One of my characters, an astonishingly stupid fighter with an INT of 3 or 4, got a Blue Dragon egg and hatched it. At birth the dragon was smarter than my warrior. He ended up riding it as it grew, but it called all the shots.
Imagine raising a gold dragon baby like a puppy. "I have full knowledge of all fundamental aspects in the universe, and i have determined through immense meditation that I, indeed, am the good boy."
"I fail to understand why you require me to retrieve the short length of wood unless you believe I require frequent exercise to grow stronger, which I assure you, I do not"
"Of course I did it daddy, that was your 3rd helping and already you are almost too fat to fit into your armor! I knew that the greater good was served if I ate the roast joint and everything else on the plate. I am a growing wyrming while your are a slightly overweight paladin going to grossly overweight paladin. I did it for your own good."
Dear lord if the metallic and chromatic dragon wyrmlings are such trouble then I can’t imagine all the shenanigans epic dragons like prismatic and force get into. Really interesting video on Dragons!
So, they draw their breath weapon from surrounding elemental energy? Now I can't help but imagine someone incubating a Red Dragon Egg somewhere in the high north, and then, when it hatches, it draws in air and is very surprised and confused when it can only exhale a teeny tiny flame, because there isn't much fire energy around. And that mental image is just too adorable.
I've thought of writing a novel about a protagonist baby dragon who is born and tries to survive in a human city making alliances and enemies and eventually becoming its leader all the while trying to keep its dragonic nature a secret
Cool concept, but this is TMNT. Other than the smell of a swamp/ coastal grass field that smells like crap anyhow . Why would a black or green dragon live in the sewers of a city ? A 8th-level wizard can polymorph a dragon into a human. Honestly how is your novel going with the dragon ? The Dragon Lance novels where base off the campaign notes from the RPG . a.) dragon's POV b.) dragon's allies POV. " insiders" c.) Player game about learning the city. " outsider " d.) current thief guild e.) current city noble council . About six to eight different groups could be fighting for control of the city.
Does anybody else think it's cute as shit that a dragon's hoard is kinda like their baby blanket or teddy bear? It provides innate security and comfort, that's so precious.
Other than metal coins & gems, I always go with dragons seek to collect as much magic items they can." Feel " the arcane energy..! " Why did you eat the Scroll of Ray of Frost ?! You are a Red Dragon !" Wrymling looks up at the adventurer in a cute questioning look in it's eyes. Then hiccups a cloud of Cold from it's mouth. q: How many magic items does a dragon needs to to eat to grow healthy ?
Now this has some interesting questions and possibilities attached to it. On the former, two in particular come to mind: 1. Can a dragon's nature be overcome by nurture? 2. If not, what view do (good) dragons take of destroying the egg clutches of their less amicable counterparts? Surely this is a "no win" scenario for them. Personally, I love the idea of trying to raise a Red Dragon Parthurnax- bringing it up to be proud and strong, but also to wrestle with it's own innate nature. Hell, I can already imagine the lecture coming out of the resident Wise Warrior. *"You must fight on two fronts, little fire. From without, you will be assailed by fear and loathing- even hatred- by both your kind and mine, and through no fault of your own. From within, your own nature will rebel against your will, and you will be assailed by even yourself- your own cruelty, your own greed, your own arrogance, and your own hatred.* *Remember this though, little fire: these are battles which you can win. You can withstand the assault from without until your foes become your friends, and you can quell the rebellion within until you alone are master of your will.* *You are a dragon, little fire, mighty and strong and proud. You can overcome. You would not be here today if I had even for a moment believed otherwise."* Even if you aren't interested in players undertaking such a task, there are some really fantastic things you can do with this. Perhaps there is one Red Dragon mysteriously mixed in among a council of Golds. Perhaps there is a rather odd elf in the city. A longterm resident of high standing and magnanimous nature, but with seemingly dubious origin. Or perhaps the effort failed, and failed miserably. The party is contracted to help an aged and weakened Half-Elf adventurer bring down a dangerous Adult (though on the younger side) Red Dragon who has been terrorizing the countryside, promising the beast's hoard in exchange. Only upon meeting the dragon does the party discover the relationship between the two- the Half-Elf, viewing the dragon as something akin to a son, makes one last plea for the dragon to change its ways, and the dragon, despite viewing the Half-Elf as something akin to a father (not in the chromatic draconic sense, but in the manner of a real, genuine parent), only answers that it cannot. Combat commences. The dragon seems almost reluctant to harm the Half-Elf, but is willing with its life on the line. Should the Half-Elf fall in the battle, the dragon loses it. All the arrogant cunning of a Red gives way to a thoughtless, primal wrath that could shame a White, and it curls around the body of its fallen family member as if it were the party that murdered him- only moving away if no party member is in reach, and even then trying to stay between the group and the body. Any character that attempts to interact with the body in any way gains the Dragon's full, unmitigated ire. _Note: I would be highly tempted to fudge some rolls to facilitate this scenario. Nothing major, mind. I would deliberately place the Half-Elf directly after the Dragon in initiative to cut off any Cleric shenanigans at the pass (nothing kills tension like Healing Word popping a near-death character back on his feet), make sure that the Half-Elf eats an entire round's worth of multi-attack when it does come time for him to go down (with particular description of the dragon lashing out almost reflexively in anger- possibly in response to an opportunity attack from the Half-Elf) and that he goes down with first hit of that multi-attack (whether he actually did or not) to result in two immediate failed Death Saving Throws. I would then lie through my teeth if necessary to have him fail the third immediately on his turn thereafter, followed by the dragon using its legendary movement action to move over the body and proceed as discussed above. You could just not give him any Death Saving Throws, as is common for NPCs, but I feel that their presence lends greater weight to the character and tension to the scenario, and, if your a decent liar, makes the whole thing seem less rigged than even an actually un-rigged scenario that lacks them._ Should the dragon fall first instead, the Half-Elf collapses in inconsolable tears at its body, refusing to eat, drink, or move (indeed, seemingly vacant but for the grief) until silently standing up and exiting the lair at the next dawn (should the players actually stick around to keep an eye on him). This might be a good reminder to the players that evil doesn't necessarily mean heartless, and act as a good punch in the gut to boot- especially if they had some time to get to know the Half-Elf on the way there, and _especially_ if he occasionally let slip a story about his "son" (the draconic nature of which is intentionally unmentioned). I often find myself looking back on my life and the lives of others and wondering if things could have turned out differently- for better or worse. It'd be a real accomplishment in my opinion to evoke that in a group of players, though certainly not something for every table.
A great blue dragon in my game had a huge golf club- weapon of dragonslayer slaying. For comedic effect it's activation word was "fore " ( in draconian)
AJ Pickett I remember in Neverwinter Nights where you had to get a relic from an evil ancient red dragon. He was sending out giants to steal eggs from other dragons in order to hatch the eggs, turn the wyrmlings into adults and then murder them in order steal their lifeforce to prolong his own life. He was even trying to steal the eggs of a young golden dragon. If he had succeeded in killing the golden dragon, an adventurer who finally ended up killing the ancient red could have ended up with a bunch of orphan golden dragon eggs. A good paladin, cleric or druid would fight for a chance to raise one of those.
Surprised that Silvers are born so weary and disrespectful towards the humanoids that their parents most likely love. Quite a nice contrast to the heavy emphasis on inborn traits dragons often have.
Running a kobold paladin of Bahamut (long story), and came on three black dragon eggs. My party immediately set on them with weapons and would only let me keep one after I threatened to kill anyone who tested me. Unfortunately, the two hatchlings who's eggs got broken suffocated. My party was a little too pleased about that. So now I'm trying to handle this last egg myself, getting ready to help it learn and hopefully gravitate to a black dragon that isnt absolutely awful. Like, ok, you want your enemy to suffer? Embarrass them by being better than them and merciful. They'll suffer the mental and emotional scars of guilt and embarrassment as long as they live unless they decide to make amends. Wanna be rich? Bet people will pay you a lot and do work for you if you help them. And it's a lot less dangerous than taking it by force. I'll give it my best shot, no idea how this is gonna go.
@@coltonlong2223, I'm leaving a link to this playlist for inspiration. Because I believe you can raise your dragon better than that! To quote the only good dialogue in Skyrim: "What is better - to be born good, or to overcome your evil nature through great effort?" ruclips.net/p/PLIS5ukV1xUXlLAzs9LDkEeM2BY_tcSfux I totally didn't cry watching that last night. I just got something in my eyes... Seriously though, it is the best "I found a black dragon egg"-story I have ever heard. Makes makes me tear up just thinking about it. It is both Dungeon Master and Player inspiration gold. Tough choices and sacrifices are made, but there is a great reward at the end... and no, the reward is not a dragon mount; it's a dragon legend. Or, you know, don't try that that and just bully it into being your slave. Follow your bliss, this is just a game we play for fun after all! :)
@@ImperialCoffee769 well... he saved us from a doppelganger ambush.... and he also killed 6 people, but didn't get caught, so that got written off to the doppelgangers. I taught him about hunting, and eventually, to cut down on distractions and headaches for the DM, we agreed to basically entrust him to a temple of Bahamut for what's essentially boarding school. I'm hoping he will be done by the finale.
Chromatic Dragon Dating: "Give me some, or I'll kill you!" Metallic Dragon Dating: "Hey Baby, wanna come over and roll around in my hoard after we help heal the local villagers?"
Praise be the answers, Praise be the unveiling, Praise The Great and Mighty Gluestick for revealing Dragons Nature of Being to the ignorant world. 5 star 10/10, you deserve more love, Great Video!
Ah Dragon Hordes, where gold pieces become experience points. So way back in second edition there were rules for playing a dragon character that stated your experience point total was based on the gold piece value of your horde. This is also modified in the Dragon lance setting that they released. Second edition went on to hint that precious metals, rather than being a conductor for magical energies, were manifestations of certain magical energies themselves. This is part of the reason Darksun is completely devoid of certain metals and True Dragons (there are some particularly nasty dracolichs though...), and why other settings had higher than normal occurrences of those minerals. More over, this tied the abilities of a dragon to the land that they claimed as their territory. Land that holds larger quantities of mineral wealth had a deeper affinity for the elemental power from which they drew their power from. The real thing of interest to me is the effect of a dragon on their claimed territory and the extent that it can be enhanced or mitigated but, that's maybe a different video. As far as wyrmlings go though, the unhatched and younger wyrmlings might be counted as the "Horde" of the eldest dragon, since they all have extreme gold piece values.
I’ve always liked the idea of a party having a white wyrmling NPC that basically acts like a poorly controlled but highly dangerous guard dog. Like a mix of Kujo and Hooch, but a dragon.
In my game, our party came across a red dragon egg in the possession of some crazy people who straight up stole it from its parent. Literally as our party was trying to figure out how to get this big ass egg out of there, it hatches, and it immediately thinks that my character, a male tiefling who is just a private investigator that's with the party only by pure chance, is it's mother and will not leave him alone. Turns out it's a girl. He named her Lily.
@@AJPickett She isn't nearly as violent or cunning as you made red wyrmlings out to be in this video, which is mainly due to a combination of the DM not knowing dragon lore very well and us as a group just sorta bending things to what we find more interesting or fun. Also, about 2 encounters later, the DM realized that the red wyrmling was kind of op at the time we got her (we were like level 4 or 5 when she joined us), so we found a homebrew red dragon hatchling and have been using that so far. Now she's this small baby with like 20 HP that spends most of her time chilling in my character's backpack. She thinks its cozy in there.
a while ago, one of my PC in a solo game got a hatchling silver dragon as a familiar (from random tables rolls), it really gave a complete twist to the idea I had for the adventure. It was really fun, and instructive.
During the 3.5 days Gold dragons got the Shapechange ability immediately, allowing them to take on a humanoid form from birth. I used this to great effect in one of my games where a young gold wrymling was being hunted down by dragon poachers to be sold off as some slave or what have you. She took the form of a young blonde girl the party ran into and they protected her from the poachers. The party thought she was adorable and finding out she was an orphan (mom dragon was killed by the poachers and their trap) adopted her almost instantly. It took a while for them to figure out she was a dragon, not that she was hiding the fact its just that a small human girl in a city is less conspicuous than a gold dragon. She became the joint apprentice to the paladin and the wizard and eventually served as the paladin's special mount once higher levels were attained.
I introduced a runt sized blue Dragon egg to my party at the start of a game, while exploring a storm giants lair they uncovered an orb containing a storm that was unleashing its energy on the surface making it difficult for any ships in the area. When my player with the egg got close to the orb I described how it shattered and the power was absorbed by the egg. It hatched soon after when they were fighting an undead storm giant dedicated to an Aboleth god (Pisathaces I think?) our party member holding the egg was about to get crushed by one of his attacks, however upon hatching the lil dragon unleashed a devastating breath weapon that took out the giant. It was awesome. It’s been a few days now and after watching your vid I’m not sure if a blue dragon is appropriate for the party, in my draconomicon book it talks about bit about cobalt Dragons, do you have any other information regarding that breed of dragon?
One (Non Wyrmling) thing that's always intrigued me: The redemption of planar evils. Seeing as angels can fall, why can't demons rise? It's a really intriguing idea.
I think that just like a modron who goes rogue, Redeemed evil planar are hunted by their former group which would reduce their chances of survival. Moreover they probably loose the connection to their home plane making them mortal even outside of their home plane. My point being :it's very unlikely to ever meet a redeemed evil planar.
Both Daemons and Demons can ascend, but it's typically viewed as extremely difficult. Devils literally can not ascend as they're bound to the lower planes and it's part of what makes them a Devil. Daemons can ascend, but they have to give up being evil, which is like saying you have to give up your legs. Very people are willing to just cut off their legs for a distant, uncertain goal. Demons can ascend, but all the other evil outsiders begin to target them because it removes power from the lower planes that the other outsiders feed on. Good outsiders have been known to hinder demonic ascension because they inherently distrust demons, but most are content to simply stay uninvolved. Involvement with demons is seen as needlessly risky by the upper planes.
I've also humored the idea, an especially remorseful demon (possibly a creation of the forge of souls), with the assistance of a persistant (and VERY charismatic) angel or other such good-alligned entity, rising from its hideous, dark existence, or at least attempting to, which i imagine would be a painful and spectacular process indeed.
We just found an egg and we know something bad must have happened to its parents because it was in a "farm". Specifically one where dragons were killed and their blood harvested to create dragon blood oozes. We all started freaking out and trying to figure out what to do. We settled on letting the egg decide once its hatched, but take it with us in the mean time. Just a bit more information, we found metallic dragon skeletons and broken dragon eggs, once again of metallic dragons (copper and silver).
A recommendation for future videos would be putting text up on screen in a table/ list as you list down specific numbers such as egg length and incubation specifics. Just so when rewatching the video we can simple screenshot or more easily list them down.
Oh my Gods! They're all so adorable. I would like a blue one. Although brass and bronze seem more practical. And by more practical, I mean we probably wouldn't end up trying to kill one another. Another awesome video AJ! Are you still going to do one on Tiamat's consorts some day? I've tried to find information on them. And have found next to nothing.
Also I wouldn't mind seeing a video or series of videos on your personal favorite of a variety of topics...Dragons, maybe your favorite places to set a campaign, or even your favorite enclaves. You do the community a huge service so hearing some of your preferences would be awesome
2cgaming released playable dragons in Dragonflight for 5e. You start as a wyrmling and they have all the dragon types plus Orchid Dragons which is a type of plant-dragon that is exclusive to them. So this info is going to be super useful to me.
In Loom of Magus, the creator gods are omega level dragon gods. So, Loom of Magus is very dragon-centric. It is hard to environmentally kill a dragon egg. It just enters "suspended animation" during the time it is not in the right incubation environment. Also, if the baby dragons are orphaned when they hatch, they have the innate ability to shape-shift (without losing toughness and abilities) into the nearest humanoid or reptilian species as well as an innate ability to speak their most common language. They only get the one bonus form and one bonus language from this. A lizardfolk king in my campaign was born from an egg of a slain black dragon pair, hidden in lizardfolk territory. You can imagine the style of bad guy he was. One of the heroes that recruited the party was a lizardfolk half dragon who wished to avenge his slain mother. The lizardfolk claimed he was a cambion demon of sorts. Great video, I love using dragons, especially when they are forced to mix with non-dragons and make things interesting.
@@thor-master-82 It's the campaign world I created. I've been telling AJ little nuggets about it for months. Some of his viewers like some of my little posts and get inspired to do those things in their games. ;)
@@thor-master-82 Oh! You wanted to know about the dragon gods who created Loom of Magus. Forgive me, I will enlighten. The dragons were multidimensional beings for billions of years. Each one was massive to the point of any normal sized planet would easily fit on the tip of the sharpest of its teeth. Traveling the multiverse, they were bored observers. Until, one eon, they noticed that their parasites on the surface of their bodies were developing civilizations. Until then, they were ignored the same way we ignore any microbes. They developed collective power and were occasionally seen as an irritation or disease. From time to time, they would rid those creatures from their hydes. Then they started studying them and found relief from their boredom and apathy, no longer needing to peer into the more nightmarish regions of reality for entertainment... and then they felt purpose. The parasites were a superior humanoid species (ancient race) in Loom of Magus called "Crystonians". Their crystal technology is basically artifact creating technology. They were an OP civilization. What the dragons did, each one more powerful than any pantheon of gods, was give up their "mortal" coil to create the Loom of Magus. They are the Creation gods of Loom of Magus. Each one became a solar system, no longer a dragon. Loom of Magus is (in Spelljammer terms) a Silver Sphere 100,000 light years in diameter with the average distance between suns (stars) being around 5 light years. Do the math... or don't and thus accept the possible campaign worlds are effectively infinite. The Crystonians went (more or less) extinct after a cosmic level division, as well as extraplanar attention, was attracted. That was millions of years ago. Humanoids are because of the Crystonians. Dragon-centric is because Loom of Magus was created by godlike dragons that REDUCED their power to become the gods of such a creation. I played D&D boxed sets in the 80s: Basic, Expert, Master, and Immortal. I have actual divine ascension in my rules and planet-wide divinity as a rather initiate thing in divinity. I was a teen (80s) when I also played AD&D and came up with advanced and converted concepts. Ao would be an absolutely minor power in my campaigns relative to the upper echelon because of the D&D boxed sets that got me into it.
First idea that comes to mind when I watch this video is an adult female brass dragon that is unable to lay eggs starts a hatchery for abandoned dragon eggs and hire adventurers who would kill dragons to get the eggs for her.
The nature of dragon's hoard would also explain the importance of Astilabor, the draconic goddess of hoard, to dragons. While she is not the most oft-called upon deity in draconic pantheon, she would serve both as a wealth goddess, a thing obvious to non-dragons, and a hearth goddess, as hoard is the center of dragon's lair like hearth is the center of mortal household. This may also explain the weird hypocrisy in stealing to enlarge the hoard being not blasphemous in her eyes - it is a basic requirement for dragon to survive, in a way, and as a neutral goddess, she seeks to raise and protect hoards of good, evil, and neutral dragons alike.
I never really liked some of the new added dragon "gods" to D&D, and this is one of them. I heard the reason that whole power thing comes from the metals was added was to promote 2nd & 3rd edition gods like this to make them more important. plus, in some of the other d&d books, it says certain dragons of both metallics and chromatics hoard only certain things, and most of which isn't metal, so that whole metal thing is like a recon, So I ignore that metal thing about dragons, and Instead of them drawing from the environment, I have them like they where originally, were they influencing it instead. Also, I only recognize the original Vanilla D&D dragon gods, and not those that come from Second edition and on wards, so no: Astilabor, Chronepsis, Faluzure, Garyx, Hlal, Lendys, Tamara, Aasterinian, and even Io himself for me, because I prefer to go by first edition set gods for the deities of dragons, in which there is 3. It's just 1st edition was so simpler and less over complicated.
@@wingedflyingforce5139 It's ain't like the boogeyman is going to get you for this. True, first edition was quite simple in this regard, and its obvious many miss it, but there is also those who love complexity to their lore. Especially if it can lead to conclusions like this. And now I think of it, whoever may want to make a separate pantheon for dragonborn or other draconic humanoids for their campaign, draconic pantheon will work just fine.
But AJ, what about the dragons that don't have hoards of coins and metal? What about the dragons that prefer to collect other things they consider valuable? Like a library of rare and exotic books, art, unusual plants, rare wines, petrified people, I.O.U. receipts, I even read a story of a brass dragons who's hoard was boots and shoos for people he had meet on his travels.
@@AJPickett I can get that, if elemental energies in everything on the prime material just as astral energy is infused in everything, so some dragons decide to not go the brute force method on obtaining that aspect of their sustenance; & as a result devote their time as well as energy towards obtaining other things they value.
What would a steel dragon wyrmling be like? I would guess it would, like the gold, attach itself to adventurers and also spend a lot of time seeking out intelligent creatures and libraries because of their love for history and culture.
This has been one of the most idea-inspiring video I've seen in a while. So many possibilities! Kind of recaptures the wonder I felt while reading Eragon for the first time as a kid
hahahahahahaha, this is awesome, for the longest time I was practically fed up with dragons in d&d, I've seen all of your videos easily more than thrice, or so i thought.. but now finally I have a reason to properly be excited, because you're right lowering the challenge rating of a dragon by making it a baby or a hatchling does let you be able to have your players interact with it much earlier, this has so many fun implications and uses, I can't wait to do something with this in one of my campaigns.
Aaaand time for me to set up a blue dragon raised by orcs, who would equally be suited to the desert environment that they live in within my setting on top of their societal philosophy of "the world is hard, so you have to be harder"
I love this, especially the personalities. This will factor well into the current campaign. This certainly helped solidify the identity of some of the NPCs the party has yet to meet. I have a brass dragonborn EK in the group that will meet a family of brass dragons down the road now. :)
I found a chart of 100 random potion effects and thought it was funny, gave my players a flask that lets them roll on the chart each day. The 5th time the wizard rolled, he got a potion that knocked him out for a day, after which he pooped out a dragon egg. He is now incubating a bronze dragon egg, which will hatch in 1 year ingame time.
🤣😅😓 Ouch. As a woman, I actually feel sorry for him. Probably gonna need to wear diapers for the rest of his life due to bowel damage and difficulty controlling number 2s......
Baron's Town Autumn Fair 1.) there is a local town fair in the area, pick pockets are every where and there is a local spellcaster talent show. It is a big party after the fields have been harvested, and with out any major battles, no local troops are missing limbs needing Polymorph back on to their bodies. a.) Out of no where, a dozen wrymlings are attacking the fair, they may be the size of flying horses, but those little buggers just won't hold or fly strait long enough to put an arrow into them. b.) one wizard has an ideal and tells the other Polymorphers to turn the wrymling into equivalent human age children. The spells worked ! c.) Now the fair has a dozen preteens running around knocking everything over and screaming their bloody heads off. " How is this any better ? At lest when they were dragons, you could shoot arrows at them ..."
Great video AJ I have a copy of The Draconomicon my self while the technical information is out of date the lore and roleplaying info is still compatible with 5E. On another note this is making me think about adult dragons that live to make a name for themselves like Klauth The Old Snarl, Felgolos The Flying Misfortune, and Cyan Bloodbane.
Back in AD&D2e green dragons families were called " clans," cause they made use of extended family members. And young adult females would lair with her mother and maybe her grand mother for egg/ baby protection. Most DM & players discard these two lines out of the AD&D2e monster manual cause they didn't want a TPK, and just wanted to loot a dragon lair for easy coin. Green dragons should or will make servants as soon they become young adults. When they are out collecting treasure. First time out young adult green dragon is watching a human village. Man is brushing horses, others are brushing long hair cows and goats, collecting hair ? Now they are turning the hair into thread ! Wait a moment, the humans are brushing each others hair ! And the female is slapping the young male around for using the brush on the dog then using the same brush on his, sister ? Their dogs really , beg ? And the dogs are having a great time being brushed by three people ! The males are having their face hair brush and cut to make themselves look nice. Humans do a lot of grooming. I was never told about any of this grooming ! I will go in there and make the humans groom me ! Few minutes later, "Now how do I get all of these arrows out of me ?"
now if the dragon egg was fertilized but had gotten too cold to warm to drive to whatever wouldn't any spell that resurrects the Dead work to bring it back? Genuinely curious on this one as part of me says it might work but at the same time it may not
is it possible for a chomatic wyrmling to be raised to be good ? I was told there was something like that in the dragonomicon, with a DC and all but i don't have the book
smile444 Yea, some Copper dragons defeated and flight of Black Dragons, and found a unhatched egg in the spoils of war. The Copper leader decided to not destroy it, and hatched it as a bit of an experiment. The wyrmling grew up to be a neutral aligned Black dragon that had many Copper friends, since it was hatched an raised with Copper hatchlings.
Yes... And no. It is their nature you'll be fighting against. And eventually they themselves will be fighting to suppress in order to live up to your teachings. I did have my (draconic bloodline) sorcerers raise a few varied dragons. Teaching the chromatics to be good were more difficult than metallics. But they are likely to take it up if you speak draconic, which is another reason I pick draconic bloodline origin for sorcerers over any other origins. Draconic is very vital in teaching wyrmlings. Without that language, it will take far longer to raise wyrmlings since they often refuse to learn new languages. There is also the problem of outside influences, thieves and angry peasants for example. Thieves recognize the value of wyrmlings in the black market while ignorant peasants generally hate dragons and will (try to) kill a wyrmling. Don't forget the color of the dragon also plays a huge part. Their nature will either aid or hinder your efforts. However they are all fond of special rewards ranging from exotic meats to treasures their species prefer. Just remember they are REWARDS for behavior, not for anything else. Do Not Spoil Them. Learned that the hard way.
I think i've readof one story, i'll try to tell it long ago ancient elf from Myth Drannor [not sure] obtained the egg of a red dragon, he with help of magicians managed to change it's nature removing all the malice from the unhatched red wyrmling, and raising him as pretty good dragon, but also as any dragon very possesive - of his friends, also his scales had changed some of their color, with blue and golden color, you might wanna take into consideration the programming/nature that those little "droids" get on their birth. Otherwise all efforts would fail in my opinion.
web site question : Can a Wall of Iron mess with the Local Economy ? 1.) You can break down a Wall of Iron into tools, weapons, and armor. You can equip and orc/ goblin army and have they attack a castle/ fortified town. When the orc hoard is within the castle outer walls or within the choke points within the town. Your wizards can cast Mass Dispel Magic and make all of the orc's armor and weapons vanish ! Now the defenseless orcs can be cut and shot down. 2.) How to kill a dragon in it's own lair. a.) create a Wall of Gold. melt it down for coin. i.) Let the dragon hear about the King's Taxes bring moved. And let the dragon's henchmen steal it all. Once the dragon has all of the " Gold " in it's lair, and the dragon is as all happy it can be. Cast Dispel Magic on it, so the dragon can watch it all vanish ! ii.) The dragon will be so enrage, if it doesn't knock themselves out by slamming their head's against their lair ceiling , they could cause a cave in. iii.) After punking the dragon, just go through all the settlements casting dispel magic to make all the fake gold vanish before tax time. 3.) 5th-level Wall of Stone and 6th-level Wall of Iron. a.) Wall of Stone, variants: any type of stone, crystal(gem), and mineral " salt, coal" b.) Wall of Iron/ Metal, variants: any type of metal." copper, silver, tin, zinc " c.) These " Walls " are conjuration not illusion, they are "call forth" not raw created from Astral Proto matter. So they have their natural elemental energies and also the background conjuration arcane energies. i.) Psychic mental energies. x.) miners that are happy to go to work and merry sing as they dig, the ore will have an upbeat vibe to it. Slave mines where miners are work to death will have " dispiriting vibe." Or where a staving peasant knows 5 silver coins means food for the week. Metal coins carry psychic mental energies that dragons and fiends can pick up on. " IRL new age metal books, it states metal," silver, copper, gold wire" draws energy out from the stone/ wood work items that is use as a spell focus and makes them weaker for use. 4.) Dragon Lairs a.) dragon hoards are not made up by bulk coins but by strips of flatting out gold & silver to sleep on. With broken chucks of crystal. i.) Any dispel magic cast against a caster level of 12th. Will cause the treasure just to vanish without a trace. " The band of knights yells of NOOOO, echo through the dragon's lair as the beast dies laughing at his killers disbelief and shock as of all their hard earn effect was for nothing." **" I did if back in AD&D2e in my early 20's. More or less I was band from running DM games for a few months. At lest with some groups. And the group of murder hobos I did this to, made a good effort in trying to killing any of my characters in open game setting for the next year till the shop closed. What upset them the most, a high priestess of Lolth raise a few of my characters back from the dead. One, cause I prepaid them, and two , just to piss those guys off. 5.) Dragons eating magic items for arcane energy. A.) they regard scrolls to be snack treats. " Ok, first it was your dog that ate your home work, and now it was your wrymling ?" b.) 3.5e " creating magic item," first you need gp value for paper, ink, and what has to be mix into the ink, and what kind of feather / pen you have to write the scroll with. Finally you have to imbue the spell into the scroll with a payment spell caster level Xp. For the scroll spell to work. i.) house rule of paying 99%gp value with Xp exchange. x.) Make a skill craft master work item roll DC:20 for the " rune/sigil/ glyph." It can take a day or a full week. Then pay the XP exchange rate for the gp value/ x2 market value. After a week of spending 8hr focusing on it, the arcane magic energy has been imbue into the item. This slows down spell caster level growth but makes many types of magic items easier/ gp value cheaper to make. For a dragon, this is snack food. They eat arcane energy. " Did that wrymling just drink the extra size Potion of Silliness that was for after school this Fridays tests ? And that was, what was, going to keep the dozen us drunk for the next two days....." " Question is, how do you hide a dragon the size of a wing pony that is as drunk as a dozen students ? For two days ? ! "
If I remember right 1 of the reasons its thought Song Dragons might be shapeshifters who take the form of Dragons instead of Dragons who take the form of Humans is that they are born in their Human form so I would assume they are born the same way a Human is
I’m curious now regarding nature vs nurture with wyrmlings... is it possible to turn a typically ‘evil’ dragon towards good or atleast neutral and vice-versa?
@@rexhex3700 The more aligned or instinctual they are the harder it should be to change their nature. So Red dragons would be locked at neutral at most, Blacks and Greens are hard to train but not impossible, and white dragons would be even more difficult than reds.
@@gingermcgingin1733 If you have a local game shop where 20 players break down into fours group that compete against each other. If you want a heated, yelling, screaming game. Have one player RP a dragon, and watch the murder hobos go out of their way try to kill the dragon.
Is there any information about other types of dragons: gem, ferrous, planer, etc., or pre-dracorage dragon society? Also, have you ever considered doing a monster ecology video on non-monsterous races: elves, dwarves, etc., like what you did with the dragonborn, and drow. It could be an overview of everything that the characters should know about these races (some of them even belonging to them) but the players and gm might not.
Dragon Turtle Seconded! I really want to see his take on a video about halfling lore and history. The Gnomes would also be a good one, but I think he may already have a video on them. I remember watching one, but I can’t remember if it was by him or another youtuber.
Hey AJ, this is so good! I have a copy of the Draconomicon. Your narrative skill really puts a new depth to these creatures. I was hoping you might do one the Nycadeamon.....from the old Fiend Folio. Just asking.👍
@@AJPickett Yep.. Great vid by the way. Also that campaign took a couple dozen sessions more than our dm planned... "Someone" insisted on finding booboo a "safe place" in the wilderness.... Ya know where no one would bother him.
I'm a bit hesitant to go into all those details because they have changed so radically from one edition of the game to the next... the easiest way to handle it is that the dragons grow with age at different rates depending on their type, and they may grow faster depending on environmental factors, such as the ambient elemental power in a region, their success in combat, lair building and mating, and they may travel offworld where time passes at different rates.
Draconomicon from 3e/3.5e is a good source for a lot of detailed information on ages/stages of life for each species. It’s not in print anymore, but you can find the PDFs online for free.
Remy B maybe. But if I hatch and raise it myself then the possibility is that it’d see me as a friend or parent. I’ll happily take my chances since I’m lawful evil just like the dragon. Lawful evil characters have a set of rules they will follow, such as not harming children.
Remy B I figure as long as I show it respect then it’d have little to no reason to want me dead. Hell, if I help it take another dragons horde then it’d be glad we are allies.
If an egg is not instantly placed in its element so it can hatch will it die? or can it endure and later be hatched? If it survives how long until it dies if not hatched? For instance if a Red Egg is left 10 days in a fire then its taken does the egg dies? Or can it be placed back in a fire a year later?
@@AJPickett Hmmm, interesting, so if it fits the game a Red Dragon Egg layed 100 years ago can be plced in an oven and it will hatch?! As long as the DM says so?
remember epic dragons as wyrmlings are huge category have the abilities of adult dragons terrifying.. each dragon is unique children as a child even they are that intelligent depending on their environment with high intelligence one can defy instinct(and stereotypes) alignment ect as white dragons raised by crystals become less evil.. smarter as the monster manual says so yeah also then you go with hybrids.. ones between chromatics and metallics seem especially deadly considering hybrid vigor and genetic mutation yes horrifying... a purple dragon exceeds a gold dragon.. thats how strong it is and think of alloy dragons aswell scary thoughts.. but unique and interesting nonetheless
But back in AD&D2e monster manual, green dragons were the only evil dragons that moved in large hunting packs. Also young adults and grow Adult stay close to their parents hunting range for protection from hill giants and other dragons. It was stated that if the land could support the dragons, Green lairs will hold infants to young adults if the dug out caves where big enough. They were True pack hunters. When the dragons become Old/ Ancient, the female and the male will have their own clutch of eggs to rear in different lairs. And their juvenile to young adult offspring does the hunting to feed the "babies." Most DM skip over this because dragon lairs then become TPK. As for the Sith, the authors of the Forgotten Realms, Drow books, also wrote Star Wars books.
9:28, ha ha you just read my mind I have already stopped a couple times to add more notes, to my own dragons. Why are so many of these cute baby dragons, such little bastards.
@@AJPickett Humans are super predators as well, but we don't come into the world & immediately try to dominate everything. Then again, we also aren't covered in natural tank armour, can't breathe fire/liquid nitrogen/chlorine gas/lightning/proton lazers, nor can we innately bend reality to our will, so...
@AJ Picket Nice video man! I always love these videos about dragons! I have a few questions though. Do you think you can make a video on dragon wyrmlings, but on gem dragons? they should've been in that dragon book, because they where once popular as chromatics and metallics, and come on, they are Psionics! I would have loved to see what "element" they draw from if the power of psionics is basically Psychokinesis powers fused with magic. Sure, I wouldn't mind the others, but they aren't part of the original trio, while the other Wanna be larrys (ex: steel, force, astral, and every other knock off power munchkin made by an outside source) are trying either to be: edgy, to complicated, to focused on having complex lore to that specific world, trying to out due other dragons, or just want to be the coolest ones with the coolest or most interesting powers. The reason the colored dragons I believe are liked, is because of their simplistic nature, yet interesting personalities unique to certain colors. Like if they where at school and where stereo types gold is the goody toe shoes by the book boy scout, and red is the spoiled brat who throws fits and physically bullies others for attention and because they are sadistic and wants to be the most popular, the blacks are like emo reds, but without the attention seeking, and less prideful, and more of someone who cuts themselves for fun. Bronze is like forest grump, a hippy that loves nature, but decides to join war/school activities (dodgeball, or a violent physical activity) because they what to prove themselves and raise awareness for something animal related, silvers are the social kid who want's to be the "cool" rebellious one that EVERYONE likes (basically the sonic the hedgehog of D&D), and Brass are like the gossipers and chatta-boxes of the school. Copper is like the prankster/jokester who just wants to have fun and likes getting on the bully's nerves, Greens are those little lying gossipers who manipulate to get what they want and tattle lies to get someone in trouble, and Ice is like that one very young not smart kid who is just a snot nosed brat who does bad things because they know they can get away with it, and runs behind their guardian for protection when they are in trouble. BUT sense the gems are a LITTLE (not alot) more complicated and smarty pants, they are seen as teachers or the nerds of D&D, and back then D&D was played by those wanting to escape the real world because they themselves may have been mostly nerds, so seeing adults or shells of the real them probably upset them, so they didn't want to acknowledge them, thus, psionic gems are removed, and replaced with an idealised stereo type dragons (*cough*) to feel in how they would want school to be. I believe gems have had a great Injustice done to them. I know you already covered the gems, but can you give sardior his own separate video, ONLY focused on him? I feel like he should've been done before Nichobolas, given his powers are similair to nic's. It would also give much attention to the THIRD sibling of the dragon god trio, and help raise the love for gems. I know I may not get a response, or may not even have my wishes come true, but I would love to see the gems get their own in depth lore video, like how each metallic had their own video for them, like silvers got their own. Speaking of which, I don't believe you ever did a video on bronze dragons, because I have searched for a video by you own them. Also, if you do a seperate gem video on the gems with their own video, don't include things like: obsidian, Jade, pearl, and others part of the original gem trio, make them viewed like the steel, orange, yellow, and fang dragons: their own thing not part of the Originals nor part of their culture. I just would like to see the original five and their god, each with their own separate video. Nice video!! Hope to see more videos!! But serious though, I think you forgot bronze.
the blue dtagon laughing at the man eating sand and the black wyrmling chacing the frog does anyone know where that image is from i had a book that i loved as a kid with them in it
Also from "A Practical Guide to Dragons", which was based in the dragonlance stuff. No stats in it though -- just fluff, but it's a good reference for the surface level information on the main dragons.
a lich gets a hold of a dead egg...… humph. ideas. just starts pushing necrotic energy into the egg to bring it back into a unlife. or something like that.
@@gingermcgingin1733 not sure tbh. lol, I would say it comes back from the dead hatches and lives, but is a twisted evil version of its breed/color even by their standards. But if or when this dragon would die, it would have the ability to come back as a dracolich.
AJ if a chromatic and metallic dragons made a hybrid what would you suggest would be most likely from willing partners and how would other dragons react i dont think well. I would see a red trying to hunt it to prove there stronger
I might have an answer to this. Ultimately, it’s up to the DM and home brewing that decide everything, but I don’t think it’s actually possible. First off, the chances of a Romeo and Juliette dragon version happening is low, and I mean extremely low. They have an ongoing hatred for each other to the point that even Silver Dragons will attack any chromatic dragon on sight, and if any relationship did happen, I’m willing to bet that their respective Dragon Gods, mainly Bahamut and Tiamat, are gonna murder the couple before anything past the wedding happens. Next, any children they have will depend on the couple’s elements. For example, when two different types of dragons, like a Red Dragon and a Blue Dragon, have kids, their offspring’s different elements within themselves don’t mix well and actually clash. This makes the hybrid get weaker and weaker, often leading to their death early on. The more you watch AJ Picketts videos on different dragons, the more you understand their culture and differences between each other
@@couragew6260 I have the idea hit me when I saw fan art of baby dnd dragon hybrids I know there cultures the god thing though is more a tiamat thing bahamut would likely try to make them good to spite tiamat and most there minions are humans and few can kill a dragon pair the mixing elements i hadn't thought of though
@@jameswilliams2075 It’s important to note that the elements don’t have to be complete opposites like fire and ice in order for them to clash. If the elements are different, then the hybrid is gonna have a bad time
@@jameswilliams2075 I think it’s a matter of biology and outside of the hybrid’s control. Like a Liger. They may be big, but they’re bound to have health issues that they can’t fix.
AJ Pickett It would be rough to be the runt of a chromatic dragon litter. I could see where a red runt might flee it's nest in order to avoid being murdered and eaten. A powerful wise, but not too bright tree hugging druid might take pity on the evil little sh1t and try to raise it. This would be especially the case if the druid felt guilty for being part of the adventuring party that rid the world of it's evil parents. the possible back stories for a red dragon raised by druids that learned polimorph and so was passing itself off as a humanoid could be interesting. If it stayed a runt and was treated badly by other red dragons, it would probably help adventurers kill other dragons and when no one was looking, Make off with most of the horde.
@@reclaimerbear6760 That is true, in fact if it stayed with humans it could quickly become super rich and super powerful even for red dragons. He would most likely gravitate toward becoming a noble and start taxing everyone for that sweet sweet gold. The only thing that could ruin it would be if it had kids with a human. How would it explain the half human half dragon brats?
@@mal35m well since the draco rage has been destroyed, they could probably hide it with magic. Since they don't have to worry about destroying their territory or plans. Likely though they just wouldn't breed with humans. At least not publicly.
@@mal35m Send the kids to the human grandparents? I'm sure the kids would love to be sugared up and given trinkets. On that note I'm now seeing small half dragons zipping around in my head. As the grandparents smile and nod at them.
@@TraciPeteyforlife Reclaimer Bear Given how rotten and terrible real greedy rulers have been, a chaotic evil red dragon who was already very rich could marry into royalty and with a good polymorph spell most people would not think it odd how greedy it was. If a noble was poor and about to be swallowed up by his neighbors he or she might marry a rich dragon just to survive. The evil draconic noble would be motivated to keep its territory monster free and to defend it from human foes. It would be in it's interest that the people thrive so it could tax them a lot. At the same time the royal bloodline would be much strengthened. Would anyone care that the princess always wore the same tiara with the ivory horns if at the same time any invading army would be mysteriously turned to ash and any kaiju class monster is fried and then eaten. I think that people would just not talk about the earl's shiny metallic red skin tight scale armor with matching clawed gauntlets that he never takes off. I could see plot line where the adventurers discover to their horror that the royal who sent them out on a dragon killing mission is a big evil red dragon who was after the dragon's horde. They tell a local about it and the local shrugs and says oh yeah everyone knows about the count, we just don't talk about it.
Great video! This gives me some awesome ideas for my current campaign. Recent Sub and I've enjoyed all of your videos so far. I am currently watching them as I see them or when I need background on monsters and the world of Faerûn. Loved your Dawn War video btw. You've become my number one source on how to use monsters to really engage my party. Going to watch your Behir video next! Could you do a video on Nightwalkers? I know you mentioned them in your Negative Planes video, but I could not find one on them specifically. I searched for them in general as well and it seems like not many youtubers talk about them. I own Tome of Foes and I thought they were more powerful in previous editions? Any tips for buffing them besides AC, Health, and weapon damage? I'm still only on year 2 of DMing and have always loved their concept when playing. Please keep up the great work!
Excellent question! It is actually a subject of huge, eternal debate across not just the 40+ years of D&D, but the very existence of dragons as a mythological aspect of the classic Cosmogonic Duel throughout the history of the world's religions. Really, the treasure is symbolic, everything else built up or asserted as fact around it is supposition. I approach dragons from the perspective of a fantasy ecology, so this is how I best interpret and explain the nature of dragon metabolism and their drive to hoard treasure. Clearly, it is physically impossible for any earthly creature to generate the metabolic energy required to do what D&D dragons can do, thus, they have an elemental aspect to them. Where do we get many of our concepts of the elements? Classic Alchemy. What is the magical metal of alchemy? Gold.
@@AJPickett Any books, throughout the history, that mention this explicitly or suggest it? Always super-interested in lore & I really like this idea (& would use it personally - regardless of lore) but it'd be nice to do more reading.
that does not make any sense...litterally every single thing ive read of Silver dragons says they prefer the company of humanoids and will go out of their way to build relationships with them,to the point where they will often spend long spans of time in humanoid form.
I don't believe that any spheroid object 12" long by 6" wide & full of fluid, CAN weigh only one pound. Probably at least 6, the larger should be at least 12.
If the party ever adopts a dragon ima have it save their butts by evolving Pokémon style from a Wyrmling in to a Young dragon and letting out an elemental blast that turns the tide of battle
Interesting. Do you have anything on how Dragons age beyond Ancient and turn into Wyrms and Great Wyrms? Is there a process or is it natural with just age?
One of my characters, an astonishingly stupid fighter with an INT of 3 or 4, got a Blue Dragon egg and hatched it. At birth the dragon was smarter than my warrior. He ended up riding it as it grew, but it called all the shots.
Imagine raising a gold dragon baby like a puppy.
"I have full knowledge of all fundamental aspects in the universe, and i have determined through immense meditation that I, indeed, am the good boy."
"I fail to understand why you require me to retrieve the short length of wood unless you believe I require frequent exercise to grow stronger, which I assure you, I do not"
I imagine gold dragons to be like cats, prideful arseholes lol.
"Of course I did it daddy, that was your 3rd helping and already you are almost too fat to fit into your armor! I knew that the greater good was served if I ate the roast joint and everything else on the plate. I am a growing wyrming while your are a slightly overweight paladin going to grossly overweight paladin. I did it for your own good."
Dear lord if the metallic and chromatic dragon wyrmlings are such trouble then I can’t imagine all the shenanigans epic dragons like prismatic and force get into. Really interesting video on Dragons!
So, they draw their breath weapon from surrounding elemental energy?
Now I can't help but imagine someone incubating a Red Dragon Egg somewhere in the high north, and then, when it hatches, it draws in air and is very surprised and confused when it can only exhale a teeny tiny flame, because there isn't much fire energy around.
And that mental image is just too adorable.
I've thought of writing a novel about a protagonist baby dragon who is born and tries to survive in a human city making alliances and enemies and eventually becoming its leader all the while trying to keep its dragonic nature a secret
Cool concept, but this is TMNT. Other than the smell of a swamp/ coastal grass field that smells like crap anyhow . Why would a black or green dragon live in the sewers of a city ?
A 8th-level wizard can polymorph a dragon into a human.
Honestly how is your novel going with the dragon ?
The Dragon Lance novels where base off the campaign notes from the RPG .
a.) dragon's POV
b.) dragon's allies POV. " insiders"
c.) Player game about learning the city. " outsider "
d.) current thief guild
e.) current city noble council .
About six to eight different groups could be fighting for control of the city.
Does anybody else think it's cute as shit that a dragon's hoard is kinda like their baby blanket or teddy bear? It provides innate security and comfort, that's so precious.
Other than metal coins & gems, I always go with dragons seek to collect as much magic items they can." Feel " the arcane energy..!
" Why did you eat the Scroll of Ray of Frost ?! You are a Red Dragon !"
Wrymling looks up at the adventurer in a cute questioning look in it's eyes.
Then hiccups a cloud of Cold from it's mouth.
q: How many magic items does a dragon needs to to eat to grow healthy ?
Now this has some interesting questions and possibilities attached to it.
On the former, two in particular come to mind:
1. Can a dragon's nature be overcome by nurture?
2. If not, what view do (good) dragons take of destroying the egg clutches of their less amicable counterparts? Surely this is a "no win" scenario for them.
Personally, I love the idea of trying to raise a Red Dragon Parthurnax- bringing it up to be proud and strong, but also to wrestle with it's own innate nature. Hell, I can already imagine the lecture coming out of the resident Wise Warrior.
*"You must fight on two fronts, little fire. From without, you will be assailed by fear and loathing- even hatred- by both your kind and mine, and through no fault of your own. From within, your own nature will rebel against your will, and you will be assailed by even yourself- your own cruelty, your own greed, your own arrogance, and your own hatred.*
*Remember this though, little fire: these are battles which you can win. You can withstand the assault from without until your foes become your friends, and you can quell the rebellion within until you alone are master of your will.*
*You are a dragon, little fire, mighty and strong and proud. You can overcome. You would not be here today if I had even for a moment believed otherwise."*
Even if you aren't interested in players undertaking such a task, there are some really fantastic things you can do with this.
Perhaps there is one Red Dragon mysteriously mixed in among a council of Golds.
Perhaps there is a rather odd elf in the city. A longterm resident of high standing and magnanimous nature, but with seemingly dubious origin.
Or perhaps the effort failed, and failed miserably.
The party is contracted to help an aged and weakened Half-Elf adventurer bring down a dangerous Adult (though on the younger side) Red Dragon who has been terrorizing the countryside, promising the beast's hoard in exchange. Only upon meeting the dragon does the party discover the relationship between the two- the Half-Elf, viewing the dragon as something akin to a son, makes one last plea for the dragon to change its ways, and the dragon, despite viewing the Half-Elf as something akin to a father (not in the chromatic draconic sense, but in the manner of a real, genuine parent), only answers that it cannot.
Combat commences.
The dragon seems almost reluctant to harm the Half-Elf, but is willing with its life on the line. Should the Half-Elf fall in the battle, the dragon loses it. All the arrogant cunning of a Red gives way to a thoughtless, primal wrath that could shame a White, and it curls around the body of its fallen family member as if it were the party that murdered him- only moving away if no party member is in reach, and even then trying to stay between the group and the body. Any character that attempts to interact with the body in any way gains the Dragon's full, unmitigated ire.
_Note: I would be highly tempted to fudge some rolls to facilitate this scenario. Nothing major, mind. I would deliberately place the Half-Elf directly after the Dragon in initiative to cut off any Cleric shenanigans at the pass (nothing kills tension like Healing Word popping a near-death character back on his feet), make sure that the Half-Elf eats an entire round's worth of multi-attack when it does come time for him to go down (with particular description of the dragon lashing out almost reflexively in anger- possibly in response to an opportunity attack from the Half-Elf) and that he goes down with first hit of that multi-attack (whether he actually did or not) to result in two immediate failed Death Saving Throws. I would then lie through my teeth if necessary to have him fail the third immediately on his turn thereafter, followed by the dragon using its legendary movement action to move over the body and proceed as discussed above. You could just not give him any Death Saving Throws, as is common for NPCs, but I feel that their presence lends greater weight to the character and tension to the scenario, and, if your a decent liar, makes the whole thing seem less rigged than even an actually un-rigged scenario that lacks them._
Should the dragon fall first instead, the Half-Elf collapses in inconsolable tears at its body, refusing to eat, drink, or move (indeed, seemingly vacant but for the grief) until silently standing up and exiting the lair at the next dawn (should the players actually stick around to keep an eye on him).
This might be a good reminder to the players that evil doesn't necessarily mean heartless, and act as a good punch in the gut to boot- especially if they had some time to get to know the Half-Elf on the way there, and _especially_ if he occasionally let slip a story about his "son" (the draconic nature of which is intentionally unmentioned).
I often find myself looking back on my life and the lives of others and wondering if things could have turned out differently- for better or worse. It'd be a real accomplishment in my opinion to evoke that in a group of players, though certainly not something for every table.
Ride those digression-waves kids, sometimes they lead you somewhere great.
A great blue dragon in my game had a huge golf club- weapon of dragonslayer slaying. For comedic effect it's activation word was "fore " ( in draconian)
AJ Pickett
I remember in Neverwinter Nights where you had to get a relic from an evil ancient red dragon. He was sending out giants to steal eggs from other dragons in order to hatch the eggs, turn the wyrmlings into adults and then murder them in order steal their lifeforce to prolong his own life. He was even trying to steal the eggs of a young golden dragon. If he had succeeded in killing the golden dragon, an adventurer who finally ended up killing the ancient red could have ended up with a bunch of orphan golden dragon eggs. A good paladin, cleric or druid would fight for a chance to raise one of those.
Surprised that Silvers are born so weary and disrespectful towards the humanoids that their parents most likely love. Quite a nice contrast to the heavy emphasis on inborn traits dragons often have.
Running a kobold paladin of Bahamut (long story), and came on three black dragon eggs. My party immediately set on them with weapons and would only let me keep one after I threatened to kill anyone who tested me. Unfortunately, the two hatchlings who's eggs got broken suffocated. My party was a little too pleased about that. So now I'm trying to handle this last egg myself, getting ready to help it learn and hopefully gravitate to a black dragon that isnt absolutely awful. Like, ok, you want your enemy to suffer? Embarrass them by being better than them and merciful. They'll suffer the mental and emotional scars of guilt and embarrassment as long as they live unless they decide to make amends. Wanna be rich? Bet people will pay you a lot and do work for you if you help them. And it's a lot less dangerous than taking it by force. I'll give it my best shot, no idea how this is gonna go.
@imjustsaying tho Ok?
@@coltonlong2223, I'm leaving a link to this playlist for inspiration. Because I believe you can raise your dragon better than that!
To quote the only good dialogue in Skyrim: "What is better - to be born good, or to overcome your evil nature through great effort?"
ruclips.net/p/PLIS5ukV1xUXlLAzs9LDkEeM2BY_tcSfux
I totally didn't cry watching that last night. I just got something in my eyes...
Seriously though, it is the best "I found a black dragon egg"-story I have ever heard. Makes makes me tear up just thinking about it. It is both Dungeon Master and Player inspiration gold. Tough choices and sacrifices are made, but there is a great reward at the end... and no, the reward is not a dragon mount; it's a dragon legend.
Or, you know, don't try that that and just bully it into being your slave. Follow your bliss, this is just a game we play for fun after all! :)
@@probablythedm1669 I literally just binged watch that triplet of episodes. Coolest dnd thing I've seen ever.
how did it turn out so far
@@ImperialCoffee769 well... he saved us from a doppelganger ambush.... and he also killed 6 people, but didn't get caught, so that got written off to the doppelgangers. I taught him about hunting, and eventually, to cut down on distractions and headaches for the DM, we agreed to basically entrust him to a temple of Bahamut for what's essentially boarding school. I'm hoping he will be done by the finale.
Chromatic Dragon Dating: "Give me some, or I'll kill you!"
Metallic Dragon Dating: "Hey Baby, wanna come over and roll around in my hoard after we help heal the local villagers?"
Gangsters vs good semeritins
Praise be the answers, Praise be the unveiling, Praise The Great and Mighty Gluestick for revealing Dragons Nature of Being to the ignorant world. 5 star 10/10, you deserve more love, Great Video!
*bows*
Ah Dragon Hordes, where gold pieces become experience points.
So way back in second edition there were rules for playing a dragon character that stated your experience point total was based on the gold piece value of your horde. This is also modified in the Dragon lance setting that they released.
Second edition went on to hint that precious metals, rather than being a conductor for magical energies, were manifestations of certain magical energies themselves.
This is part of the reason Darksun is completely devoid of certain metals and True Dragons (there are some particularly nasty dracolichs though...), and why other settings had higher than normal occurrences of those minerals.
More over, this tied the abilities of a dragon to the land that they claimed as their territory. Land that holds larger quantities of mineral wealth had a deeper affinity for the elemental power from which they drew their power from.
The real thing of interest to me is the effect of a dragon on their claimed territory and the extent that it can be enhanced or mitigated but, that's maybe a different video.
As far as wyrmlings go though, the unhatched and younger wyrmlings might be counted as the "Horde" of the eldest dragon, since they all have extreme gold piece values.
I’ve always liked the idea of a party having a white wyrmling NPC that basically acts like a poorly controlled but highly dangerous guard dog. Like a mix of Kujo and Hooch, but a dragon.
In a frost giant castle
In my game, our party came across a red dragon egg in the possession of some crazy people who straight up stole it from its parent. Literally as our party was trying to figure out how to get this big ass egg out of there, it hatches, and it immediately thinks that my character, a male tiefling who is just a private investigator that's with the party only by pure chance, is it's mother and will not leave him alone.
Turns out it's a girl. He named her Lily.
N'aawww
@@AJPickett She isn't nearly as violent or cunning as you made red wyrmlings out to be in this video, which is mainly due to a combination of the DM not knowing dragon lore very well and us as a group just sorta bending things to what we find more interesting or fun. Also, about 2 encounters later, the DM realized that the red wyrmling was kind of op at the time we got her (we were like level 4 or 5 when she joined us), so we found a homebrew red dragon hatchling and have been using that so far. Now she's this small baby with like 20 HP that spends most of her time chilling in my character's backpack. She thinks its cozy in there.
a while ago, one of my PC in a solo game got a hatchling silver dragon as a familiar (from random tables rolls), it really gave a complete twist to the idea I had for the adventure. It was really fun, and instructive.
Finally I can feel confident about “are the Dragon Wyrmlings being played right?” in my game.
Just added the small black dragon to my game. Considering adding wyrmlings now ...
During the 3.5 days Gold dragons got the Shapechange ability immediately, allowing them to take on a humanoid form from birth. I used this to great effect in one of my games where a young gold wrymling was being hunted down by dragon poachers to be sold off as some slave or what have you. She took the form of a young blonde girl the party ran into and they protected her from the poachers. The party thought she was adorable and finding out she was an orphan (mom dragon was killed by the poachers and their trap) adopted her almost instantly. It took a while for them to figure out she was a dragon, not that she was hiding the fact its just that a small human girl in a city is less conspicuous than a gold dragon. She became the joint apprentice to the paladin and the wizard and eventually served as the paladin's special mount once higher levels were attained.
To take down a gold dragon thoes poachers and their trap must have been something truly Ghastly...
@@DarkSamson1 They were pretty beat up by the time the players got to them.
This is such a fascinating video! I especially like the bit about how and why dragons are attached to their hoards. Marvelous!
I introduced a runt sized blue Dragon egg to my party at the start of a game, while exploring a storm giants lair they uncovered an orb containing a storm that was unleashing its energy on the surface making it difficult for any ships in the area. When my player with the egg got close to the orb I described how it shattered and the power was absorbed by the egg.
It hatched soon after when they were fighting an undead storm giant dedicated to an Aboleth god (Pisathaces I think?) our party member holding the egg was about to get crushed by one of his attacks, however upon hatching the lil dragon unleashed a devastating breath weapon that took out the giant. It was awesome.
It’s been a few days now and after watching your vid I’m not sure if a blue dragon is appropriate for the party, in my draconomicon book it talks about bit about cobalt Dragons, do you have any other information regarding that breed of dragon?
Nice! Also respect for including the Aboleth.
One (Non Wyrmling) thing that's always intrigued me: The redemption of planar evils. Seeing as angels can fall, why can't demons rise? It's a really intriguing idea.
I think that just like a modron who goes rogue, Redeemed evil planar are hunted by their former group which would reduce their chances of survival. Moreover they probably loose the connection to their home plane making them mortal even outside of their home plane.
My point being :it's very unlikely to ever meet a redeemed evil planar.
Both Daemons and Demons can ascend, but it's typically viewed as extremely difficult.
Devils literally can not ascend as they're bound to the lower planes and it's part of what makes them a Devil.
Daemons can ascend, but they have to give up being evil, which is like saying you have to give up your legs. Very people are willing to just cut off their legs for a distant, uncertain goal.
Demons can ascend, but all the other evil outsiders begin to target them because it removes power from the lower planes that the other outsiders feed on. Good outsiders have been known to hinder demonic ascension because they inherently distrust demons, but most are content to simply stay uninvolved. Involvement with demons is seen as needlessly risky by the upper planes.
I've also humored the idea, an especially remorseful demon (possibly a creation of the forge of souls), with the assistance of a persistant (and VERY charismatic) angel or other such good-alligned entity, rising from its hideous, dark existence, or at least attempting to, which i imagine would be a painful and spectacular process indeed.
We just found an egg and we know something bad must have happened to its parents because it was in a "farm". Specifically one where dragons were killed and their blood harvested to create dragon blood oozes. We all started freaking out and trying to figure out what to do. We settled on letting the egg decide once its hatched, but take it with us in the mean time.
Just a bit more information, we found metallic dragon skeletons and broken dragon eggs, once again of metallic dragons (copper and silver).
A recommendation for future videos would be putting text up on screen in a table/ list as you list down specific numbers such as egg length and incubation specifics. Just so when rewatching the video we can simple screenshot or more easily list them down.
Oh my Gods! They're all so adorable. I would like a blue one. Although brass and bronze seem more practical. And by more practical, I mean we probably wouldn't end up trying to kill one another. Another awesome video AJ! Are you still going to do one on Tiamat's consorts some day? I've tried to find information on them. And have found next to nothing.
Never thought about the time span for egg laying. So what’s stopping dragons from just cranking out eggs like a dragon factory?
Nothing really, they are as productive as you need them to be.
well, I need to put a tiny blue mobster in my next game I think XD
When you join a next game do you start off at lvl 0 or your current lvl
I’m new
Drakewarden Ranger: giving you a dragon companion starting at 3rd level
Also I wouldn't mind seeing a video or series of videos on your personal favorite of a variety of topics...Dragons, maybe your favorite places to set a campaign, or even your favorite enclaves. You do the community a huge service so hearing some of your preferences would be awesome
2cgaming released playable dragons in Dragonflight for 5e. You start as a wyrmling and they have all the dragon types plus Orchid Dragons which is a type of plant-dragon that is exclusive to them. So this info is going to be super useful to me.
In Loom of Magus, the creator gods are omega level dragon gods. So, Loom of Magus is very dragon-centric. It is hard to environmentally kill a dragon egg. It just enters "suspended animation" during the time it is not in the right incubation environment. Also, if the baby dragons are orphaned when they hatch, they have the innate ability to shape-shift (without losing toughness and abilities) into the nearest humanoid or reptilian species as well as an innate ability to speak their most common language. They only get the one bonus form and one bonus language from this. A lizardfolk king in my campaign was born from an egg of a slain black dragon pair, hidden in lizardfolk territory. You can imagine the style of bad guy he was. One of the heroes that recruited the party was a lizardfolk half dragon who wished to avenge his slain mother. The lizardfolk claimed he was a cambion demon of sorts. Great video, I love using dragons, especially when they are forced to mix with non-dragons and make things interesting.
Ummm what is Loom of Magus? The dragon gods got me super interested.
@@thor-master-82 It's the campaign world I created. I've been telling AJ little nuggets about it for months. Some of his viewers like some of my little posts and get inspired to do those things in their games. ;)
@@thor-master-82 Oh! You wanted to know about the dragon gods who created Loom of Magus. Forgive me, I will enlighten. The dragons were multidimensional beings for billions of years. Each one was massive to the point of any normal sized planet would easily fit on the tip of the sharpest of its teeth. Traveling the multiverse, they were bored observers. Until, one eon, they noticed that their parasites on the surface of their bodies were developing civilizations. Until then, they were ignored the same way we ignore any microbes. They developed collective power and were occasionally seen as an irritation or disease. From time to time, they would rid those creatures from their hydes. Then they started studying them and found relief from their boredom and apathy, no longer needing to peer into the more nightmarish regions of reality for entertainment... and then they felt purpose.
The parasites were a superior humanoid species (ancient race) in Loom of Magus called "Crystonians". Their crystal technology is basically artifact creating technology. They were an OP civilization. What the dragons did, each one more powerful than any pantheon of gods, was give up their "mortal" coil to create the Loom of Magus. They are the Creation gods of Loom of Magus. Each one became a solar system, no longer a dragon. Loom of Magus is (in Spelljammer terms) a Silver Sphere 100,000 light years in diameter with the average distance between suns (stars) being around 5 light years. Do the math... or don't and thus accept the possible campaign worlds are effectively infinite.
The Crystonians went (more or less) extinct after a cosmic level division, as well as extraplanar attention, was attracted. That was millions of years ago. Humanoids are because of the Crystonians. Dragon-centric is because Loom of Magus was created by godlike dragons that REDUCED their power to become the gods of such a creation.
I played D&D boxed sets in the 80s: Basic, Expert, Master, and Immortal. I have actual divine ascension in my rules and planet-wide divinity as a rather initiate thing in divinity. I was a teen (80s) when I also played AD&D and came up with advanced and converted concepts. Ao would be an absolutely minor power in my campaigns relative to the upper echelon because of the D&D boxed sets that got me into it.
First idea that comes to mind when I watch this video is an adult female brass dragon that is unable to lay eggs starts a hatchery for abandoned dragon eggs and hire adventurers who would kill dragons to get the eggs for her.
Dragonomicon was my first exposure to dungeons and dragons
Thank you for making this, I love EVERYTHING Dragons
The nature of dragon's hoard would also explain the importance of Astilabor, the draconic goddess of hoard, to dragons. While she is not the most oft-called upon deity in draconic pantheon, she would serve both as a wealth goddess, a thing obvious to non-dragons, and a hearth goddess, as hoard is the center of dragon's lair like hearth is the center of mortal household. This may also explain the weird hypocrisy in stealing to enlarge the hoard being not blasphemous in her eyes - it is a basic requirement for dragon to survive, in a way, and as a neutral goddess, she seeks to raise and protect hoards of good, evil, and neutral dragons alike.
Exactly so.
I never really liked some of the new added dragon "gods" to D&D, and this is one of them. I heard the reason that whole power thing comes from the metals was added was to promote 2nd & 3rd edition gods like this to make them more important. plus, in some of the other d&d books, it says certain dragons of both metallics and chromatics hoard only certain things, and most of which isn't metal, so that whole metal thing is like a recon, So I ignore that metal thing about dragons, and Instead of them drawing from the environment, I have them like they where originally, were they influencing it instead. Also, I only recognize the original Vanilla D&D dragon gods, and not those that come from Second edition and on wards, so no: Astilabor, Chronepsis, Faluzure, Garyx, Hlal, Lendys, Tamara, Aasterinian, and even Io himself for me, because I prefer to go by first edition set gods for the deities of dragons, in which there is 3. It's just 1st edition was so simpler and less over complicated.
@@wingedflyingforce5139 It's ain't like the boogeyman is going to get you for this. True, first edition was quite simple in this regard, and its obvious many miss it, but there is also those who love complexity to their lore. Especially if it can lead to conclusions like this.
And now I think of it, whoever may want to make a separate pantheon for dragonborn or other draconic humanoids for their campaign, draconic pantheon will work just fine.
But AJ, what about the dragons that don't have hoards of coins and metal?
What about the dragons that prefer to collect other things they consider valuable?
Like a library of rare and exotic books, art, unusual plants, rare wines, petrified people, I.O.U. receipts, I even read a story of a brass dragons who's hoard was boots and shoos for people he had meet on his travels.
Perhaps they are the draconic versions of Vegans?
@@AJPickett I can get that, if elemental energies in everything on the prime material just as astral energy is infused in everything, so some dragons decide to not go the brute force method on obtaining that aspect of their sustenance; & as a result devote their time as well as energy towards obtaining other things they value.
What would a steel dragon wyrmling be like? I would guess it would, like the gold, attach itself to adventurers and also spend a lot of time seeking out intelligent creatures and libraries because of their love for history and culture.
Yes, they would be much like the Brass and Bronze dragon wyrmlings, quickly learning how to polymorph.
This is really helpful actually a Dragonborn Bard character of mine actually found a gold dragon egg and hatched it so this is very useful information
Brass Dragon babies, the tell me all the stories. Cooper dragon babies, I tell you all the jokes.
This has been one of the most idea-inspiring video I've seen in a while. So many possibilities! Kind of recaptures the wonder I felt while reading Eragon for the first time as a kid
hahahahahahaha, this is awesome, for the longest time I was practically fed up with dragons in d&d, I've seen all of your videos easily more than thrice, or so i thought..
but now finally I have a reason to properly be excited, because you're right lowering the challenge rating of a dragon by making it a baby or a hatchling does let you be able to have your players interact with it much earlier, this has so many fun implications and uses, I can't wait to do something with this in one of my campaigns.
Aaaand time for me to set up a blue dragon raised by orcs, who would equally be suited to the desert environment that they live in within my setting on top of their societal philosophy of "the world is hard, so you have to be harder"
I love this, especially the personalities. This will factor well into the current campaign. This certainly helped solidify the identity of some of the NPCs the party has yet to meet. I have a brass dragonborn EK in the group that will meet a family of brass dragons down the road now. :)
I found a chart of 100 random potion effects and thought it was funny, gave my players a flask that lets them roll on the chart each day. The 5th time the wizard rolled, he got a potion that knocked him out for a day, after which he pooped out a dragon egg. He is now incubating a bronze dragon egg, which will hatch in 1 year ingame time.
"He"? Just HOW big are bronze dragon eggs, again? I do NOT envy the poor basterd.
Yeah, I guess theres a reason he was unconcious for a day, also he couldnt sit for 3 days.
🤣😅😓
Ouch. As a woman, I actually feel sorry for him.
Probably gonna need to wear diapers for the rest of his life due to bowel damage and difficulty controlling number 2s......
equarg Heal Greater Wounds
@@charlottewalnut3118 And a full restoration!
Baron's Town Autumn Fair
1.) there is a local town fair in the area, pick pockets are every where and there is a local spellcaster talent show. It is a big party after the fields have been harvested, and with out any major battles, no local troops are missing limbs needing Polymorph back on to their bodies.
a.) Out of no where, a dozen wrymlings are attacking the fair, they may be the size of flying horses, but those little buggers just won't hold or fly strait long enough to put an arrow into them.
b.) one wizard has an ideal and tells the other Polymorphers to turn the wrymling into equivalent human age children. The spells worked !
c.) Now the fair has a dozen preteens running around knocking everything over and screaming their bloody heads off.
" How is this any better ? At lest when they were dragons, you could shoot arrows at them ..."
Great video AJ I have a copy of The Draconomicon my self while the technical information is out of date the lore and roleplaying info is still compatible with 5E. On another note this is making me think about adult dragons that live to make a name for themselves like Klauth The Old Snarl, Felgolos The Flying Misfortune, and Cyan Bloodbane.
Back in AD&D2e green dragons families were called " clans," cause they made use of extended family members. And young adult females would lair with her mother and maybe her grand mother for egg/ baby protection.
Most DM & players discard these two lines out of the AD&D2e monster manual cause they didn't want a TPK, and just wanted to loot a dragon lair for easy coin.
Green dragons should or will make servants as soon they become young adults.
When they are out collecting treasure.
First time out young adult green dragon is watching a human village.
Man is brushing horses, others are brushing long hair cows and goats, collecting hair ? Now they are turning the hair into thread !
Wait a moment, the humans are brushing each others hair !
And the female is slapping the young male around for using the brush on the dog then using the same brush on his, sister ?
Their dogs really , beg ? And the dogs are having a great time being brushed by three people !
The males are having their face hair brush and cut to make themselves look nice.
Humans do a lot of grooming.
I was never told about any of this grooming !
I will go in there and make the humans groom me !
Few minutes later, "Now how do I get all of these arrows out of me ?"
It's 2:32 in the morning and I am writing a good portion of this info down for reasons I do not know
now if the dragon egg was fertilized but had gotten too cold to warm to drive to whatever wouldn't any spell that resurrects the Dead work to bring it back? Genuinely curious on this one as part of me says it might work but at the same time it may not
Found a dragon egg? That would be an amazing breakfast.
"My omelette tastes like burning"
is it possible for a chomatic wyrmling to be raised to be good ? I was told there was something like that in the dragonomicon, with a DC and all but i don't have the book
I remember reading about a red dragon being raised to be good by a wizard
smile444 Maybe white dragons, they have the most diverse personalities.
smile444
Yea, some Copper dragons defeated and flight of Black Dragons, and found a unhatched egg in the spoils of war.
The Copper leader decided to not destroy it, and hatched it as a bit of an experiment.
The wyrmling grew up to be a neutral aligned Black dragon that had many Copper friends, since it was hatched an raised with Copper hatchlings.
Yes... And no.
It is their nature you'll be fighting against. And eventually they themselves will be fighting to suppress in order to live up to your teachings. I did have my (draconic bloodline) sorcerers raise a few varied dragons. Teaching the chromatics to be good were more difficult than metallics. But they are likely to take it up if you speak draconic, which is another reason I pick draconic bloodline origin for sorcerers over any other origins. Draconic is very vital in teaching wyrmlings. Without that language, it will take far longer to raise wyrmlings since they often refuse to learn new languages. There is also the problem of outside influences, thieves and angry peasants for example. Thieves recognize the value of wyrmlings in the black market while ignorant peasants generally hate dragons and will (try to) kill a wyrmling. Don't forget the color of the dragon also plays a huge part. Their nature will either aid or hinder your efforts. However they are all fond of special rewards ranging from exotic meats to treasures their species prefer. Just remember they are REWARDS for behavior, not for anything else. Do Not Spoil Them. Learned that the hard way.
I think i've readof one story, i'll try to tell it
long ago ancient elf from Myth Drannor [not sure] obtained the egg of a red dragon, he with help of magicians managed to change it's nature removing all the malice from the unhatched red wyrmling, and raising him as pretty good dragon, but also as any dragon very possesive - of his friends, also his scales had changed some of their color, with blue and golden color, you might wanna take into consideration the programming/nature that those little "droids" get on their birth.
Otherwise all efforts would fail in my opinion.
Just played with my players today and they are really excited about their pseudodragon egg ^_^ they spent a long time just in game studying about them
DRAGON BABIES!! throws a goblin for them to play with with
Just polymorph a " troll " into a bulky man size rabbit for their chew toy.
Their lucky rabbit foot will always grow back.
What happens with a half dragon? I don't think that people wouldn't notice a baby staying in the womb for a year, or does the incubation not count.
web site question : Can a Wall of Iron mess with the Local Economy ?
1.) You can break down a Wall of Iron into tools, weapons, and armor.
You can equip and orc/ goblin army and have they attack a castle/ fortified town.
When the orc hoard is within the castle outer walls or within the choke points within the town.
Your wizards can cast Mass Dispel Magic and make all of the orc's armor and weapons vanish !
Now the defenseless orcs can be cut and shot down.
2.) How to kill a dragon in it's own lair.
a.) create a Wall of Gold. melt it down for coin.
i.) Let the dragon hear about the King's Taxes bring moved. And let the dragon's henchmen steal it all. Once the dragon has all of the " Gold " in it's lair, and the dragon is as all happy it can be. Cast Dispel Magic on it, so the dragon can watch it all vanish !
ii.) The dragon will be so enrage, if it doesn't knock themselves out by slamming their head's against their lair ceiling , they could cause a cave in.
iii.) After punking the dragon, just go through all the settlements casting dispel magic to make all the fake gold vanish before tax time.
3.) 5th-level Wall of Stone and 6th-level Wall of Iron.
a.) Wall of Stone, variants: any type of stone, crystal(gem), and mineral " salt, coal"
b.) Wall of Iron/ Metal, variants: any type of metal." copper, silver, tin, zinc "
c.) These " Walls " are conjuration not illusion, they are "call forth" not raw created from Astral Proto matter. So they have their natural elemental energies and also the background conjuration arcane energies.
i.) Psychic mental energies.
x.) miners that are happy to go to work and merry sing as they dig, the ore will have an upbeat vibe to it. Slave mines where miners are work to death will have " dispiriting vibe." Or where a staving peasant knows 5 silver coins means food for the week.
Metal coins carry psychic mental energies that dragons and fiends can pick up on.
" IRL new age metal books, it states metal," silver, copper, gold wire" draws energy out from the stone/ wood work items that is use as a spell focus and makes them weaker for use.
4.) Dragon Lairs
a.) dragon hoards are not made up by bulk coins but by strips of flatting out gold & silver to sleep on. With broken chucks of crystal.
i.) Any dispel magic cast against a caster level of 12th. Will cause the treasure just to vanish without a trace.
" The band of knights yells of NOOOO, echo through the dragon's lair as the beast dies laughing at his killers disbelief and shock as of all their hard earn effect was for nothing."
**" I did if back in AD&D2e in my early 20's. More or less I was band from running DM games for a few months. At lest with some groups. And the group of murder hobos I did this to, made a good effort in trying to killing any of my characters in open game setting for the next year till the shop closed.
What upset them the most, a high priestess of Lolth raise a few of my characters back from the dead. One, cause I prepaid them, and two , just to piss those guys off.
5.) Dragons eating magic items for arcane energy.
A.) they regard scrolls to be snack treats.
" Ok, first it was your dog that ate your home work, and now it was your wrymling ?"
b.) 3.5e " creating magic item," first you need gp value for paper, ink, and what has to be mix into the ink, and what kind of feather / pen you have to write the scroll with. Finally you have to imbue the spell into the scroll with a payment spell caster level Xp. For the scroll spell to work.
i.) house rule of paying 99%gp value with Xp exchange.
x.) Make a skill craft master work item roll DC:20 for the " rune/sigil/ glyph."
It can take a day or a full week.
Then pay the XP exchange rate for the gp value/ x2 market value.
After a week of spending 8hr focusing on it, the arcane magic energy has been imbue into the item.
This slows down spell caster level growth but makes many types of magic items easier/ gp value cheaper to make.
For a dragon, this is snack food. They eat arcane energy.
" Did that wrymling just drink the extra size Potion of Silliness that was for after school this Fridays tests ? And that was, what was, going to keep the dozen us drunk for the next two days....."
" Question is, how do you hide a dragon the size of a wing pony that is as drunk as a dozen students ? For two days ? ! "
Love the video but there’s a few more I would like to learn about. The gym dragon and the song dragon wormlings
If I remember right 1 of the reasons its thought Song Dragons might be shapeshifters who take the form of Dragons instead of Dragons who take the form of Humans is that they are born in their Human form so I would assume they are born the same way a Human is
>Gym Dragon
Ah yes,The Dragons of Sicc Gainz.
I... I want a white Dragon baby. I know it'll hate me but... but it's a cat
its a cat that hunts people.
@@AJPickettnot yet,to small
Nice work on the video- thanks for the consolidation efforts!
I’m curious now regarding nature vs nurture with wyrmlings... is it possible to turn a typically ‘evil’ dragon towards good or atleast neutral and vice-versa?
Yes.
In the official lore, d&d has most evil creatures be innately evil but I don't like that so I say that a evil creature could be raised to be good.
@@rexhex3700
The more aligned or instinctual they are the harder it should be to change their nature.
So Red dragons would be locked at neutral at most, Blacks and Greens are hard to train but not impossible, and white dragons would be even more difficult than reds.
" your chracters get a dragon egg....and now they have eaten it"
In the Forgotten Realms, adventures eat YOU!
@@gingermcgingin1733 If you have a local game shop where 20 players break down into fours group that compete against each other.
If you want a heated, yelling, screaming game.
Have one player RP a dragon, and watch the murder hobos go out of their way try to kill the dragon.
I wonder that the Gem dragon Wyrmlings are like?
Small and very smart
Is there any information about other types of dragons: gem, ferrous, planer, etc., or pre-dracorage dragon society?
Also, have you ever considered doing a monster ecology video on non-monsterous races: elves, dwarves, etc., like what you did with the dragonborn, and drow. It could be an overview of everything that the characters should know about these races (some of them even belonging to them) but the players and gm might not.
Dragon Turtle Seconded! I really want to see his take on a video about halfling lore and history. The Gnomes would also be a good one, but I think he may already have a video on them. I remember watching one, but I can’t remember if it was by him or another youtuber.
Hey AJ, this is so good! I have a copy of the Draconomicon. Your narrative skill really puts a new depth to these creatures. I was hoping you might do one the Nycadeamon.....from the old Fiend Folio. Just asking.👍
Another amazing video! Thank you and greetings from Buffalo, Ny USA where we are experiencing a heat wave of 4° C or 40° F lol
Question would raise dead work on a dead dragon egg?
yes.
cool
Korryn the Jackal
Yes!!😁
@@AJPickett i've thought that Silver wyrmlings would have more acceptable nature towards humanoids.
@@bgcvetan it could be ruled that silver dragon wyrmlings love roughhousing.
Geezer here.....
Ohhhh, isn't that cute. . Little booboo burpies... Guess we need to find a new inn. Probably should put the fire out.
Game on
LOL, I see you have some first hand experience at this.
@@AJPickett Yep.. Great vid by the way. Also that campaign took a couple dozen sessions more than our dm planned... "Someone" insisted on finding booboo a "safe place" in the wilderness.... Ya know where no one would bother him.
3:23 Are years shorter in D&D? Because two full years in the real world is 730 days (or 731, if one is a leap year).
Hi I am AJ and I do math good
could be moon calender
How long does it take for them to grow? Any info sources on feeding and care or are they pretty self sufficient right away?
I'm a bit hesitant to go into all those details because they have changed so radically from one edition of the game to the next... the easiest way to handle it is that the dragons grow with age at different rates depending on their type, and they may grow faster depending on environmental factors, such as the ambient elemental power in a region, their success in combat, lair building and mating, and they may travel offworld where time passes at different rates.
Draconomicon from 3e/3.5e is a good source for a lot of detailed information on ages/stages of life for each species.
It’s not in print anymore, but you can find the PDFs online for free.
When they finally get Psionics right I hope they have a section on psionic dragons, I miss them.
I’m playing a lawful evil cleric. Would a purple dragon (not a deep dragon) be a viable pet or companion for me? End game for me becoming a lich.
Chaos Diesel you’ll have to home brew it, so ask you GM. If he says yes, you can do it.
Remy B maybe. But if I hatch and raise it myself then the possibility is that it’d see me as a friend or parent. I’ll happily take my chances since I’m lawful evil just like the dragon. Lawful evil characters have a set of rules they will follow, such as not harming children.
Remy B I figure as long as I show it respect then it’d have little to no reason to want me dead. Hell, if I help it take another dragons horde then it’d be glad we are allies.
Shadow dragons are nice but theyre also the only species of dragon that CANNOT be charmed or subdued by ANY means. They have to be paid to serve you!
If an egg is not instantly placed in its element so it can hatch will it die? or can it endure and later be hatched? If it survives how long until it dies if not hatched?
For instance if a Red Egg is left 10 days in a fire then its taken does the egg dies? Or can it be placed back in a fire a year later?
I would say that is a narrative decision rather than a hard rule...
@@AJPickett Hmmm, interesting, so if it fits the game a Red Dragon Egg layed 100 years ago can be plced in an oven and it will hatch?! As long as the DM says so?
@@MrFantocan Yes
@@AJPickett nice, makes sense its expensive.
remember epic dragons as wyrmlings are huge category have the abilities of adult dragons terrifying..
each dragon is unique children as a child even they are that intelligent depending on their environment
with high intelligence one can defy instinct(and stereotypes) alignment ect as white dragons raised by crystals become less evil.. smarter as the monster manual says so yeah also then you go with hybrids.. ones between chromatics and metallics seem especially deadly considering hybrid vigor and genetic mutation yes horrifying...
a purple dragon exceeds a gold dragon.. thats how strong it is and think of alloy dragons aswell scary thoughts.. but unique and interesting nonetheless
Lmao, A Green Dragon family sounds like a group of Sith. Nothing gets done because of all of the infighting and power grabs
Or Drow.
But back in AD&D2e monster manual, green dragons were the only evil dragons that moved in large hunting packs. Also young adults and grow Adult stay close to their parents hunting range for protection from hill giants and other dragons.
It was stated that if the land could support the dragons, Green lairs will hold infants to young adults if the dug out caves where big enough.
They were True pack hunters.
When the dragons become Old/ Ancient, the female and the male will have their own clutch of eggs to rear in different lairs. And their juvenile to young adult offspring does the hunting to feed the "babies."
Most DM skip over this because dragon lairs then become TPK.
As for the Sith, the authors of the Forgotten Realms, Drow books, also wrote Star Wars books.
I like the effort to reconcile their inherently magical nature with biology. It makes the setting seem more immersive for me.
Edit: spelling
would a fully grown dragon dying near a wyrmling make it age rapidly for a few seconds?
That would make a ton of sense, as the expulsion of energies resulting from the death would be absorbed at least in part by the Wyrmling.
I'm going to give that a solid maybe.
Bless the Mighty GlueStick
9:28, ha ha you just read my mind I have already stopped a couple times to add more notes, to my own dragons. Why are so many of these cute baby dragons, such little bastards.
Well, they are super predators.
@@AJPickett Humans are super predators as well, but we don't come into the world & immediately try to dominate everything.
Then again, we also aren't covered in natural tank armour, can't breathe fire/liquid nitrogen/chlorine gas/lightning/proton lazers, nor can we innately bend reality to our will, so...
Thanks again! Adorable and terrifying!
@AJ Picket Nice video man! I always love these videos about dragons! I have a few questions though. Do you think you can make a video on dragon wyrmlings, but on gem dragons? they should've been in that dragon book, because they where once popular as chromatics and metallics, and come on, they are Psionics! I would have loved to see what "element" they draw from if the power of psionics is basically Psychokinesis powers fused with magic. Sure, I wouldn't mind the others, but they aren't part of the original trio, while the other Wanna be larrys (ex: steel, force, astral, and every other knock off power munchkin made by an outside source) are trying either to be: edgy, to complicated, to focused on having complex lore to that specific world, trying to out due other dragons, or just want to be the coolest ones with the coolest or most interesting powers. The reason the colored dragons I believe are liked, is because of their simplistic nature, yet interesting personalities unique to certain colors. Like if they where at school and where stereo types gold is the goody toe shoes by the book boy scout, and red is the spoiled brat who throws fits and physically bullies others for attention and because they are sadistic and wants to be the most popular, the blacks are like emo reds, but without the attention seeking, and less prideful, and more of someone who cuts themselves for fun. Bronze is like forest grump, a hippy that loves nature, but decides to join war/school activities (dodgeball, or a violent physical activity) because they what to prove themselves and raise awareness for something animal related, silvers are the social kid who want's to be the "cool" rebellious one that EVERYONE likes (basically the sonic the hedgehog of D&D), and Brass are like the gossipers and chatta-boxes of the school. Copper is like the prankster/jokester who just wants to have fun and likes getting on the bully's nerves, Greens are those little lying gossipers who manipulate to get what they want and tattle lies to get someone in trouble, and Ice is like that one very young not smart kid who is just a snot nosed brat who does bad things because they know they can get away with it, and runs behind their guardian for protection when they are in trouble.
BUT sense the gems are a LITTLE (not alot) more complicated and smarty pants, they are seen as teachers or the nerds of D&D, and back then D&D was played by those wanting to escape the real world because they themselves may have been mostly nerds, so seeing adults or shells of the real them probably upset them, so they didn't want to acknowledge them, thus, psionic gems are removed, and replaced with an idealised stereo type dragons (*cough*) to feel in how they would want school to be.
I believe gems have had a great Injustice done to them. I know you already covered the gems, but can you give sardior his own separate video, ONLY focused on him? I feel like he should've been done before Nichobolas, given his powers are similair to nic's. It would also give much attention to the THIRD sibling of the dragon god trio, and help raise the love for gems.
I know I may not get a response, or may not even have my wishes come true, but I would love to see the gems get their own in depth lore video, like how each metallic had their own video for them, like silvers got their own. Speaking of which, I don't believe you ever did a video on bronze dragons, because I have searched for a video by you own them. Also, if you do a seperate gem video on the gems with their own video, don't include things like: obsidian, Jade, pearl, and others part of the original gem trio, make them viewed like the steel, orange, yellow, and fang dragons: their own thing not part of the Originals nor part of their culture. I just would like to see the original five and their god, each with their own separate video.
Nice video!! Hope to see more videos!!
But serious though, I think you forgot bronze.
Now I want a bronze Dragon... ;(
Brilliant. We don’t deserve you AJ
I live to serve :)
the blue dtagon laughing at the man eating sand and the black wyrmling chacing the frog does anyone know where that image is from i had a book that i loved as a kid with them in it
draconomicon. its a 3rd edition book. has plenty of info on dragons for dnd. also brings stuff that only they can use or similar types of specimens.
Also from "A Practical Guide to Dragons", which was based in the dragonlance stuff. No stats in it though -- just fluff, but it's a good reference for the surface level information on the main dragons.
a lich gets a hold of a dead egg...… humph. ideas. just starts pushing necrotic energy into the egg to bring it back into a unlife. or something like that.
So, would that result in a shadow dragon, or a dracolich?
@@gingermcgingin1733 not sure tbh. lol, I would say it comes back from the dead hatches and lives, but is a twisted evil version of its breed/color even by their standards. But if or when this dragon would die, it would have the ability to come back as a dracolich.
AJ if a chromatic and metallic dragons made a hybrid what would you suggest would be most likely from willing partners and how would other dragons react i dont think well. I would see a red trying to hunt it to prove there stronger
I might have an answer to this.
Ultimately, it’s up to the DM and home brewing that decide everything, but I don’t think it’s actually possible.
First off, the chances of a Romeo and Juliette dragon version happening is low, and I mean extremely low. They have an ongoing hatred for each other to the point that even Silver Dragons will attack any chromatic dragon on sight, and if any relationship did happen, I’m willing to bet that their respective Dragon Gods, mainly Bahamut and Tiamat, are gonna murder the couple before anything past the wedding happens.
Next, any children they have will depend on the couple’s elements.
For example, when two different types of dragons, like a Red Dragon and a Blue Dragon, have kids, their offspring’s different elements within themselves don’t mix well and actually clash. This makes the hybrid get weaker and weaker, often leading to their death early on.
The more you watch AJ Picketts videos on different dragons, the more you understand their culture and differences between each other
@@couragew6260 I have the idea hit me when I saw fan art of baby dnd dragon hybrids I know there cultures the god thing though is more a tiamat thing bahamut would likely try to make them good to spite tiamat and most there minions are humans and few can kill a dragon pair the mixing elements i hadn't thought of though
@@jameswilliams2075
It’s important to note that the elements don’t have to be complete opposites like fire and ice in order for them to clash. If the elements are different, then the hybrid is gonna have a bad time
@@couragew6260 ya I could see that being unstable but if they masterd it your looking at a nightmare to fight
@@jameswilliams2075
I think it’s a matter of biology and outside of the hybrid’s control.
Like a Liger. They may be big, but they’re bound to have health issues that they can’t fix.
AJ Pickett
It would be rough to be the runt of a chromatic dragon litter. I could see where a red runt might flee it's nest in order to avoid being murdered and eaten. A powerful wise, but not too bright tree hugging druid might take pity on the evil little sh1t and try to raise it. This would be especially the case if the druid felt guilty for being part of the adventuring party that rid the world of it's evil parents. the possible back stories for a red dragon raised by druids that learned polimorph and so was passing itself off as a humanoid could be interesting. If it stayed a runt and was treated badly by other red dragons, it would probably help adventurers kill other dragons and when no one was looking, Make off with most of the horde.
If it was making of with most of the horde it would start growing faster and cess being a runt. But it would probably continue using that tactic.
@@reclaimerbear6760
That is true, in fact if it stayed with humans it could quickly become super rich and super powerful even for red dragons. He would most likely gravitate toward becoming a noble and start taxing everyone for that sweet sweet gold. The only thing that could ruin it would be if it had kids with a human. How would it explain the half human half dragon brats?
@@mal35m well since the draco rage has been destroyed, they could probably hide it with magic. Since they don't have to worry about destroying their territory or plans. Likely though they just wouldn't breed with humans. At least not publicly.
@@mal35m Send the kids to the human grandparents? I'm sure the kids would love to be sugared up and given trinkets. On that note I'm now seeing small half dragons zipping around in my head. As the grandparents smile and nod at them.
@@TraciPeteyforlife
Reclaimer Bear
Given how rotten and terrible real greedy rulers have been, a chaotic evil red dragon who was already very rich could marry into royalty and with a good polymorph spell most people would not think it odd how greedy it was. If a noble was poor and about to be swallowed up by his neighbors he or she might marry a rich dragon just to survive. The evil draconic noble would be motivated to keep its territory monster free and to defend it from human foes. It would be in it's interest that the people thrive so it could tax them a lot. At the same time the royal bloodline would be much strengthened. Would anyone care that the princess always wore the same tiara with the ivory horns if at the same time any invading army would be mysteriously turned to ash and any kaiju class monster is fried and then eaten. I think that people would just not talk about the earl's shiny metallic red skin tight scale armor with matching clawed gauntlets that he never takes off. I could see plot line where the adventurers discover to their horror that the royal who sent them out on a dragon killing mission is a big evil red dragon who was after the dragon's horde. They tell a local about it and the local shrugs and says oh yeah everyone knows about the count, we just don't talk about it.
Great video! This gives me some awesome ideas for my current campaign. Recent Sub and I've enjoyed all of your videos so far. I am currently watching them as I see them or when I need background on monsters and the world of Faerûn. Loved your Dawn War video btw. You've become my number one source on how to use monsters to really engage my party. Going to watch your Behir video next!
Could you do a video on Nightwalkers? I know you mentioned them in your Negative Planes video, but I could not find one on them specifically. I searched for them in general as well and it seems like not many youtubers talk about them. I own Tome of Foes and I thought they were more powerful in previous editions? Any tips for buffing them besides AC, Health, and weapon damage? I'm still only on year 2 of DMing and have always loved their concept when playing.
Please keep up the great work!
Great video AJ
the part about precious metals and how they affect dragon growth, where did you find that?
Excellent question!
It is actually a subject of huge, eternal debate across not just the 40+ years of D&D, but the very existence of dragons as a mythological aspect of the classic Cosmogonic Duel throughout the history of the world's religions. Really, the treasure is symbolic, everything else built up or asserted as fact around it is supposition. I approach dragons from the perspective of a fantasy ecology, so this is how I best interpret and explain the nature of dragon metabolism and their drive to hoard treasure. Clearly, it is physically impossible for any earthly creature to generate the metabolic energy required to do what D&D dragons can do, thus, they have an elemental aspect to them. Where do we get many of our concepts of the elements? Classic Alchemy. What is the magical metal of alchemy? Gold.
@@AJPickett Any books, throughout the history, that mention this explicitly or suggest it? Always super-interested in lore & I really like this idea (& would use it personally - regardless of lore) but it'd be nice to do more reading.
Dragons even babys cause something in a persons mind to ring something just screams in our heads this simple fact "Holy bleep that is awesome!"
that does not make any sense...litterally every single thing ive read of Silver dragons says they prefer the company of humanoids and will go out of their way to build relationships with them,to the point where they will often spend long spans of time in humanoid form.
Yes, when they start to get a little older, but doesn't mean that they will let their babies be controlled by them.
love your stuff thanks so much !
You are most welcome :)
I don't believe that any spheroid object 12" long by 6" wide & full of fluid, CAN weigh only one pound. Probably at least 6, the larger should be at least 12.
I agree
@@AJPickett still looking at comments on a 2 year old video?! Thats a youtuber i can respect... well i already did, but... more so now.
@@KatsuhiroHebi thanks 🙂
If the party ever adopts a dragon ima have it save their butts by evolving Pokémon style from a Wyrmling in to a Young dragon and letting out an elemental blast that turns the tide of battle
where did you get your info on the price of the egg?
Instead of saying "This one is infertile," say "This one is a duck."
What kind of duck lays an egg like that?
@@nullpoint3346 Crocoduck.
I pranked my players once by letting them take a draconian egg but magic had corrupted it and turned it into, essentially, a kobold.
@@firetarrasque4667
Did you get that from One Piece?
@@firetarrasque4667
Btw, love your name.
Interesting. Do you have anything on how Dragons age beyond Ancient and turn into Wyrms and Great Wyrms? Is there a process or is it natural with just age?
just natural. 5e just doesn't use them probably cause game balance is diffrent in 5e.
Man this was great so many ideas for a campaign 😊 time to go write
Great video and could a wish spell change the color type of the Dragon in the egg?
Good question, Dragonlance has something on dragon egg corruption, though I doubt that Wish would have the same effect as that.
That corruption process requires the power of a God.
@@julierose689
To be fair, the gods did _make_ the dragons...
(Maybe not in Dragonlance)
That is up to the Dungeon Master.
So how much faster would a wyrmling let’s say from a large egg with a bunch of precious metals grow?
What about GEM dragons?