Author Topic: How to work up an Emissary/Scion of a Dragon PC  (Read 2876 times)

Offline Ardrikk

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How to work up an Emissary/Scion of a Dragon PC
« on: October 30, 2015, 09:41:18 PM »
I have a player, in a new game I'm starting up soon, that wants to play either an Emissary of a Dragon or possibly a Scion of one.

So I'm looking for ideas on what sorts of Powers you guys think either of those types would have?

The book mentions shapeshifting and True Name magic as possibilities, though I'm not 100% sure why those are suggestions.
Some Inhuman Strength, Inhuman Toughness, and either fire magic or literal fire-breathing also seem likely.

Part of my problem is that we know so little about dragons from the books.  What *are* their actual powers?  What agendas do they have?  That last question is important if he goes with the Emissary idea as I need to have ideas for what the dragon would want him to do.  Acquiring rare and/or powerful items seems an obvious one, but I'm not sure what else.

Thoughts?

Offline dragoonbuster

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Re: How to work up an Emissary/Scion of a Dragon PC
« Reply #1 on: October 30, 2015, 11:19:37 PM »
Dragons can shapeshift. Any kind of physical attributes would be available, magic of all kinds (Sponsored or actual True Magic combinations), Supernatural Senses, energy breath weapons like fire, etc.

It depends on if he's coming from a dragon or Dragon. There are both. Butcher says there are only four or five Dragons left after Siriothrax was killed, including Ferrovax. These things are world-shattering powerful. Ferrovax is said to be powerful enough that in an even 1-on-1, Ferrovax could come out on top. You run away screaming from them, unless you're Michael. These things are like the Eastern visions of dragons; huge celestial beings who exist to regulate some matter of the universe.

Lowercase-d dragons are quite powerful, but more "reasonable." These are like Smaug, per Jim.


Either way...they do pretty much what they want. They're super powerful in all physical regards. They're very adept at magic. They can shapeshift and fly and all kinds of other nonsense.

A dragon or Dragon's agenda could be helping deal with thieves, protecting its hoard, adding to the hoard, dealing as a go-between for the Sponsor for "business" deals and whatnot in the supernatural world, to have its Emissary/Knight gain more notoriety/respect/influence for it. Etc. If the PC is a Scion, their progenitor may not care about them, maybe not want to get involved with them until they're a certain age/power level/experience level etc.
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Offline wyvern

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Re: How to work up an Emissary/Scion of a Dragon PC
« Reply #2 on: October 31, 2015, 12:36:46 AM »
Varies a ton by type of dragon - I'd strongly suggest going with a lower-case-d dragon, though; they're still incredibly potent creatures, but a bit more approachable.

For example, a scion of an eastern style dragon might possess a Pearl of Wisdom that grants them flight & sponsored magic (with themes of water/healing/growth/storms & a sponsor-agenda of 'maintain balance & energy flow in the world') - and be otherwise entirely human.
Or such a character might have Channeling & Ritual: Water, Human Guise, Aquatic, Claws, and Inhuman Toughness & Recovery with a +3 catch, and use the traditional 'Pearl of Wisdom' as a focus item for their magic.

A western style dragon's scion would probably be more focused on physical prowess - and less capable of feats of personal shapeshifting.  For such a character it might work well to add an Item of Power that grants Human Guise (and perhaps Glamours) - something he acquired by cutting a deal with a fae, or a gift from an otherwise-distant draconic parent, or even a device custom-crafted for him by the party's wizard (assuming there is one).

For an Emissary, agenda is important; start by putting the dragon in as a major local power, and see who its allies and enemies would be - an old and well-established dragon is almost always going to land on the 'preserve the status quo' side of that chart.  An emissary of such a beast is likely to be tasked with whatever "minor" matters the dragon considers to be beneath its notice - which could range from negotiating with other local powers, to collecting tithes from the dragon's allies, to exterminating a nest of Black Court Vampires that's disrupting the feng-shui of the area by their presence.

Or you could go with the opposite spectrum, with a very young dragon that's chosen to empower a PC emissary because it saw something in that character it could use to secure its newly-claimed territory - perhaps the PC has a significant magical talent, or is the heir to some bloodline that allows them to wield a specific Item of Power that the dragon owns.  (Side-note on this one: a young dragon is probably a vanishingly rare creature in the modern world, and likely to attract significant attention from powers looking to groom it as an ally for later - or to eliminate it now while it's still weak.)

Edit: Oh, and don't forget the unusual - a dragon might well include a quetzalcoatl style creature, especially if your game is set after Changes.  I don't know enough of the right lore to be much help in figuring out powers for something like that, though.
« Last Edit: October 31, 2015, 12:44:38 AM by wyvern »

Offline Sanctaphrax

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Re: How to work up an Emissary/Scion of a Dragon PC
« Reply #3 on: October 31, 2015, 01:23:50 AM »
I'd just let the player pick whatever powers and agenda they want, then define the dragon from there.

You run away screaming from them, unless you're Michael.

Of course, Michael and his ilk are standard player characters in this game.

Offline Ardrikk

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Re: How to work up an Emissary/Scion of a Dragon PC
« Reply #4 on: October 31, 2015, 02:42:06 PM »
Thanks for the advice and the info on the two power levels of dragons, guys. You've given me some things to think about. :)

Offline wyvern

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Re: How to work up an Emissary/Scion of a Dragon PC
« Reply #5 on: November 17, 2015, 09:41:01 PM »
Just for the record, I'd be curious to hear what you and your player end up working out about this.

Offline Quantus

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Re: How to work up an Emissary/Scion of a Dragon PC
« Reply #6 on: November 17, 2015, 10:32:12 PM »
I helped a friend work up a Dragon Scion once, as a concept,  but the game died before it was played. 

In terms of capabilities, he was essentially a Were-dragon, so shapeshifting to a reptilian Battle-form and some rudimentary evocation to simulate a fire Breath Weapon. 

Before the character was over, he was no longer a dragon scion, and was actually the scion of an Immortal St George.  He'd accidentally broken the Seal his father had placed on a vanquished Dragon's tomb, resulting in him getting tainted by Draconic energies that slowly mutated him
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Offline Ardrikk

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Re: How to work up an Emissary/Scion of a Dragon PC
« Reply #7 on: November 18, 2015, 03:14:46 PM »
Just for the record, I'd be curious to hear what you and your player end up working out about this.

Ah, sorry to disappoint, but my player has decided to play something else.  We've been playing through the "Neutral Grounds" adventure as a way to get my group of very new RPers to see how they like roleplaying and to get used to how DFRPG works.  He's playing the werewolf character and he's fallen in love with that character type.  So for my "real" game, he's going to play a werebear.

Offline wyvern

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Re: How to work up an Emissary/Scion of a Dragon PC
« Reply #8 on: November 18, 2015, 06:27:37 PM »
Hah, no worries.  I just like dragons.  But werebears are pretty neat, too.

(I did, for the record, get to play an actual were-dragon character for a while.  Based it off a couple of quotes from various places - I don't remember if it's in the RPG books or the actual novels, but there's somewhere where Bob tells Harry "Hey, you know, you could do a really good wereform if you wanted to", and Harry's reaction is "But why would I want to?" - so I built up a character that was an ex-wizard who still had this one really good shapeshifting spell he'd worked out...)

Offline Con

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Re: How to work up an Emissary/Scion of a Dragon PC
« Reply #9 on: November 22, 2015, 03:51:15 AM »
I've had this idea for a PC for awhile now, but wasn't sure how to go about it, so I'm glad you asked this question and posted this thread.