I kept hearing about the overuse of dragons in Shackled City. I just bought the book, and granted I've only really flipped through the adventures themselves, but I haven't come across any of these dragons you speak of. If they're in there, I really need to know. I'm running it in Eberron, so I need to get rid of or severely limit the dragons in the adventure. So which chapters have dragons in them?
I kept hearing about the overuse of dragons in Shackled City. ... So which chapters have dragons in them?
Zenith Trajectory has two, Black (Dorlot) and Red (Gottrod).
Test of the Smoking Eye, has a dragon encounter in the Abyss (could be a potentail random encounter).
Secrets of the Soul Pillars has a Dracolich IIRC. (this could be reversed with Smoking Eye, can't remember without my book)
Foundation of Flame has Hookface (Red Dragon) and deep down in the volcano there is another Dragon with disintegration breath weapon (can't remember the type).
One of the chapters has a half-dragon minotaur with a spiked chain that comes to challenge the players over his father Dhorlot's death or somesuch. Could be an RP encounter, but still a dragon themed one.
That's all I can recall without a book before me,
-C
That's all of them.
I kept hearing about the overuse of dragons in Shackled City. ... So which chapters have dragons in them?Zenith Trajectory has two, Black (Dorlot) and Red (Gottrod).
Test of the Smoking Eye, has a dragon encounter in the Abyss (could be a potentail random encounter).
Secrets of the Soul Pillars has a Dracolich IIRC. (this could be reversed with Smoking Eye, can't remember without my book)
Foundation of Flame has Hookface (Red Dragon) and deep down in the volcano there is another Dragon with disintegration breath weapon (can't remember the type).
One of the chapters has a half-dragon minotaur with a spiked chain that comes to challenge the players over his father Dhorlot's death or somesuch. Could be an RP encounter, but still a dragon themed one.
That's all I can recall without a book before me,
-C
I got rid of Gottrod (red dragon with Crazy Jared) but kept in Dhorlot, since the black dragon was working with the kuo toa in "Zenith Trajectory".
Got rid of the black dragon in the Abyss. Kind of lame anyways.... I did keep the half-dragon minotaur fighter (he was pretty cool) and used him as an assassin for the Temple of Wee Jas.
I changed Vittriss Bale (the green dracolich in "Secrets of the Soul Pillars") and made him a corrupted/tainted tome dragon (from a recent Dragon Magazine article). I also made him more of a roleplaying encounter with the party than a fight. Granted, he will eventually betray and attack them, but they won't be prepared for it.
Going to keep Hookface since I think trying to save a city from a volcanic disaster *plus* fighting a pissed off, grumpy red dragon will be a blast.
The dragon with the disentergrating breath weapon in the Firy Chasm is a pyroclastic dragon...a planar dragon. I think the encounter is pretty well done and looks very challenging, so I'm keeping him. However, I did change his breath weapon to match the damage of a disintergrate spell. A "save-or-die" breath weapon is no fun at all, especially with all the death spells thrown at a party at high level.
My personal belief is that a dragon encounter should never be a "random encounter." Dragons are extremely tough enemies and very smart. They are always well prepared and highly intelligent, and their encounters/combats should reflect that.
Eric Mona pointed out in an editorial a year or two ago about the problem of dragons being so special that they are never used. And it has been my experience that I could play thorugh several campaigns and never face a dragon because since they are reserved for special use, the DM doesn't simply add a dragon encounter to whatever is going on at the time and never gets around to creating a proper draconic adventure. Beholders, illithids, and liches suffer from the same negligence.
I'm fine with the way dragons are used in the SC campagin. There are some dragon "random" encounters, and there are a couple of "showcase the badassery of the Dragon" scenarios.
Eberron is a special case, since a DM would need to come up with a good reason why any particular dragon is living around Cauldron instead of on the dragon continent--Argonesin?.
Eberron is a special case, since a DM would need to come up with a good reason why any particular dragon is living around Cauldron instead of on the dragon continent--Argonesin?.
Well, not nessacarily... Granted, the dragons were given a very particular role and place in the world, but remember: there are always exceptions to EVERY rule (especially in Eberron). And, as was pointed out in the PGtE, sometimes, a dragon is just a dragon. They don't all have to be political power players.
Eberron is a special case, since a DM would need to come up with a good reason why any particular dragon is living around Cauldron instead of on the dragon continent--Argonesin?.Well, not nessacarily... Granted, the dragons were given a very particular role and place in the world, but remember: there are always exceptions to EVERY rule (especially in Eberron). And, as was pointed out in the PGtE, sometimes, a dragon is just a dragon. They don't all have to be political power players.
I prefer to stick with the original, mystical view of Eberron dragons. If I had it my way it would be like that in most if not all campaign settings. Dragons are one of man's greatest mysteries. A dragon arriving in any adventure lower than 16th level just seems like a waste to me.
Tips for replacing the dragons:
I kept Gottrod (the first red dragon). They'd been hearing a lot about the legendary red dragon terrorizing the hills so once they killed it (I didn't have it say its name) they were all like "woo-hoo, we killed the dragon!" So when Hookface actually shows up later to melt some faces it ought to be that much more entertaining.
I kept Dhorlot (the first black dragon), but I gave him the shadow template from Lords of Madness. Don't remember why, I just wanted to pimp his ride.
I lost Vorkaire (the black dragon in Occipitus) in favor of a cadaver collector, since Vorkaire is supposed to attack the PCs while they're on the Plain of Cysts (which is a large battlefield) and cadaver collectors are also found on battlefields.
I don't know if I'm going to keep that pyroclastic dragon or not- I want to get rid of it, but I haven't thought up anything better to put in its place.
Really, I just don't like dragons much anymore- this whole Year of Dragons thing is wearing on me, especially once I came up with the idea of playing a dragonborn dragon shaman with levels in the dragon disciple PrC.