D&D 5E Dragon Lairs and Lair Actions

[Gilladian]

So, a young dragon - say a green one, just for convenience... moves into a new lair somewhere. How long does he have to be there before the "lair action" abilities activate, for lack of a better term? How long before the perpetual fog sets in? or the winding pathways flanked by moss-covered trees form a maze? One day? One week? A year?

And how would you decide how LARGE an area to fall under the dragon's sway? For said Young dragon, would it be a half mile around his/her lair? A few miles? As far as he could fly in a day? And if a dragon "moves on", how long before the lair effects fade? Or if the dragon is killed? Same timespan? or less?

Also, it seems just a tiny bit odd to me that a wyrmling and an adult dragon would have exactly the same "lair actions" with the same size effects, etc... but unlike legendary effects, which are defined by age category, lair actions seem to be the same for all ages. How would you approach this? Is it something I should look at modifying, or am I being too compulsive here?

I know these are all things that the DM should get to decide, but before I make my decisions, I'd love to hear other people's views.

 

[The_Gneech]

Well,

Spoiler

the young green dragon in Phandelver

has no lair effects listed, but has only recently moved into the area. However, as I mentioned in another thread, I rather assumed that all the

Spoiler

twig blights all over town

were intended to be a sort of lair effect from its presence starting to manifest itself.

Several of the regional effects in the MM have text indicating how long it takes them to dissipate, so presumably it takes some time for them to build up, too.

Still, these effects are legendary for a reason, and so I would say they are widely variable from individual to individual. Any creature epic enough to have lair effects should probably be a named monster with a history and an agenda, and as such, have a unique story. To that end, it can take "as long as the DM feels is appropriate." You might be able to use it as a story element... people are starting to notice all the dead fish floating in Lake Quagmire... what do you suppose is happening over there...?

-The Gneech

 

[the Jester]

I was unclear about the intersection of lair actions and legendary vs. nonlegendary creatures and I looked in the beginning of the Monster Manual.

I found this on the bottom of page 11:

A Legendary Creature's Lair: A legendary creature might have a section describing its lair and the special effects it can create while there, either by an act of will or simply by being present. Not all legendary creatures have lairs. This section only applies to legendary creatures that spend a great deal of time in their lairs and are most likely to be encountered there.

So it looks to me like non-legendary dragons don't get lair actions (or, reading on, regional effects).

 

[ephemeron]

And how would you decide how LARGE an area to fall under the dragon's sway? For said Young dragon, would it be a half mile around his/her lair? A few miles? As far as he could fly in a day?

I'm not entirely sure what you're asking -- the regional effect descriptions include the area they cover, so do you mean the size of the region the dragon is the major power in?

If that's it, I'd have it vary from dragon to dragon. For a white dragon, a hunting ground consisting of everything within a day's flight or so seems plausible; a silver might be the guiding hand behind a humanoid community or knightly order.

As for the time questions, I'd rule that if a dragon abandons its lair, regional effects end in the area around the old lair just like they would have if the dragon had died. At the new lair, I'd have them start just in the lair itself and gradually expand to the radius specified in the MM... at the speed of plot.

Oh, and I could see scaling the size of regional effects by age class -- pick an age category to be the "standard" used in the descriptions and adjust up or down from there.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Length of time for area to become a lair, I would say a month. It is a good rule of thumb and establishes the dragon in the area, I would then stagger the Lair actions over that period, the next month you have the Grasping roots, the month after; the wall of tangled brush, the next month; the fog. So, over a four month period to build the lair.

Size of lair: that is harder but I would be looking at something like CON rating or Hit Dice and say size of the lair equal that. For example a Young Green Dragon has CON of 17, I would put that as a lair of 1.7 square mile. An adult has a CON of 21, 2.1 square mile lair, ancient, 2.5 square mile. Of course, you could adjust as you see fit and best works for your game. This then places Regional Effects out to 3 miles from the center of the lair.

Hunting Range, is half the distance in flight from the lair. Meaning, the dragon can always be back to the lair in 4 hours.

What happens after the dragon is gone? I would say very little, the land has been magically changed and I would keep the area as is for a good period of time.

 

[pedro2112]

As far as how long, I would probably want the dragon to be there for a time that would make sense that the lair actions would develop.

As far as the area, I would probably make it an area that would be reasonable for a dragon of a particular size to hold sway over.

 

[Mistwell]

For ease of play (which, lets face it, is a lot of what 5e is about) I would make it one hex. So, whatever region a hex represents in your game (which I think is 6 miles?)

 

[MonsterEnvy]

It already says the area it covers and Young dragons don't get lair powers and regonal effects anyway.

 

[Uchawi]

Any sane dragon would have multiple lairs prepared, as it is too much of an advantage should they be chased out of the current one. It is like a vampire with multiple coffins.

 

[Hand of Evil]

It already says the area it covers and Young dragons don't get lair powers and regonal effects anyway.

I don't think it says the size of the lair, will check my MM when I can, it does state the distance from the lair that regional effects start happen.

As far as Young dragons and lair powers go, it is an age thing, there has to be an overlap period, not a child but just not an adult. Going off to Dragon college, experimenting with things, over doing others, running off with a princess/prince, getting own place, trying save some gold. They are rough times but fun times too.