Lowkey the most horrifying thing in this book: Dragons can animate their breath weapons. They can give their breath weapon legs and tell it to go kill people on the other side of the world.
@@user-nd7rg5er5g tldr: Chromatic Dragons can exhale their breath weapons, infuse it with an elemental spirit, and send it into the world to do evil crap. The worst part is they can still recharge the previously existing breath weapon, and it basically works of a summoning spell, so they can make as many of these as they want and still go burn down a village.
fun fact ...Fizban is Bahamat, so people saying the eulogy of the first world is biased toward tiamat need ask why the platinum one himself would start his book with it.
I read through Fizban's and I'll admit, by the end, I wanted every mission to have a dragon. Baldur's Gate 3 Volo is right, every story is better with a dragon!
I'm currently on 4 dragon NPC's or encounters that I may never use because I don't want to railroad. But now I secretly want every encounter to be dragon-themed, but I don't want to burn my players out with the concept.
Fun fact, previous editions had mixed parentage dragons. Like purple dragons, who’s breath weapon was a line of ultra destructive plasma that did both fire and lightning damage.
The dinosaur thing is a myth, I'm afraid. Though dinosaur bones WERE sometimes found by ancient cultures, mentions of dragons date back to well before any such findings would be mainstream. Most folks back then would never have heard of these supposed "dragon bones," but most of them would've heard of dragons. There's a few reasons for this, but it's not 100% clear why dragons are SO ubiquitous. To the best of my understanding, we see dragons everywhere mostly because we call so many different things dragons. There's no eastern dragons in ancient Egyptian mythology, but there sure are a lot of big snakes. Would you consider those dragons? Certain translators clearly did, because there are plenty of references to "Egyptian dragons." On a less severe scale, think of the differences between Chinese dragons and like, Welsh dragons. One's basically a flying fuzzy catfish snake, and the other is an enormous fuckoff fire/lion/lizard beast. Early American civilizations have "dragons," but those have feathers and no wings. I could go on, but I think the idea of a dragon just naturally arises in cultures when they start putting chimeras together out of whatever lives nearby, and, well, birds, snakes, and other reptiles are pretty common.
> One's basically a flying fuzzy catfish snake, Hey, those flying fuzzy catfish snakes were literal demigods, if not outright gods. European dragons were pansies compared to Asian dragons
@@connerdale4221 Incorrect. There are many European dragons which are semi-divine or fully divine, and which are literally a challenge even for gods. Let’s take Typhon from Greek mythology for example. There was one point in the story where Typhon actually beat Zeus. That’s no small feat to manhandle a Sky Father type god. Then there’s Nithhoggr and Midgardsormr/Jormungandr from Norse mythology. There’s also the Balaur and Zmey from various Eastern European mythologies, who were divine beasts which could only be defeated by divine or semi-divine heroes. And don’t even get me started on the divine and cosmic horrors which were the dragons of the Middle East. Those are a whole bother bag of nope.
Just so you know: Gem Dragons are as follows: Amethyst Dragons - (Force Breath; surprised Star Wars hasn’t used this one yet) Astrophysicists and Multiverse professors, they like studying other planes of existence (specifically the Outer Planes), gravity, and love collecting stuff from other worlds. Crystal Dragons - (Radiant Breath; what you claim your significant other’s morning breath is) Whether it’s because they study the Positive Planes or just because it’s who they are, crystal dragons are the most annoyingly positive and friendly of the gem dragons. Yet, like a pet tiger, it should still be respected as a wild creature before it rips your face off. Emerald Dragons - (Psychic Breath, whatever that means) The Internet trolls of D&D. They use their psychic mumbo-jumbo to hide from people while stalking and studying their habits. History buffs mean they love historical artifacts. Sapphire Dragons - (Thunder Breath; so basically just shouting?) Hatred of tentacle hentai causes these guys/gals/whatever-the-gender-neutral-term-for-this-is to stamp out all thing Lovecraftian with a militaristic fervor. They even hoard military strategies and tin foil hats. Topaz Dragons - (Necrotic Breath; what your significant other’s actual morning breath is) The opposite of crystal dragons. While crystals are loving and friendly, topaz dragons are more the “Get that ball off my lawn, you derned rapscallion” type of dragon. They study the Negative Planes like CNN, hoard edgy artifacts that focus on destruction and death, and really, REALLY need a good therapist (as do we all, I suppose). If you want more info, I’m sure Davvy can answer or you can just get the book and read it yourself :) Cheers
Thanks, this comment did help me get a quick understanding of these guys without needing to dig through the book as that kinda becomes tiring. Have a good day
@@carpedm9846 I mean, these have been around forever, though 5e switched them up a bit (like emeralds and sapphires swapping breath weapons, and crystals and opals getting more explicit connection to Positive and Negative Energies). D&D does not end with 5e. As for psychic breath, originally sapphire dragons caused sonic vibrations on level below what humans can hear, sorta brown note kind of deal.
As for Crystal Dragons they are known for being hyper-intelligent to the point to where they can perfectly learn a new language and speak it just from hearing a few words, along with the fact they're also known for using shapeshifting to masquerade as other races and get to know them, they're also know for mostly being of the Neutral Good alignment meaning they're good guys and good girls just because they want to do the right thing. And they've also earned the nickname the Batman/Nightwing/Outlaw/Robin/Redwing/Batgirl/Batwoman/Catwoman of the Dragons mostly because when they encounter villainous forces usually either Chromatic Dragons especially if it's a White Dragon, Frost Giants, Obsidian Dragons, thieves, and slavers they will start combat by flying around making a strategic plan of attack and once it finds the villainous force's weakpoint and make it's strategy it will go on the attack mostly using it's Crystal Light Breath while flying in combination with their intelligent strategic mind, spells and various Psionic abilities but don't let that fool you as like their human DC comic counterparts they're also deadly in close range combat as if they have to they'll use their intelligent strategic mind, spells, and Psionic abilities in combination with their razor sharp claws, and razor sharp teeth.
The craziest thing about Fizban’s is that I came up with almost the exact same legend of Tiamat’s imprisonment for my Rise of Tiamat campaign. It was really weird reading that bit.
When Fizbans said that humanoids are partly spiritual and dragons are wholly physical, I took that to mean that dragons don’t have souls or an afterlife. If anyone knows, is there anything in the book that says otherwise, because I’m not sure how I feel about that idea?
If you take the 3.5 Draconomicon for reference, when dragons reach that "End of Life" stage, they usually try one of three things: Ascension to something like godhood, having their body become part of the nature around them or Undeath because they fear truly dying... it really does help visualize that. Though personally I took it to mean that the souls they have are fashioned out of the essential elements of the material plane, so instead of going to some outer plane as their afterlife, they're sort of reincarnated on the material plane as a new dragon while their old body fuses with the world. Of course, that's mostly just my own interpretation and anyone else's interpretation is equally valid.
Well considering Bahamut and his fellow draconic gods have domains in the outer planes inhabited by the souls of their devotees, I'm gonna call bullshit.
@@draochvar9646 Per the Elegy it sounds more like they inhabit the outer planes more because other gods came through and pretty much dragged them there/kicked them from their native Material Plane. Dragons, including Bahamut, Tiamat and Sardior, are fundamentally Material, which is to say they're living embodiments of the magic of the Material Plane itself. That metallic and chromatic dragons can be pulled to their respective god's dwelling plane in death has little to do with the fact that neither dragon god is *native* to those outer planes in the first place. Or at least that's how I interpret this version of the story
Personally, what I'm thinking about implementing in my world (when I finally get the confidence to try Dming in a couple of years) for hybrid dragons is that 90% of the time, it will just result in a mixed liter of half one color and half the other, with any given hatching having a small chance to have physical features(i.e. horn, wing, or claw shape) like the parent of the other color. The other 10% of the time is where things get creative and unpredictable. Sometimes the hatchling will be what I'm calling a "swerve" they'll be one color and have the breath weapon of the other parent, so you could have what looks like a normal white dragon with ice resistance, and then it opens its mouth and exhales a cone of fire. These ones can breed normally and their descendants will almost always be whatever color they appear to be scale wise, but they are treated as somewhat off by other dragons. Another possible anomaly is what I'm calling a "striped" hatching with features of both parents and scales in alternating bands of the parent's colors (like tiger stripes). These hybrids can be unpredictable in that they may inherit one parent's elemental resistances both, or often times neither, and they can change the shape of their breath weapon at will between either parent, but which of the parent's element will come out at any given time is random. These ones are usually not very fertile and are outcasts among dragon society. There are the "true hybrids" these ones have scales that are a mix of both their parent's colors. They can have both parents elemental resistances, but usually just one. Like a "stripes", they can switch between the parents' breathweapon shapes at will, but they can also control which element comes out at any given time, or can even make the breath both elements at once. They're still somewhat shunned by most dragons, although no where near as much as the stripes. Then, there are what I call the "surprises" these little fellows are when the mixing dragon genes just go, "You know what would be funny?" All sorts of unpredictable weirdness is possible, like a perfectly normal Gold dragon being born from a Black and a Topaz dragon. Two headed conjoined twins with one head having the dad's breath weapon while the other has mom's. A crystal dragon being born from a metallic and chromatic. Hell, there was one case where what appeared to be two completely normal dragonlings hatched from 2 different eggs in the same clutch, both different colors like normal actually turned out to be one mind and soul between 2 bodies. (I'm hoping to work that into the plot) Hell, I'm thinking about revealing a legend that claims the very first Tarrasque was originally some sort of deformed "surprise" catagory crossbreed that used primordial magics to warp itself into a mindless unstoppable engine of destruction for revenge against its kin that rejected and mocked it.
Extra fun thought for that; When a Tarrasque eats a dragon egg, it pops out a Tarrasque egg. That's how they reproduce, just for the added body horror to the dragons.
If you want to be true to genetics it will either be spotted or mixed color (like purple) for incomplete dominance and codominance respectively completely up to you you are in fantasy island after all
I like the idea of morality being a choice, if only because I personally believe that if it’s not a choice then it’s not really good or evil. Also I liked getting more information on ways to torture my party, thank you.
I'm really split on this. I like the unpredictability of a dragon being any alignment Ebberon style and not having to just open up a color wheel to see if you should be on guard or not. I also kind of like the angle that dragons are one of the few creatures that cant really choose who they want to be. I think I read somewhere that dragons in Forgotten Realms envy humanoids/mortals because they get to choose who they want to be. Even a goblin can decide to be good or a aasimar can decide to go bad, but dragons cant because of the strangle hold their gods influence on them has which makes them kind of tragic in a way imo.
@@Gamersvids23 I understand where you are coming from with this, I have always ruled that color makes them more likely to be good or evil because of their gods influence but they are still able to decide to be good or evil. It’s like being raised by assholes makes you more likely to be an asshole but you can still choose to not be. (And yes I realize undoing learned behaviors isn’t easy but it is still possible)
Personally rather than morality following color, I’ve always seen it as color following morality. So a green dragon is not evil because it’s green, it’s green because it’s evil. If that dragon chose to be good it’s scales and body shape would change to become a copper or brass dragons.
The dragon-adjacent stuff gave me a fun idea for a kobold character: he serves as eyedrake, convinced it's just a dragon with eyespots. Try convincing him it's a beholderkin, and he'll point to a moth with eyespots and sarcastically warn that it's another beholderkin. Eventually he sees the error, and can only respond, "Ok, full disclosure - I've never actually seen a dragon."
Always nice to hear your thoughts about the new books. Still, it's a bit of a shame about that one company, but maybe if someone came out with a book titled "Jizban's Treasury of Bad Dragons" and you reviewed it, you'd finally get that sponsorship... Thank you for the vid, Davvy! And stay safe!
Nice video, I read Fizban I there's something I love in it, the draconic shards: Draconic shards are the ghostly fragments of a gem dragon, I love them because they can just fool an entire party of adventurer by pretending to be a magic item (and a rather cool one by the way). They can also possess other things than swords, they can inhabit in any object they want, even magic items. I can imagine a wizard who's friend with one (because they are intelligent and not evil most of the time) and he has a floating wand that does super cool shit with the AT WILL telekinesis and other spells (and legendary actions) of the Shard.
Older lore actually covered dragon hybrids. They are rare, and usually don’t work, but typically get a combination of both. For instance, my favorite dragon type, the purple dragon (well, one of the 4 purple dragons) is a hybrid of red and blue and has a plasma cannon breath weapon.
Another great video! I really enjoy the added lore around Bahamut and Tiamat's relationship, which could bring some really interesting depth to conflicts between them. I actually just made a video on Gem Dragons myself, they're really cool creatures!
I always like it when the get rid of the age old "alinement is tied to race" it makes the setting more interesting and less restrictive when it comes to writing campaigns.
They should have added specially adapted Egg Hunters able to withstand fire and/or acid As Red dragon eggs are incubated under such high temperatures the Egg hunter would cook itself Even Black dragons commonly believed to be the most negligent parents would be super difficult targets for Egg Hunters when they realise that the egg is incubating in an acid bath
The young adventurers dragons and treasures book touches on different chromatic dragons mixing and how it will just be a combination of their parents features and colors.
There's some super baller stuff in fizbans and the greatwyrm looks like one of the most terrifying things I've seen and can't wait to make a party go against one. I like also how much it helps bring a dragon's lair to life and what it did for dragonbornes was sorely needed.
If I am not mistaken, AJ Pickett actually did a video explaining the mixing of dragons. Some have an easier time and some can't (if they do it's extremely difficult) but basically, it's close to what you said.
Like 4 years of playing DND and never actually gotten to fight a dragon or a dungeon #FalseAdvertising ... I did use Wish to Thano's snap a kraken once tho
Tiamat MVP of the war for the first world tbh. Also, kinda easy to understand why she's chaotic evil after having accidentally killed her firstborn after Bahamut convinced the gods to free her the first time. I like to imagine she was a rainbow wyrm before her imprisonment, but that when she was released she came out as the multi headed monstrosity we all know and fear
After reading the elegy it made me think the other gods were d1cks for outright crusading against the dragons just for being non-humanoid, and it made me sympathize with Tiamat as being imprisoned for an eternity drove her to seek revenge and turn evil
My first real character I played for more than a couple sessions died in a lvl 14 TPK attempting to take on an Ancient Blue Dragon in its lair after we (with the help of a high level NPC) had stopped its attack on a city, nearly killing it before it got away. Took us a while to find its lair so it was fully healed by the time we found it. If it had just been the dragon we'd have probably been ok but we were attacked by three large crystaline earth elementals that could zap lightning bolts between themselves and also the crystaline walls of the cavern. While dealing with those, the dragon rose up out of the sand in the main chamber and lightning breathed my wizard who promptly failed his save and took a ton of damage, then failed another save and got buried under rocks that fell from the ceiling in a lair action. With my wizard out of commission and the fighter unable to save from and shake the fear so he could actually attack the dragon properly, a TPK was inevitable. I took that really hard.
cultist:oh great matron of dragonkind,why do you despise that mad god bahamut? tiamat:...my jerk of a little brother literally did nothing to help me escape a prison of eternal dammnation, honestly if thats not enough to be stupid levels mad then you know nothing of gods. cultist:oh. to be honest thats pretty fair not gonna lie.
I remember an old ass video that partially answered the "What if Hybridize dragon colors?" question. I dont remember if it was just from an Obscure thing in an older edition or was someones homebrew or what (this was a while back) But I recall someone noting that Purple dragons exist as a form of Hybridization between Blue and Red dragons and that their breathe weapon was a Bizarre fusion of Fire and lightning (basically a Laser) and that they preferred to live in the underdark. Again, its been a while... I think in that same video they talked about Cobra dragons and sand dragons if thats any help.
I remember somewhere that dragons were able to create color debased hybrids like a red and blue dragon would create a purple dragon who had a superheated plasma breath I was basically a combination of both parent breath attacks thereby doing combined damage to both lightning and fire damage.
Attacking people to collect their favorite thing:money, as well as magical items ancient relics and princesses. Guys were we the dragon the whole time?
Tbh i like my headcanon that Bahamut and Tiamat and their descendants hate each other because it is essentially all a divorce gone very wrong, like, it is way more funny to me that way. XD
Damn, no wonder Tiamat's so pissed. O.o Also, I wish Wizards would stop ignoring my favorite dragons - Steel... I blame the fact that in 2e someone gave them a force damage breath weapon. No one wants that in the manual as an enemy.
Eeeeexcept one of the Gem Dragons also has a force breath weapon. I think they just wanted to simplify dragons instead of having god knows how many subspecies because 5e = DnD simplified to make game more easier to expand upon imo anyways
*There actually is a lore explanation of what happens when two different types of dragons mate .* *This was answered multiple times in past editions ( from 1st to 4th edition ) .*
Bad Dragon technically produces "dragon fantasy inspired toys" and might be sued if they were caught sponsoring a DnD video without WOTC permission. WOTC would likely argue that BD could harm their brand if DnD got associated with BD because BD sells exclusively to adults while WOTC sells to everyone, including children.
wait...so could you peddle a nest inspection job for dragons to eliminate those nest worms, since the dragon themeselves can't detect them? like that seems like a good bluff if you're caught in the horde of a nesting dragon. or even if they're not you could bluff like you thought you had an appointment etc.
@5:31 If anyone's looking for dragon hybrids, I spent two years creating a Dragon Slayer Campaign with every kind dragon imaginable! I've got almost 200 different dragon types! Just ask for a hybrid type or tyoe of homebrew if you're curious.
I did tell myself I would just pick up 1 or 2 more books by third party creators from now on... But I haven't over done it with the official books so one more can't hurt
Hello friend can i get your opinion on if it Would be safer for the Dingo Doodles Tarrasque Figure to be a door stop or a garden gnome? and if anyone ask's no i dont have the puppys anymore and stop asking
Vampire is a template monster, just slap the vampire traits listen in the player characters as vampire side bar on page 295 of the monster manual. Add the necrotic damage and hitpoint reduction to the dragons bite and maybe swap it's breath weapon to necrotic or even cold. You now have a vampire dragon.
@@an8strengthkobold360 I was thinking it will have vampiric breath that drain blood from any wounded enemy and restore Hitpoints and deal damage in a cone, spider climb, hypnotic voice and misty form for far travel. Imaging a vampire wyvern hanging upside down from the roof with it's army of lesser vampires horde with pile of gold in the center of the room.
A male dragon so horny and controlling that he started to bone everything where his BD toy fits in. Due to that the next adventuring party has to deal with a swarm of different half-dragon creatures, ranging from animals to humanoids. The weirdest thing would be that some of the humanoids use their quadruped halfsiblings as mounts.
Ok heres something we really need to talk about. Ok dragon riders are a thing their common enough for wizards to write a book about it. So most likely in that case people would try to domestic dragons and what would that look like? My theory is once they were domesticated they become smaller and less intelligent and powerful. This is because as they live with humans they loose connection to the dragon gods that give them that impressive dragon power. Which if thats the case you could have a dragon rider PC that isn't unbelievably broken
Interesting Fact: Dragons are not expressly immune to being put into a fear state by abilities such as Terrifying Rage. They're only immune to Frightening Gaze of other Dragons and beings replicating the ability. This even includes Tiamat, Bahamut, and Sardior. Not a single dragon has complete fear immunity. Some food for thought. At least this is true in 3.5E, not sure about 5E since I don't play it.
Wanna have some fun? EverQuest has some really amazing dragon mechanics you can use for home brew. There’s one whose breath attack causes everyone to spin in place uncontrollably.