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PhoenixPhyre
2019-01-07, 08:21 PM
I'm rebuilding how my setting's dragons work. In part, I'm dropping the "color = power" hierarchy and the fixed alignments, and giving each color of dragon unique traits. The difference between metallics and chromatics is that metallics are spell-casters and more likely to get involved with mortals (and thus learn to shapeshift). Another major change is that I've realigned the color/element match-up:



Color
Energy Type (Element/Plane)


Black
Necrotic (Abyss)


Blue
Lightning (Air)


Green
Acid (Earth)


Red
Fire (Fire)


White
Cold (Water)


Brass
Thunder (Air)


Bronze
Fire (Water, super-heated steam)


Copper
Acid (Earth, really sand breath)


Gold
Radiant (Astral)


Silver
Fire (Fire)



Black and gold break the pattern and are unusual--they can be spell-casters or not without changing color.


As such, I'm thinking of traits/special abilities that fit the set-up. Here are the ones I have so far:
Black: Regenerative Consumption (heal when they bite something), Planeshift 1/day (adult/ancient), shapeshifter. Spells, if present, follow a necromantic/fiendish theme.
Blue: Reactive freedom (can cast misty step at will as reaction to being hit or as bonus action)
Green: Amphibious, Active camouflage (pass without trace at will)
Red: Fire scrying (scrying 1/day using fire as a focus), Fire shaping (can make lasting structures out of fire, can control whether the fire burns people)
White: Ice Walk (as in the MM), Animal Domination (can cast animal friendship at will, dominate beast 3/day)

Brass: Gift of Tongues (constant effect tongues on self), shapeshifter, spell-caster using an aeromancer/mesmer theme.
Bronze: Amphibious, Water Shaping (like fire shaping, but water), shapeshifter, spell-caster using a hydromancer/plant(?) theme
Copper: Active camouflage, shapeshifter, spell-caster using illusionist/geomancy theme
Gold: Regeneration, planeshift 1/day (adult/ancient). Spells, if present, follow a divine warrior/purify-by-fire theme.
Silver: Friend of the People (casts charm person at will, targets unaware), spell-caster using a seer/transmuter(?)/pyromancer theme, shapeshifter.

Spell-casting is CHA-based, using full-caster progression as if they were a sorcerer of level = CR - 4. Wyrmlings can't cast spells. Dragons don't need material components for spells--they're their own arcane focus. Note that they're not pulling from the sorcerer list--they're using any spell that fits the theme.

Some of these traits aren't too pinned down and the balance is weak--are there better ones? Any suggestions?

Dragons_Ire
2019-01-14, 04:13 PM
I love these. My only question would be, do Shadow dragons exist in your setting? If so, they'll overlap with Black, but you could change them by giving them other things

Darkness at will
Invisibility/Greater Invisibility
Sneak attack

PhoenixPhyre
2019-01-14, 06:28 PM
I love these. My only question would be, do Shadow dragons exist in your setting? If so, they'll overlap with Black, but you could change them by giving them other things

Darkness at will
Invisibility/Greater Invisibility
Sneak attack


I'm thinking black is the new shadow.

aimlessPolymath
2019-01-14, 07:02 PM
Ideas:

Blue: Lightning/Air, so weather control is a major theme.
Green: Acid/Earth: Burrowing by dissolving, destroying objects on contact a la sphere of annihilation, softening earth into mud and reshaping it like clay.
Red: High temperatures as a possible environmental effect. Simply standing near it could dehydrate and overheat people should it desire.
White: Looks like a bestial theme here, so animal-limited shapeshifting and the ability to see through the eyes of animals are possibilities. Also thinking about ice scrying (magic mirror) or the ability to merge with/travel through reflective surfaces (ice).

Brass: You have sound as a theme in the other post, so I might expect really loud echolocation (deafening and locating those nearby with one loud musical roar) or entrancing people musically.
Bronze: I'm thinking biology/botany- shark/fish summoning/command, or perhaps entangling creatures with vines of seaweed. Magic + Water to me says "origin of life". Regeneration more appropriate here than in Gold IMO, perhaps restricted to while in the water.
Copper: Magic + Sand = Illusion or time magic- ephemeral effects. I'd like to see a dispel magic type-ability that transforms a spell into an illusion of itself, or cuts its remaining duration to 1 round. Alternatively, negating damage by throwing off an illusion of the damage or reversing it.
Silver: Teleportation through flame, and I'd really like there to be a rebirth ability somewhere, as a callback to the phoenix myth.

The Sor casting you describe doesn't quite match what you say elsewhere, about chromatics having weaker magic but stronger physical abilities. Do you intend to represent the difference with a change in stat arrangement?

PhoenixPhyre
2019-01-14, 08:33 PM
Ideas:

Blue: Lightning/Air, so weather control is a major theme.
Green: Acid/Earth: Burrowing by dissolving, destroying objects on contact a la sphere of annihilation, softening earth into mud and reshaping it like clay.
Red: High temperatures as a possible environmental effect. Simply standing near it could dehydrate and overheat people should it desire.
White: Looks like a bestial theme here, so animal-limited shapeshifting and the ability to see through the eyes of animals are possibilities. Also thinking about ice scrying (magic mirror) or the ability to merge with/travel through reflective surfaces (ice).


Those look good. I'll have to ruminate on them a bit, but looks usable.



Brass: You have sound as a theme in the other post, so I might expect really loud echolocation (deafening and locating those nearby with one loud musical roar) or entrancing people musically.
Bronze: I'm thinking biology/botany- shark/fish summoning/command, or perhaps entangling creatures with vines of seaweed. Magic + Water to me says "origin of life". Regeneration more appropriate here than in Gold IMO, perhaps restricted to while in the water.
Copper: Magic + Sand = Illusion or time magic- ephemeral effects. I'd like to see a dispel magic type-ability that transforms a spell into an illusion of itself, or cuts its remaining duration to 1 round. Alternatively, negating damage by throwing off an illusion of the damage or reversing it.
Silver: Teleportation through flame, and I'd really like there to be a rebirth ability somewhere, as a callback to the phoenix myth.


Also good. I had gone with "regens in the light/regens vampirically" as a mirror effect for black/gold, but...



The Sor casting you describe doesn't quite match what you say elsewhere, about chromatics having weaker magic but stronger physical abilities. Do you intend to represent the difference with a change in stat arrangement?
[/QUOTE]

I haven't posted the stats per se. I've basically broken individuals into Strong/Medium/Weak categories (Strong and Weak are templates on top of Medium) and plan on putting Chromatics mostly in Strong/Medium with metallics into Medium/Weak (although with overlap and exceptions of course).