What's Your Favourite Dragon in D&D 3.5? [Archive]

Afghanistan

2019-09-24, 05:25 PM

I admittedly find it hard to actually use a dragon for an encounter against my players. Either the Dragon ends up getting curb stomped in the first 4 rounds of combat, OR the Dragon struggles to die because it has spellcasting, a full Bab, good all saves, extremely high stats, etc.

I just find it easier to make my own Dragon (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheDragon) if I want to capture the feel that a Dragon should entail.

Quertus

2019-09-24, 05:41 PM

Chromic: blue. Or the baby red dragon adopted sibling of a nest of gold dragons.

Metallic: silver. Or that… how did it go… Trompe L'oeil of a Paragon Multi-Headed Half-Dragon Silver Dragon?

Other: anything homebrew. Or the 4-headed pyroclastic dragon mount.

Lleban

2019-09-24, 06:15 PM

My top 5 are

Tome Dragon : really sells the dragon sage concept
Dzalmus : Love the king gidorah vibes
Brainstealer dragon : dragon plus weird alien, whats not to love
Pyroclastic Dragon ; while it lacks casting its fire incarnate
Time dragon ; I love time shenanigans

Thrice Dead Cat

2019-09-24, 06:19 PM

Buried in Dragon Magazine #343 is the Tome Dragon. They still cast spells as a sorcerer, but they get a bunch of free spells-known, have a decent caster level/progression as far as dragon hit dice go, have a malleable breath weapon, and get free metamagic of varying degrees. They mesh well with the Dragon Pyschoses from issue #313. I was luckily enough to (briefly) play one for a gestalt "all dragons" campaign, so they still hold a special place in my heart.

frogglesmash

2019-09-25, 12:44 AM

Not a true dragon, but I've always been a fan of the Hellfire Drake from MMII, mostly because the art for it was dope.

Eldan

2019-09-25, 01:28 AM

Ashardalon.

ben-zayb

2019-09-25, 01:57 AM

Were Pyroclastic Dragon the ones with Disintegrate breath weapons? Then they are definitely a distant 2nd.

But! Nothing comes close to how much I love the awesomeness that are Chien Lung Dragons (Oriental Adventures). First off, Lung Dragons have at will invisibility and planeshift between the spirit and material planes.

Then, the damned thing breathes storm clouds that cause 2-mile wide 2d4-hours of rain. Ridiculous. Its Control Water SLA doesn't even care about any of that stupid volume limits in the original spell--it explicitly affects water within miles of radius from itself. Did I mention the at will Control Weather, Control Wind, and Divination? Oh, yes I did.

Malphegor

2019-09-25, 06:58 AM

Steel. There is something incredibly potent to my imagination about taking an entity that is of cosmic power enough that their very blood is literally magic, their flesh and bones are innately magic in ways that work even in antimagic field, an incredible force of pure will and strength of legendary proportions, capable if allowed to attain power to reshape the very nature of reality, evoking a primal fear of large reptiles in the night, but also with a catlike grace that also triggers out ferret brain instincts...

And then it just wants to hang out sipping coffee in a city in humanoid form reading a good book.

Hipster urban dragons. “Yeah I could terrorise the countryside but I just got a new apartment and a new coffee machine, so...”

Also a metal dragon that breathes pollution is just so good albeit a touch anachronistic maybe for a fantasy setting maybe?

Sure I feel they kill the drama of meeting a dragon but it’s
such a fun concept. Dragons of the city, as valid as a dragon of the swamp or a volcano dragon.

Asmotherion

2019-09-25, 07:23 AM

Epic: Force Dragon. A transparent Dragon is the definition of Awesome and what i expect of something Epic.

Chromatic: Red Dragon with close competition with the Green and Black Dragon. But Red Dragon Design is pure awesome.

Metalic: Bronze Dragon with close competition with the Silver... The only two metalics with decent wings. i despise how the other dragons have Wings that remind you of some generic aquatic creature. Strangelly the only one that's actually aquatic (Bronze) has the greatest wings. i favor it over the Silver because of it's awesome horns.

Gem: All of them have a cool-ish design but also not as cool as other Dragons mentioned.

Generic/Honorable Mentions: Battle Dragons are awesome. Shadow Dragons are edgy and cool. Finally the Hellfire Wyrm is the stuff nightmares are made of and i love it.

False God

2019-09-25, 08:49 AM

Chromatic: Red, because you can't go wrong with the classics.
Metallic: Bronze, mostly because I love the beach.
-Runner up: Iron, because using evil metallic dragons is not something people expect.
Gem: Obsidian, again, mostly because I love obsidian.
Planar: Pyroclastic, gotta go with the crowd and agree that this guy is pretty sweet.
Epic: Prismatic. Because nothing says HAHA! like random breath effects.

weckar

2019-09-25, 09:04 AM

I do like crystal dragons. Offspring of a chromatic and a metallic, if I recall? Weird randomized breath weapon?

MaxiDuRaritry

2019-09-25, 09:18 AM

Steel. There is something incredibly potent to my imagination about taking an entity that is of cosmic power enough that their very blood is literally magic, their flesh and bones are innately magic in ways that work even in antimagic field, an incredible force of pure will and strength of legendary proportions, capable if allowed to attain power to reshape the very nature of reality, evoking a primal fear of large reptiles in the night, but also with a catlike grace that also triggers out ferret brain instincts...

And then it just wants to hang out sipping coffee in a city in humanoid form reading a good book.

Hipster urban dragons. “Yeah I could terrorise the countryside but I just got a new apartment and a new coffee machine, so...”I think someone has been watching MrRhexx (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2BO-LtoMgs). And if you haven't been, you should be.

Blackhawk748

2019-09-25, 09:24 AM

All of this talk and no love for the White Dragon? Do you people have something against Slasher Killers the size of a house? :Smalltongue:

Yes, my favorite Dragon is the White dragon. Fight me

MaxiDuRaritry

2019-09-25, 09:29 AM

Mine is the Dragonwrought kobold (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20060420a).

It's easily the most likely to be played in the most campaigns, and with no RHD or LA, you can play one at level 1. Classic draconic abilities are easily gotten, as well.

Eladrinblade

2019-09-25, 09:50 AM

copper and fang

schreier

2019-09-25, 11:37 AM

Epic: Prismatic - always loved those spells, making a giant dragon with one as a breath weapon is ridiculous ... If diving would have a move speed of 700 ... I envision that like the rainbow bridge in marvel movies ...

Metallic - silver, ever since Huma in dragonlance. Strongest metallic dragon that was traditionally "Western style" ... Gold was more eastern

Chromatic - white, because it's the first dragon I ever fought as a PC and I love the cold

Other - song dragon ... Change shape into a single human female, can do it well enough to fool Elminster into fathering a half dragon

Unique - Bahamut because he is awesome. And has a mohawk (the ad&d pic that is)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4e/D%26DBahamut.JPG/200px-D%26DBahamut.JPG

Telonius

2019-09-25, 12:21 PM

Metallic: Copper.
Chromatic: Green.
Other: Pseudo.

Asmotherion

2019-09-25, 01:13 PM

liquidformat

2019-09-25, 02:21 PM

Pseudodragon and Wyverns. They are both oddballs in the dragon group and a lot of fun to play!

schreier

2019-09-25, 03:23 PM

Metallic: Copper.
Chromatic: Green.
Other: Pseudo.

Pseudo dragon is a good choice :)

ZamielVanWeber

2019-09-25, 08:46 PM

Tome, Silver, and Beast. I just love their visuals and personalities. Honorable mention to Tellene's Aquatic Dragon as well.

Thurbane

2019-09-25, 11:11 PM

Chromatic: Blue
Metallic: Copper
Other: Fang
In additon, my favourite obscure dragon: Scalamagdrion (MoF p.188) - an anti-magic dragon that guards magical tomes.

False God

2019-09-25, 11:25 PM

Aren't iron dragons lawful neutral though?

Ah indeed they are, seems I forgot that. Oh well, not gonna rewrite my hierarchy of evil dragons now!

KarsonMagus

2019-09-26, 03:24 AM

Probably the Styx Dragon. I love the flavour and lore that they have.

Malphegor

2019-09-26, 10:40 AM

White and red dragons are also cool. As a Welshman I have to prefer the Red though. Mythologically speaking

Legend says that once upon a time, there were earthquakes in Wales, which destroyed a King Vortigern’s tower, over and over. The King consulted diviners everywhere and eventually encountered Merlin. Crackling with energy, Merlin foresaw that deep beneath the castle were two dragons, one white, one red, symbolically linked to England and Wales respectively, trapped underwater, and if one should be freed, the white would cause England to conquer Wales... But the Red would return, and allow for Wales to achieve independence anew.

The king drained the pool, and the White escaped, subjugating the red.

But the red dragon survived. And one day it will return. Not as a subjugated servitor, but as a conquerer and dominator.

Kelb_Panthera

2019-09-26, 01:49 PM

I love the whole animism thing you get from shamans and and other OA casters so my favorite by far is the family of Lung Dragons. They're not particularly poweful but the flavor is awesome.

Aniikinis

2019-09-26, 02:42 PM

Always been a fan of purple, deep, and sand dragons. Their respective lores have always entertained me a bit and I've thrown more than a few of each at my players in various groups.

Erik the Green

2019-09-27, 03:41 AM

Nobody has mentioned them yet, so how about the Manic Pixie Dream Girl of dragons, the Mercury Dragon from Faerun?
Cool attributes include:
1. Their breath weapon is a beam of light so bright that it burns like fire. Yeah, just boring old "everybody has resistance" fire, but I could see the fluff justifying an upgrade along the lines of it counts as Searing (per Searing Spell) or does extra vs. undead like Sunburst.
2. Their Dexterity goes to 11...and beyond. Or, 18 for Mature Adult and older, and you have to believe that they probably work in Improved Initiative, too. You aren't going to get a Mercury Dragon with Shivering Touch unless it's seriously cheesed up. They are also very good flyers.
3. They can know and use cleric spells and spells from the Luck and Sun domains as arcane spells.
4. They can and do like to go among humans in their alternate form, for a wide variety of reasons, which may change from day to day. Mercury dragons are not ever going to be the Man behind the Man or the Chessmaster, but they do like adventuring.
5. They have some cool/subtle utility powers including mirror image, telekinesis, and project image.
6. They get shinier as they get older. :)

PraxisVetli

2019-09-27, 08:51 AM

Purple Dragons from Dragon Compendium.
Nothing says 'breath weapon' like a giant face sword!

RedMage125

2019-09-27, 09:19 AM

Man, I don't even remember Purple Dragons. All i recall is that in 4e, Deep dragons got renamed "Purple", Fang dragons got renamed "Gray" and got a Breath Weapon, and other silliness.

My favorites:
Metallic: Copper. They're fun, playful tricksters that enjoy dining on poisonous giant vermin.
Chromatic: Toss up between Green and Red. Greens are master manipulators, and Reds are just bad*** tyrants. Especially when one lords over a whole acdre of frost giants, including several half-dragon ones (Immune fire and cold).
Gem: Crystal. While they are the weakest gem dragons, they have the two tails and a breath weapon of slashing crystal shards.
Other: Fang. For simple reason that I love to play casters, and they're a great target for Polymorph (or Draconic Polymorph if your DM allows spells from Draconomicon, gives extra STR/CON in the assumed form). Since the spell denies you any Su abilities anyway (like breath weapon), you may not get the CON drainign bite, but your bite and tail do damage as if you were one size category larger. I'll never forget the look on my DM's face the first time my wizard cast this spell and I repplaced my mini on the table with TWO Large Dragon minis. He had not previously realized how awesome the "Share Spells" ability of a wizard's familiar could be...