Making dragons...DRAGONS!
Do dragons need a fighting chance? Some of you may scoff at the very idea. Dragons are supposed to be the biggest and baddest monster one would come across in AD&D. But let's take a look at what we have for dragons in the Monster Manual.
-Dragons do have good hit dice, or so it seems. Just look on the opposite page (pg. 28). The T-Rex has 18 HIT DICE. Yes, that's right: 18 HIT DICE. Almost as much as Bahamut and MORE than Tiamat. Some may argue that cunning, intelligence, and a multiple of other special abilities make up for this lack of hit dice. I agree...to a point. I'll elaborate on this point more.
-The dragons special abilities are impressive, but let's take account of them.
Infrasvision of 60'
detect hidden and invisible creatures within 1" (10 ft) per age level
Adult age or older dragons produce a fear aura
chance of using spells
speak multiple languages (minor ability)
Infrasvision is definitely handy. #2 on the list is very useful indeed as well. Just the first two make it very difficult to sneak up on a dragon. Now we get to the rest of the list: #3 is a powerful ability, without a doubt...if the dragon is 51 years of age or more. So younger dragons are out of luck on this one. #4 chance of using spells is ever more rare. Without counting the good aligned dragons, whose range of spell ability is from 30% to 100%, the red dragon is at the high end for evil dragons (not counting Tiamat) at a POSSIBLE 40% spell use. Not very good at all.
Then we get to the weaknesses. More than half a page in the Monster Manual is devoted to the famous (or infamous) subdual section. Right down to the possibility of SELLING a dragon in a large town or city. Really? How dumb is the dragon suppossed to be? And are they really that cowardly as the Monster Manual describes?
And don't get me started on the treasure...
Well, I believe that dragons need a little more of a fighting chance.
Dragons are supposed to be NASTY!
I drew some inspiration from Dragon issue #50 (June 1981)* in a article called "Self Defense for Dragons: Give 'em a Fighting Chance" by Gregory Rihn. In the article Rhin details how to make dragons more of a challenge to PCs. I gave them wing buffet attacks, foot stomp, tail lashes, etc. I took it a little bit further and detailed every dragon out of the Monster Manual with some slight "modifications" of my own:
When looking at the chart "Small", "Average", and "Huge" correlate to the hit dice of the dragon (i.e. a Small Black Dragon has 6 HD, An Average has 7 HD, a Large has 8 HD).
The dragon gets more attacks per round! Anywhere from its base attacks of 3, up to 7 attacks!
Breath weapon has remained unchanged.
A list of Oriental Dragons and dragons from Monster Manual II may be in the future.
I think these additions will make dragons much more exciting and challenging to your players.
Enjoy!
*also in "Best of Dragon Vol. III"
BLACK DRAGON
SMALL AVERAGE HUGE 2 CLAWS 1-4 2-8 3-12 1 BITE 3-18 4-24 5-30 2 WING BUFFETS 1-3 1-4 1-6 FOOT STOMP 1-4 2-8 3-12 TAIL LASH 1-8 2-16 3-24
BLUE DRAGON
SMALL AVERAGE HUGE 2 CLAWS 1-6 2-8 3-12 1 BITE 3-24 4-32 5-40 2 WING BUFFETS 1-4 1-6 1-8 FOOT STOMP 1-6 2-8 3-12 TAIL LASH 2-12 4-24 6-36
BRASS DRAGON
SMALL AVERAGE HUGE 2 CLAWS 1-4 2-8 3-12 1 BITE 4-16 5-20 6-24 2 WING BUFFETS 1-3 1-4 1-6 FOOT STOMP 1-4 2-8 3-12 TAIL LASH 2-12 4-24 6-36
BRONZE DRAGON
SMALL AVERAGE HUGE 2 CLAWS 1-6 2-12 3-18 1 BITE 4-24 5-30 6-36 2 WING BUFFETS 1-4 1-6 1-8 FOOT STOMP 1-6 2-12 3-18 TAIL LASH 2-12 4-24 6-36
COPPER DRAGON
SMALL AVERAGE HUGE 2 CLAWS 1-4 2-8 3-12 1 BITE 5-20 6-24 7-28 2 WING BUFFETS 1-3 1-4 1-6 FOOT STOMP 1-4 2-8 3-12 TAIL LASH 1-8 2-16 3-24
GOLD DRAGON
SMALL AVERAGE HUGE 2 CLAWS 1-8 2-16 3-24 1 BITE 6-36 7-42 8-48 2 WING BUFFETS 1-6 1-8 1-10 FOOT STOMP 1-8 2-16 3-24 TAIL LASH 1-10 2-20 3-30
GREEN DRAGON
SMALL AVERAGE HUGE 2 CLAWS 1-6 2-12 3-18 1 BITE 2-20 3-30 4-40 2 WING BUFFETS 1-4 1-6 1-8 FOOT STOMP 1-6 2-12 3-18 TAIL LASH 2-12 4-24 6-36
RED DRAGON
SMALL AVERAGE HUGE 2 CLAWS 1-8 2-16 3-24 1 BITE 3-30 4-40 5-50 2 WING BUFFETS 1-6 1-8 1-10 FOOT STOMP 1-8 2-16 3-24 TAIL LASH 1-10 2-20 3-30
SILVER DRAGON
SMALL AVERAGE HUGE 2 CLAWS 1-6 2-12 3-18 1 BITE 5-30 6-36 7-42 2 WING BUFFETS 1-4 1-6 1-8 FOOT STOMP 1-6 2-12 3-18 TAIL LASH 1-8 2-16 3-24
WHITE DRAGON
SMALL AVERAGE HUGE 2 CLAWS 1-4 2-8 3-12 1 BITE 2-16 3-24 4-32 2 WING BUFFETS 1-3 1-4 1-6 FOOT STOMP 1-4 2-8 3-12 TAIL LASH 1-8 2-16 3-24