14-Hex Dragon

[Skarg]

Originally Posted by TippetsTX

One aspect that I always found odd about TFT dragons (probably due to biases held over from how they were presented in D&D), was the the blanket statement that "they are never wizards". Why give them such a high IQ if they can't use spells?

Yes, although that would make them something very different. It's interesting to have them be powerful monsters that aren't wizards... (would be more interesting if they were a little more powerful). It would also be interesting to let them learn spells, and would make them a lot more formidable, but it would be a different kind of interesting.

I've been testing giving them talents, and am liking the results. It turns out I found quite a few talents that a dragon could use to good effect, even with such high IQ (assuming IQ is some sort of measure of the talent points available), and even without the likely assumption many dragons may have diverse rather than practical interests.

In particular for combat effectiveness, Tactics and Strategy, Toughness, Unarmed Combat, Alertness, and Dragon-Physicker (especially for GM's like me who allow physicking per wound).

Also languages and Literacy, Alertness, Detect Lies, Recognize Value, Assess Value, Diplomacy, others...

There might also be some dragon-specific talents, like their own versions of fighting talents.

However I would still think their stats are very mediocre for what they are supposed to be. I think though that the stats are good for magically summoned dragons and dragon illusions - you get a generic dragon who has no life experience. But a real large dragon who has survived to reach even 4 hexes (not to mention 7 or 14) will have developed itself from its experiences and so have somewhat better stats (mainly ST) and have learned talents.