D&D (2024) More Dragon Redesign Clues

dave2008 · Jul 7, 2024

Quickleaf said:
@dave2008 Which of the new dragon designs that you've seen is your favorite so far?

Good question! I like the general trend to make them all more reptilian, but it is hard to pick simply because I am biased for red dragons. But you asked, so I would rank them as follows:

Red #1
Gold #2
Black #3
Bronze #4 (but earns most improved so far)
green #5

I don't think I have seen enough of any of the others.

How about you (or anyone else)?

PS - I don't think any are "perfect" IMO and would a few tweaks to each one we have seen so far (except maybe the bronze).

Charlaquin · Jul 7, 2024

MonsterEnvy said:
These older dragons are redesigns as well, they only first showed up with 3e 24 years ago. I can’t think of a better time to try another redesign than the 50th anniversary.

The 5e designs were in fact distinct from the 3e designs, though they took quite a bit of inspiration from them. Every single edition has redesigned the dragons. And, like, most other monsters as well.

Quickleaf · Jul 7, 2024

dave2008 said:
Good question! I like the general trend to make them all more reptilian, but it is hard to pick simply because I am biased for red dragons. But you asked, so I would rank them as follows:

Red #1
Gold #2
Black #3
Bronze #4 (but earns most improved so far)
green #5

I don't think I have seen enough of any of the others.

How about you (or anyone else)?

I don't think I've seen all of those yet... but the green was an interesting approach cause it kinda looks like the "medieval knightly manuscript" dragons that were very serpentine and wrapped around knight's limbs, lances, horses, etc. In a way it feels like some of the oldest Western artistic influence on dragons.

I wanted to like the bronze more with its white/blue striated underbelly – I thought it was very creative design taking inspiration from sea mammal and sealife camouflage patterning.

dave2008 · Jul 7, 2024

Quickleaf said:
I don't think I've seen all of those yet... but the green was an interesting approach cause it kinda looks like the "medieval knightly manuscript" dragons that were very serpentine and wrapped around knight's limbs, lances, horses, etc. In a way it feels like some of the oldest Western artistic influence on dragons.

I wanted to like the bronze more with its white/blue striated underbelly – I thought it was very creative design taking inspiration from sea mammal and sealife camouflage patterning.

Here are the ones we have seen the full concept art for:
Red

Green:

Black:

Gold:

Bronze:

Chaosmancer · Jul 7, 2024

dave2008 said:
Good question! I like the general trend to make them all more reptilian, but it is hard to pick simply because I am biased for red dragons. But you asked, so I would rank them as follows:

Red #1
Gold #2
Black #3
Bronze #4 (but earns most improved so far)
green #5

I don't think I have seen enough of any of the others.

How about you (or anyone else)?

PS - I don't think any are "perfect" IMO and would a few tweaks to each one we have seen so far (except maybe the bronze).

The one artwork of the white that looked a bit turtilish was really cool, but it seems that may not be the final version? Bronze is also high-ranked for me because making it Piscine is inspired.

WanderingMystic · Jul 7, 2024

So out of what we have seen so far, I am really liking the dragon changes.
Chromatic dragons

1 Black: My over all favorite, I really like how they incorporated bat and spider motifs in the wings and the explanation on why their faces start to look more skeletal as they grow older was an amazing little tidbit. These were your old swamp dragons the acid breath showing their decay aspects.
2 Green: I love this design, it makes the dragon more serpentine, it also looks so perfect stalking in the trees. Green dragons used to represent the forest dragons in older editions and the new look makes it look like it belongs in the forest.
3 Red: So, while this is actually my least favorite chromatic dragon since it is traditional looking, it is the most classical look for a D&D dragon so it up to the third spot. I like it but it is just generic for me.
4 White: It is hard to make a full assessment since we have barely seen anything of these dragons. The spiney like scales are an interesting departure. The look to me would be better on a desert-based dragon instead of a snow and ice dragon but I like that it is new and unique.
5 Blue: The single spike makes them quite striking and looks almost like a lightning rod which I am sure is why they chose it as a focus when the dragons were first created. These dragons havent really changed much since their inception.

Bitbrain · Jul 7, 2024

dave2008 said:
Here are the ones we have seen the full concept art for:
Red
View attachment 370977

Green:
View attachment 370980
View attachment 370981
View attachment 370982

Black:
View attachment 370983
View attachment 370984
View attachment 370985

Gold:
View attachment 370978

Bronze:
View attachment 370979

Red & Gold — classic designs for two classic monsters. The Red looks a bit on the burly side, so I’m imagining him as the gym bro of dragons.

Black — get this guy in rehab. Nevertheless, a much better design than the multi-winged one, IMO.

Green — looks like a snake and a platypus. Currently my least favorite design so far.

Bronze — still looks somewhat avian to me, but I’m at least seeing the piscine aspects too.

Ibrandul · Jul 7, 2024

The bronze is a mixed bag. I like the features but hate the coloration.

Bronze is mostly copper, but it doesn’t all look like it—hues vary depending on the composition of the alloy. Some oxidize just like copper, while others that start out more yellowy oxidize toward the shade used as highlighting in the 5e bronze dragons, which is known as “sea green” for a good reason.

It’s clever to make the new bronze dragons look like hybrids of copper dragons and brass dragons, but the old colors are at once much more distinctively “bronze” and more evocative of the sea.

Bitbrain · Jul 7, 2024

Ibrandul said:
The bronze is a mixed bag. I like the features but hate the coloration.

Bronze is mostly copper, but it doesn’t all look like it—hues vary depending on the composition of the alloy. Some oxidize just like copper, while others that start out more yellowy oxidize toward the shade used as highlighting in the 5e bronze dragons, which is known as “sea green” for a good reason.

It’s clever to make the new bronze dragons look like hybrids of copper dragons and brass dragons, but the old colors are at once much more distinctively “bronze” and more evocative of the sea.

Yeah, for best results the primary color really should have been a more brown-green, instead of the red-orange.

That’s really the only issue I have with it though.

dave2008 · Jul 7, 2024

Ibrandul said:
The bronze is a mixed bag. I like the features but hate the coloration.

Bronze is mostly copper, but it doesn’t all look like it—hues vary depending on the composition of the alloy. Some oxidize just like copper, while others that start out more yellowy oxidize toward the shade used as highlighting in the 5e bronze dragons, which is known as “sea green” for a good reason.

It’s clever to make the new bronze dragons look like hybrids of copper dragons and brass dragons, but the old colors are at once much more distinctively “bronze” and more evocative of the sea.

Bitbrain said:
Yeah, for best results the primary color really should have been a more brown-green, instead of the red-orange.

That’s really the only issue I have with it though.

Yes, the color is an issue - I assume that will be fixed when it comes to the actual representation in the MM, because right now it isn't bronze at all really. I would rank it lower on my list if the color is not corrected (which I assumed it would be in my ranking).

D&D (2024) More Dragon Redesign Clues

dave2008

Legend

Charlaquin

Goblin Queen (She/Her/Hers)

Quickleaf

Legend

dave2008

Legend

Chaosmancer

Legend

WanderingMystic

Adventurer

Bitbrain

Lost in Dark Sun

Ibrandul

Hero

Bitbrain

Lost in Dark Sun

dave2008

Legend

Similar Threads

Voidrunner's Codex