The Monsters Know What They’re Doing

Ready-to-Use Tactics for D&D 5E

Tag: dragons

Dragon Tactics, Part 7: Time Dragons

February 26, 2024

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Dragons

Ugh. A week lost because the Oobit was sick; another week lost when my wife and I picked up the same bug, which turned out to be stealth COVID. If only we could rewind the clock to before all that happened. Hey, you know who can do that, though? Time dragons.

You know what else time dragons can do? Maybe, just maybe, they can give us a glimpse into the future of Dungeons & Dragons.

Time dragons hew to the same pattern established by chromatic dragons, and in particular, they seem to be modeled closely on red dragons. They have the same Armor Classes; the same numbers of hit points, or close to it (young time dragons are an odd exception, with three more hit dice than young red dragons have); the same speeds and modes of movements; the same saving throw proficiencies; the same senses, with the same ranges; and the same areas of effect on their breath weapons.

But there are differences, too, and two in particular leap out at me. First, instead of Claw and Bite attacks, time dragons—even the wyrmlings—have a Multiattack comprising three identical “Rend” attacks. Second, instead of legendary actions, they have reactions that they can use three times per round, albeit only once per turn. Timing-wise, they work out the same, but unlike legendary actions, each of these reactions has a specific trigger, as reactions do, liberating Dungeon Masters from the burden of having to think about when to use them. Could these be previews of changes to dragons—and other adversaries—coming up in the 2025 rerelease of the Monster Manual? My intuition says yes.
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Dragon Tactics, Part 6: Lunar and Solar Dragons

July 26, 2023

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Dragons

If you’ve played around extensively with dragons, not a lot in the lunar dragon or solar dragon stat blocks will come as a surprise. At every life stage, they share the archetypal Strength-and-Constitution-heavy brute ability contour of most chromatic and metallic dragons, along with breath weapons and proficiency in the ambush skills (Perception and Stealth). Young, adult and ancient lunar dragons possess the classic Claw/Claw/Bite Multiattack, while solar dragons, which lack claws, attack in the same manner but with Bite and Tail; adult and ancient lunar and solar dragons have Legendary Resistance, and ancient lunar dragons have opportunistic Tail attacks along with Wing Attacks for when more opponents than they’d prefer are engaging them in melee and they want to bug out.

So let’s focus on what makes them different. Lunar dragons, which typically dwell in burrows on (wait for it) barren moons, aren’t all that different from white dragons; power-wise, they’re on par or very slightly weaker. They lack blindsight, but their darkvision has much greater range: 120 feet for wyrmlings, 240 feet after they hit puberty. This fact suggests that they dig big: When they burrow into a moon, they carve out not only tunnel networks (although those would be great for trespassers to get lost in) but also an enormous central cavern with plenty of room to maneuver in and no illumination whatsoever. Their Cold Breath deals less damage than a white dragon’s, but it also immobilizes targets that fail their saving throws. Those targets aren’t restrained or paralyzed, so freezing them doesn’t grant the dragon advantage on its follow-up attack rolls, but it does prevent them from pursuing (if they’re trying to engage in melee with the dragon) or from escaping (if they’re trying to avoid engagement).
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Dracohydra Tactics

October 4, 2022

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Dragons

“Your [wizards] were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.” That, right there, could be said about any number of Dungeons & Dragons monstrosities, and it’s certainly true of the dracohydra, which according to Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons is the end result of the question, “Do you think we could make our own Tiamat?”

The dracohydra walks, swims and flies; I’m surprised it doesn’t also burrow and climb as well, but those first three are plenty. Ability-wise, it’s an unambiguous brute, with extraordinary Strength and Constitution and not a whole lot else. Like the hydra, the chassis it’s built on, it’s not tactically complex, and making a combat encounter with one interesting is going to require some additional elements, like environmental hazards, time pressure, distracting vermin—or, as suggested by the flavor text, the chuckleheaded mage who brought it into being.

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Dragonnel and Liondrake Tactics

August 25, 2022

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Dragons, Monstrosities

Gen Con has wrapped. I took my first vacation since 2015. Now I’m back, ready to talk about Spelljammer erm, well, I thought that everyone was going to expect me to jump right into Spelljammer, but it turns out that what folks really want is for me to keep going with Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons! Very well, then. Let’s get a couple of easy ones out of the way: dragonnels and liondrakes (a.k.a. dragonnes).

Dragonnes actually came first: They were originally published in the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual (with a David A. Trampier illustration, always a mark of honor!). Dragonnels came later, debuting in the third-edition Draconomicon. According to this article, dragonnes were renamed “liondrakes” in the fourth edition, and the name change was kept in order to avoid having two nearly identical names appearing on facing pages in Fizban’s.

Which, OK, as a former editor, I understand that impulse entirely. But as a longtime D&D player, I wish the dragonne had gotten to keep its name. It was there first.

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Dragon Turtles Revisited

May 18, 2022

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Dragons

If you’ve got a campaign that takes place largely or entirely at sea, maybe dragon turtles figure in it more prominently than your garden-variety dragons—and maybe you’re disappointed to have only the one dragon turtle stat block to work with.[*] Worry no longer, says Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons, which expands the dragon turtle family tree to include all the same stages of development that the Monster Manual provides for chromatic and metallic dragons: wyrmlings, young and ancient as well as adult.

The dragon turtle extended family parallels the dragon turtle family in a lot of ways. Since the default (adult) dragon turtle is already Gargantuan, however, the younger variations are also both one size larger than their dragon analogues. (The ancient dragon turtle remains Gargantuan: you can’t get more gargantuan than Gargantuan.) (more…)