I'm vaguely aware of the existence of noble draconians, but I don't have the Bestiary. (That is the book in which they're detailed, right?) We're trying to design other types of draconians, based on different species of dragons, and I would appreciate any suggestions.
Er, a bit of background on the campaign might help, yes?
The PCs are time travelers from just before the start of the Chaos War. All are historians. One actually worked for Astinus, others are just history geeks. They were accidentally sent back in time to the War of the Lance, and became entangled in the war.
Unfortunately for them, every time they interfere with the correct timeline, as presented in the trilogy, Raistlin Majere has a sort of fit. He is aware that the timeline is going off-track, and that the PCs are responsible, and he does not like us. The DM has introduced sanity checks (Like Call of Cthulhu? They're detailed in Unearthed Arcana.), and the PCs and Raist all lose sanity when they alter the timeline.
By this point, the bard, cleric, druid, and wizard are all quite insane. We think that, among the four of them, they should be able to create new draconians, as a sort of shock troop/canon fodder for Knights of Solamnia with whom they are working. They're all too crazy to realize just what a bad idea this is.
What time period do they originally come from?
We're all going to die, but it's fun for now.
First, realize that draconians are created under the auspice of a god with an alignment directly opposed to that of the dragon in question. Hence, violating the eggs of good dragons gives you evil draconians, while noble draconians are created from evil dragons.
Since gem dragons have a neutral aspect (CN, N, or LN), and you're probably not going to get any help from Gilean (unless you can somehow convince him that it's vital to preserving the balance of Krynn), I would get an arcane spellcaster on the project, if you have or can find one of sufficient power and insanity.
As for the draconians themselves, just remember these guidelines: First, the more powerful the dragon, the fewer draconians will be produced from a single egg (hence, gold eggs produce only one, while bronze eggs will give as many as, I think, ten. Second, gem dragons have no actual spellcasting ability, but they are powerfully psionic (something that apparently has been lost to Krynn.) Keep that in mind when determining your creation's special powers, but also remember that draconians are in no way as powerful as the dragons who spawned them.
You've already shattered canon; go nuts!
Right now, I think we're working under the assumption that CN dragons make LN draconians and vice versa. When creating draconians from True Neutral dragons, you roll on the little table to decide the individual draconian's alignment.
Please, please, PLEASE let me know how this works out for you!
First, realize that draconians are created under the auspice of a god with an alignment directly opposed to that of the dragon in question. Hence, violating the eggs of good dragons gives you evil draconians, while noble draconians are created from evil dragons.
Since gem dragons have a neutral aspect (CN, N, or LN), and you're probably not going to get any help from Gilean (unless you can somehow convince him that it's vital to preserving the balance of Krynn), I would get an arcane spellcaster on the project, if you have or can find one of sufficient power and insanity.
I'd like to take these basic thoughts as a starting point. If the PCs came from the time just before the Chaos War, perhaps they have a bit of Chaos with them? Perhaps, with that link, the god who'll help them is Chaos?
Now, since draconians so far tend to have a moral alignment opposite of their dragon parents, and since gem dragons are neutral (and, we can assume, dedicated to balance), then perhaps these gem draconians can be dedicated to overthrowing the balance. Not for Good, not for Evil, but for Chaos (which fits well, if Chaos helped create them).
Just some thoughts. Given what you'd described about the campaign so far, I think a Chaos link might fit. But you and your group are the ultimate judges of that.
How would you deal with them being psionic?
That is not a bad idea.
How would you deal with them being psionic?
Thanks.
I'd just give them regular sorcery and not bother with the psionics thing. I love 3.5 psionics, but this isn't the place for them.
Thanks.
I'd just give them regular sorcery and not bother with the psionics thing. I love 3.5 psionics, but this isn't the place for them.
that's the easy option (and makes sense too)
but if you were considering using psionics ... just throw in some bonus PSPs and give them the psionic subtype (or I am stuck in 3.0?) so they can qualify for psionic feats.
make it the same for all of the draconians (+3 PSPs).
Crystal and Sapphire could be your 2HD variety ... crystal die by crystallizing then exploding (like frost/bozak) ... sapphire's death throes are a 10' sonic burst
Amethyst and Emerald are 4HD ... good luck on death throes (in general most seem to explode ... seems like a good idea with the psionic dragons)
Topaz gets to be the 6HD ... of course this leaves out making a higher lvl 8HD like the flame and auraks, but ... hey these guys are not the traditional 10 dragons we grew up with
I thought amethyst dragons were the reds and golds of the gem dragons.
not quite, the topaz is really the top dog of gem dragons
And caeruleus, are you using the mixed of spell-like and psionic abilities in MM2? Coz I made them fully psionic; but also looked for arcane equivalents of those (like earthbolt for stomp).
And caeruleus, are you using the mixed of spell-like and psionic abilities in MM2? Coz I made them fully psionic; but also looked for arcane equivalents of those (like earthbolt for stomp).
I'm not actually using gem dragons at all. I was just offering suggestions to the OP.
Yes, but the alien dragons are bigger than Krynnish dragons.
Unless you decide they're alien dragons from a different world than the overlords, and that they end up forming an alliance with the Neutral gods after their arrival. Certainly not canon, but a good DM can spin a plausible enough story for their own campaign.
Yes, but the alien dragons are bigger than Krynnish dragons.
Incorrect. As put forth by MW & TH, the reason for the "alien" dragons being larger than Krynn's native dragons is that they absorb the essense of other dragons, which increases their size. They are not inheirently any larger than normal dragons. On their homeworld the normal-sized dragons were hunted down as food and skulls for the larger dragons. It's dragon eat dragon world there. The only way to survive was by using skull totems and draconic vampirism and making victims of the others dragons. That was why Malys and Skie fled that world.
Whatever was wrote might also refer to the first time for fresh or new meat (namely Krynn dragons). BUt tell me the novel and I will see what I can figure.
I tinkered with the idea of Gem Draconians and Draconian Hybrids for awhile but its on the back burner for now.;)
Canon was made to be broken.:P
I'd be very interested to see the played-out impact that Gem Dragons have on a diametrically divided setting like Krynn.
One has to surmise that Gem Dragons would be a force for Order (or Chaotic) Neutrality, for the most part keeping things in line, like the role of the Rilmani in the Planescape Campaign Setting.
So Draconians being created by a diametrically opposed force to this Agenda would probably have to come from Father Chaos.
They would make EXCELLENT shock-troops to add to his forces in the Chaos War, and this explanation allows for a certain degree of logical consistency with the method and spirit of Draconian Creation and the Gem Dragons' role in your campaign.
Each has
2 varieties at 2HD (+1-2 LA)
1 4HD variety (+3 LA)
1 6HD variety (+4-5 LA)
1 8HD variety (+3-4 LA)
In addition to the Standard draconian traits.
Claw and bite attacks
So that seems to be the first step, assigning a variety of gem dragon to each HD slot
easy enough
Crystal is the lowest CR so it gets the first 2HD slot preferably with a +1 LA
Emerald and Sapphire are about even, but emerald reachs its final size earlier so lets give Sapphire the 2hd/2la slot
Emerald gets the 4hd/3la slot
Again the Crs on the last 2 are tied, but the Topaz gets bigger
so Amethyst gets the 6hd slot
and the Topaz gets the 8hd Slot
Ok the next thing to consider is style, the basic draconians had special attacks based on gender/military purpose
the abilties of the noble draconians are primarily based off the energy affinity of their ancestors
So ask: How tightly are their abilities tied to their draconic ancestors? Is gender a factor? one possibilty would be to tie their special abilities to their draconic ancestors favored discipline (note this is not necesarrily making them psionic I'm going to leave that for now) So the topaz has psychometabolism, therefore the draconian breed based off them should have some sort of ability based on modifying their own bodies, ect.
Ok next is how to deal with psionics, either A) include the normal 3.5 rules and let people go crazy, B) limit psionics to the gem dragons and their minions/associates/related beasties, C) ignore them, D) draw inspiration from psionics when developing the abilities but avoid using actual psionic rules
hope this helps