Flipping though my copy of Dragon #134 today, and all I have to say is: I hope you guys don't pull any punches with the death wind in your writeup, because, man, that has the potential to be an awesomely brutal surprise for a cocky party of PCs who think they know what's what because they've perused some dracolich stats in a Forgotten Realms book before. :)
I was in two minds as to whether I was going to continue collecting Dungeon through the second Adventure Path. Shackled City was fun enough, but I felt it let me down in places. I wasn't sure that I cared to collect a rehash.
It took one word to change my mind.
Dragotha.
My only regret is that he's so tough that it'll be months before we actually get to see him. Hopefully, it will be worth it.
Could you tell me what that Dragotha is, please?
I don't have the old Dragon mags, and never heard this name before...
Undead Dragon(female I believe) that lairs in the fens near White Plume Mountain. See TSR Module S2-White Plume Mountain (circa 1980) By lawrence Schick.
I assume they will use Dracolich stats from Forgotten Realms and maybe add some other abilities.
And I think there is a Dragotha adventure on the Wizards of the Coast website for download but I don't think it is Greyhawk canon by any means and I am looking forward to the Age of Worms spin on the legned.
I assume they will use Dracolich stats from Forgotten Realms and maybe add some other abilities.
Why not start with the 3.5e stats for a dracolich from the Draconomicon?
Why not start with the 3.5e stats for a dracolich from the Draconomicon?
Yes, they could do that. I haven't bought the Draconomian yet as I am still miffed at having bought all the 2nd edition stuff (including the Draconomian for 2nd edition) and seeing it made obsolete. Slowly I am capitulating but haven't picked that up yet.
Dragotha's abilities were actually very different from the dracoliches in the Forgotten Realms setting.
It was a completely different (and much cooler, IMHO) take on an undead dragon with almost none of the same abilites and weaknesses. That's what I hope they keep, because it will be a big, nasty surprise to players who have read Draconomicon or a FR book and think they know what they're up against.
The death wind, in case you were wondering, was one of his four breath weapons. Basically it's a black cloud that makes targets save or die and the ones that die immediately reanimate as intelligent undead under Dragotha's control.
It's sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet.
EDIT: Dragotha is male.
Dragotha's abilities were actually very different from the dracoliches in the Forgotten Realms setting.
It was a completely different (and much cooler, IMHO) take on an undead dragon with almost none of the same abilites and weaknesses. That's what I hope they keep, because it will be a big, nasty surprise to players who have read Draconomicon or a FR book and think they know what they're up against.
The death wind, in case you were wondering, was one of his four breath weapons. Basically it's a black cloud that makes targets save or die and the ones that die immediately reanimate as intelligent undead under Dragotha's control.
It's sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet.
EDIT: Dragotha is male.
Well, both White Plume Mountain and Return to White Plum Mountain don't actually indicate what sex the dead wyrm is. I'll defer to it being male since I don't have evidence to the contrary. No idea why I thought it was female.
"Well, both White Plume Mountain and Return to White Plum Mountain don't actually indicate what sex the dead wyrm is. I'll defer to it being male since I don't have evidence to the contrary. No idea why I thought it was female."
Well, in English, most names that end with the letter A are.
I got my info from Dragon #134.
I had thought that in some write up Dragotha was mentioned as being a consort of Tiamat, which, back at the time the modules were written, would have almost automatically meant that Dragotha was a male.
I don't know if they will use the old Dragotha stats in Dragon. I am betting on what your are clearing disappointed in, a "generic" dracolich, since dracoliches are now officially part of all D&D campaigns thanks to the Draconomicon, which is core, not setting specific.
Just like we Realmers are saddled with Deathless becuase of the Book of Exalted Deeds.
P.S. before anyone says it, I know you can include and not include whatever you want in your campaign, but once it is cannon for the core line, you will see it creep in more often and thus have a bit more work to do if you want to chance something "back" to how it was before.
Sometimes you take the good with the bad.
In "Dragotha's Lair", he was referred to as a male. Either way, he's still going to be scary.
Entering the final room of his lair, read-aloud text:
The air is cold here, so cold that breath steams and skin stings. A vast subterranean chamber opens up on all sides, filled with gargantuan cave stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone, and other oversized cave formations. The cavern is lit by a gleaming point of light that stands poised on the edge of a wide basin. Within the basin, a jumble of gargantuan bones can only be one thing: the skeleton of a mighty dragon.
At this point, the DM's notes show:
"The smartest thing the heroes can do now is turn and run. But of course, that's not too likely from heroes who have come this far."
Within moments, a necromantic link uses the PCs living vitality to power-up the dragon's bones.
The silence shatters with a haunting scream so loud that your ears feel pierced with needles. Rising up in great loops like an uncoiling python, a horrible skeletal form rises, brushing the ceiling with an insane length that easily surpasses 100 feet. Yellow light shines from every bone, though it's cavernous eye sockets are black as night. Teeth taller than men fill the undead dragon's mouth, which is more than large enough to swallow a man whole.
His terrible black breath weapon is a cloud of negative energy that causes flesh to shed away. Those killed are completely melted, save for clothing, possessions, a still beating heart, and exposed bones. The bones rise a round later as a skeleton in Dragotha's service.
|
His terrible black breath weapon is a cloud of negative energy that causes flesh to shed away. Those killed are completely melted, save for clothing, possessions, a still beating heart, and exposed bones. The bones rise a round later as a skeleton in Dragotha's service.
If Dragotha show up in the AP, all I've got to say is Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!!