Deserving of their own century of entries (after this table), these marvelous Monsters hold pride of place in the very triumvirate title of the game (sharing it with Dungeons and the dreadful Ampersands). In addition to their often quite generous hoards, it seems that players always seem to gravitate towards eking every potential use out of their remains. Perhaps it’s their Inherently Magical Nature that inspires this, or mythological traditions such as Sigurd inadvertently gaining the Language of Birds whilst roasting Fafnir’s Heart in the Völsunga saga. Whatever the underlying reason, in addition to stuffing their empty sacks with all that glitters, I’m often ghoulishly quizzed on “What parts can we use, and what can they be used for?”
Naturally, not every Dragon is anatomically identical, so some of these bits may not be present. If in doubt, I’d leave it largely up to chance really (perhaps roll within 20 on a d100?). There is also always the possibility that crucial portions may have been damaged or destroyed during the battle, because players are not wont to specify that they are pulling particular punches, but should they have this foresight, I’d generously increase the chances. If amounts are called into question for the pieces that aren’t inherently singular, then I tend to lean on the Dragon’s HD as a decent gauge for this.
Even after gentle admonitions concerning how painstakingly slow this process might be (be sure to keep those Random Encounter dice handy and track other Resources as well) attempts at dressing their prize will often still commence.
Most of these entries are intrinsically tied to Magic Item Manufacture, which is how I’ve generally handled them (defraying a percentage of Cost or reducing Time), but a few are quite powerful single-use rewards indeed if directly consumed. Not all of these uses may be Common Knowledge to the average Adventurer (seek Sages or other Answers, knowledge is power in these games after all). If the risk associated with the battle wasn’t sufficiently steep enough for your tastes, I suppose one could always require a Saving Throw of some sort for those who deign to dine on Dragons. I do find that rather than outright death, inverting the boon is sometimes almost more attractive, but of course there’s also always my Terrible Toxins & Vile Venoms table for just such an occasion.
The art is totally awesome!! Who did it?
ReplyDeletePlus, the 100 lists are definitely grist for the imagination mill. Thanks!