D&D 5E dragon voices

[pukunui]

Hi all,

I'm sure most of us have seen the recent Hobbit movies and thus know what Smaug's voice sounds like*. For me, his voice works great as the voice of a red dragon. But I can't see the other dragons having the same kind of voice.

So I'm curious: How have you guys voiced the various types of dragons when they've appeared in your games? What do your black dragons sound like? Your green and white dragons? Your copper dragons? And so on!

Thanks in advance!




*In case you don't, click here.

 

[Lanliss]

Have not had any dragons yet, but I imagine they would be fairly unique, and probably based on how they look. A decent sized bronze would probably sound similar to Treebeard from LotR, while a slim green would have a lighter whispery voice, with a somewhat sinister tint to it if it is dedicated to evil. As a general rule, they would have appropriately sized voices, mostly large and loud. The green would probably be heard as whispers darting around, but sound much more solid when face-to-face with her. Any good ones would sound friendly and curious, unless provoked.

 

[cmad1977]

Given limited experience I would say...

The more bestial dragons(white/black/green?) I go with gravelly animal like voices.

Red/blue: I'd go with regal malevolence/vanity.

Silver/gold: softer yet authoritative.

Bronze: Sean Connery maybe?

Brass: youthful, relatively child like.

Copper: jovial joker

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

I don't base my voice choices for dragons on their color so much as on their personality, which while related to their color is not always entirely defined by it.

As such the Smaug-style voice fits not just red dragons, but any dragon that is very haughty and irritable.

I use a voice with a hint of a hiss to it for dragons with a more cold, calculating and manipulative sorts.

Some dragons which are very arrogant but not actually disdainful towards those they feel their lessers I give a voice somewhat like Hugo Weaving as agent Smith in the Matrix.

Benevolent dragons get something more like Sean Connery (in no small part because of Dragonheart), while the downright playful dragons get my own heavily sarcastic and irreverent tone of everyday voice.

 

[The Grassy Gnoll]

This is...hard to answer in text format.

I've voiced Venomfang so far, and while he was a young dragon, he's still a dragon and the scariest thing the party had met by some distance. I gave him a deep voice, well-spoken, probably misjudged it a bit. But I wanted him to be a dragon first and a young dragon second.

If I had another one show up now, I'd be inclined to adopt a similar approach but yeah, giving a white dragon a Scandinavian or Canadian twang to differentiate it from an Arabian accented red just wouldn't cut it. I kinda figure dragons transcend accents somehow. Which means it's trying to make them sound older without resorting to TMNT for young and doddery old git for ancient. More gravelly the older they get? I

If you had to grab a famous person what would you say? Eg would Morgan Freeman be Gold or White? Jeremy Irons Black or Red?
(Bear in mind I'm British so a lot of US celeb names mean nada to me)

 

[Illithidbix]

Green Dragons (at least since the 4E embracing of them as Cyan Bloodbane) should sound like Jafar as he's turning into a snake.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Generally fairly deep voices. Female or Male.

 

[MechaPilot]

Given the size of dragons, I'd definitely say deep voices for all of them; with the younger ones maybe being less deep.

 

[pukunui]

All right, so deep voices seems to be common.

White dragons are generally considered dumb. Would you consider giving them a hillbilly-ish voice? Or just having them frequently mispronounce words and/or use malapropisms and the like?

Green dragons are sly and manipulative. They're the Petyr Baelishes of the dragon world. Would you give yours a husky sort of voice? Like someone with a deep voice trying to whisper?

I can see silver dragons adopting local parlance in order to better fit in with their humanoid friends.

Any other ideas?

 

[Unwise]

IMC all metallic dragons are from asian cultures, hence those cultures venerate dragon-emperors and their like, rather than fear and loath them. So they tend to have asian accents, ranging from the hyperactive schoolboy copper dragon, to the confucious-sounding golden politicians or old-man-on-the-mountain sounding mithrels.