A D20 System supplement from
Alderac Entertainment Group
Rating:
(3 out of 5 hearts)
by Jean-Michel
"Dragons" is a potpourri of ideas about dragons. Like the two previous
publications in this series, the information is stringed together without
any necessarily logical or useful arrangement. Although this is a very informative
and potentially inspiring book, with a tremendous wealth of material, it is
not well presented.
The first section, which is the shortest, describes a mythological past, a
history based on ancient dragon wars, including a section on some dragons
who became gods. It also includes the description and motivations of five
individual dragons of different types, three of God-like entities that might
be the creators of the dragons, and an example of a cult devoted to a black
dragon.
The second section begins with skills and feats. New uses for old skills are
described, such as the way to use Alchemy to harvest useful organs from slain
dragons and use them to make magic items, a notion that is greatly expanded
upon later in the book. Some of the new feats are yet more double-skill focus
feats giving +2 to two skills. Some of the combat related feats rely on critical
hits for their activation, which is too bad. The Dragonsmith feat is the only
really worthwhile one; it lets a character reduce the cost of producing magic
items if the character uses the body parts of a recently slain dragon.
The new prestige classes are rather interesting. The Air Lord has a flying
mount and is expert at fighting from the sky. The Dragon Slayer is a fearless
fighter specialised in dealing massive amounts of damage to huge or larger
creatures. The Student of the Dragon is a monk that can jump incredibly high
and attack from the air. The Wyrmfoe drinks dragon blood to greatly augment
his magical powers although it makes him physically sick. The Wyrm Spawn is
a strange prestige class that lets a character explore his or her dragon ancestry.
A big section suggests ways of using the different body parts of a dragon
to create magic items. Examples of ways to use anything from a dragon's brain,
ears, stomach, blood, kidneys, horns, tongue, claws etc. are given as well
as suggestions on the best use of each part depending on the dragon type they
originated from. For example, a black dragon's eye is best used for a darkness
item, while a silver dragon's tongue will be useful to create a circlet of
persuasion.
Twenty-six new spells have been created, and those are a fine addition. A
lot of the spells are specially useful to dragon spell-casters, such as Retain
Natural Armor that lets a dragon keep his natural armor bonus even if polymorphed.
Other spells are useful against dragons, such as the Dragonshield spells that
protect the caster from breath weapons.
A section describes the way dragons will typically use different spells and
magic items in combat or to defend their lairs. A big section is devoted to
dragon lairs and gives multiple suggestions to help DMs design them. Many
examples of lairs are given.
A section is devoted to the possibility of creating dragon PCs. Different
methods are suggested, such as starting with a wyrmling and gaining classes
as normal. The potential problems of running a campaign with dragon PCs are
studied and solutions are proposed, such as how to design adventures and campaigns
for very powerful dragons. This section also offers prestige classes only
available to dragon characters, each of which is a draconic equivalent of
the standard PC classes. Here we find the draconic paladin, the draconic rogue,
etc.. A dragon can multiclass in those classes as well as standard PC classes.
The biggest section of the book takes each of the chromatic and metallic types
and describes them in depth. Each type of dragon is given around three pages
describing their physical characteristics, habitat, society, combat tactics,
interactions with other dragons, and the differences that set them apart from
the other dragon types.
Here is more material that can be found somewhere in the book: A few pages
deal with the topic of dragon familiars and mounts. Some new regular and magic
items are described. A few additions to the aerial combat rules are provided,
such as the effects of grappling in mid-flight and crashing. Some new dragon
types such as the Elemental Dragons and the Carrion Dragon are described,
as well as a range of undead dragons like vampire, ghoul and mummified dragons.
A campaign setting where the world has been taken over by dragons is introduced.
An anatomical, psychological and ecological study of dragonkind describes
the characteristics of these incredible reptiles. The stats of the dragons
described at the beginning of the book are found in sidebars at the end.
This book could have been excellent because most of the material in it is
very useful. Dragons are very important in this game that it is, after all,
not called Dungeons and Trolls. Any DM can use a book about dragons. But it
seems as if the people at AEG responsible for this line of d20 products take
no pride in their work and don't mind tossing an half-finished product at
us. Although not as bad as previous publications, this book contains many
errors. There are lots of typos. Some stats of monsters are incomplete. There
are errors in the table of contents. Some sections that should have been divided
with bold text are not, adding to the general confusion of the presentation.
In places, the writing is in obvious need of revision or editing. The book
is riddled with many types of small mistakes. Part of me enjoyed most of the
content and would give the book a rating of four hearts, part of me feels
that the clumsy presentation deserves two hearts. The three-heart rating is
an acceptable average because of these two considerations.
New Rules:
New feats: Animal Friend, Area of Expertise, Conceal Weapon, Contortionist,
Dragon Friend, Dragonsmith, Emissary, Fearless, Greedy Eyes, Grim Determination,
Hamstring, Invincible, Light Footed, Non-Threatening, Resourceful, Social
Scourge, Sunder Natural Weapon, Taunt.
New Prestige Classes: Air Lord, Dragon Slayer, Student of the Dragon, Wyrmfoe,
Wyrm Spawn, a Draconic version of each traditional PC class.
New Magic Items: Cloak of Dragon Fear, Cloak of the Wyrm, Dark Lantern, Dragon
Bone Flute, Dragon Bone Horn, Dragon Claw Gauntlets, Dragon Claws, Dragon
Tooth Choker, Dragonshadow Cloak, Dragontooth, Lens of Memory, Links of Loyalty,
Links of Trespass, Manacles of Hunger, Mercurian Weapons, Oil of Dragon's
Blood, Orb of Seeing, Potion of Draconic Might, Razorwire, Sphere of Caltrops,
Tent of Dragon Wings, Thunderbelcher, Tome of History, Vessel of Purest Essence,
Weapon of Accord, Well of Forgetting. Artifacts: The Crown of the Ivory Emperor,
Nemesis Blades.
New Spells: Become Dragon, Blessing of the Ages, Breath of the Great Wyrm,
Burden of the Father's Sins, Death Curse, Dragon Mark, Dragonshield, Drought
of Eternity's Well, Estivation, Find Lair, Greater Dragonshield, Hibernation,
Lesser Dragonshield, Lock Dragon, Magical Husbandry, Retain Natural Armor,
Retain Supernatural Powers, Scour the Earth, Secret of the Grave, Set Trap,
Shape of the True Soul, Sharing the Ancient Lore, Smother Magic, Soul of the
Slayer, Twist the Land, Wisdom of the Ivory Emperor.
New Aerial Combat Rules.
New Monsters: Dragon of Primal Air, Dragon of Primal Earth, Dragon of Elemental
Fire, Dragon of Elemental Water, Skeletal Dragon, Ghoul Dragon, Dragon Ghost,
Mummified Dragon, Vampiric Dragon, Dragon Golem, Carrion Dragon, Dragon of
Benevolent Wisdom, Dragon of Whispers, Dragon of Misrule, Coin Creature, Draconic
Stalker, Hoard Beetle, Hoard Sentinel.
