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CHAPTER 5 DRACONIC CAMPAIGNS Illus. by F. Vohwinkel 134 nection to dragons, in the hope of keeping the land clear of fire-breathing threats. Early adventures in a campaign following the “Bringers of Destruction” model tend to be straightforward. The characters are called upon to clear a forest of a pack of very young green dragons, guard a caravan that rolls through the territory of a young adult blue dragon, or hunt down and kill an adult red dragon that is raiding nearby dwarf mines. Along the way, they must deal with an evil spellscale warlord (and his two dragonne pets) who plunders neighboring domains, drive off a maddened dragon turtle attacking a port town, or save craftsfolk kidnapped by a brotherhood of diamond dragons (see page 30) for slave labor. While the PCs might find the occasional mystery or political complication, their adventures focus on facing the most dangerous foes in the world and defeating them in combat. In time, as near-epic characters, the PCs must seek ways not only to deal with specific dragons but also to protect territories from future draconic threats. DRAGON KINGS By nature, dragons are regal, mighty, and territorial. It’s a small leap to assume that they might show interest in the power and prestige that comes with being a king. An ancient dragon can hold an empire together through force, making dragonpacts to ensure the loyalty of humanoid sorcerer–nobles. Even greater prestige is enjoyed by dragons that rule over nations of other dragons, in which ranks and holdings are determined by kind. Just imagine an empire led by a single ancient red dragon, with lesser dragons ruling as dukes and barons—blue dragons in the deserts, green in the forests, black in the swamps, and petty white nobles holding sway over the cold northernmost territories. In a “Dragon Kings” campaign model, dragons fill the upper ranks of society but are not necessarily the major foes. Instead, consider the potential for the PCs to interact with dragons in social settings. Picture the scene as successful adventurers are brought into the throne room of a silver dragon duke that sits majestically on a massive throne formed from the coins, gems, and weapons of its private hoard. The PCs might accept a monetary reward for their services or take the opportunity to enter into a dragonpact or learn new draconic spells. A very young silver dragon, a princess at the court, might ask the PCs to escort her through lands fraught with more typical hazards. But how, exactly, can they force a flying teenager with a breath weapon to behave herself in dangerous situations? In short, the characters have adventures similar to those in any politically driven campaign, but the principal figures are dragons or draconic creatures. The kidnapped count they’re asked to rescue might be a wyrmling bronze dragon, and his abductors halfdragon sorcerers hoping to use his blood in a ceremony learned from a black dragon baron one kingdom over. A Huge white dragon king hires the PCs to clean out the lower levels of his ice castle’s dungeons not because he lacks the power to do it alone, but because he just doesn’t fit down there. The characters agree to help an overthrown prince sneak out of a desert kingdom, but the young ruler happens to be a juvenile brass dragon, and the tyrant usurper searching for him is an adult blue dragon with a horde of half-dragon guards. With dragons occupying A dragon king has little need for royal guards the highest levels of nobility, social status depends on a character’s draconic characteristics, or lack of same. True dragons are the unquestioned upper class, with half-dragons, draconic creatures, dragonblooded races, dragonfire adepts, sorcerers, and similar characters each considered one step down the social ladder. An elf wizard or dwarf fighter is no more considered upper crust than a halfling thief, since all are weak and ephemeral compared to their overlords. While exceptional individuals can prove their worth, for most characters, social advancement means accepting some kind of dragon influence. As the DM, you could opt to make the dragon kings different from others of their kind. Perhaps they come from specific bloodlines that impart unusual abilities (for details, see Variant Dragon Abilities on page 125). A few dragon families might trace their heritage directly to Bahamut, Tiamat,
or other legendary dragons from the early days of the world. Maybe certain new options in Dragon Magic, such as draconic auras and dragonpacts, are the exclusive province of noble families, with “lesser” dragons held in no higher regard than typical humanoids. In these situations, PCs find themselves either standing with oppressed commoner dragons against tyrant nobles or defending the rulers from petty renegade dragons seeking to usurp their rightful power. It’s easy to shift an ongoing campaign to the “Dragon Kings” model. First, select a kingdom and arrange for its ruler to end up in poor health with no heirs. Unfriendly kingdoms nearby prepare to take advantage of the chaos that always comes when a monarch dies with no clear successor. Desperate to protect his people once he is gone, the king invites a dragon to rule in his place. Though the people are nervous at first, when the new king personally fights off an invading army, they begin to see the advantages of a flying, breath-weapon-wielding monarch. From here, things can escalate as slowly or quickly as you like. Dragons opposing the first dragon sovereign might conquer their own lands or offer their services to outlying kingdoms in return for noble titles. As dragon-ruled kingdoms prove to be powerful and resilient, more and more humanoid realms invite their own dragon rulers (or at least bolster themselves with draconic lesser nobles) or fall before the flying armies of the dragon monarchs. Soon, only a few humanoid kingdoms remain, left alone to serve as neutral sites where dragon lords can meet and hold negotiations. The PCs might be agents of one of the dragonfree domains, working against sorcerous spies, armies filled with the spawn of Tiamat, or even well-meaning dragonborn who truly believe that a nation is doomed if it doesn’t agree to fair, lawful governance by the children of Bahamut. WINGED DEITIES If few creatures are as powerful as dragons, it stands to reason that some cultures would revere them as deities. Numerous examples exist in the EBERRON campaign setting, where the forces that created the world are attributed to dragons, and of course, the dragon gods Bahamut and Tiamat are well known. But what about religions that worship, revere, and obey living, breathing dragons? How might the world change if the deities are inhuman monsters that can be found on mountaintops and in deep forests? Such religions are much more immediate than those that worship deities from other planes. Of course, clerics and druids know the gods they worship are real—they gain powers from their deities and can communicate directly with them. But for common worshipers, there’s little difference between a cleric saying he has spoken to a deity and showing divine magic to prove it, and a charlatan wizard claiming the same thing and casting illusions as proof. Gods don’t visit their congregations directly, and worshipers don’t expect them to. However, a church that worshiped a dragon could have its deity visit regularly, or even live within the temple. The rank-and-file faithful might overlook any lack of miracles when their object of veneration speaks to them directly, without depending on priests to act as intermediaries. However, even the most powerful of mortal dragons cannot grant spells to clerics, as true gods do. Since other religions will have clerics with such powers in a typical campaign, religions centered around living dragons usually take one of two basic forms. The first is a religion that denies the need for divine spellcasters. Instead, creatures that have powerful arcane abilities take the roles of senior priests and temple defenders. In many cases, these faithful are dragonblooded or dragon-influenced, such as half-dragons, dragonborn, and the spawn of Tiamat. Below these are lesser officers of the religion, mostly dragonfire adepts, sorcerers, and characters who have the Dragontouched feat. The common worshipers might be of any race or occupation, though races with connections to dragons (real or imagined) are often the most enthusiastic faithful. In the cosmology of this religion, gifts that only dragons can grant, such as dragonpact abilities, often take the place of divine powers. A draconic sorcerer who acts as a priest accepts that his faith is real because the white dragon that rules his sect grants him special powers in the form of dragonpact magic. To the sorcerer, this is no less compelling than a druid’s animal companion or a cleric’s ability to turn undead. The second possibility is a religion declaring that dragons are not deities but are chief among the gods’ mortal servants. The dragons accept this view and are faithful to the gods worshiped within the religion. Obviously, many dragoncontrolled churches worship one of the draconic gods, but that’s far from the only possible scenario. Dragons can be seen as agents of humanoid deities in the same vein as outsiders—for example, red dragons might claim to be the Scourges of Erythnul, and gold dragons could believe they are Chief Justices of Heironeous. These creatures are essentially senior clerics and might have cleric powers (a DM can simply replace their sorcerer spells with a cleric or druid’s spellcasting ability at the same caster level). The end result is the same for either religious organization. Dragons drive the churches they rule over, giving orders, guarding temples, and confronting drakes of opposing faiths. Each temple is controlled by a single dragon that makes its home there. That dragon holds services, trains priests (who might be clerics, paladins, or arcane spellcasters, depending on the religion’s cosmology), and passes holy laws. The most senior dragon is assisted by younger dragons that convey its commands to the lesser races, patrol the temple grounds, and train to control their own temples someday. The ruling dragon’s alignment and goals guide the actions of its church, though dragons that worship true deities must have alignments no more than one step removed from that of their god. The “Winged Deities” campaign model leans heavily on church-driven plots and adventures. A vile black dragon necromancer that runs a temple devoted to Vecna harries CHAPTER 5 DRACONIC CAMPAIGNS 135
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Contents Introduction. . . . . . .
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Illus. by R. Horsley xcept in a few
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CHAPTER 1 DRAGONBOUND HEROES —Dee
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Stonehunter gnomes have very dark s
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DRACONIC CLASS FEATURES Often, drag
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Class: Hexblade (see Complete Warri
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enefit of a divine feat you have. Y
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Special: If you are of the dragonbl
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Table 1-1: New Feats (cont.) Dracon
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INITIATE OF HLAL [INITIATE] Fueled
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Illus. by R. Horsley ragons are kno
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Table 2-1: The Dragonfire Adept Hit
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Greater Invocations Aura of Flame:
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which dragonfire adepts are common
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Table 2-3: The Diamond Dragon Hit D
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ence between the manifesting classe
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ecome immune to fear and gain a +1
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DRAGON DESCENDANTS IN THE WORLD “
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Entry Requirements Base Attack Bonu
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Combat If you can win a battle with
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HAND OF THE WINGED MASTERS “By th
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Resources If you absolutely must ha
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Table 2-7: The Pact-Bound Adept Hit
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CHAPTER 2 DRAGON ASPIRANTS people
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Table 2-8: The Swift Wing Hit Die:
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to seek out her own allies. She kno
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WYRM WIZARD “Every dragon is like
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Wyrm wizards choose living creature
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Illus. by R. Horsley ore than any o
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of writing in some manner (even a p
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Primal Instinct: Gain a +5 bonus on
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You create a burst of icy energy th
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Vague, translucent shadows of your
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to your attackers. While this spell
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PATH OF FROST Transmutation [Cold]
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Casting Time: 1 standard action Ran
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• A 20-foot-radius cloud of fog c
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DRAGONFIRE ADEPT BREATH EFFECTS The
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Humanoid Shape: Take the form of an
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INSTILL VULNERABILITY Dark; 7th You
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Page 85 and 86: A serpentine dragon of blue fire co
Page 87 and 88: Energy: This aura grants you a bonu
Page 89 and 90: dead party returns to life within t
Page 91 and 92: 8th 9th ray of enfeeblement 3/day,
Page 93 and 94: AMULET OF FEARSOME MIGHT This amule
Page 95 and 96: ROD OF THE DRAGON HEART Dragon lord
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Page 99 and 100: Aura/Caster Level: Moderate abjurat
Page 101 and 102: EMERALD EYE PATCH Prized by charact
Page 103 and 104: Activation: An opalescent amulet fu
Page 105 and 106: over legions of weaker monsters and
Page 107 and 108: Illus. by R. Horsley n a world wher
Page 109 and 110: STRATEGIES AND TACTICS An aspect of
Page 111 and 112: Typical Physical Characteristics: L
Page 113 and 114: DRAKKENSTEED “Fitting that those
Page 115 and 116: STRATEGIES AND TACTICS Huitzils are
Page 117 and 118: Phynxkin SAMPLE ENCOUNTER Phynxkin
Page 119 and 120: pqqqqqqqqqrs REDSPAWN BERSERKER LOR
Page 121 and 122: pqqqqqqqqqrs SPELLEATER LORE Charac
Page 123 and 124: TWILIGHT GUARDIANS IN FAERÛN Twili
Page 125 and 126: VELROCS IN FAERÛN Velrocs are less
Page 127 and 128: Black Dragon Sinister black dragons
Page 129 and 130: Immunity to Poison (Ex): All copper
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Page 133: ed to understand the strange develo
Page 137 and 138: usually at the cost of protecting t
Page 139 and 140: ing with the creature is straightfo
Page 141 and 142: to limiting the political, magical,
Page 143 and 144: Affiliation Score Title: Benefits a
Page 145 and 146: flowed. This attitude grew as the o
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Page 149 and 150: shelves lined with books the size o
Page 151 and 152: where tyrannical dragons demand wor
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Page 155 and 156: 5. Confrontation with Heldrivor (EL
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