Dungeons and Dragons Lore: Dragon Magic 

This has given me some more insight into just how powerful Daurgothoth really is. The guy is a black dracolich, an archmage, and a chosen of Mystra. Now think about how great dragon magic is, put all that together, and his CR of 50 starts to make a lot of sense.

True, but Arcane Tricksters not being able to cast 9th level spells is an abomination, and I'll never forgive them for that.

Having a gold dragon with a find adventurer spell like a find famaliar is just funny

The wise man : "In life there are only two, mutually exclusive, kinds of pains: discipline or regret." RU-vid Ads : "Download the most derivative mecha + boobs anime game ever." The wise man : "In life there are three..."

"I was there, Gandalf...when the great republishing of 3rd became a half, when the souls of the grognards filled the caverns of forums, and when the splatbooks rivaled the stars."

I always like to have all my Dragons be natural polymorphers as it helps create credible reasons why they can operate in my setting effectively. It's also much easier to dismiss the idea that a dragon is lairing under the local mountain when there is no dragon sized hole in the side of it. But a discreet opening that leads down a winding corridor and then open up into a cavernous treasure chamber is much easier to hide from prying eyes. So a dragon comes and goes in humanoid or animal disguise. And only assumes draconic form when relaxing at home or in a situation that requires it like combat.

I feel like a lot of people over looked how in 3.5 you get experience for over coming something with a cr. If you sneak past or talk your way out of a fight that's exp. DM discression if you want it to be full exp, but 3.5 doesn't have to be for murder hobos.

You just gave me an idea for a Dragon crafter or smithy. A dragon could literally go full economist merchandiser. Literally having no scales , and being the richest dragon in the entire realm with a full army bought and paid for and enchanted buffed. He has corned the market on everything. Entire realms are in his dept he only goes to war when someone is brazen enough not to pay their dept. He then deposes the said ruler , and places another ruler in his place who will agree to take on the dept of the former ruler.

I feel that there is a certain black dragon responsible for some of these spells.

Personally, I want a 5e conversation of the 3.5 class Dragonfire Adept. Even if it’s just a warlock Dragon Patron, something that genuinely feels like the 3.5 class did instead of the homebrews I’ve found where they make it a 4e controller type of play would be a godsend.

Something that always confused me is the dragon blood Sorcerer usually has a dragon ancestor and yet half dragons are infertile, it makes no sense.

Undying vigor of the dragon lords completely blew my party's minds when my redspawn arcaniss (who was the boss of the dungeon) used it with a sudden maximize to basically restart the fight lol

Aye, I have homebrewed those subraces for 5e. Guess that goes into Homebrew chat now. And, on matter of 3.5 not letting you to play what you want from start, eh, that depends on the player. 5e is indeed good for one-shots but, really, it is not much stronger than 3e and derivatives on how you can play what you want to play. Still nice to hear an opposing opinion.

That explanation between editions is really good. Thats actually why I prefer 5e. It easier to make the character you want instead of waiting 10 levels to make them.

@ 2:04 the accompanying race bloodlines under the White and Blue dragons are switched... Or the Blue and White dragons are. I recognize that Blue's nose horn anytime 😄

Ah, just a day off from my birthday. Timing that’s almost perfect.

I like the idea of a “black” dragon that lives in a sulfurous mangroves swamp, along with swimming humans and Kobold. But secretly that “black” dragon is actually a silver dragon commanded to protect a mangrove swamp by a powerful botanist.

How in the worlds could any player expect to face an ancient or adult dragon.... I mean they are a dragon and have had hundreds of years of literally being able to make (not learn) their own spells!!!!!!

This video was much needed for me. In my campaign, one of my players interrupted a ritual and long story short became a young adult rust dragon. I have been looking for ways to treat the player and reward them as the party levels. This was some good stuff. I actually just bought the dragon magic book a few weeks ago and it should arrive at my place any day now. I already have the Draconomican as it was a gift from one of my previous DM's.

As if Dragons doing what they naturally do isn't terrifying enough, Draconic feats make them sooo much worse to face. I had forgotten about the breath weapon feats/spells like animate breath weapon. Rather than having a breath weapon becoming an amorphous shape, the Dragon could shape it to resemble a drake, or half-dragon composed of whatever they breathe.A Red Dragon exhaling a gout of flame that morphs into the shape of a Wyrven dripping cinders from it's mouth is pretty intimidating, especially if that same Dragon is now free to engage other opponents during the fight.

Path of Frost is how you turn a Dragon into Iceman.

In my campaigns, an epic level Mana Technique is "Draconic Spellcasting" which is actually epic to learn. Only Dragons know how do do it as beings that don't have it as Outer-Planar beings.

Something I noticed is that the Sunscorch and Frostblood have swapped their dragon in their art

Ah yeah, dragon magic; the coolest magic. Thank you AJ.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who watches AJs videos at breakfast :)

create servant. the dragon slams his or her tail into someones home and un-life someones family. the dragon threatens the last remaining family into serving the dragon. it can be casted at least 3 times a day.

Dragons are my favorite type of creature in mythology and fantasy. I've loved them ever since I was a little kid. It's a bit off-topic, but I'm working on a mono-red dragon tribal deck for the commander format of magic: the gathering, headed up by Lathliss, Dragon Queen. Back to the topic at hand of dragons in D&D though, have you made a video about Athasian dragons? If not, I would love to see something like that.

I have been waiting for this video for soooooo long, literal years

This brings memories. 20 years ago my DM introduced me to homebrewed dragon magic... Since i was a STEAM dragon anyway at that point! :D

As a "Stalwart defender of 3.5e" myself (Althought, I'll fully acknowledge how great 5e is objectively and what good it's done to make D&D more accessible - it's just really not for me), I think the "issue" can be much better understood this way : There always is going to be a certain amount of narrative dissonance between the rules and what your character is ; Especially in a P&P RPG, how your character is described in all its complexity and all the subtlety of its faculties will never be matched 100% by a specific ruleset, be it 3.5e or 5e. There is also clearly a spectrum, under which each and every player falls, when it comes to how much narrative dissonance a person is willing to tolerate. In my experience, 5e appeals more to people with a high tolerance, and vice-versa. For an example (a very simplistic example, but I think it's very telling), in the video AJ made a few weeks ago about how 5e's rules can be used without much alteration to create any context, even hard sci-fi, etc., he says that Spelljammer ships can be directly translated into spaceships, where a ballista can just be interpreted as a laser/blaster cannon or something, each doing 3d10 damage. Now, if everyone's on board to pretend that's what it is, it WORKS ; it's just a damage-dealing bit of a ship, but for people like me, it's not - and I mean, REALLY NOT - satisfactory at all. I see no reason, other than "not going insane over every detail" - which I LOVE to do, for the product of millenia of scientific advancement to deal "as much damage" as a medieval weapon (and mind you, not even a magical one...). Sci-fi weapons should work by different rules, as far as I'm concerned, because they ARE different things, usually of much greater power, which requires balancing in its own right, of course, and therefore a major adjustment to whatever ruleset you're using. It's like Psionics, which was this completely different system in 3e BECAUSE it was a completely alien form of power, but that 5e "normalized" all the way to hell to make it more accessible and in line with the other rules. YES it "works", YES, as long as you "pretend" it's different, then "it is", BUT if you want narrative coherence, where differences in the narrative and worldbuilding are represented by differences in the rules, then it really is not. If you're allergic to narrative dissonance, you're probably a 3e player. You see, the problem for old stubborn 3e tortles like me isin't that 5e "can't" be used to create everything. The issue is that we DON'T want to use it's rules, because the rules of 5e, for being incredibly flexible, also offer much, much less "mechanical" texture : We want powers from different sources to work in different ways ; we don't want a system that tells us "You can do whatever you want and pretend it works however you want, but all of it must be implemented mechanically in THIS specific manner". And as far as I'm concerned, not only does 3.5 offer more texture to the game's built-in mechanics, but it also constitutes a much, much better substrate for creating new mechanics and creatures, and especially when adding new magical objects (or even technology) to your game. So, as far as character creation is concerned, my complaint is mainly that YES, your 5e character is more well-rounded than a 3e character in the beginning... But it's also almost completely set on tracks after the first few levels. In 3e, beyond say, level 5, you have a trillion options for multiclassing, prestige classes, feats, skills you can distribute, etc. You can adapt your character to your campaign in a more refined manner, or you can build it in advance and drool over what it "might" become. The bottom line is this : 3e is a highly complex ruleset that rewards your growing mastery and understanding of it with a growing ability to create absolutely everything you want in a viable manner, so long as you're patient. 5e goes specifically out of its way NOT to do that, to make even unexperienced players feel like they've got a grasp on things and let them have fun. Both options are good ; if you like low-level one-shots, you're MUCH better with 5e, SO MUCH BETTER. But people like me? it's campaign and complexity all the way, baby. Why do some people like complexity? I don't know. Do you like puzzles? Because I do. In truth, I became a game master in the same way I became a programmer : I love learning about complex systems that let me build crazy stuff. And the crazier the better. Some people feel like simplifying a system makes it naturally more elegant. Personally, I feel it takes a form of genius to simplify a complex system into something elegant - and not into something that's just simpler. While 5e starting characters are usually more diverse than 3e starting chars, it so happens that mid-to-high-level 3e characters are 100 times more diverse that 5e characters of equivalent level. The options at your disposal are truly exponential. I've had the opportunity to both DM and play at high-level multiple times, and I'm sorry, the sheer colossal level of customization you get for high-level 3e chars is unbeatable, in my opinion - especially by 5e characters. Narrowing down that subtle complexity into a bundle or one larger overarching feat to make things more manageable like in 5e just takes away control that some people just. simply. enjoy. having. Independance and freedom have value in and of themselves, but they come at the cost of responsibility and work. Personally, after nearly 20 years of playing, I've ended up with a giant, 300 pages long, compendium of rules to integrate Warcraft, Mass Effect, WH40K, Halo, Star Wars, The Witcher and so much more. I know full well using 5e would've made it three times easier to build... but frankly... creating things for 5e just bores me to death. I don't want it to be easy, I want it to be meaningful, all the way down to the mechanics. Becoming a Death Knight from WoW with your runes of power, or a Biotic Adept from ME should come with cool and unique powers that are organized in a new and exciting manner. The sour mentality that often permeates people "like" me is, as far as I know, derived from the notion that the kind of experience we prefer is litterally being "passed by" and left behind by the greater community, a bit like videogame players who like complex systems are sour over every. single. major franchise being simplified to appeal to larger audiences for the sake of profit. It's not inherently bad or wrong, but the choice to do so can, and will, result in people, well, feeling left out... because they are being left out : We can either abandon our preferred playstyle, or stay behind. I personally don't, because I was blessed long ago with an amazing circle of friends to play with, but I understand the feeling of 3.5 players who can't get a group going because everyone and their mum is running 5e (Althought, that's the power of 5e : you can run it with yer mum). I don't think acting bitter, or generally being a**es about it is at all justifiable, but I "get" it. Any fan of 5e reading this should be vigilant : The suits at WotC have had a taste of the colossal sums of cash you get when you give a broader appeal to your product by making it more easily accessible. They'll want more of that. 6e will quite probably be even simpler and more streamlined than 5e, and so on. D&D stands to lose a lot in the process (By my metrics, at any rate... prepare for dumb phoenixes, magic-less dragons and really incompetent pit fiends to leak all over the game...). Unless they create multiple versions within the new edition to embrace all their players at once, but I don't think it's likely... Well, that was a mouthful... Thank you for reading, whoever might get all the way here! Have fun!

If Friendship is Magic, then that means Dragon Magic is Dragon Friendship :) Also vey helpfull, awesome and interessting as always. My players are gonna face Arauthator from Rise of Tiamat soon, and i'm hoping to make it a cool encouter. Dragon Magic should do the trick.

This one of the most awesome videos I have ever watched ‼️ Well done, Sir, @Aj Pickett ‼️ Well done 👍🏼

AJ thank you! Your generosity with your time, research and skills is greatly appreciated. I'm casting unexpected joy on you today. If it takes, at least once today you will Be delighted and benefited by a surprise and experience a tickle to burst of laughter. Best to you, mate!

First off: Awesome video, Dragon Magic was one of my favorite books when it was published and seeing you adapt it to 5e is very helpful. Secondly, the problem, Aj, with your viewpoint on the 5e vrs 3.5 dichotomy is that 5e doesn't present ANY support for "playing what you want" out of the box. I agree 3.5 and PF tend to lock players down a tree that doesnt exactly fit the character idea you want, but at least being a half-dragon is even an option in the first place, or even playing as a Dragon all together. 5e does let players do whatever they want but no matter what it will never mechanically mean anything unless the DM is willing to homebrew up something. I can't play as a fighter half-dragon capable of flight without first asking for my DM to allow some kind of homebrew feat for draconic flight for my "Dragonborn" I've refluffed as a half-dragon. And if I want any more draconic powers I have to go into sorcerer, not what my character idea is about.

Thank you not just for the video but the perfect Elrond quote hahaha excellent

In the Dragonomicon it has Dragon specific magical items Dragon specific spells like anime breath and Dragons specific feats combine that with the dragon Magic Book and the races of dragons and you will have everything you could possibly want you might want to supplement that with Unearthed Arcana

This reminds me of Arch Warhammer, but with D&D instead. Keep up the video man, they’re super interesting and really really well done

In the complete book of eldritch might by Monte Cook, there is a section of dragon magic as well as an interesting location.

One of the two issues of Dragon magazine I owned was about dragon magic and items made out of their scales (as mentioned around 25:07) The other one was about how to run a game in Westeros, which is how I learned about aSoIaF.

I always reduced kill XP, and increased XP for "inventive" ways to overcome a foe - (Kill XP + RP Bonus)*(effectiveness of defeat * WTF factor). Effectiveness of defeat covering how likely the foe is to be a problem again, while the WTF factor is literally how many times I thought "WTF?" while saying "I'll allow it - Roll for X" The bandits reformed & working the abandoned farm the PC's cleared? Well, they aren't bandits any more, so they are defeated. Party's priest of Pelor & Paladin convincing 1. The party, 2. The Militia, 3. the magistrate, and 4. The bandits, that setting the bandits up with a farm and them going strait in return for pardons, over a 3 session side-track from a random encounter - yea, RP bonus. After those spells, speeches & rolls, the bandits are farmers now, so it's a complete, near permanent defeat. The fact that a party of borderline murder hobos did this instead of killing the bandits or turning them over to the magistrate, putting 3 sessions into overcoming obstacles to their crazy idea - WTF, WTF, WTF WTF? "I allowed it" Instead of a paltry couple hundred XP, the party wound up going half way from lvl 6 to 7.

Wow AJ. You are an incredible treasure trove of material for us to access. It's like having a library of books in RU-vid form with a narrator.

As someone who’s been DMing using 3.5 since 2005, I gotta agree with you about 5E-and that’s precisely why I eagerly await the day all my players are on-board about transitioning to it, lol.

Unbeliveable amount of lore

This is like some sort of symbiotic relationship between humanoids and Dragons ? I think it sounds cool.

As a player that prefers 3.5/pathfinder, my only issue with 5E is not related to feats at all. It has to do with how saves, attack, and armor class is handled, because I feel it is a step backwards instead of forwards. And it is a personal preference, and I would not "shit" on someone to prefer the 5E system at all, after all, it is a personal preference, and it would be shitty to force my opinion on others. 4E however... It is pretty much terrible, but even that had a few good ideas, not many, but a few (like expanding the energy types to a full ten by adding poison energy and psychic energy, as well as renaming a few to have more realistic names for a fantasy world: Electricity > Lightning, Negative Energy > Necrotic, Positive Energy > Radiant, and Sonic > Thunder. Which was a clear improvement from earlier edition. Unfortunately the edition was mired by the head developer actively trying to change the game into a miniature's game rather than an actual RPG, and it was very noticeable. Not to mention things like destroying the great wheel cosmology, wiping out Maztika in the Faerûn, etc. That said, the edition did save the Dragonborn race. So, eh. *shrugs* But basically, if someone prefers a specific edition, they should be allowed to enjoy said edition, and anyone who attacks them for it are terrible people. D&D is supposed to be inclusive dammit, and gatekeeping helps nobody.

Aye another Spicy morning vid AJ. I love when you talk about dragons. Have you done a video on the Dragon Giant war?

Yeeeeeeeeeeesssss High Loremaster Pickett!!

Arn't the Sunscorch hobgoblin standing infront of a white dragon and the Frostblood orc infront of a blue? think they might have mixed up the dragons on the artwork at 2:01😄

*sips coffee* anyone else notice the white and blue dragons are switched in that one line up image? Above that frostblood orc be NOT a white dragon, thats a blue. The white is above the sunscorch hobgoblin. Pretty sure AJ isnt to blame either, think thats just the art work.

Who watches videos at 4 am?? Me: Oh boy 4 am!

23:00 Shield of the winged Crusade

Watched this one with my wife. Which lead to a couple more, which lead to companion pets. Now she wants either a Blink Dog or one of those eleven dogs as a companion for her human barbarian. DAM IT, this was supposed to be educational!

Okay, final refined concept for my “Soulspewer” dragon...which isn’t actually a dragon at all, just a drake on a similar level of intelligence to primitive humans: A large, sleek, vaguely serpentine drake with a back arched like a threatened cat. Its capable of changing its color, similarly to a chameleon, but at rest its rigid yet smooth and tightly interlocking scales turn almost vantablack in color. It’s limbs are long and relatively thin, terminating in two digits with eagle-like talons, with it’s wings being similarly long, thin, and only possessing two fingers that the membrane connects with, with most males often having rips and tears in their wings from mating disputes. Their tails are prehensile and extremely flexible, acting both as a means of locomotion and a powerful whip. Their necks are relatively short, terminating in a head likened to a mix of snapping turtle, chameleon, and horned thunderbeast (IE, ceratopsian), with oddly mammalian eyes that glow in the dark like the eyes of lions and hyenas. It’s primary means of attack is it’s breath weapon, a long cone of the spirits of those it’s killed that inflict a feeling only comparable to one’s blood turning to ice and drag any poor living thing that gets hit by it to the maw of the beast, snapping close as soon as the prey is in it’s jaws, often managing to cleave through armor and splitting its prey in half. They start hunting at a very early age, being extremely aggressive and often attacking animals many times larger than them to obtain enough souls for their devastating breath weapon. This aggression tends to mellow with their age, with adults instead preferring to hunt prey substantially lower in terms of size. They can cling to walls and climb trees extremely effectively, and the speed at which they fly is surprisingly extremely fast, being able to outpace most greater dragons in flight. Male soulspewers have crests of black feathers that bloom into a light purple during mating season, and females are substantially smaller than their male counterparts. They have a form of rudimentary language comparable to that of dolphins in the real world, being made up of clicks, with some dracologists even suggesting certain orientations of these vocalizations to be akin to names.

25:05 That is one swol dragon. XD

hmmm now the alternate dragon abilities thing got me thinking what would a steel dragons alt abilities be? or the gem dragons ones?

Could you do a video about Psionics one day?

Omg love love love love keep it up!!!!

Sir!! U are awesome beyond words!! I thank u 4 all ur D&D info

"Sorry not you Charazard" *Points to sigh*

Incredibly dope Dragon spells!

How does a dragon blooded player differ from a Spell Scale?

Good video AJ

5:27 combat expertise. Has anyone ever actually used the benefit of this feat?

*Relevant and Supportive Comment* Now, if only I had the catnap spell...could do a lot with an extra 4 hours a day.

This was a really fun expansion when it came out.

Thanks AJ.

I ALWAYS get asked by one of my players to play a dragon. Unfortunately it stems from a desire to make the most powerful character possible as he doesnt roleplay it as a dragon, and has been scolded in the past for powergaming and disrupting the balance of the party. So when someone wants to play a dragon my spidey sense goes off. I hope this isnt the case with all dragon players.

I love your videos

Hey AJ, you should do a video going in-depth about what you said at the begining. Would love to hear a veteran's take on the hobby and how it's progressed.

Came here for a refresher on a great book, stayed for AJ dragging me at 4:35.

I have enjoyed being a murder hobo since 1977 though lol and I have mastered the art of running murder hobo centric campaigns over the years, honed and refined the technique of endless waves of targets for the party anytime one the players decides to have a role playing conversation with an NPC and return their attention to dice rolls and mathematics and oh my God I need a heal right now, where it belongs #murderhoboforlyfe

would love to get a 5e book with lore and the subraces from this video :D and ofc a lot of the spells and feats also :D

Can someone become a dragon with enough magical power? And would other dragons accept them into there society? Oh and do dragons actively try to spread draconic blood? Ps also great video 👍

Just in time for my lunch break

dragons are angry lizards with magical augmentations.

It would be amazing if WoTC brought some of the Draconic magic back and the Dragonfire adept back as an warlock subclass and/or patron

This show keeps inspirin me to change my desktop wallpaper.

Well this will be useful for my character that is a polymorphed white dragon who thinks that she is human.

With Dragon Magic, it reminded me of how much I want to rework and combine the Dragon Shaman and Marshal for a 5e aura based class, I'd had a lot of fun with the Marshal in 3.5, and it was hilariously broken if you could get one as a cohort. Dragons had so many fun options that would make dragon fights even more unpredictable for players, hell adding a Meta-Breath feat to a dragon was often devastating because it could come out of nowhere.

The next time i get asked if a player can have a dragon mount in a normal game setting im going to have them watch this .

While I prefer modern game mechanics, I absolutely love the 3.5e sourcebooks for the lore.

I've been waiting for this for so long

“I was there Gandalf 3000 years ago.” 😂😂😂

Yay!

2:25 Disappointed bard noises. Sad lute strumming.

Would a dragon born wizard also have access to this type of magic?

I would be broke if WotC sold updated books

so what are teh brass and bronze's favorite race? i need that to complete this list!

Owen has contributed so much to the hobby.

10:13 is how brown dragons should look. That protective ear flap

Hoard Gullet is still one of my favorite spells.

Can dragons be Paladins? I’ve never heard of something like it (besides dragon magic), so I’m curious.

I'm starting as a first time DM and one of my players wants to be a dragonborn so bad and i dont have to heart to tell them that DB get the short end of stick when it comes to racial abilities. Any help on some fun homebrew abilities i can give their DB fighter?

Is there a good (legal) place to go for the 3.5 books? This video had dozens of campaigns worth of content. I am running a gods are making a run on Toril. I have a cleric brining in Palor from Greyhawk. I was trying to get the dragons and their gods into as well.

5th edition simple rules to make characters more powerful faster ... Sounds great for people crossing over from video games ... Additionally AJ's comment on 3rd edition and 3.5 shows he hasn't played or DMed them much.

"Dragons never couple with other races, DRAGONS NEVER COUPLE WITH OTHER RACES!" Jarlaxle disagrees XD

Aj, have you ever thought about collabing with a wepons channel like shadaversity ? I'd love to see what you two come up with.

I miss templates personally.

10 minutes of AJ reading off of a list of spells? What is this? dnd asmr?

Oh Aj, always bragging about how Big your...collection is.