a teenager might and even decide to ditch them to go on his own, coming back only when it misses the party.

Just go for it. Having a pet/friend/whatever dragon at your party's side is the dream of most. I let that happened once in a game and my players still try to find a dragon egg every single time they face a dragon or notice traces of one.

[Phoenix042]

In a future campaign, I want to play with the idea of having the players come across a dragon egg (most likely chromatic) and allow the option to nurture and hatch it to try and have a "pet" dragon. I was just curious if anyone has done this in previous games, as well as if there's established lore on things pertaining to this.

We've actually had this come up in several games; in one, we found what we thought was a dragon egg, but it kept changing colors when we weren't looking, and sometimes it would disappear, whisper silly thoughts at us that only we could hear, or pretend to hatch but then not actually hatch.

The thing turned out to be a pseudodragon egg. Now we have a pseudodragon friend following us around and eating silver pieces out of our coinpurses sometimes. Very rarely, he shows up to tell us something important, but always does so very reluctantly and with much coaxing.

He's by far our favorite NPC.


In another, a player found a den of abandoned winter wolf pups and adopted one of them.

In that game, the wolf was a simple drain on resources and energy for a while, then eventually started disappearing into the forest and following the group at a distance. Now the wolf shows up for big battles outdoors, or to lead the party to something interesting and significant. The wolf can speak and understand common (learned from the party) and giant (intuitive, natural knowledge), but almost never speaks.


In yet another, I'm running a one-on-one campaign featuring a gestalt paladin//sorcerer whose power is tied to a specific lineage of red dragons. At the outset of the campaign, he finds the egg of the last dragon of this lineage; if that dragon dies, the character loses his sorcerous power, but while the dragon flourishes, his power will grow, and vice versa.

When this dragon hatches, it'll need gold, lots of living meat, and ample exposure to magic in order to flourish. It'll eat some of that gold, and sleep in a pile of it. It'll refuse to fight when asked, even if doing so makes sense, but will fight if it decides to on its own. It'll be a medium creature almost immediately, with the stats given for a wyrmling. And it'll know draconic at birth, but won't speak much until it's older.

This game will feature long stretches of downtime where the challenges will be over the course of weeks, months, and eventually years of tending the dragon and fostering it's growth, until he can finally ride the thing as he was meant to.

This is loosely based on Eragon, if you're wondering, but it's meant to be much darker and ultimately end in forging an empire, not felling one.



"How long does a dragon egg take to hatch? Is a wyrmling immediately medium size when it hatches? Would that make the egg medium sized and cumbersome to carry? Does the wyrmling hatch inherently knowing Draconic or would it learn that from being around parents?"

The draconomicon from 3.5 was an excellent read for these sorts of questions. How long an egg takes to hatch (and what conditions are necessary to make it hatch) are totally up to you as the DM. It might be that the players must complete some sort of quest to get it to hatch, like bringing it to a pool of lava at the peak of a mountain (if it's a red) or to a fabled pool of corrosive black slime (for a black), or to the freezing pools of some frozen island far to the south.

I'd have it be a wyrmling when it hatches, and make the egg pretty big (and therefore hard to hide and carry). But that's just me.

I'd also have the dragon know draconic when it is born, but learn other languages the normal way. I'd also choose not to have it speak much for the first stretch of its life, creating an additional challenge for the players to figure out what it wants or how it feels.


Good luck!

[Asmotherion]

Dragons are generally considered to hatch with their full mental capacities or near, and knowing draconic. Though 5e doesn't talk about it, so it's not "canon" per se.

Dragons aren't pet, they're people. And in the case of the chromatic ones, pretty awful people. But all of them have great pride, and would not take kindly any attempt to enslave them. Trying to keep one as a pet would last until you give the wyrmling one occasion to escape, and they'll come back once they're stronger to destroy you.

This pretty much. And thank you.

Your idea may work better if you attempt "Raising the Dragon as it's foster parent/fammily" instead. Treating a dragon, any dragon, even a Metalic one as a Pet will have a very bad result; A similar concept can be addresed in the original Pokemon Movie "Mewtwo Strikes Back".

If you are looking for a less sentient Dragonic Creature to use as a Pet (Though all Dragonic Creatures are much more intelligent than an average specimen, and would be hard to train):

Drakes, Wyverns, Pseudodragon.

My Favorites as mounts are any Large winged Beast or Half-Sentient Creature (Understands a language but can't speak) with the Half Dragon template.

I had a Hexblade/Dragonic Bloodline Sorcerer/Paladin of Bahamut end up with a Half Dragon Pegasus as a mount Through Find Greater Steed, and it was awesome (Dragon Ridder).

On the other hand, an other character I made just happened to have a Dragon as a Father. He was also a Dragonic Bloodline Sorcerer, and his Father raised him shapechanged in society. I didn't meet a Dragonic brother, but I could have worked some details with my DM for it. For better or for worse I suppose?

[Chugger]

In original DnD (pre AD&D) and I think AD&D you could subdue a dragon and make it work for you a while - it would usually turn on you at some point. Egg hatching has been another things but mostly homebrew.

Don't do it. You don't want them to have a pet dragon. That's so 1979. Give them a pet Terrasque ... let them buy a Terrasque egg and instructions on how to hatch it - and they have to make an animal handling check every day from the point it grows up on ... and when they fail.....

(give them fluff pets that stay in the backpack or don't matter - or let them summon a familiar and get friendly with it - you need to really think through giving them a dragon pet and what that will do to your game - if your game is chaotic anyway or more on the fun side - okay, go ahead. Just keep in mind, even Hagrid had to let Norbert go.

[the_brazenburn]

Faerie dragons do exist in 5th but its in the kobold press Tomb of beats if i recall.

kobolds are also sentient and I would call that more slavery if you called them pets

Guard drakes probably are a little to dumb for the idea of a party dragon

Faerie dragons are in the MM, but under "Faerie Dragon" rather than "Dragon, Faerie". That might be your problem.

[KorvinStarmast]

I suggest the OP read the MM and note the intelligence, wisdom and charisma stat for dragons for all age categories. They are as intelligent, or more so, than humans and other humanoids.

(Dragons don't treat Int as a dump stat! (https://rpg.stackexchange.com/a/76790/22566))

Young Black Dragon stats: S 19(+4) D 14(+2) C 17(+3) Int 12(+1) Wis 11(+0) Ch 15(+2)
Black Dragon Wyrmling: S 15(+2) D 14(+2) C 13(+1) Int 10(+0) Wis 11(+0) Ch 13(+2)

Compare to Orc Stats:
S 16(+3) D 12(+1) C 16(+3) I 7(−2) W 11(+0) Ch 10(+0)

Half-orc as with Player Characters (Average = 10-11)

Would you suggest trying to keep an orc as a pet?
Would you keep a human being as a pet, IRL?

[GreyBlack]

Have them raid a dragon lair, kill the dragon, have them find a hatchery. Eggs hatch and dragonlings imprint on them. Boom.

[Erys]

Would you suggest trying to keep an orc as a pet?
Would you keep a human being as a pet, IRL?

This.

While some novels entertain the idea of dragons being pets and/or mounts; D&D dragons are sapient creatures with strong wills.

It would not be a pet... it would be a slave. And that would be wrong.

[Coidzor]

Hey, there was a prominent Warcraft character who was an orc raised by a human as a pet. At least at one point in the endless batches of retcons.

[Wampyr]

I’m currently running a campaign where the party has a pet dragon.

Now pet is a bit of a stretch for a dragon, they are very self sufficient and usually aloof and untameable. As a result, the dragon wyrmling that my party adopted simply leaves when he feels like it, and he comes back and helps if he feels like it. The party quickly came to realize that they had little control over it. It most reliably listens to the Dragonborn in the party but will still make its own decisions.

This is the best thing about giving a dragon as a pet, as it gets more powerful it gets more independent, so if I want my players to not have the ridiculous advantage of a flying fire lizard then I can say he got bored and is coasting five hundred feet above you, and if they call to him for help I can say something like, “A telling glance leads you to believe that you were heard, but then he flew further away.”

The dragon pet is also great if you need to save the party’s asses for one reason or another.

[Eradis]

This.

While some novels entertain the idea of dragons being pets and/or mounts; D&D dragons are sapient creatures with strong wills.

It would not be a pet... it would be a slave. And that would be wrong.

Intelligence and Will are two different things. It is not because a creature is lacking in intelligence that it can be tamed, nor it means that one full of it cannot. Simply put it would have more to do with the temper of said creature. History proves that you actually CAN have a human pet, though you have to force it upon that person that will end up being compliant for different reason, naming fear and Stockholm syndrome for example. That person can even feel happiness and joy while executing his role as a "pet". It's of course terrible and frightening to think about it this way, but unfortunately mental abuse can go a long way.

[Azgeroth]

i'm aware in DnD lore that there was once an elven wizard, who magically altered a red dragon egg to change its allignment to lawful good, they were best buds, and then when they flew over there home city it released a demon, who destroyed that same city.. oh the irony..

so, you could have the party find a wizard (evil) who they slay, and 'rescue' a dragon egg, though this dragon has been altered to be submissive, and less intelligent, i would definately give it some stat penalties.. giving the party a pet dragon could get real crazy, fast.. also but a block on how big it can grow, so it never reaches adult/ancient.

[KorvinStarmast]

It would not be a pet... it would be a slave. And that would be wrong. In the original game, and in 1e (I forget if subdual was in 2e, I don't remember it as we never tried to subdue one in the 5e games that I played) subdual was a thing (dragon as servant/slave I suppose) but there was ample opportunity for the dragon to turn the tables.

Subdual has gone the way of the plains buffalo, which I for one am satisfied with ... though it made for some interesting things happening when we tried it. (And RIP more than one PC when the dragon turned the tables ... )

[GlenSmash!]

Hey, there was a prominent Warcraft character who was an orc raised by a human as a pet. At least at one point in the endless batches of retcons.

And the guy who had him as a pet was one evil SOB whom the "Pet" Orc later killed.

So yeah, that sounds like exactly how it would work out for players who try to raise a "Pet" dragon too.

[Waterdeep Merch]

My players adopted a white wyrmling in a game. It was rather intelligent but recognized that it was outmatched and preferred to submit rather than be annihilated. The players couldn't speak draconic, but they treated the wyrmling more like a beloved child than a pet, and this became a critical factor when some time dilation fiasco happened later and it rapidly grew up.

As an adult, the white dragon actually returned to the players, seeing itself as a member of their party. It had aggressive tendencies and still refused to speak common much at all, but it internalized a bit of the party's morality and certainly wasn't evil. They eventually met up with a non-hostile dracolich who taught them all draconic, finding out for the first time that their white dragon considered them his underlings and was telling all the other draconic things as much. He took quite a bit of pride in saying that his mooks were powerful enough to beat other dragons and the odd demigod, and were all awash with gold and treasure. He considered their belongings to be part of his dragon hoard.

[War_lord]

The best result you're going to get is that the Dragon sees the players as his/her pet humans. Think like a cat, if the cat was larger then a city bus, smarter then Einstein and could fly and breath fire.

[greenstone]

Since dragons are smarter and more powerful, wouldn't this be a case of how would a dragon go about obtaining a group of pet adventurers?

[Coidzor]

Since dragons are smarter and more powerful, wouldn't this be a case of how would a dragon go about obtaining a group of pet adventurers?

That's when they play Xorvintaal.

And it's multiple groups and even some giants too.

[Drascin]

Yeah, previous posters have said it well - when you get a dragon egg, you don't have a pet, you have a superpowered adopted son that happens to breathe fire every now and then. It's probably more useful to think of it like that. It can be moody, and raising it is hard, because in the end it's a sapient child, not a dog, but if they do it right they'll have a family member for life.

(I really do recommend they try to be more Pa Kent than Black Manta on the child-rearing strategy, here, though).

[UnderwaterAir]

My PCs don't know it yet but they will encounter a egg that will hatch into a dragon.
This dragon is born from the conception of a dragon and an angel.

Fearing what would happen to their child the parents sent the egg to a different realm.
The egg hatches and befriends the players.

It may run away to pursue its own goals or if the players roll well enough it may choose to stay with them.
The players will even encounter Bahamut as an old man traveling on a road with them and have a discussion with them where he knows they are traveling with a baby dragon.
The dragon develops somewhat slowly the way a normal baby would be expected to yet it is white in color and glows with radiant light.

In the end, the BBEG is an evil sorcerer who's managed to enhance his powers greatly (depending on where they may end up I'm currently planning a really tough ~CR35 fight though I plan to augment the battle greatly with custom spells and spell effects from the sorcerer) and will try to kill the dragon for his own uses. The PCs main villain. They'll have to protect the dragon.
If they succeed the dragon ascends to act as a benevolent protector of the world and will go on to join the pantheon of dragon gods, welcomed by Bahamut acting as a bridge between the dragons and the celestials.

For another campaign with my nephew who is 8 years old I simply gave him an artifact which summons a dragon pet from another dimension. The dragon acts as a mount and is intelligent. It takes its turn when he takes his turn. It's large enough for him to ride and fly on and the dragon can never truly die as he can spend time to give energy back to the dragon and summon it again from its alternate dimension. The dragon will gain speech and some spells once they journey together for a bit but if he loses his artifact he may lose the ability to summon the dragon though the dragon and him have been friends since childbirth.

[Spore]

If they succeed the dragon ascends to act as a benevolent protector of the world and will go on to join the pantheon of dragon gods, welcomed by Bahamut acting as a bridge between the dragons and the celestials.


You are treading carefully close to DM PC territory then. I am still pissed my first Pathfinder campaign ended with the supposed BBEG rescuing the world while we just carved him a path to do so.