101 minions for a dragon

[tonyz]

Dragons are clever.

Dragons are charismatic.

Dragons can have powerful will-twisting magic.

All of this screams "minions" -- so who are the dragon's minions in your campaign? Agents of influence, defenders of the lair, people to make PCs have a horrible time going up against the dragon... add yours to this thread! And are there any twists on the idea?

1. A charmed warrior of great skill and little wits, equipped with the best weapons and armor of those who sought to slay the dragon (i.e., PC-level wealth).

2. A deluded princess. (Twist: she's not deluded, she's trying to sneak into the dragon's good graces to steal something in its hoard.)

3. A outsider who shows up periodically to play chess with the dragon and is also philosophically opposed to one or more of the PCs. (Twist: Or would be simpatico with one or more of the PCs if they weren't out to kill his buddy, maybe he wants to try and mediate.)

4. A bard who is composing songs in honor of the dragon and interviewing him to make sure all the details are right; naturally he'll help the dragon fight so he can get more song material. (Twist: he's also a fanboy of the most famous PC.)

5. An elderly druid who belongs to the Society for the Preservation of Endangered Dragons. (Twist: he's actually there as a matchmaker from another dragon.)

[Asmodeus' Advocate]

6. A lich that owes the dragon a favor. (Twist: They have their own reasons to keep an eye on the dragon- unbeknownst to the reptile the lich's phylactery is part of the hoard.)

7. Half-dragon trolls. (Make 'em immune to acid or fire. Or have rock trolls vulnerable only to sonic.)

8. Half-dragon treants. (lel whut?)

9. Half-dragon were-narwhal treants.

[Scott Wilhelm]

10. A Bank. The dragon uses his hoard to kickstart a human-run bank that engages in predatory lending practices, turning the whole town into sharecropping vassals. When the party arrives to slay the dragon, the townsfolk are afraid of what the loss of the dragon will do to their econonomy.

11. A Green or Black dragon's spellcasting ability is an Alchemist who performs bizarre experiments on the local flora and fauna, creating treants and beast-man moreaus whose relationship with the Dragon might be complicated.

12. The Dragon is a professor at a magical university. His grad students are willing to do just about anything to get their PhDs.

[Saldiven]

13: (Maybe too obvious) An entire tribe of kobolds, including a variety of leaders with class levels, including at least one Dragon Disciple and multiple Draconic Sorcerers and Bloodragers. The kobolds worship the dragon like the physical manifestation of their god.

[Ventnor]

14.) A golem made out of gold coins. (In Dragon's lair, horde takes YOU!)

15.) A couple of bound devils to whom the Dragon has sold its soul for more power. (Twist: the contract is written in such a way that a dragon doesn't have to give up its soul at all, and the devils are there to try and find a loophole in the deal that is more prominent than the loophole that the dragon is using.)

[Wevi]

16.) A swarm of Dragons. 5000 little dragons.

[Yanet Yackson's AberRation 1812]

17) 100 duck-sized horses and one horse-sized duck

[Darksol the Painbringer]

18) Draconians. Seriously guys, I am disappoint.

[Saldiven]

19) Dragon has levels in something granting an animal companion, so has a Tyrannosaurus Rex pet.

[Darksol the Painbringer]

Saldiven wrote:

19) Dragon has levels in something granting an animal companion, so has a Tyrannosaurus Rex pet.

19.5) Dragon has levels in a class and archetype that grants a Drake Animal Companion. He wouldn't be able to stand having something as stupid and hungry as a T-Rex around...

[Saldiven]

Darksol the Painbringer wrote:

Saldiven wrote:

19) Dragon has levels in something granting an animal companion, so has a Tyrannosaurus Rex pet.

19.5) Dragon has levels in a class and archetype that grants a Drake Animal Companion. He wouldn't be able to stand having something as stupid and hungry as a T-Rex around...

19.5.5) But the dragon is smart enough to know that everything that grants a Drake companion is garbage, so goes back to the T-Rex.

[Mark Hoover 330]

20) Familial Bloodlines: in my campaign there was one big bad black dragon who ran a forced breeding program for centuries. Unlike many dragons who mate and leave, this dragon kept meticulous records on humanoids, half-dragon animals that showed sentience, etc. That dragon was eventually slain by heroes of old, but his familial bloodlines live on as a local sub-culture

[Asmodeus' Advocate]

Saldiven wrote:

13: (Maybe too obvious) An entire tribe of kobolds, including a variety of leaders with class levels, including at least one Dragon Disciple and multiple Draconic Sorcerers and Bloodragers. The kobolds worship the dragon like the physical manifestation of their god.

13.5 A group of kobolds confidence artists who pretend to worship the dragon like a god but in reality are stealing coins from its hoard slowly enough that it doesn't notice. (Twist: They're tired of living miserable lives as kobolds and want to use their wealth to purchase enough hats of disguise for them to all become halflings and move to an urban center. If the adventurers can accelerate their plans the kobolds might help them, but if the adventurers want to keep all of the dragons hoard for themselves the kobolds will fight desperately.)

[Ascalaphus]

21) Whatever evil organization is the main foe of your current AP; one of the members is actually a dragon using the rest as puppets.

[Terrinam]

22) The PCs. They just didn't know it until now.

23) An entire forest of fey thanks to marrying the local fey leader.

24) House cats with levels in sorcerer under the arcane bloodline. Descendants of a magical breeding experiment run by the last group that tried to kill the dragon.

25) The local branch of the church of Iomedae. The dragon is one of Iomedae's paladins.

26) A goblin tribe. The dragon keeps them as pets and entertainment.

27) Paizo.

[Paradozen]

28)Reformed Dragon Hunters

29)Half-Dragon Gelatinous Cube

30)Highly intelligent/charismatic Gelatinous Cube Bard

31)Jinushigami who rather likes having a dragon nearby for support

32)Calikang Guards for when a nearby town looks tasty.

[SmiloDan]

33) A cult of pyromaniacs. They're infamous for burning down houses, but the townsfolk are too scared of the red dragon to bring the cultists to justice.

34) A cult of nagas, yuan-ti, lizardfolk, troglodytes, and dragonborn worship a green dragon.

35) The dragon is The Darkangel, a half-celestial black dragon with raven wings. Celestial kenku monks ruled by an albino cleric protect her.

36) Trolls ruled by a frost giant and his pet white dragon. Reward your friendly neighborhood pyromancer PC.

37) Blue dragon in a pyramid filled with flesh golems dressed as mummies.

[Scott Wilhelm]

Terrinam wrote:

22) The PCs. They just didn't know it until now.

22.5) The party Cavalier's Mount is really a Polymorphed Silver Dragon who develops a Hong Kong Phooey-Spot kind of relationship with them. The Dragon often Polymorphs into all sorts of NPCs who point them in the right direction without the party ever knowing until like the end of the adventure or something.

[Scott Wilhelm]

38) For generations, the dragon has been running a brothel, and a major organized crime ring developed, run by the dragon's offspring, all Sorcerers and Bloodragers with the Draconic Bloodline.

[SmiloDan]

39) A cult that works to transform the dragon into a dracolich. ;-)

40) Azers, salamanders, and other fiery elemental blacksmiths (redsmiths?) or goldsmiths!

[Scott Wilhelm]

SmiloDan wrote:

39) A cult that works to transform the dragon into a dracolich. ;-)

39.5) In order to accomplish the transformation, the Dragon needs to die. The Dragon's cult of worshippers is secretly plotting to kill their Dragon, and they dupe the party into helping them. Little does the party know that if they are only slaying the Dragon so it will be brought back more powerful and hateful than ever. Little do the cultists know that they will be the Dracolich's first victims.

[Scott Wilhelm]

Scott Wilhelm wrote:

Terrinam wrote:

22) The PCs. They just didn't know it until now.

22.5) The party Cavalier's Mount is really a Polymorphed Silver Dragon who develops a Hong Kong Phooey-Spot kind of relationship with them. The Dragon often Polymorphs into all sorts of NPCs who point them in the right direction without the party ever knowing until like the end of the adventure or something.

22.55) A Polymorphed Silver (or Gold, or whatever) Dragon keeps pretending to be a Damsel in Distress, inspiring the party to rescue her again and again when she is really only pretending to or letting herself be captured as a means of sending the party on quest after quest, showering them with kisses and magical favors, "My heroes!" she would always say.