Fleshing up a Gold Dragon that adopts orphans [Archive] - Wizards Community

Fleshing up a Gold Dragon that adopts orphans [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
meto30
11-05-07, 03:33 AM This is a copy of a thread I started on the Char Dev thread. I'd like to know what the people of the FR boards think on this dragon.

Hello. I'm a DM running a FR setting campaign. I needed some good/neutral chromatic dragons to drive the campaign plot forward, and to explain for their existence I've created this gold dragon cleric of Ilmater that looks for orphans and takes care of them. The following is what I've come up with.

The Gold Dragon is a NG cleric of Ilmater(FR god of endurance, suffering, matyrdom, and perserverance). He believes all creatures are born innocent (as in Ilmater's dogma), and it is his duty to care for orphaned children that cannot benefit from the care of their parents. He is utterly unbiased in his care, and is known to take orphans of even the most evil of creatures or beings.

When he sees an orphan in need, he picks him/her up and looks for a fitting foster parent. His standards for a good foster parent is one who will stop at nothing to protect children, has a stable and peaceful life, and can teach children to lead an honorable and fruitfull life. When the orphan in question is an intelligent creature, he favors the fellow faithful of Ilmater as foster parents, and since the majority of the faith is human, he often chooses human foster parents. A few major churches of Ilmater act as his agents in finding potential adopters, and in case of humanoid orphans the church itself will often adopt the child. After adoption, the dragon watches the rearing process, sometimes offering insight to the foster parent on important issues, and supporting the parent and child if he decides they need help.

In case of powerful creatures, however, he takes the charge to himself, particualrily in case of dragons. He knows from his own experience as parent that dragons are unlikely to heed the advice of humanoid foster parents, and thus he rears all dragon orphans he finds in his spaceous lair. When the young dragon grows somewhat he sometimes sends the child to his consort (LG gold dragon), but he always keeps chromatic dragons in his personal care so that he may have further influence on the child's philosophy.

He has reared and helped rear many children to this day. Of his many children, only those who were in his personal care or has grown up to be an honorable and good-intentioned beings know of their dragon godfather. He is very old, old even by gold dragon standards, and is troubled that his work will end with his death. His first child has died serving Bahamut in battle, and his second child, who is in her prime, is a paladin like her dead older brother and fights a constant battle against the evils of the world. She understands her father's duty fully, and would gladly accept the mantle of the Protector of Orphans, but her father thinks she is leading too dangerous a lifestyle to become a godmother to thousands of orphaned children.

But that's all I've managed to come up with. I have a vague idea on how the dragon chose his path, but I'm not satisfied with it. So, please, help me flesh out the dragon. Ideas on what class he should have, how he came to be the carer of orphans, how he came to serve Ilmater (Ilmater's a human diety), what his consort is like, and such. Ideas on his children (I'm planning on featuring lots of his children in the campaign) are welcome too. Also, if you have ideas on plot hooks leading PCs to encounter this dragon (both sides of the good-evil spectrum), and other plot devices to help the dragon interact with the campaign at large, I'd be grateful to hear them, too.

Also, I haven't named him yet, so feel free to give your own names.
Derren S.
11-05-07, 06:05 AM If you hadn't mentioned it I would never have guessed that this NPC would be a dragon.
Imo the dragon acts much too human. It seems to me that rearing orphans is an integral part of this NPC, but I would suggest to add something that makes the dragon different than a good human in this regard.
For example according to the draconomicon dragons have a limited form of genetic memory so that hatchlings automatically know how to speak, fly, etc and they have basic knowledge from birth (basic knowledge for a dragon equals the knowledge of human sages most of the time). That means that for example the dragon might have no idea how to deal with human children as they don't have this basic knowledge.
meto30
11-05-07, 07:16 AM Hm, you're right. That'll mean I need some reason for him to know about raising other sorts of children.

Perhaps he was taught how to by the church of Ilmater? They are supposed to be knowledgeable in the field, aren't they? Or perhaps he has been at the job for so long that he knows everything by now.

And by the way, I'm planning on having most non-dragon children entrusted to humanoid foster parents, as I stated in the text. This means most of the children in his direct care would be dragons.

Ideas on how to add draconic flavor would be welcome.
Lord Karsus
11-05-07, 10:50 AM -He could always treat non-Draconic children like Dragons, not realizing that they have different wants/needs.
Derren S.
11-05-07, 11:22 AM As the dragon gives human children to foster parents that wouldn't be an issue.

You could go the other route and make the dragon very un-dragonlike instead. The dragon adopting other draconic children is already something most dragons would not do as most wyrmling can take care of their own just fine and dragons aren't very social creatures anyway.

So instead of trying to make this dragon more dragonlike, focus on how this dragon acts not like a normal dragon and create a personality out of that. Of course you have to explain why the dragon behaves unlike any other dragons. Mental illness, some traumatic even in the past, etc...
Lord Karsus
11-05-07, 11:50 AM As the dragon gives human children to foster parents that wouldn't be an issue.

-In the in-between, then.
meto30
11-05-07, 12:05 PM You could go the other route and make the dragon very un-dragonlike instead. The dragon adopting other draconic children is already something most dragons would not do as most wyrmling can take care of their own just fine and dragons aren't very social creatures anyway.

So instead of trying to make this dragon more dragonlike, focus on how this dragon acts not like a normal dragon and create a personality out of that. Of course you have to explain why the dragon behaves unlike any other dragons. Mental illness, some traumatic even in the past, etc...

Perhaps this dragon was himself raised by humans, say, by a local church of Ilmater. His care was carried down generations within the clergy, and the dragon was the church's icon and protector. And when he hears his 'call' from Ilmater, he sets out to save orphaned children in danger. At first he is very unsuccessful, but with the help of the clergy he learns the important stuff, and the rest from experience. This life has made him a bit unpopular among other dragons, who view him as queer, but he is respected among some silver dragons who view him as one of the greatest champions of good.
meto30
11-05-07, 05:14 PM After a good night's sleep I see that my knowledge of DnD dragons is too shallow to make the above judgement...

Does anyone else have ideas?
Derren S.
11-06-07, 03:43 AM After a good night's sleep I see that my knowledge of DnD dragons is too shallow to make the above judgement...

You don't have to use the "official WotC dragon lore" if you don't want to. Its your game.
Besides your explanation isn't really bad either.
Storm_Silverhand
11-14-07, 04:56 PM Heya,

Perhaps this dragon was himself raised by humans, say, by a local church of Ilmater.

You said he was very old, even by gold dragon standards... This means he quite possibly pre-dates the Church of Ilmater. (If I'm wrong about this, someone'll invariably correct me.)

Maybe it all got started when a good friend of his (draconic or not) died protecting their lair/home/town/village, and orphaned their children. Gold dragons are always Lawful Good (this means 99% of them are), and this dragon is NG so he probably shifted away from LG at some point in his life... But at the point in time when his friend died, he was still LG and felt a particular responsibility to his friend to raise his/her children himself. He found it so rewarding that he decided to make it his purpose in life. At some point in time he worked with the church of Ilmater on this, and found that there was much to like and admire in the church... Eventually he felt the "Call" of Ilmater, and answered it, becoming a priest. His two great passions are freeing and finding homes for enslaved children (the former he accomplishes through agents, the latter through the church of Ilmater), and finding abandoned or orphaned wyrmlings and attempting to raise them to become kind and compassionate towards all races - something rather difficult given the racial memory all dragons are born with - but it's a challenge he relishes!

He quite possibly works with the Harpers and/or the Moonstars, and also other organizations that promote Good.
Mula
11-16-07, 11:26 PM Perhaps this dragon was himself raised by humans, say, by a local church of Ilmater. His care was carried down generations within the clergy, and the dragon was the church's icon and protector. And when he hears his 'call' from Ilmater, he sets out to save orphaned children in danger. At first he is very unsuccessful, but with the help of the clergy he learns the important stuff, and the rest from experience. This life has made him a bit unpopular among other dragons, who view him as queer, but he is respected among some silver dragons who view him as one of the greatest champions of good.
I think the idea of the dragon been raised by the church of Ilmater sounds good. It doesn't necessarily take generations of priests to care for a dragon, though, since dragons are "juvenile" from 26 to 50 and "young adult" from 51 to 100.

Also, just because dragons are, well, dragons, doesn't mean they don't know how to raise humanoid children. A great gold wyrm is immensely wise and intelligent, and if this particular dragon actually grew up among humans, he'd probably be an expert in childcare. :)

Many dragons are social, contrary to what was posted earlier. All good dragons are social creatures, especially brass and copper dragons - and even though brass dragons avoid OTHER brass dragons, they enjoy the company (and ears specifically) of other creatures.
meto30
11-17-07, 02:41 PM Thank you all for your input. You have helped me greatly.

Recently I've learned that all gold dragons are part of a single political system led by an immensely powerful gold dragon. How would this particulary dragon interact with the system? I've decided this dragon was raised by a church of Ilmater and has been paying regular visits for a few thousand years, but how would that work with other gold dragons? Is the political system an authorative one? What is its agenda? How would the system view this gold dragon?

I still haven't come up with a name yet, but recetly I've started calling him Puff, as a joke.
jacugo
11-27-07, 04:46 PM it might be late for this but anyways XD

why not call him puff it could be a nickname given to him by his orphans. and you could give him a human name. since he was raised by humans.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
meto30 11-05-07, 03:33 AM	This is a copy of a thread I started on the Char Dev thread. I'd like to know what the people of the FR boards think on this dragon. Hello. I'm a DM running a FR setting campaign. I needed some good/neutral chromatic dragons to drive the campaign plot forward, and to explain for their existence I've created this gold dragon cleric of Ilmater that looks for orphans and takes care of them. The following is what I've come up with. The Gold Dragon is a NG cleric of Ilmater(FR god of endurance, suffering, matyrdom, and perserverance). He believes all creatures are born innocent (as in Ilmater's dogma), and it is his duty to care for orphaned children that cannot benefit from the care of their parents. He is utterly unbiased in his care, and is known to take orphans of even the most evil of creatures or beings. When he sees an orphan in need, he picks him/her up and looks for a fitting foster parent. His standards for a good foster parent is one who will stop at nothing to protect children, has a stable and peaceful life, and can teach children to lead an honorable and fruitfull life. When the orphan in question is an intelligent creature, he favors the fellow faithful of Ilmater as foster parents, and since the majority of the faith is human, he often chooses human foster parents. A few major churches of Ilmater act as his agents in finding potential adopters, and in case of humanoid orphans the church itself will often adopt the child. After adoption, the dragon watches the rearing process, sometimes offering insight to the foster parent on important issues, and supporting the parent and child if he decides they need help. In case of powerful creatures, however, he takes the charge to himself, particualrily in case of dragons. He knows from his own experience as parent that dragons are unlikely to heed the advice of humanoid foster parents, and thus he rears all dragon orphans he finds in his spaceous lair. When the young dragon grows somewhat he sometimes sends the child to his consort (LG gold dragon), but he always keeps chromatic dragons in his personal care so that he may have further influence on the child's philosophy. He has reared and helped rear many children to this day. Of his many children, only those who were in his personal care or has grown up to be an honorable and good-intentioned beings know of their dragon godfather. He is very old, old even by gold dragon standards, and is troubled that his work will end with his death. His first child has died serving Bahamut in battle, and his second child, who is in her prime, is a paladin like her dead older brother and fights a constant battle against the evils of the world. She understands her father's duty fully, and would gladly accept the mantle of the Protector of Orphans, but her father thinks she is leading too dangerous a lifestyle to become a godmother to thousands of orphaned children. But that's all I've managed to come up with. I have a vague idea on how the dragon chose his path, but I'm not satisfied with it. So, please, help me flesh out the dragon. Ideas on what class he should have, how he came to be the carer of orphans, how he came to serve Ilmater (Ilmater's a human diety), what his consort is like, and such. Ideas on his children (I'm planning on featuring lots of his children in the campaign) are welcome too. Also, if you have ideas on plot hooks leading PCs to encounter this dragon (both sides of the good-evil spectrum), and other plot devices to help the dragon interact with the campaign at large, I'd be grateful to hear them, too. Also, I haven't named him yet, so feel free to give your own names.
Derren S. 11-05-07, 06:05 AM	If you hadn't mentioned it I would never have guessed that this NPC would be a dragon. Imo the dragon acts much too human. It seems to me that rearing orphans is an integral part of this NPC, but I would suggest to add something that makes the dragon different than a good human in this regard. For example according to the draconomicon dragons have a limited form of genetic memory so that hatchlings automatically know how to speak, fly, etc and they have basic knowledge from birth (basic knowledge for a dragon equals the knowledge of human sages most of the time). That means that for example the dragon might have no idea how to deal with human children as they don't have this basic knowledge.
meto30 11-05-07, 07:16 AM	Hm, you're right. That'll mean I need some reason for him to know about raising other sorts of children. Perhaps he was taught how to by the church of Ilmater? They are supposed to be knowledgeable in the field, aren't they? Or perhaps he has been at the job for so long that he knows everything by now. And by the way, I'm planning on having most non-dragon children entrusted to humanoid foster parents, as I stated in the text. This means most of the children in his direct care would be dragons. Ideas on how to add draconic flavor would be welcome.
Lord Karsus 11-05-07, 10:50 AM	-He could always treat non-Draconic children like Dragons, not realizing that they have different wants/needs.
Derren S. 11-05-07, 11:22 AM	As the dragon gives human children to foster parents that wouldn't be an issue. You could go the other route and make the dragon very un-dragonlike instead. The dragon adopting other draconic children is already something most dragons would not do as most wyrmling can take care of their own just fine and dragons aren't very social creatures anyway. So instead of trying to make this dragon more dragonlike, focus on how this dragon acts not like a normal dragon and create a personality out of that. Of course you have to explain why the dragon behaves unlike any other dragons. Mental illness, some traumatic even in the past, etc...
Lord Karsus 11-05-07, 11:50 AM	As the dragon gives human children to foster parents that wouldn't be an issue. -In the in-between, then.
meto30 11-05-07, 12:05 PM	You could go the other route and make the dragon very un-dragonlike instead. The dragon adopting other draconic children is already something most dragons would not do as most wyrmling can take care of their own just fine and dragons aren't very social creatures anyway. So instead of trying to make this dragon more dragonlike, focus on how this dragon acts not like a normal dragon and create a personality out of that. Of course you have to explain why the dragon behaves unlike any other dragons. Mental illness, some traumatic even in the past, etc... Perhaps this dragon was himself raised by humans, say, by a local church of Ilmater. His care was carried down generations within the clergy, and the dragon was the church's icon and protector. And when he hears his 'call' from Ilmater, he sets out to save orphaned children in danger. At first he is very unsuccessful, but with the help of the clergy he learns the important stuff, and the rest from experience. This life has made him a bit unpopular among other dragons, who view him as queer, but he is respected among some silver dragons who view him as one of the greatest champions of good.
meto30 11-05-07, 05:14 PM	After a good night's sleep I see that my knowledge of DnD dragons is too shallow to make the above judgement... Does anyone else have ideas?
Derren S. 11-06-07, 03:43 AM	After a good night's sleep I see that my knowledge of DnD dragons is too shallow to make the above judgement... You don't have to use the "official WotC dragon lore" if you don't want to. Its your game. Besides your explanation isn't really bad either.
Storm_Silverhand 11-14-07, 04:56 PM	Heya, Perhaps this dragon was himself raised by humans, say, by a local church of Ilmater. You said he was very old, even by gold dragon standards... This means he quite possibly pre-dates the Church of Ilmater. (If I'm wrong about this, someone'll invariably correct me.) Maybe it all got started when a good friend of his (draconic or not) died protecting their lair/home/town/village, and orphaned their children. Gold dragons are always Lawful Good (this means 99% of them are), and this dragon is NG so he probably shifted away from LG at some point in his life... But at the point in time when his friend died, he was still LG and felt a particular responsibility to his friend to raise his/her children himself. He found it so rewarding that he decided to make it his purpose in life. At some point in time he worked with the church of Ilmater on this, and found that there was much to like and admire in the church... Eventually he felt the "Call" of Ilmater, and answered it, becoming a priest. His two great passions are freeing and finding homes for enslaved children (the former he accomplishes through agents, the latter through the church of Ilmater), and finding abandoned or orphaned wyrmlings and attempting to raise them to become kind and compassionate towards all races - something rather difficult given the racial memory all dragons are born with - but it's a challenge he relishes! He quite possibly works with the Harpers and/or the Moonstars, and also other organizations that promote Good.
Mula 11-16-07, 11:26 PM	Perhaps this dragon was himself raised by humans, say, by a local church of Ilmater. His care was carried down generations within the clergy, and the dragon was the church's icon and protector. And when he hears his 'call' from Ilmater, he sets out to save orphaned children in danger. At first he is very unsuccessful, but with the help of the clergy he learns the important stuff, and the rest from experience. This life has made him a bit unpopular among other dragons, who view him as queer, but he is respected among some silver dragons who view him as one of the greatest champions of good. I think the idea of the dragon been raised by the church of Ilmater sounds good. It doesn't necessarily take generations of priests to care for a dragon, though, since dragons are "juvenile" from 26 to 50 and "young adult" from 51 to 100. Also, just because dragons are, well, dragons, doesn't mean they don't know how to raise humanoid children. A great gold wyrm is immensely wise and intelligent, and if this particular dragon actually grew up among humans, he'd probably be an expert in childcare. :) Many dragons are social, contrary to what was posted earlier. All good dragons are social creatures, especially brass and copper dragons - and even though brass dragons avoid OTHER brass dragons, they enjoy the company (and ears specifically) of other creatures.
meto30 11-17-07, 02:41 PM	Thank you all for your input. You have helped me greatly. Recently I've learned that all gold dragons are part of a single political system led by an immensely powerful gold dragon. How would this particulary dragon interact with the system? I've decided this dragon was raised by a church of Ilmater and has been paying regular visits for a few thousand years, but how would that work with other gold dragons? Is the political system an authorative one? What is its agenda? How would the system view this gold dragon? I still haven't come up with a name yet, but recetly I've started calling him Puff, as a joke.
jacugo 11-27-07, 04:46 PM	it might be late for this but anyways XD why not call him puff it could be a nickname given to him by his orphans. and you could give him a human name. since he was raised by humans.