Behold, the great beings that are dragons. Powerful, beautiful, and dangerous, they come in many shapes, sizes, and colors. They are one of the most iconic parts of the game - it is calledDungeons & Dragons,after all - and their presence alone can excite and scare the players and for good reason.
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So, how do you add such creatures to your game? Is it okay to add them early, or should you wait for the party to reach higher levels? Well, there are many ways to add, both as friends or enemies, and they can easily drive whole story arcs for your campaign.
5The Types Of Dragons
Dragons, in official D&D lore, are divided into many categories. Whenever you wish to use one of them, the three main concerns are their type, age, and color.
Their age will decide their CR - a low-level party can fight a baby dragon and win, while Ancient Dragons are best suited for high-level parties. Their color will decide their basic element and resistance. Still, in terms of roleplaying, their type is the crucial part.
Chromatic Dragonsare the spawns of Tiamat, and their alignment is evil. They’re described as greedy and arrogant creatures, and they won’t mind destroying everything in their way to get what they want, making them perfect enemies and even BBEGs themselves.
Metallic Dragonsare followers of Bahamut, and their alignment is good. They also create hoards, but they don’t necessarily need to be gold, and they usually search for forgotten items of their interest to add to their hoards instead of taking things by force. They could be potential allies.
Gem Dragonsare descendants of Sardior, and their alignment is neutral. Some are nicer than others, and their stories tend to mess with the Multiverse.
Lastly, you haveShadow Dragons,who are dragons born in the Shadowfell or Dragons who spent too much time there. you may create one by getting a Dragon stat block and making the changes pointed out in the Monster Manual.
Of course, as it is your world, nothing stops you from changing details here. A good chromatic Dragon could be an exciting plot twist, as well as an evil or misguided metallic Dragon who collects weird things - maybe they’re kidnapping people they find worthy of saving to keep them as their hoard.
Either way, there are many possibilities for how to use them.
4Dragons As Key Figures
Though only Metallic Dragons are said to have the power to turn humanoid, this is a common feature to add to any adult or ancient Dragon, and it’s something you have control over regardless of being the DM. Besides, giving them the power to shape-shift allows them to be a lot more covert in their movement and schemes.
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A Red Dragon who wishes to increase their hoard could be a tyrant King who demands absurd taxes from their people, for example. They get what they want without the need to do something about it, and you can have a fun plot twist of the evil King turning into a Dragon.
Remember, a key feature of Dragons is that they are highly intelligent creatures, so making them the big bad is more than a rampaging monster. Feel free to give them complex goals of large scale, such as conquering, reshaping the world, destroying everything and starting anew, or simply making ‘lesser’ beings - aka everyone who isn’t them - fight in wars for their entertainment.
3A Dragon’s Lair And Hoard
An essential part of all Dragons is their greed and, thus, their hoards. It can be many different collections, but you need to think of what they collect and where they store all of that. The evil King example could have the castle as a Lair since it would make sense to keep things there.
Still, Dragons are typically described as living in isolated places, with caves in very difficult-to-reach areas functioning as their lairs. Because of that, defeating a Dragon usually means you’ll become extremely wealthy, making a good motivation for the campaign, or the hoard may containa special MacGuffinthat the party needs to continue their quest.
They could even opt to negotiate said item with the Dragon, having to pay for it, for example. Or they could sneak in and get out without the Dragon noticing.
As for metallic Dragons, you could get more creative. A metallic Dragon’s hoard could be the world’s most extensive library, for instance, as each book is part of their hoard, and the players could need one of the books to continue and trade it with the knowledge they possess or convince the Dragon that it’s for the greater good.
Essentially, the item you choose for the hoard can be connected to the plot, and the lair can either be a pleasant location or a deadly place filled with traps - the Manual also shares many tips on building each lair based on the Dragon’s type and color.
2Dragons As Enemies
This was briefly mentioned already, and, to be fair, it’s pretty easy to have them as enemies. Besides the previous examples of a tyrant in disguise and the classic tale of fighting a Dragon to take their gold, you can have them kidnap a person of interest - or an NPC the party cares about.
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You could also have them wreaking havoc for no reason, and the affected cities desperately need someone to take them down - The NPCs don’t even need to pay the group; just tell them, “You kill it, you keep what they have.” It’s a win-win situation.
You also have the aforementioned example of Dragons with more catastrophic goals, such as taking or destroying everything. There are little goals as intense as saving the world itself from annihilation.
1Dragons As Allies
Having them as allies can be a bit trickier. Sure, there are plenty of Dragons with good alignment, and you could have them with hoards of knowledge, magical items, or scrolls they may be willing to trade with the party, but there’s an important detail here; they can’t be too good, or the party’s goal can’t be something as imperative as saving the world.
Let’s face it, if the world is in danger and the party knows a good Ancient Dragon, why aren’t they recruiting said Dragon to fight alongside them, and why wouldn’t the Dragon say, ‘Of course, I’ll help?’
It’s crucial to think of why the Dragon won’t get personally involved in the confrontation or create a problem so big that the Dragon can only handle part of it. Two armies clashing at each other, with the players on one side, while a good and an evil Dragon fight in the air, would be a pretty memorable moment.
Other ‘excuses’ could involve the Dragon being forbidden to meddle with humanoid affairsby a Deity,or maybe they’re so old they can no longer fight properly but has eons of guidance to offer the players. Either way, it’s imperative to think of some way to restrict such a powerful ally from getting too involved and stealing the protagonism from the players.
