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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
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