D&D (2024) Interested in new dragon designs for 5e (5.5e or 6e)?

[Yaarel]

Honestly i dont think the writers REALLY REALLY know what monotheism and animism are anyway. At least MOST of them. But thats because most people dont. When i dm 3rd i make a habit of ignoring what they say about auch systems of fait's classification along those lines.

Case in point, abrahamic faiths including christianity are less a form of monotheism and more or less kynotheism.

True and pure monotheism is actually kinda rare.

And most people dont have a clue about animism. Thats because it was almost all the way died out by the time complex writing was a thing and long died out before complex and info dense historical records were being taken down and preserved.

Henotheism? Some Abrahamic traditions seem henotheistic, especially in ancient times. But modern ones are mostly strictly monotheistic. Heh, at least Judaism and Islam are strictly monotheistic, but both of these have doubts about Christianity worshiping a human.



True about animism. Animism still exists today, but even some of these cultures are influenced by Christians and Muslims telling them that their nature spirits are ‘gods’.

 

[MechaTarrasque]

I am sure if there is a book with a bunch of weapons that specifically effect gods, "god" will become a tag, and Tiamat's stat block will be reprinted with the new tag (there is already precedent [demon lords] for changing an NPC's stat block from one book to another in 5e, and they have explained that the stat block in a book represents what they want from that creature for that book). Since there were no god-effecting magguffins in either book Tiamat has appeared in, there was no need for the tag.

I would be greatly surprised if there will be any new types, but new tags come fairly often.

 

[Son of the Serpent]

Henotheism? Some Abrahamic traditions seem henotheistic, especially in ancient times. But modern ones are mostly strictly monotheistic. Heh, at least Judaism and Islam are strictly monotheistic, but both of these have doubts about Christianity worshiping a human.



True about animism. Animism still exists today, but even some if these cultures are influenced by Christians and Muslims telling them that their nature spirits are ‘gods’.

Heh. That was one heck of a weird spellcheck-caused typo. Yes. Henotheism. Kyno? Dunno where that came from.

That said, no. They are indeed henotheistic. They are of the type of henotheism where there are multiple gods but one in particuoar that there is a contract with. They are also of the type where one god has sovereignty over the others. These religions essentially have many gods. They just happen to have an overdeity. But hes not exclusively the only god. Therefore henotheism is actually the correct classification. The exclusivity is not sifficiently total for a label of monotheism. That goes for islam too. The confusion comes in where entities may qualify as a "god" for all relevamt purposes to the definitions for classification of the faith but cultural preference simply dictates not using that word to apply to them.

"GOD" the title does not purge the presence of "gods" the taxonomically qualified being.

The christians the jews and the muslims are just intellectually incorrect about their own classifications do to cultural verbiage confusion them to the point of accidentilly applying it to academic classifications of their own religion.

 

[dave2008]

Actually, their multiple methods of coming into existence is exactly why I think of the ‘titan’ as a race. This kind of race simply doesnt reproduce in the same way that other races do.

I disagree, but to each his or her own. I

 

[MechaTarrasque]

I don't think many people realize the great benefit of Tiamat being a fiend: she can be a patron of warlocks. Warlock, a class that uses charisma, and what has good charisma scores? Dragons (some of whom have superhuman [over 20] charisma scores). Bring on the hellfire wyrms . You can probably add a lot of levels of warlock to an adult dragon without changing its CR.

 

[dave2008]

I am sure if there is a book with a bunch of weapons that specifically effect gods, "god" will become a tag, and Tiamat's stat block will be reprinted with the new tag (there is already precedent [demon lords] for changing an NPC's stat block from one book to another in 5e, and they have explained that the stat block in a book represents what they want from that creature for that book). Since there were no god-effecting magguffins in either book Tiamat has appeared in, there was no need for the tag.

I would be greatly surprised if there will be any new types, but new tags come fairly often.

Where was demon lord used as a tag? I checked MToF and all the demon lords there are still tags as "demons"

 

[dave2008]

But it seems the rules for type and tag are either confused or confusing.

Or they are fluid and up to the interpretation of the DM (which some of us like)

 

[dave2008]

My gaming style treats fluff as rules − especially with regard to narrative adjudication. So for me, it is an endless nightmare to deal with 5e rules that constantly inject unwanted narrative rules (≈fluff) even within the mechanics themselves.

That my friend is a problem of your own creation. I can't help you with that one.

If a lesser deity isnt even listed as a tag, such as the case for Timat, then it seems conflictive when the rules list the quasideity titan as a tag. For the sake of consistency and clarity, it seems better to either remove the ‘titan’ tag from all statblocks, or alternatively change ‘titan’ into a special type, like Dragon and Giant. Alternatively, add various kinds of tags for other divine ranks, but actually, I would rather remove all references to polytheism from the core rules anyway.

That is your issue. These are not rules, but guidelines at best. It take everything to much to heart - its not a healthy idea for a game like D&D and especially not with 5e. It is not a game of rules, but a game of guidelines.

However, i disagree with the idea that titan (as defined by 5e) should be a type. I think you logic is flawed on that issue. But we have gotten way of topic.

 

[dave2008]

Back on topic:
I think when I get some time and a bit of money I am going to commission an artist better than myself to update the chromatic dragons based my ideas in the OP. Then I will provided some updated stats too!

Any other suggestions for ideas regarding updated chromatic dragons?

 

[generic]

Back on topic:
I think when I get some time and a bit of money I am going to commission an artist better than myself to update the chromatic dragons based my ideas in the OP. Then I will provided some updated stats too!

Any other suggestions for ideas regarding updated chromatic dragons?

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned, but you could ask that the artist incorporate more 'elemental' motifs into the dragons.

Maybe Red Dragons have fire-like markings, or scales that look like flickering flames.

Alternatively, you could model dragons more exclusively on serpents than on feline animals, including lions. Why not feature a canine influence in dragons?

You could make dragons appear more canine/serpentine instead of feline/serpentine, or combine the features of a humanoid body with the dragon.