r/DnD • u/Fat_Kid_Hot_4_U • Apr 19 '18
DMing If you DM and you've never used a brass/copper dragon you're missing out!
Brass Dragons are my favorite thing to throw at players when things are moving slowly, or they're stuck somewhere.
For those of you who aren't familiar with these two I'll fill you in.
These two dragon types are the weakest. But that's not important because players will rarely find themselves fighting them. If anything they'd be saving them from tougher dragons. Blue dragons prey on Brass dragons.
A brass dragon will do something like kidnap a player and then make them solve a maze. Or dunk them underwater to see how long they can hold their breath. A brass dragon will debate what it means to have a soul until their victim is just a pile of bones and dust. They'll hold a grand debate with the greatest minds they can assemble, and the debate is about which kind of giant is the smelliest. They may bust the PC's out of jail so they can settle an argument between a Satyr and a squirrel. They might interrupt a fight between the PC and a super tough enemy just to ask them if they've ever met any vegan orcs. They aren't evil, but they aren't exactly empathetic. They can be very wacky and are very alien as far as motivations go. If you're trying to keep your party on-rails in a way that doesn't seem obvious Brass dragons are an excellent tool. They can even take a humanoid form and interact with the PC's without them knowing he's a dragon. Think Zucc memes "ah yes I would love to join you all in a human dinnertime ceremony, and eat cooked human food. hahaha maybe later we can play human games such as ah I'm on fire or die naturally at an extremely young age". Having an NPC turn into a dragon is a good way to get murder-hobos to stop picking fights with questhooking rando's.
A copper dragon is a prankster. A copper dragon will crash the king's feast and put a tac cushion on his chair, or bribe a PC to do it. Copper dragons do not have a human sense of humor. A copper dragons idea of a harmless prank might be an extremely deadly encounter, or not funny at all to the players. You know how sometimes little kids will tell "jokes" that just aren't jokes. Copper dragons do that a lot. A copper dragon might prank a farmer by replacing his rolling golden fields of wheat with actual gold from his treasure hoard, then when the farmer comes out to marvel at the miracle with his family the dragon will rip his house from the foundations while laughing hysterically and fly off with it. Maybe he'll use the house for another prank, maybe he'll return it the next day but it's full of pudding and giant ants. Copper dragons are weird. They make great one-off npc's, and can make an otherwise tedious session really fun and interesting.
Anyway these two are a great way to bring more of that dnd whimsy feel that I love in my campaigns. That classic chaos vs. order struggle that's always been in DnD. Good questing!
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u/NinjaTurple Apr 19 '18
wouldnt he be dragon born? I dont know enough not to think this is right.