Part Dragon, All Hero (Article)

:This was originally published in Dragon Magazine #206
:"Half-dragon characters, for the Council of Wyrms setting and beyond"
:: - by Roger E. Moore
__TOC__
In the beginning, there were only humans and a handful of demihumans as player-character races in TSR's AD&D® game. Sure, there were unofficial PC races in the pages of DRAGON® Magazine, and Unearthed Arcana added some demihuman races, but that wasn't enough. Players wanted to step into the role-playing shoes of every being there was.
Then the DRAGONLANCE®, DARK SUN®, and SPELLJAMMER® campaigns appeared, and we had things like kender, half-giants, and xixchil PCs running around. (Xixchil? Look 'em up.) Then came The Complete Book of Humanoids, and everything from aarakocra to wemics was ready for players to play. You could almost forget that humans were even around.
Yet the richness of the AD&D fantasy universe was hardly touched. With the release of TSR's Council of Wyrms boxed adventure in June, the frontiers of roleplaying are expanded yet again, this time by a huge margin. In this most fantastic of all campaign settings, players can now become the mightiest of creatures—dragons.
Dragons! But there's more. Players using Council of Wyrms also can become half-dragons, the grown offspring of the union of certain metallic dragons and their demihuman vassals. The boxed set provides many details on the statistics and roleplaying of these rare, unusual beings, but the topic begs for more elaboration. Can there be half-dragons in other campaigns? If so, how are they played, and what are they like?
This article provides an expanded look at half-dragons from other TSR campaign worlds. Dungeon Masters must decide whether to bring this information into their campaigns, of course, but guidelines for its sensible use are presented.
==Fantasy genetics==
Some basic restrictions should be laid down regarding half-dragons. There are important exceptions to these rules, but for the most part they should be taken as basic fantasy "truths."
First, only male dragons and female humans or demihumans can create half-dragon children; female dragons cannot be impregnated by male humans or demihumans, and beings other than humans or demihumans cannot bear a dragon's children. (An exception occurs with the Oriental dragons, as detailed later.) Demihumans include elves, half-elves, dwarves, gnomes, halflings, kender, and similar humanlike races (including drow). This category does not include giants, ogres, orcs, half-orcs, half-ogres, goblins, centaurs, and other "nonhuman" races; for now, we'll assume that these races are not fertile with dragons, or that dragons won't have anything to do with them.
Second, only those dragons with the innate power to polymorph themselves into human or demihuman shape can interbreed with the latter while in the latter's form.
Third, interbreeding is not possible while a dragon is using a normal polymorph self spell, so a red dragon or shadow dragon with a fourth-level spell slot could not impregnate a human or demihuman female.
Fourth, some dragons that might have the power to create half-dragon offspring simply have no interest in doing so, and actively avoid it. These are most commonly dragons who have little or no interest in humanity or have strong prejudices against humans, demihumans, or mammals in general, greatly preferring the company of other dragons alone. (This point allows us to eliminate the half-platinum, half-adamantite, half-radiant, and other potentially over-powerful types—not a bad thing, as these admittedly make little sense in a carefully considered campaign. Imagine Zeus falling desperately in love with an overly intelligent hamster and wanting the fuzzy little rodent to bear his children. One must draw the line somewhere!)
Council of Wyrms provides the rules for generating half-dragons in the Io's Blood campaign, and these rules are generally followed here. However, not all dragons on all worlds are alike, as you will see-and there are more sorts of dragons than just gold, silver, and bronze. As noted above, we also open up the world of half-dragon/half-human offspring.
==General notes==
Much of what follows applies to half-dragon offspring whose dragon parents were a metallic type. The material is based on the principles set forth in the Council of Wyrms boxed set. The children of Oriental dragons, however, are much different in nature and receive much different treatment.
Half-dragons are subjected to considerable prejudice in many lands on many worlds, making the majority of them exiles and outsiders. The idea of creatures as different as dragons and demihumans (or dragons and humans) having offspring is considered repugnant by most individuals of any species, even within the Council of Wyrms setting. For example, half-dragons have no official place in the Council of Wyrms setting itself, even though this is where they are most commonly found, and most half-dragons find themselves cast out of the societies of either parent.
Even among those dragons who willingly engage in intimate relations with human or demihuman mates, producing half-dragon young is basically unacceptable. A dragon may truly love a mate, but dragon societies of almost any land find the idea of creating half-dragons intolerable. Thus, half-dragon young are quite rare.
Half-dragon infants take the physical form of their human or demihuman parent. Few physical features identify a newborn babe as a half-dragon, though there are telltale signs that a careful observer could not miss. (Fear of discovery thus leads most mothers to leave home, never to return, to seek a secure wilderness area to give birth—often the lair of the dragon parent.) The half-dragon newborn usually has eyes or hair that are the color of the dragon parent's scales, such as gold, silver, or bronze.
As they reach adulthood, half-dragons grow tall and lean, no matter what human or demihuman blood mixes with their draconic heritage. The dragon heritage then begins to develop, overwhelming "lesser" genes. During adolescence, dragonlike powers manifest themselves. (These are called "discretionary abilities" in AD&D game terms, as they are chosen by the player during the character's progression.) These abilities become stronger and more pronounced with time and use, until a half-dragon grows to full power. Physical changes accompany the appearance of these abilities, eventually metamorphosing the youth into a beautiful and unique being—but the beauty is an alien one, not entirely along human or demihuman standards.
A mature half-dragon looks like a very tall, slender humanoid with elflike features: a thin frame, lean muscles, long limbs, and pointed ears. It does not matter which human or demihuman stock runs through the half-dragon's blood. Skin has the look and texture of normal flesh, though with the pigmentation of the draconic parent (golden, silvery, or bronzetinged, for example). The half-dragon's hair is luxurious and thick, of a deeper or richer shade of the flesh's color. The fingers are long and thin, with nails like talons. Yet the true mark of dragon heritage is in the face, which has a remarkably reptilian appearance: snakelike eyes, elongated features, and a hint of horns protruding from above the temples. Half-dragons have no wings, no tails, and no scales.
Half-dragons do not automatically learn any language except for those taught by their parents. If the dragon parent is present, whatever draconic languages that parent knows may be learned, and the human or demihuman parent's native tongues also may be picked up. (The Krynnish half-silver, detailed later, will never start out knowing a dragon's language, as the once-dragon parent lost the ability to speak those tongues upon transformation.) Note the bonus languages picked up by river spirit folk, the half-dragon offspring of certain Oriental dragons, as shown in the section "Half-dragon roster."
Beyond these generalities, half-dragons of various AD&D game worlds have few things in common. A short look at each world follows, with appropriate notes and comments. 
==GREYHAWK® campaign==
Oerth is a more cosmopolitan setting than many, its peoples long accustomed to magical displays and unusual beings in their midst. Individual power, both physical and magical, is respected and sought; the people of the Flanaess are on the whole practical, calculating, materialistic, and prone to looking out for their own interests first. This dark flavor has promoted a certain freedom from bias among its peoples, especially in the City of Greyhawk. One wag has commented that a stranger can be as strange as he wants, so long as he obeys the rules of the game. Interbreeding between dragons and twolegged mortals is thus not unheard of here, though it will provoke anything from outrage to sighs, pained looks, and a certain rolling of eyes. Half-dragon offspring who survive to adulthood encounter few social stigmas in enlightened areas, which unfortunately are few in the postwar Flanaess. Most half-dragons will in time congregate in the City of Greyhawk, which has become a haven for them. Indeed, in Greyhawk, being the descendant of a dragon gives weight to a half-dragon's social and political status as the dragon parent is assumed to be available to perform a favor or two or to offer advice, regardless of whether this is actually true.
A few half-dragon individuals appear in the histories of the Flanaess and its nations. Rumors sometimes pass that one member of the Circle of Eight had dragon ancestors in his family tree. Still, because they look so different, half-dragons tend to be loners and have very few associates (and fewer still trusted friends).
Of the dragon types mentioned in the Council of Wyrms set, only the gold and silver dragons of Oerth can interbreed with humans and demihumans. Bronze dragons of Oerth cannot assume human or demihuman form, being restricted to taking the shapes of higher mammals only.
Half-gold and half-silver: The basic statistics for these races are as described in Council of Wyrms. The half-gold type is extremely rare, only two being known in the last 500 years (and they were twins). The half-silver is better known; one is rumored to operate alone in the domains of Iuz as a ranger, acting as a combination spy, saboteur, and guerilla fighter. Three are rumored to live in the City of Greyhawk, but little is known about them.
Half-Greyhawk: A unique dragon type found only on Oerth is the so-called Greyhawk dragon, which appears to be related (probably by some common ancestor) to the steel dragon of the FORGOTTEN REALMS® setting. The dragon, described in the GREYHAWK MONSTROUS COMPENDIUM® appendix and GREYHAWK Adventures hardbound, loves human and demihuman company, living out much of its life in cities, particularly the City of Greyhawk for which it was named. The Greyhawk dragon is said to be almost as likely to have a nondragon consort as a dragon one, which has given the city a slightly seedy reputation among knowledgeable travelers. This preference has also given the city about a dozen half- Greyhawks at any particular time, nearly all of whom find gainful employment with their draconic parents.
==DRAGONLANCE® campaign==
Generally speaking, residents of the continent of Ansalon are idealists, for good or evil. Their cousins on the continent of Taladas are more practical and earthy, but still prone to carry causes. More insular than the peoples of most worlds, Krynnish folk are slow to trust outsiders and do not mingle well with those who are not like them. This caution easily crosses over into prejudice, and half-dragons here cannot expect easy acceptance, if they win any degree of acceptance at all.
Of all the dragons of the world of Krynn, only two sorts have the power to assume human or demihuman shape—gold and silver dragons. (Bronze dragons here, as on Greyhawk's Oerth, can assume only the forms of mammals.) Of these two, only silver dragons enjoy taking the smaller shape. Indeed, unlike the disdainful gold dragons who hold themselves largely apart from the affairs of two-legged beings, silver dragons love human and elven company. Legends are told of Huma and the silver dragon who loved him, and of Silvara and the elf-lord Gilthanis, who vanished from the world before the Council of Whitestone and were never heard from again.
Tragedy, however, inevitably scars any loving relationship between mortal and dragon. Without transformation (explained later), a dragon will far outlive its partner, and the couple will bear no children. With transformation, the dragon loses almost all traces of its old identity and must confront the rapidly closing specter of death that faces all humans and demihumans. Worse, the enemies of good dragons are many and have long memories; evil forces would be only too happy to strike back at a silver dragon, in whatever form, through the dragon's loved ones. The mortal lover eventually might even reject the transformed partner for any number of reasons, leaving the former dragon devastated and alone—and perhaps with a child. (It must be added that this last possibility has never yet happened, thankfully.)
Most devastating of all, however, is the almost universal opposition that Krynnish natives—and dragons—have for any hint of intimate relations between dragon and nondragon. The discovery that a loving partner is actually a silver dragon has been known to destroy a relationship, and even an accepting human or elven partner will face horror, rage, and pity from others of his kind who learn of the situation.
Half-silver: There have never been any Krynnish stories, from any source, of any offspring resulting from the union of a silver dragon and a human or demihuman. (The few tragic romances known to legend involved a human or elven male.) There are rumors, however, that a silver dragon who loves a mortal can be given the chance to forever remain in mortal form, as a special gift from the dragon-god Paladine. Such was said to be the choice that Huma's lover faced, though she turned it down so that Huma could find the dragonlances and fight the evil dragons of the world.
Any Krynnish silver dragon who mates with a human or demihuman of the opposite sex will not be able to conceive children. However, a silver dragon who is transformed by Paladine into a mortal will be able to have children normally. Such transformations are almost unheard of, and no examples are known of it. These transformations, into human, half-elven, or elven form, would be done solely for the love of a mortal human, elf, or half-elf, invariably of good alignment, who stands out as an admired champion of Good.
The child of such a union always appears to have the normal characteristics of its mother, whether she was originally a human, half-elf, or elf (or was transformed into one). The child's silver irises and hair are not particularly remarkable to most passersby, as some elven races have the same features. However, the child will show a lifelong aptitude at understanding anything said to it, in any language. Even if spoken to in a foreign tongue, the child has a 75% chance of making its answer clearly known. Additionally, the offspring can reach considerable levels of ability in whatever character class it adopts, perhaps less than a human could do but often better than a normal elf or half-elf.
Other than this, the Krynnish half-silver has-no particular legacy, except for the undoubtedly shocking discovery that one of its parents was once a dragon. This moment could be the one that casts the character out into the world as an adventurer, seeking to learn more about its parent's lost dragon heritage while trying to keep the same knowledge a secret from potentially hostile strangers. Unfortunately, the character's acceptance into silver dragon society is hardly guaranteed.
==FORGOTTEN REALMS® campaign==
The people of the Realms are almost as cosmopolitan as those of Oerth, but less inclined to self-centeredness. They are often idealistic as well, but still prone to mind their own business and avoid prying into the lives of strangers, who are generally accepted and treated well but with some reserve (at least in good societies). A half-dragon, however, will face prejudice in some areas because of its strange appearance.
A confusing element thrown into the discussion of half-dragons in the Realms is the issue of weredragons, a unique local race described in DRAGON® issue #134 and the FORGOTTEN REALMS adventure, FA1 Halls of the High King. This race is interfertile with both dragons and humans, but it is not (yet) suitable for presentation as a player character in the AD&D game, so we will skip further discussion of it here.
Aside from the usual gold, silver, and bronze dragons (the latter of which can assume human or demihuman form in the Realms), a few other dragon types are present that can (and sometimes do) interbreed with two-legged folk.
Half-gold, half-silver, half -bronze: These are all found in the Realms, though they cannot possibly be called common or even "rare." Even Elminster is pressed to name more than two dozen of them known from the last thousand years of Realms history, and some of these (who led less-than-exemplary lives) are suspected of fabricating their "draconic" parentage to cover darker origins or to gain a certain notoriety or respect from peers.
Half-steel: The steel dragon of the Realms, called the Waterdeep dragon by some because it is most often found in that city, appears related to the Greyhawk dragon through a rather recent common ancestor. The steel dragon (described in the FORGOTTEN REALMS supplement Draconomicon) shares many of the characteristics and behaviors of the Greyhawk dragon. As would be expected, there are also about a dozen or so half-steels in Waterdeep, loosely associated as a littleknown group calling itself The Confluence. Members of The Confluence are supported by patrons who are usually their parents, either dragon, human, or demihuman. Half-steels travel in magical disguises or, at minimum, in all-covering robes to avoid drawing attention. They are often called upon to undertake missions for their patrons, and they themselves might hire novice adventurers to perform certain missions, though without revealing their true natures.
Drow-dragon (half-deep): The evil deep dragons of the Realms' Underdark have only one two-legged ally: the drow. One can hardly imagine the potential for evil of which the progeny of a deep dragon and a drow would be capable, and this outcome is indeed the case in nearly all "drow-dragons," as they are called. Only two have been known to recorded history; one was slain in its youth by jealous drow rivals, but the other gained considerable power and may yet live somewhere in the Underdark. It is speculated that a drowdragon could become disenchanted with its life underground and become a seeker of good, but the chances of this are regarded are minuscule.
==Kara-Tur campaign==
Because of the unusual powers and status of the Oriental dragons of the Realms, they and their offspring are treated here separately from the "western" dragons of that land and other worlds. It should be noted that thanks to spelljamming, Oriental dragons are well established on a variety of worlds in many crystal spheres. Still, all that is said about the half-dragons of Kara-Tur applies to similar beings elsewhere.
Certain types of Oriental dragons of Kara-Tur are well known to take human lovers at times, either by design or whim. (Elves and other "western" demihumans are little known in Kara-Tur, and Oriental dragons are not particularly interested in Oriental demihumans such as korobokuru or hengeyokai.) Highly respected royal families and the lowest peasant clans are equally likely to have dragons as ancestors (possibly the same dragon), though such an event is still quite rare. This doesn't prevent some exaggerated boasts and outright falsehoods from being handed down through the generations by unknowing descendants. Human ancestors who were known to be the consorts of dragons have a special notoriety in family histories, and are accredited with extraordinary beauty, leadership, rightful behavior, marvelous clothing, or other such qualities. To be the partner of a dragon, under almost any circumstances, is often a badge of honor.
The reasons for such general acceptance are not hard to fathom. The half-dragon offspring of Oriental dragons, known as spirit folk, are quite beautiful by human standards. (Obviously, different laws of genetics apply to Oriental dragons than apply to their western cousins.) The appearance and mysterious natures of spirit folk make them intensely attractive. Furthermore, Oriental dragons are a central part of the much-revered Celestial Bureaucracy of Kara-Tur, and any positive association with them is widely sought, particularly by those whose livelihoods fall under the sway of particular dragons in the Bureaucracy.
Two types of Oriental dragons are known to take human lovers, and either bear or father children by them. Both are river dragons: the chiang lung and the shen lung. Their half-human offspring are river spirit folk, detailed in the Oriental Adventures volume and Kara-Tur appendix to the MONSTROUS COMPENDIUM supplement. River spirit folk are easily accepted into their human parents' clans or families, though they also must obey any directives, summons, or requests from their dragon parents without question or delay. They are also subject to mood swings based on the condition of their home rivers, as outlined in the two references named above.
Half-chiang lung: These are the most common half-dragons of Kara-Tur, but half-shen lung run a close second. The daughters of the officious chiang lung find humans fascinating, and often they assume human form and attempt to marry men who have caught their fancy. These daughters' fathers, however, are far from pleased at such liaisons, and might order their daughters (even the married ones) to return to their river homes forever. It is not unusual for such prohibitions to arrive too late to prevent the birth of children, however, and after a joint upbringing by dragon and human clans these youths are free to go adventuring if they wish.
Such adventurers are invariably warrior types, particularly samurai and kensai because of their high social standing and martial excellence. The grown offspring of chiang lung and humans are known (and sometimes feared) for their pursuit of perfection, honor, and duty. Some eventually lead their human parents' clans, an event that the allies of those clans celebrate and the enemies of those clans regard with great concern, if not terror.
It does happen, if a chiang lung male is without a partner, that he might be attracted to a human female of exceptional beauty or talent. This is very rare, however, as male chiang lung try very hard to discourage interbreeding of any kind. In any event, river spirit folk born of chiang lung and humans are quite welcome in either society, and many is the chiang lung elder who looks upon the achievements of his spirit folk grandchild with pride.
Half-shen lung: Nearly all that is said above about half-chiang lung is true of the half-shen lung, who are also river spirit folk. Most of those who go adventuring are chaotic but honorable bushi who do not care to submit themselves to a plethora of laws. It is also the case that male and female shen lung are equally attracted to opposite-sex human partners.
==Dragons from other worlds==
It is difficult to say much about the wide variety of dragons across the many crystal spheres and Outer Planes, regarding any half-human offspring they might have. About all that can be said is that the singular dragon types, such as the platinum dragon (variously known as Bahamut or Paladine) and the two adamantite dragons of the Twin Paradises, is that they are too concerned with dragons to bother much with humans.
Only one type of dragon in Wildspace is known to be able to naturally assume human or demihuman form: the radiant or celestial dragon. However, this dragon despises mammalian beings like humans and demihumans, at best regarding them as intelligent rivals for territory. There are a few cases of radiant dragons being friendly to humankind, but these are isolated cases, and the dragons could not possibly imagine taking a human as a mate. (Remember what was said earlier about Zeus and the hamster.)
Other types of dragons may exist on other worlds, however, that could interbreed with humans and demihumans. Readers with access to DRAGON issue #170 will note the article on ferrous dragons, and in particular the iron dragon, which can assume human shape and seems to like humans a lot. This type is used here as an example of what a halfdragon with nontraditional parentage would be like.
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