Monday Monster: Converting Dragons From D&D.

It’s all about the breath weapons, baby.

I want to talk about bringing dragons over from the world’s most well-known fantasy TableTop RolePlaying Game: Dungeons & Dragons 5E. This is by no means a comprehensive guide. I would recommend taking each individual dragon on a case-by-case basis. Maybe do the stat block for each named dragon individually as opposed to just a generic chartreuse, plaid, purple, or orange dragon. (I’ve never been a big fan of the color by number dragons.)

Obviously we can skip right past the Red dragon given that Dragonbane dragons hoot fire by default. That just leaves Tiamat’s other four heads. I’m a huge fan of the D&D cartoon, so be prepared for references to that particular version of the Mesopotamian goddess. Mythological Tiamat Wiki.

Black Dragons are one of my favorite types, mostly because of their frightening appearance. Their breath weapon is a line of acid that can extend up to 30 meters by 2 meters wide. Anything in that area takes 3d10 acid damage. Armor has no effect. I keep going back and forth on whether or not it should inflict the same amount of damage on drawn weapons and worn armor. It seems a bit cruel, but then again we are talking about a dragon.  

Let’s move onto the Blue Dragon. It fires a Line of Lightning that extends 30 meters forward and striking the first target in line for 3d10 electrical damage. Armor has no effect.
In my version of this weapon any target within 4 meters of the original target is struck for 2d10 electrical damage and any target within 2 meters of them is struck for 1d10 electrical damage. Armor has no effect. All targets may attempt to EVADE, but not Parry.

Then there are Green Dragons. Personally, I’m not as keen on their breath weapon, but it would appear as a cloud of toxic gas 10 meters by 10 meters up to 10 meters away from the dragon. Anyone in the cloud takes 3d10 damage. Anyone on the outer edge of the cloud may EVADE to get out of the cloud. Any character doing so would be placed on the outside space of the cloud. The cloud lingers for 1d6 rounds unless it is dissipated by strong winds.

Debatably, one could just change the Green Dragon’s breath weapon damage to a Potency 14 Lethal Poison with a Bane on the roll. I’m not sure which sounds better.

Last we have the White Dragon, which will always have a place in my heart for being one of the more difficult encounters in D&D. The cone of cold that is this dragon’s breath weapon is the same as the regular dragon fire except it does cold damage, nothing is set on fire, and those affected have a Bane on all STR or AGL checks until a Stretch Rest can be completed. Evade puts victims on the edge of the cone, Can’t be Parried and Armor has no effect on the damage.

Next time we’ll maybe talk about Metallic and/or Gem Dragons.

No dragons were harmed in the making of this article.