Living the Dragon Life

[Eradis]

As my solo game with a newly introduced to the Pen & Paper genre advance, I was thinking of linking him with a newborn dragon. For story reason, he will not encounter such beast yet, but I do want to let him uncover what his second self he keeps dreaming about his by himself.

Mechanically speaking, my player will play a dragon wyrm some times when his character is dreaming. I am not sure exactly how I'm going to approach the leveling of said creature. The rules are less obvious than the 4th edition regarding monster levels. My three options right now are either A. House rule the leveling of the wyrm. B. Use the different stat blocks of dragons as they level in the monster manual (mixing color but keeping the same resistance, breath weapon and race feature) or C. Use the Draconomicon of the 4th edition and use that edition for his dream until the PC and his counter part (also a PC in a way) meet in-game.

Are there other options you can think of about growing the dragon with the Player Character or adjustment you would make to my current options (first throw by the way, nothing is flesh out)? How would you go to describe the dragon through the beast's eyes to keep it mysterious as long as possible?

[Naanomi]

Is the dragon magically aging? Because otherwise most would still be wyrmlings by the time most active adventurers were 20th level

[Unoriginal]

The DMG has rules to increase NPC statblocks by giving them class levels. If you feel like the wyrmling should grow alongside the PC, it's probably your best bet (unless you want to homebrew it).


Personally, as a DM, I wouldn't make them grow in power.

[Eradis]

Is the dragon magically aging? Because otherwise most would still be wyrmlings by the time most active adventurers were 20th level

I was thinking of maybe having the PC have flashback of the dragon's life (played by the player instead of me of course), so he measure the reasons behind the evilness of the beast that terrorizes the lands. Don't tell him this, but the Big Bad Dragon roaming the land will be the one linked to him (well... I plan to, but things always change).


The DMG has rules to increase NPC statblocks by giving them class levels. If you feel like the wyrmling should grow alongside the PC, it's probably your best bet (unless you want to homebrew it).


Personally, as a DM, I wouldn't make them grow in power.

I'll look more into it. It didn't strike me as important back when I first read the book. Didn't have in mind to make a player incarnate a dragon neither.

Otherwise, the growth in power is more to show the player how strong and fierce a dragon is and can become. The dragon itself is for Role Play purposes and is not intended as an ally in battle. Except maybe grand scheme battle such as war farther down the road if it comes to it.

[Unoriginal]

I was thinking of maybe having the PC have flashback of the dragon's life (played by the player instead of me of course), so he measure the reasons behind the evilness of the beast that terrorizes the lands. Don't tell him this, but the Big Bad Dragon roaming the land will be the one linked to him (well... I plan to, but things always change).


Oh, then in this case just use the MM's statblocks, possibly tweaked a bit (or not, your call).

[Naanomi]

What levels do you plan on doing this for? If it were a 1-20 thing I’d just go by tiers of play... wyrmling levels 1-5; young 6-10; Adult 11-15, Ancient 16-20

[Eradis]

Oh, then in this case just use the MM's statblocks, possibly tweaked a bit (or not, your call).


What levels do you plan on doing this for? If it were a 1-20 thing I’d just go by tiers of play... wyrmling levels 1-5; young 6-10; Adult 11-15, Ancient 16-20

I think it would be the best bet for what I intend to do. I just need to find how I will build up to the realization that the player is in fact playing a dragon.

[Unoriginal]

I think it would be the best bet for what I intend to do. I just need to find how I will build up to the realization that the player is in fact playing a dragon.

...you can't really *hide* that, if you want the person to *play* the dragon.

Even if you just describe it with very generic terms that hide the beings' nature like "You made your way past the walls of the fortress. It wasn't difficult. You see enemies, the lackeys of those who stole from you. You know you can end them with your bare hands", it's hard to hide things like a draconic nature.

[Eradis]

...you can't really *hide* that, if you want the person to *play* the dragon.

Even if you just describe it with very generic terms that hide the beings' nature like "You made your way past the walls of the fortress. It wasn't difficult. You see enemies, the lackeys of those who stole from you. You know you can end them with your bare hands", it's hard to hide things like a draconic nature.

I would disagree with that. We can hide just about anything behind words well chosen. Already, I have a few options to introduce the player to his beast form. Description will be more about how he feels being the creature rather than his physical aspect (You might not know you are huge if you live in a gigantic place or could think you are small if you keep crawling through tunnels). Since it's in a dream that he lives that second life, it's plausible to let more place to interpretation. For example never mentioning the number of legs the creature has while introducing the flying ability. Describing physically other creatures he might encounter as being imposing or larger than the dragon (using bigger creature than a wyrmling at first exactly for this reason). The player might try and guess he is playing a dragon anyway even by not giving him the stat block in front of his eyes, but doubt will remain for a time and if he speaks of another alternative, why not enforce it if possible? Flying with wyverns or fighting them regularly over territories could be a good throw off as they are similar in many ways. Anyway, you get the gist.