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I can also give a 5 hour class on the matter if you're interested.
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this post was submitted on 22 Sep 2023
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So, if you want to run a dragon really well, the first thing you should do? Go online and check out a PDF of the Draconomicon. Don't get me wrong, Fizban's Treasury of Dragons isn't bad, it gently encourages you to make up creative stuff for your dragons. Draconomicon hands you hard, detailed lore on how dragons are built to survive, thrive, kick the ass of everything else and succeed as a species within a fantasy world. Even if its' spells and rules are for a different, wildly imbalanced edition of DnD, the information in the Draconomicon is second to none, and will greatly enhance your skills.
Now, you want magic items? I can do magic items!
First, let's look at how they can wear them. Magic items in most settings will canonically reshape to fit their wearers (hence why both the Dwarf Fighter and Elf Paladin can fit into that +1 Platemail). How drastically you allow items to reshape is up to you, but if it's a large alteration, you could allow magic gauntlets to become anklets for your dragon's forelegs, or have boots turn into leg-wraps for their hindlegs.
Weapons: Generally no need, but there is an official item called the Insignia of Claws, which turns a wearer's natural weapons into magical +1/2/3 weapons depending on the rarity. The insignia just sticks to someone's body, so that can go anywhere. Doesn't even need Attunement!
Armour: Generally no need
Cloaks: Can either be worn on the back between their wings (and if it's a really massive cloak it can spread out along with their wings, for that ridiculous overkill swag), or if they have a large cloth band to tie around their neck, they can wear the cloak like it's a cravat.
Rings: Can be worn over their claws, or over their horns.
Gauntlets and Gloves: Potentially can be altered to become anklets when the dragon attunes. Your call.
Helmets: While it would take a significant reshape on attunement, it's not too hard to imagine a dragon with a helmet.
Boots: Potentially can be altered to become legwraps when the dragon attunes, same deal.
Necklaces: Can be worn as normal.
Now then, with the actual methods of wearing the items set out, let's take a look at what items a dragon might actually benefit from using. The really good stuff tends to provide utility that the dragon can't get with Innate Spellcasting and its' basic abilities- damage upgrades are normally a waste of an Attunement slot when their breath already hits like a truck (except for on Green dragons, because literally 1/3rd of all enemies in 5e are immune to poison)
Great items that don't need Attunement:
-Bag of Holding -Insignia of Claws -Boots of Elvenkind (Ambushes are incredibly fucking deadly) -Cape of the Mountebank (Saves a spellslot and allows for certain escapes from death, they only get a few spells after all) -Rod of Security
Good official items:
Uncommon: -Brooch of Shielding -Amulet of Proof against Detection and Location (Very good for ambushing higher-level parties) -Cloak of Elvenkind -CLOAK OF PROTECTION. Easy to find one, and when you already have high AC and saves? +1 to all of them is absolutely shockingly good for such a low level item. -Gloves of Missile Snaring -Headband of Intellect -Ring of Mind Shielding (Good for RP, useless in combat)
Rare:
-BRACERS OF DEFENCE! A free +2 AC for any dragon, they look great, and dragons already have a good base AC. These are an A+ pick for any dragon you make. -Cloak of Displacement -Helm of Teleportation (This item should not be classed as Rare.) -Mantle of Spell Resistance -Periapt of Proof against Poison -Ring of Evasion (Dragon Dex Saves are their only bad ones) -Ring of Free Action (Amazing protection from Hold Monster) -Ring of Spell Storing
Very Rare:
-Crystal Ball (They can already fight well without items- this lets them set up favourable fights by seeing people coming.) -HORN OF VALHALLA. Summoning a ton of reinforcements tips the action economy massively. This item is unimaginably broken and should never be allowed to fall into player hands. -Ring of Regeneration
Legendary:
-Cloak of Invisibility -Ioun Stone: Mastery (The only Ioun Stone with the correct rarity) -Ring of Invisibility
I have plenty of Homebrew items and Unofficial or Past-Edition items too, if you're interested in them? But this post is quite long already, so I'll only grab those for you if you ask for them.
That's a ton of great info. Thank you!
Cape of the Mountebank is a great idea. A great way for a dragon to get out of a bad situation that won't provoke opportunity attacks so it can get away.
Horn of Vahalla definitely needs to be a consumable. I can't even imagine how an encounter would deal with that without judicious use of AoE abilities if the players had it.
Yeah! It's important to remember that Dragons basically have warlock spellcasting: a handful of high-level slots. So while all their spells are good, they need to carefully pick them. Always having one spell reserved for 'I am going to die if I don't get out RIGHT NOW' is important, because, well- how are you going to make it to being centuries old if you don't know when and how to leave a fight that you're losing?
Never be afraid to make up your own magic items, a lot of the ones in the base game are good but a lot of them are also just horribly balanced, either in wrong rarity categories or just straight up gamebreaking.
Also, I can't believe I forgot to mention this, but considering it's an Uncommon item? The Eldritch Claw Tattoo from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything is very powerful on a dragon, it lets them attack from outside the range of martials.
If you'd like, I have a couple of example equipment sets that you can look at, made with some of my custom items, for dragons that I've run?
Chalceryx (Adult White dragon, intended to be a deadly but not insurmountible foe for a healthy level 9 party)
Horn/Fin- Rune of the Bugcrusher (Attuned)
Neck- Chalceryx's Tattoo (Attuned)
Forelegs- Bracers of Defence (Attuned)
Tail- Bag of Holding
Rune of the Bugcrusher (Uncommon, requires attunement)
An ancient Bronze Rune often found on old clubs and hammers, likely for its simplicity.
While this Rune is on your person, all damage you deal to creatures one size or more smaller than you has 1d6 bludgeoning added to it.
Additionally, the Rune can be incorporated into any weapon.
Value: 500gp
Chalceryx's Tattoo (Very Rare, Requires Attunement. Unique!)
This stylized tattoo of fish leaping in a river surrounded by mossy trees was personally designed for Chalceryx by Glacies, though he paid for it. Although the item had to be made as a magical tattoo seeing as a regular needle could never pierce dragonscale. The moss and fish references his scent.
While wearing the tattoo, you gain the following benefits:
River Rush: As a Bonus Action, you can double your base movement speeds until the end of your turn.
Cold Love: If you are Resistant to cold, you become Immune to cold. If you are already immune to cold, you heal for 50% of cold damage received.
Nature's Recuperation: Soft moss grows beneath you during a Short Rest, allowing you to recover an additional 15hp
Chalceryx's strategies mostly revolved around one extremely powerful ability from his best magic item, the tattoo. Using River Rush, then that made it possible for him to go shooting around the battlefield insanely quickly (double movement can stack with Dash), which completely fucked the party's plans because they were then unable to keep the wizard safely in the backlines. They were able to survive the fight (because they also get magic items), but Chalceryx also survived the encounter and the players came within a hair's breadth of TPK. Rune of the Bugcrusher is also an item you can safely give to the party, it's very strong when it activates, but for players it won't work against a lot of foes. For a dragon, though...
Wow those items are awesome! I'd live to see more if you have other sets. That tattoo is excellent and easily can be adjusted to any dragon by changing the aesthetics and element. Since all dragons have immunity, absorbtion is a great situational buff. And speed increase makes use of a huge advantage they have in their flight. Then the dragon can engage only when desired, even if the party can fly. Also uses a bonus action which they lack.
Works perfectly for me encounter where the dragon has a sharpshooter on its back the party needs to capture. With that they'll be about to swoop down for breath and retreat hundreds of feet up while the sharpshooter is still raining death. And the ground has moving traps. And the lair actions have wind and lightning strikes (which can now double as healing!)
Well, how about this set...
Perennias (Ancient Red Dragon)
Head: Crown of the Vengeful Dominator (Attuned) Chest: Insignia of Claws +2 Forelegs: Bracelet of Chromatic Conversion Right Paw: [Legendary] Ring of Maximum Power (Attuned) Back: Orange Drifting Cloak (Attuned)
Crown of the Vengeful Dominator (Rare, requires Attunement)
This crown of twisted black metal has several shards of Obsidian floating around it, and originally belonged to one of the more powerful Obsidian Dragons before it was lost during battle. Replicas have since been painstakingly crafted by other evil entities.
While wearing this crown, all of your spells' Saving Throw DC and/or Hit Rolls gain a +1 bonus for every level a spell is upcast by. (For example, casting Fireball at 4th level increases its' save DC by 1, and casting it at 9th level increases its' save DC by 6)
Value: 9,500gp
Bracelet of Chromatic Conversion (Uncommon)
An item that came directly from the Dragon Queen's workshop, this gold bracelet is set with a Levin Opal that has been suffused with an unsuccessful Chromatic attempt at copying the technology of Crownovi- but even failures have their uses.
Conversion: As an action, you can sacrifice one 3rd level spellslot to the bracelet, giving it one Charge (max 1). You can expend this charge as a free action to turn one instance of Fire, Lightning, Poison, Acid or Cold damage that you can see into Fire, Lightning, Poison, Acid or Cold.
Queenly Adornment: This item is worth an additional 5,000gp.
Value: 5,350gp
Ring of Maximum Power (Rare, Requires Attunement)
This golden ring has a smooth exterior, but it's set with a band of rough translucent diamonds that are normally dull, and occasionally flash with a juddering surge of energy. While many cultures craft these rings on special occasion, they can initially be traced back to the prominent order of Storm Sorcerer Aarakocra who fought alongside Strata in the war of unification.
The ring serves as a +1 Arcane Spellcasting Focus, with the following abilities.
Latent Power: While you are at 50% health or less, and you cast a spell of 3rd level or lower on your turn, you can treat all the spell's damage/effect dice as having rolled their maximum value. Once you have used this ability, you cannot use it again until you complete a Long Rest.
Value: 7,700gp
(Very Rare version)
The ring functions as a +2 Arcane Spellcasting Focus.
Calamitous Power: While you are at 50% health or less, and you cast a spell of 5th level or lower on your turn, you can treat all the spell's damage/effect dice as having rolled their maximum value. Once you have used this ability, you cannot use it again until you complete a Long Rest.
Value: 35,000gp
(Legendary Version)
The ring functions as a +3 Arcane Spellcasting Focus.
Apocdictic Power: While you are at 50% health or less, and you cast a spell of 7th level or lower on your turn, you can treat all the spell's damage/effect dice as having rolled their maximum value. Once you have used this ability, you cannot use it again until you complete a Long Rest.
Value: 135,000gp
Drifting Cloak (Uncommon to Rare, requires attunement)
This cloak's exterior is plain, but the inside has a curious diamond pattern.
When you Dash while wearing the cloak, you move an additional 30ft and do not provoke Opportunity Attacks.
Orange: The radius or width of any AoE you produce is extended by 5ft.
Base Value: 300gp Orange: +4800gp
Perennias was an important lore figure to one of my campaigns, a red dragon that mostly focused on her sorcery. She was originally a pretty unusual Red Dragon because she tended to be more of a defender than an attacker, focusing on keeping people out of her territory. Then she got more exceptional, because she started using her volcanic powers to enrich the soil in her territory, turning it into a sweltering yet lush jungle so she could have effectively unlimited food to raise her wyrmlings with, rather than a barren wasteland intended to starve out attackers. Anyways, when she was about 600, she was approached by a Gold Dragon who'd lost all hope in humanity and gotten almost-blackout drunk, and the two of them ended up in a relationship that started to move Perennias closer to Neutral than Evil, even approaching Good. However, after she ended up firmly falling for him, he went to go and try to help humanity again, and this time, he ended up being killed for his association to her, which sent Perennias into a dreadful enough rage to destroy the very kingdom that her mate wanted to aid and protect.
She was an optional superboss (as you can tell by her insane loadout and backstory), but as you can see it focuses primarily on spellcasting. The idea is that she can enter the fight by dropping onto the party in an ambush (thanks to all that thick jungle in her territory that she can hide in), either kill or grapple the party's squishy mage on her ambush turn, and then either fly off with the mage and murderize them, or brawl in melee for a turn or two before her health gets low, at which point she can combine the powers of her crown and her ring to drop an absolutely disgusting max-damage AoE spell. Normally offensive spells are terrible and useless for dragons because they have their Breath, so this should very easily catch players off guard. After she drops her AoE spell, she can back off and retreat to her lair to heal and get ready for a second attack, if the party somehow survived.
Wow, Perennias is terrifying. If she is a Warlock would all of her spells automatically be upcast? So she could use a 9th level Scorching Ray, gaining +7 to spell hit. Since an Ancient Red Dragon already has +13 to spellcasting if it's CHA-based, it now casts at +20, with an average roll of 30 to hit. Wow. And 120 damage if all the rays hit.
All those items are excellent. The previous tattoo + the Bracelet of Chromatic Conversion would be an powerful combo for a dragon. Get hit by a spell you aren't immune to? Now it's your immunity and it heals you. Effectively a 3rd level spell slot for the effects of Counterspell and a healing spell.
Lol, that's great. :)
Yeah, dragon spellcasting (which is absolutely NOT optional if you want to run great dragons) has three components:
-Their Spellcasting Ability is Charisma, and they also have a number of spellslots equal to their Charisma Modifier
-Their spell slots are of a level equal to 1/3rd or their Challenge Rating, rounded down. Like the warlock, all their slots are the same level (and I refresh them on a Short Rest, dragons are meant to be magical after all)
-They can learn spells from the Sorcerer spell list by default. Personally I use different spell lists for different dragons, but Perennias was a straight up sorcerer.
In any case she would have had to actively tone down the spell she'd use for a giga AoE to 7th level so that her Ring of Maximum Power could actually trigger, because yes, all her spells were otherwise 8th level by default.
And yes! You get it! You understand! The essence of a great magic item loadout is to have a strategy. Think about what the dragon wants to act like. At base, they're not as good at fighting as a Fighter and not as good at spellcasting as a Sorcerer, but their magic items can allow them to surpass their rival PCs and become truly terrifying.
Crown of the Vengeful Dominator is also a really sweet drop for Warlocks, since normally spells upcast incredibly inefficiently, making a warlock's spells from each previous level suck compared to the new spells they get. But with that crown, their old spells don't get outdated nearly so badly.
@TacticsConsort @Neato I did not know any of this