Review: Draconomicon: Chromatic Dragons
Name: Draconomicon: Chromatic Dragons
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
System: D20
It first has to be said that I’m a huge fan of Dragons. I bought the 3rd Edition Draconomicon as soon as I saw it, purchased all of the McFarlane’s Dragon figurines, and went with Coop to see D-War: Dragon Wars, War of the Dragons the day it opened. When I heard that 4th Edition would have an early release of the Draconomicon I lost my mind with happiness, but was skeptical about splitting the book into multiple releases. I am pleased to say that the 4th Edition Draconomicon: Chromatic Dragons has enough new content to justify being released without the inclusion of metallic dragons.
Hit the jump for Pen and Paper Portal’s full review of Draconomicon: Chromatic Dragons.
The addition of the Purple (psychic) and Brown (desert) dragons add suggestions for new settings and new battle mechanics for DMs, as well as explanations as to why they haven’t shown up prominently in Dungeons and Dragons lore up to this point. However, the new Gray (stone) dragon is the quintessential man-eating machine, and is the least enigmatic of the new additions. Plenty of draconic creatures are featured in addition to the Chromatics, such as Planar and Undead dragon types. There are many draconic creatures and guardians of varying levels, from the Dragonborn Sellsword (level 2), to a dragon’s breath weapon incarnated (levels 16-27). There’s also a template to create draconic creatures, though they create such powerful encounters that you might be better served using a pre-made creature.
Some of the dragons’ anatomy has been changed, and the Green Dragon has been completely revamped with its former trait of near-animal feral stupidity replaced by extreme cunning and deviousness. If you were a fan of the old Green I’m sorry to report the new one has a big horn protruding from its upper lip, akin to an out of control pimple. Also, the natures of chromatics seem to be less cookie-cutter and more curtailed to the individual type. The gods are relisted with their specific relation to dragons in mind to help spur reasons why a Chromatic might seek religious sanctum. There are now plenty examples of good chromatics; worshippers of Bahamut, patrons to adventurers, and living Exarchs to the lawful gods.
Alas, gods cannot live forever, and one section in the Draconomicon gives the party special conditions in which they would be able to kill a draconic deity. The stats for Tiamat, the five-headed evil goddess of dragons, are right there for all to see, bringing her to more of a mortal level. Each of her heads moves independently in initiative, encouraging (or discouraging) an epic battle with the goddess.
There are also updated stats of dragons deemed “Hall of Fame” material spanning the history of D&D. Do not be put off by this end-game content, however, as Wizards of the Coast didn’t write this book with only endgame content in mind. This edition of the Draconomicon has made great strides in better incorporating the presence of dragons into lower level campaigns as patrons or enemies. Most players are already familiar with the power and presence that chromatic dragons exude, and dungeon masters were already using them as evil villains for higher level parties. There are now easy rules and stats for Wyrmlings of all the chromatics featured in the book, ranging from levels 2-5.
I am, however, not impressed with some of the artwork, which feels inferior to the 3rd Edition of the Draconomicon. The visual size comparisons are missing, with each dragon type’s size illustrated at its various stages of life, next to a human comparison. Most paintings suffer from looking flat and dark. Even the artwork I want to love, like the corpulent black dragon queen, Gulgol, lacks contrast to accentuate details. This may have been a printing oversight, since I’ve seen it in some of the other books and it seems to happen more often with digital art, but it’s still disappointing.
Some of the artwork shows a huge level of care in emphasizing the presence and environment in which the dragons surrounds themselves. Many of the representations of the new dragons are done especially well, and the back cover of the book features the sleek Purple Dragon with blue backlighting, showing their pride in that particular painting. However, anyone buying the book for the artwork should know that the quality is lower than the renderings in the 4th Edition Monster Manual, so unless they are interested in the rules as well it might not be worth it.
I was pleasantly surprised with Draconomicon: Chromatic Dragons. There’s so much content in this book, however, that I’m again skeptical about how much general information a follow-up book might contain, aside from simply giving stats on the Metallic Dragons. Great lengths were spent on describing physical, social, and psychological information about all dragons, as well as theology, adventure hooks, intelligent items, and horde generation. Either way, I was happy to see how ready-to-play the content in Chromatic Dragons was, and I am excited and curious to see what Draconomicon: Metallic Dragons has in store for players and Dungeon Masters when it is released later this year.
Draconomicon: Chromatic Dragons retails for $39.95 and is out now.
Coop says:
Good review, happy to hear the book wasn’t half of a book.
January 27th, 2009 at 3:09 am
E mais links | Rolando 20 - D&D 4ª edição says:
[...] Resenha do Draconomicon no Roll for Initiative; [...]
February 1st, 2009 at 6:57 am
Keegan says:
good book
March 24th, 2010 at 9:00 pm