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Old 07-07-2016, 02:54 PM   #41
dcarson
 
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From exposure to first edition C&S after playing brown box D&D means that my default dragon is like the Chivalry & Sorcery ones. Can kill 2-3 moderately high level adventures a combat round. You treat them like a force of nature not an opponent.
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Old 07-07-2016, 07:23 PM   #42
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I can see a mighty warrior with a vast array of magical weapons at his disposal and years of experience facing death multiple times a day toppling Godzilla, but not the dragons who inhale entire city blocks and whose footprints become deep canyons. ;3
Most dragonslayers have some kind of force multiplier like a magic weapon or divine patronage and many have divine ancestry.
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Old 07-11-2016, 02:29 AM   #43
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I recall an essay somewhere (possibly in Dragon) suggesting that housecats were good model for dragon personalities ... this probably doesn't mean that you can remove them from your house with a yard broom.
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Old 07-11-2016, 04:28 AM   #44
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From exposure to first edition C&S after playing brown box D&D means that my default dragon is like the Chivalry & Sorcery ones. Can kill 2-3 moderately high level adventures a combat round. You treat them like a force of nature not an opponent.
That's my preferred model as well. Being called "dragonslayer" should mean something, dammit.
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Old 07-11-2016, 08:01 AM   #45
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I recall an essay somewhere (possibly in Dragon) suggesting that housecats were good model for dragon personalities ... this probably doesn't mean that you can remove them from your house with a yard broom.
Neither can mice.

I once read somewhere or other that it was fairies that were like house cats though.
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Old 07-11-2016, 10:31 AM   #46
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True, the broom to cat analogy doesn't work for mice ... although the concept of getting rid of them before they settle in if at all possible still holds. As it does for mice, come to think of it.

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I once read somewhere or other that it was fairies that were like house cats though.
That would be Pratchett I suspect.
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Old 07-11-2016, 12:51 PM   #47
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I recall an essay somewhere (possibly in Dragon) suggesting that housecats were good model for dragon personalities ... this probably doesn't mean that you can remove them from your house with a yard broom.
I think it works best, because we generally want dragons to be both bestial sometimes sadistic predators but also somehow alluring. And for most humanity, the only real animal that describes is good old cats.
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Old 07-20-2016, 07:32 AM   #48
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I think it works best, because we generally want dragons to be both bestial sometimes sadistic predators but also somehow alluring. And for most humanity, the only real animal that describes is good old cats.
Don't a lot of predators play with captures before the coup de grasse? Including some beautiful or at least cute ones?
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Old 07-23-2016, 08:57 PM   #49
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At least with pure spirit dragons, you don't have the biological questions of breeding populations, nestlings, and required caloric intake. They eat princesses etc. as magical blood sacrifices. This also brushes away the problem and potential of draconic body parts though.
A long time ago, I had a dragon who took an annual sacrifice of a virgin from the town. The PC came across that and decidd to check it out.
The dragon actually took the women as apprentices and taught them magic in return for housekeeping duties and secrecy.

In my Chalice World setting Dragons come in types but basically are elemental Angels of light or darkness (Yang/Yin to be more exact) that defend the world from Lovecraftian type monsters and act as stewards.
Lesser dragons are more like spirit guardians of certain places, kind of like Kami.
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Old 07-24-2016, 02:37 AM   #50
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For dragons in my D&D games, I have 3 varieties that I tend to use.

dragon - as per the monster manual description.

Dragon - usually at least double the hit dice, most can cast spells as an arcane caster of their hit dice, all are very intelligent. Sometimes larger than normal.

DRAGON - these start off at a very minimum of triple the hit dice, can cast arcane and divine spells as a caster of their hit dice, all are extremely intelligent. Hatchlings have been known to decimate, experienced adventurers. Sometimes larger than normal, truly powerful ones are on such a massive scale that they can be mistaken for a mountain range. Many are considered to be avatars of gods if not outright gods.

dragon and Dragon, are potential fodder for the PCs to kill.
DRAGON are of such a stupendous scale that for the PCs to kill one, something truly amazing needs to happen, at the very least a very difficult quest for high level adventurers. Few DRAGON are malicious killing machines, the few that are, tend to have extremely short lifespans as a much older and more powerful DRAGON tends to get annoyed and ends their "stupidity."

Dragon and DRAGON also tend to have variant or extra abilities, every DRAGON is a named NPC.
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