‘Dungeons & Dragons’ Brings ‘World Of Warcraft’ Dragons To The Gaming Table

Welcome to the table,

The pop culture fantasy landscape is an interesting space, depending on how far you extend your scope. Large concepts like “Dragons” and “Magic” are easily understood by almost everyone, but when you start digging into specific worlds, that is where you start to see the creators putting their own hallmarks on the ways these larger general concepts work in their specific story settings.

For example, in Greek mythology, a Chimera is a monster with the body of a lion, a goat’s head on its back, and a snake for a tail. However, in the anime Fullmetal Alchemist, the creature is a horrific, artificially bio-engineered fusion of two or more distinct living organisms. Meanwhile, in Warhammer, a Chimera is a weird multi-headed predator that’s been mutated by raw magics.

I bring this up because we are getting close to the release of Dungeons & Dragons/World of Warcraft collaborative gaming book. The way both worlds treat dragons is pretty different, so I wanted to take this chance to talk a bit about what is going on in the upcoming D&D X WoW book and how the dragons differ from each other.

What are the dragons in Azeroth all about?

In Azeroth, the core world of World of Warcraft, the Dragons are a bit different than the chromatic, metallic, gem, and other assorted dragons we are used to seeing at the D&D gaming table.

In Azeroth, in the far-flung past, there was a massive proto-dragon named Galakrond. Galakrond grew so big from secretly feeding on other proto-dragons that he not only amassed power but grew in size and became a Kaiju essentially. It took five proto-dragons along with the titan Tyr to defeat Galakrond and restore some sense of security to the fledgling world.

These five proto-dragons were a red dragon named Alexstrasza, a green dragon named Ysera, a blue dragon named Malygos, a bronze dragon named Nozdormu, and Neltharion, a black dragon who would go on to do great and terrible things later in the timeline.

As a thank you to the proto-dragons who aided Tyr, the pantheon of Titans gave them even more power using their various magics and altered hundreds of proto-dragon eggs so that when they hatched, the dragons that emerged would resemble the five heroic dragons who helped to save the world.

The dragons who hatched would become collectives known as the five Dragon Flights, with each one of the flights being one of the five colors of dragons of the heroes of the past.

Bronze Dragons

The Bronze dragons in Dungeons & Dragons 5.5, the current edition of the game, so the edition we are going to focus on for the purposes of this conversation, are metallic dragons whose nature pushes them to help others and inspire innovation, and share the wonders of the past with others. Typically found near bodies of water, D&D Bronze dragons collect sunken treasures lost at sea, and if the need arises, they can unleash both a lightning breath weapon and a force breath weapon that knocks back foes that are close to them.

The Bronze Dragons of Azaroth have much less of a metallic sheen to their scales and are more of a yellowish-bronze in color. They are gifted with the ability to travel through time and are masters of temporal magics. Unlike their D&D counterparts, the Bronze Dragons of Azaroth breathe superheated sand and tend to shy away from mortals, seeing themselves as the wardens of the flow of time and not ones to get caught up in the happenings of those creatures in the day-to-day.

The WoW X D&D version will have a Superheated Sand Breath, spells that include Augury, Slow, and Time Stop. They’ll also have an ability called Sands of Time that will allow full-grown bronze dragons to conjure a whirlwind of magic that not only does slashing damage, but inflicts exhaustion that makes the creature appear decades older.

I know back in the early days of Dragon Magazine, there were Yellow Dragons that lived by the sea and breathed salt crystals at high speeds, and in 1993, the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons monster manual featured a Yellow Dragon that breathed scorching air mixed with sand, and to me, that feels very much like what the WoW X D&D Bronze Dragon is going to play like at the table.

Red Dragons

The Red Dragons of Azaroth are very different from their chromatic counterparts in D&D. In Azaroth, the Red Dragons are entities who protect the life of mortals and will not hesitate to fight anyone who tries to harm them. They shapeshift into humanoid entities and regularly communicate with the heroes of Azaroth, aiding them in their quests and helping to guide and protect them as they seek out anything that means to bring harm to the natural world. Even their breath weapon, a magical fire, can both destroy and heal those who are wounded.

The Red Dragons of Dungeons & Dragons are typically selfish, destructive agents of chaos who would not think twice before crushing anything, living or dead, that got between them and the object of their desire. A Red Dragon in D&D will melt you with its powerful fire breath, or assault you with a litany of spells it has at its disposal.

The vast majority of Red Dragons in Dungeons & Dragons only care about what they can get to amass their wealth and power, so I am very curious to see how the narrative and abilities of their WoW counterparts land at the table.

The WoW X D&D version of the Red Dragon Flight will have a Razing Fire Breath that can deal a devastatingly powerful amount of Fire damage, spells that include Command and Detect Evil, a Bellowing Roar that can push enemies away and deal Thunder damage, and, most interesting to me, an ability called Renewing Flame.

Renewing Flame will be a Legendary Action that full-grown red dragons can breathe in a focused stream of heatless, life-giving fire that grants Temporary Hit Points to creatures within a line and ends certain conditions of the dragon’s choice.

Green Dragons

Another vastly different vibe between the WoW and D&D dragons comes from the Green Dragon.

In WoW, the Green Dragons are protectors of the natural world and have a deep reverence for the protection of animals and natural spaces. Much like the Red Dragons of WoW, the Green Dragons are easy to approach and have often found themselves in league with the druids of Azeroth. In WoW, the Green Dragons have breath weapons that can come in all manner of nature-based attack forms, including a brilliant Emerald Flame.

Meanwhile, the Green Dragons of D&D are easily the most treacherous of all dragons. Green Dragons in D&D tend to live in verdant natural spaces like rolling grasslands and ancient forests, but rather than protect life, they use misdirection and trickery to slay anyone they think they can benefit from stealing from. Their breath weapon is a cloud of poison gas.

The WoW X D&D version will have abilities that include an Emerald Gas Breath that deals both Acid and Poison damage, access to spells like Speak with Animals, Speak with Plants, and Greater Resurrect. The ancient Dragons of their Flight will even be able to teleport creatures to a demiplane resembling the Emerald Dream, a well-traveled landscape in WoW.

Blue Dragons

In WoW, the Blue Dragons are a good-aligned species of dragon who are dedicated to managing and watching over the flow of magic in the world of Azeroth. While their lore is littered with moments of tragedy, the Blue Dragons maintain their protection over the world and stay in loyal service to ensuring that the forces of evil do not use magic for their nefarious purposes. Blue Dragons in-game have a frost breath weapon that is full of arcane energy, the envy of all mages who understand just how powerful frost-fire can be.

In D&D, Blue Dragons are arrogant, prideful control freaks who thrive on ruling by fear. A Blue Dragon in D&D believes in quality over quantity, seeking out unique and powerful items that can serve to show just how powerful they are for owning them. These desert-dwelling entities unleash massive bolts of lightning as their breath weapon and don’t care who they burn to ash, as long as what is left behind increases their power and dominance over the land they call their own.

In WoW X D&D, the Blue Dragon Flight will have a Spellfreeze Breath that will not only cause Cold damage, but also will force a saving throw that if failed, will keep a creature from casting spells until their next turn. I love this concept and can’t wait to see the full mechanics at the table. They will also have spells like Ice Storm, Major Image, and Wall of Ice. Ancient Blue Dragons will have access to more powerful spells like Legend Lore, and they will have a Dispel ability that will cause Force damage for each ongoing spell that they end.

Of all the WoW X D&D draconic abilities, this Dispel ability has me the most excited.

Black Dragons

Last but certainly not least are the Black Dragons. In WoW, the Black Dragons were given the responsibility of taking care of the earth itself. They were the wardens of the deep places of the world until they were corrupted by the Old Gods and turned into pawns of those ancient evil forces, ultimately bringing the Black Dragon Flight to ruin.

In the aftermath of the Black Dragon flight’s destruction, there was a time of troubles where Old Gods clashed with Heroes, and these dragons, who were forces of good in Azeroth, became engines of world-breaking destruction. Eventually, the Black Dragon Flight would be reformed by the Obsidian Brood and the Blacktalon, two groups who wanted to see them return to their original glory. In-game, the Black Dragons had a breath weapon that would present as magma, shadow, or flame.

The Black Dragons in D&D are far more sinister than their counterparts in Azeroth. While other chromatic dragons look for power and wealth, Black Dragons only want to see things destroyed so they can rule over the ruins. Their breath weapon is a powerful acid that melts just about anything it touches, and they tend to move about the world, destroying hope and crushing anyone who tries to oppose them.

The WoW X D&D Black Dragon Flight will have a Magma Breath weapon that does Bludgeoning and Fire damage, spells that include Heat Metal and Stone Shape, and an ability called Pyroclastic Eruption that ancient members of the Black Dragon Flight can use to cause the landscape to explode in a storm of fire and death.

 

Until next time, there is a bestiary of friends and foes ready to come to the table when this book drops, and I, for one, can’t wait to get my hands on the full version so I can see what all has been baked into the mechanics and lore. Having listened to the designers speak about this project, it is clear that the team at the helm really cared about what they were bringing to the table and has spent a great deal of time crafting something that is going to be as fun for fans of WoW and D&D.