Dragon player characters

[flatline]

Back when I was playing, with rare exception, nobody in any of my groups ever played dragons as player characters.

Do any of you play dragons?

If so, what's it like?

How do you use your dragon abilities?

How big a deal is the dragon metamorphosis ability? Do you use it for anything other than blending in with humanoids?

--flatline

[Bill]

Had a few sessions with three different flavors of dragon on the table. They weren't as effective as the players expected. Metamorphosis came into play most frequently to gain access to human-sized spaces.

[SolCannibal]

Have seen one or two in games with friends and, imho, they didn't seem to play terribly different from any shapeshifting D-bees or critters. While the MDC and supernatural ST are good and may match them to some greater demons depending on race - their less than optimal attack options compared to mortal weaponry seemed to balance things out overall, as they would take a lot of hits before getting in range to attack if not counting on stealth and trickery.

As an aside, i would like to see some sub-demons that, unlike Gargoyles & Brodkill, did not have PS and MDC to match the greaters. Once a GM threw a Gargoyle at the hatchling expecting it to be a easy fight and it nearly turned in a death match to the poor scaly gal.

[SpiritInterface]

I play a Great Horned Dragon Hatchling, the main problem is that you have to be metamorphed most of the time so you might as well just play a different SN race. The other problem is that most PAs out there can take you with ease, they have as much MDC are as strong and do more damage in a fight.

[SolCannibal]

I play a Great Horned Dragon Hatchling, the main problem is that you have to be metamorphed most of the time so you might as well just play a different SN race. The other problem is that most PAs out there can take you with ease, they have as much MDC are as strong and do more damage in a fight.

Indeed - unless your group sticks mostly to places like Tolkeen, Lazlo, Atlantis & such, maybe England and Japan too, walking around in draconic form will get people gawking at best, screaming, running away and shooting at worst. And even where it doesn't scare the populace, it might get attention or raise a few eyebrows. Simply put, it's not a form conductive to blending in the masses and discretion, at least in Rifts: Earth.

That said, i still remember a pair of fire & ice dragon hatchlings that liked to model themselves on Sailors Mars & Mercury and to occasionally pester/tease the group's amnesiac godling as their "senpai".

[flatline]

The only dragon I've ever played for more than a couple of sessions was a Chang-Ku. Their improved metamorphosis makes blending in much easier.

--flatline

[SolCannibal]

The only dragon I've ever played for more than a couple of sessions was a Chang-Ku. Their improved metamorphosis makes blending in much easier.

No denying that.

Speaking of the Chiang-Ku, i have always thought of creating some "gift" from dragons to mortals like the tatooed men OCC on the Chiang Ku's part.

[Library Ogre]

I played a hatchling fire dragon in a True Atlantean campaign. Lots of ready magic, and a lack of need to fit into human sized spaces meant that most of the downsides were minimal.

[Eashamahel]

I've had several people play Hatchlings, and the most successful have been playing one as their introductory character. Each of them flipped through the book, saw that they could be a Dragon, and lived the dream, and in my opinion it's one of the best characters for someone new to learn the game with (and learn the world of RIFTS with).

It's MDC, it can do MDC. It has Psychic powers, can use magic (and can lend PPE), can use tech, can learn magic, has skills, has natural abilities, and has two ridiculously useful abilities (teleportation and metamorphosis) that usually give the player options limited only by their imagination.

The new player can stumble through the world, that they don't know, and their character isn't EXPECTED to know anything about it either. They can learn things naturally, and they can easily recover from mistakes. Getting into a fight isn't a XThousand credit issue, it takes a bit of down-time to recover from, getting shot, failing a roll, ect., are all easily moved past. There are no truly low stats, they get to use the whole bonus chart and take part in every part of the game.

For experienced players, I've ran games where some have had success, but generally those players eventually dump the dragon to play a character with more focus/skills, something they are much more able to do as experienced players who know about the world and know the rules.

[VR Dragon]

I played a great horned dragon hatchling myself once. The metamorphosis power was great and I made use of for the usual getting into human sized places, but my character also was nick named Shakespeare and he like playing roles.... different human form...different personality.

I also played up his lack of life experience. One time my party was trying to sneak into a cave and wanted a distraction....so I set fire to the woods around the hillside. It worked but the others got upset about it. The GM said such was in character for a young hatchling only over 1 year old.

[Mack]

I'm reminded of a ruse I had in mind a while back... have a dragon team up with another shapeshifter (werewolf, totem warrior...) and they alternate being "the beast" to confuse their opponents. Add in some illusion magic and you could really run someone in circles trying to figure out the truth.

[SolCannibal]

I'm reminded of a ruse I had in mind a while back... have a dragon team up with another shapeshifter (werewolf, totem warrior...) and they alternate being "the beast" to confuse their opponents. Add in some illusion magic and you could really run someone in circles trying to figure out the truth.

"The beast, give it to me and you may yet live!"

"...I am the beast."

"I am the beast!"

"No, I am the beast!"

"WE ARE ALL THE BEAST!!!"

*Mass shapeshifting and carnage ensues*

[flatline]

I'm reminded of a ruse I had in mind a while back... have a dragon team up with another shapeshifter (werewolf, totem warrior...) and they alternate being "the beast" to confuse their opponents. Add in some illusion magic and you could really run someone in circles trying to figure out the truth.

I once played a Fire Dragon that had some dragon hunters convinced he was a Great Horned dragon via metamorphosis. This was only useful because the dragon hunters kept using their plasma weapons against me since they "knew" plasma hurts GH dragons (half damage instead of immunity). I even acted like it hurt to keep up the ruse. But that was a one session game, so I didn't get to explore being a dragon much with that character.

--flatline

[grandmaster z0b]

In a game I ran with 3 people I had a guy play a dragon, however his true identity was a secret to the crazy in the party. He pretended to be a mystic which explained his magic and psychic powers.

Eventually he was bitten by a mutant spider whose venom forced him into his true form, however even then the crazy assumed the magic venom turned him into a dragon rather than the other way around.

[Mechghost]

I had a layer use a crystal dragon (Zaayr Dragon), while the first town encounter was amusing the player never developed the hatchling past the "why are the people running from me? I want to play" attitude and the player was annoyed when the town militia or CS went after her for being in town. Only time I've seen a dragon in play, so far.

[SolCannibal]

In a game I ran with 3 people I had a guy play a dragon, however his true identity was a secret to the crazy in the party. He pretended to be a mystic which explained his magic and psychic powers.

Eventually he was bitten by a mutant spider whose venom forced him into his true form, however even then the crazy assumed the magic venom turned him into a dragon rather than the other way around.

That said, some magic venom or curse that turned creatures into a certain monster form is far from improbable for Rifts Earth.

[flatline]

In a game I ran with 3 people I had a guy play a dragon, however his true identity was a secret to the crazy in the party. He pretended to be a mystic which explained his magic and psychic powers.

Eventually he was bitten by a mutant spider whose venom forced him into his true form, however even then the crazy assumed the magic venom turned him into a dragon rather than the other way around.

The one campaign where I got to play a dragon for more than just a session or two was our "Vagabond" campaign where we were all supposed to be playing vagabonds but each of us was, in fact, something much more powerful with some undercover mission assigned by the GM. The GM told each of us that we were the only non-vagabond in the group and that it was very important that we not break cover or else our mission would fail.

The coolest thing was that the GM designed each mission so that the "secret agent" couldn't succeed without the help of the other characters and none of the missions were mutually exclusive so that we could all accomplish our missions. I wish I could remember it better.

--flatline

[guardiandashi]

In a game I ran with 3 people I had a guy play a dragon, however his true identity was a secret to the crazy in the party. He pretended to be a mystic which explained his magic and psychic powers.

Eventually he was bitten by a mutant spider whose venom forced him into his true form, however even then the crazy assumed the magic venom turned him into a dragon rather than the other way around.

The one campaign where I got to play a dragon for more than just a session or two was our "Vagabond" campaign where we were all supposed to be playing vagabonds but each of us was, in fact, something much more powerful with some undercover mission assigned by the GM. The GM told each of us that we were the only non-vagabond in the group and that it was very important that we not break cover or else our mission would fail.

The coolest thing was that the GM designed each mission so that the "secret agent" couldn't succeed without the help of the other characters and none of the missions were mutually exclusive so that we could all accomplish our missions. I wish I could remember it better.

--flatline

sounds fun....

The only game where I got to play a Dragon, wasn't a rifts game, but was D&D ... I have done it a few times, Council of Wyrms, and later in 3.0/3.5 edition the best I ever did was a semi reoccurring Character who the last time I managed to play her was an 26 total level/hit die Gold dragon, who is 22 years old, (still a young dragon) 16 HD Gold dragon/5th level fighter/5th level cleric.

[grandmaster z0b]

In a game I ran with 3 people I had a guy play a dragon, however his true identity was a secret to the crazy in the party. He pretended to be a mystic which explained his magic and psychic powers.

Eventually he was bitten by a mutant spider whose venom forced him into his true form, however even then the crazy assumed the magic venom turned him into a dragon rather than the other way around.

The one campaign where I got to play a dragon for more than just a session or two was our "Vagabond" campaign where we were all supposed to be playing vagabonds but each of us was, in fact, something much more powerful with some undercover mission assigned by the GM. The GM told each of us that we were the only non-vagabond in the group and that it was very important that we not break cover or else our mission would fail.

The coolest thing was that the GM designed each mission so that the "secret agent" couldn't succeed without the help of the other characters and none of the missions were mutually exclusive so that we could all accomplish our missions. I wish I could remember it better.

--flatline

That's a great idea for a campaign.

[Kagashi]

I played a Chang Ku Dragon Temporal Wizard (evil) in Phase World setting. At first all the other players were flipping out about how powerful I was going to be, but after they realized that my 15 supernatural PS couldnt even do MD, my whopping 200 MDC, and enormous amount of XP needed to level really didnt make me all that powerful at all, things calmed down. Even in Dragon form, I wasnt even the largest character in group... Dragons can be powerful, but dragons are also RMB/RUE concepts...which means power creep has far surpassed them in terms of real power compared to what has come out as common OCC/races in later books, despite what flavor text says.

As a player, I had to make a lot of sacrifices just to have the group accept the character simply because it was a dragon.

Luckily, for a Chang Ku, she could hold human form indefinitely. She was pretty much in humanoid form 99% of the time, mostly to blend in with the rest of the group. Occasionally, she would turn Kreghor to infiltrate with the enemy. Rarely...never almost...would she ever be in dragon form. I think she may have turned dragon form in her lair, waiting as the ship FTL'd to the next adventure.

As for her special abilities, I created her so she could augment power to the rest of the group; providing tattoos, elixirs, and talismans. But again, there was too much out of character knowledge going on and only one character was even remotely open to allowing the power boosts. In the end, the character was along for the ride and that was about it. I didnt really get to explore the character like I intended. I would have had more fun if I just made a Mega Juicer with that particular group.

[Kagashi]

In a game I ran with 3 people I had a guy play a dragon, however his true identity was a secret to the crazy in the party. He pretended to be a mystic which explained his magic and psychic powers.

Eventually he was bitten by a mutant spider whose venom forced him into his true form, however even then the crazy assumed the magic venom turned him into a dragon rather than the other way around.

The one campaign where I got to play a dragon for more than just a session or two was our "Vagabond" campaign where we were all supposed to be playing vagabonds but each of us was, in fact, something much more powerful with some undercover mission assigned by the GM. The GM told each of us that we were the only non-vagabond in the group and that it was very important that we not break cover or else our mission would fail.

The coolest thing was that the GM designed each mission so that the "secret agent" couldn't succeed without the help of the other characters and none of the missions were mutually exclusive so that we could all accomplish our missions. I wish I could remember it better.

--flatline

That's a great idea for a campaign.

That sounds awesome.

[SolCannibal]

I played a Chang Ku Dragon Temporal Wizard (evil) in Phase World setting. At first all the other players were flipping out about how powerful I was going to be, but after they realized that my 15 supernatural PS couldnt even do MD, my whopping 200 MDC, and enormous amount of XP needed to level really didnt make me all that powerful at all, things calmed down. Even in Dragon form, I wasnt even the largest character in group... Dragons can be powerful, but dragons are also RMB/RUE concepts...which means power creep has far surpassed them in terms of real power compared to what has come out as common OCC/races in later books, despite what flavor text says.

As a player, I had to make a lot of sacrifices just to have the group accept the character simply because it was a dragon.

Luckily, for a Chang Ku, she could hold human form indefinitely. She was pretty much in humanoid form 99% of the time, mostly to blend in with the rest of the group. Occasionally, she would turn Kreghor to infiltrate with the enemy. Rarely...never almost...would she ever be in dragon form. I think she may have turned dragon form in her lair, waiting as the ship FTL'd to the next adventure.

As for her special abilities, I created her so she could augment power to the rest of the group; providing tattoos, elixirs, and talismans. But again, there was too much out of character knowledge going on and only one character was even remotely open to allowing the power boosts. In the end, the character was along for the ride and that was about it. I didnt really get to explore the character like I intended. I would have had more fun if I just made a Mega Juicer with that particular group.

Honestly, i would make the caveat that even playing just by RMB, dragon hatchlings are great jack-of-all-trades but far from powerhouses - damn, a glitterboy has almost twice the MDC of most hatchlings and a SAMAS is already a pretty good match statwise in a straightforward fight, with better speed, range and damage. So, even without power creep, not quite that hot.

Bummer about that game - doubly so considering Phaseworld has "alien race creation" random tables that tops at stuff that could munch several dragon hatchlings for lunch. Silly ooc paranoia and metagaming getting in the way of good fun.