D&D (2024) What do people think of the new dragon designs?

So the titular monsters of Dungeons and Dragons are getting a full visual redesign! The dragons have had a consistent design since 3rd edition, so I was pretty shocked when I heard that they were being redone. However when I saw them I instantly loved them. More than ever before they feel like real flesh and blood monsters, and the design both resembles their previous iteration, while being a lot more distinctive than before.

I'm still hoping that their statblocks get redone to be worthy of both the namesake of DnD, and one of the most commonly used BBEGs in peoples campaigns. 'Big blob of health which occasionally does fire damage' isn't exactly a memorable encounter.

What do people think of the new designs?

Edit: Attached the gold dragon design.
 

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Yaarel

🇮🇱He-Mage
I like em.

For me, the most important part of a "dragon" is the fact that it is a serpent. It is literally a species of snake.

The tails look sufficiently serpentine to me. Even the body area is undular.
 


I like em.

For me, the most important part of a "dragon" is the fact that it is a serpent. It is literally a species of snake.

The tails look sufficiently serpentine to me. Even the body area is undular.
I've always been torn on what dragons should be most based off. I've seen arguments for snakes, lizards, dinosaurs, birds, cats, and even dogs.

But I feel that monitor lizards come closest to the 'traditional western' dragon depiction. Though they're not technically snakes, they're grouped pretty closely together, and have many snake-like traits.
 



Ringtail

World Traveller (She/Her)
My favorite thing about the old designs was that each type of dragon had a consistent look. All red dragons had the same horn shape, etc. etc.

So as long as they keep that (which they appear to be doing, why else would you need a ref sheet for a dragon?) I'm cool with it.

Also these designs look good. Sufficiently dragon-like. Pretty beefy. No complaints.
 

Yaarel

🇮🇱He-Mage
I've always been torn on what dragons should be most based off. I've seen arguments for snakes, lizards, dinosaurs, birds, cats, and even dogs.

But I feel that monitor lizards come closest to the 'traditional western' dragon depiction. Though they're not technically snakes, they're grouped pretty closely together, and have many snake-like traits.
When you look at reallife medieval bestiaries − the dragon is precisely a kind of snake. The concept evolved from ignorance about the Greek descriptions about the african rock python. The artists didnt know exactly what to depict.

The Norse version of the dragon, the dreki, is unambiguously a snake, as can be seen in the runic rock carvings. These are born as normal european adders, soon sprout horns, then as adolescents shed their skin and form forearms. There are rare examples of ancient dragons sprouting wings.

It is a snake.

The classic dragon (and the Norse one) is a blend of snake, with lion and eagle features.

But the British dragon looks more like a blend of snake, with wolf and bat features.
 


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