How long do they live?
Should they have age catagories? How many feet / lbs per hit die over base hit die do they get?
Should they get any other of the abilities afforded to true dragons (Blindsense, Frightful Presence, Keen Sense.)
Shouldn't they have at least a little SR / PR?
The Draconomicon has rules for advancing Dragons. YOu could adapt them for a Drake since as written they don't have age categories.
I have a few questions about Drakes:
How long do they live?
They are probably immortal.
Should they have age catagories? How many feet / lbs per hit die over base hit die do they get?
No they don't have a regular lifecycle of birth and growth, but are rather creatures that have been spawned form the elemental planes.
Should they get any other of the abilities afforded to true dragons (Blindsense, Frightful Presence, Keen Sense.)
If you want, but I don't see why they would. You might give them sensory advantages based on their elemental association. An Earth/Magma Drake for instance could have Tremor Sense.
Shouldn't they have at least a little SR / PR?
I don't think it would hurt to give them SR or PR, but I'm not sure why they should have it.
No they don't have a regular lifecycle of birth and growth, but are rather creatures that have been spawned form the elemental planes.
Drakes mate when the urge strikes them and swiftly separate after pairing. No more than two eggs are laid, hatching after six months, and the resulting drakelings are almost always hungry and need constant care. Young drakes grow from two to twenty feet in the first year, then five feet each year thereafter until they reach full size for their species.
So they are big, dumb, lizard shaped semi-elementals that lay eggs & never die of natural causes? They don't get any elemental immunities & they don't get any Dragon abilities other than decent HD, AB & Immunity to Sleep & Paralyzation. If they didn't have tons of HP & Swallow Whole they wouldn't have anything at all going for them. I mentioned the PR/SR because their saves are so low.
So they are big, dumb, lizard shaped semi-elementals that lay eggs & never die of natural causes? They don't get any elemental immunities & they don't get any Dragon abilities other than decent HD, AB & Immunity to Sleep & Paralyzation. If they didn't have tons of HP & Swallow Whole they wouldn't have anything at all going for them. I mentioned the PR/SR because their saves are so low.
Yep thats more or less it except I don't know if they're immortal.
Yep thats more or less it except I don't know if they're immortal.
From Terrors of the Desert, Drake entry,
...on rare occasions drakes do succumb to old age or illness and pass on. No one knows how long a drake lives...
Also, according to the original entries, they don't have any special resistances except their innate psionics. They have no magic resistance or any noticeable elemental resistances, other than the psionic devotion body control, which seems to basically be endure elements.
So I'm reading thru & I get down to the Drake Guardian PrC. WTF? Drakes are getting a bit too much love me thinks. I'm not even sure most drakes would be intelligent enough to grant powers like these guys are getting. I mean the Sun Drake is the braniac of the bunch with a whopping 13 INT, the rest are either a 10 (Rain) or much much lower. I realize that this PrC is supposed to be the Athasian analog of a Dragon Disciple, but the class description makes drakes sound more like a True Dragon than a big dumb elemental lizard.
p.s. There are a few spelling & grammar mistakes in the Elite Judaga description. Do you guys need a proofreader?
I realize that this PrC is supposed to be the Athasian analog of a Dragon Disciple, but the class description makes drakes sound more like a True Dragon than a big dumb elemental lizard.
I felt my Dragon Brood PrC better filled the Dragon Disciple niche, but hey, thats a biased opinion. ;)
I'm not even sure most drakes would be intelligent enough to grant powers like these guys are getting.
Wait until you see the true drakes in Legends of Athas... :D
p.s. There are a few spelling & grammar mistakes in the Elite Judga description. Do you guys need a proofreader?
Always.
To take this idea fruther, perhaps a coven of druids who offened a Spirit of the Land who cursed them to become the first drakes.
An interesting twist to drakes would be that they were originally intelligent beings but something in their past caused them to deteriorate into a bestial state.
To take this idea fruther, perhaps a coven of druids who offened a Spirit of the Land who cursed them to become the first drakes.
It's possible that the current state of environmental ruin that the planet is in is the reason why drakes are so dumb. It's could be an issue of spiritual malnutrition.
It's possible that the current state of environmental ruin that the planet is in is the reason why drakes are so dumb. It's could be an issue of spiritual malnutrition.
I had originally thought the same thing, but how would that explain paraelemental drakes? You would think that sun and silt drakes would be geniuses if this were the case.
I had originally thought the same thing, but how would that explain paraelemental drakes? You would think that sun and silt drakes would be geniuses if this were the case.
hmmm... well, with the Paraelementals it's always been about quantity over quality. :invasion:
I had originally thought the same thing, but how would that explain paraelemental drakes? You would think that sun and silt drakes would be geniuses if this were the case.
Well, sun & rain drakes are the most intelligent...
Well, sun & rain drakes are the most intelligent...
Only marginally.
There's commentary in one of the other elemental-based creature descriptions (elemental beasts, maybe?) about how being stuck away from their native plane was extremely painful and caused them to lash out at things around them (or something to that effect). So, perhaps, "dumbing down" has been an evolutionary change that drake-kind was forced to make in order to better handle existence on Athas. Might also explain why they don't have elemental immunities and such - those that became stuck on Athas and propogated had to "outgrow" these aspects in order to become native as it were.
Well, the fire & magma drakes do still have elemental immunities.
Well, the fire & magma drakes do still have elemental immunities.
...maybe because if they didn't, their native (Athasian) environments could/would kill them? :P