[MH] Dragons

[GarenLiLorian]

I had a player want to play a Dragon in our monster hunters game so I made this and thought I'd post it in case anyone else would find it valuable, and also for feedback. What do you think? Would dragons be a useful addition to your monster hunters setting?

Dragon Enemies
Dragons are powerful and ancient: the true top of the food chain and rightful rulers of the planet… at least, that’s how they see it. Fortunately for everyone, dragons are slow to reproduce and solitary by nature, and hatchlings might take over a century to mature to the point of sapience. Many mature dragons leave the realm of our Earth altogether. Unfortunately, even quite a young dragon (merely a few centuries old) has likely amassed a large amount of resources in the form of wealth, power, and minions, making hunting one both delicate and dangerous.

Something to Fear:
The Horror book offers excellent guidelines on tying monsters to primal human fears: this can be very valuable even in the High Octane Horror setting of Monster Hunters. Dragons traditionally reflect a fear of Nature (Here There Be Dragons). In modern Fantasy, however, they take on another aspect: Fear of the State. Dragons are secret oligarchs, running the world from behind the scenes and utterly callous to the concerns of normal people.

Strengths:
Even a young dragon is bigger than a big horse: a flying, fire spewing, armored behemoth capable of crushing enemies with tooth and claw and sweeps of its powerful tail. As they mature, they gain additional strength and armor until they can shrug aside even modern, heavy weaponry with ease. They are capable of making several attacks a round, and their breath weapon is capable of wreaking havoc on a whole team of hunters at once, if they’re foolish enough to clump up. They have a fair amount of versatility as well; a few rolls on the draconic special ability table will keep hunters guessing as to an individual’s capabilities.
Beyond their impressive physical capabilities, however, dragons are also wealthy. An average dragon probably has a following of cultists (MH3 pg 31) and the mundane resources to employ modern security measures, such as kitting out their security with modern weapons and armor, employing high tech traps and alarms, and enjoying a close and profitable relationship with local law enforcement, government, and any monster underworlds (MH2 pg 9) that may exist.
Finally, dragons are adept at hiding among human society, using their humanoid form to conduct business transactions, build their hoards, and consolidate power and prestige. Discovering the identity of a dragon can be difficult: unless the hunters are willing to take shots at suspected individuals (see Humanoid Dragons), their disguise can be nearly perfect!

Weaknesses:
Dragon hide may be all but impervious to blade and arrow, but fortunately the weapons of man have come a long way since the days of classical dragonslaying. As living beings, dragons are vulnerable to metabolic hazards; they need to breathe, eat, sleep, etc., and targeting the vitals or brain is always a good choice. However, the best way to hunt a dragon is to discover the literal chink in their armor: a spot where their hide doesn’t protect. This is represented as an Achilles’ Heel limitation on their DR and Injury Tolerance: Strikes to the [specific location worth at least -5 in targeting penalties]. Dragons go out of their way to hide this information for obvious reasons: treat discovering a Dragon’s weak point as a special Deduction roll, using Hidden Lore: Cryptozoology at a steep (-6 for a famous or obvious spot, up to -12 for a paranoid or especially cautious dragon) penalty. Strikes to this spot bypass the dragon’s injury tolerance and damage resistance entirely, and usually act as a strike to the vitals (x3 wounding) as well!
While dragons in their humanoid form can be difficult to find, they aren’t impossible: if a hunter comes into contact with a suspected dragon, they may make a Touch roll at -4: success indicates that the hunter can feel subdermal scales. A wary dragon may wear gloves, adding additional penalties to this roll! Hunters may also attempt to do damage to the humanoid dragon: any damage stopped by DR in this state tears away some of the humanoid form, revealing scales, slitted eyes, forked tongue, or other supernatural features. This feature is only true of Enemy dragons; dragon champions are more concerned with secrecy and instead have lower DR in humanoid form.

Motivation:
Dragons are typified by the pursuit of money and power, and are patient and long-lived enough to play the very long game. In point of fact, these pursuits describe the lifelong drive of a dragon to establish its hoard. A dragon’s hoard typifies what is important to the dragon personally; gold is always a good, classic choice, but it could be any physical, valuable item: objet d’ art, books, gems, copper, weapons, magic items, etc. When a dragon moves into a new hunting ground, it is usually with a long term plan to acquire wealth and resources; always with the aim of securing what is rare, important and valued to the hoard. They may precede their arrival with the takeover of a local business or gang, sending their minions to lay the groundwork. They will usually set up a lair (though that may be anything from a classic cave to a modern penthouse) at which they will spend the majority of their time lounging on their hoard and being flattered and worshipped by their employees (who may or may not know the truth of their employer’s nature)
Enemy Dragons are callous, jealous, and megalomaniacal; they are majestic predators, far superior to silly monkeys in every fashion! Dragons are often captivated by displays of talent, cleverness, or achievement--so long as they are sufficiently flattering to the dragon’s ego--so items of rare knowledge, games of skill, objects of art and the people who create them are all likely targets for a dragon’s attention, in much the same way that you might be interested in a chicken who has learned to paint. This fascination can swiftly turn to jealousy and murderous rage if the human in question dares suggest that they are somehow equal or, heaven forbid, superior to their draconic patron.
While they don’t have to eat people, they enjoy doing so: children are especially palatable to pernicious dragons, while devouring a defeated enemy appeals to the dragon’s predatory nature. The classic sacrificial virgin satisfies both criteria, of course! Other dragons may acquire youths because they are highly valued by society--a piece of treasure in their hoard--but such acquisitions rarely end well for the children in question.

[GarenLiLorian]

Young Dragon
A young adult, perhaps a century or two old. Such a dragon might or might not have an ability from the Draconic Variety table. 1 young dragon per 2 champions will be a generally fair fight, though champions that rely on melee will be at a relative disadvantage.
ST: 30 HP: 30 Speed: 6.75
DX: 14 Will: 13 Move: 12/24 (Air) or 6 (Ground)
IQ: 13 Per: 13 Weight: 1500lbs
HT: 13 FP: 13 SM: +2

Dodge: 10 Parry: 12 DR: 15 (flexible, Achilles’ Heel)

Fright Check: -3

Bite (16): 3d+1 impaling; Reach C,1
Claw (16): 3d+1 impaling; Reach C,1
Tail (14): 3d+6 crushing; Reach C,1,2 (From their rearmost hex)
Airborne Pounce (16): 3d+1 impaling; Reach C, 1. Made as a Move and Attack, ignore the skill cap of 9. If this hits, the target is grappled and knocked prone
Breath Weapon: 4d burn (5 yard cone, range 20. Costs 2FP).
Wing Buffet: 4d crushing (double knockback, no wounding. Affects everyone within 4 yards.)

Traits: Alternate Form (humanoid, Reduced Time 4 (1 second)), Bad Grip 3, Callous (6), Combat Reflexes, Discriminatory Smell, Enhanced Move ½ (Air), Extra Attack 1 (Brawling only), Extra Legs (Four Legs), Flight (Winged), Gluttony (12), Greed (6), Horizontal, Injury Tolerance (Damage Reduction 2, Achilles’ Heel) Jealous (6), Magic Resistance 3, Megalomania (6), Metabolism Control 1 (Hibernation), Miserliness (12), Nictating Membrane 6, Scales, Unusual Biochemistry, Wealth (Wealthy)

Skills: Brawling-16; Aerobatics-12, Hidden Lore-Cryptozoology-14, Wrestling-16, Finance-14, Intimidation-14; Innate Attack (Breath)-17

Adult Dragon
20 feet long from tail to haunches, standing 15 feet at the shoulder, Dragons at this size are likely several centuries old, and likely have at least a couple abilities from the Draconic Variety table. An adult dragon can make 3 melee attacks a second at full skill, and is large enough to swallow a man whole. An adult dragon is a challenge for a whole team of champions, especially if they insist on using muscle powered weapons!
ST: 45 HP: 45 Speed: 7.00
DX: 14 Will: 15 Move: 16/32 (Air) or 8 (Ground)
IQ: 15 Per: 15 Weight: 4000 lbs
HT: 13 FP: 13 SM: +3

Dodge: 11 Parry: 13 DR: 20 (Flexible, Achilles’ Heel)

Fright Check: -6

Bite (18): 5d impaling; Reach C,1, 2
Claw (18): 5d impaling; Reach C,1,2
Tail (16): 7d+2 crushing; Reach C,1,2,3 (From their rearmost hex)
Airborne Pounce (18): 5d impaling; Reach C,1,2. Made as a Move and Attack, ignore the skill cap of 9. If this hits, the target is grappled and knocked prone.
Breath Weapon: 6d burn (5 yard cone, range 20. Costs 2FP).
Wing Buffet: 6d crushing (double knockback, no wounding. Affects everyone within 5 yards.)

Traits: Alternate Form (humanoid, Reduced Time 4 (1 second)), Bad Grip 3, Callous (6), Combat Reflexes, Discriminatory Smell, Enhanced Move ½ (Air), Extra Attack 2 (Brawling only), Extra Legs (Four Legs), Flight (Winged), Gluttony (12), Greed (6), Horizontal, Injury Tolerance (Damage Reduction 3, Achilles’ Heel) Jealous (6), Magic Resistance 6, Megalomania (6), Metabolism Control (Hibernation), Miserliness (12), Nictating Membrane 12, Scales, Unusual Biochemistry, Wealth (Wealthy)

Skills: Brawling-18; Aerobatics-14, Hidden Lore-Cryptozoology-16, Wrestling-16, Finance-14, Intimidation-18; Innate Attack (Breath)-20. In addition, dragons of this age might well have any skills, picked up over the centuries.

[GarenLiLorian]

Draconic Variety
Dragons are a myth common to almost every culture in the world, though what a dragon is may vary dramatically! This is in part due to the fact that different cultures place value on different things, thus the hoards and natures of the dragons living amidst that culture also vary widely. The table below offers several ability packages to bring a dragon in line with what different cultures may have believed about them. The abilities for important dragons should be chosen to work together, but for minor adversaries, the GM may roll randomly instead.

1. Dragon Magic: Add ‘Improved’ to Magic Resistance. Add Magery 3, Thaumatology 14, two Path skills at 14, and the rest at 12. As a creature of magic, the dragon’s energy reserve is equal to 10 x Magery.
2. Spirit Being: Add the Spirit meta-trait, and the Feature: Affected by Path of Spirit (instead of Mind and Body). Remove the Winged limitation from Flight. Dragons of this type fall under Hidden Lore: Free Spirits (or HL: Angels, or HL: Demons, as appropriate) rather than Cryptozoology.
3. Charming: Add Voice, Appearance (Beautiful; Impressive), and Charisma 2. Add three influence skills at 17, and two more at 15.
4. Wealth: Increase Wealth to Multimillionaire 1
5. Breath Weapon: 1- Acid. Change damage to corrosive and increase FP cost by 1.

   2- Lightning. Add Surge and Arcing enhancements, change cone to 1 yard.
   3- Cold. Reduce damage by 1d and make it crushing (no blunt trauma or knockback. Roll vs. HT at -1 per 2 points of penetrating damage or frozen (paralyzed) for (20-HT) minutes, minimum 1 minute)
   4- Poison. Reduce damage by 2d, change type to toxic and add cyclic (Resistable by HT-5, repeats every second for 10 seconds). Targets with Doesn’t Breathe, Immunity to Metabolic Hazards, or Filter Lungs are immune.
   5- Napalm. Reduce damage by 2d and add Cyclic (repeats every second for 10 seconds).
   6- Venomous Bite. Remove Breath Weapon entirely. Add a follow-up to their bite attack: 2d toxic, cyclic (resistable by HT-6, repeats every second for 10 seconds)

6. Psionic. Add one of the following packages:

   1- Telepathic: Add Telepathy Talent 1, Mind Reading, and Telesend.
   2- Deep connection: Add ESP talent 2, Seekersense, and Psychometry. These abilities have the Accessibility Limitation: only on items the dragon owns.
   3- Spirit connection: ESP talent 2, Spirit Empathy, and Spirit Communication 2. Such a dragon will usually have ghostly minions as additional guards!
   4- Controller: Add Telepathy Talent 2, Mind Control 1, and Mind Probe.
   5- Information gathering: Add Telepathy Talent 2, Mind Reading, and Mind Probe.
   6- Pyro: Add psychokinesis talent 2, Pyrokinesis 2, and Control Fire 2 (Powers, pg 90).

7. Serpent Form: Remove Winged from Flight and increase SM by 1. Add Doesn’t Breathe (Gills) and Amphibious.
8. Healing slumber: Add Regeneration (Normal; accessibility: only while surrounded by its hoard and asleep).
9. Savage fury. Add Bloodlust (12) and Stress Atavism (Mild). Increase ST by 5 and add an additional level of Extra Attack (Brawling only).
10. Feathered: Replace Scales with Feathers. Remove DR entirely, and replace with Enhanced Dodge 2, and Enhanced Air Move 1 (Cosmic: Perfect Maneuverability).

Humanoid Dragons
A team of wary hunters might well determine that the best way to hunt a dragon is while it’s unsuspecting, in its humanoid form. While this is possible, it’s important to note that the dragon is far from unprotected! In particular, the dragon still has its Injury Tolerance, DR, and breath weapon while in humanoid form. Dragons also, as a rule, only use this form as necessary: where they need to interact with unsuspecting humanity. Thus, while assassinating a dragon as it goes about its business is a valid hunt for the sneaky team, it will almost certainly result in Unwelcome Attention (MH2, pg 18): a missed shot reveals the supernatural (See Weaknesses), while a successful one results in the assassination of a likely prominent figure!

Even Bigger
Dragons continue to grow indefinitely, gaining in bulk and power. After a millenia, they are at least 30 feet long (SM +4; the length of a city bus), but might be much more than that (up to SM +12 or more!) Dragons of vast age hibernate for centuries at a time, but when they awaken they are best dealt with using the guidelines under Daikaiju (Horror, pg. 94), as fighting them head on is the province of governments and gods, rather than individuals.

[GarenLiLorian]

Dragon Champion
Dragons in mythology often rampage across the countryside, glutting themselves on the herds and wealth of empires, only to retire to a cave or castle and rest on their hoards of ill-gotten treasure. But not all Dragons. Some rare few have mastered their greed and gluttony to become powerful guardians of the innocent. These wise and ancient beings have earned the thanks of humankind in myth and in song. You are one such who, for reasons of your own, fights the temptations of greed in order to turn your power to a different kind of hunt. In your natural form you are a giant, winged, scaly quadruped. Standing in the neighborhood of 12 feet long from snout to haunches, and topping out at about 10 feet tall (though wings and tail add to both measurements) you are a fire breathing, armored force to be reckoned with on the battlefield. Fortunately for all concerned, your kind also has the natural ability to assume a humanoid shape that makes it somewhat easier to blend in. Transitioning forms takes 4 seconds of Concentrate maneuvers, though this may be sped up through the use of Extra Effort: 2 FP and a Will-2 roll to transition in 2 seconds, 3 FP and Will-3 to transition in one second, or 4 FP and Will-4 to transition instantly. In any case, if the Will roll is failed, you instead Do Nothing on your turn and must re-start your transition next second. When you fall asleep or unconscious, you resume your natural form. Otherwise, you may stay in your humanoid form as long as you like. When you do take your true form, the traits of your humanoid form are added to the Dragon form, resulting in ST 20, DR 15, etc.

Add Innate Attack (Breath) to your template’s secondary skills, and Wealth to your template’s Advantage options.

Dragon (Humanoid Form)
Attribute Modifiers: ST+5 [50]
Secondary Characteristic Modifiers:
Advantages: Alternate Form (Dragon) (Reduced Time 2) [117], Burning Attack 4 (Dragon’s Breath) (5 yard cone, costs 2 FP, reduced range x1/5) [34], Damage Resistance 4 (Tough Skin, Achilles’ Heel, Low Signature) [12], Discriminatory Smell [15], Sharp Claws (Switchable) [6], Ignition [1],
Disadvantage: Gluttony (12) [5], Greed (12) [15], Miserliness (12) [10], Unusual Biochemistry [5]
Feature:

Dragon (True Form)
Attribute Modifiers: ST+5 [40]
Secondary Characteristic Modifiers:
Advantages: Damage Resistance 11 (Flexible, Cannot Wear Armor, Achilles’ Heel: Heart Strikes (Rare)) [18], Enhanced Move 1/2 (Air) [10], Extra Attack 1 (Brawling Only) [20], Extra Legs (4 Legs) [5], Flight (Winged) [30], Scales [1] Striker (Tail, Crushing, Clumsy (-2) Long +1) [10], Teeth (Sharp teeth) [1],
Disadvantage: Bad Grip 3 [15], Horizontal [10]
Feature: SM +2

[AlexanderHowl]

The problem with dragons is that they tend to fall apart at TL5+. With sophisticated firearms, groups of humans are capable of killing dragons with a high level of success. One possible suggestion to even the playing field though:

Metal Wraith: Insubstantiality (Affects Substantial, +100%; Always On, -50%; Bane, Gold, -10%; Limited, Metal Only, -40%; Magical, -10%) [72]. Dragons are insubstantial to all metal except gold, giving them a logical reason to hoard gold (it is the only metal that can potentially harm them). Dragons ignore metal when attacked and ignore metal when attacking, meaning that the majority of armor, vehicles, and weapons are useless against them.

[GarenLiLorian]

That is a neat ability, but seems unnecessary and out of genre for urban fantasy dragons: after all, if they were entirely immune to mundane weapons, you'd get Reign of Fire, not Monster Hunters. Making them immune to small arms and highly resistant to rifles means they're dangerous to monster hunters but not so powerful that they can act with impunity; it makes it reasonable for them to attempt secrecy, which is necessary for the setting.

[aesir23]

I like these. Very nice.

It might be worthwhile to make your Dragon Champion template Half-Dragons. I know MH always has the PC versions of monsters less powerful than the monsterous versions, but in this case it seems particularly unjustified.

However, if they were the product of a Dragon (in human form) and a human mate, their reduced abilities (and greater connection to mankind) makes perfect sense.

Overall, I think these are very well-done. I'd use these in I were running an MH campaign, and I'll probably refer back to this is I ever need dragons for and Urban Fantasy campaign of another kind.

[Apollonian]

Oddly enough, I had more or less the same thought a few days ago, in a dream. I like what you've done.

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

The problem with dragons is that they tend to fall apart at TL5+. With sophisticated firearms, groups of humans are capable of killing dragons with a high level of success.

This is also true of humans as targets, and yet humans feature prominently as threats to other humans, even without a supernatural ability that lets them ignore guns. Why should a dragon be any less of a threat?

[AlexanderHowl]

Because there are billions of humans? Because they all have access to the same weapons as you? Killing even a single dragon is a major accomplishment, killing a single human being is a regrettably common and mundane occurrence.

With the Insubstantiality, it requires players to be creative. A staff is better than a sword, a throwing stick is better than a pistol, and a catapult is better than a bazooka (strangely enough, early cannons are actually a threat, as they often used stone projectiles). I have found that players often think outside the box when facing threats that are resistant to their weapons. Of course, attacks with Affects Insubstantial would also be legitimate threats.

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

The problem with dragons is that they tend to fall apart at TL5+. With sophisticated firearms, groups of humans are capable of killing dragons with a high level of success. One possible suggestion to even the playing field though:

Metal Wraith: Insubstantiality (Affects Substantial, +100%; Always On, -50%; Bane, Gold, -10%; Limited, Metal Only, -40%; Magical, -10%) [72]. Dragons are insubstantial to all metal except gold, giving them a logical reason to hoard gold (it is the only metal that can potentially harm them). Dragons ignore metal when attacked and ignore metal when attacking, meaning that the majority of armor, vehicles, and weapons are useless against them.

I prefer Missile Shield, or for real fun, Reverse Missiles. After a bad experience with a dragon using Reverse Missiles, my players now attack dragons with thrown rocks or low-powered pistols to see if shots come back at them before they use serious rifles.