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While I know a few of the paths, is there a path, or path planned that focuses on dragons. Currently, we are running Giants, Reign of Winter, and Carrion Crown with our 3 DM's.
Bobbo
One was discussed, but ultimately rejected because there wasn't enough to populate the low/mid-level adventures.
Giantslayer has a pretty heavy Dragon sub-theme though, you'll fight dragons pretty regularly on that one.
I'm sure you could make a draconic BBEG in each volume?
Creative Director
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I'm sure you could make a draconic BBEG in each volume?
That idea is core to why we rejected the proto-dragon adventure path. You can certainly have a dragon as the BBEG of each volume, but that quickly gets repetitive and predictable and by the time you get to the last volume, what SHOULD be the big iconic memorable dragon boss of them all is just "Oh ho-hum another dragon how surprising."
The opposite of that would be to do an AP where the final boss is a dragon, which is certainly something we could some day do, but you would probalby NOT be fighting dragons all the way through the campaign.
Unlike several other settings, we don't have dragons all over the place in Golarion. In part due to constant feedback from readers of Dungeon magazine back in the day, we've been "trained" here to think that customers want dragons, when they do appear in adventures, to be significant key encounters. They do NOT want them to be wandering monsters or just another foe in a side room or "throw-away" encounters that aren't significant to the plot. As such, dragons, when they show up in Golarion adventures, are things we try to give significant weight to, and that means not using them over and over and over.
As a result, dragons end up being great BBEGs for one-shot adventures (like, say, "The Dragon's Demand"), but trickier to use in adventure paths.
As much as I love dragons, I aggree with JJ, to make them more significative you cannot put them all over the place.
I GMed a lvl 1 to 20 modulele trilogy where the last boss was a dragon and there were a lot of dragon themed events all the time and it was fine, but fighting dragons all the time gets old soon.
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Creative Director
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Another factor to consider; we chose to make dragons relatively rare in our setting because they played huge roles in so many Wizards of the Coast settings, particularly Dragonlance but also Eberron and Forgotten Realms. By dialing back the presence of dragons in our setting (and thus in our adventures) we step one more step out of the shadow of Dungeons and Dragons and toward our own setting.
And once that precedent was set, we more or less stuck to it.
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Ok, how about an AP that let's you play as dragons? No, I'm serious. How amazing would that be?
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On the off chance you're unaware, the Dragon's Demand module goes from level 1 to 6 and has a draconic theme, which may be (at least part) of what you're looking for.
Maybe I shouldn't have said BBEG, they could be the big end issue. Not always a fight.
I love dragons and have no issue with them being common. Although as mentioned they are rare in Golarion
Loads AP I have played with repetitive similar theme encounters.
The dragon content in Giantslayer is pretty nice, IMO. They fit, with drakes and dragons here and there, enemies and NPCs alike. It's a good mix and it makes sense for the story. A big bad great wyrm as an ultimate antagonist, hiding himself throughout the adventure would be cool, however.
RPG Superstar 2011 Top 32
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The original Dragonlance adventures were sort of a proto-AP with the intention of featuring one of the original 1e dragons in each module. They had mixed levels of success in that goal; the metallic dragon adventures in general tended to center less around the star dragon type than the chromatic ones. The PCs could, for example, entirely miss the brass dragon in the third adventure.
If you're interested, these adventures were reprinted for 3.5 back in that era, as 3 collected volumes of 4 modules each. The reprints are probably still findable if you look.
The Age of Mortals trilogy was the one I was talking about before and I really liked it too. It's 3.5 too.
I'd like to see a dragon oriented AP, but understand the decision to keep them rare. In my home campaign, the PCs have encountered four dragons to date (over two years) with one looming in the background (see Zedoran).
They killed the skeletal dragon, got trounced by the adult black dragon, slew the young red dragon and completely avoided the old green dragon. Every time, their encounter with a dragon has been memorable if not harrowing.
I'd recommend that everyone wanting a dragon AP look at Dragons Unleashed and find a legendary dragonn to work into your home game. Each entry has a detailed lair and suggestions for story hooks.
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I still think there should be a Hermea adventure path where the BBEG is the Gold Dragon in charge. Hermea has gotten very little support and is an awesome part of the setting.
That would require the staff to resolve the almost decade-long gridlock over what's even going on in Hermea.
Which would be great, but not likely.
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I'm probably part of weird niche category that want dragon themed category without it being about true dragons <_<
Like, true dragons get already featured in every ap as once in while boss fights... Like seriously, is there any AP that doesn't feature at least one notable true dragon fight in any form?
Skull and Shackles. There is an undead dragon, though.
Well, we don't need to fight dragons in all the volumes of an AP.
If we were ever to see an AP in which we are confronting a dragon as the end boss, we can always fight with their minions, and that can include:
- A dragon disciple.
- A half-dragon offspring.
- Cultist or follower of a dragon god.
- Outsiders (from devil followers of Dahak to elemental creatures serving a primal dragon)
- From orcs serving a red dragon to an evil arcane organization following a blue dragon to evil forest dwellers working for a green dragon.
Well, the possibilities are unlimited... =P
While there might be no AP for dragons - unfortunately - Pathfinder has lots of interesting dragons around which we can build entire adventures.
From the true dragons worshipping Dahak or Kelizandri to the Linnorms in the north.
The prismatic dragons from occult bestiary or the powerful Shen from Bestiary 5. There are even dragons serving Rovagug and demon lords. Kazavon himself is an unique true dragon.
We don't even need to mention the ones in Dragons Unleashed or the famous dragons from Hermea and Five Kings Montain.
The very first AP was about a dragon wasn't it?
While actual dragons might be out of the question, I don't see anything wrong with dragon cultists.
Have a secret cult dedicated to Dahak the Endless Destruction, but have humanoid cultists worshipping him, all coming from different classes. Legacy of Dragons, for instance presented several draconic archetypes ideal for this kind of organization. Even better, have these cultists be kobolds, not just for flavor, but also for "shock value", like "Wait... THOSE guys are threatening now?".
Seriously, nobody gets scared of goblins of kobolds, so putting them in the forefront with powerful abilities could be worthwhile.
BTW...
