Category: ttrpg

D&D has Chromatic and Metallic dragons, and they work quite well. What if, however, there was a third category? One that came about since the dawn of civilization, and included dragons that took on some of those aspects for themselves? Here are three examples.

Paper Dragon

• Color: White, turning yellowish as it ages
• Breath Weapon: Cone of small, fibrous slivers that do double damage to unarmored areas
• Alignment: Any Lawful
• Quirk: Likes to build its lair in monasteries, universities, etc. – often  forming a partnership with the administration of those buildings. After all, a dragon knows the location of every item in its treasure hoard, and card catalogs can get unwieldy as a collection grows…
• Preferred Treasure: Knowledge – books, scrolls, etc.

Coal Dragon

• Color: Matte black
• Breath Weapon: Cloud of black dust that can asphyxiate victims, but is also extremely flammable to the point where any spark or ember will ignite it into a fireball
• Alignment: Any Chaotic
• Quirk: Preferred lairs are mines, ideally ones that have abundant coal seams. Enjoys everything about metalworking, to the point where some Coal Dragons have been known to kidnap blacksmiths and force them to work in their lairs, the large beasts slowly falling asleep to the sound of hammer on anvil.
• Preferred Treasure: Any metalwork that shows great skill or effort, especially larger mechanical contraptions

Sewer Dragon (Come on, you knew this would end up here.)

• Color: Various shades of browns, with specks of green appearing as it ages.
• Breath Weapon: Stinking Cloud, as per the spell
• Alignment: Any Good
• Quirk: One would think sewer life would lead to a sour disposition, but a Sewer Dragon’s sinuous body and immunity to disease and odors makes it ideal for this environment. Some Sewer Dragons have been known to train rats to seek out discarded items.
• Preferred Treasure: Jewelry of any kind, though gold rings are ideal

Just in case your D&D/Pathfinder game needs a little levity:

• Helm of Teleportation
  Acts like a normal Helm of Teleportation, but ONLY the helm teleports. The player stays behind. When attuning to the helm, language used should avoid pointing this out without actually lying about the helm’s ability to teleport.
• Deck of Just One Thing
  Appears to be a Deck of Many Things, but every card drawn awards the player with an additional Deck of Just One Thing. They cannot draw cards from the new decks as they are identical in every way to the deck from which they drew.
• Sleeping Bag of Holding
  At a random time during use, and until dawn, this sleeping bag constricts in such a way as to make the player feel like someone is in the bag with them and hugging them as they fall asleep. This can actually be quite comforting, unless you weren’t expecting it.
• Carpet of Flights of Fancy
  Anyone using this carpet will feel and act like it is in fact a flying carpet. The best, flying carpet, in fact. Never has the player flown so fast, with such great maneuverability. Why, they can even do a barrel roll. In reality, they will be sitting on the carpet wherever they placed it while onlookers wonder if a high level cleric should be brought in.
• Goggles of Night
  Traditional Goggles of Night give darkvision up to 60 feet. THESE goggles make it look like it’s midnight, though characters who have darkvision may use that ability when wearing these goggles in well lit areas.

In case the chart on page 96 of the DMG is too serious…
1. Seasonal allergies
2. Gives up evil ways if hugged
3. Immune to magical weapons, mundane ones do 2x damage
4. Dangling participles deal 2d8 damage
5. Can be defeated by democratic vote
6. Unable to resist or win dance competitions
7. Homeopathy (Take a sword, put it in water…)
8. Pictures of cats