dragon-magic-oef

CHAPTER 5
DRACONIC
CAMPAIGNS
136
peaceful lands though dragonfire adepts, sorcerers, and undead
under its control. A gold dragon known as the Grand
Sun of Pelor sends its own followers out to oppose such corruption,
aiding them with dragonpact abilities and dragon
allies, ranging from wyrmling copper dragon paladins to
silver dragon clerics. No church is without its own dragons
and dragonblooded agents, and many dragons have holy
symbols inscribed in their scales. It’s possible to combine
both religious models such that some churches have truly
faithful dragons, while others are controlled by draconic
charlatans.
Adventures are likely to include raids on evil temples,
quests for draconic holy relics, urban infiltration to root out
dragon cults, and exploration of lands free of the dragon
churches’ control. Player characters are often asked to undertake
missions for one church or another, and they might be
official temple troubleshooters. In some cases, clerics and
sorcerers might be trained side by side under the church’s
purview, with dragonfire adepts treated as holy warriors much
like paladins. As they gain power and prestige, the PCs must
guard against attacks from agents of opposing churches that
want to stop them from spreading a given dragon’s influence
too far.
DRAGONS AMONG US
In this campaign model, dragons and draconic creatures are
everywhere, but people just don’t notice them very often.
Dragons use natural shapeshifting abilities or sorcerous
spells to take on other forms, while draconic creatures simply
exhibit fewer telltale characteristics. Anyone the PCs meet
could be a dragon, or an agent or descendant of dragons.
Everyone knows that dragons rule vast rings of spies and
insinuate themselves into humanoid life wherever possible.
Some dragons simply like certain races or specific cities,
taking up residence secretly to cause as little disruption as
possible. Others have far less benevolent motives and use their
humanoid disguises to keep their true powers hidden.
Of course, even if the characters cannot tell if a given NPC
is a dragon, they’ll find out fast enough if they wind up in
a fight with him. A thieves guild might discover that the
innkeeper it tried to bully for protection money is actually
a bronze dragon using alternate form. On the other hand,
the guild is run by a red half-dragon thief (only the shocking
color of his hair gives any clue), which is why the city
guard’s efforts to eliminate the guild have failed. Indeed,
these two draconic characters wage a secret war for control
of the city, while a silver dragon disguised as an advisor to
the king tries to keep them from doing too much damage
in the process.
In the “Dragons among Us” campaign model, many draconic
races look more humanoid than they would in a normal
campaign. A half-dragon might have nothing more to betray
her heritage than an unusual eye color or tiny horns concealed
beneath her hair. Similarly, dragonborn, spellscales, and
others with the draconic creature template retain more of
their base races’ appearance than usual. Humanoid draconic
creatures with wings can hide them under a large cloak,
though they’re obviously easy to spot when in use. As the
DM, you might allow all true dragons (rather than just some
metallic dragons) to use the alternate form ability to assume
humanoid forms, which makes them harder to recognize and
explains where half-dragons come from.
Characters in this campaign model encounter dragons
frequently without realizing it. They must treat every
encounter as having the potential for turning into a battle
with a major draconic foe. An unassuming bandit could
transform into an adult green dragon as soon as a fight starts,
or a sorcerer could uncurl claws that reveal her to be a draconic
creature. Adventures are still typical for a DUNGEONS
& DRAGONS campaign, but they take on a draconic tint. The
lost dungeon explored by the PCs was once a dragon city,
the artifact components they seek were forged by a dragon
smith, and the forgotten lore they hope to rediscover was
originally found by dragon sages.
Of course, since dragons often remain hidden, the PCs
might spend the early adventures of the campaign discovering
its secret history as a world of dragons. They begin
to realize how commonplace the creatures really are only
after learning that the kind sage who hired them to recover
a spellbook is a dragon in disguise, his archnemesis who
sent dragonkin warriors after them is a half-dragon, and the
spellbook was written by a dragon wizard centuries ago. The
PCs might keep this knowledge to themselves, thus becoming
part of a vast hidden dragon society, or they might expose
the creatures, incurring the wrath of good and evil dragons
alike.
DRAGON OVERLORDS
Once dragons decide to become more involved in the lives
of lesser races, it’s only a matter of time before they lay claim
to territories as ruling overlords. These dragons might be
commonplace (such as in the “Dragon Kings” campaign
model, above) or rare exceptions. In most campaigns, dragon
overlords fill the same role as giant kings and genie princes—
powerful rulers of foreign lands that can be political foils and
personal threats for higher-level player characters. To create
believable and interesting dragon overlords, strive to make
them more than just kings with breath weapons.
Since a dragon lives longer than members of most other
races, its control of a humanoid nation becomes a fact of life
for generations of its subjects. A dragon that takes over a
small country when it first becomes an adult can easily rule
it for another 1,100 years (equal to roughly nine generations
of dwarves or six generations of elves). Even more than a
typical monarch, a dragon overlord shapes its domain with
its personal worldview, making laws and deals that reward
those of like mind, and driving off or imprisoning others
(see Alignment of Power Centers, DMG 138).
Lawful dragons promote stability, though often through
tyranny, while chaotic dragons enforce freedom and renewal,