Thoughts on Dragon hide armor

[aesir23]

Originally Posted by Brett

Heh, heh, heh!


/me thinks furiously about which strains of dragon will flourish under such an unconventional reproductive strategy.

It's rather brilliant, really!

There's an evolutionary imperative to make sure that a hero comes and slays you.

This justifies all the classic dragon behaviors:

Hording treasures.
Demanding Virgin Princesses as Sacrifices.
Terrorizing Innocents.

All behaviors engineered to give incentive to heroes (whether greedy, lusty, or altruistic) so that create a new generation!

If the strength of the new generation is based on the qualities of the hero, it would explain why the dragon nevertheless violently resists--in order to weed out unworthy "mates", giving your children the best possible chance.

[Daigoro]

Originally Posted by Brett

Heh, heh, heh!


/me thinks furiously about which strains of dragon will flourish under such an unconventional reproductive strategy.

It would certainly select for large, strong, fierce, talented human males as the breeding partner.

Add in that the human contributes DNA (in a similar way to Aliens) and this will drive selection to gradually larger and stronger dragons.

Warlocks with a desire to become more powerful beings and princes who see dragon armour as a chic fashion accessory may derail that line of selection, but then throw in genes for magic using and avarice.

ETA: aesir ninja!

[Agemegos]

Originally Posted by aesir23

There's an evolutionary imperative to make sure that a hero comes and slays you.

Yes. And ideally not until you are large enough to make several suits of armour.

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by Brett

Yes. And ideally not until you are large enough to make several suits of armour.

For the largest "litter" size, of course.

I'm speechless.

[Anders]

Bruno, when you say dragons become intelligent because a wizard did something exotic, are you thinking redneck wizards? :)

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by Asta Kask

Bruno, when you say dragons become intelligent because a wizard did something exotic, are you thinking redneck wizards? :)

I was thinking "the same kinds of mad wizardry that result in owlbears and talking cats wearing fabulous hats". You're thinking half-dragons, I suspect :D

[Anders]

New prestige class: Dragonhumper. Specializes in nonlethal weapons...

[Langy]

Originally Posted by aesir23

It's rather brilliant, really!

There's an evolutionary imperative to make sure that a hero comes and slays you.

Gotta admit, I really like that. If I ever get my Age of Myth setting off the ground, I'll probably steal this idea.

However, a question arises - how long does it take for someone wearing the dragon hide armor to turn into a dragon? And why don't people know about it?

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Langy

However, a question arises - how long does it take for someone wearing the dragon hide armor to turn into a dragon? And why don't people know about it?

because the fledgling dragon takes over the mind first, and waits for a good time to reveal itself. People don't think 'Barl turned into a dragon', they think 'a dragon showed up and ate Barl'. In fact, that may be where all the 'family member' stories come from. The followers of the dragon slayer wear the armor, and turn into dragons much like the first.

[quarkstomper]

This is what we did with dragon's hide in a D&D campaign many years ago:

The Girl in the Dragonskin Bikini