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

[FitzTheRuke]

When DMing, I'm going to use whatever image I can find of a ___ dragon that suits me in the moment. Maybe I'll tinker with the statblock and powers. So, I'm happy to let artists design whatever they want and fill a book with their cool art.

One of the things that I've been enjoying in current art choices across a lot of media is the decision to use a mix of old and new designs. For example, in Star Trek Picard, they had a crowd of Romulans, and they used make-up jobs that looked like Romulans from NextGen, ones from the Kelvin Movies, and some newer designs (including more non-white actors playing them).

I feel like the same should be done with D&D. Tieflings are a good example. 4e had a very specific design for Tieflings with large "fat" tails and a specific horn design. Can your Tiefling look like that? Sure. But they can also have short, thin devil tails, horns that face different directions, different skin colors (literally any color at all), etc. Do Dragonborn have tails? If you want yours to!

Any art goes, IMO.

 

[Bitbrain]

I like all of them except the green dragon, something about that one just doesn’t work for me.

Not sure what up with the Black’s wings either, but the rest of it looks cool. I actually like the greenish tint to its wings and dorsal spines quite a bit.

Red has the nice classic look. No need to mess with perfection, there.

White has a really cool “natural armor” aesthetic going on in my opinion.

Blue has a somewhat… alien appearance to be honest. It’s definitely the most visually distinctive and looks so much better than it did in 2014 monster manual version.

 

[TwoSix]

How does that help with the inability to reach the vital organs as the creature’s hide is as thick as your sharp magic stick is long?

Why, to kill such a thing would require even a regular man to be.....supernatural.

 

[Corinnguard]

Why, to kill such a thing would require even a regular man to be.....supernatural.

Or to be like Batman who has taken on and beaten foes much more powerful than him.

 

[Clint_L]

One of the things that I've been enjoying in current art choices across a lot of media is the decision to use a mix of old and new designs. For example, in Star Trek Picard, they had a crowd of Romulans, and they used make-up jobs that looked like Romulans from NextGen, ones from the Kelvin Movies, and some newer designs (including more non-white actors playing them).

I feel like the same should be done with D&D. Tieflings are a good example. 4e had a very specific design for Tieflings with large "fat" tails and a specific horn design. Can your Tiefling look like that? Sure. But they can also have short, thin devil tails, horns that face different directions, different skin colors (literally any color at all), etc. Do Dragonborn have tails? If you want yours to!

Any art goes, IMO.

Yeah, I feel the same way. Variety is the spice of life. Anyway, the dragons in my campaign look like whatever miniature I am currently jonesing to use. So if that makes the villain a gold dragon, that's just how it is.

On an aesthetic level, I prefer my dragons to look reptilian. The one from the new PHB art looks too much like a lion for my taste. It's not a miniature I would buy.

 

[Clint_L]

Why, to kill such a thing would require even a regular man to be.....supernatural.

That's true. I've never seen a film, read a book or comic, or played a game that had non-supernatural characters fighting dragons.

I mean, except most of them.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

Why, to kill such a thing would require even a regular man to be.....supernatural.

Certainly. I’d still like to be able to visualise how it happens.

 

[Reynard]

But you still need to represent it on the map somehow.


How does that help with the inability to reach the vital organs as the creature’s hide is as thick as your sharp magic stick is long?

I gather from your responses that something like "realism" is important to you. it is not to me. If it were, I wouldn't be advocating city sized dragons for the PCs to fight.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

I gather from your responses that something like "realism" is important to you. it is not to me. If it were, I wouldn't be advocating city sized dragons for the PCs to fight.

Not really. But see my post above yours.

 

[Zaukrie]

One of the things that I've been enjoying in current art choices across a lot of media is the decision to use a mix of old and new designs. For example, in Star Trek Picard, they had a crowd of Romulans, and they used make-up jobs that looked like Romulans from NextGen, ones from the Kelvin Movies, and some newer designs (including more non-white actors playing them).

I feel like the same should be done with D&D. Tieflings are a good example. 4e had a very specific design for Tieflings with large "fat" tails and a specific horn design. Can your Tiefling look like that? Sure. But they can also have short, thin devil tails, horns that face different directions, different skin colors (literally any color at all), etc. Do Dragonborn have tails? If you want yours to!

Any art goes, IMO.

This! Not everyone looks the same, nor should a dragon, IMO.