What did dragons horde before the younger races existed

duo31 · Post by **duo31** » Tue Sep 18, 2012 8:46 pm

Same thing dragons have always hoarded: Power.

Dragons are Apex predators. They crave power, and the life of leisure.
You can wipe out demihumans, but then who is going to raise herds of tasty livestock?

The demihumans develop currency, and the dragons being smart enough, understand that sometimes it is better to buy what you want, then to bully. So they started stealing and hoarding wealth, so that if they couldn't get what they wanted through force, they could buy it.

Some exceptionally smart dragons, also realized the power of economics and learned how to leverage their hoards to depress the economies of their enemies, and thus maintain a greater power base.

Maj · Post by **Maj** » Wed Sep 19, 2012 1:04 am

Dr_Noface wrote:The low-level magical radiation that precious metals give off has hardly any effect on the body of a relatively short-lived human. But a dragon.... a dragon readily absorbs it in order to grow bigger. Stronger. A wyrmling needs more than time to become a wyrm. It needs 1000 years sitting atop a pile of gold, and gems, and well, you get the idea.

Aeons ago, when the world was more magical, dragons drew their power from the primal energies that abounded in the land and air. But now, the world is old, and only the gold remembers the magic that wrought it.

See, this is close, but not quite.

Before humans, dragons leveled just like every character out there. But then, these little people came along that began differentiating themselves from other creatures by making stuff. Curious, the dragons would collect an item or two here and there - just to learn what sort of thing these beings were making.

It was then that they discovered that they had the ability to absorb the effort that went into the making of an object (XP). The greater the effort, the greater their gain.

So while a dragon totally could go out and level like an adventurer, why on earth would he if he could just absorb the XP from an adventurer's stuff?

...You Lost Me · Post by **...You Lost Me** » Wed Sep 19, 2012 4:29 am

^ This prevents dragon PCs. I want dragon PCs that are like every other dragon.

RadiantPhoenix · Post by **RadiantPhoenix** » Wed Sep 19, 2012 4:36 am

...You Lost Me wrote:^ This prevents dragon PCs. I want dragon PCs that are like every other dragon.

Well, they still can do that, it's just, you know, risky.

Also, they can get bonus XP from loot. Just like AD&D characters.

...You Lost Me · Post by **...You Lost Me** » Wed Sep 19, 2012 7:06 am

If a dragon gets XP from loot, a dragon gets XP disproportionally from every other player. If loot couldn't be obtained effectively for free, this would be maybe understandable. But loot can be obtained effectively for free. (Ka-ching! Game is broken!) Only dragons that don't level by some gentlemen's agreement exist now, and houserules really shouldn't be encouraging gentlemen's agreements.

Alternatively, you have dragons getting "Oh wait no you're a special dragon that can't get loot XP because... um... genetics", which is also dumb.

Alternatively to that, you have dragons that take Vow of Poverty. And that's... well, you see my point.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Wed Sep 19, 2012 7:09 am

oooorrrrr.....
XP from hording explains the XP from battle mechanic in the first place. You kill something, you take it's stuff, you absorb some of the effort that went into making it and thus accumulate XP. In this model, all adventurers are dragon blooded, and it's that spark of draconic nature which separates adventurers from normal people.