Today Tomorrow is “Appreciate a Dragon” day! So I thought I’d let my red dragon friend and mascot Expy handle this D&D 4E preview review.
Obvious awesomeness
It feels good to be appreciated! Not only has WotC recognized our importance by dedicating us a day of the year, but what I read in Worlds & Monsters will allow all of the DMs out there to really have fun decimating parties with dragons. But remember: for maximum dragon effectiveness, choose Reds!
Easier to prepare, harder to defeat
Dragon combat styles have been better defined and their combat options have been tightened, making dragons easier to include in your D&D campaign. And why wouldn’t you want dragons in your game! They’re a must. You better warn your players that you’ll be better prepared and acquainted with all the powers of the dragons. Slaying a dragon will be impossible. (Editor’s note: Expy is exagerating - dragons can be slain)
Solo monsters
Of course dragons never needed help but the fine folks at Wizards realised how great dragons were. So dragons will be able to do more in a turn than most monsters and even do a lot when it’s not their turn during combat.
Metallic dragons can be evil
I’ve known that metallic dragons weren’t all good for a while. I once told a gold dragon that if his breath weapon was that powerful he wouldn’t need two of them. The goldie didn’t say anything fearing my fiery wrath, but he sucker-punched me as soon as I turned my back. I hate metallic dragons.
Anyhow, dragons can now be of any alignment, but they still have the same tendency to suck if they’re not red.
In other dragon news
In other unimportant news, Brass and Bronze dragons were dropped and replaced by Iron and Adamantine, and Green dragons were revamped. Woop dee doo. Nobody cares. It’s all about red dragons.
7 Comments
12:31 pm on January 15th, 2008
Why drop dragons? Brass Dragons and Bronze dragons have been part of my campaign for years, okay easy to convert over I should imagine, but why not add new stuff rather than removing something thats such an integral part of the game. Most players can name the types of dragons, and in Dragonlance games especially they all have significance…
1:13 pm on January 15th, 2008
The logic behind the change is that few players could actually make the difference between the 3 (copper, brass, bronze).
I have to admit I can’t really tell them apart myself. Maybe I’m too fixated on Reds.
1:21 pm on January 15th, 2008
Yeah, Copper/Brass/Bronze are nowhere near what I’d call “an integral part of the game.” I’m running a campaign now that uses all the colors of dragon in the Monster Manual, and even I have a hard time keeping them straight as a DM. It’s bad design to have things so visually similar- they should stand out both in personality and in color.
Also, it’s insanely easy to houserule, and we’ll probably see the other colors in some kind of supplement.
2:21 pm on January 15th, 2008
Dragons…. color coded for your convenience…
As always Expy, you are a great comedian… that surprising considering you’re only a Red…
You are so going down too!
:)
8:31 pm on January 15th, 2008
He he he he!
Chatty Whistles innocently
6:50 pm on January 17th, 2008
Cutting Brass and Bronze makes sense - they were just alloys of Copper anyway. Silver, Copper, and Gold were pure metallic elements. What’s worse, Bronze was higher on the hierarchy as an alloy-dragon than Copper was as a pure-metal.
Iron and Adamantine are likewise pure metallic elements, and make much more sense to include.
Seriously, I think we’ll be better off with just Copper, Iron, and Adamantine Dragons that than Copper, Copper-diluted-with-Tin, and Copper-diluted-with-Zinc Dragons.
11:15 pm on June 13th, 2008
Hey, I have a Brass in my campaign thats an intimate part of the plot.The players enjoy his prescence and find the dragons character intriguing. Besides its up to the DM to figure out what really differentiates one race from another, dropping creatures which were initally brought in by Dragonlance seems a little like a sad attempt to glam up the game. Cool names and colors don’t make good D&D, its roleplay, game play, and DM attention which make a good game. “If it ain’t broke, leave it alone.”