2018-05-31

Dragon Metrics By Age

Following up on Monday's post, I thought it might be nice to look at the Equivalent Hit Dice (EHDs) for Dragons, broken down by separate age categories. (In the OED Monster Database, for brevity, I have only color breakdowns, and assume ages are set by a random 1d6 method). This also includes all the different enumerations for Hydras. Power-curve ASCII graphs can be seen here. Enjoy,


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5 comments:

  1. TetramorphMay 31, 2018 at 8:44 AM

    Yet again, fantastic. Thanks!

    What about Golden Dragons? Would you need to factor their ability to go about in human form into your equation?

    Fight on!

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    Replies
    1. DeltaJune 1, 2018 at 10:35 PM

      Thanks for the positive feedback!

      The thing blocking me from assessing Gold Dragons is their copious spell ability (every one having spell ability, and every wizard spell being potentially on the table). Maybe some day.

      Delete
    2. TetramorphJune 2, 2018 at 10:52 AM

      Got it. That makes sense. So, I guess I could ball-park it from VO L Red Dragons based upon number of spells, etc. Thanks!

      Delete
  2. VedronJune 1, 2018 at 10:20 PM

    Looks like these fall neatly enough into the suggested EHD by Monster Level chart.

    Monster Level IV (EHD 5-7): Very Young Dragons
    White (5), Black (5), Green (6), Blue (7), Red (8)

    Monster Level V (8-10 EHD):
    White (8), Black (10), Green (11), Blue (13), Red (14)

    Monster Level VI (11+ EHD):
    All others

    The only issue is that Green, Blue and Red dragons exceed the suggested 8-10 EHD. Green is only by one so I can live with that. Blue and Red are presumably exceptionally lethal as Level V monsters. I'm kind of ok with that... They're dragons. To moderate it, you could say that Young Blue and Red dragons are always the smaller size (i.e. fewer HD). But frankly parties should treat the most fearsome dragons with respect and consider fleeing if they don't get the drop on them.

    This then allows you to use the NA rule of thumb quite neatly, and introduce the smaller dragons sooner in the dungeon. One could theoretically run into the very young dragons as soon as the second floor of the dungeon complex. I'm fine with that given the name of the game.

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    Replies
    1. DeltaJune 1, 2018 at 10:37 PM

      Excellent observation. I'm always happy to be flexible in practice and say something like: Very Young is Level 4, Young is Level 5. Great point.

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