Dragon/4

DRAGONS:

FROM GREATER ONES...TO THE GREAT ONE!!!
GREATER DRAGONS

Greater Dragons are the Great Wyrms that succesfully Ascended after a Ceremony of Sublimation.
They are among the mightiest of their kind, and retain all abilities and memories they had at the time of Ascension. From now on, they cannot perform any new Ceremony of Sublimation, and thus cannot progress in HD and power by this mean.

However, Greater Dragons gain the ability of Awareness and may kill other dragons to rise in power through the Remembrance.

Awareness: A dragon of Greater status or above can detect the presence of another of its kind (or above) in a certain radius, depending on the Plane they are on:
Prime Plane, 1 km
Inner Planes, 5 km
Outer Planes, 10 km
Draconic Cluster, 1 km

Remembrance: When a dragon of Greater status or above kills another of its peers, it gains all its knowledge and memories; if the loser has more spells than the winner, the winner learns its enemy's spells in addition to its own, and gains appropriate additional spell slots. If the winner has more HD than the loser, it gains 1 HD. Otherwise, the winner has a 100% chance of gaining 1 HD, 50% chance of gaining 2 HD and so on up to a maximum of 4 HD if there are 4 or more hit dice of difference between the two dragons. This is the result of the merging of the two souls, so in fact no Greater Dragon really dies, but its soul is absorbed and merged with that of its defier.

However, Remembrance is dangerous. Every time a Greater Dragon kills a Greater Dragon, Dragon Guardian or Dragon Ruler, the memories and ideas streaming in a spectacular way (effects similar to minor Omens of Coming, see "Ceremony of Sublimation" here) from the dead body of its victim to its own may be overwhelming, resulting in the Possession of the winner's body by the soul of the loser. See below the Possession Tables for more informations on this.

If a Greater Dragon kills a Dragon Guardian, the same rules above applies, BUT the winner doesn't gain the abilities of a Dragon Guardian, and doesn't become one. To become a Dragon Guardian a Dragon must willfully request the protection of a Dragon Ruler (see below). If the Dragon Guardian possesses the loser's body, he remains a Dragon Guardian, but obviously with different appearance and stats.

If a Greater Dragon kills a Dragon Ruler, he becomes the new Dragon Ruler, with all the abilities common to all Dragon Rulers. The Dragon Guardians automatically become its vassals.

POSSESSION TABLES
Die Roll/Result

Natural 01, modified less than 01-05
The winner is overwhelmed by the personality of the loser! The new dragon has the personality of the loser, like if the loser had won, but has the appearance and stats of the winner, modified by its victory.

06-10
The winner is partly overwhelmed by the personality of the loser. If there is a difference in alignment, the personality of the winner shifts up to a maximum of two slots (see below) toward the loser's alignment. However, the dragon still feels that its identity is that of the winner. If they belong to the same alignment, the effect above (01-05) takes place.

11-40
The winner is strongly influenced by the personality of the loser. If there is a difference in alignment, the personality of the winner shifts of one slot toward the loser's alignment. If they belong to the same alignment, the winner must roll against on this table, until the result is "Nothing happens" or "Overwhelmed".

41-99 or modified 100+
Nothing happens.

Natural 00
The winner's personality is so overwhelming that he doesn't gain any Remembrance from its enemy. The loser's soul becomes a Dragon Soul.

Modifiers to die roll:
Dragons of totally opposite alignment (lawful good vs chaotic evil - lawful evil vs chaotic good) : +25%
Dragons of partially opposite alignment (lawful vs chaotic, good vs evil): + 15%
Winner is neutral dragon: +10%
Loser is neutral dragon: +10%
Exactly same alignment: -25%
Partially same alignment: -5%
Loser dragon guardian: -15%
Loser dragon ruler: -30%

Alignment slots
To determine what table to use, choose the loser's alignment less distant from the winner's alignment (eg lawful neutral defeats lawful evil, choose "killed dragon is lawful"). If they belong to totally opposite alignments, use the law/chaos axis (eg chaotic evil kills lawful good, use killed lawful).

Killed is lawful evil/good
Aligned below becomes -->
Lawful Good/Evil --> Lawful Neutral
Lawful Neutral --> Lawful Evil/Good

Killed is neutral evil/good
Aligned below becomes -->
Neutral Good/Evil --> True Neutral
True Neutral --> Neutral Evil

Killed is chaotic evil/good
Aligned below becomes -->
Chaotic Good/Evil --> Chaotic Neutral
Chaotic Neutral --> Chaotic Evil/Good

Killed is good lawful/chaotic
Aligned below becomes -->
Good Neutral --> Good Lawful/Chaotic
Good Chaotic/Lawful --> Good Neutral

Killed is evil lawful/chaotic
Aligned below becomes -->
Evil Neutral --> Evil Lawful/Chaotic
Evil Chaotic/Lawful --> Evil Neutral

DRAGON GUARDIANS

Among those dragons that Ascend and become Greater Dragons, some become Guardians, lieutenants of one of the three lesser dragon rulers. There may be no more than twelve Guardians for each of the Dragon Rulers.
Becoming a Dragon Guardian has its pros and cons. A Dragon Guardian cannot attack the Dragon Rulers or other Dragon Guardians, but they can call upon the help of the Dragon Souls when fighting against Greater Dragons, and a winning Dragon Guardian can never be possessed by the soul of the Greater Dragon he has defeated. A Dragon Guardian can become a Dragon Ruler only if a Dragon Ruler dies without being killed by a Greater Dragon. In this case, the Dragon Guardians fighting for the position gain all 1 HD (with relative benefits) for every 100 years lived as a Dragon Guardian.

The Guardians are the ones who determine whether a Ceremony of Sublimation should succeed or fail, and how drastic the Omens of Coming should be, depending on what the living dragon achieved.
A Dragon Guardian retains a common draconic appearance, with the exception of an aura that surrounds its body. The appearance of a guardian's aura is comparable to that of the dragon souls in its service.

Dragon Guardians are in charge of dragon souls, directing their efforts toward furthering the development of living dragons. A single dragon guardian can call up to ld4 x 100 dragon souls a day for combat purposes or to effect a major occurrence on the Prime Plane. They report to their Dragon Ruler any irregularities on their plane or on the Prime Plane.

In cases of great need, a Dragon Guardian can be sent to the Prime Plane to bring a particular message or omen during a gathering of dragons of the same ethos. Dragon guardians are treated with awe and respect during their rare appearances on the Prime Plane, as befits messengers of the Rulers.

To see the stats of the current Dragon Guardians, go here.

DRAGON RULERS

There are four Dragon Rulers:
* the Great One, Ruler of All Dragons;
* the Star Dragon, Ruler of Lawful, Good and Metallic Dragons;
* the Sun Dragon, Ruler of Neutral and Gemstone Dragons;
* the Moon Dragon, Ruler of Chaotic, Evil and Chromatic Dragons.

Each of the three Dragon Rulers (the Moon, Sun, and Star dragons) is a champion of its ethos. They struggle for the supremacy of their own dragonkind on the Prime Plane and on the Outer Planes.
The Great One is concerned with the balance of the three ideals, representing the voice of dragonkind in the Normal Tetraspace.
Dragonkind belongs to none of the Immortal Hierarchies of the various Multiverses (in the Mystara Campaign World, this means that they don't belong to any of the Spheres of Power -Matter, Thought, Time, Energy, and Entropy).

To see the stats of the current Dragon Rulers, go here.

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