Aphrel86 t1_j9svybw wrote on February 24, 2023 at 9:02 AM

Reply to comment by RevenantSeraph in [WP] As it turns out, this dragon had never killed anyone before, nor did it plan to, it was frightened and acted in self-defence. Now the party will have to figure out what to do with the hyperventilating beast while the cleric revives the murderhobo fighter by Zagreus7777

I half expected the Seargant to be faking he political correctness and planning to shoot the dragon after shifting to a smaller form xD

RevenantSeraph t1_j9sx4qc wrote on February 24, 2023 at 9:18 AM

No lie, asking a dragon capable of doing so to shapeshift small is probably standard procedure for exactly that reason - easier to put down before they can cause too much carnage, if that's what it comes to. Just because they're smaller, though, doesn't make them that much weaker...

As for the PCness, though, that's very real. The Witch Queen's conquest of the world all started with her destroying and replacing an elven government bent on race-driven conquest. She doesn't look fondly on racism, and she's...not a nice lady, when she isn't fond of a practice. It only follows that people working for institutions bearing the Royal seal and name would be held to a high standard in that regard. Richard must have hid it very well until that moment.

SlotherakOmega t1_j9t3hhk wrote on February 24, 2023 at 10:48 AM

Actually, I would think that shrinking the body down would only make the dragon more powerful. Because of the fact that matter can neither be destroyed nor created, only converted into or from energy. Reducing the total mass? Charging and compressing a tightly wound spring, that thing might backhand someone into next year. By accident. Think Ant-Man. Shrinking himself down didn’t make him any weaker, he still had the mass of a full grown man.

Why would a species as proud as a dragon even consider learning how to shrink themselves and put themselves at a disadvantage at the same time?

This also could play into the issue of overall size, dragons come in many different sizes, maybe the shapeshifters are at the maximum possible size to power ratio that keeps them competent. A towering dragon is terrifying… but the question is, can it stand up on its own four (or more or less) limbs? Too big, and it’s a WACKY WAVING ARM FLAILING INFLATABLE TUBE DRAGON, minus the wacky and waving parts. In other words, a ragdoll. The size of a Kaiju. Too tiny, and it literally becomes a Giant Space Flea From Nowhere. Like I said, backhanding someone so hard that they literally travel fast enough to bend time and space and wind up in… sometime next year. I mean logically there would have to be a limit before there was falloff or potential gravitational anomalies, so that could explain larger dragons being more powerful simply because they grew so much that this is their small version.

Or, we could just say it wasn’t in our universe, where these rules apply. That works too I guess.

RevenantSeraph t1_j9t4xeg wrote on February 24, 2023 at 11:07 AM

It's definitely complex, only made more so by the fact that shape shifting - and for that matter, dragons in general - are magic, and magic doesn't care much for the laws that the non-magical parts of reality operate by. 'It's magic' is absolutely a plausible explanation for just about anything in their universe. Magic makes the impossible possible. Thermodynamics, conservation of mass - these are things that most proper college-educated wizards acknowledge as real while simultaneously violating the shit out of them for party tricks.

Physically, a dragon's strength and speed aren't really diminished by transforming. Halcida could still very much toss Dura's squad around for a bit, until she wound up eating hot magical death from Ven's rifle, or with Dura's sword in her. Their senses aren't diminished either; they still have an aerial predator's visual acuity, and a sense of smell much better than any human, elf, or orc.

The notion of being weaker comes from the other gross physical changes - not having their scales makes them more fragile, not having wings makes them unable to fly without an outside option (a spell or device), and the glands that generate their breath attacks are physically smaller and not capable of generating the same level of raw power behind the attack. They do give things up by transforming, and many will take steps to make up for those losses; some wear armor, or carry a big honkin' weapon, because they feel vulnerable at human scale.

However, they gain other things in exchange. Primarily, hands built for the same scale and level of dexterity the rest of the world operates on. Dragon claws aren't great at manipulating objects built on human scale. They gain the ability to interact with the rest of a very cosmopolitan world on a level that doesn't frighten the average person. Plus, fast cars and jewelry and plush furniture, among other things - the 'treasures' of a modernized world - are easier to really enjoy and make use of when you're not too big for them.

Plus, the dragons of this particular point in the setting are a millennium and a half into the world-spanning rule of a spellcaster who absolutely has the means - personally, politically, militarily, economically - to wreck them if they don't play nice. The ones that didn't choose to do so didn't make it to this era of their world. A dragon the age of Halcida (a mere two hundred years old, equivalent to roughly a 20-year-old human) is a more 'tame' version of the grand, prideful beasts of old. Still powerful, still frightening on a visceral level to smaller creatures, but cognizant of the fact that if they get along they can be movie stars and business tycoons and enjoy wealth and power just like Great-Grandma used to.

Ultimately, transforming has benefits and drawbacks; it's also just respectful when dealing with smaller people that you don't particularly feel like terrifying the piss out of, or if said smaller people can make your life miserable by dint of being an agent of an authority they know they should be wary of.

Sorry I replied a novel at you! I just like engaging with people about my work. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

RealFrog t1_j9u2ejp wrote on February 24, 2023 at 3:49 PM

> They do give things up by transforming, and many will take steps to make up for those losses; some wear armor, or carry a big honkin' weapon, because they feel vulnerable at human scale.

Pick your poison: a human-shaped dragon carrying an M2 like humans carry AR-15s, or a dragon in their default firebreathing form, with air support if they feel like it. Near enough to BRRRRT for close-in work.

RevenantSeraph t1_j9uefop wrote on February 24, 2023 at 5:07 PM

Frightening either way.

Now you've got me imagining a GAU-8 designed to be wielded by a full size dragon. Fuck, the equivalent weapon in this world probably references dragons in its name. Either out of reverence, or because it's designed to kill them.

SlotherakOmega t1_j9v6mtb wrote on February 24, 2023 at 8:06 PM

The DraGAU-9. Because when it comes down to damage control, what better than a dragon with a gun? Long range, medium range, close range, right on top of you, nowhere is safe. Order now!