How do you make the "pet baby dragon" NOT stupid?

How do you make the "pet baby dragon" NOT stupid?

Bump up his INT score, I guess.

You give it enough intelligence to speak or otherwise communicate with the players, then you make it relevant to the plot somehow. A way for the DM to have a character that communicates directly with the party without being a DMPC who actually DOES everything for them.

Do you mean the idea is stupid, or the baby dragon is a moron?


As usual, DOTS applies to some degree. If dragons are common in the setting, and especially if they are subservient to humans, then it's a lot easier to justify. If you have a DnD setting where Sorcerers have dragon-blood then that's an angle you can work. Maybe baby dragons are actually super smart as soon as they come out of the egg, and it actually considers the human its pet. Someone could have found a dragon egg and decided to raise the dragon themselves.

The dragon is the actual character. They tend to possess a human and control both parties because a dragon learns how to speak LONG before its body can actually do it.

Usually the human host is willing. Usually.

Isn't that Midgardsomr from FFXIV? He's anything BUT a baby dragon.

Midgarsmol still kinda counts. Less pet, more sarcastic sidekick.

have it be a complete and unrepentant asshole

have it steal from the party, shit in the cooking pot, dry hump the character with the highest charisma, it attack harmless "cute" NPC's outta jealousy
that sorta thing

The topic was how to make it NOT stupid.

My sorcerer randomly came across a pseudodragon.

It's a pet (familiar) and will only ever be a pet, so that's fine.

>nocaps newfag is That Guy

What a surprise.

no way not to make this topic not stupid mary sue shit

EMBRACE THE STUPID.

Give it the most god awful annoying sidekick mascot voice.

There is no way, it id destined to be stupid forever embrace the stupidity.

Make him a boss that converts to the party's side and rides along to convince the rest of the dragons that their endless war with the elves is futile?

Wew, lad. Not fucking possible.

It's as intelligent as a full grown adult and tries to act like a mighty dragon, but it's still basically a cat with a zippo lighter for a mouth.

...

...

...

Are you sure about that?

Like this maybe?

> "Grougaloragran feels that you are not as evil as you wish to appear."

The dragon is a baby and thus fat, small, and stupid. Treat it like a more exotic human baby for the first two years of its life and then it can start flapping and shooting zippo lighter flames. But it's extremely attached to its "mother" and is sought after by thieves, mercenaries, and collectors as an extremely valuable product.

Make the baby dragon the one the party needs to talk to.

Instead of a pet, be a Warlock and make it your patron. When you gain power, it gains power, so that by level 20 it's fuckhueg and you are its emissary to the soon-to-be plundered realms of the earth.

Have it shape shift into a loli, and make it wear uncomfortably sexual, and revealing clothes.

Make him intelligent enough to understand you.

Make it be handy! Have it function as the party's HM slave that handles those awkward utility skill checks with dragon spells!

Oh look, another fucking loli-fag. Go kill yourself you piece of shit.

I always liked the idea of a Blacksmith with a baby dragon buddy/apprentice. First it's just the Dragon as an easy way to light the forge, then when the dragon starts to talk it helps with the forging by being able to tell the smith exactly what temperature the metal is at, and maybe the dragon can do a controlled flame that lets the Smith heat only certain parts of stock easy or can get an area to forge welding temperature real quick. Then there's a proud moment where the dragon is finally big enough to swing a hammer, and forges its first knife or something. And as the dragon grows it works with the smith as equals, then finally takes over the shop when the smith is too old. And eventually, even though the smith is long dead the dragon continues to run the shop, teaching new blacksmiths everything its master taught so no matter what happens the Blacksmith's legacy lives on, all because they took in a baby dragon.

Bee-kun is a living meme, can't hate the fucker.

It's a pet like every other, but just happens to be a baby/tiny dragon.
It's literally that simple.

Unless you want to ask how to not make it OP in combat?

It's not a pet like any other in settings where a baby dragon is int 10+.
Especially if it's an evil dragon, it's probably scheming to use the party to get loot and hurt enemies. Manipulation optional.
And God forbid if it happens to be a teenager.

Chill out. Also play fire emblem if you like strategy rpgs

Putting it in the hands of the players a la Rifts.

Sorry. We all have those one fags we completely hate, and loli-fags are the ones I hate most. However, Fire Emblem is a pretty good game, I'll give you that.

You're the faggot that nobody wants at the table, because if anyone makes a joke that gets you out of your comfort zone, you sperg like a bitch.

>open the thread to say "make it a loli"
>somebody already made the joke

You're the pedophile that nobody wants at the table, because if anyone disagrees with your sexual fetish, you sperg like a bitch.

Fine, make it a shota then, you fuck.

>Baby dragon
>Talking about adult or teen specimen
Do you even understand what "baby" means?

>fictional characters
>"pedophile"

Where was 'adult' mentioned?
What set off your hair-trigger?

If your breathing gets harder and your pupils start to dilate while you talk about how your character looks, we've crossed the line. Also, do you think that just because it's a fictional character makes it safe? I know that violent video games don't make violent people, same as your disgusting fetish may not make you into a pedophile, but how many actually pedophiles are getting their jollies off looking at those characters. How quickly the lines of fiction and reality can fade for some people.

>the pic is a catgirl with her pet baby dragon
You mean, a dragon wizard with his catgirl familiar, right?

>How quickly the lines of fiction and reality can fade for some people.
>preceeding post mixed fiction and reality, implied fiction is dangerous when fiction is defined as not being real, and used "hitler breathed air"-tier logical fallacies
You've drank far too many mugs of kool-aid.

That is entirely too adorable. Cease and desist right now, cutefag.

Too late, need more

Guys let's all just chill the fuck out and attempt to stay on topic. Loli-fag ignore the sperg. Sperg, try to stop spazzing.

Fuck dude, calm the fuck down. Yeesh, the guy was making a joke.
>inb4 "Hurr, I was just pretending to be retarded"
There is no way to say "uncomfortably sexual, and revealing clothes" that's NOT tongue in cheek unless the narrator of a book is describing something like that.

>more INT than the rest of the party combined
>no WIS whatsoever
>turns into Isaac Newton if you tell him there's food in the trap
>somehow can't connect that there wasn't food in the last three
>he'll be angry with you after he solves it, but give him some food and he'll like you again

Gave me a chuckle

Sintel

>Sperg, try to stop spazzing.
Fine. I'll help bump the thread, since OP's already gotten plenty of ideas.
Autistic Spreg, not retarded. Fuckface.

>Dragon-based /ss/
Oh baby...

Nah.

Already there.

Underrated post

>Human with dragon bits glued on
Eh 5/10

Pseudodragons.

With incense burners, shoji screens, lacquered snuff boxes. Scrolls and tomes written in strange languages.

AND GODZOOOOKYYYY

I actually have done this before, it worked out pretty well.

They had it as a hatchling so it was essentially an animal, but it mentally matured pretty quickly via special feed that sped up its growth rate. We nicknamed it sensu beans as a sorta insta-growth sort of thing.

It culminated into taking it to a sands-of-time sorta dungeon where they aged it to full adulthood so they could take on an adult dragon and its lackeys.

>How quickly the lines of fiction and reality can fade for some people.
I've called the police on my fellow lolicons for admitting they had CP.

>anime ass thread about dragons
>someone even brings up loli dragons
>no one brings up frederica

The show burned out into a shitshow, but none can dispute the pure memeworthiness of this loli dragon.

>-4 to str

> it will take 30 years to grow
> until then, it requires it's body weight in food a day
> it will cry if left alone
> it will bite and scratch like a cat at all times
> In exchange, it can provide one 1d4 fire damage breath attack a day
> alternatively, it can be sold as a hatchling now to an exotic pet owner for several thousand gold
The payoff is long-term. The party has as much a right to decide what happens to it as the owner

Give them an Scottish accent

worse, she constantly fumbled rolls.

Hey, she didn't fail that one bluff roll.

...

Make them sarcastic and slightly selfish, but generally a friend and helpful when they can be.

Someone say loli dragon?

why is this flying cat smug

borrowing this for my next game, thank'ee

/thread
I'm stealing this and using it in my next session.
If it survives, I'll make the lil draggie the Big Good or the Big Bad of the next session.

Make fully grown dragons in your setting only be between a cat and a Corgi in size.

Make them unintelligent animals.

Boom. Easy to tame and a size that's reasonable to keep.

1. It's not a pet it's a hostage against the good behavior of it's parents.

2. It's not a pet it's a ward the human is responsible for protecting and teaching per an alliance with it's parent(s).

3. It's not a baby it's an ancient dwarf dragon acting as a mentor guiding its human companion.

4. It's not a baby it's an ancient dwarf dragon holding its human companion hostage.

I'd be smug if I had wings too.

Make it a cute girl.

Turns out training dragons takes more than a whip. You've got to fool them into having feelings for humankind. So those nations which can get their hands on dragon eggs pair them up with a princess or other pampered thing to raise them up. They're old and dead before the dragon is combat worthy, but after 50 years they've got this concept of "humans good, not food". And then you've a portable army for centuries.

So these princesses are long-term weapons development systems.

...

...

>Sometimes these dragons escape, and these are the Dragons that kidnap Princesses because they have nostalgia for their surrogate mother

>Party goes out to rescue the princess
>Turns out the dragon is being rather pampering and having the same privileges but not having to deal with politics is a rather ideal situation for the princess.

>The dragon actually "kidnapped" the Princess to protect her from frequent assassination plots.
>The party was hired by an evil vizier who wants the princess dead.

Trained to seduce dragons?

Dragons in my setting are kaiju size. Their babies are born in clutches like sea turtles, 40 at a time, though it only happens twice a millenia, they are immortal, nigh indestructible when they get older, and are born the size of a horse. Once it learns to walk, epic mount time.

But do you have the one where tiny smaug guards a coin?

That sounds like they'd reach adulthood and wreak havoc in sync.

...

Perhaps, but they take well over a century to reach adulthood. by the end of a human life span they'll be getting to the point of angsty teenager questioning the parents every decision.

Yes, exactly. Although pic two is day one.

Also, they grow out of wanting to hang out with the less intelligent younger folk after about two centuries, right as they reach full maturity. They usually go to live at the ancestral homeland for dragons, which is basically australia, in size, and climate. My settings australia doesn't have dingoes, it has godzillas.

>Party slays dragon
>Turns out that the evil vizier is actually a dragon who wants to take out any who would be strong enough to stop and ;if he dies; to convince to protect the princess

It's a stupid idea in the first place.

Dragons should be powerful, godlike, mysterious creatures. Not random fucking lizards any dirty pleb could own.

Have it be a tiny dragon, even if it's considered 'adult'. It's like a dragon but tiny. Its lair is tiny. It hoards tiny things. It still has a full sized ego.

If you complete a special quest to help him prove his worth, he becomes a real full size dragon.

Some dragons send their young off to be 'tutored' under trusted friends to learn the ways of the world. If the party are friends with a dragon it might send one of its children to adventure with them like a study abroad program with more stabbings.

Give them voice, enough intelligence and personality that makes me at least an adolescent in his species, and actual utility, like breathing fire, clawing his enemies (make him as brutal as a koala) and being strong enough to transport important objects around and NOT DROP THEM UNLESS THEY'VE BEEN HIT.

Ah, feels. Good.

Here you go.

I forget what her name is. Could you tell me?

here you go