I love the Blue Dragon from Dragon Magazine, laired in an ancient desert temple in the desert. This one collected music boxes, instruments, enchanted items; and hired a bard to return and tell news over the years of the world (and play music). It was in the early 90's (the article)
I can see why, i recall when he left a heart on a furry's comment stating his desire to date a gold dragon. Was a surprisingly positive reaction (I'm used to the opposite from youtubers).
We had another encounter with a Blue Dragon. Like all Chromatics, this Blue Dragon is vain, egotistical, and tyrannical. But highly unusual for an evil dragon, he's many things, but a liar isn't one of them. He's destructive and manipulative, but ironically, does not tolerate lies, backstabbing, cheating, and was mostly unwilling to kill a defenseless opponent. He'd rather let his rival/opponent arm himself with defense so he can fight him. But he still won't spare an unarmed opponent.
After hearing about this killer queen Blue Dragon, I have an urge to make a place that cranks that idea even further.... A blue dragon Queen who considers an entire city her lair, and all citizens considered part of her hoard. Everyone serves without question, true.. But everyone is also well fed, and well dressed and generally content. Weak, mewling, shabby slaves is simply unsightly her Blue Majesty. Having such servants is a show of weakness to her lair as a whole. (and honestly, those who prefers their slaves to act as such simply have a weak ego to match) She encourages her people to stand tall and proud of their kingdom because that means they stand tall and proud of Her. She has artisans from around the globe to make the city unique and breathtakingly beautiful. The outside storms have been tapped into, to provide magical lights so the city always glimmers. The people are diverse, happy, well-dressed, looking like living gems to their ever-watchful Queen. The people prosper. From the outside, the place seems like paradise.... But... She's still a blue dragon... and still a sort of evil. She will not stand for those who cannot actively serve her. Nor can she abide those who are clearly unattractive lest it mar the beauty of her perfect kingdom-hoard. So the lame, disfigured, diseased, and the elderly or either exiled, killed, or hidden illegally. In some exceptionally rare cases the unsightly ones are legally allowed to stay, so long as they are hidden from view. These are the people who are so exceptional at what they do, it makes up for their homely appearance. I'd want to explore a land like that. I can see some very intriguing adventures happening in a place like that.
The thing that makes dnd dragons especially scary to me isnt their breathe attacks, its not their physical strength, its their intelligence. These things are gargantuan legendary monsters and they can fight on par with people in tactics and in weapon techniques. They can not only blast you with their breathe but they can cast major spells at you with genius skill levels they are one " man" armies because of that. Theyd be daunting without their intelligence but damn dude
Man, Nothing will ever beat the 3.5 book design and layouts for me. They really peaked and poured So much into 3.5 edition from magazines to hundreds of sourcebooks and modules.
In the game i'm playing in there is a very benevolent blue dragon running one of the most powerful nations on the continent. Much like the ones from Dragonlance the blue dragons were the only chromatic dragons (aside from a handful of others) who joined forces with the metallic dragons to save the world, being too proud to allow THEIR world fall in to the hands of aberrations
@@joshdavis4438 Yeah, the capital has buildings made of gold and is pretty much the top layer of their hoard. They even took a meteor swarm to the chest when the city was attacked (they said it was to prevent damage too their palace, but we rolled high enough to see they did it to save a group of civilians). Also of note is how they seeded their army out of their own pants and have elite dragonborn and half-dragon guards (in the setting dragonborn are second generation onwards)
@@cameronpearce5943 This sounds like an amazing story. Are you on AJ's discord? I'd love to hear more about this, and I like that dragon born idea. I might have to steal it in some degree, perhaps even pertaining to kolbols. Let me give a suggestion in return. A trade. If you want to look into the lore of shadow dragons they have half-dragons born under certain high magic so that they can switch between 100% dragon or 100% drow. Minor suggestion to throw players off their feet to add this in for other colors.
Blues live in te desert, breath lightning and have a burrow speed. That tells me that they make a lot of glass! Burrowing in to sand and hitting it with lightning to make a glass dugeon.
3.5e , .. my gaming shop DM has dragons take the feat Craft Wondrous Item and create their own nick-nacks and high power items. An item could be made by a low level wizard but since it was crafted by a dragon it will start bidding wars leading into the tens of thousands, which pleases the dragon's ego to no end.
17:49 Wow Iryklathagra has the most amazing hoard I've ever heard of. A wheelbarrow full of artifacts for the hard-boiled adventurers that finally slay her once and for all.
I am loving those lightning effects behind that drawing around the first minute. The idea of them creating an actual battalion of Blues to rain lightning down on enemies though. Like, damn. That might actually be enough lightning to burn away Golds or even greater threats like some lower demigods.
Again a story from one of my brother's games. This one is no less dangerous than the Black and Green dragons I mentioned but just as diabolical. This blue dragon lives in a massive lair situated in Thunder Ridge, a collection of mountains bordering the sea. There, the dragon rules over a kobold metropolis where they worship[ the dragon as a god. There are also bands of orcs that provide the kobolds with a military force for defense in exchange for magic weapons crafted by kobold sorcerers. The kobolds mine and offer only the bluest sapphires in tribute to the dragon. There is also a couple of human cities within its domain that pay tribute in the form of livestock, sapphires and silks from across the sea in exchange the dragon doesn't prey upon their ships or caravans, provided they display blue sails or blue Burkas in the case of caravans identifying them as his property and pity those who raid his property. It is said that he also collects Bards, which he petrifies with magic and occasionally releases them to play music for him then re-petrifies and stores them. Our mission: Carry tribute up to him and while there, infiltrate his lair and release his captives. We carry the tribute up and pass several checkpoints before we enter the lair. Along the way we notice that every passage and chamber has polished walls and 3 inches of water. The main audience chamber has several iron chains hanging down from the roof, the floor here is dry and of highly polished stone. There is a raised area shaped like a bowl that is lined with blue silks and filled with blue sapphires. Atop that lies the dragon, waiting. We present the tribute of more sapphires and 8 bulls and receive the dragons satisfaction. We leave and we wait until the dragon has gorged on the cattle to sneak in. We easily make it to the vault, and within are shelf upon shelf statues of the bards with their instruments, 30 in all. We free them and after the last one is freed, we are attacked. Not by the dragon but by the bards. You see the dragon let the story out about collecting bards for his amusement but in reality he has been collecting murderers and killers. He has told them that if ever anyone frees them they are to slay them and earn their freedom. So after their initial attacks (they were all rogues) half the party is dead, the healer went first then our mage. We ran for it, the dragon watched the entire thing unfold from the beginning. It harried us as we ran, using the polished walls and chains to ricochet his lightning breath and the water to hit all of the runners at once. He laughed as he chased us. Yelling and taunting me with names like: Gold-bane and Dwarf-friend. When we got out, we were met by 50 kobolds brandishing wands of magic missiles. They obliterated two more players as they fired at once at us. I got out and never went back. My brothers last dragon of vile design was a white one. See you there...
I had "goodish" blue dragon who was worshiped for her ability to make rain in the desert and found considered her followers her property that she protects.
Character idea: A kobold artist who learned their skills specifically because they served under a blue dragon and the blue dragon would tolerate no less then perfection from any artistic piece created in it's image.
3.5e, skills and ranks. Mastercraft item has a DC:20, .. which may or may not Take 10 on. Also masterwork tools gives a +2 bonus on craft checks, then add Int modifier. An Expert/rogue starting multi class PC will start off with 8 ranks in a couple of given skills. Other wise you need a single class rogue at 7th-level. Since most dwarves are said to be multi class clerics/ fighters of the forge. Go with the cheaper multi classing system of 3.5e. So perfection is more or less a given or debatable.
That bit about the scales helping disguise them in the sky reminds me of certain fish, whose bodies appear to be the upper levels of water, disguising them from the predators that swim below, looking for the shadows of fish above them. They have reflective scales that sort of shimmer like sunlight on the surface.
Whilst some people lament redos on splat books and lore videos; I always find that just a little bit more polish comes through each time. Blues are my favourite chromatics. They make cunning villians and they are almost respectable in their cold, cruel yet lawful way.
Be careful speaking of Khellendros! He may just return from the Grey to punish you! lol He becomes a more prominent character in books after the main trilogy all the way into the last series. That's all I'll say without spoiling anything for future readers of this great DnD book series!
If done correctly, I'm pretty sure despite having lower stats the Blue Dragon might be the most difficult normal dragon for a party of adventurers to fight. No party I've ever been in could feasibly hold their own against an opponent trying to outsmart them.
Blues are very fun to play - lots of tricksy tactics. I prefer playing a blue dragon as rarely wanting to kill adventurers (humanoids are not their favorite food and are just smart enough to be annoying). They will instead try to trick the PCs into just going away - or better, go away, bring me back something shiny, and I'll reward you with this chest of coins "that is just clashing terribly with my curated art exhibit: she shape and color is just wrong." - just kidding, I'm going to blast you all with lightning now for interrupting my spa day.
I'm currently working with my DM to make a Dragon Domain cleric. Their backstory (a little bit inspired by Critical Role episode 100 and 101) is that they come from a tribe who descend from the survivors of shipwrecks on this island. They're protected by a powerful draconic spirit bound to the island, to protect it's last egg that didn't hatch before it died and merged with the region. Pirates come too the island and steal the egg, and now the cleric has a mission to recover the egg and return it too its home at the behest of the dragon spirit. I think a benevolent blue dragon might make for a very good fit considering some other stuff I have in mind for them
Great video on these dragons AJ. I love integrating them as major NPCs into more human-cooperative types. Most of my players assume it's a rogue Blue Dragon. It never is, just a smart one. The one that comes to mind was the one that was a Farmer & Merchant Guildmaster. Guild dues were high but if you were not in it, expect to be indiscriminately raided by that dragon or its employees. On certain issues, the Farmer & Merchant Guild had more say than the king. Those in the guild, forgetting about the guild dues after paying them, assume it's a GOOD Blue Dragon because it never breaks its own rules. Nope, a TYPICAL Blue Dragon. Lawful Evil is a fun alignment to play because it emulates real-world people in power so well, both "good guys" and "bad guys".
The oldest non-dracolich (though this has taken a devastating toll on his physical body,will add quote below) Blue dragon mentioned in the lore is Maldraedior (by far my favorite dragon in the Forgotten realms setting) some neat stuff about him (Quotes from the Millenium dragon chapter of the AD&D Draconomicon) "Maldraedior is incredibly old. His rheumy, sunken eyes have seen over 4,000 summers of desert heat" "he was the suzerain of the blue dragons of Unther and Mulhorand. Some 2,650 years ago" "Blue dragons are usually Lawful Evil, but Maldraedior has passed beyond that. He regards Chaos and Law as forces that ebb and flow, and he has become indifferent to their struggle" "Maldraedior's only major reason for staying alive is his role as the last servant and worshiper of an all-but-lost demipower." "Maldraedior's physical body is a 20-foot-long, half-mummified,shriveled form. It is incapable of fighting or defending itself." In the Current campaign i'm playing in i am a Blue Dragonborn Paladin of Kalzareinad (the Dead power worshiped by Maldraedior) who serves and was raised by Maldraedior, he is worshiped as a god in the village he resides "Although Maldraedior is not a god, clerics still gain clerical spells, just as Maldraedior does himself."(and in my case a paladin) Sorry for the long comment and probable grammatical nightmare , I just like Blue dragons.
It's not just other dragons in the area that Blue Dragons need to watch out for. Sand Giants are very formidable opponents of Blue Dragons as they inhabit the same areas and are well versed in the Blue Dragon's tactics. A burrowing Blue Dragon isn't going to sneak up on, or trick a band of well trained Sand Giant warriors who are just as well hidden as the dragon itself.
As is the usual lately: came here to get the lore before I begin painting a new figure. TYVM for the time spent gathering information, taking the time to record, edit and produce this material.
Of all the 'Evil' Dragons, the Blue Dragon is the one you can most likely live and even prosper under. Just, never, ever break the law laid out by your Dragon overlord!
I feel like next time my players meet a blue dragon it should have a super obnoxiously long name “Don Falcone the great blue terror of the south wind!” and if they don’t say the whole name while in the blue dragons presence then they will get lightning fried.
You said they seek out powerful dragons and challenge them, is that only other Blue's or any kind? Would they attack a half-dragon that had start gaining reputation for being powerful? I envision a polymorphed Blue searching for the PCs and finding out the "Great Dragon of Ruin" is really just a half-dragon with some magic items; after showing it's true form, it challenges the half-dragon PC to a dual to see who's more powerful.
Timestamps Below! 0:08 Intro, Become a Patreon Patron! 0:42 Dragonomicons and the Dragon's Diet 2:32 Proud and Territorial 3:39 Combat tactics and lairing near storms 6:08 Scales, Eyes, and Wings 7:54 Lairs and Horde 10:07 Literal Boss monsters 11:22 Half dragons and Dragonborn 11:58 Society and the Suzerain 15:07 Mates, Wyrmlings, and Elemental Diffusion 17:45 Irylathagra and her treasure horde Like, Share, Comment, and Subscribe, hit the bell icon to stay up to date with the most recent videos Dragons are always great, but having gone through past editions, 5e definitely seems to have toned them down a bit from the elemental horrors they were previously. Definitely worth buying the 4e monster manual to get some reference on aura effects and breath weapon effects you can add to spice them up.
This is my absolute favorite dragon species. I adore the blues. Maybe due to their lightning powers, the way their wings are shaped and that great ceratopsian horn on their nose
The first dragon I've killed a player-character with, blue dragons have a special place in my heart. 🥰 Lightning blasted that poor dwarf right out of his armor!
I am creating a home brew campaign and some of the background revolves around a blue dragon. This is gold for fleshing out some details. As always, Thank you for your work.
Blue dragon lightning breath weapon can crystalize sand into glass, which they could sculpt with magic. In 3.5e skill ranks and the dragon has a Sorcerer class level for each age group it is in. They could take the feat Craft Wondrous Item and create their own nick-nack and high power magic items. An item could be so minor even a low level wizard could create it, but since it was crafted by a dragon, rich merchants will get into bidding wars and pay tens of thousands more than what it is worth. Which pleases the dragon's ego to no ends.
I prefer greens, but blues could have a bunch of near humans descend from blue half-dragons that are natural multi class sorcerer practice lightning magic. Ancestor worship would be a big deal. A mature blue dragon awakens after a century of sleep being greeted by hundreds of his half blue dragon children offering up treasure beyond it's imagination.
Love this idea of mob blue dragons! The mafioso of the deserts, the tyrants of the coast, and the rulers of skies. Imagine a major port city which employs a blue dragon to be its enforcer/police force. Allowing the corruption in exchange for the Blue dragon being prideful enough to make this port city the best port city. Maybe pair it with a Steel dragon as the head over the Secret Task Force.
@@TheCoulsonlax I'm glad you do. I love making Lawful cool again. But yes a "secret task force" could be quite fun to throw at your players, or even to play as.
Their willigness to band with adventurer as long its serve them greatly gave me an idea where a blue chromatic would end up being an unlikely ally to the party One is a convoluted story where it play a center piece in the BBG plan, the story heavely lean into their characteristics (parental instincts, aerial combat and illusion mastery, willigness to work with other for their own benefit, tactician spirit, social structure) Its soul bound by a powerfull spell from a Lich to one of the party member its forced to cooperate to find a way to sever it and recover its freedom yet its also hunted by powerfull entities, and to avoid major troubles within cities, it can't use its true form at will to avoid attracting too much attention, remaining polymorphed into a half dragon or dragonborn most of the time as its draconic pride doesn't allow it to take any other form The whole campain is unsurpsingly focused on dragons, and feature a couple, from golden dragon who's lair will end up as the final battle place due to its massive magical well geting used by the BBG to a certain steel dragon as they stop by Neverwinter which offer one of the many possible ending/epilogue I have in mind The other is just an encounter in a smuggling ring, where in a secret room with a "valuable package" mentioned on a note is ot a treasure but a blue wyrmling, meant to be delivered to a mage to perform experience on, tied up and gaged, whom parents that ravaged the area early on (only known to the party from rumors) where looking for, ensuing chaos if you free it and accept to help it, it flee to the mountain top/lookout of the dungeon to call out for its parents and you protect it until they answer it from the entire dungeon For having saved and protected their child they, for one, spare your party unless you do something really stupid and offer a single favor as repayment, be it an artefact of their hoard or their help in a future fight
This is from memory, but in the Empyrean Odyssey trilogy(?) there was a species of dragon that made an appearance with purple scales and were called storm dragons, one even made an appearance as a guard in a lake in Mount Celestia. Ok so i checked, and it seems that the purple storm dragons made their first appearance in that trilogy, so nvm lol.
Incidentally, do thunderstorms empower Blue Dragons at all, specifically when flying through them? I find the idea of a Blue Dragon casting Control Weather to enhance their power beyond the reach of any equivalent age dragon. Second, I like the idea that Blue Dragons fighting together can combine their breath weapons by firing into another Blue Dragon, creating a supercharged attack to obliterate a single target utterly. I like to think this causes thunder and force damage from whatever target it finally impacts. And it also blinds/deafens all creatures along the bolt's path. Further, a distant dragon with an active breath weapon can fire it into another and "pass on the charge" to one who's breath weapon is temporarily expended.
Hey AJ, my first TPK was with a blue dragon. I had a group of murdering hobo's (back in the day). So I started the adventure off with them being confronted with an adult blue dragon. They had an escape route that they could have taken at anytime. But they just couldn't believe that anything could defeat them. I didn't save them from their own actions. That was the shortest adventure i have ever ran. Thanks AJ & have a great day.
Oooo I like that bit on the head blue dragon being in charge of marriage rites. Now I have ideas about a blue dragon needing to ""hire"" adventurers to do something so they can earn permission to mate or something too that effect
You really outdid yourself this time Professor. Thank you! My creativity engine is running full speed now. Streamed an episode zero for the Grand Canyon campaign to get all the players on the same page and it gave me extreme pleasure to inform them of the ancient blue dragon I've been cooking up. Dude is going to be 3.5 styled blue with caster levels and a mountain sized mega dungeon layer. Dont know if you've played dark souls 3 but basically picture the Nameless King optional boss fight. But I will say, you referenced blue dragons penchant for having humanoids work for it, I may be reworking some of his quest points. Imagine 20 blue dragons assembling in one location for a military campaign and what that would look like to the common folk. I've got goosebumps.
Have you heard the tale of Borak The Thunder Tyrant? Long ago in a distant desert land there existed a massive city called Imer. Borak became infatuated with an ambitious human wizard from Imer until one day he tried to bind the dragon to his will. The wizard failed and in retaliation Borak laid waste to the city and drove its inhabitants into the desert while making the now deserted city her lair. Those who survived were required to offer yearly tithes to the thunder tyrant. Gold and gems were an obvious must have but she also demanded humans both male and female. The females became her handmaidens and snacks while the males were placed in a harem and also became snacks when she tired of them. She would often breed half dragons with her harem. The males (known as the Al-Iborak) become her centurions and emissaries while the females were cast into the desert out of jealousy and fear of competition. It is said that the ruins of Imer contain immense riches and a wealth of obscure arcana. The risk of death is great but the riches within the city of much greater should you succeed in slaying the Thunder Tyrant and her Al-Iborak
what kind of deserts have the people in wizards of the coast been to that they have violent storms? I live in a desert and let me tell you, the chances of hearing one thunder strike have become as rare as finding real life unicorns
There are occasional t storms in some deserts typically in the winter. And due to the dry hot air they can be quite violent causing parts of sand to melt into glass tubes
Thank you AJ. I've got a young blue dragon who is trying to ser up a secret society in the region. Luckily for him, there are no other dragons. Unluckily for him, the adventurers are aware of his motives.
I always liked the blues because of Kitiara in Krynn. Wonderful, evocative diction I appreciate. Insure me to create a TPK boss that my players had better respect.
great video as always AJ. Have you done biography videos of heroes or the Realms? An Elminster or Drizzt video might be neat. Thanks for all your content! great stuff!
every dragon is intelligent enough to be unique in personality beliefs and abilities you dont have to go by the book remember that surprises are good sometimes.
Play out juvenile and young adult dragons like over size stray dogs, nosy as all can get. In one game years ago, we had a young adult blue dragon rob the party group so many times it became a running joke. Once the wizard got high enough in levels and made a few scrolls of Polymorph Other, three of the party members turn themselves into large size dragons and a couple of giants to challenge the blue dragon in his lair. After a few minutes of rolling laughter the dragon said the old bear joke, " So you are not doing this for the hunting are you ?"
Nice video, very informative. I never knew that Blues were less evil than any of the other chromatic dragons, that's pretty interesting. FYI, cover and concealment aren't the same thing, they're separate and do not always go together. Cover is anything that protects you from an attack, it could be natural like a larger boulder or man made like a pavise. Concealment, is anything that hides you but does not necessarily protect you from incoming fire/attacks. Examples of concealment are bushes, tall grass, curtains, and so on.So you can have cover that does not hide/conceal you like a magic shield or bullet proof glass or something can provide you with both cover and concealment, like my boulder example. Great video regardless. They've really added to dragon lore since the old days of the original Monster Manual.
Only thing is that since 3rd edition they are always drawn with this derpy looking face, like even the white dragon looks smarter but blues are supposedly the mariliths of the chromatics, very smart and good planners, just as good as the breens which are the smartest supposedly. I mean they fooled a STORM GIANT KING, but they have this face that looks like an orc with fetal alcohol syndrome
I really love all your videos on Dragonkind! Of the Chromatic Dragons, Blue Dragons have always been my favorite! Thanks for the great content, as well as letting me know there are more than one version of the Draconomicon. I thought I had em all but looks like I missed a couple.
So Blue Dragons would love places that have more intense storms as opposed to deserts? I imagine an area like the Bermuda Triangle being a lair of an Ancient Blue.
Thanks, AJ, great work as always. On a personal note, I really like blue dragons. It's part the color, and that, apart from being a bit callous and cantankerous, they aren't all that evil or bad. They don't go out of their way to pillage, to conquer, to dominate, murder, torture, or to eat intelligent species. I recall the Dungeoncast talking about them, and they almost came off as cute nice kids trying to seem tough because they're in a tough talking phase in highschool. "I could demand tribute from you, if I wanted. I could kill you, but I'm not gonna. I could make you do anything, really, but I won't. I could have all your money, if I wanted it. I could be your overlord, but it's not worth my effort. Hey, shut up, I really could do all those things if I wanted to, I just don wanna!" Honestly, I think a blue dragon with a couple attitude adjustments could easily pass for Lawful Neutral, and one with the proper upbringing could be Lawful Good. If they could not reflexively shoop da woop everyone who came up to them, that'd probably fix the alignment thing. Another thing the Dungeoncast touched on is that blue dragons are the most industrious, brave, and honorable dragons. They have a bit of an inferiority complex, because the red dragons are the chromatics naturally stronger than they are. It makes the blue dragons want to work harder and boast more. They will take on a crazy fight rather than gain a reputation as a coward. They will uphold honor, even if it means their death. They related a story from the Eberron setting, that in the midst of an ongoing apocalypse, the dragons all banded together to try to save the world. The metallics showed up. The chromatics said they'd show up, but only the blues did. Because they have something to prove, that raw natural talent does not beat courage, skill, and practice. That's kinda their ethos. They're rich and ripe with possibilities. They're easily my favorite. As for least favorite, I can't decide between red dragons and black dragons. Red dragons are just brutes. Black dragons are just cacklingly evil. Both are just not particularly enjoying to DM for, especially the red dragon. The black dragon is at least fun to combat with, because having the ability for it to spray and pool acid adds a new dimension to things. They're just too evil to do anything fun with because they're all about one thing: tormenting. Same for reds, but their thing is fiery homicide. What are you most and least favorite dragons? Mine: Chromatic Most: Blue, Grey Least: Black, Red Metallity Most: Silver, Mercury Least: Copper, Iron And since I'm on a roll, Planar Most: Radiant, Pyroclastic Least: Mirage, Howling I've had them in a few games and I've always liked them, both as a DM and as a player. As a player, they can present an interesting social encounter or an interesting fight. As a DM, they present a villain who often isn't quite a full villain. Party gets a mission to go stop a dragon that is targeting its caravans. Party gets into dragon territory, asks about the town, and the townsfolk say, "Oh, you mean Ghanfari? Yeah, he's out lord of sorts. We give him information on cavans and he shares some of the profits with us, and he protects us from goblins, orcs, gnolls, and bandits. Not a bad deal." And bam, situation instantly much more complex and interesting than "make bad thing go die". The party can seek to attack in the lair, defend an upcoming caravan, tell the company to reroute around this area, try diplomacy, or whatever. The situation could be anything from the party hiring some ballistae to get the dragon on its next raid and kill it on the ground, to making a deal between the dragon and the company where the dragon lets the caravans go unbothered if they leave some trinkets and a couple pack animals behind at an agreed location. My favorite story involving a blue dragon actually is that our party now is employed by one to spead her fame and bring back riches for her. Oh, and my ranger is also her lover. There's really so much you can do with them. Mort
Depending on the campaign and the DM, .. a.) dragons are very rare to see. b.) They are dam near everywhere, just laying out sunning themselves to being roadside tavern attractions and in business in every town you go into. Half of them keep to themselves and most others just like the extra treasure and the fame humans spread about them. Everybody is trying to make a name for themselves. Mostly the greens and the blues. Very few reds have the temperament to behave long enough to be around things without breaking them. Green dragons will deal with the gold, sliver, and bronze, but the copper are just to annoying to have around for long. Coppers think they are funnier than they really are. Blue half breed descends tend to be drawn to arcane lightning mysticism and not to human social politics like the greens are. Odd enough greens seek to prevent wars cause wars destroy wealth. Assassination are just cheaper than sieges are, and sieges restrict trade which means treasure is not flowing into their hoards.
Hello good sir! I love your lore videos a great deal and heard you say Storm Dragon which brought me back to a monthly metal dragon mini from a long time ago. I was hoping, by request , if you could do a dedicated video on the old storm dragon lore from older DND?
I wonder; do we anthropomorphize dragons to more humanistic roles or is it the other way around? Of course the dragon would say we're emulating them, after all "They're awesome" and humanoids are second place. Yes second place; which is FIRST PLACE LOSERS! Dragons? What-ca gonna do?
The Draconomicons say that it is very, very unlikely between chromatic and Metallic dragons, while metallics may cross breed with other metallics, chromatics with other chromatics, even so, the resulting offspring will have a random bunch of traits similar to one parent or another, its rarely predictable, with the metallics, its particularly wild, you could have a copper mate with a gold and end up with a Tantalum dragon.
Listed among the treasures of sharpfang i delightfully nisheard one, the goblet of seven winds. It shall find its way into my campaign as such: a goblet which is ever full and every draught causes deleterious madness as one of the seven deadly sins. It is also called 'the taming cup of Ilmater', isnt it?
Blue and Red Dragons are part of what is known as Fire Drakes, they are by all definitions the basics of the fire breathing flying reptiles that struck fear into the hearts of men during the middle ages, the main difference is that while both the body & fires grow stronger as they age, the actual fire breath itself is a vortex of primordial arcane elemental thermonuclear plasma, In the case of the Blue Dragon, it will take the form of arcane lighting as it reaches its full maturity but it can still spew out blue arcane plasma fires, the nature of both sky and fire drakes grant them access to both sky/air type magic and ice/frost magic, the former being the most used with, while the latter has time and place, that being said I once saw a great blue decimate a several frost giants,
In one campaign, or more than a few depending the DM of the two game shops I went to over the years. Blue dragons vap sand with their lightning breath to create glass crystal such as which is found from natural lightning strikes. Then sculpt the said glass with magic for trade. With 3.5e rule system of skill ranks along with their Sorcerer age class level, they take the feat Craft Wondrous Item and create their own magic nick-nacks and high power items. Rich human trades/ wizards will go into bidding wars to buy a given glass crystal magic item created by a dragon. It could be a simple item that even a low level wizard could do, but collectors will bid tens of thousands more cause it was made by a dragon. which pleases the dragon's ego to no ends.
@@alexandarvoncarsteinzarovi3723 I had a DM that ran a red dragon with the liking for Walls of Ice spell to steam cook party groups, along with creating freezing pools of water, to turn into steam clouds. Another tactic was to fill its tunnels with dried shrubs to set fire so the smoke will choke the PCs out. A large enough dragon with tough claws would scratch up the cave floors to create trip hazards. Follow up with sitting on a ledge invisible using Unseen Servant to " bump " PCs as they try to make it across the flooring.
You read my mind. I've watched your older video on blue dragons like three times this week. (Reworking a blue dragonborn as an NPC for a new campaign.)
Have there been any blue dragon kingdom? Also have blue dragon tried to make there own dragonborn? Or their own silverbrow humans?🤔🐉 Ps also great video I can't wait to see the rest of the Dragon remastered videos! What dragon do you think you'll do next?😀
Blue Dragons can't make dragonborn, they could call on Tiamat to turn their eggs into Draconians, or create half dragons, or dragon-blood kobolds, etc. Blue dragons have had their own kingdoms yes, recently a location on faerun secretly worshipped a blue dragon as a god. Hmmm next dragon vid, Red?
@@moonringXD the Prime realm of the forgotten realm is Toril and it’s twin world abeir. Toril is the Place that Most People knows and abeir is a world ruled by dragons that was left Boy the gods. In this world the Dragons have dragonborns als servants. In the Forth editions spellplague, the Borders between abeir and Toril was thin and a City with dragonborn from abeir changed it’s Place to Toril, . I guess it’s in chessentra if i am not wrong. And the Dragonborns a not really Friends from the Dragons.
So are the blue dragon are the Silver dragon of the colors dragon they seem to be more open minded and seem to understand human and the way use just in a evil way . I wonder what would happen if a blue and silver found out there favorite human was working for the other. Would they kill each other , try and bribe/convince him/her or just kill the human for the disrespect.
Depends on the flavor of favorite towards the human. Like is this let's make a half dragon favorite, I've raise this human from a child favorite, or I'm possive of this human because they have the best stories to tell. I think it depends on that. Though I'd love the idea of the dragons making a begrudging pact of peace until both humans naturally die. Thus letting their favorites have a happier life.
The blue would kill a human servant at the first hint of betrayal, I'm not so sure about a silver dragon. A silver dragon is probably working for the humans benefit, so they might turn the human over to human authorities? I imagine if a blue and silver were that close to each other there would be some agreement or stalemate causing a cold war situation for humans in the area that could go on for hundreds of years, unless adventurers upset things ;p
Zasek2112 a dragon Cold War sounds funny as hell like they magically send text about how they look like a hill Giant or summoning a rust bug to fuck up each other’s hordes
A Blue Dragon ate my awakened horse once, and now i have a massive Blue Dragon skull bed frame and wonderful Draconic Scale armor. The lesson to be learned today? Dont mess with my pack animals!
of the 5 main chromatic i would say blues are my favorite possibly i would say its tied to the blue dragon skie/Khellendros from the dragonlance setting though i also think it would be amusing for a blue dragon with a humanoid identity basically being the godfather of a local crime syndicate or such
“Lawful narcissistic” is more accurate to describe blue bois than anything else really.
I love the Blue Dragon from Dragon Magazine, laired in an ancient desert temple in the desert. This one collected music boxes, instruments, enchanted items; and hired a bard to return and tell news over the years of the world (and play music). It was in the early 90's (the article)
Which dragon magazine was this? I could see a dragonfire song adapt coming from this.
AJ has a really healthy community
When you get someone who truly enjoys making videos about a topic you can feel it as you watch...I’m here to stay
It's a fun place
Nawww, you folks are the best. Absolute best. ❤️
Love the amazing ideas that come out this channel's comments
I can see why, i recall when he left a heart on a furry's comment stating his desire to date a gold dragon. Was a surprisingly positive reaction (I'm used to the opposite from youtubers).
We had another encounter with a Blue Dragon. Like all Chromatics, this Blue Dragon is vain, egotistical, and tyrannical. But highly unusual for an evil dragon, he's many things, but a liar isn't one of them. He's destructive and manipulative, but ironically, does not tolerate lies, backstabbing, cheating, and was mostly unwilling to kill a defenseless opponent. He'd rather let his rival/opponent arm himself with defense so he can fight him. But he still won't spare an unarmed opponent.
After hearing about this killer queen Blue Dragon, I have an urge to make a place that cranks that idea even further.... A blue dragon Queen who considers an entire city her lair, and all citizens considered part of her hoard. Everyone serves without question, true.. But everyone is also well fed, and well dressed and generally content. Weak, mewling, shabby slaves is simply unsightly her Blue Majesty. Having such servants is a show of weakness to her lair as a whole. (and honestly, those who prefers their slaves to act as such simply have a weak ego to match) She encourages her people to stand tall and proud of their kingdom because that means they stand tall and proud of Her. She has artisans from around the globe to make the city unique and breathtakingly beautiful. The outside storms have been tapped into, to provide magical lights so the city always glimmers. The people are diverse, happy, well-dressed, looking like living gems to their ever-watchful Queen. The people prosper.
From the outside, the place seems like paradise.... But... She's still a blue dragon... and still a sort of evil.
She will not stand for those who cannot actively serve her. Nor can she abide those who are clearly unattractive lest it mar the beauty of her perfect kingdom-hoard. So the lame, disfigured, diseased, and the elderly or either exiled, killed, or hidden illegally. In some exceptionally rare cases the unsightly ones are legally allowed to stay, so long as they are hidden from view. These are the people who are so exceptional at what they do, it makes up for their homely appearance.
I'd want to explore a land like that. I can see some very intriguing adventures happening in a place like that.
Basically what Schazzar does
The thing that makes dnd dragons especially scary to me isnt their breathe attacks, its not their physical strength, its their intelligence. These things are gargantuan legendary monsters and they can fight on par with people in tactics and in weapon techniques. They can not only blast you with their breathe but they can cast major spells at you with genius skill levels they are one " man" armies because of that. Theyd be daunting without their intelligence but damn dude
Man, Nothing will ever beat the 3.5 book design and layouts for me. They really peaked and poured So much into 3.5 edition from magazines to hundreds of sourcebooks and modules.
In the game i'm playing in there is a very benevolent blue dragon running one of the most powerful nations on the continent. Much like the ones from Dragonlance the blue dragons were the only chromatic dragons (aside from a handful of others) who joined forces with the metallic dragons to save the world, being too proud to allow THEIR world fall in to the hands of aberrations
The Lawful in the LE, with a dash of pride. I find it satisfying to hear those blues joining forces with the rest. Thank you for sharing this.
Totally on brand for the Blues, well done.
@@joshdavis4438 Yeah, the capital has buildings made of gold and is pretty much the top layer of their hoard. They even took a meteor swarm to the chest when the city was attacked (they said it was to prevent damage too their palace, but we rolled high enough to see they did it to save a group of civilians).
Also of note is how they seeded their army out of their own pants and have elite dragonborn and half-dragon guards (in the setting dragonborn are second generation onwards)
@@cameronpearce5943 This sounds like an amazing story. Are you on AJ's discord? I'd love to hear more about this, and I like that dragon born idea. I might have to steal it in some degree, perhaps even pertaining to kolbols. Let me give a suggestion in return. A trade.
If you want to look into the lore of shadow dragons they have half-dragons born under certain high magic so that they can switch between 100% dragon or 100% drow. Minor suggestion to throw players off their feet to add this in for other colors.
I assume we called them blue just for classifications but storm dragon sounds so much cooler.
Agreed
Blues live in te desert, breath lightning and have a burrow speed. That tells me that they make a lot of glass! Burrowing in to sand and hitting it with lightning to make a glass dugeon.
3.5e , .. my gaming shop DM has dragons take the feat Craft Wondrous Item and create their own nick-nacks and high power items. An item could be made by a low level wizard but since it was crafted by a dragon it will start bidding wars leading into the tens of thousands, which pleases the dragon's ego to no end.
Been a while without being here. Love them blue. I also like copper, red, and silver dragons.
Welcome back, I just did a vid on silver dragons not so long ago.
Yes he did, it is nice seeing the dragon videos make a come back.
I had a Blue dragon as a quest giver, I love how they aren’t evil for evil sake but for vanity’s sake
17:49 Wow Iryklathagra has the most amazing hoard I've ever heard of. A wheelbarrow full of artifacts for the hard-boiled adventurers that finally slay her once and for all.
I am loving those lightning effects behind that drawing around the first minute.
The idea of them creating an actual battalion of Blues to rain lightning down on enemies though. Like, damn. That might actually be enough lightning to burn away Golds or even greater threats like some lower demigods.
Again a story from one of my brother's games. This one is no less dangerous than the Black and Green dragons I mentioned but just as diabolical.
This blue dragon lives in a massive lair situated in Thunder Ridge, a collection of mountains bordering the sea. There, the dragon rules over a kobold metropolis where they worship[ the dragon as a god. There are also bands of orcs that provide the kobolds with a military force for defense in exchange for magic weapons crafted by kobold sorcerers. The kobolds mine and offer only the bluest sapphires in tribute to the dragon.
There is also a couple of human cities within its domain that pay tribute in the form of livestock, sapphires and silks from across the sea in exchange the dragon doesn't prey upon their ships or caravans, provided they display blue sails or blue Burkas in the case of caravans identifying them as his property and pity those who raid his property. It is said that he also collects Bards, which he petrifies with magic and occasionally releases them to play music for him then re-petrifies and stores them.
Our mission: Carry tribute up to him and while there, infiltrate his lair and release his captives.
We carry the tribute up and pass several checkpoints before we enter the lair. Along the way we notice that every passage and chamber has polished walls and 3 inches of water. The main audience chamber has several iron chains hanging down from the roof, the floor here is dry and of highly polished stone. There is a raised area shaped like a bowl that is lined with blue silks and filled with blue sapphires. Atop that lies the dragon, waiting. We present the tribute of more sapphires and 8 bulls and receive the dragons satisfaction. We leave and we wait until the dragon has gorged on the cattle to sneak in.
We easily make it to the vault, and within are shelf upon shelf statues of the bards with their instruments, 30 in all. We free them and after the last one is freed, we are attacked. Not by the dragon but by the bards. You see the dragon let the story out about collecting bards for his amusement but in reality he has been collecting murderers and killers. He has told them that if ever anyone frees them they are to slay them and earn their freedom. So after their initial attacks (they were all rogues) half the party is dead, the healer went first then our mage.
We ran for it, the dragon watched the entire thing unfold from the beginning. It harried us as we ran, using the polished walls and chains to ricochet his lightning breath and the water to hit all of the runners at once. He laughed as he chased us. Yelling and taunting me with names like: Gold-bane and Dwarf-friend. When we got out, we were met by 50 kobolds brandishing wands of magic missiles. They obliterated two more players as they fired at once at us.
I got out and never went back.
My brothers last dragon of vile design was a white one. See you there...
Diabolical indeed.
I had "goodish" blue dragon who was worshiped for her ability to make rain in the desert and found considered her followers her property that she protects.
Character idea:
A kobold artist who learned their skills specifically because they served under a blue dragon and the blue dragon would tolerate no less then perfection from any artistic piece created in it's image.
Legit background concept!
3.5e, skills and ranks.
Mastercraft item has a DC:20, .. which may or may not Take 10 on. Also masterwork tools gives a +2 bonus on craft checks, then add Int modifier.
An Expert/rogue starting multi class PC will start off with 8 ranks in a couple of given skills. Other wise you need a single class rogue at 7th-level. Since most dwarves are said to be multi class clerics/ fighters of the forge. Go with the cheaper multi classing system of 3.5e.
So perfection is more or less a given or debatable.
I think blue dragons are my favorite chromatic dragons… pretty cool.
That bit about the scales helping disguise them in the sky reminds me of certain fish, whose bodies appear to be the upper levels of water, disguising them from the predators that swim below, looking for the shadows of fish above them. They have reflective scales that sort of shimmer like sunlight on the surface.
Whilst some people lament redos on splat books and lore videos; I always find that just a little bit more polish comes through each time.
Blues are my favourite chromatics. They make cunning villians and they are almost respectable in their cold, cruel yet lawful way.
my friends call them "sharky sand bois"
because the burrowing speed and nose horn combo
There's Dragonlance novel that follows a blue dragon named Skyie. He was Rastlins sisters Kits dragon....they were good ass books
Be careful speaking of Khellendros! He may just return from the Grey to punish you! lol He becomes a more prominent character in books after the main trilogy all the way into the last series. That's all I'll say without spoiling anything for future readers of this great DnD book series!
If done correctly, I'm pretty sure despite having lower stats the Blue Dragon might be the most difficult normal dragon for a party of adventurers to fight. No party I've ever been in could feasibly hold their own against an opponent trying to outsmart them.
I agree with this. A true thunder struck, being blasted from afar over and over.
It's all about that Strife, about that strife. Less trouble.
Dragons can also drop big rocks.
@@AJPickett Like to have reds drop rocks and melt them to rain lava and create pools of the same
Blues are very fun to play - lots of tricksy tactics.
I prefer playing a blue dragon as rarely wanting to kill adventurers (humanoids are not their favorite food and are just smart enough to be annoying). They will instead try to trick the PCs into just going away - or better, go away, bring me back something shiny, and I'll reward you with this chest of coins "that is just clashing terribly with my curated art exhibit: she shape and color is just wrong." - just kidding, I'm going to blast you all with lightning now for interrupting my spa day.
@@AJPickett So than it'll also go little like this: "We will we will rock you, rock you!"
I'm currently working with my DM to make a Dragon Domain cleric. Their backstory (a little bit inspired by Critical Role episode 100 and 101) is that they come from a tribe who descend from the survivors of shipwrecks on this island. They're protected by a powerful draconic spirit bound to the island, to protect it's last egg that didn't hatch before it died and merged with the region. Pirates come too the island and steal the egg, and now the cleric has a mission to recover the egg and return it too its home at the behest of the dragon spirit. I think a benevolent blue dragon might make for a very good fit considering some other stuff I have in mind for them
Storm Dragons are my favorite.
Followed by Skull Dragons.
The elemental plane of lightning is heaven to blue dragons, who revel in the eternal storms
Great video on these dragons AJ. I love integrating them as major NPCs into more human-cooperative types. Most of my players assume it's a rogue Blue Dragon. It never is, just a smart one. The one that comes to mind was the one that was a Farmer & Merchant Guildmaster. Guild dues were high but if you were not in it, expect to be indiscriminately raided by that dragon or its employees. On certain issues, the Farmer & Merchant Guild had more say than the king. Those in the guild, forgetting about the guild dues after paying them, assume it's a GOOD Blue Dragon because it never breaks its own rules. Nope, a TYPICAL Blue Dragon. Lawful Evil is a fun alignment to play because it emulates real-world people in power so well, both "good guys" and "bad guys".
The oldest non-dracolich (though this has taken a devastating toll on his physical body,will add quote below) Blue dragon mentioned in the lore is Maldraedior (by far my favorite dragon in the Forgotten realms setting)
some neat stuff about him (Quotes from the Millenium dragon chapter of the AD&D Draconomicon)
"Maldraedior is incredibly old. His rheumy, sunken eyes have seen over 4,000 summers of desert heat"
"he was the suzerain of the blue dragons of Unther and Mulhorand. Some 2,650 years ago"
"Blue dragons are usually Lawful Evil, but Maldraedior has passed beyond that. He regards Chaos and Law as forces that ebb and flow, and he has become indifferent to their struggle"
"Maldraedior's only major reason for staying alive is his role as the last servant and worshiper of an all-but-lost demipower."
"Maldraedior's physical body is a 20-foot-long, half-mummified,shriveled form. It is incapable of fighting or defending itself."
In the Current campaign i'm playing in i am a Blue Dragonborn Paladin of Kalzareinad (the Dead power worshiped by Maldraedior) who serves and was raised by Maldraedior, he is worshiped as a god in the village he resides "Although Maldraedior is not a god, clerics still gain clerical spells, just as Maldraedior does himself."(and in my case a paladin)
Sorry for the long comment and probable grammatical nightmare , I just like Blue dragons.
Sounds like a sweet campaign.
Thanks for sharing.
It's not just other dragons in the area that Blue Dragons need to watch out for. Sand Giants are very formidable opponents of Blue Dragons as they inhabit the same areas and are well versed in the Blue Dragon's tactics. A burrowing Blue Dragon isn't going to sneak up on, or trick a band of well trained Sand Giant warriors who are just as well hidden as the dragon itself.
Storm giants also!
@@AJPickett *Looks at the Behir's lore being created by Storm Giants*
Especially Storm Giants
As is the usual lately: came here to get the lore before I begin painting a new figure. TYVM for the time spent gathering information, taking the time to record, edit and produce this material.
Glad to help!
What I think is cool about blues is when no meat is available they'll eat plants.
Source practical guide to dragons
And then there’s red dragon who want to talking to the manager because his meal isn’t a virgin
Of all the 'Evil' Dragons, the Blue Dragon is the one you can most likely live and even prosper under.
Just, never, ever break the law laid out by your Dragon overlord!
I feel like next time my players meet a blue dragon it should have a super obnoxiously long name “Don Falcone the great blue terror of the south wind!” and if they don’t say the whole name while in the blue dragons presence then they will get lightning fried.
they could also "farm" flesh golems as an easy renewable snack for when they don't feel like hunting
You said they seek out powerful dragons and challenge them, is that only other Blue's or any kind? Would they attack a half-dragon that had start gaining reputation for being powerful? I envision a polymorphed Blue searching for the PCs and finding out the "Great Dragon of Ruin" is really just a half-dragon with some magic items; after showing it's true form, it challenges the half-dragon PC to a dual to see who's more powerful.
Yes, they challenge other species. I like the way you think 🧙🏼♂️
Timestamps Below!
0:08 Intro, Become a Patreon Patron!
0:42 Dragonomicons and the Dragon's Diet
2:32 Proud and Territorial
3:39 Combat tactics and lairing near storms
6:08 Scales, Eyes, and Wings
7:54 Lairs and Horde
10:07 Literal Boss monsters
11:22 Half dragons and Dragonborn
11:58 Society and the Suzerain
15:07 Mates, Wyrmlings, and Elemental Diffusion
17:45 Irylathagra and her treasure horde
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Dragons are always great, but having gone through past editions, 5e definitely seems to have toned them down a bit from the elemental horrors they were previously. Definitely worth buying the 4e monster manual to get some reference on aura effects and breath weapon effects you can add to spice them up.
Are you saying i can have a polymorphed Pirate blue dragon that deems its company of ships its mobile lair?
Yes
Blue dragons chose wisely to hide in the desert. All the murder hobos are infesting the forests and mountains, 1 mile from their houses.
lol *red dragon goes on rampage out of anger of the blue getting their revamp first* :P
This is my absolute favorite dragon species. I adore the blues. Maybe due to their lightning powers, the way their wings are shaped and that great ceratopsian horn on their nose
The first dragon I've killed a player-character with, blue dragons have a special place in my heart. 🥰
Lightning blasted that poor dwarf right out of his armor!
"I SUMMON WHITE EYES BLUE DRAGON IN ATTACK MODE"
Blue Dragons/Storm Dragons are my favorite of the dragons. Thank you for the breakdown. Please keep it up. Can't wait for the next one.
I am creating a home brew campaign and some of the background revolves around a blue dragon. This is gold for fleshing out some details. As always, Thank you for your work.
Blue dragon lightning breath weapon can crystalize sand into glass, which they could sculpt with magic.
In 3.5e skill ranks and the dragon has a Sorcerer class level for each age group it is in. They could take the feat Craft Wondrous Item and create their own nick-nack and high power magic items.
An item could be so minor even a low level wizard could create it, but since it was crafted by a dragon, rich merchants will get into bidding wars and pay tens of thousands more than what it is worth. Which pleases the dragon's ego to no ends.
These dragons are slowly becoming my favorite type of the chromatic.
I prefer greens, but blues could have a bunch of near humans descend from blue half-dragons that are natural multi class sorcerer practice lightning magic. Ancestor worship would be a big deal.
A mature blue dragon awakens after a century of sleep being greeted by hundreds of his half blue dragon children offering up treasure beyond it's imagination.
what does a blue dragon have that's natural but painful to everyone else?
Blue balls
@Furvus Animus if my dm puts this as an encounter i'm going to use this. even if i get a breath attack as a response.
Teeth
I’ve always looked at blues like the benevolent Mob Boss. Easily my favorite chromatic dragon
Love this idea of mob blue dragons!
The mafioso of the deserts, the tyrants of the coast, and the rulers of skies. Imagine a major port city which employs a blue dragon to be its enforcer/police force. Allowing the corruption in exchange for the Blue dragon being prideful enough to make this port city the best port city.
Maybe pair it with a Steel dragon as the head over the Secret Task Force.
Josh Davis I like the “secret task force” idea a lot!
@@TheCoulsonlax I'm glad you do. I love making Lawful cool again. But yes a "secret task force" could be quite fun to throw at your players, or even to play as.
Their willigness to band with adventurer as long its serve them greatly gave me an idea where a blue chromatic would end up being an unlikely ally to the party
One is a convoluted story where it play a center piece in the BBG plan, the story heavely lean into their characteristics (parental instincts, aerial combat and illusion mastery, willigness to work with other for their own benefit, tactician spirit, social structure)
Its soul bound by a powerfull spell from a Lich to one of the party member its forced to cooperate to find a way to sever it and recover its freedom yet its also hunted by powerfull entities, and to avoid major troubles within cities, it can't use its true form at will to avoid attracting too much attention, remaining polymorphed into a half dragon or dragonborn most of the time as its draconic pride doesn't allow it to take any other form
The whole campain is unsurpsingly focused on dragons, and feature a couple, from golden dragon who's lair will end up as the final battle place due to its massive magical well geting used by the BBG to a certain steel dragon as they stop by Neverwinter which offer one of the many possible ending/epilogue I have in mind
The other is just an encounter in a smuggling ring, where in a secret room with a "valuable package" mentioned on a note is ot a treasure but a blue wyrmling, meant to be delivered to a mage to perform experience on, tied up and gaged, whom parents that ravaged the area early on (only known to the party from rumors) where looking for, ensuing chaos if you free it and accept to help it, it flee to the mountain top/lookout of the dungeon to call out for its parents and you protect it until they answer it from the entire dungeon
For having saved and protected their child they, for one, spare your party unless you do something really stupid and offer a single favor as repayment, be it an artefact of their hoard or their help in a future fight
Best and potentially most underrated dragon in DnD!
Yeah I think they’re my favorite chromatic
My players will be traversing a desert soon and this video on Blue Dragons is fantastic going all the way back to older editions 😎
This is from memory, but in the Empyrean Odyssey trilogy(?) there was a species of dragon that made an appearance with purple scales and were called storm dragons, one even made an appearance as a guard in a lake in Mount Celestia. Ok so i checked, and it seems that the purple storm dragons made their first appearance in that trilogy, so nvm lol.
Incidentally, do thunderstorms empower Blue Dragons at all, specifically when flying through them? I find the idea of a Blue Dragon casting Control Weather to enhance their power beyond the reach of any equivalent age dragon.
Second, I like the idea that Blue Dragons fighting together can combine their breath weapons by firing into another Blue Dragon, creating a supercharged attack to obliterate a single target utterly. I like to think this causes thunder and force damage from whatever target it finally impacts. And it also blinds/deafens all creatures along the bolt's path.
Further, a distant dragon with an active breath weapon can fire it into another and "pass on the charge" to one who's breath weapon is temporarily expended.
I think they would derive some power from storms, yes.
Hey AJ, my first TPK was with a blue dragon. I had a group of murdering hobo's (back in the day). So I started the adventure off with them being confronted with an adult blue dragon. They had an escape route that they could have taken at anytime. But they just couldn't believe that anything could defeat them. I didn't save them from their own actions. That was the shortest adventure i have ever ran.
Thanks AJ & have a great day.
A "we are gods" from critical roll moment. Sounds like a TPK of Lawful Justice.
Is it just me or do some the most fun campaigns involve alot of running away
@@Bob-sq1us no, I think it's required.
I think blue dragons would be the most protective of their minions out of all dragons.
Oooo I like that bit on the head blue dragon being in charge of marriage rites. Now I have ideas about a blue dragon needing to ""hire"" adventurers to do something so they can earn permission to mate or something too that effect
' a blue dragon living more then three thousand years, that's crazy 😮 ' remembering half way through this is all fictional
There is a forest on Earth where all the tree's a clones growing from the same root system, and that is around 14 thousand years old.
You really outdid yourself this time Professor. Thank you!
My creativity engine is running full speed now. Streamed an episode zero for the Grand Canyon campaign to get all the players on the same page and it gave me extreme pleasure to inform them of the ancient blue dragon I've been cooking up.
Dude is going to be 3.5 styled blue with caster levels and a mountain sized mega dungeon layer.
Dont know if you've played dark souls 3 but basically picture the Nameless King optional boss fight. But I will say, you referenced blue dragons penchant for having humanoids work for it, I may be reworking some of his quest points. Imagine 20 blue dragons assembling in one location for a military campaign and what that would look like to the common folk. I've got goosebumps.
The sounds really intriguing. Are you going to be giving 3.5 breath weapon feats, or any of the unique dragon spells like Animate Breath?
Have you heard the tale of Borak The Thunder Tyrant?
Long ago in a distant desert land there existed a massive city called Imer. Borak became infatuated with an ambitious human wizard from Imer until one day he tried to bind the dragon to his will. The wizard failed and in retaliation Borak laid waste to the city and drove its inhabitants into the desert while making the now deserted city her lair. Those who survived were required to offer yearly tithes to the thunder tyrant. Gold and gems were an obvious must have but she also demanded humans both male and female. The females became her handmaidens and snacks while the males were placed in a harem and also became snacks when she tired of them. She would often breed half dragons with her harem. The males (known as the Al-Iborak) become her centurions and emissaries while the females were cast into the desert out of jealousy and fear of competition.
It is said that the ruins of Imer contain immense riches and a wealth of obscure arcana. The risk of death is great but the riches within the city of much greater should you succeed in slaying the Thunder Tyrant and her Al-Iborak
what kind of deserts have the people in wizards of the coast been to that they have violent storms? I live in a desert and let me tell you, the chances of hearing one thunder strike have become as rare as finding real life unicorns
There are occasional t storms in some deserts typically in the winter. And due to the dry hot air they can be quite violent causing parts of sand to melt into glass tubes
Thunder storms do actually happen somewhat frequently in some deserts it’s due to the air flow
I imagine they might get along quite well with storm giant quintesents
Varry nice love the good dragon's. Can't wait to see how dragon civilization starts to come back !
My favorite D&D dragon! Thank you for informative video! :)
Blues have always been my favorite.
Thank you AJ. I've got a young blue dragon who is trying to ser up a secret society in the region. Luckily for him, there are no other dragons. Unluckily for him, the adventurers are aware of his motives.
I always liked the blues because of Kitiara in Krynn. Wonderful, evocative diction I appreciate. Insure me to create a TPK boss that my players had better respect.
great video as always AJ. Have you done biography videos of heroes or the Realms? An Elminster or Drizzt video might be neat. Thanks for all your content! great stuff!
Not yet, but that sort of video might be interesting.
The "Sun Zhu" of Dragon kind.
Cigar in my mouth, drink in my glass listening to this. Everything silky smooth. Great job Dungeon Master!
poor camels have to worry death coming from the skies of the desert
know as the blue tyrant dragon king of egypt pharaohixs god of greed and evilness
every dragon is intelligent enough to be unique in personality beliefs and abilities
you dont have to go by the book remember that surprises are good sometimes.
Play out juvenile and young adult dragons like over size stray dogs, nosy as all can get.
In one game years ago, we had a young adult blue dragon rob the party group so many times it became a running joke. Once the wizard got high enough in levels and made a few scrolls of Polymorph Other, three of the party members turn themselves into large size dragons and a couple of giants to challenge the blue dragon in his lair. After a few minutes of rolling laughter the dragon said the old bear joke, " So you are not doing this for the hunting are you ?"
Nice video, very informative. I never knew that Blues were less evil than any of the other chromatic dragons, that's pretty interesting.
FYI, cover and concealment aren't the same thing, they're separate and do not always go together. Cover is anything that protects you from an attack, it could be natural like a larger boulder or man made like a pavise. Concealment, is anything that hides you but does not necessarily protect you from incoming fire/attacks. Examples of concealment are bushes, tall grass, curtains, and so on.So you can have cover that does not hide/conceal you like a magic shield or bullet proof glass or something can provide you with both cover and concealment, like my boulder example.
Great video regardless. They've really added to dragon lore since the old days of the original Monster Manual.
I've always liked blues, them and silvers are my 2 favorite true dragons
Only thing is that since 3rd edition they are always drawn with this derpy looking face, like even the white dragon looks smarter but blues are supposedly the mariliths of the chromatics, very smart and good planners, just as good as the breens which are the smartest supposedly. I mean they fooled a STORM GIANT KING, but they have this face that looks like an orc with fetal alcohol syndrome
You need to be a pretty serious dragon to throw down with a god.
Dragon: I AM THE STORM!
Talos: Hold my beer.
I really love all your videos on Dragonkind! Of the Chromatic Dragons, Blue Dragons have always been my favorite! Thanks for the great content, as well as letting me know there are more than one version of the Draconomicon. I thought I had em all but looks like I missed a couple.
The crime boss Dragon
So Blue Dragons would love places that have more intense storms as opposed to deserts? I imagine an area like the Bermuda Triangle being a lair of an Ancient Blue.
When they die and area is constantly persisted with storms. What if it was a blue dragon graveyard, as well, as a layer of a king of blue dragons.
Fun fact AJ. I subbed to this channel after I found you had just made a blue dragon video. I loved it and still do. Nj thank you for the videos.
Thank you and welcome 😊
Thanks, AJ, great work as always.
On a personal note, I really like blue dragons. It's part the color, and that, apart from being a bit callous and cantankerous, they aren't all that evil or bad. They don't go out of their way to pillage, to conquer, to dominate, murder, torture, or to eat intelligent species. I recall the Dungeoncast talking about them, and they almost came off as cute nice kids trying to seem tough because they're in a tough talking phase in highschool. "I could demand tribute from you, if I wanted. I could kill you, but I'm not gonna. I could make you do anything, really, but I won't. I could have all your money, if I wanted it. I could be your overlord, but it's not worth my effort. Hey, shut up, I really could do all those things if I wanted to, I just don wanna!"
Honestly, I think a blue dragon with a couple attitude adjustments could easily pass for Lawful Neutral, and one with the proper upbringing could be Lawful Good. If they could not reflexively shoop da woop everyone who came up to them, that'd probably fix the alignment thing.
Another thing the Dungeoncast touched on is that blue dragons are the most industrious, brave, and honorable dragons. They have a bit of an inferiority complex, because the red dragons are the chromatics naturally stronger than they are. It makes the blue dragons want to work harder and boast more. They will take on a crazy fight rather than gain a reputation as a coward. They will uphold honor, even if it means their death. They related a story from the Eberron setting, that in the midst of an ongoing apocalypse, the dragons all banded together to try to save the world. The metallics showed up. The chromatics said they'd show up, but only the blues did. Because they have something to prove, that raw natural talent does not beat courage, skill, and practice. That's kinda their ethos.
They're rich and ripe with possibilities. They're easily my favorite. As for least favorite, I can't decide between red dragons and black dragons. Red dragons are just brutes. Black dragons are just cacklingly evil. Both are just not particularly enjoying to DM for, especially the red dragon. The black dragon is at least fun to combat with, because having the ability for it to spray and pool acid adds a new dimension to things. They're just too evil to do anything fun with because they're all about one thing: tormenting. Same for reds, but their thing is fiery homicide.
What are you most and least favorite dragons? Mine:
Chromatic
Most: Blue, Grey
Least: Black, Red
Metallity
Most: Silver, Mercury
Least: Copper, Iron
And since I'm on a roll, Planar
Most: Radiant, Pyroclastic
Least: Mirage, Howling
I've had them in a few games and I've always liked them, both as a DM and as a player. As a player, they can present an interesting social encounter or an interesting fight. As a DM, they present a villain who often isn't quite a full villain. Party gets a mission to go stop a dragon that is targeting its caravans. Party gets into dragon territory, asks about the town, and the townsfolk say, "Oh, you mean Ghanfari? Yeah, he's out lord of sorts. We give him information on cavans and he shares some of the profits with us, and he protects us from goblins, orcs, gnolls, and bandits. Not a bad deal." And bam, situation instantly much more complex and interesting than "make bad thing go die". The party can seek to attack in the lair, defend an upcoming caravan, tell the company to reroute around this area, try diplomacy, or whatever. The situation could be anything from the party hiring some ballistae to get the dragon on its next raid and kill it on the ground, to making a deal between the dragon and the company where the dragon lets the caravans go unbothered if they leave some trinkets and a couple pack animals behind at an agreed location.
My favorite story involving a blue dragon actually is that our party now is employed by one to spead her fame and bring back riches for her. Oh, and my ranger is also her lover. There's really so much you can do with them.
Mort
Depending on the campaign and the DM, ..
a.) dragons are very rare to see.
b.) They are dam near everywhere, just laying out sunning themselves to being roadside tavern attractions and in business in every town you go into. Half of them keep to themselves and most others just like the extra treasure and the fame humans spread about them. Everybody is trying to make a name for themselves. Mostly the greens and the blues. Very few reds have the temperament to behave long enough to be around things without breaking them.
Green dragons will deal with the gold, sliver, and bronze, but the copper are just to annoying to have around for long. Coppers think they are funnier than they really are. Blue half breed descends tend to be drawn to arcane lightning mysticism and not to human social politics like the greens are. Odd enough greens seek to prevent wars cause wars destroy wealth. Assassination are just cheaper than sieges are, and sieges restrict trade which means treasure is not flowing into their hoards.
blue dragons lairs have a pool and with their electricity breath welll...
Hello good sir! I love your lore videos a great deal and heard you say Storm Dragon which brought me back to a monthly metal dragon mini from a long time ago. I was hoping, by request , if you could do a dedicated video on the old storm dragon lore from older DND?
I can look into it
I wonder; do we anthropomorphize dragons to more humanistic roles or is it the other way around? Of course the dragon would say we're emulating them, after all "They're awesome" and humanoids are second place. Yes second place; which is FIRST PLACE LOSERS! Dragons? What-ca gonna do?
Reminds me of that Bauldur's Gate NPC:"U cannahn get better than the stability stone walls provide..." LUL
Is there any lore that confirms the possibility of hybrid dragons? In extremely rare cases I could see them interbreeding.
The Draconomicons say that it is very, very unlikely between chromatic and Metallic dragons, while metallics may cross breed with other metallics, chromatics with other chromatics, even so, the resulting offspring will have a random bunch of traits similar to one parent or another, its rarely predictable, with the metallics, its particularly wild, you could have a copper mate with a gold and end up with a Tantalum dragon.
Listed among the treasures of sharpfang i delightfully nisheard one, the goblet of seven winds. It shall find its way into my campaign as such: a goblet which is ever full and every draught causes deleterious madness as one of the seven deadly sins. It is also called 'the taming cup of Ilmater', isnt it?
Hmm, I did not know that.
Blue and Red Dragons are part of what is known as Fire Drakes, they are by all definitions the basics of the fire breathing flying reptiles that struck fear into the hearts of men during the middle ages, the main difference is that while both the body & fires grow stronger as they age, the actual fire breath itself is a vortex of primordial arcane elemental thermonuclear plasma,
In the case of the Blue Dragon, it will take the form of arcane lighting as it reaches its full maturity but it can still spew out blue arcane plasma fires, the nature of both sky and fire drakes grant them access to both sky/air type magic and ice/frost magic, the former being the most used with, while the latter has time and place, that being said I once saw a great blue decimate a several frost giants,
@@rachdarastrix5251 blues do like dominance so
In one campaign, or more than a few depending the DM of the two game shops I went to over the years.
Blue dragons vap sand with their lightning breath to create glass crystal such as which is found from natural lightning strikes. Then sculpt the said glass with magic for trade.
With 3.5e rule system of skill ranks along with their Sorcerer age class level, they take the feat Craft Wondrous Item and create their own magic nick-nacks and high power items.
Rich human trades/ wizards will go into bidding wars to buy a given glass crystal magic item created by a dragon. It could be a simple item that even a low level wizard could do, but collectors will bid tens of thousands more cause it was made by a dragon. which pleases the dragon's ego to no ends.
@@krispalermo8133 Firedrakes will always use the environment to give them an edge, Red Dragons, will hurls magma bolts at their foes,
@@alexandarvoncarsteinzarovi3723 I had a DM that ran a red dragon with the liking for Walls of Ice spell to steam cook party groups, along with creating freezing pools of water, to turn into steam clouds.
Another tactic was to fill its tunnels with dried shrubs to set fire so the smoke will choke the PCs out.
A large enough dragon with tough claws would scratch up the cave floors to create trip hazards. Follow up with sitting on a ledge invisible using Unseen Servant to " bump " PCs as they try to make it across the flooring.
@@krispalermo8133 Here i noather thing i learned you can have your dragon release methane gas an ignite the air,
Silver AND Blue in one week! Nice!! :D
They are like two sides of the same coin after all. 🧙🏼♂️
my favorite dragon, possibly
Same I love blue dragon even though they are evil they just have such a cool look structure and view.
You read my mind. I've watched your older video on blue dragons like three times this week. (Reworking a blue dragonborn as an NPC for a new campaign.)
Yay! My personal favorite! I'm....ahem.... shocked, I didn't see this earlier.
"There's a few things you may not have known" Did Mr Rhexx help you with the skript?
I wish!
@@AJPickett Keep up the good work AJ Pickett of the Mighty Gluestick Channel
Have there been any blue dragon kingdom?
Also have blue dragon tried to make there own dragonborn? Or their own silverbrow humans?🤔🐉
Ps also great video I can't wait to see the rest of the Dragon remastered videos! What dragon do you think you'll do next?😀
Blue Dragons can't make dragonborn, they could call on Tiamat to turn their eggs into Draconians, or create half dragons, or dragon-blood kobolds, etc.
Blue dragons have had their own kingdoms yes, recently a location on faerun secretly worshipped a blue dragon as a god. Hmmm next dragon vid, Red?
@@AJPickett Thanks! Are there draconians in forgotten Realm?
@@moonringXD Tiamat is active there, so, entirely possible.
@@moonringXD the Prime realm of the forgotten realm is Toril and it’s twin world abeir. Toril is the Place that Most People knows and abeir is a world ruled by dragons that was left Boy the gods. In this world the Dragons have dragonborns als servants. In the Forth editions spellplague, the Borders between abeir and Toril was thin and a City with dragonborn from abeir changed it’s Place to Toril,
. I guess it’s in chessentra if i am not wrong. And the Dragonborns a not really Friends from the Dragons.
thank you
You're welcome
So are the blue dragon are the Silver dragon of the colors dragon they seem to be more open minded and seem to understand human and the way use just in a evil way .
I wonder what would happen if a blue and silver found out there favorite human was working for the other. Would they kill each other , try and bribe/convince him/her or just kill the human for the disrespect.
I know in Dragonlance the Chromatic and Metallic dragons are direct parallels of each other, I think it’s similar in FR but not exact
Depends on the flavor of favorite towards the human. Like is this let's make a half dragon favorite, I've raise this human from a child favorite, or I'm possive of this human because they have the best stories to tell.
I think it depends on that. Though I'd love the idea of the dragons making a begrudging pact of peace until both humans naturally die. Thus letting their favorites have a happier life.
The blue would kill a human servant at the first hint of betrayal, I'm not so sure about a silver dragon. A silver dragon is probably working for the humans benefit, so they might turn the human over to human authorities? I imagine if a blue and silver were that close to each other there would be some agreement or stalemate causing a cold war situation for humans in the area that could go on for hundreds of years, unless adventurers upset things ;p
Zasek2112 a dragon Cold War sounds funny as hell like they magically send text about how they look like a hill Giant or summoning a rust bug to fuck up each other’s hordes
3ed Draconomicon was the best book out of the edition.
I think the blue one might be favorite so far...
The horn and ears is actually pretty rad looking 👌🌀
My favorite Dragon. Love the blues :)
Give your blue dragons a pet triceratops dont forget flesh to rubber spells and reduce enlarge and grease.
@Kat Murphy hilarious hills and greasy grounds, its just a spell ive found useful.
A Blue Dragon ate my awakened horse once, and now i have a massive Blue Dragon skull bed frame and wonderful Draconic Scale armor. The lesson to be learned today? Dont mess with my pack animals!
of the 5 main chromatic i would say blues are my favorite possibly i would say its tied to the blue dragon skie/Khellendros from the dragonlance setting though i also think it would be amusing for a blue dragon with a humanoid identity basically being the godfather of a local crime syndicate or such
What about doing the green dragon next?
Though I am also a huge fan of wyverns.
Well, if I did gold and silver, after blue would have to be red.
Wait.. they like STORMY regions?
Damn... Tornado Alley would be a breeding ground.... D: