Post by oldkat on Jan 21, 2014 12:45:50 GMT -6
On the latest Save or Die podcast the staff discussed a gaming supplement titled "Dragon Lairs.
While the crew generally liked it and gave it a good review, the female member was disappointed and a bit taken aback that the author--one RC Pinnell--described dragons as doing 1d6 damage; that the supplement is meant for OD&D play must have eluded her.
Thinking on this, I decided to research the product, and drew my own conclusion that--perhaps--the author was suggesting that since dragons actually bite for a d6 damage, that it might allow Game Referees to introduce packs of young adult and younger dragons to be encountered. (The actual idea of a dragon biting for 1d6, or 1/2 that of a hill/stone giant with a giant club, so I did not find this all that disturbing.)Edit: this is a very confusing statement and I'm sorry. I do not mean the damage dice of a dragon's bite is equal to a hill giant's 2d6 club damage. But that I thought a dragon's bite--especially for Very Young and Young dragons doing 1d6 makes sense being half that of a giant! Confusing, I know! So I clarified it more.
Considering that the chances of a dragon talking are not all that great, and the fact that only talking dragons have a chance of being able to cast spells (vastly less than their chance of talking!), the odds of a party of 4-7th level characters running into a "pack" of spell-using dragons is not too likely. So, spells would not be the major threat to such a group. Which leaves us with the breath weapon!
Useable but 3X per day, Sub-adult/Young/Very Young dragons have the following potential of breath-damage:
Sub-adult: Red(27-30-33); Blue(24-27-30); Green(21-24-27); Black (18-21-24); White(15-18-21)
Young: Red(18-20-22); Blue(16-18-20); Green(14-16-18); Black(12-14-16); White(10-12-14)
Very Young: Red(9-10-11); Blue(8-9-10); Green(7-8-9); Black(6-7-8); White(5-6-7)
Using the above damage figures, a "Pack" (say, 2-7) of sub-adults of any type would be a challenge vs. a party of 6-9 characters. But when the Young and Very Young figures are considered, it seems possible that parties of 4-7th level characters could not only hold their own, but have a reasonable chance of slaying the whole pack.
This "pack" idea is appealing to me, because (1) I hate being locked into the idea that mated dragons only end up with 1-2 baby dragons in their lair; and (2) it makes sense that dozens of eggs could be laid, and when the little ones hatch and scamper away, animals, creatures, and adventurers, would have possible encounters with the packs, thus reducing the dragons and keeping all such populations under control.
So the question is: does the "Pack" idea work? make sense? or not?
While the crew generally liked it and gave it a good review, the female member was disappointed and a bit taken aback that the author--one RC Pinnell--described dragons as doing 1d6 damage; that the supplement is meant for OD&D play must have eluded her.
Thinking on this, I decided to research the product, and drew my own conclusion that--perhaps--the author was suggesting that since dragons actually bite for a d6 damage, that it might allow Game Referees to introduce packs of young adult and younger dragons to be encountered. (The actual idea of a dragon biting for 1d6, or 1/2 that of a hill/stone giant with a giant club, so I did not find this all that disturbing.)Edit: this is a very confusing statement and I'm sorry. I do not mean the damage dice of a dragon's bite is equal to a hill giant's 2d6 club damage. But that I thought a dragon's bite--especially for Very Young and Young dragons doing 1d6 makes sense being half that of a giant! Confusing, I know! So I clarified it more.
Considering that the chances of a dragon talking are not all that great, and the fact that only talking dragons have a chance of being able to cast spells (vastly less than their chance of talking!), the odds of a party of 4-7th level characters running into a "pack" of spell-using dragons is not too likely. So, spells would not be the major threat to such a group. Which leaves us with the breath weapon!
Useable but 3X per day, Sub-adult/Young/Very Young dragons have the following potential of breath-damage:
Sub-adult: Red(27-30-33); Blue(24-27-30); Green(21-24-27); Black (18-21-24); White(15-18-21)
Young: Red(18-20-22); Blue(16-18-20); Green(14-16-18); Black(12-14-16); White(10-12-14)
Very Young: Red(9-10-11); Blue(8-9-10); Green(7-8-9); Black(6-7-8); White(5-6-7)
Using the above damage figures, a "Pack" (say, 2-7) of sub-adults of any type would be a challenge vs. a party of 6-9 characters. But when the Young and Very Young figures are considered, it seems possible that parties of 4-7th level characters could not only hold their own, but have a reasonable chance of slaying the whole pack.
This "pack" idea is appealing to me, because (1) I hate being locked into the idea that mated dragons only end up with 1-2 baby dragons in their lair; and (2) it makes sense that dozens of eggs could be laid, and when the little ones hatch and scamper away, animals, creatures, and adventurers, would have possible encounters with the packs, thus reducing the dragons and keeping all such populations under control.
So the question is: does the "Pack" idea work? make sense? or not?
