In my world, dragons often have to worry about fighting each other more than people have to worry about dragon attacks. As a result, most dragons remain in humanoid form until they face a threat worthy of a true dragon
A thing that is surprisingly common for people to forget, is that dragons are insanely smart. They aren't just big lizards that happen to be able to speak, they are geniuses. Make them set up traps and use tactics.
I make my dragons look as varied as humans irl. Colors and shapes be all over the place. Most have two breath weapons. And they are delivered in different ways. Next week my players will meet one that lougies for its fire attack (mefls minute meteors for the stat block) and can do it every turn it wants as its action. The other breath weapon is a cloud the acts like a zone of truth. Other then that the stat blocks mostly the same
Also, i make them hoard weird stuff. I had dragons that hoard statues, bones, gnomes and, my wifes favorite one, exotic recipies.
I got around this by having my players face deformed, inbred dragons. They don't have the stamina to stay airborne for too long and are actually dumber. This is due to the homebrew kingdom I ran having a strong prejudice against chromatic dragons and hunting them to the point that ones surrounding their borders had to inbreed to not go extinct.
"Stay airborne" is unironically lame advice tbh. "500 years of instinct" doesn't override the fact that dragons are often vain and narcissistic, and will absolutely land to toy and attempt to demoralize the party. Particularly within the advantageous terrain of their lairs. You've got Bite, Claw, and Tail attacks for a reason, and that reason is to gore the taunting fighter who thought a scant few years of training and a magic blade could ever compare to the majesty of your draconic strength and resilience. (And also cuz martials exist but we don't admit that)
I've put a wyvern in a campain, and they distroied it, the Wyvern started to stop in the first turn with the foot in the wizard, so he couldn't leave, but the wizard put the wivern to SLEEP, and this made the encounter end with the music "Carry on my way" with the wizard exploding an Ice Knife in the head of the Wyevrn
I put my players up against a red dragon once, and used it's intelligence as an asset. It was inside its lair, inside of a volcano. There was a few lava flows in the lair as hazards (they weren't big, but they were hot. End your turn within 10' of one, and you'd take fire damage). But no, that wasn't the smart thing the dragon did. There was one real way for the players to get into the lair even though it was open from the top, an old lava tunnel the dragon had expanded enough so it could comfortably walk through it. What it had in that tunnel was a bunch of hell hounds. Meaning, if anyone was to try to enter its lair that way, the commotion would warn the dragon of the intruders. Now, the hell hounds, while many was no real match for a party of level 18 characters, but that wasn't the point. The point was the warning. What the dragon did was use an insignificant little 1st level spell known as spider climb to set up its ambush. It cast the spell, climbed up into the cone of the volcano, moved until it was facing downward above where the lava tunnel opened up into its lair, and waited. Each of the players, sight partially obscured by sulfurous smoke, failed their perception checks, and then the dragon let loose its breath weapon. It took EVERYONE down to half hp or lower. The party rogue rolled a 3 on their reflex save, which meant it took half damage (no damage on a save), the Wizard rolled 19 on theirs (which meant they survived), and the entire party save the paladin was on half health or single digits. What followed was an epic fight with the dragon on the wall, slinging spells and using its breath weapon against the players. In the end the PC's managed to take it down, but both the Paladin and the Ranger got killed when the dead dragon fell on them. Of a six person party, two PC's paid with their lives. The ranger got raised, the paladin opted not to as it's PC wanted to play something else. It was a good end to that campaign.
And always remember if you have a party that's really comfortable roleplaying its not uncommon for them to be able to talk their way out of combat with a dragon. Of course this depends on the species of the dragon as they are all different; but more than a few of them are typically stuck up bastards who will concede if you stroke their ego enough or offer them a magic item or swaths of gold.
Favorite dragon to play: Black Dragons. They aren't just evil, they're evil AND sadistic. They toy with adventuring parties, make their lives a living hell, and when they're finally at their breaking point, that's when they strike.
no way a dragon can physically fly in place tho, so it can't really deliver a cool monologue while in flight
pointy hat
In my world, dragons often have to worry about fighting each other more than people have to worry about dragon attacks. As a result, most dragons remain in humanoid form until they face a threat worthy of a true dragon
A thing that is surprisingly common for people to forget, is that dragons are insanely smart. They aren't just big lizards that happen to be able to speak, they are geniuses. Make them set up traps and use tactics.
It's just you 😉
I make my dragons look as varied as humans irl. Colors and shapes be all over the place. Most have two breath weapons. And they are delivered in different ways. Next week my players will meet one that lougies for its fire attack (mefls minute meteors for the stat block) and can do it every turn it wants as its action. The other breath weapon is a cloud the acts like a zone of truth. Other then that the stat blocks mostly the same
Also, i make them hoard weird stuff. I had dragons that hoard statues, bones, gnomes and, my wifes favorite one, exotic recipies.
tbf the bard aleeady rilled to seduce before the dragin ever got a chance
Is it bad that I'm going to play mine like a giant ass puppy?
"Stand proud for my arrival, worm" is going to hit hard the team. Making the dragon freaky as conquest
The best advice I ever got for having dragons in your campaign was to add a zero to their HP. They can not be taken lightly, in any circumstance.
I got around this by having my players face deformed, inbred dragons. They don't have the stamina to stay airborne for too long and are actually dumber. This is due to the homebrew kingdom I ran having a strong prejudice against chromatic dragons and hunting them to the point that ones surrounding their borders had to inbreed to not go extinct.
"Stay airborne" is unironically lame advice tbh. "500 years of instinct" doesn't override the fact that dragons are often vain and narcissistic, and will absolutely land to toy and attempt to demoralize the party. Particularly within the advantageous terrain of their lairs.
You've got Bite, Claw, and Tail attacks for a reason, and that reason is to gore the taunting fighter who thought a scant few years of training and a magic blade could ever compare to the majesty of your draconic strength and resilience. (And also cuz martials exist but we don't admit that)
I play them like fish
I'd be the one DM that specifically makes all enemies able to be seduced with a roll of 10+. Then I'll make them elaborate.
I've put a wyvern in a campain, and they distroied it, the Wyvern started to stop in the first turn with the foot in the wizard, so he couldn't leave, but the wizard put the wivern to SLEEP, and this made the encounter end with the music "Carry on my way" with the wizard exploding an Ice Knife in the head of the Wyevrn
nah dragons ALWAYS have higher charisma than the bard
So Play them like Smaug, not like Barney.
I put my players up against a red dragon once, and used it's intelligence as an asset. It was inside its lair, inside of a volcano. There was a few lava flows in the lair as hazards (they weren't big, but they were hot. End your turn within 10' of one, and you'd take fire damage). But no, that wasn't the smart thing the dragon did. There was one real way for the players to get into the lair even though it was open from the top, an old lava tunnel the dragon had expanded enough so it could comfortably walk through it. What it had in that tunnel was a bunch of hell hounds. Meaning, if anyone was to try to enter its lair that way, the commotion would warn the dragon of the intruders. Now, the hell hounds, while many was no real match for a party of level 18 characters, but that wasn't the point. The point was the warning. What the dragon did was use an insignificant little 1st level spell known as spider climb to set up its ambush. It cast the spell, climbed up into the cone of the volcano, moved until it was facing downward above where the lava tunnel opened up into its lair, and waited. Each of the players, sight partially obscured by sulfurous smoke, failed their perception checks, and then the dragon let loose its breath weapon. It took EVERYONE down to half hp or lower. The party rogue rolled a 3 on their reflex save, which meant it took half damage (no damage on a save), the Wizard rolled 19 on theirs (which meant they survived), and the entire party save the paladin was on half health or single digits. What followed was an epic fight with the dragon on the wall, slinging spells and using its breath weapon against the players. In the end the PC's managed to take it down, but both the Paladin and the Ranger got killed when the dead dragon fell on them. Of a six person party, two PC's paid with their lives. The ranger got raised, the paladin opted not to as it's PC wanted to play something else. It was a good end to that campaign.
Let me personally recommend
The Monsters know why they’re doing. By Keith Ammann
It has combat tactics to literally every monster in official DnD 5e
fun fact wyrmlings other words baby dragons are as smart as adult humans
And always remember if you have a party that's really comfortable roleplaying its not uncommon for them to be able to talk their way out of combat with a dragon. Of course this depends on the species of the dragon as they are all different; but more than a few of them are typically stuck up bastards who will concede if you stroke their ego enough or offer them a magic item or swaths of gold.
Favorite dragon to play: Black Dragons. They aren't just evil, they're evil AND sadistic. They toy with adventuring parties, make their lives a living hell, and when they're finally at their breaking point, that's when they strike.