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Classic Play
Book of Dragons
Gareth Hanrahan
Contents
Introduction 2
The Desolation of the Dragon 4
Watchers on the Mountain 12
Servants of the Dragon 23
Dragon Lairs 52
Flattery and Riddles 68
Tactics and Warfare 75
Dragon Anatomy 93
Hoards 118
Age Advancement 124
Dragon Feats 141
Dragon Design 149
New Dragons 158
Dragon Magic 188
Lifecycle 204
On the Heritage of Dragons 209
Hatching and Raising Dragons 217
Campaigning
Credits
Developer
Paul Tucker
Cover Art
Vincent Hie
Interior Illustrations
Tony Parker, Brent Chumley, Stephen Shepherd,
Patricio Soler, Richard Otey, Chris Quilliams, Fred
Rawles, Gillian Pearce, Shane Coppage, Andrew
Jordan, Oliver Erikson, Renato Guedes, Scott Purdey
Production Manager
Alexander Fennell
Proof Reading
Ben Hesketh
Playtesting
Mark Howe, Daniel Scothorne, Mark Sizer, Michael
Young, Mark Billanie, Daniel Haslam, Jamie
Godfrey, Alan Moore, Leigh Anne Reger, John R.
Ivicek Jr., Mike Mang, David S. Souza
226
A Mortal Miscellany
244
Index
251
Designer’s Notes
255
Open Game Content & Copyright Information
Classic Play – Book of Dragons is ©2003 Mongoose Publishing. All rights reserved. Reproduction of non-
Open Game Content of this work by any means without the written permission of the publisher is expressly
forbidden. Classic Play – Book of Dragons is presented under the Open Game and D20 Licences. See page 64
for the text of these licences. All text paragraphs and tables containing game mechanics and statistics derivative
of Open Game Content and the System Reference Document are considered to be Open Game Content. All
other significant characters, names, places, items, art and text herein are copyrighted by Mongoose Publishing.
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are used according to the terms of the d20 System License version 5.0. A copy of this License can be found at
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1
INTRODUCTION
Introduction
H
umanity’s myths are dreams of dragons.
If by some miracle the party survive, they can delve
into the fabled
Hoards
of the dragons, or even into
the carcass of their foe with reference to
Anatomy of
the Dragon.
No other creature is quite so present, so
dominant, in our stories. Almost every
culture has its own tales of the serpents. Our
fantasy reflects this, and dragons have been one
of the defining elements of the fantasy genre for
decades, and their pedigree in adventure gaming is
obvious. There is good reason for this pre-eminence
– no other creature has the power or the terrifying
majesty of the dragons, no other creature has the
curious alchemy of horror and glory that makes
dragons so wonderful. On leathern wings, they soar
across the skies of our imagined worlds. Their fire
threatens the world, but also illuminates it.
After this, we move on to customising dragons.
Age
Advancement
presents a variant method for creating
dragons especially skilled in warfare, or magic, or
some other field of expertise. A selection of new
Feats
(with especially emphasis on the feared breath
weapon) follows. The rules in those two chapters
are then used as the basis of a system of
Dragon
Design.
The nightmarish fruits of that system are presented
in
New Dragons
, ranging from the parasitical Sin
Dragons to the noble Heraldic Dragon and chaotic
Planar Dragons.
The simplest adventure game is going into the
dungeon, killing the monsters, and bringing back
the treasure. Turn that monster into a dragon, and
you’ve got a myth that has resonated through the
centuries.
Dragon Magic
has new spells and items for dragons
(and their enemies).
Lifecycle
and
the Heritage of
Dragons
delves into the physiology and history
of the draconic species.
Hatching and Raising
Dragons
examines the egg.
Campaigning
contains
advice on using dragons in a game, as symbols,
enemies, allies, mounts or even characters. Finally,
a Mortal Miscellany
deals with the response of the
lesser races to the dragons.
The
Book of Dragons
is designed to be the definitive
guide to using dragons in a game. It complements
but does not require the
Slayer’s Guide to Dragons
and
Encyclopedia Arcane: Dragon Magic
.
Overview
The first half of this book traces the path of an
adventuring party as they approach a dragon.
The
Desolation of the Dragon
describes the region
around a lair, and explores the effects dragons have
on their environment.
Watchers on the Mountain
provides a system for tracking the progress of
the party and the responses of the dragon and its
servants.
Servants of the Dragon
has details on the
various kinds of warriors and pawns used by dragons
to defend their lairs and affect the mortal world.
The Classic Play
Series
Classic Play
is a new series of books from
Mongoose Publishing, each examining an element
of fantasy gaming in glorious detail. Each book
contains new rules, new ideas and insightful essays
to bring a particular aspect of the game to life in
your campaign.
Dragon Lairs
has all the detail needed to design a
dragon’s lair, from a dank cave filled with rotting
remains of previous adventurers to an ancient ruined
city despoiled by the beast. When the party finally
encounter the dragon,
Flattery and Riddles
lets them
have a few last moments before the dragon employs
its
Tactics and Warfare
to wipe them out.
2
INTRODUCTION
I see you there, thief.
Yes, even in the shadows. Don’t be so coy. Come forth. Come forth or burn to death.
Ah. The diplomacy of dragonfire never fails.
You thought you would catch me sleeping. Ah, innocence. I heard your footsteps through the stone,
thief, and I can taste your sweat on the air. Even in this dim light, I mark your trembling lip and shaking
hands. Your fear pollutes you. Be not afraid! I mean you no harm.
That’s a lie, of course. Dragons lie on beds of gold, which is what drew you here, thief. Do you like
my hoard? I see that you do. Your eyes, quivering behind their curtain of tears, flicker between two
magnificent sights – me and my hoard. Even now, with your death close at hand, you cannot help but
desire my gold. That is an avarice I can respect.
No, that does not mean you can keep the cup you stole. Put in down – wipe your grease off it, first.
Now…what shall we do with you, thief? Killing you is little sport. My teeth can tear through plate
armour forged by dwarves and warded by elven-spells and my claws can shatter granite, while you
are wearing what smells to be dried cow-skin. I don’t suppose you’re some sort of superhumanly agile
acrobat who can evade my strikes like the wind.
*snitkt*
No, obviously not. Oh, stop whimpering. The wound isn’t that deep. I barely scratched you. It will heal
and scar.
Now, you will run. You will run back the way you came, through the tunnels and winding worm-guts
of my mountain. My defences will not slow you, my guardians will not bar your path. You will run to
whatever fetid city or canker of a village you call home. Run home, dripping blood all the way.
It will be long years before I come for you, thief. That wound that wells up hot ruby blood now, it will
be a old grey scar and a dull ache before I come for you. The dragonfear will never leave you; it will soak
into the marrow of your bones and the sinews of your heart. You will listen in the night for the sound
of leathern wings. Every shadow that passes overhead shall be a presage of doom. Every crackling fire
shall carry the promise of my breath.
And I shall surely bring that fire. When you are old and grey, thief, when the short years of your life are
running out and you are thin as a dried stick, then shall I take flight. I have marked you, scarred you; I
have tasted your blood and know your scent. I shall find you, and I shall burn you and all your kin and
all you hold dear. I shall scatter the ashes of your bodies and sift them for gold, I shall raze your home
and set all the lands aflame in the glory of my wrath.
You are a thief, thief, and you will pay for daring to steal from my hoard. You will burn.
What more did you expect? You descended into the dungeon, and you found the dragon.
3
 THE DESOLATION OF THE DRAGON
THE
DESOLATION
OF THE
DRAGON
It is a great blessing that most dragons spend much
of their time asleep or fasting. If a dragon indulges
its appetite fully, it can depopulate its whole domain
in a season or two. This is not because the dragon
literally eats everything and everyone in the area,
as even the most voracious monsters have limits
to the amount of food they can catch, but a roused
dragon might set forests alight, burn the life from a
river, or smash a town into cinders purely because
it can. Dragons do not merely hunt for food, they
hunt to possess and selfishly destroy. Everything in
a dragon’s domain exists at the dragon’s whim, and
when the dragon’s ire is raised, the dragonfire will
claim it.
O
n rare occasions, a traveller may find a
ghastly signpost on a country road – the
burnt and crushed corpse, often that of
an armoured knight. If any of the cadaver’s face
survives, the expression is invariably one of terror.
The corpse stands propped against a tree or stone,
one hand outstretched. In that hand is a single gold
coin, scarred by the marks of huge claws. This
solitary coin is the wyrm-gild, the fraction of a
dragon’s hoard that the wyrm gives away freely. The
traveller may take the coin without consequences.
Domain Size
The size of a domain is determined by the strength
and size of its ruler. Obviously, especially strong
dragons, or those with access to powerful magical
items can safely claim a larger domain. The basic
radius of a domain (centred on the dragon’s lair) is
the dragon’s age category squared in miles, modified
as follows:
The broken corpse shows the consequences of
trying to take more than that single coin. In leaving
the wyrm-gild, the dragon marks the borders of his
territory and declares that it has given the rest of the
world its due. Anything beyond that coin must be
bought with blood.
Dragon Domain Size
Dragon Status
Domain Size Modifier
Spellcasting
+1 mile per level of
spellcaster
Vassal Dragons
+1/2 size of vassal’s
domain
Domains
Dragons are solitary creatures by nature. While
there are nests or cities where several wyrms dwell,
these places are very much the exception. Most
dragons establish their lair in some cavern or dwarf-
hold, then claim the surrounding territory as their
domain. These domains bear little resemblance to
the geographic or political borders of the region.
Other dragons within the domain must either be
driven out or forced to yield - chromatic and younger
metallic dragons engage in physical combat, while
the elder metallics resolve conflicts of domain using
riddle-contests or negotiation. If a dragon yields
to another, it becomes a vassal wyrm (see
On The
Heritage of Dragons
).
Mated Pair of
Dragons
Increase domain size
by 50%
Strength above
25
+1 mile per point
above 25
Intelligence
above 25
+1 mile per point
above 25
Charisma above
25
+1 mile per point
above 25
For example, the average Adult Red Dragon has
a domain 51 miles in radius (36 miles due to age,
+7 for being a 7
th
level sorcerer, +8 miles for a
Strength of 33). The dragon can reach anywhere in
its domain within two hours if it hustles, but it takes
around two days at best for grounded travellers to
reach the dragon’s lair – and at any point during that
frightful march, the dragon could swoop down and
incinerate them if their presence is discovered.
Only other dragons and – rarely – other powerful
beings are taken into account when a dragon claims
its domain. The great egotism of the dragons
prevent them from considering humans and other
races as anything more than a quick snack or pets.
4
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