Monday, September 5, 2011

Brass Dragon

Sociable, chatty, and more than a little rumormongering, brass dragons are excellent contacts and information gatherers for PCs.  Though a party will likely never need to fight one (brasses rarely tarnish), if they are in a desert setting there is always profit to be had in conversing with one.

Once a fixture in the market of Akwat, the brass dragon Cyrillisense was recently scarred in battle against undead and has turned morose and antisocial.  His best friend, a caravan master and local raconteur, fears for his sanity.  Meanwhile, travelers have been disappearing out past the oases, and the few tracks that have been found point to a great clawed beast.  Are the undead to blame or has the brass tarnished?

After a thrilling encounter defeating some relic smugglers, the brass dragon Paramus became enamored of a pale-skinned detective from the North.  Using a magic ring to adopt human form, Paramus now travels as the inquisitor’s turban-bedecked manservant and bodyguard.  The pair solves mysteries in the rainy capital of Londinium, and while Paramus bitterly complains about the weather, he loves his work and has become quite good with a falchion—though he is not above returning to draconic form when the needs of a case dictate.

In the Land of the Crescent Moon, brass dragons are the only species of true dragon.  These chaotic neutral brasses are spoken of in whispers, since they are as likely to eat a man as they are to speak with him.  They are regarded as lords of the desert, able to control the sands as ably as any genie—and in fact, they often treat with genies and divs alike in their lairs, depending on their natures.

Pathfinder Bestiary 102–103

We’ve mentioned Mike McArtor’s Dragons Revisited before, but let’s give the book another nod for explaining how to deftly role-play a brass dragon.

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