I would assume they'd be rare, if existant at all. Do we have any ideas one way or the other about draconic half-breeds?
I would assume they'd be rare, if existant at all. Do we have any ideas one way or the other about draconic half-breeds?I believe our general feeling is that they should be even rarer than dragons, Guardians of Dragonfall notwithstanding.
Thanks Mike!
Creative Director
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Yeah... we used them a LOT in Dungeon in the 3.0 days, and readers kind of rebelled against the proliferation of them. As a result, I tend to veto half-dragons except when the adventure makes them logical and necessary; that kind of carries in to my take on Golarion.
So yeah; half-dragons in Golarion are very, very rare.
The way I see it, people either really like half dragons, or they really hate half-dragons. I personally fall into the first camp, but I agree with the sentiment that too much of a good thing is bad (as alluded to by James).
Now . . . I think the reason that ½d's are so appealing to those who find them such is the fact that most ½d's we run across are a dragon/humanoid mix. While dragons themselves are quite out there as far as being able to relate to, a humanoid pc or npc is easier to for us as players to relate to. ½D's allow us to easily relate to a character that still is able to keep the uber-geeky leet kewl-ness of the dragon.
I think this is why Draconians were popular with DragonLance, and why I beleive that WotC thinks the DragonBorn will be popular.
Yeah, I'm with ya WP. Admittedly, they were gonna be half-black giant gators for a swamp random encounter, but oh well... My party doesn't need dragon-skin armor yet anyway :)
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The concept of 1/2 Dragons as being the result of dragons physically mating with all sorts of critters doesn't really work for me. It seems like a particularly harsh diss to female dragons (what female dragon is really going to want to breed with a manticore and carry manticore babies just so that she can have some half-dragon manticores defending her mountain lair?).
Instead, I house rule that dragons are capable of working some magic involving their blood that transforms a living creature and gives it the appropriate half-dragon template. Male, female, fertile, infertile, undead dracoliche, doesn't matter, any dragon of sufficient age and with the appropriate knowledge can add the template to a willing or helpless creature. Sometimes the ritual kills the beneficiary, but hey, gotta break some eggs to make that omelette... It's mostly a behind-the-scenes kinda thing. The dragon burns a Feat to learn these secret rituals to 'ennoble' another creature, and the 'beneficiary' makes some Fortitude saves (possibly losing some XP or Con or whatever permanantly even on a success, and with a range of interesting grades of 'failure' up to and including death).
Alternately, male dragons breed with stuff indiscriminately (or very selectively) to make half-dragons, and female dragons compensate by laying eggs every year. Fertilized eggs become dragons, normally. Unfertilized eggs crack open to reveal clutches of Dragonwrought Kobolds, fanatically loyal to 'momma.' That way the ladies of dragon society still have the ability to produce litters of minions without the whole nastiness of mating with every creature under the sun.
That's not a bad idea Set, I may yoink that...