[3.5] List of Half-Dragons

[Thurbane]

So, if I'm not mistaken, RoTD (p.69) contains the "definitive" list of half-dragons.

But a few true-dragon types are missing (still technically 1st party though):

...so, how would you stat these up as half-dragons?


Ectoplasmic Dragon (online (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psb/20040123a)): Burst of whitefire (?) / Immunity to dismiss ectoplasm (?) / Chaotic neutral
Incarnum (MoI p.172): Cone of resonating energy (?) / None (?) / LG, LE, CG or CE (player's choice)
Mercury (DoF p.138): Line of light (?) / Immunity to blinding or dazzling (?) / Chaotic good
Mist (DoF p.142): Cone of steam / None (?) / Neutral
Obsidian Dragon (online (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psb/20030124b)): Cone of fire / Immunity to fire / Neutral Evil
Orange (Dragon Compendium p.195): Line of explosive saliva (?) / Water breathing / Neutral evil
Purple (Dragon Compendium p.197): Cone of searing energy (?) / None (?) / Lawful evil
Rattelyr (Shining South): Cone of fire / Immunity to fire / Lawful evil
Steel (DoF p.140): Cone of corrosive (acid) gas / +10 racial bonus on saves vs. poison / Lawful neutral
Yellow (Dragon Compendium p.199): Cone of salt / Water breathing / Chaotic evil

...then there is those from the magazines...

Dragon/Dungeon Magazine:

Adamantine (Dragon 321 p.44): Line of fire / Immunity to fire / Neutral Good
Arboreal (Dragon 321 p.46): Cone of thorns / Immunity to acid or sonic (player's choice)/ Chaotic good
Astral (Dragon 344 p.27): Line of scouring dust/ None (?) / Neutral
Axial (Dragon 321 p.48): Cone of force / Immunity to acid or fire (player's choice) / Lawful neutral
Beast (Dragon 321 p.50): Cone of cold and electricity (?) / Immunity to cold or electricity (player's choice)/ NG or CG (player's choice)
Brainstealer (Dragon 337 p.25): None (?) / Immunity to acid / Lawful evil
Chole (Dragon 344, p.29): Cone of poisonous 'insanity' vapors (?)/ None (?) / Chaotic evil
Chromium (Dragon 356 p.23): Line of solid ice / Immunity to cold / Lawful evil
Concordant (Dragon 321 p.52): Line of 'antithetical' energy/ Immune to poison (?) / Neutral
Cobalt (Dragon 356 p.25): Line of magnetic energy / Immunity to electricity / Lawful evil
Crested Sea Serpent (Dragon 345 p.56): Line of sonic / Amphibious / Neutral evil
Dzalmus (Dragon 349 p.62): Cone of life-draining gas (?) / Immunity to enchantment (?) / Chaotic evil
Elysian (Dragon 344 p.32): Line of sonic energy / Immunity to sonic / Neutral good
Gloom (Dragon 344 p.35): Cone of apathy gas (?) / None (?) / Neutral evil
Greyhawk (Dragon 339 p .51): Line of acid or cone of poisonous gas (?) / poison resistance (?) / Lawful neutral
Hex (Dragon 343 p.39): Line of putrid / Immunity to disease or poison (?) / Neutral evil
Iron (Dragon 356 p.29): Line of sparks / Immunity to fire / Lawful neutral
Lantern Sea Serpent (Dragon 345 p.58): Line of red lightning / Amphibious / Lawful evil
Nickel (Dragon 356 p.31): Line of corrosive gas / Immunity to acid / Lawful evil
Spiked Sea Serpent (Dragon 345 p.61): None / Amphibious / Chaotic evil
Spinewyrm (Dungeon 110/Polyhedron 169 p.95): None / None / Neutral evil
Time (Dragon 359 p.37): Line or cone of 'time' (?) / Immunity to slow (?) / Neutral
Tome (Dragon 343 p.42): Bead of raw elemental material (?) / None (?) / Lawful neutral
Tungsten (Dragon 356 p.33): Line of blasting sand / Immunity to fire / Lawful good


Also, any other "true dragons" that I've missed from official sources?

Cheers - T

[CIDE]

Is Dragon Magazine an official source in your eyes? Whether it's first party or not doesn't matter with how much people's opinions varry on the topic.

[Thurbane]

Is Dragon Magazine an official source in your eyes? Whether it's first party or not doesn't matter with how much people's opinions varry on the topic.

I'd probably consider it semi-official personally, but I'm happy to create a list for Dragon material too.

I mean, there's a rabbit hole there: Dragonlance, Ravenbloft, Kalamar etc.

[WhamBamSam]

There's a Web Enhancement for some adventure path or other that has Half-Shadow Dragon Drow which have flight unlike most medium Half-Dragons. Whether you think that's a mistake or a unique kind of Half-Dragon is your call.


I'd probably consider it semi-official personally, but I'm happy to create a list for Dragon material too.

I mean, there's a rabbit hole there: Dragonlance, Ravenbloft, Kalamar etc.I know at least the Ferrous Dragons from Dragon 356 have explicit stats for Half-Dragons. It wouldn't surprise me if some of the others (the handbook in my sig should have a complete list) did as well.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Mercury, Mist, and Steel Dragon (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mm/20040328a) are in Dragons of Faerun.

[ViperMagnum357]

There's a Web Enhancement for some adventure path or other that has Half-Shadow Dragon Drow which have flight unlike most medium Half-Dragons. Whether you think that's a mistake or a unique kind of Half-Dragon is your call.

Actually that is the Jaezred Chaulssin, which show up in Dragon Magazine 322.

[CIDE]

Were epic dragons a possibility for half-dragons? I can't recall anything that specifically removes the possibility. If so, that opens up the two main ones plus the Time Dragon from Dragon Magazine (I forget the exact issue).

[Thurbane]

Were epic dragons a possibility for half-dragons? I can't recall anything that specifically removes the possibility. If so, that opens up the two main ones plus the Time Dragon from Dragon Magazine (I forget the exact issue).

There's Force and Prismatic, which are represented in RotD.

There's temporal drake (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mm/20031122a), which isn't a "true dragon", but there may also be a Time dragon in the magazines?

[ViperMagnum357]

but there may also be a Time dragon in the magazines?

In Dragon 359. The Time Dragon is easily the most powerful True Dragon variety as written, before templates and such.

[Thurbane]

Thanks everyone for your input; I've updated the list.

Does that look in the first post like a list of all true dragons, besides the ones listed in RoTD?


Amethyst
Battle
Black
Blue
Brass
Bronze
Brown
Chaos
Chiang lung
Copper
Crystal
Deep
Emerald
Ethereal
Fang
Force
Gold
Green
Howling
Li lung
Lung wang
Oceanus
Pan lung
Prismatic
Pyroclastic
Radiant
Red
Rust
Sand
Sapphire
Shadow
Shen lung
Silver
Song
Styx
Tarterian
T’ien lung
Topaz
Tun mi lung
White
Yu lung

...also, looking for suggestions.

Immunities for Incarnum, Mist, Purple, Astral, Chole, Gloom and Tome; and a breath weapon/special attack for Brainstealer.

Incarnum: essentia pool?
Mist: gaseous form?
Purple: bonus to hide checks?

Astral: detect extraplanar?
Brainstealer: mind blast?
Chole: ???
Gloom: ???
Tome: arcane sight/detect magic?

[Thurbane]

So, couple of updates: stumbled across two things.

Official stats for a Half-Steel Dragon in the web enahcement for CoSW: http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20050928a (though this predates DoF, I believe).

...and the Greyhawk dragon (Dragon 339) which may or may not be the same as the Steel Dragon.

[ShurikVch]

Also, any other "true dragons" that I've missed from official sources?Crested Sea Serpent (Dragon #345): Line of sonic / Amphibious / Neutral evil
Dzalmus (Dragon #349): Cone of life-draining gas / Immunity to enchantment / Chaotic evil
Lantern Sea Serpent (Dragon #345): Line of red lightning / Amphibious / Lawful evil
Rattelyr (Shining South): Cone of fire / Immunity to fire / Lawful evil
Spiked Sea Serpent (Dragon #345): None / Amphibious / Chaotic evil
Spinewyrm (Dungeon #110/Polyhedron #169): None / None / Neutral evil

[Thurbane]

Crested Sea Serpent (Dragon #345): Line of sonic / Amphibious / Neutral evil
Dzalmus (Dragon #349): Cone of life-draining gas / Immunity to enchantment / Chaotic evil
Lantern Sea Serpent (Dragon #345): Line of red lightning / Amphibious / Lawful evil
Rattelyr (Shining South): Cone of fire / Immunity to fire / Lawful evil
Spiked Sea Serpent (Dragon #345): None / Amphibious / Chaotic evil
Spinewyrm (Dungeon #110/Polyhedron #169): None / None / Neutral evil

Thanks for that. Dzalmus was already in there, but I've added the others.

[DwarvenWarCorgi]

Ruin Wyrm (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fw/20041126a) is one i haven't seen anyone mention yet, or does web content not count..
Orb of electricity breath Weapon/immune to electricity, sleep, paralysis/resist fire/lawful neutral

[Esprit15]

Ruin Wyrm (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fw/20041126a) is one i haven't seen anyone mention yet, or does web content not count..
Orb of electricity breath Weapon/immune to electricity, sleep, paralysis/resist fire/lawful neutral

Not a True Dragon, though.

[DwarvenWarCorgi]

Ahh, yes, no age progression table, my apologies

[Blue Jay]

Some thoughts on the ones with weird breath weapons:


Ectoplasmic Dragon (online (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psb/20040123a)): Burst of whitefire (?) / Immunity to dismiss ectoplasm (?) / Chaotic neutral

I'd suggest you specify how this breath weapon works. I suggest a 60-ft line and a 15-ft burst (most half-dragon breath weapons are comparable to a typical Medium/Young dragon's, so this seems appropriate).

It seems a bit weaker then other half-dragons though, especially with the lack of a good immunity*; so maybe its breath weapon could be 3/day, like the Li Lung's Roar ability?

*Although, the ectoplasmic dragon has the [Fire] subtype, so you could give the ectoplasmic hald-dragon immunity to fire instead of immunity to dismiss ectoplasm.


Incarnum (MoI p.172): Cone of resonating energy (?) / None (?) / LG, LE, CG or CE (player's choice)

This one has low base damage plus the essentia drain effect. Do you want to retain that reduction, and have the Half-Dragon's breath weapon deal 3d8 damage (instead of the usual 6d8), plus... how many points of essentia drain? Maybe 3? Or would you give it the usual 6d8 damage?


Orange (Dragon Compendium p.195): Line of explosive saliva (?) / Water breathing / Neutral evil

I'm curious to hear thoughts on this one. Orange is my favorite color, so I've kind of always wanted orange dragons to be cool, but they're actually just kind of weird. Is their two-step breath weapon "better" than normal dragons'? Or is it just weird? The designers gave it a longer wait period, so maybe they thought it was better, but it doesn't seem like it will actually end up doing more damage than usual: it just makes the tactics (on both sides) more complex.

I assume you imagined a 60-ft line for the initial breath, and a 15-ft blast radius?

Also, orange dragons are immune to poison, so I might make that the half-Orange's immunity.


Yellow (Dragon Compendium p.199): Cone of salt / Water breathing / Chaotic evil

This one is also pretty weird, so I'm not entirely sure what to do with it. It has damage values listed in the table, but there's no mention of damage in the text: it just talks about the movement penalties it imposes. Is the Ref save against the penalty in addition to the save against the damage? Or is just a single save that works against both effects?

I might suggest a similar treatment to the incarnum dragon: have the breath weapon deal half the usual damage, but also imposes the additional special effect. Also, I would have made this breath weapon deal slashing damage, but I think RAW makes it untyped.

-----

And another thought that's possibly a tangent: would you grant any special considerations for unusual half-dragons and feats like Dragon Breath (which upgrades the breath weapon to "unlimited use, but only once per 1d4 rds"? Like, if you go with the 3/day for the ectoplasmic half-dragon, maybe Dragon Breath doesn't impose a wait period, and just gives the breath weapon at-will?

[Thurbane]

Interesting suggestions, thank you: I'll look into them when I get time, and post a response then. :smallsmile:

[Thurbane]

Some thoughts on the ones with weird breath weapons:

Ectoplasmic Dragon: immunity to fire makes sense. Since a half-dragon has a breath weapon size equal to a medium dragon, I'd put the whitefire burst at range 60 ft and radius 15 ft.

Incarnum: since it gets no immunties, I'd leave the damage as is, and add in essentia drain. Maybe 1 or 2 points? Incarnum is not a system I'm overly familiar with.

Orange: is a tough one. 60 ft line and 15ft radius seems fair, and inline with the Ectopasmic half-dragon. It looks like untyped damage? Since it is strictly better than most other breath weapons, I'd be inclined to drop the damage. Maybe 3d8, or 4d8? Water breathing is pretty common among half-dragons, so I think I'd stick with that.

Yellow: another tough one. Maybe the toughest to translate to a half-dragon. I'm inclined to just drop damage to 3d8, and add a secondary entangling effect.

...and one you didn't mention, but I think needs attention: Spinewyrm. Since it gets no breath weapon or immunities, maybe it should get a small power point reserve instead? Psionics aren't my strong suit. To keep it inline with most races that get power points, maybe 2?