Gem Dragons Parenting

[Bartmanhomer]

Are Gem dragons great parents to their kids, bad parents to their kids or everything in-between?

[unseenmage]

It is my understanding that all true dragons are basically absentee parents for the most part.

Draconomicon probably has more to say on the subject though.

[Crake]

It is my understanding that all true dragons are basically absentee parents for the most part.

Draconomicon probably has more to say on the subject though.

That is woefully inaccurate, it depends highly on the breed, even some chromatic dragons are quite involved with their young at least until they grow up a bit.

Unfortunately though, the draconomicon only covers the chromatic and metallic dragons, and not the gem dragons, so it won't be of any help. Try checking the actual books the gem dragons are in, they might actually give some insight.

[Hackulator]

That is woefully inaccurate, it depends highly on the breed, even some chromatic dragons are quite involved with their young at least until they grow up a bit.

Unfortunately though, the draconomicon only covers the chromatic and metallic dragons, and not the gem dragons, so it won't be of any help. Try checking the actual books the gem dragons are in, they might actually give some insight.

Eh it varies, a lot of wyrmling dragons are fostered out, especially among metallics. I would say Gem Dragons probably run the gamut from terrible to amazing when it comes to parenting, just like people.

[unseenmage]

Another consideration is, are these dragons PCs or heroic NPCs? Because only the most run of the mill creatures follow their written lore and stat blocks.

GM designed NPCs can and should be as different from their statistics and listed fluff as the GM needs them to be.

Similarly, some liberties are expected when a player writes the personality or backstory for their own character.


So, is this a world building question or a character building question?

[Bartmanhomer]

Another consideration is, are these dragons PCs or heroic NPCs? Because only the most run of the mill creatures follow their written lore and stat blocks.

GM designed NPCs can and should be as different from their statistics and listed fluff as the GM needs them to be.

Similarly, some liberties are expected when a player writes the personality or backstory for their own character.


So, is this a world-building question or a character building question?
The general question actually.

[Thurbane]

http://i65.tinypic.com/10q9vyr.jpg

[Remuko]

https://i.imgur.com/xXGBQej.jpg

just so you know your imgur link is invisible.

[AmeVulpes]

If it doesn't say in their home book, I would personally place the basis at least partially on their age. I believe there's a passage in the Draconomicon that says younger dragons are more likely to abandon their young.


just so you know your imgur link is invisible.

self-resolved, it seems.

[Bronk]

Are Gem dragons great parents to their kids, bad parents to their kids or everything in-between?

There aren't many mentions of Gem Dragons in 3.5. All we really know from MM2 is that Amethyst dragons protect their young, Emerald dragons nurture their young, and Crystal dragons don't like their young being hunted and will occasionally take it upon themselves to raise white dragon wyrmlings.

[unseenmage]

Hmm, perhaps this question could get a more lore related answer over at the Candlekeep forums (http://forum.candlekeep.com/).

It is possible one of the scribes over there has actually used gem dragons for a novel at some point.

[Bronk]

Hmm, perhaps this question could get a more lore related answer over at the Candlekeep forums (http://forum.candlekeep.com/).

It is possible one of the scribes over there has actually used gem dragons for a novel at some point.

The only instance of being present in a novel that I know of was in the Dracorage anthology. IIRC, all we really learned about it was that it was a jerk, and was about to plane shift away from the dracorage like most dragons should have been doing already, even without a plane shift SLA.