Scalenex
2006-12-21, 10:02 PM
"What proof do you have that you didn't vanquish a stalwart defender of the weak in your mad lust for treasure??"
"Ummmm, it's scales weren't all shiny"
if you don't want a dragon's alignment to be readily understandable, if your players all read the dragon's powers in the MM and you want to throw a curve ball, if you want dragons of different alignments to have more commonalities (or fewer), if you want to have NG, NE, N, CN, or LN dragons, this is for you!
In my D&D world, any two adult dragons can mate. The offspring dragon(s) may or may not manifest powers similar to their parents. A dragon's early choices influence their powers and aptitudes.
Step One: Select a concept, roll out (or point distribute base ability scores) as if you had no modifiers, then select age category and HD
Category Age Size HD AC
1-Wyrmling 0-5 Small 3-6 HD AC 4
2-Very Young 6-15 Medium +3 HD AC 6
3-Young 15-25 Medium +6 HD AC 9
4-Juvenile 26-50 Large +9 HD AC 11
5-Young Adult 51-100 Large DR 5/Magic +12 HD AC 14
6-Adult 101-200 Large +15 HD AC 17
7-Mature Adult 201-400 Huge DR 10/Magic +18 HD AC 19
8-Old 401-600 Huge +21 HD AC 22
9-Very Old 600-800 Huge DR 15/Magic +24 HD AC 25
10-Ancient 800-1,000 Gargantuan +27 HD AC 26
11-Wyrm 1,001-1,200 Gargantuan DR 20/Magic +30 HD AC 29
12-Great Wyrm 1,201-2,000 Gargantuan +33 HD AC 32
13-Second Age Dragon 2,001+ Colossal DR 25/Magic +36 HD AC 31
Bite 2 Claws 2 Wings Tail Slap Crush Tail Sweep
S 1d6 1d4 - - - -
M 1d8 1d6 1d4 - - -
L 2d6 1d8 1d6 1d8 - -
H 2d8 2d6 1d8 2d6 2d6 -
G 4d6 2d8 2d6 2d8 2d8 2d6
C 4d8 4d6 2d8 4d6 4d6 2d8
Bite Base Strength
Claws/Wings Half Strength
Tail/Crush 1 ½ Strength
The size modifiers are already included in AC, 2nd age dragon refers to my own metaplot, these dragons are old enough to remember a time before humans existed
Str Dex* Con Int/Wis/Cha
Wyrmling +2 +0 +2 +0
Very Young +4 +0 +2 +0
Young +6 +0 +4 +2
Juvenile +8 +0 +4 +2
Young Adult +10 +0 +6 +4
Adult +12 +0 +6 +4
Mature Adult +14 +0 +8 +6
Old +16 +0 +8 +6
Very Old +18 +0 +10 +8
Ancient +20 +0 +10 +8
Wyrm +22 +0 +12 +10
Great Wyrm +24 +0 +12 +10
Second Age Dragon +26 +0 +14 +12
Base Saves = ½ HD (rounded down) +2 (in other words as a monk of that level)
Base Attack = +1 per HD for first 20 HD, +1 per 2 HD after 20 (rounded up)
Sorcerer Level = Int Modifier +Wis Modifier + Cha Modifier
(Charisma still determines maximum level of spells, bonus spells, and save modifier)
Now here's the tricky part. Add up all the dragons HD. Each HD is one point. The points may be spent on special abilities or on strengthening the dragons breath weapon See below:
Power Point Cost
Spell-like ability, once per day Level of spell
Spell-like ability, three times per day level of spell+1
Spell like ability at will level of spell+3
Weak Lethal Breath Weapon* -1
Minor Lethal Breath Weapon* 0
Moderate Lethal Breath Weapon* 1
Strong Lethal Breath Weapon* 3
Mighty Lethal Breath Weapon* 5
Additional Lethal Breath Weapon** 3
Additional Non-lethal Breath Weapon** 4
Water Breathing 1
Tongues 1
Telepathic Communication with any being 3
+4 Camouflage in broad terrain type (desert, forest, etc) 1
+4 Camouflage in all terrains 2
Alter Form (as a Silver Dragon) 4
Points can be saved up till the dragon ages, but saving too many points weakens the dragon.
*Lethal Breath Weapons can be fire (line or cone), cold (cone only), chlorine gas (cone only), acid (line only), sonic (cone only), lightning (line only). Primary Breath Weapons come with immunities to damage type (fire and cold weapons include a slight vulnerability to the opposite power).
** Additional breath weapons still confer immunities and the dragon can switch between them interchangeable but it does not affect the rounds a dragon must wait before making additional breath weapon attacks. Non-lethal Breath Weapon attacks are all gaseous and can be Sleep, Repulsion, or Slow gas.
Breath Weapon damage is as follows:
Feats: HD divided by three (rounded down) plus one
Skills: Six skill points per HD base, what is or isn’t a class skill depends on the dragon’s personality. Most max out Listen, Spot, and Search.
The save difficulty for a dragons frightful presence and breath weapon are the same difficulty (though obviously frightful presence is Will and breath is Reflex)
Frightful Presence Save and Breath Weapon Save DC = 10+ 1/2 HD + Cha modifier
Spell Resistance is = to HD + (2 times Cha modifier)
Edit: CR is estimated to be 3/4 of HD, that's slightly higher than the CR of most of the dragons in the MM
"Ummmm, it's scales weren't all shiny"
if you don't want a dragon's alignment to be readily understandable, if your players all read the dragon's powers in the MM and you want to throw a curve ball, if you want dragons of different alignments to have more commonalities (or fewer), if you want to have NG, NE, N, CN, or LN dragons, this is for you!
In my D&D world, any two adult dragons can mate. The offspring dragon(s) may or may not manifest powers similar to their parents. A dragon's early choices influence their powers and aptitudes.
Step One: Select a concept, roll out (or point distribute base ability scores) as if you had no modifiers, then select age category and HD
Category Age Size HD AC
1-Wyrmling 0-5 Small 3-6 HD AC 4
2-Very Young 6-15 Medium +3 HD AC 6
3-Young 15-25 Medium +6 HD AC 9
4-Juvenile 26-50 Large +9 HD AC 11
5-Young Adult 51-100 Large DR 5/Magic +12 HD AC 14
6-Adult 101-200 Large +15 HD AC 17
7-Mature Adult 201-400 Huge DR 10/Magic +18 HD AC 19
8-Old 401-600 Huge +21 HD AC 22
9-Very Old 600-800 Huge DR 15/Magic +24 HD AC 25
10-Ancient 800-1,000 Gargantuan +27 HD AC 26
11-Wyrm 1,001-1,200 Gargantuan DR 20/Magic +30 HD AC 29
12-Great Wyrm 1,201-2,000 Gargantuan +33 HD AC 32
13-Second Age Dragon 2,001+ Colossal DR 25/Magic +36 HD AC 31
Bite 2 Claws 2 Wings Tail Slap Crush Tail Sweep
S 1d6 1d4 - - - -
M 1d8 1d6 1d4 - - -
L 2d6 1d8 1d6 1d8 - -
H 2d8 2d6 1d8 2d6 2d6 -
G 4d6 2d8 2d6 2d8 2d8 2d6
C 4d8 4d6 2d8 4d6 4d6 2d8
Bite Base Strength
Claws/Wings Half Strength
Tail/Crush 1 ½ Strength
The size modifiers are already included in AC, 2nd age dragon refers to my own metaplot, these dragons are old enough to remember a time before humans existed
Str Dex* Con Int/Wis/Cha
Wyrmling +2 +0 +2 +0
Very Young +4 +0 +2 +0
Young +6 +0 +4 +2
Juvenile +8 +0 +4 +2
Young Adult +10 +0 +6 +4
Adult +12 +0 +6 +4
Mature Adult +14 +0 +8 +6
Old +16 +0 +8 +6
Very Old +18 +0 +10 +8
Ancient +20 +0 +10 +8
Wyrm +22 +0 +12 +10
Great Wyrm +24 +0 +12 +10
Second Age Dragon +26 +0 +14 +12
Base Saves = ½ HD (rounded down) +2 (in other words as a monk of that level)
Base Attack = +1 per HD for first 20 HD, +1 per 2 HD after 20 (rounded up)
Sorcerer Level = Int Modifier +Wis Modifier + Cha Modifier
(Charisma still determines maximum level of spells, bonus spells, and save modifier)
Now here's the tricky part. Add up all the dragons HD. Each HD is one point. The points may be spent on special abilities or on strengthening the dragons breath weapon See below:
Power Point Cost
Spell-like ability, once per day Level of spell
Spell-like ability, three times per day level of spell+1
Spell like ability at will level of spell+3
Weak Lethal Breath Weapon* -1
Minor Lethal Breath Weapon* 0
Moderate Lethal Breath Weapon* 1
Strong Lethal Breath Weapon* 3
Mighty Lethal Breath Weapon* 5
Additional Lethal Breath Weapon** 3
Additional Non-lethal Breath Weapon** 4
Water Breathing 1
Tongues 1
Telepathic Communication with any being 3
+4 Camouflage in broad terrain type (desert, forest, etc) 1
+4 Camouflage in all terrains 2
Alter Form (as a Silver Dragon) 4
Points can be saved up till the dragon ages, but saving too many points weakens the dragon.
*Lethal Breath Weapons can be fire (line or cone), cold (cone only), chlorine gas (cone only), acid (line only), sonic (cone only), lightning (line only). Primary Breath Weapons come with immunities to damage type (fire and cold weapons include a slight vulnerability to the opposite power).
** Additional breath weapons still confer immunities and the dragon can switch between them interchangeable but it does not affect the rounds a dragon must wait before making additional breath weapon attacks. Non-lethal Breath Weapon attacks are all gaseous and can be Sleep, Repulsion, or Slow gas.
Breath Weapon damage is as follows:
Feats: HD divided by three (rounded down) plus one
Skills: Six skill points per HD base, what is or isn’t a class skill depends on the dragon’s personality. Most max out Listen, Spot, and Search.
The save difficulty for a dragons frightful presence and breath weapon are the same difficulty (though obviously frightful presence is Will and breath is Reflex)
Frightful Presence Save and Breath Weapon Save DC = 10+ 1/2 HD + Cha modifier
Spell Resistance is = to HD + (2 times Cha modifier)
Edit: CR is estimated to be 3/4 of HD, that's slightly higher than the CR of most of the dragons in the MM