I've got the Pathfinder game in the morning and find myself in need of a few suggestions for guards and lackeys for a minor green dragon. There aren't a lot of creatures, it turns out, to fit the roll of lair guardian...weird.
But basically I'm thinking two things, first that green dragons would like to be invulnerable to the special abilities of their agents, shifting things toward acidy beasts, and second that they seem to be into lizardy things like themselves as guardians, so maybe scalykind allies. Aren't hobgoblins supposed to have a special relationship to dragons? Seems like I remember that too. Also it bears mentioning that with greens being huge into lore and numerology it might be something weird too--Cthuluoid even.
Anyway I'm looking for classic stuff mostly--less oddball stuff like Dracotaurs and Szvaklors from the latter MMs, and more like things from early old school modules like Keep on the Borderlands. Pathfinder does best with a classic feel. Anyhow I would love any suggestions. I'll probably be searching this periodically in the hours before the game starts so I look forward to seeing what gets mentioned. Thanks!
Kobolds are great... if you've ever read the JLA comics, there was an excellent one entitled JLA: A League of One, where there's this big mother dragon, who's been hiding under the Swiss Alps since 1600-something, and she has a special gas breath which turns gnomes (the traditional 'thieves' of Switzerland) into dragonlike creatures, obsessed with wealth.
With Paizo's Kobolds, this kind of thing seems even more likely... have a whole tribe of kobolds set up around god-worshipping this dragon, with elaborate religious costume, etc.
You could even grant them the Draconic template (to toughen them up a little)... make them come in mobs (DMG2 had rules for these, I believe). That would be cool, entering a massive chamber, piled high with gold, and having a hundred kobolds charge at you all at once...
Wouldn't Evil Greedn Dragon Lackeys be better? :P
Anyway, use Lizardfolk. They're "usually neutral", so they can work equally well with good and evil dragons. If you want, make them green half-dragon lizardfolk, the dragon's nasty offspring.
Kobolds, as have been mentioned, are also a good choice. They're just mad about dragons, the little buggers.
Beyond that, let's look at your average green dragon, or rather at your average green dragon. What are they like? What would they look for in a minion?
Usually, green dragons are said to live in the forest and like to eat elves. So use evil (preferrably lawful) sylvan creatures as minions and allies. Trained animals, for example, or any animal-like magical beast that is found in forests (and, in case of intelligent ones, evil stuff). Owlbears, worgs, and the like.
Use critters that hate elves, and you have servants that get a kick out of abducting your favourite meal: Goblins, orcs.
And, although they wouldn't be mere lackeys, evil fey would make a perfect addition. Let the Unseely court that dragon (sorry for the pun).
A gang of redcaps could hang out around his lair. Theirs would be a love/hate relationship, as they couldn't resist teasing the dragon from time to time, but the dragon would probably keep them around because they're just so good at harrying heroes as they approach his lair.
Or an evil/insane nymph or dryad. The nymph could be mad, regarding the (admittedly majestic) green dragon as the pinnacle of natural beauty, serving him because of that. The dryad could help him out of gratitude because he saved her tree from being felled (some stupid lumberjacks wanted to fell the magnificent oak, but before they could, they fell prey to a certain hungry dragon.)
Or just give him a whole adventuring party as his servants. This could work in several ways:
Mad Cultists: Members of a small cult called Emerald Brotherhood, they rever him as a god. He'll have a fighter (who has a dragonscale armour made from leftover scales the dragon has shed over the years), a rogue (who spends most of his free time in the dragon's hoard, just looking at all the shiny stuff with sparkling eyes), a wizard (who obtained some insight into the magical nature of dragons and thus of magic itself) and a cleric of that dragon (actually, his spells are granted by Dahak).
The other is a party of basically decent fellows who one day tried to slay the dragon and failed miserably. Seeing the opportunity, he offered them death or magical slavery. Those who chose to live had geases put on them and now must do the dragon's bidding (but maybe the party can win them over, either by breaking the spell or convincing them to regain their honour by defying the dragon despite the repercussions)
There was an issue of Dragon (can't remember which) that presented weird animal companions, including a breed of dog created by green dragons as minor guardians; they're immune to acid and have funky green camo fur.
Dragonspawn, from Monster Manual IV. Green dragons had the very best spawn (a greenspawn sneak is still on my list of characters to play), and there are (fairly common) minis of 'em too, if that's your thing.
There was an issue of Dragon (can't remember which) that presented weird animal companions, including a breed of dog created by green dragons as minor guardians; they're immune to acid and have funky green camo fur.
They're called "Caustic Creepers". Dragon 357 (the Demogorgon cover), page 40.
|
While Kobolds and Lizardfolk are the classics, for my Green Dragon 'boss mob,' I had her servant critters be a corrupted and decadent community of Wood Elves. She had ruled them under the guise of their undying queen for many centuries, and the elves of the Singing Woods were jaded and soft, consumed with lives of political intrigue and occasionally going on 'wild hunts' into neighboring human lands (acting more like haughty high elves or elitist gray elves than their original wood elven stock).
If you want to go with a tiered approach, the Green Dragon's servants could be Lizardfolk, and both it and the Lizardfolk serve an unknown power that is behind the rise of the 'Lizard Kings' (half-dragon Lizardfolk), a power that turns out to be a Demon Lord, seeking 'worshippers' to establish a powerbase, and starting with these lizardfolk and their dragon ruler. A human cult to this demon lord may also meet with the dragon / lizardfolk, or compete with them for their dark patrons attentions (and therefore not shed any tears if the dragon / 'lizard kings' die a fiery death). This would allow you to weave an ongoing thread with earlier encounters with kobolds or lizardfolk or human cultists, moving on to the mid-level encounter with the draconic 'source' of the 'lizard kings' and their new acts of aggression, only to discover that there may be a darker force behind even the dragon, and the demon lord perhaps taking advantage of it's other cultists to send some demons after them in retribution for killing it's most prominent servant creature on the material plane!