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Another Dragon House

This post is about another dragon house. All of these are rough drafts that will be edited before I'm finished.

House Chirna

Chirna was the god-king's first enforcer. As a wyrmling, she was born with unnaturally black scales visible only due to the blood red freckles on them. Her tail was much longer than other dragon's tails, a feature she used to her advantage in combat. She taught herself how to use her tail as a striking blow, like a scorpion. She also developed an upright fighting style. She was completely loyal to the god-king, doling out her master's rewards and rebukes dispassionately, yet efficiently. An unquestioned master of the battlefield, she also took an interest in multiple forms of groundling artistry. Amongst groundlings, she would take the form of a sculptor or potter. She was oddly indifferent to the political machinations of other dragons.

Called to be an enforcer at a very early age, she developed her unorthodox fighting style to fight larger opponents. Although teased for having a "dragging tail", she proved to be effective as a commander and single combatant. As she matured, she took more interest in ancient dragon art forms instead of jockeying for political position like the others. She did not accept bribes like other enforcers, nor did she suffer negotiations: she carried out the god-king's wishes exactly, with no delays. As groundlings and dragons alike sought to mitigate her acidic breath weapon and dangerous fighting style, the god-king granted her a unique weapon, The Whisper of Corruption. With this weapon all metal objects, corrode and break down. No metal can withstand the whisper turning a dragon's horde into piles of rust and powder.

The whisper appears to have affected her scales as well. Advancing in age, the blood red spots peeled away to expose swatches of rust on her black scales. Her leadership as the first leader of the house that bears her name was fair but discompassionate. Equally feared and admired, she never gave false praise nor unfairly disciplined her own. Each of the original members of the received a personal gift crafted with her own hands.

Chirna lived to a very old age. It is rumored she merely retired to devote more time to her craft. The mention of Chirna is enough to change a foolish wyrmling's mind.

Members of Chirna are generally considered to be masters of the battlefield and incorruptible in character. Chirna members are proud of their ancestry and maintain a strong sense of duty and discipline. Like all dragons, coloring varies, but those with a strong bloodline have an extra long tail. Those that favor their ancestor have acid breath. As an adult, any house member may choose to gain the Whisper of Corruption in exchange for their second breath weapon. None but the prophesied heir of Chirna gains this ability naturally.

Too Many Dragons

So I have the wonderful issue of having too many possible dragons.

With ten houses plus two more ancient bloodlines, there are a possible 120 different dragons based on my system.

For OSR Games, not that big of a deal. For a 5e statblock, I'd either need to use my private critterdb server or use one of the various statblock making software options out there.

Still, I am enjoying tweaking the system. Some changes from my last post:

  • No more rolling a third bloodline. Roll only two.
  • When a dragon becomes an adult, he/she will gain a second breath weapon determined by their secondary bloodline.
  • Each bloodline grants a special ability.
  • Most physical characteristics of a dragon will match the house a dragon is a part of, not the primary bloodline. The scales (color, size, shape, pattern) will be determined by secondary bloodline.

Dragon Encounter Example

I'll have the pdf soon, but the basic idea for a dragon encounter is:

Every dragon class has baseline stats, Hit Dice, AC, Attacks, Breath Weapons, and Special Abilities.

Roll d10 for house membership and ancestry (Yes a ten-sided die, results 11 and 12 are special cases explained later)

1 - Odion
2 - Biranji
3 - Bakar
4 - Areulus
5 - Sarpu
6 - Sedoya
7 - Chrina
8 - Akan
9 - Oraiste
10 - Kijani
11 - Jasada
12 - Cassiter

Roll percentage dice for bloodline strength to the house ancestor

Reroll d10 for secondary ancestry. If the same ancestry is rolled again, roll d12 to determine ancestry.

Roll percentage dice for bloodline strength of a secondary ancestor. It doesn't matter if the result is

The highest percentage determines the primary physical stats of the dragon. If the rolls are Akan (8) 38%, Kijani (10) 52%, the dragon will take the stats of the Kijani. The dragon is still a member of House Akan.

Optionally, the DM may also roll d10 for a third ancestry. One characteristic of the dragon can be switched with the third ancestor's abilities. This can be Hit Dice, AC, Breath Weapons, or Special Abilities. Like before, if the result of the d10 matches either of the two previous results, roll a d12.

Using the example above, the result of the d10 is Akan (8). Since this matches a previous roll, the d12 result is Jasada (11). The DM can now swap out one of the following from the Jasada: AC, HD, Attacks, Breath Weapons, or Special Abilities.

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