Dawn of Hope: On Dragons

[PhoenixPhyre]

Resurrection is a thing in 5e.

Yeah, I saw that part later and added a bit.

Dragons learning magic in ways other than their natural aptitude is common in d&d fiction.
And if a hatchling during their young age where they does not have their self destruct mechanism activated receive propaganda(for example clerics insists on the fact it should not do anything dangerous) or have specific experiences(such as seeing hatchlings dying from trying to molt and also learning to value life due to stuff like having actual friends which cares about its life and tells it to not molt) it should probably be entitled to make wisdom saves against the draw of wanting to suicide Molt.

Most hatchlings don't leave the lair or the supervision of their parents until they set out on their Molt journey. So they're thoroughly indoctrinated. Remember that they don't even have individual names at this point--their society pushes them toward the Molt pretty heavily. But I guess such a thing could happen.

I'd still bet that the parents would consider them aberrant and cast-out or kill them as soon as it became apparent that they weren't heading toward their Molt.

Until one year old hatchlings does not try to suicide so before if they see ways to avoid becoming suicidal creatures of course they might want to grab that way.

Also I am quite sure an adventurer could think "oh that creature as small as a cat is too cute" and then that adventurer would likely try to make it younger(maybe true polymorph it into a younger hatchling periodically) because it does not wants to pay for the Resurrection and is not even sure Resurrection would work. (Also older dragons learns slower than hatchlings or else most of them would be wizards since wizardry does not needs intelligence: it only needs learning(with 3 int you can legitimately become a wizard))

Also in universe wizardry is all about learning so creatures that learns blazingly fast are the most likely to become wizards fast so it is more likely for hatchlings that have their molting delayed to become wizards than for older dragons.
Magitech engineers who wants to stop a dragon from going to the next steps of growth for making a wizard army would make sense since wizardry needs nothing else than learning the right things(and experience if you are an adventurer).

As far as wizardry, my setting sees things a bit differently (departing from the "stock" lore pretty heavily here). No matter how much you learn, not everyone (even smart ones) may not be able to actually cast spells (ie spend spell slots). And even those that can often cap out early--99% of people who can cast spells cap at about 2nd level spells, no matter how hard they try and learn. That is, spell-casting requires an innate talent and experience. Even for wizards or clerics. It's why most priests are not clerics--they get miracles sometimes when they pray but can't really reallocate their spells like a PC could.

Dragons descend from Wyrm, who wielded True Sorcery (basically will-and-word-based elemental magic, a la Skyrim). Wizardry is an elvish invention (due to a root intervention on the basic framework of reality) that mixed Titan runes and Wyrm sorcery and in doing so diminished both of them and broke those races. So dragons that learn human magic systems really act more like sorcerers--their spell patterns are inherent in their nature rather than learned intellectually. And that capacity doesn't develop until they grow in power (which requires Molting) anyway.

Maturation and growth in power is locked behind the Molts. And that's part of the soul--the Molt is triggered when the hatchling's soul hits its "full" capacity (like a snake shedding its skin when it outgrows it).

So a "unmolted" hatchling would be a stunted thing--forever unable (barring outside intervention) to grow beyond its current state. It would be a hatchling forever, forever unable to become anything else.