Where Dragons are born...

...and template character sheets...

RACE         ................                CLASS/LEVEL  ............... / ..
BACKGROUND   ................                ALIGNMENT  ....................

              score   mod.    save                         score   mod.    save
 CHARISMA     {..}    [..]    (..)            CONSTITUTION {..}    [..]    (..)
 DEXTERITY    {..}    [..]    (..)            INTELLIGENCE {..}    [..]    (..)
 STRENGTH     {..}    [..]    (..)            WISDOM       {..}    [..]    (..)

 ARMOR CLASS [..]       SPEED  [..]      INITIATIVE [..]       PROFICIENCY [..]
 HIT POINTS:          -maximum [..]        -current [..]        -temporary [..]
 DEATH SAVES:       -successes[./3]      -failures [./3]        HIT DIE [d..+.]

 [-] ... ACROBATICS (Dex)                         [-] ... MEDICINE (Wis)
 [-] ... ANIMAL HANDLING (Wis)                    [-] ... NATURE (Int)
 [-] ... ARCANA (Int)                             [-] ... PERCEPTION (Wis)
 [-] ... ATHLETICS (Str)                          [-] ... PERFORMANCE (Cha)
 [-] ... DECEPTION (Cha)                          [-] ... PERSUASION (Cha)
 [-] ... HISTORY (Int)                            [-] ... RELIGION (Int)
 [-] ... INSIGHT (Wis)                            [-] ... SLEIGHT OF HAND (Dex)
 [-] ... INTIMIDATION (Cha)                       [-] ... STEALTH (Dex)
 [-] ... INVESTIGATION (Int)                      [-] ... SURVIVAL (Wis)

   weapon/power     bonus    damage     damage type             notes
 ................   [+..]   [.d..+.]   .............  .........................
 ................   [+..]   [.d..+.]   .............  .........................
 ................   [+..]   [.d..+.]   .............  .........................

 RACE / CLASS / BACKGROUND FEATURES
  feature                        notes                                 source
  .......   ........................................................ race
  .......   ........................................................ class
  .......   ........................................................ background
  .......   ........................................................ ..........

 SPELL DC [..]   CASTING BONUS [..]     SPELL ABILITY [...]    SPELL LEVEL [.]

 SPELL   {1}     {2}     {3}     {4}     {5}     {6}     {7}     {8}     {9}
 SLOTS:  ./.     ./.     ./.     ./.     ./.     ./.     ./.     ./.     ./.

 SPELLS KNOWN
  lvl.      name      target   range   duration               effect
  {0}    ..........   ......   .....   ........   .............................
  {1}    ..........   ......   .....   ........   .............................
  {2}    ..........   ......   .....   ........   .............................
  {3}    ..........   ......   .....   ........   .............................
  {4}    ..........   ......   .....   ........   .............................
  {5}    ..........   ......   .....   ........   .............................
  {6}    ..........   ......   .....   ........   .............................
  {7}    ..........   ......   .....   ........   .............................
  {8}    ..........   ......   .....   ........   .............................
  {9}    ..........   ......   .....   ........   .............................

 EQUIPMENT
  ...

  .. platinum pieces   .. gold crowns   .. silver schillings   .. brass pennies

 PERSONALITY/IDEALS/BONDS/FLAWS
  ...

 STORY
  ...

 LANGUAGES
  common, ...

 NOTES
  ...
This message had punctuation tweaked by the GM at 11:25, Thu 01 Apr 2021.

I don't know if there are any guidelines for using monsters as PCs in 5e, so I'll use the older ones from 3.5e.

Currently, I'm planning on making her an Adult-category dragon and assigning the Innate Dragon Magic spells, using those as an "establishing setup" for Wizard stuff. Instead of class levels, which would be odd and make the math excessively top-heavy, I plan to assign to her the spellcasting abilities of a Wizard capable of casting the spells she has from Innate Dragon Magic. The idea behind this is that she's kind of a dork, as far as dragons go; she likes reading and stories, books are her favorite treasures, and with an innate fascination for how things work, she has spent a great deal of time attempting to understand how her innate dragon magic works.

(OF course, the fact that I think that collecting stuff is fun and making magical items, permanent enchantments, and that sort of thing is really cool is the real reason for it all, but an in-character justification helps too.)

I was also thinking she would be a red dragon, but neutral instead of evil, raised from an egg, by two human adventuers, who just couldn't bear to smash an egg after slaying the very monstrous dragon which laid said egg. She is fully capable of shapeshifting to take on humanoid guise, and, thanks to a much more peaceful upbringing than other dragons usually have, she is both naive and excitable

How's that all sound to you? Any comments, questions, complaints, suggestions, or alternatives you would like to put forth?

I don't see any particular issues with it.

I will be curious to know a bit more about her... sort of questions that come to mind, why does she take human form? What's her relationship with other dragons? What happened to the two adventurers that rescue her egg, does she have significant memories of them? In short, the kind of background questions that will help flesh out the game.

Oh, also, can you direct me to the 3.5 book that deals monster PCs?

It's under the "Monsters As Races" entry in the Dungeon Master's Guide for edition 3.5. There's a bunch of stuff about racial hit dice and level adjustment that isn't applicable here. I was referring specifically to the part about ability scores, which says to subtract 10 from even ability scores and 11 from odd ability scores, then use the resulting numbers as modifiers to generated ability scores for the character.

To answer your questions, which I hope lead to more questions (They were way before my time, but I still like those old choose-your-own-adventure books.):

She takes humanoid form (haven't decided whether human or elf, maybe either one) because she was raised by two of the adventurers from the party that slew her "mother," that is, the dragon who laid the egg she hatched from. The two adventurers married after "retiring" (at the ripe old ages of 25 and 23). They raised her as their own child and did not tell her of her draconic nature until she was eight years old; both have been dead of old age for a long time. She was a loyal daughter to them and cared for them to the end. They were good people (though her father was a bit of a horn dog) and raised Ataraxia with incredible patience and care, such that she overcame her instincts as a red dragon and became a not-all-that-bad person.

If it's helpful or you think it's a good idea, she could have inherited lands and titles from her human parents. Then maybe accumulated some more by marrying a few suitors over the years, attracted by her beauty and keen intellect. Naturally, she prefers women to men and has a thing for princesses and pretty ladies; this is her most traditionally dragonish behavior and means that she is also very bad about keeping her dragon-ness a secret.

She has had very few dealings with other dragons and sometimes thinks it's strange that so few of them stop by to talk to her, play board games, or even trade.

How's that sound?

Cool, will have a look at that.



I now feel like Methuselah, 900 years old.




Fine with either, but it may make for two different games.

Per force, if she inherited titles, however abstracted we do it, we will have to deal with 'realm' level events and actions. In fact this may start to creep and take over quite a bit of the storyline.

If on the other hand, she does not have titles, we can skip that side of the game and centre the story on her exploits.

In short, and you will tell me if I'm on the wrong path here, if no titles or land, I see the game as more of an 'adventurer game' centred on her exploits in the world, even if she has got her holdings and possessions, sort of a 'base camp', on the other hand if we involved titles and land it becomes a game centred around this...

On the other hand, this is your game, so if you want her to be a princess that chooses to live in her 'base camp' and ignore all of the realm stuff, there's nothing to say we cannot go that way. In short, we can treat her in a similar way to the 'sorcerer in a tower', those guys never care about realm stuff other than their tower and their possessions and knowledge. In fact, now that I think about it, this might be the approach that best matches what I've understood you want from the game. This gives you your princess-dragon to a 't'.



They may just be about to pay her a visit... be aware of strangers bearing gifts...

You're not that old! Probably! =P

I would really like for this sort of thing to have longevity to it, and I love "realm management" types of games. Being able to both play a strong, cool character and actually be in charge of stuff is awesome; both authority and responsibility going together are delightful. Then mixing the strategic and "standard" roleplaying aspects together, ah, magic!

And since she's a great big dragon, she can stomp around on a lot of stuff by herself!

She'll eventually have to learn that she can't defend everyone under her rule by her lonesome, because naturally she's going to accumulate more and more pets subjects. =3

Just a tad younger than him. Same beard.

Right, so we'll go for the realm. That's no problem. I'll have a look tomorrow at RQ Empires and will let you know what needs to be set-up. As far as I remember it was pretty straightforward.

Keep progressing the dragon lady, as she'll be the centre-piece of the entire realm.

For the sake of clarification, she will likely consider the people, land, buildings, and other assets to be part of her hoard and their productivity and happiness as part of their luster. It's a different reason than most decent rulers might have for caring about their subjects, but the end result would be largely the same.

Besides, practically speaking, what's better: a great big pile of treasure or several assets that regularly produce treasure? The latter, obviously, when one's lifespan is measured in centuries! (Looking forward to hiring adventurers, taking in kobold refugees, distributing magic swords, and other delicious activities. Only sometimes eating people. Oh hey, there's an idea: have condemned criminals for lunch. Chompy chompy. =P)

So she's into a diversified portfolio...

Not sure chomping criminals is not conducive to a certain... pressure on the legal system for a certain result... I imagine it would take a small gang for lunch. A mob ring for those big meals...

You're probably right. I deliberately put Wisdom as her lowest ability score. It's 11, which isn't...bad, persay, but it's not great. It's definitely overshadowed by 21 Intelligence.  This means that she can elaborately rationalize a lot of things, and indeed she's driven to do so. For example, since humans, elves, dwarves, and so forth are usually very distraught at killing intelligent beings, and if a renowned book on leadership says that a good ruler never orders his subjects to do what he is not himself willing to do, then Ataraxia would rationally conclude that she can take care of high justice herself.

Plus, she is a red dragon. So, intelligent, civilized humanoids are delicious to her. That means she already wants to eat people, she restrains herself most of the time. But, you know, if there's a good excuse......... =P

Similarly, I didn't give her proficiency in Insight, even though wizards can get that. She has proficiency in Wisdom saving throws from being a red dragon, and Legendary Resistance means that she auto-succeed on saving throws three times a day. However, without Insight, and with a modest Wisdom, she's still vulnerable to manipulation, lies, and outright treachery. Combined with the legacy of good, kind parents and never having to really fight for her own survival, she's also quite naive, even though she's hundreds of years old.

Deliberate inclusion of weaknesses! =3

I never do that with "regular" RPG characters because "points" or "levels" are always so limited, and I feel like I'm making defensive choices. This is different though, and it's fun already. Weeeeeee! ^_^

ohhh.... this is going to be fun...

Ok, re the realm stuff, below is a summary of the 5 steps to create a realm using RQ2 Empires. It's pretty straightforward in this case, since it will be small. We can then generate some kind of auto-map, find a nice place in the FR to place it and we should be good to do.

1) 3D6 rolled 6 times, the results noted and then assigned to each Characteristic

Military Strength (MIL)
The power of the state or empire to exert military force against
agressors, potential conquests or in defence of its territories.

Law (LAW)
The LAW Characteristic represents the maturity of the state or
empire’s governmental framework and the stability of its social
rules and how they are enforced in society

Size (SIZ)
The state or empire’s population.

To give you an idea of how these values relate to actual number:
Population Values
SIZ Population
1 100,000
2 300,000
3 500,000
4 650,000
5 800,000
6 1 million
7 1.25 million
8 1.5 million
9 1.75 million
10 2 million
11 2.25 million
12 2.5 million
13 2.75 million
14 3 million
15 3.25 million
16 3.5 million
17 3.75 million
18 4 million
19 4.25 million
20 4.5 million
21 4.75 million


Communication (COM)
COM measures the state or empire’s ability to hold itself together
through internal communications, information gathering and
dissemination.

Religion (REL)
This is a measure of the religious or spiritual strength of the
state or empire.

Wealth (WTH)
Wealth measures the riches of the state or empire in terms of its
property, assets and natural resources.

2) determine capabilities:

Capability Characteristics
Commerce WTH+SIZ
Dogma REL+LAW
Espionage COM+WTH
Government LAW+COM
Warfare MIL+REL

3) determine cultural background:

Barbarian
Characteristic Modifiers
MIL +1D3
COM +1D3
SIZ –1D3 (minimum 3)
WTH –1D3
Basic Capabilities
Dogma +10, Warfare +20
Advanced Capabilities
Magic. If Magic is not part of the campaign, then increase either
Dogma or Warfare by a further +10.

Civilised
Characteristic Modifiers
LAW +1D3
Basic Capabilities
Commerce +10, Government +5. Choose one of the following at
+5: Dogma, Espionage or Warfare.
Advanced Capabilities
Choose any two Advanced Capabilities at the base value.

Maritime
Characteristic
Modifiers
COM +1D3
Basic Capabilities
Commerce +15. Choose one
of the following at +5: Dogma,
Espionage or Warfare.
Advanced Capabilities
Choose any two Advanced
Capabilities at the base value.

Primitive
Characteristic Modifiers
All Characteristics suffer a –1D3 penalty and no Characteristic
may exceed 10.
Basic Capabilities
Dogma +15, Warfare +5
Advanced Capabilities
None

4) determine government
Governmental Type / Characteristic Modifiers / Capabilities
Autocracy: MIL +1 / Warfare +10,
Aristocracy: — / Culture +5, Government +10
Democracy: COM +1 / Diplomacy +10
Despotism: — / Espionage +10, Warfare +5
Diarchy: — / Government +10, Choose from: Culture +5 or Diplomacy +5
Gerontocracy: LAW +1 / Diplomacy +10
Meritocracy: LAW +1 or COM +1 / Choose from: Diplomacy +10, Government +10 or Warfare +10
Monarchy: — / Culture +5, Choose from: Diplomacy +10, Government +10 or Warfare +10
Plutocracy> WTH +1 / Commerce +10
Theocracy: REL +1 / Choose from: Espionage +10, Magic +10 or Warfare +10

5) Free Capability Points
Having determined Characteristics, Capabilities and government
type, the state can be rounded out by developing the base
Capability scores.
Each state gains 100 Free Capability points that can be spent on
developing Basic and Advanced Capabilities.
• Basic Capabilities increase by 1% for each Capability point
spent.
• New Advanced Capabilities can be bought for 10 Capability
Points and further developed at the same cost as Basic
Capabilities.
• Existing Advanced Capabilities can be developed by 1% for
each Capability point spent.
• There is no cap on how many Capability Points can be
allocated to either Basic or Advanced Capabilities.

Advanced Capabilities By Cultural Background
Cultural Background / Permitted Advanced Capabilities / Prohibited Advanced Capabilities
Barbarian: Magic, Diplomacy, Culture / Technology
Civilised: All / —
Maritime: All / —
Primitive: Magic / Technology, Culture, Diplomacy

I'm glad you're looking forward to it!

Would you like to use the Runequest II rules for the "regular" RPG part as well, instead of D&D 5e? We can use the Runequest II rules for a non-Glorantha setting, if I remember correctly. That'd be kinda neat. I like the way accumulating skills, spells, and that sort of thing works in the newest edition of Runequest, and Runequest II is probably similar.

I'd be fine with the switch, by the by. I've already made the biggest selections for making Ataraxia's character sheet and done the more difficult calculations, such as which levels of Innate Dragon Magic to assign based on age and Charisma. However, I like non-level-based games better in general, and I'm not at all opposed to starting over. I've got more free time this week than last week anyway. =D

Let's go for the switch then. I'm rather familiar with RQ2 and family, so that's even better for me.

Also, on the Core RQ2 book, dragons are noted as having common magic. a sample list of spells is shown, but don;t get too fussed by the actual spells. The monster coliseum book has got something they call 'oriental dragons', I think the spells list in there is more... dragony... In short, choose whatever you want from the common list up to this limit:

Option 1:
Maximum 6 spells in total, of which:
2 spells at magnitude of 4
1 spell at magnitude of 2
3 spells at magnitude of 1

Option 2:
Maximum 5 spells in total, of which:
1 spell at magnitude of 8
1 spell at magnitude of 6
2 spells at magnitude of 4
1 spell at magnitude of 1

Diversity over power, or power over diversity!

Oooooh I've wanted to play Runequest for a couple years, since I played King of Dragon Pass and Six Ages. I know we won't be in Glorantha (I'd prefer not to be in Glorantha, since Glorantha's dragons are weird; I'd either feel like an imitation of the real thing or have a character so powerful that doing stuff would be nearly meaningless) but I really like the game system. Of course, dragons in Runequest are even scarier and stronger than dragons in D&D.......

Experience checks, the different kinds of magic, seasonal income, and the sorcery mechanics are very cool, I think. I'm really looking forward to her learning lots of cool magic from tutors, books, and kidnapped princesses friends. =D

Okay, let me grab Runequest II and dig around to find out dragon stats. For the "standard" fantasy dragons anyway.

I don't know what I should do to generate most of these stats, so I'll just pick some stuff, erring on the side of "talented but unskilled," since she didn't have any other dragons to learn from.

Plus, that leaves open room for improvement, like magic tutors.

Double plus, the Runequest rules make literacy difficult and rare, which is massively appropriate for a pre-Modern society. That being said, what languages and writing systems are we going to use?

By the way, do you read any webcomics or webtoons?
This message was last edited by the player at 19:42, Wed 07 Apr 2021.

That sounds like a logical plan. Assume the stats shown on the core rulebook are for your 'average adult dragon' and take it from there.



Yeah, there's two schools of thought re that one.

One, is that the difficulties with literacy actually pertain to higher-level fare, say you want to be a Dostoevsky of the fantasy RPGs, then literacy comes into play.

The other is that literacy should be understood as we do it. No literacy, no read and write. Which is indeed rather medieval.

With regards to languages, it's an even bigger minefield.We need to assume a 'common' language of some sort that she speaks and that everyone around her can understand. This can then be treated as a broad language, with essentially accents as regional variations, or a strictly local language, which means someone coming from the outside would need an interpreter or local knowledge.

I would be tempted (up for discussion) to consider that her human form uses some sort of 'common' language, with local accents and variations but nothing too dramatic and some kind of high-level 'draconic' language that she can be better or worst at, but that allows her to communicate with her fellow dragons.

Take this wall of text above as tuition and pick up another spell at magnitude 1.



Nope, never quite found a series that would interest me enough. Any recommendations are appreciated. Read plenty of comics and manga. Well, the european version of comics, very little of the US stuff.

BTW, you reminded me of something. I once played in a Tekumel RPG and the GM decided to make the game highly stringent in what concerns characters language, social status, etc There were two sessions. Both consisted of an intense argument, shouting included, on the in-game language differences, subtleties and grammar rules.

That was the plan! Of course she's extra big and strong, because stompy stompy rawr girlzilla. And I don't need more reason than that. =3

IIRC, POW and CHA can be improved "normally" but INT and DEX have to be improved with magic rituals, right?



I'm a huge history dork. This is a topic I find very interesting. Literacy was rare in the pre-modern era for a lot of reasons, but the two big ones were standardization (the lack of it) and how expensive writing materials were. The only languages with even vaguely standardized spelling, grammar, and punctuation before the 1750s were Latin and Greek, and that was due to the influence of the Catholic Church and monasteries, which required monks and clerics to use a set canon of books and characters to establish literacy. Everything else, not just in Europe but around the world, was not only written by hand, it was never standard; spellings, punctuation, and abbreviations varied widely across the world, even from town to town. Then there was the fact that materials for writing, ink and a writing surface, were also handmade, usually the scribe made his own ink, and without steam engines, wood pulp paper was a luxury item. So was papyrus, and parchment, the best writing surface of all, was massively expensive.

Anyway, I uh, sorry. I like this kinda stuff. =P



Okie-dokey. That's fine with me. I'll just leave the languages bit open for now and we can fill it in later as necessary.



Yay learning! I feel edumacated already. =D



Well, this one is pretty niche, but I like it and it's relevant.

https://www.webtoons.com/en/co...438&episode_no=1

Not sure that would be needed for your baseline char. Just go with whatever feels right for the char you want to play.



Trivia time, that's how Portuguese became a language and separated from the Galician, which in turn was also separating from the Castilian (which we now know as 'Spanish').



You have an interested listener on this side.



Tsk, tsk. You're about to lose your new spell.



Will have a look!

Also, I'm looking at inserting this story into some form of location, do you have any preference with regards to realm location, ie, remote mountains valley, coastal, inland plains, artic, desert, idyllic 'shire'?...