Wandering Monsters: Easy Answers

The focus of this week’s Wandering Monsters is less monsters and more questions that can all be answered with the following statement: it depends entirely on the Dungeon Master and her setting.

Is it okay to kill orc babies? Do orcs even have babies? Both depend on the setting. In a lot of settings they seem to be used as a convenient monster that players can kill and rob without having to think about it too hard. Kind of like zombies, just stronger, faster, and technically smarter. Simple and straightforward, and there is nothing necessarily wrong with that because…

…you do not have to explain what they are or where they come from.

Orcs can just be destructive humanoids that randomly surge from beyond the mountains to plague “civilized” lands. Do they have babies? Who knows. Maybe they are corrupted elves, grow from Gruumsh’s lost eye, were cursed by a fiend (or angel), or worship a god of destruction. The point is if your players are never going to go over those mountains and try to put a stop to them once and for all, then why bother thinking about it too hard?

Well for one there are plenty of monsters that can already fill the role of guiltlessly-slayable humanoids, and do it better: most undead, fiends, and constructs come to mind. Lumping in orcs—and goblins, drow, gnolls, kobolds, etc—with them seems pretty boring and lazy. One of the many, many reasons I enjoy Eberron is because it made monsters more interesting, giving them a culture and involving them in the lives of the “civilized” races beyond ugly Medium-size humanoid bag o’ XP and cash.

My other gripe concerns D&D’s laughable alignment system: how does an “often Chaotic Evil” society even operate? There are plenty of parents in our society ill-suited for rearing children, but I cannot imagine that they would regularly perform worse than your average orc. If I wanted to throw orc babies into the mix and I had to use alignment (which I thankfully do not) I would make them Neutral/Unaligned; there are more creative ways to bring them into conflict than “because Evil!”.

I was unaware that in any Dungeons & Dragons source ever that someone tried to pitch the idea that dragons evolved from dinosaurs (which I prefer just being called behemoths, or something else). While I think there is a very good reason that both 3rd nor 4th Edition omitted that even as a potential theory (it sounds really stupid), does it really matter if dragons are reptiles, mammals, or something in between? Is it going to change anything? Who gains from either answer?

As with orcs, perhaps even more so because they are dragons, you do not have to determine where they come from. Their origins—and motivations, goals, capabilities, etc—could be a complete mystery, especially since it is very unlikely that a campaign is going to explore them: dragons just are, always have been, and will always be. Of course if I make the effort to establish an origin, you can bet that I am going to err on the fantastic side of things, having them born from gods, if not created around the same time that gods came into existence.

I really do not get the hangup on dragonborn. I have no problem with “dragonboobs” because like dragons—and really D&D things in general—they do not have to abide by real-world classifications. Again, does it really matter? Does anyone really care? My only issue with them is that they “officially” all look the same. In my campaigns Bahamut and Tiamat created their own race, which have scale colors, crests, horns, tails, etc similar to those of true dragons.

When it comes to combined monsters I am kind of on the fence. I have nothing against wizards doing weird experiments with weird results, I just find it hard to believe that a wizard created enough owlbears to make a self-sustaining species, though I would love to have a kind of chimeric toolbox to make it easy for Dungeon Masters to build one-off monsters to throw at their players.

Most of the time I see combined monsters as not combined at all, but just as “natural” as the animals that we expect to see in real life: griffons, hippogriffs, sealions, displacer beasts, owlbears, etc. If you had to create an origin, I would run with “naturally occuring”, nature spirit, god, or extraplanar transient before checking out the “wizard did it” angle. Maybe a magical event merged a bunch of stuff, but that might be stretching it.

Finally, races. The more the merrier. Make as many as you want, touch on their personality, appearance, and culture, but do not try to tell me which ones are common or unusual. In an upcoming setting I am working on dragonborn and devas are a pretty big deal, while halflings and dwarves are right out. Group them up thematically or whatever, but ditch the rarity system/unusual label; it serves absolutely no purpose except to potentially throttle the creativity of new DMs.

Wandering Monsters: You Don’t Know Drake

Felldrakes were originally featured in 3rd Edition’s Monster Manual II, where they were created by Bahamut to protect some elves after they helped beat back a demonic invasion. Hey, some gods give you a pat on the head, a glowing commendation (maybe even literally), or a magic sword, while others create an entire species.

From what I could find in Monster Vault, 4th Edition did not associate them with any race or even Bahamut, depicting them as beasts that fulfilled similar roles as other animals like wolves and dogs. Just, you know, “dragon-y”.

Is that awesome? Boring? Somewhere in between? What about the name? Inquiring minds would like to know.

Ultimately I like felldrakes. I think they are neat and used properly can better evoke the feeling of a fantasy world. I am not saying that they should replace more mundane fauna like dogs and wolves, but that including them as another option can enhance the setting, much like owlbears, displacer beasts, iron defenders, Medium-sized conveniently evil races, Small conveniently evil races, two-bladed weapons, and so on and so forth.

Plus they look awesome.

3rd Edition’s elven association seems kind of lazy and extreme; I just cannot fathom Bahamut whipping up an entire monster category just for them. If you wanted to associate them with dragons—which is not necessary given a lack of draconic traits aside from kind of their appearance—then I would just have them spring from the blood of Bahamut and/or Tiamat during a spat countless eons ago, or maybe the creations of a lesser draconic deity.

Oh, and I would just change the name to drake. Appending fell would make more sense if they were evil, which I would not expect them to be unless for some reason Tiamat was the only one in the business of populating the world with her terrible spawn. You know, like her…

Dragonspawn are both very strange and very forgetful. I vaguely recall the spider one, and the only reason I can think of the halfling-sized white ones, one of the green ones (razor-something), and the big blue ones with swords is because I have loads of minis (not by conscious effort).

The first thing I would change is the Tiamat-only aspect. I see no reason why she has the monopoly on unleashing dragon-ish monstrosities upon the world. Actually thinking back to 3rd Edition’s felldrakes, why would she create a variety of dragonspawn (some that are Huge and packing appropriately-sized swords) and Bahamut stick with felldrakes?

Because good is dumb?

The second thing is how they are made. I would have them be the byproduct of “legendary creature” effects; after all dragons can effect the terrain, so why not living things, too? If nothing else this provides yet another angle for doling out draconic traits to critters other than mad experiments and breeding, at least for things that you would not expect a dragon to breed with.

In this scenario you could, say, have a giant spider dwelling in the same swamp as an ancient black dragon slowly mutate over time into a…gloomspawn gloom gloomer or whatever. This could be easily handled by making a dragonspawn entry with lists of color-specific traits that you could attach to a creature, as well as some examples on how to alter its physical appearance.

Wandering Monsters: Dragons Revisited

The last time I recall dragons coming up there was mention of a “legendary” status that could, among other things, allow them to manipulate their environment in interesting, flavorful ways. It had a lot of promise, and so I find it disappointing that all of the dragons in the bestiary still look like 3rd Edition dragons (ie, the same but with different breath weapons).

Well, that is not entirely true; they do not have a big list of spell-like abilities, which is a plus in my book.

Personality-wise this article does not bring anything new to the table: green dragons are masters of manipulation and misdirection, and black dragons are acidic avatars that define decay. I actually like this about them, as both aspects are solid cornerstones for very diverse foundations. What I like even more is that unlike many of the previous Wandering Monsters articles, this one brings more interesting flavor to help get your creative juices flowing.

Green dragons and forests have gone hand-in-hand for awhile, though barring other factors these forests were pretty typical for Dungeons & Dragons (with “typical” being defined as “infested with more monsters than could be reasonably supported”). For now at least the Next generation of green dragons will not only be able to transform forests into fog-shrouded, hallucination-inducing mazes, but can even bend the animals to serve as its eyes and ears.

That…sounds pretty damned cool.

I like how 4th Edition provides recommendations for populating encounters with multiple types of creatures, so it is nice to see something similar here in the servants section (and I especially like the bit about how a servants mind can influence the hallucinatory sounds and images within the fog).

The section on hoards is not very long, and rather than defined items provides some themes to work with. Kind of a “teach a DM to fish” approach, which is more useful to me than a smattering of specific things, so I approve.

Finally, lairs. I guess the stated goal is to present the lair as an entire dungeon, which is pretty much how I have always seen it done in the past. To be fair it at least reads like it is going to be more interesting and extensive, benefiting from whatever legendary effects/moves are going to be called, like the disorienting fog (which can be souped up to slow or weaken the mind) and entangling roots.

The black dragon gets a similar treatment, just with pools filled with acid and/or food (ie, dead people), venomous vermin, lizardfolk minions, evil(?) shambling mounds and druids, and even kobolds get a shout out.

Lots of good stuff, which sucks that Next has been so unsatisfactory for me recently (though these ideas could be cribbed in other games). I can see a case for the green dragon’s effects being ported over to various fey denizens (even forest spirits), so I hope that instead of tying them to specific monsters that they just give individual effects or thematic packages for you to attach to whatever you feel is appropriate for your game.

You know, another toolbox thing.

Legends & Lore: Playtesting Dragons

I do not ever remember fighting a dragon in 2nd Edition. I am sure that it happened, but nothing comes to mind. 3rd Edition is not much better in that I can remember fighting one once. It was great because since it had the Fire subtype it took double damage from cold magic, so the arcane archer put a bunch of fireball spells that he Metamagic-ed into inflicting cold damage into some arrows. It died before its breath weapon recharged.

Ultimately the joke was on us, because the Dungeon Master forgot his notes that mentioned what the dragon would have in its treasure hoard. Since we did not want wait until next week for him to get it, he rolled up a new treasure on the spot. While I do not remember all of it, what I do recall was a lackluster haul amounting to tens of thousands of copper
pieces and a scroll with Tenser’s flaoting disk scrawled on it, which we joked could be used to carry the coins out.

3rd Edition dragons start out pretty straightforward: charge the nearest character and attack them. If they do not move more than five feet away, take a 5-foot step and follow up with a full attack, as even the lowliest of dragons starts out with a triple-attack routine. As they get more Hit Dice, things change. It starts out with just more attacks, adding wings and then tail to the mix. It is not so bad until they start getting spell-like abilities and sorcerer spells.

Spellcasting in 3rd Edition was particularly harsh if you multiclassed, or got access to spells at any point after 1st-level. Dragons do not tend to get them until they are in the Challenge Rating 8-10 range, which means that they are generally used against level 6+ characters. At that point the damage output and saving throw DCs are so low that to get the most bang for their buck you would just stick with self-buffs like mage armor and shield. This is why that the only time I remember throwing a dragon at the party, I used the Xorvintaal template from Monster Manual V I think to strip all the spells away and just give it more cool things to do.

4th Edition made dragons better, but it was not until they got solos “right” in Monster Manual III and Monster Vault that they really shone. They were fast and easy to run, got more dangerous as the fight progressed (bloodied breath and static bonuses), and had unique actions/reactions to really mix things up. The Draconomicon books allowed you to swap out powers to mix things up further, though I guess you could just stack them on, and the general ease of building monsters in 4th made it pretty easy to give them spells if you really wanted to.

Though 5th Edition does not have an elite or solo category, dragons remind me of 4th Edition dragons in that they fit on one page and do not require you to reference other books to figure out what they can do (I guess they also have the recharge mechanic). The only downside is that they have no reactions or ways to take multiple actions, and they do not get more dangerous as the fight progresses. Really the only thing that differentiates them from each other is what energy type their breath weapon inflicts, and what they are immune to.

Legendary creatures are kind of like solo monsters, except that they are limited to specific types of monsters, namely dragons, titans, demons, guys with expensive magic items, and the like. I guess solos and even elites were initially intended to be reserved for Larger and larger creatures, but even that barely lasted a few encounters what with the party-killing elite goblin in H1: Keep on the Shadowfell. I am not complaining, because I do not believe that being able to make multiple attacks and hold your own against superior numbers needs to be somehow tied to the fabric of reality.

That aside I kind of like how legendary actions work in that they let you do more things than you normally could. The way this works is that you get a number of legendary actions when the turn ends, which can be spent on a list of actions with a variable cost. The black dragon can recharge its breath weapon automatically, make a tail attack or move with a few restrictions, and auto-detect anything within a short distance. Not bad, though I wonder why its tail is the only thing on the menu; being able to spend all four points to use its breath weapon would be pretty cool.

Though the article mentions being able to auto-succeed on attacks, saving throws, and skill checks, the black dragon only has the option to automatically succeed on a saving throw up to four times per day. This is pretty underwhelming, and I much preferred it back in 4th Edition when solos just got a hefty bonus to saving throws. Even better, Monster Vault dragons got other benefits as well, such as getting a free out-of-turn to charge or bite, and could also end certain conditions when its turn ended.

The last part of the legendary trinity is being able to change the surrounding environment. This is actually pretty cool, giving the creature lair actions that automatically trigger on a set initiative count, legendary lair actions that it can use with its other legendary actions, and regional effects that affect the surrounding terrain. In the case of the black dragon, pools of water in their lair can surge forth and pull creatures in, it can spend a legendary action while underwater to heal itself (again, x times per day), and forests within 10 miles of its lair become difficult terrain.

I think this needs some refinement, especially because a dragon in its lair should be worth considerably more XP than one outside. I think that these regional effects should be applicable to non-legendary creatures, or even just places in general, like undead lords that cause everything nearby to whither and die, hags whose forests can disorient and confuse travelers, and even random magical effects around a wizard’s tower. There should also be plenty of options to choose from, so that not every black dragon lair has the same capabilities.

The last thing of note is the dragon’s interactions. This is basically a list of role-playing notes for running the dragon. It is not much, and like legendary actions and environment effects I would love to see a massive list of suggestions, but it goes a long way for giving you something to work with.

Wandering Monsters: Chosen of Bahamut

And now, metallic dragons (guest-starring the shadow dragon and dragon turtle).

Last week’s treatise on dragons opened up with several paragraphs on universal traits and tendencies between them all–high everything except for Dexterity, frightful presence, breath weapons, hoarding treasure, etc–before going into specifics. This week gives us a bullet list of alignments and environments, before just jumping into what differentiates the good guys from each other (and, again, the shadow dragon and dragon turtle).

And, well, basically everything I said last time still holds up: stats and powers are what you would expect, I do not think that the smallest size should start at Huge, and I like that they can gain access to a variety of powers that are not laundry lists of spells and/or spell-like abilities.

I do have some other issues, though.

For starters why do metallic dragons get two breath weapons, and why are the secondary ones so wierd? For example, the brass dragon can scorch you with “desert heat” or breathe a cone of sleeping gas. Bronze dragons can zap you with lightning, like blue dragons, but can also breathe gas that just makes you move away from them.Is there a reason for this other than that is how it was in older editions? At the least if chromatic dragons can learn to use their breath weapons in a different way, why not make the secondary effects something that they may have access to, as well (though I would personally go with things that make more sense)?

Also, why are metallic dragons stronger than their chromatic counterparts by default? Brass dragons are the weakest out of the bunch, but are comparable to black dragons, who are themselves second on the chromatic totem pole. I think it would be much more interesting to have them at best be on par, which would make it more likely that one or both dragons would seek outside assistance to help tip the scales.

What of the iron dragon? I think these were in 3rd Edition, but I distinctly remember them as 4th Edition’s metallic answer to the white dragon: they were stealthy opportunists that could block your attacks with their wings, and had a neat magnetic lightning breath weapon.

I think that shadow dragons could stand to have a bit more interesting origin. They basically seem like dragon-wraiths, so why not make them the ghost or left over “soul-stuff” of a dragon? Why not dark reflections of normal dragons? Depending on how the flavor for 5th Edition’s Plane of Shadow goes, they could even be dragons who exchanged part of whatever amounts to their soul for shadow magic (as with various Shadow-powered classes from 4th Edition).

As for their energy-draining breath weapon, I will be cool with it, so long as it does not inflict permanent ability/level loss. The wraith’s mechanic of capping hit points for a day would work just fine, as would removing Hit Dice (similar to how you lost healing surges in 4th Edition).

I am not sure where I stand with dragon turtles. The poll options lacked a “No, but that does not mean that they cannot live for thousands of years, be powerful and intelligent, and have a breath weapon” response, which is what I would have chosen. I mean, do they need to be in the same draconic category as the rest? Does relegating them to their own monster entry somehow strip away any sense of power and majesty? What about other dragon-like creatures, such as wyverns, drakes, lung dragons, and the like?

Wandering Monsters: Spawn of Tiamat

Well now, it is about time…for chromatics anyway, though metallics do get a line or two in there somewhere.

Immediately I notice that their range of size categories start a Huge, because in previous editions they started Small (though initially the smallest dragons 4th Edition offered were Large). A couple paragraphs in the article elaborate that the “youngest and weakest” dragons are commonly encountered are Huge (50 feet from nose to tail), and at level 8 work great for 5th-level parties.

It mentions eggs and hatchlings, but states that they are exceptionally rare because “dragons hide their eggs and rear their young in the most remote and inaccessible locations possible”. Good parenting, but bad design: 4th Edition only omitted the youngest pair of dragon age categories and took a lot of flak for that. This sounds like they are going to leave out about half of them, and if history is any indication they will just end up putting them in a future release anyway, so I do not know why they are bothering to wait. Just include them all and let DMs sort it out. After all there are some good adventures that have young dragons, not to mention some of our mini-collections.

Stat-wise there is nothing new: with the exception of Dexterity they have high stats all around. They are also resistant to magic, immune to specific energy types, cannot be put to sleep/paralyzed, and have keen senses. Personally I wish 5th Edition would implement some kind of more granular damage reduction system to reflect their scales (and give characters in heavy armor a much-needed edge). Lots of games do it without slowing things down. I also think that rather than making them outright immune to sleep and paralysis, that they should instead reduce the severity and duration of the effect (kind of like how 4th Edition had it do something, but let them end it after a turn).

Power-wise is where things get really cool. Of course they have recharging breath weapons, and given that they start at Huge they also frightful presence as part of their default rollout. The first line of the third paragraph did catch my eye, though:

Every dragon is a unique individual with its own specific abilities.

That. Is. Awesome.

I never liked 2nd and 3rd Edition dragons, especially 3rd Edition ones, because when they got older they all started to get massive lists of spell-like abilities. Because of the issues pertaining to older-edition spell scaling, this meant that in addition to a dragon’s attack routine, special attacks, special abilities, breath weapon, feats, and skills, that you also had a bunch of spells to juggle (a lot of them too low level to be much use). Of course some people liked this, and I even recall complaints about the xorvintaal (sp?) template from Monster Manual V, which let you strip out the spells and give a dragon other abilities to compensate.

This model, if done properly, ideally lets everyone get what they want, while at the same time keeping players on their toes. Dragons will still have some core elements that pertain to their color, so blue dragons will have a lightning-based breath weapon, but its area-of-effect and other factors might vary from blue to blue. They might also be able to do something else entirely, like employ thematic and evocative mirage-like illusions. I love it. It makes me think of 4th Edition’s alternate powers, which were much more interesting than having a dragon with a lot of random spells.

For the most part I liked this article. The Huge and up bit bugs me, but I really dig the idea of highly customizable dragons, so hopefully it gets done right.

Draconomicon 2 Lite Review

Draconomicon II: Metallic Dragons is basically Draconomicon I: Chromatic Dragons, except that its about metallic dragons. This is the only difference. Hell, even the chapter layout and titles are identical: dragon lore, DM’s guide, sample lairs, new monsters, and a hall of fame for kinda-sorta non-dick-move dragons. The art is mostly alright, but the page-count is about 20+ pages shorter…so the short review is basically that if you liked the first one and want more dragons then pick it up. However since I like to prattle on about shit I’m going to do just that, starting with the chapter I read first, New Monsters.

The real reason you’re going to pick this book is is for moar stats, and Draconomnomcon: Metal Dragons has a crapton of them. Not only are there seven “new” dragon metals/alloys, but you get a wyrmling stat block for every fucking dragon printed thus far, draconians, something called a hollow dragon, coutls, drakes, kobolds, etc. Taking it from the top I’m going to tackle “true” dragons. The new flavors are brass, bronze, cobalt, mercury, mithril, orium, and steel.

Brass dragons are violent bi-polar mercenaries that are just as likely to maul the hell out of anything that wanders into their line-of-sight and loot it as they are to agree to contracted services. Talk about your Reverse Dungeon. Though they are artillery, they only have one ranged attack which has a short range and also automatically pegs every adjacent critter if it hits, which seems more like a controller to me. It otherwise can make multiple attacks and has a couple of close blast attacks that either push things or let it shift, which is good if you’re supposed to emphasize ranged attacks.

Bronze dragons live by the ocean and demand tribute from merchant vessels, which has got to fuck with the local economy since I dont think they are too keen on actually spending any of it. On the plus side they really hate blue dragons and ruin their shit whenever they show up, which is kind of like buying a rock that is purported to keep tigers away. Not that I’ve ever seen tigers on a random encounter chart. Anyway…its attacks are fucking murder. The bite lets it roll out 20+ damage on average while the claws average 30 damage. The breath weapon deals a shit-ton of lightning damage, but if it hits anyone it can arc lightning onto another creature further away for 2d8 + 4 damage (with a push effect). Finally, it can dive underwater to heal itself and gain an attack bonus, which is really bad for a brute. I could see the DM having a pool of water for this fucker to use, and the players scrambling to keep it away.

Emo Cobalt dragons mope about in gloomy regions, like MySpace or the D&D Out of Print forum. The happier ones dwell in places with strong ties to the Shadowfell. They like to subjugate whatever local critter is handy and like high-school bullies pick fights to prove how “tough” they are. Sometimes if they kick your ass they’ll let you go if you give them money, though if they can beat you up they might as well have a shakedown power that causes all your money to rain off of you. As controllers they are able to mix up their basic attacks quite a bit (bite-shift-claw twice), and the rest of their shit is a bunch of close blasts that pushes or restrains.

Mercury dragons function as draconic assassins (for…someone?), which is a bigger word for “lurker”. As expected they deal more damage when they have combat advantage, and they can make a free attack against creatures that deals damage and applies combat advantage for a turn. Their breath weapon deals poison damage and renders the dragon invisible. Frightful presence stuns an assload of creatures so they have a couple ways to get that extra damage out one way or another. Finally, they have a per-encounter move that lets them turn into quicksilver, which prevents opportunity attacks, lets them squeeze through Tiny spaces, and if they return to their normal form? They get combat advantage against you.

Mithril dragons are crazy motherfuckers that can see into the future and teleport when they attack. Twice. Their prescience basically gives them a constant defense bonus, and they can also do an explodey ‘port as an encounter power ala Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. Since they tend to devote themselves to causes and gods, they get radiant resistance and most of their shit has the Radiant keyword.

Orium dragons–and I’m not making this up–skulk about ancient ruins and literally command other creatures to, “rebuild the glories of yesteryear.” Yesteryear. Why? Why not say ancient times, or something less…I dunno, silly. For that matter, why try and rebuild old ruins at all? I guess I wouldnt complain since of all the metallic dragons they seem like the nicest out of the bunch since they dont randomly maul and/or extort things that are not dragons. All sillyness aside, their breath weapon is pretty cool, generating minion brutes each time they use it. Otherwise they’re pretty basic with a predictable bite/claw routine while they wait for dragon breath to recharge.

Steel dragons seem to enjoy touring around in humanoid form and try to undermine authority for some reason…perhaps because they’re the only dragon that can use change shape by default? I dunno. I guess if I could do that and was really bored I might do random shit like that. Otherwise they have a wing attack and can implact a suggestion as a minor action that slides, causes the target to grant combat advantage, and lets the dragon shift a square. Elder steel dragons are more interesting in that they can shape their breath weapon into a force cage and trap creatures.

There are also wyrmling versions of each metallic dragon, including the ones that were in MM2, so hopefully you werent like me and sold all your Small-and-Medium sized dragon minis when you heard that the (at the time) youngest dragons in 4E were gonna be Large.

Hollow dragons are the leftover dragon skin empowered by the dragon’s inherent elemental energy, soul-type essence. So…kind of like a maybe-less-morbid version of the dracolich. They arent all good (as metallic dragons likewise are not), they rupture essence when hit, and larger versions can swallow you and trap you inside their animate flesh and cook you. Nifty.

There are a pair of couatl blocks, one evil and the other unaligned. They have ongoing poison bites, deal more radiant damage when hit by radiant attacks, and can make extra saves against immobilize and restrain conditions.

Eight draconian types get represented, meaning that a few corrupted metallics get left out (mithril, orium, steel, and mercury I think). They still have their various death effects, and there is a fair spread on levels and roles so I could see it being very easy to do lots of mid-to-high heroic tier using draconians as primary threats. At least I have a use for those old draconian minis that I couldnt pawn, and I didnt have to buy a craptastic Dragonlance book for the stats!

Drakkensteeds are mount-types that have an impressive overland flight speed of 15 and a dazing roar. When you burn an action point they auto-recharge it and use it for free. Nifty, but 16th-level. The epic-undead version also grants necrotic and poison resistance. Too bad they look fucking stupid, as I am a shallow player and aesthetics play a big part in the decisions I make.

As before there is a section on swapping out alternative powers, and a template that actually downgrades dragons to Elites for better use in level-appropriate group fights.

After that I decided to take it from the top and browse the chapters to see if anything caught my attention. The first chapter–Dragon Lore–goes over how dragons were created before moving on to a brief recap on their physiology, with a few paragraphs devoted to shapechanging. A sidebar refers you back to Draconomicon I for better coverage since they didnt wanna reprint a bunch of content again.

What I find most interesting about this chapter is that it puts a spin on how metallic dragons used to be represented: instead of being Good they’re now Jackass Unaligned. Many believe that they are superior to mortal races aside from just level and Solo category, and while some might wish to help us they tend do look at mortal races as primitive creatures that need their assistance and expect gratitude in exchange for the privilege of receiving it. This perspective makes it easier to utilize them as villians without sacrificing consistency and credibility…in case you needed the books to encourage or even “allow” you to do so.

The rest of the book follows the format I’ve come to expect for the other “monster” books. You get a chapter with stuff on sample lairs, organizations, traps, some new artifacts, and ways to use dragons for the long-term in your campaigns.

I enjoyed Draconic Encounters, as it provides ways to properly manage dragons with your XP budget and I’ve had plenty of DMs use dragons with minions in a way that has hosed many a character. So, hopefully budding DMs can be bothered to read this short section on how to do a job proper (or at least less lethally).

Otherwise…not much else comes to mind. Thats it. Book o’ dragons. Get it if you want/need more, or want to see some various methods to build solo monsters. You might get some mileage out of the lairs and traps.