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View Full Version : I was told that you get a stat bonus by eating a dragon's heart? [3.x]



celestialkin
2008-08-22, 12:17 AM
I was told a while ago by a DM who worked at a local gaming store that somewhere it is published that you get a stat bonus by eating a true dragon's heart. Do any of you know where this might be printed?

I think it might have been either a bonus to any stat, or just a bonus to Con.

This has been bugging me for a while, and now that I mentioned it to the group last week I have a feeling the party is going to cut it out of the party's silver dragon as soon as it reaches full vampireness (he is using the Racial Progression rules).

holywhippet
2008-08-22, 12:38 AM
I tried google and didn't get any positive results. I did find this page: http://www.epinions.com/review/_2000730017/content_194770472580 which says:

This chapter finishes with rules for optional material components used in spellcasting. This is a list of components, where each component, if used when a spell is cast, has a percentage chance to provide some sort of benefit (a spell cast using a humanoid child's eye has a 20% chance of having its duration doubled). I like the concept but find the actual rules to require some tweaking (for example, using a metallic dragon's dried heart has a 30% chance of increasing the spell's saving throw DC by 1 -- surely, metallic dragon hearts are sufficiently rare that they can provide a benefit greater than that?) Good ideas, somewhat flawed examples.

The page is talking about the book of Vile darkness. I'd say a dragon heart wouldn't give a stat boost if eaten if it had such a weak alternate use.

CASTLEMIKE
2008-08-22, 01:34 AM
Believe it was another edition AD&D.

Hawriel
2008-08-22, 02:19 AM
Eh why the hell not. After all many real life cultures believe that by eating the heart of your apponent you take on some their abilities, knowledge, power, what have you.

edit.

forgot to mention that this is not just your enemy but also an animal that his hunted. Like a deer or bear.

Armoury99
2008-08-22, 02:29 AM
Its a norse thing, and it was mentioned (I think), in the 2e Viking's book. There's no other source I'm aware of, and its certainly not a core rule. When those bardic legends say "you gain great power by eating a dragons heart" what they mean is "you get xp."

bosssmiley
2008-08-22, 07:08 AM
Its a Norse thing, and it was mentioned (I think), in the 2e Viking's book. There's no other source I'm aware of, and its certainly not a core rule. When those bardic legends say "you gain great power by eating a dragons heart" what they mean is "you get xp lazer eyes beams!!1!!"

amended. :smallbiggrin:

I think the general rule should be: ask your DM if this is the case in his game. Some DMs like the idea of adding bits of folkloric/mythic fluff to their colour-coded for your convenience (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ColorCodedForYourConvenience) dragons; others go strictly by the RAW.

"Dungeonomicon" (or possibly "Dragon Magic") would be the best place to look up durfficial dragon bit stat enhancers.

Telonius
2008-08-22, 08:10 AM
Note that the whole "invulnerable if you bathe in its blood" thing probably isn't going to fly, either. :smallbiggrin:

Arbitrarity
2008-08-22, 08:31 AM
DR 5/magic is almost invulnerable by commoner standards...

"Sling bullets glance off, with no effect!"

Pepz
2008-08-22, 09:19 AM
I'm actually quite sure that there was a mention of that (house-)rule in the corebooks of 3e, maybe the MoMa, about dragon bodies having so much magic that you could get magical effects by using parts.

Maybe it was just a suggestion, maybe just fluff, but I'm sure it's an awesome rule :smallamused: if we encountered a dragon we'd stash every part of his body (every! hairs,toenails,sweatglands) just so we'd be able to sell it to a magic shop later :smalltongue:

Leon
2008-08-22, 10:16 AM
DR 5/magic is almost invulnerable by commoner standards...

"Sling bullets glance off, with no effect!"

House cats too

Telok
2008-08-22, 10:22 AM
It's a fairly common house rule from AD&D. Supported by a fairly wide variety of fantasy literature, old myths and fables, and the fact that dragons were tougher and stat boosts were rarer.

If you search through the old 'zines you'll probably find a few mentions of it.

celestialkin
2008-08-22, 10:33 AM
It's a fairly common house rule from AD&D. Supported by a fairly wide variety of fantasy literature, old myths and fables, and the fact that dragons were tougher and stat boosts were rarer.

If you search through the old 'zines you'll probably find a few mentions of it.

"old 'zines"?

CASTLEMIKE
2008-08-22, 10:54 AM
Old Dragon Magazines.

nargbop
2008-08-23, 10:47 AM
This looks like a job for HomeBrewing!

Chronos
2008-08-23, 02:41 PM
This looks like a job for HomeBrewing!For some reason, when I saw that, I got a mental image of some guy with a tun of Dragon Heart Pale Ale fermenting in his basement.

Knaight
2008-08-23, 10:00 PM
Note that the whole "invulnerable if you bathe in its blood" thing probably isn't going to fly, either. :smallbiggrin:

Most GMs are almost going to guarantee that a leaf sticks to you and the blood misses it or some such.

Venerable
2008-08-24, 10:44 AM
It's like those "this huge steak free if you eat the whole thing" offers: you only get the stat bonus if you eat the entire dragon heart in one go. And a dragon heart is one honking big meal. (For comparison, an elephant's heart is 20-30 kg.) :smalleek:

Asheram
2008-08-24, 01:05 PM
Dude. If any character is macho enough to eat a dragon heart, I'd throw bonuses at them...

Hehe. Well, perhaps not.
But Probably a fortitude check to stomach the thing, then depending on how old the dragon is... Frankly, I think I'd handle it pretty much the same as when thinking of lycanthropy.
A DC 15 fortitude save, if failed, part of their skin grows harder and somewhat scaly. They get the Dragontouched and Draconic heritage (the type of dragon whose heart they just ate) feat from the Dragon Magic book.
+1 natural armor bonus. +5 spot +5 listen
Greater bonuses depending on the age of the dragon.
A -5 diplomacy bonus when talking to dragons (-10 when talking to good dragons) and a +5 intimidation bonus to both good and evil dragons.
Oh yes. And only giving this to the person that eats the Whole hear. No splitting it between partymembers

Atleast, these are just some of my thoughts.

The Faceless
2008-08-24, 02:06 PM
For some reason, when I saw that, I got a mental image of some guy with a tun of Dragon Heart Pale Ale fermenting in his basement.

I'd drink that.

Reaper_Monkey
2008-08-24, 04:22 PM
Theres' a feat in some barbarian spalt book I was reading the other day, I cant remember which one I'll look it up though if wanted. But it was if you eat the heart of any creature you have a chance to boost one of your stats so it was equal to that of the creature (if it was higher) for a few hours. It wasn't all that useful however due to the limited buff time, but if your wanting to eat hearts its good for you =D

(also, you didn't have to eat the whole heart if it was a creature massively larger than you, just a "sizeable portion", read into that as you will)

EDIT:

Found the book, its the quintessential Barbarian II
Feat is predictably called Heart Eater, it requires you to be able to rage as well as 13+ Con. Lets you swap out your own stat for that of the creatures hear you ate, however you have to kill them yourself and with no help, and it lasts for one hour, however you can hold on to hearts for a while but they lose potency. You also have a maximum number of hearts you can eat in a day based off your constitution bonus.

Hope that helps all your heart eating desires, you can look up the feat in the book if you want the exact details though.

Collin152
2008-08-24, 08:32 PM
Bonus points if it gets you addicted to Dragon's blood.

magellan
2008-08-25, 11:16 AM
Most GMs are almost going to guarantee that a leaf sticks to you and the blood misses it or some such.

Oh Cmon! you are trying to tell me that not only i didnt notice a friggen leaf falling onto my back, no i also bathed in the blood and it didnt slide off or move??

alexi
2008-08-25, 11:36 AM
two words for you: Dragon Aids...