nWoD fansplat: Dragon: the Inheritance

[Sgt. Cookie]

Darting Tail Attack is a bit too good for a first-dot ability. Subtracting anything from another character's Defense is the same as adding it to your own dice pool, and +[lower of Brawl and Dexterity] can be big. I'm not sure what would be a good replacement, though.

Hm. Make it a Rote action only usable AFTER an opponent has had a turn?

Snapping Tail is still borked. I suggest you take a look at Heavy Weapons • for an example of how you would word that particular effect (adding Successes means that you auto-hit, which is probably not your intent; you want to increase the weapon bonus.)

That is PRECISELY what I wanted to do. Thanks!

Binding Grasp is weirdly worded, but otherwise fine.

I'll try to clear that up then.

Wide Sweep is 0.0; the usual equivalent is dealing automatic damage to anyone who walks within your reach.

I tried to make it similar to how Autofire attacks can attack multiple opponents, but, y'know, without "actually" making the Tail Attack Autofire.

What does Perfect Strike even do? Does it just remove the drawbacks for the other techniques?

Oddly worded, I'll grant. I'll clean that up.

EDIT: Alright, how's this look?

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Fighting Style: Scorpion Tail (● to ●●●●●)
Prerequisites: Dexterity ●●●, Brawl ●●, Character must have a tail

Effect: Your character is trained in a fighting style that emphasises using your tail in a combat situation. Obviously, this is intended to be used while you are in the Drakonos form. You may have learned this as part of your inheritance, or you learned it later on after your tail got in the way one-to-many times or perhaps you just picked it up along the way.

This style makes mention of a "Tail Attack", which is where you attack as if your tail were a Whip (Armoury, damage 0/L), for every 3 points of size above 4 you are, your Tail Attack gains 1 yard of range (As such, starting Dragons get +1 Range). A Tail Attack is always Dexterity + Brawl. You may, of course, make a Tail Attack as an ordinary attack.

Despite it being Dexterity based, Tail Attacks benefit from the Extra Damage granted by the Bones of the Mountain legacy and can be upgraded to Aggravated Damage, via the Rampage auxiliary.

Darting Tail Attack (●): With sudden flicks and movements, your opponent never knows where to expect to defend from. You may make a Tail Attack as a Rote Action, but only after your opponent has acted in the round.
Drawback: Any damage dealt by your Tail Attack is downgraded one step. (So, Bashing, by default.)

Snapping Tail (●●): You suddenly lash out with your tail. It'll certainly hurt, assuming it hits. By activating this Maneuver Reflexively, you gain a bonus to your Tail Attack's Damage Rating, to a maximum of your Brawl. You may choose how much extra Damage you get. You may not use Snapping Tail in conjunction with another Maneuver.
Drawback: For every extra Damage Rating you take, you suffer a -3 penalty to your Attack Pool.

Binding Grasp (●●●): With a swift shuffle, you wrap your long tail around an opponent, binding limbs and the like. You may attempt to grapple an opponent in range, using Dexterity + Brawl, rather than Strength + Brawl and you may not utilise the "Render opponent prone" effect. For every extra Yard of range you have, your Dexterity is treated as one point higher. This grapple, and any post-grapple effects, are made in addition to your ordinary actions.
Drawback: While an opponent is grappled in such a manner, your defence is halved.
Note: This is NOT a "ranged grapple" effect. Your opponent is still drawn to you as if this were a regular Grapple.

Wide Sweep (●●●●): With a wide blow, you strike multiple opponents. You may make a Tail Attack against multiple opponents who are in range, to a maximum number of opponents equal to your Dexterity. All attacks are made with a single attack roll. Not one roll per opponent.
Drawback: Each extra opponent inflicts an accumulative -1 penalty to the roll. Similar to attacking multiple opponents with Autofire weapons.

Perfect Strike (●●●●●): When you use a Scorpion Tail Maneuver, you may activate Perfect Strike along side it. If you do, replace the original Drawback with Perfect Strike's for a round.
Drawback: Spend one Willpower point per attack. Note that this Willpower expenditure does not add three dice to the attack. Activating Perfect Strike with Binding Grasp only removes the penalty for the round.
Special: If you are in the Tyranos form, this maneuver is always active, provided you know it, and costs no Willpower.

[Xallace]

I think it looks good, though you should specify that the maneuver that lets you hit multiple targets uses a single attack roll. It's implied but I could see confusion.

Edit: Also, Eris, your contributions for Heads of Wise Counsel and a couple other legacies have been added to the doc.

[Sgt. Cookie]

Aaaand done!

EDIT: I have questions.

Is there a term for a Dragon that has yet to encounter its identity crisis? Or are they also called Heir-Apparent? I ask because the text appears to imply that an "Heir-Apparent" is someone who's broadcasting "Yep, I'm ready to become a Dragon now! Better hurry!"

And if there IS a term for these pre-crisis individuals, are they subject to Enkindling like ordinary humans?

Looking back over Scorpion Tail, I was wondering. Should a Tail Attack be something available to all Dragons, or just those who have taken Scorpion Tail?

[Almarck]

Anyone got any further commentary on the Spurned?

[One Tin Soldier]

Aaaand done!

EDIT: I have questions.

Is there a term for a Dragon that has yet to encounter its identity crisis? Or are they also called Heir-Apparent? I ask because the text appears to imply that an "Heir-Apparent" is someone who's broadcasting "Yep, I'm ready to become a Dragon now! Better hurry!"

And if there IS a term for these pre-crisis individuals, are they subject to Enkindling like ordinary humans?

Looking back over Scorpion Tail, I was wondering. Should a Tail Attack be something available to all Dragons, or just those who have taken Scorpion Tail?

You're correct, Heirs Apparent are people ready to become Heirs. We don't have a term for dragons who haven't had their crisis yet because they're basically indistinguishable from normal humans.
As for whether they can be Enkindled or not, that's something we haven't addressed. I'm inclined to say that yes they can be Enkindled, but generally won't become Slayers. Or, possibly, becoming a Slayer means that the person can't become an Heir. It's very hard to definitively prove either way.

Any dragon with a tail can attack with it. Substituting Dex for Strength, I'd say you need either Fighting Finesse or the Scorpion Tail style.

[Xallace]

I had a couple brief ideas for a fire breath style.

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Fusilier Breath Style (●-●●●)
Prerequisites: Resolve ●●●, Stamina ●●●, ability to breathe fire.

● Firing Stance: You take a solid stance that makes up for kickback from your flame breath. When you breath fire, you gain a +2 bonus to the attack roll.
Drawback: In any round in which you use this maneuver, you cannot move more than half your speed.

●● Deep Breathing: You have mastered various breathing techniques to enhance the power of your flame. When you aim your fire breath, each round spent aiming grants an additional damage success, rather than a +1 bonus to the die roll. You may still only aim for a maximum of three turns.
Drawback: In order to build up enough breath, you leave yourself open to attacks. You lose your defense on any round in which you use this maneuver. You can still aim normally to avoid the drawback.

●●● Explosive Exhalation: Most of the time, fire breath results in a stream of flame meant to set creatures and objects alight. You have mastered the technique of expelling flame all at once in an explosive burst, rather than over a sustained streamed. When you use a blast of flame breath, you can target a single individual with this maneuver. If you successfully hit that target, they are blown a number of yards equal to the successes rolled + the damage bonus, in addition to taking damage.
Drawback: The damage on this maneuver is lowered by one step; so lethal becomes bashing, and aggravated becomes lethal.

[Amechra]

For Sgt. Cookie (we have quite the military theme going here, don't we?)

Darting Tail Attack
Whenever you make a Tail Attack against a character with a higher Initiative count than you, the attack roll is made as a Rote action.
I have a feeling that that is still too strong for a one-dot effect. In my head, I'm visualizing the Dragon using this technique to destabilize and off-balance an opponent. What do you think about...
Whenever you make a Tail Attack against another character, you may choose to make it as a Darting Tail Attack; if you do so, the other character's Defense is reduced by two on a successful attack until their next action, rather than by one. Drawback: The damage dealt by a Darting Tail Attack is downgraded by one step before applying the benefits of Armor and other effects that downgrade or prevent damage.

Snapping Tail
It's a "Weapon Bonus" not a "Damage Bonus"; it would also be cleaner to phrase the actual rules as:
You may reflexively take a penalty to your attack roll, to a maximum of three times your Brawl rating; for every -3 penalty you take, rounded down, your Weapon Bonus increases by one for the attack.
Looking at it this way... I'm not liking it. After all, if I have Brawl 4 and a 3-die attack pool (after Defense and other penalties), I can take a -12 penalty to my attack roll, taking me down to a Chance Die, but giving me a +4 to my damage if I do hit. NWoD doesn't have a hard limit on how big a penalty you can take; anything past a certain point just drops you to a chance die.
I'd suggest just doing a copy of Heavy Weapons • that also gives you some Armor Piercing (Armor Piercing 2 sounds good to me.)

Binding Grasp
Doesn't really seem to fit with the other Techniques, come to think of it. I mean, look at it this way: Darting Tail Attack, Snapping Tail, and Wide Sweep are all based around smacking someone with your tail, while Perfect Strike is an iffy meta thing. Then, right in the middle, you have a Scorpion-style (MK, not the animal) "Get over here!" It doesn't "chain" well. Plus, well, you never specified that the tail had to be prehensile. This would let, say, a Werewolf grapple a bloke with their tail. Which is kinda silly.
Maybe have their Tail Attacks gain the Stun quality? They bash you over the head with their tail, or whatever.

Wide Sweep
I still hold that this should be a "anyone dumb enough to come within reach takes auto-damage", but that's my preference. To avoid my bias, I will avoid further comments on this.

Perfect Strike
Not a fan of the implementation; as it stands, I could use this with Snapping Tail to just add my Brawl rating to my damage or with Wide Sweep to attack an unlimited number of guys. I dunno, just doesn't feel right in my gut.

On Tail Attacks
Tail Attacks are kinda unnecessary (read the rest of this comment!), since you can already fluff your Brawl attacks as beating someone up with your tail. As such, I'd replace "Tail Attack" with "Brawl attacks made with your tail". If you want to use Dex, take Fighting Finesse (might make a good prerequisite for this merit); the extra reach is implicit in your HUGEITUDE (to be more specific: distances and scales in NWoD are usually kept pretty vague, especially when talking about your character's reach.)

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For Xallace

Firing Stance
Looks fine to me; combos well with making an All-Out Attack with your fire-breath (+4 to the attack roll in exchange to becoming a naked turtle for a turn? Sounds fair to me!)

Deep Breathing
I'd go with "increases the damage dealt by 1", rather than boosting the Damage Rating. But that's just me. Also, you might want to note that this retains the normal cap for aiming (+3 to your attack roll.)

Explosive Exhalation
I like this. I like this alot. Like alot of fire. Blast someone off a building. Because Dragon.

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Heirs Apparent - Pre-I-Is-Obviously-Heir-Apparent-NOTICE-ME!

May I suggest Heir Presumptive?

[Eris]

It's worth noting for fire breath stuff, you can only all-out attack when using brawl or weaponry. And I'll try to run down the last 4 legacies I haven't looked at yet later tonight.

[Xallace]

True. Although it seems like it wouldn't be a particularly unbalanced to be able to all-out with flame weapons. I've got other ideas for a separate fire-related style (one that can be used for flamethrowers as well as fire breath), so it might be a decent one- or two-dot in there.

Is it too much to have two separate styles devoted to killing things with fire? Some might say so. I am not one of those people.

"Heir Presumptive" makes sense, but like Soldier said it's pretty much impossible to tell the difference between an normal human and an Heir who hasn't become Apparent. Nobody really is Presumptive, they just were. So even if it comes up, it will be in very minor contexts.

[Sgt. Cookie]

(These are drunk thoughts, so coherency is not guaranteed. Reply to Amchera will be when I've sobered up, but short version is: You're right. Except on Wide Sweep. As "to a maximum number of opponents equal to your Dexterity" is part of the Maneuver itself, not the Drawback. So, no, you cannot attack an infinite number of people with Perfect Strike.)

The contexts may be minor, but otherwise important. A would-be Dragon gets Enkindled. Does he ACTUALLY get Enkindled? Does he become a Slayer? It might be a niche circumstance, but it IS an important one.

Do you think a merit to allow an ordinary Human to go "Cool story bro" when Enkindled would be OK? Perhaps they were a huge fan of Dragons as a kid or perhaps their "holy s**t, THAT EXISTS!?!?" reaction has just become numb.

[Amechra]

True. Although it seems like it wouldn't be a particularly unbalanced to be able to all-out with flame weapons. I've got other ideas for a separate fire-related style (one that can be used for flamethrowers as well as fire breath), so it might be a decent one- or two-dot in there.

Is it too much to have two separate styles devoted to killing things with fire? Some might say so. I am not one of those people.

"Heir Presumptive" makes sense, but like Soldier said it's pretty much impossible to tell the difference between an normal human and an Heir who hasn't become Apparent. Nobody really is Presumptive, they just were. So even if it comes up, it will be in very minor contexts.

I think the bare minimum is two; you're letting down Team Pyro otherwise.

And to Eris and Sgt. Cookie... Egg. Face. On. Embarrass. In my defense, I had to construct a Turing Machine tonight, so I have excuses.

EDIT: Wait... Heir Presumptive can be a title for Spurned.

[Sgt. Cookie]

Don't worry Amechra, we all make mistakes. Mine was consuming 9 Carlsburg's in the space of about 4-5 hours.

Drunk edit: The hell's a "Turing machine"?

[Eris]

Okay, gonna try to go through the rest of the general legacies

Hide of Iron

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000 Immutable Bearing
Your tenacity is part of your very being, rooting root to where you intend to be. Any attempts to move you against your will suffer a penalty equal to your stamina. The will you possess also keeps you in whatever form you choose; any effects that try to change part of your being also suffer the stamina penalty. Also, when you succeed at restraining someone in combat, they take the stamina penalty and cannot roll at all if reduced to a chance die.

Switch iron mind to 0000. Possibly remove it altogether due to it stepping on Grace a bit.

Presence of the Emperor

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0 Echos of the Emperor
Strangers tend to assume the dragon is a figure of authority. The dragon can choose to enhance this image. Whenever you spend a willpower while acting as the targets superior, your roll gains the 8-again property in addition to the +3 dice.

00000 Flag on the Horizon
The dragon is an exceptionally intimidating presence, and creatures are affected by fear simply knowing she is there. Whenever the Dragon chooses to cast his glare against a target or a group, everyone targeted must roll Resolve+Kauchaumai-the dragon's Presence.

Dramatic failure: The Target's mind is overwhelmed the majesty of the dragon's form. They can do nothing except flee the scene, cower in fear, or follow the dragon's commands.
Failure: The target suffers a -3 to all rolls other than fleeing or capitulating to the dragon
Success: The target suffers a -1 to all rolls other than fleeing or capitulating to the dragon
Exceptional Success: The target may act as the choose, even in the face of such raw charisma
(This last one was hard to balance around being a 5 dot power, could maybe swap with Steal the Show.)

Tongue of the Serpent

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000 Honeyed Tongue
The dragon's words fall sweetly on everyone's ears, lulling them away from what the dragon is actually saying. While this auxiliary functions similarly to Give Command, except the iron command is hidden behind other words. The magic of the dragon's commands is no longer obvious, with onlookers usually assuming the target simply chose to follow the command. On an exceptional success, even the target isn't sure why they did what they were told.

000 Bent Words
They dragon's wordplay can be tailored to his friends and enemies at the same time. By spending a willpower and speaking for at least a minute, they can ensure that each person comes away with a different message. A number of unique targets up to the dragon's Kauchaumai+1 only understands part of what the dragon actually said. Social rolls may be made by the dragon against targets individually without other onlookers noticing.

This horrid power allows a dragon to control parts of a victim that they cannot even control themselves. By staring into a target’s eyes, the dragon can take control of a target’s autonomous functions. This power is often preceded by Dread Gaze, locking the target in and then shutting them down.

0000 Venomous gaze

This horrid power allows a dragon to control parts of a victim that they cannot even control themselves. By staring into a target’s eyes, the dragon can take control of a target’s autonomous functions. This power is often preceded by Dread Gaze, locking the target in and then shutting them down.

Action: Instant
Cost: 2 Willpower
Roll: Manipulation + Kauchaomai vs Stamina + Kauchaomai OR Resolve + Kauchaomai

Dramatic Failure: The gaze falls back upon the dragon, their vision seeing only their own reflection in the targets eyes. The target is unaffected, and the dragon can take no actions in the next turn.

Failure: Your powers of control are blocked at the target averts their gaze at the last moment.

Success: The dragon gains control over the target’s autonomous functions (such as breathing and heartbeat) so long as they retain eye contact with the victim. The dragon can speed up, slow down, or even turn off these functions as they will it. The dragon may choose to deal damage to the target, reflexively rolling manipulation+intimidation, each success causing 1 bashing damage.

Exceptional Success: As a success, except you may choose to deal additional amount of damage equal to your
kauchaumai rating on top of the manipulation+intimidation roll.

0000 Standing Orders

Your power to bend minds to your will improves to the point that your commands echo around in their head, even after they have left your presence. As give command, except the actual command occurs at some trigger you specify. The target cannot remember the command or trigger if you succeed, though others may feel free to key them in. May be combined with Honeyed Tongue or Bent words for an additional willpower point each.

00000 Anything for You

Your commands strike at the core of the targets being. They may now be forced to take actions that requires them to make break checks.

00000 Total Control

The target of your gaze becomes nothing more that a puppet to your will. So long as the eye contact remains unbroken, the target cannot take any actions on their own. You may choose to take an instant action each turn to force the target to act for you. They act under their best capacity to act as you will them too, though you may not know all that the target is capable of.

Wings of the Heavens

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000 Prison Break
The dragon cannot be bound by normal means, and gains superior defense against supernatural bindings. When the dragons seeks to break free from a binding, they may add their Kauchaumai to their rolls to escape. Additionally, they may spend a willpower escape containment that they would usually not be allowed to roll to escape.

Action: Instant
Cost: 1 Willpower
Roll: Dexterity-Kauchaumai (if applicable)

Dramatic Failure: The dragon panics as they feel the futility of escaping. They suffer -2 to all rolls for the rest of the scene.

Failure: Even your adroitness is not enough to free yourself.

Success: An effect that is currently keeping the dragon from moving or escaping immediately stops effecting the dragon.

Exceptional Success: The entire effect containing the dragon ends, possibly fleeing other trapped allies.

0000 Walk Road Unseen

There are many ways to move from point a to point b. While many are obvious, there are leaps and jumps that are beyond mortal kenning. By reflexively spending a willpower on their turn, the dragon may move (Dexterity) yards to anywhere the see, disappearing from their starting point and instantly arriving where they wish.

0000 Only a Myth

Modern science still must submit to the ancient powers of fate. Utilizing their will to be free, they become nigh-impossible to track or follow. By spending a willpower, all scientific means of tracking the dragon, be it a gps chip, satellite footage, or radar, fail to find them for the next scene (or maybe day?). Mundane or supernatural effects also have considerable more trouble finding the dragon. Tracking via witnesses or trails left behind take a penalty equal to the dots in this legacy. Supernatural scrying and tracking powers take the same penalty.

Again, I kinda did these to get stuff on the paper, some still need some formatting to finalize, and some will probably be unbalanced or need to be swapped up or down with other auxiliaries.

[Almarck]

So on thinking on it, is the Dexterous Claws merit important? By this I mean why is it not a standard part of being a dragon since past a certain point you go through alot of trouble or have items resize. I'm thinking all it really does is provide a merit sink for something most dragons are not gonna do anyways with the significant time and resource investment neccesary just to use it. It feels redundant.


Additionally has there been any decisions or progress made on Testaments and Monumemnts,?

[Sgt. Cookie]

I don't know why I wrote this, but I wrote this.

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It started out so innocuously. A strange bite from an insect while he was in Drakonos. “Probably just a horse fly or something”, the Drake Aladanis thought. Nothing to be particularly concerned about, a little blood and something got to eat. Whatever, y’know? Probably gonna get that checked out, later, but right now, it didn’t really matter. He was just content to be away from people, so he could be in his true form. It was an uplifting experience.

He stayed that way for about a day or two, hunting the wildlife for sustenance. But soon, he yearned to be with his hoard again. An entire room of his house, dedicated to 60s films. Posters, memorabilia, tapes. Even a vintage VHS player to play them on. Perhaps he’ll watch Psycho again or maybe The Producers. Ah, hell. He’ll watch them both, why even pretend to be fussed? It was getting late, so now was a good time to head home.

He flew as close to town as he dared, before returning to his Anthropos form, an unassuming man in his 20s wearing a t-shirt and jeans. The very definition of “average”. Which was the point. It was a little harder than usual to change back, but he brushed it aside, probably just tired. He walked back to his apartment in the evening air, feeling a little nauseous he decided to grab some paracetamol when he got in.

An hour later, he was back home and he took a couple of tablets with some water. He decided to put on The Producers. He wasn’t in the mood for some 60s horror. By the time the movie was over, the tablets had kicked in and he felt better. He went to bed to try and sleep off this temporary illness. The next morning he felt worse than yesterday. Parts of his abdomen were in pain and the nausea was back worse than before. He considered calling in sick to work, but decided against it.

He worked as a bartender in some crappy dive bar in the centre of town. The work wasn’t hard, but it wasn’t particularly well-paying either. But, it was enough to live on and enough to fund more additions to his hoard. He’ll have to check later on whether the seller of that Goldfinger poster had gotten back to him. But, for now, he’ll spend the day serving drinks to people.

About five hours into his shift, he felt really unwell. There were no customers right now and if someone came in, his colleague could handle it. For now, he ran to the men’s room, found a toilet and emptied his stomach for about five minutes. He wasn’t particularly all together afterwards. If he was, he would’ve noticed these strange things, that looked a little like black maggots, in the toilet bowl. As such, he just flushed them away and went back to work.

About a week passed with no more of those incidents, but the nausea and the pain still stuck around and were only getting worse. One night, he was walking home thinking he’d just fall into bed. But as he walked home, he felt a strange feeling. It was as if his body was trying to change back into his Drakonos form. It wasn’t much to begin with, but after about 20 minutes, it was taking a great effort not to change into his draconic self. Ten minutes later, his ability to resist failed and Aladanis the Drake was revealed to the world.

Unfortunately, he did so in the middle of a crowded street. Realising the problem, Aladanis tried to fly away, to prevent as much Enkindling as possible, but he found that he didn’t have the strength to do so. He tried running, but he found himself slow and sluggish. “Oh, f**k. Oh, F**K!” he thought, over and over again as people all started running and screaming in fear. Soon police sirens rang out and found their way into the street. Unlike the people in the street, these police officers quickly became Slayers.

Bullets were flying out everywhere, hitting Aladanis in all sides. But he found himself unable to fight back. His movements were sluggish, his thoughts slow and that pain in his abdomen was far more intense than ever. Like something was eating its way out. Soon, the Drake fell to the bullets of the new Slayers, but unlike an ordinary death, he remained in his Drakonos. As the police officers went to the corpse of the dragon they saw a pulsating bulge. After a moment, the bulge exploded and hundreds of these strange, black, fly-like creatures burst out, flying in all different directions. When they looked back at the dragon’s corpse, they saw that he had changed into a human. But the flies? They went on, seeking more dragons to perpetuate their life cycle.

So, yeah. A parasite that infects Dragons as part of its life cycle. Again, I don't know why I did this.

[Leliel]

I don't know why I wrote this, but I wrote this.

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It started out so innocuously. A strange bite from an insect while he was in Drakonos. “Probably just a horse fly or something”, the Drake Aladanis thought. Nothing to be particularly concerned about, a little blood and something got to eat. Whatever, y’know? Probably gonna get that checked out, later, but right now, it didn’t really matter. He was just content to be away from people, so he could be in his true form. It was an uplifting experience.

He stayed that way for about a day or two, hunting the wildlife for sustenance. But soon, he yearned to be with his hoard again. An entire room of his house, dedicated to 60s films. Posters, memorabilia, tapes. Even a vintage VHS player to play them on. Perhaps he’ll watch Psycho again or maybe The Producers. Ah, hell. He’ll watch them both, why even pretend to be fussed? It was getting late, so now was a good time to head home.

He flew as close to town as he dared, before returning to his Anthropos form, an unassuming man in his 20s wearing a t-shirt and jeans. The very definition of “average”. Which was the point. It was a little harder than usual to change back, but he brushed it aside, probably just tired. He walked back to his apartment in the evening air, feeling a little nauseous he decided to grab some paracetamol when he got in.

An hour later, he was back home and he took a couple of tablets with some water. He decided to put on The Producers. He wasn’t in the mood for some 60s horror. By the time the movie was over, the tablets had kicked in and he felt better. He went to bed to try and sleep off this temporary illness. The next morning he felt worse than yesterday. Parts of his abdomen were in pain and the nausea was back worse than before. He considered calling in sick to work, but decided against it.

He worked as a bartender in some crappy dive bar in the centre of town. The work wasn’t hard, but it wasn’t particularly well-paying either. But, it was enough to live on and enough to fund more additions to his hoard. He’ll have to check later on whether the seller of that Goldfinger poster had gotten back to him. But, for now, he’ll spend the day serving drinks to people.

About five hours into his shift, he felt really unwell. There were no customers right now and if someone came in, his colleague could handle it. For now, he ran to the men’s room, found a toilet and emptied his stomach for about five minutes. He wasn’t particularly all together afterwards. If he was, he would’ve noticed these strange things, that looked a little like black maggots, in the toilet bowl. As such, he just flushed them away and went back to work.

About a week passed with no more of those incidents, but the nausea and the pain still stuck around and were only getting worse. One night, he was walking home thinking he’d just fall into bed. But as he walked home, he felt a strange feeling. It was as if his body was trying to change back into his Drakonos form. It wasn’t much to begin with, but after about 20 minutes, it was taking a great effort not to change into his draconic self. Ten minutes later, his ability to resist failed and Aladanis the Drake was revealed to the world.

Unfortunately, he did so in the middle of a crowded street. Realising the problem, Aladanis tried to fly away, to prevent as much Enkindling as possible, but he found that he didn’t have the strength to do so. He tried running, but he found himself slow and sluggish. “Oh, f**k. Oh, F**K!” he thought, over and over again as people all started running and screaming in fear. Soon police sirens rang out and found their way into the street. Unlike the people in the street, these police officers quickly became Slayers.

Bullets were flying out everywhere, hitting Aladanis in all sides. But he found himself unable to fight back. His movements were sluggish, his thoughts slow and that pain in his abdomen was far more intense than ever. Like something was eating its way out. Soon, the Drake fell to the bullets of the new Slayers, but unlike an ordinary death, he remained in his Drakonos. As the police officers went to the corpse of the dragon they saw a pulsating bulge. After a moment, the bulge exploded and hundreds of these strange, black, fly-like creatures burst out, flying in all different directions. When they looked back at the dragon’s corpse, they saw that he had changed into a human. But the flies? They went on, seeking more dragons to perpetuate their life cycle.

So, yeah. A parasite that infects Dragons as part of its life cycle. Again, I don't know why I did this.

Wasn't the demon prince Beelzebub's original purpose to guard sacrifices to the gods from flies before he was interpreted as a demon?

Seems like something that would link to him in a touch of irony (the demonized deity is guarding new ones from the old).

Also, because I'm obsessed with antagonists, imma going to write about the interaction between Slayers and Heroes from Beast: the Primordial. The official game was, after all, originally intended to be about dragons.

I think I'll use that to emphasize the fact that Slayers are actually genuine heroes as opposed to Hero egomania. Quite simply, Slayers worry about collateral damage and becoming worse than the things they fight. A Slayer doesn't hunt their dragon because it makes them more awesome, they do it because they're the best person for the job, and despite the legend will happily admit when something's a little too big for them alone.

Also maybe powers not just based around combat.

[Xallace]

So on thinking on it, is the Dexterous Claws merit important? By this I mean why is it not a standard part of being a dragon since past a certain point you go through alot of trouble or have items resize. I'm thinking all it really does is provide a merit sink for something most dragons are not gonna do anyways with the significant time and resource investment neccesary just to use it. It feels redundant.


Additionally has there been any decisions or progress made on Testaments and Monumemnts,?

Nothing yet on Monuments. Testaments being the equivalent of personal monuments, maybe with a "living, growing" component seems to be where we'd be going with them.

Not sure what I want to do with dextrous claws. I'll have to think on it.

I don't know why I wrote this, but I wrote this.

Spoiler

Show

It started out so innocuously. A strange bite from an insect while he was in Drakonos. “Probably just a horse fly or something”, the Drake Aladanis thought. Nothing to be particularly concerned about, a little blood and something got to eat. Whatever, y’know? Probably gonna get that checked out, later, but right now, it didn’t really matter. He was just content to be away from people, so he could be in his true form. It was an uplifting experience.

He stayed that way for about a day or two, hunting the wildlife for sustenance. But soon, he yearned to be with his hoard again. An entire room of his house, dedicated to 60s films. Posters, memorabilia, tapes. Even a vintage VHS player to play them on. Perhaps he’ll watch Psycho again or maybe The Producers. Ah, hell. He’ll watch them both, why even pretend to be fussed? It was getting late, so now was a good time to head home.

He flew as close to town as he dared, before returning to his Anthropos form, an unassuming man in his 20s wearing a t-shirt and jeans. The very definition of “average”. Which was the point. It was a little harder than usual to change back, but he brushed it aside, probably just tired. He walked back to his apartment in the evening air, feeling a little nauseous he decided to grab some paracetamol when he got in.

An hour later, he was back home and he took a couple of tablets with some water. He decided to put on The Producers. He wasn’t in the mood for some 60s horror. By the time the movie was over, the tablets had kicked in and he felt better. He went to bed to try and sleep off this temporary illness. The next morning he felt worse than yesterday. Parts of his abdomen were in pain and the nausea was back worse than before. He considered calling in sick to work, but decided against it.

He worked as a bartender in some crappy dive bar in the centre of town. The work wasn’t hard, but it wasn’t particularly well-paying either. But, it was enough to live on and enough to fund more additions to his hoard. He’ll have to check later on whether the seller of that Goldfinger poster had gotten back to him. But, for now, he’ll spend the day serving drinks to people.

About five hours into his shift, he felt really unwell. There were no customers right now and if someone came in, his colleague could handle it. For now, he ran to the men’s room, found a toilet and emptied his stomach for about five minutes. He wasn’t particularly all together afterwards. If he was, he would’ve noticed these strange things, that looked a little like black maggots, in the toilet bowl. As such, he just flushed them away and went back to work.

About a week passed with no more of those incidents, but the nausea and the pain still stuck around and were only getting worse. One night, he was walking home thinking he’d just fall into bed. But as he walked home, he felt a strange feeling. It was as if his body was trying to change back into his Drakonos form. It wasn’t much to begin with, but after about 20 minutes, it was taking a great effort not to change into his draconic self. Ten minutes later, his ability to resist failed and Aladanis the Drake was revealed to the world.

Unfortunately, he did so in the middle of a crowded street. Realising the problem, Aladanis tried to fly away, to prevent as much Enkindling as possible, but he found that he didn’t have the strength to do so. He tried running, but he found himself slow and sluggish. “Oh, f**k. Oh, F**K!” he thought, over and over again as people all started running and screaming in fear. Soon police sirens rang out and found their way into the street. Unlike the people in the street, these police officers quickly became Slayers.

Bullets were flying out everywhere, hitting Aladanis in all sides. But he found himself unable to fight back. His movements were sluggish, his thoughts slow and that pain in his abdomen was far more intense than ever. Like something was eating its way out. Soon, the Drake fell to the bullets of the new Slayers, but unlike an ordinary death, he remained in his Drakonos. As the police officers went to the corpse of the dragon they saw a pulsating bulge. After a moment, the bulge exploded and hundreds of these strange, black, fly-like creatures burst out, flying in all different directions. When they looked back at the dragon’s corpse, they saw that he had changed into a human. But the flies? They went on, seeking more dragons to perpetuate their life cycle.

So, yeah. A parasite that infects Dragons as part of its life cycle. Again, I don't know why I did this.

While that was a definitely a creepy and fun read, I'm not sure how much of a place it has in the dragon game. I'm not really sure what we'd do with it.

Edit: Though it occurs to me now that many of the dragon-related fauna could be the results of House Echidna...

Wasn't the demon prince Beelzebub's original purpose to guard sacrifices to the gods from flies before he was interpreted as a demon?

Seems like something that would link to him in a touch of irony (the demonized deity is guarding new ones from the old).

Also, because I'm obsessed with antagonists, imma going to write about the interaction between Slayers and Heroes from Beast: the Primordial. The official game was, after all, originally intended to be about dragons.

I think I'll use that to emphasize the fact that Slayers are actually genuine heroes as opposed to Hero egomania. Quite simply, Slayers worry about collateral damage and becoming worse than the things they fight. A Slayer doesn't hunt their dragon because it makes them more awesome, they do it because they're the best person for the job, and despite the legend will happily admit when something's a little too big for them alone.

Also maybe powers not just based around combat.

That'd be cool. I've been wanting to flesh Slayers out a good bit more. Also have to work on the rogue dynasties a bit, especially their legacies... man, these legacies, just gotta push and get some stuff down on paper.

[Sgt. Cookie]

House Echinda?

To be honest, I'd have pegged them as something the Tarasques would cultivate. A small creature capable of forcing a Dragon to reveal itself to the world and unable to fight back? Sounds like something that's right up their alley.

You know, now that I think about it, it was probably that gif of that Mantis infected by a Horsehair worm that inspired this. Yeesh those things are creepy.

[Xallace]

House Echinda?

To be honest, I'd have pegged them as something the Tarasques would cultivate. A small creature capable of forcing a Dragon to reveal itself to the world and unable to fight back? Sounds like something that's right up their alley.

You know, now that I think about it, it was probably that gif of that Mantis infected by a Horsehair worm that inspired this. Yeesh those things are creepy.

The Tarasques aren't really into magically engineering draconic fauna. More dragons == bad for everyone, after all. House Echidna is all about that life, though, normalizing dragons and merging normal creatures into them in a bid to fool fate. Actually, if you're interested in draconic fauna, they might be something you'd like to help us write up?

[Amechra]

As a general note of interest, I thought I'd link the tentative new weapon rules from Hurt Locker. Might be interesting to compare, say, fire-breath and the new flame-throwers. Looks like they went with the "long burst autofire" option as well - I kinda like that they stuck with it just being a long-burst autofire.

I mean, I don't know if I like the idea that every Dragon that can vomit up fire can also spit accurate bolts of the stuff. My image of dragon-breath has always been a "spray" of fire, and I feel that sniping people with fire should be a special trick that you pick up from Styles (like Fusilier Breath •••), or as an Auxiliary.

Also, the spoiled rules also have a Burning tilt. Just thought I'd call attention to that (because everything on fire.)

Which brings me to another question - should we put in a way to change what your "fire" breath is? After all, dragons in legend spat everything from acidic venom to lightning to torrents of water. Maybe have a merit that lets you switch for a different "element", and a Persistent Condition that restricts you to just using one of the alternatives (take a Beat when it would be really handy to light stuff on fire.)

[One Tin Soldier]

As a general note of interest, I thought I'd link the tentative new weapon rules from Hurt Locker. Might be interesting to compare, say, fire-breath and the new flame-throwers. Looks like they went with the "long burst autofire" option as well - I kinda like that they stuck with it just being a long-burst autofire.

I mean, I don't know if I like the idea that every Dragon that can vomit up fire can also spit accurate bolts of the stuff. My image of dragon-breath has always been a "spray" of fire, and I feel that sniping people with fire should be a special trick that you pick up from Styles (like Fusilier Breath •••), or as an Auxiliary.

Also, the spoiled rules also have a Burning tilt. Just thought I'd call attention to that (because everything on fire.)

Which brings me to another question - should we put in a way to change what your "fire" breath is? After all, dragons in legend spat everything from acidic venom to lightning to torrents of water. Maybe have a merit that lets you switch for a different "element", and a Persistent Condition that restricts you to just using one of the alternatives (take a Beat when it would be really handy to light stuff on fire.)

I did read through those this morning as well. Notably, it does specify that flamethrowers have successes add to damage, but only up to a certain maximum. And the Burning Tilt is pretty much exactly the Exceptional Success / River of Flame effect, so it might be a good idea to work it in to those.

We considered being able to change element of your fire breath early on, but ultimately dismissed it as being a bit too D&D.

(Spitting poison falls under Poison of Fafnir)

[Amechra]

Hey, D&D got it from somewhere! Oh well, the Garuda can probably have LIGHTNING-BREATH. It seems like something they would have.

I also just noticed that fire-breath has some serious range. I'm on the fence about it; one side thinks that that's totally sweet, and the other side agrees completely.

[Almarck]

It'd also be easier to not have to juggle so many different elemental breath weapons. While, I admit, I'd like a dragon who can breathe poison gas or spit spike, the fluff for Breath of the Inferno atleast, what can be implied, kinda implies that is a manifestation of will. Regardless, I feel that if dragons get alternate breath weapons or any different matters of attacks, they'd be best off being additional secondary Legacies - they are not core to being a dragon, so ergo, they do not work under Breath of the Inferno and are wholy seperate from it. Maybe a hidden house or two has ice breath?


... also, on the note of D&D, are we going to be adding undead dragons of some description? Mostly, I've just realized we're totally lacking in undead or death manipulation powers,something of a... standard every Splt in NWoD is some connection to death. Maybe a hidden house or further antagonists. Would be interesting to see ancient, undying god-dragons that refuse to give their descendants their rightful "Inheritance".



Lastly, on thinking of Monuments and Testiments, I'm thinking that for them maybe taking a page from spirit rules and using the Power, Finesse, and Resilience attributes might help define them. For Testaments, this can be then as simple as the dragon getting points based on Kau or Legacies to spend on upgrading the "Attributes" of his Testiment.

[Amechra]

Zombie Dragons, you say?

EDIT: On the subject of Testaments and Ephemeral Being rules... Manifestations can give you some "weight" towards having certain goals completed. I mean, imagine if taking on a Testament meant that you'd eventually get Claimed by it...

[Almarck]

Zombie Dragons, you say?

Man, Ame, you're so good, you answer my questions months in advance

[Xallace]

It'd also be easier to not have to juggle so many different elemental breath weapons. While, I admit, I'd like a dragon who can breathe poison gas or spit spike, the fluff for Breath of the Inferno atleast, what can be implied, kinda implies that is a manifestation of will. Regardless, I feel that if dragons get alternate breath weapons or any different matters of attacks, they'd be best off being additional secondary Legacies - they are not core to being a dragon, so ergo, they do not work under Breath of the Inferno and are wholy seperate from it. Maybe a hidden house or two has ice breath?

One of the original ideas for a drake legacy was to breathe poison gas, but that was about all that made it into the latest versions of the game. I'm currently drafting up the new Waters of Hualong legacy, though, and I'm thinking that instead of making a small raincloud to create water ex nihilo a wyrm would be able to breathe out pure water. Perhaps at fire hose intensity.

It'd even be potable, if you can stomach drinking something that a giant lizard just vomited up.

As for other breath types, I'm not outright striking down any ideas, but I can say that fire breath is staying the main jam for dragons. Hidden Houses or future legacies might have breath-like powers, however.

... also, on the note of D&D, are we going to be adding undead dragons of some description? Mostly, I've just realized we're totally lacking in undead or death manipulation powers,something of a... standard every Splt in NWoD is some connection to death. Maybe a hidden house or further antagonists. Would be interesting to see ancient, undying god-dragons that refuse to give their descendants their rightful "Inheritance".

Yeah, dragons don't really have much to do with manipulating death and the underworld. We never found a good place to fit it in, and dragons always seemed so much more grounded in the material, living world anyway (it's one of the reasons they don't have an "otherworld," like the Hedge or the Hisil).

I've got two pieces of Geist homebrew if anyone's interested in seeing some death stuff, though.Shamelessselfpromotion

Some monuments might have interesting interactions with ghosts but that might be about it for mainstream dragons. As far as hidden houses, that's a possibility (though we really need to fill out the one's we have ), though I doubt dracoliches would be their own antagonist faction. Unless House Orobouros really does figure out immortality, and the answer is dracolichdom. That could be a fun antagonist for a campaign.

Lastly, on thinking of Monuments and Testiments, I'm thinking that for them maybe taking a page from spirit rules and using the Power, Finesse, and Resilience attributes might help define them. For Testaments, this can be then as simple as the dragon getting points based on Kau or Legacies to spend on upgrading the "Attributes" of his Testiment.

It's a possibility, though those attributes would likely mean something different for Monuments and Testaments than they would for most spirit types. We've discussed the idea of Testaments having a Kau score, and also encouraging you to build a hoard of whatever the Testator dragon was building. It's really up in the air what they would actually do, though.

[Sgt. Cookie]

House Echidna is all about that life, though, normalizing dragons and merging normal creatures into them in a bid to fool fate. Actually, if you're interested in draconic fauna, they might be something you'd like to help us write up?

It would be an honour. *Extravagent bow*

Tell me what you need from me.

[Almarck]

I'd approve of more ways to sput out junk and weaponize it. So, I am fine with those things.


And not surprised we're not doing Dracoliches... but then again, I did say it was D&D inspired.

Onto less D&D inspired content. Should Monument versus Monument "combat" be a thing? estentially... I want to know what your thoughts on a "war waged by ideals."

[Xallace]

Onto less D&D inspired content. Should Monument versus Monument "combat" be a thing? estentially... I want to know what your thoughts on a "war waged by ideals."

At the very least, we will need to address what happens if you have conflicting monuments in an area. Obviously, the optimal situation is that the monuments all gel harmoniously and the Empire is reborn just a little bit more, but dragons are too self-absorbed for that to always be the case. Not to mention other things controlling them (which I keep forgetting is a possibility).

It would be an honour. *Extravagent bow*

Tell me what you need from me.

Well, we don't have much regarding any of the Hidden Houses right now, so exactly what template to follow I cannot say. The general idea behind Hidden Houses is that they are proto-dynasties, not having the proper following to secure a real group identity, but enough of one for some benefits to be returned to those under the banner.

House Echidna is taking the somewhat mad science-y route of trying to engineer dragons and other creatures together in the hopes that it will fool Fate, or perhaps just normalize dragons so much that they're basically on top again. It's... really no wonder why they can't get a hold as a dynasty. Fleshcrafting is not for the faint of heart, even if it has potentially resulted in adorable things like Hoardlings.

I suppose, just have fun with it and we'll see how it turns out.

[One Tin Soldier]

I'd recommend looking at the Z-splats from other gamelines, like Vampire Bloodlines, Mage Legacies, Werewolf Lodges, etc. That should give you a general idea of how they work. (Though don't worry too much about balancing the powers with those. Their power level... varies. Wildly.)

EDIT: I have added in Eris's auxiliary suggestions, as well as a new 4 dot Hide of Iron aux, and a writeup of the new Sorcery fluff. I also removed Iron Mind, as it's effects are now covered by Breath of the Inferno and Grace of the Host.