Dwarven Lore bard: did you ever hear of gem dragons? Kobold thief rouge: the… the WHAT?! Dwarven Lore bard: yeah! They are pretty reclusive though, and aren’t keen on visitors.
I actually bought this Dragon Magazine back in 1980. I fell in love with these dragons but no one else seemed interested in them. Thank you for producing this video!
Obsidian dragons have roughly the same stats as green or amethyst dragons, except there intelligence is MUCH HIGHER! They have a fire breath weapon ( like a brass or gold dragon) and all obsidian dragons have psyonic abilities like mind flayers.
One thing about the Crystal Dragon that is normally not taken notice is they are the most Gregarious dragon species out of all of them! Just beating the gold and silver out for sheer hospitality. They will even welcome a Tyrant into their home, lend money to anyone it deemed it's friend- Red: So you Gived them gold? Crystal: Yep. Red: And expected _Nothing_ back!? Crystal: Yep. Red: At least did they owe you Anything?! Crystal: The Trust and Friendship of my companions is its own reward. :) Red: What is!?- *(confused dragon noises)* -and the fact that they take young WHITE DRAGONS and make them chaotic good. If some female Crystals were to gain polymorph as a ability, it wouldn't surprise me if they were atomatically be taken by adventurers who don't know any better other than the fact that they are great wife material. Crystal halve-dragons were probably a common sight in years long past.
Correct. And Crystal Dragons are also for the most part Neutral Good meaning unlike their Lawful Good and Chaotic Good Metallic Cousins they protect innocent lives from their Chromatic Cousins, and their arch-enemies the so-called black sheep of the Gem Dragons the Obsidian Dragons not because of a code of honor or Bahamut worship it's simply for the sake of being good because they want to be good meaning if a Crystal Dragon wants to protect an innocent settlement he or she will do so for the sake of being good dragon and not out of a sense of duty or wanting glory.
So are the gem dragon breath weapons like radiant for crystal, necrotic for topaz, thunder for emerald, force for amethyst, and psychic for sapphire? These could make some interesting Dragonborn options.
I'm imagining a lightly audible to hypnotic cacophony of crystal tinkling sounds, as it moves and it's little gemlike scales produce the most beautiful notes. These guys are neat, I think I'll have one guarding a strange little dungeon that dips into the Far Realm a bit, something for the PCs to role play their way past.
@@zionthedragon8866 The Moonstone dragon is said to be the largest of the Neutral Dragons in its description. The Neutral dragons are the Gem Dragons, lawful neutral, true neutral, and chaotic neutral. In D&D lore as far I as know that's it.
After looking at Chromatic Dragons and Metallic Dragons I thought "Where are the Gem Dragons?" "Where are the Pure (and mixed) Elemental Dragons?" "Where are the Pure Legion (Divine, Abyssal, Devilish, and the like) Dragons?"
Heya AJ first of all big fan, i know there's a lot of great d and d coverage on youtube but for some reason yours just really captures the spirit of the game to me. Really appreciate all the effort you put into these as well as the tutorials for those wanting to host their own game. I was curious though, do you think you'll ever do a lore video for Tharizdun? Back a few years ago i had to choose a deity [eventually named my tiefling warlock after him] and he seemed pretty interesting but the more i dug into his lore the more his portfolio seemed to change from one edition to the next and i m kind of curious just what the heck he is a this point.
I love all these vids about Dragons. I could just imagine a band of relatively young and good and/or neutral aligned dragons hanging out together (for mutual defense) in a cave on a large hoard as something along the D&D/Pathfinder Version of "Friends"/"Seinfeld." :P XD LOL.
I am a big fan of Gem Dragons; I first saw them in 2e, and then in the Council of Wyrms campaign. As a big fan of psionics, and purple, they always appealed to me. One thing I do struggle with, though, is making them feel psionic. 5e isn't always good with innate casting, anyway, be it Psionics or Sorcery, and so I struggle to figure out how to make these dragons feel like they are using mind magic, and nor just casting spells like many dragons do, that they can even pass on to their sorcerers descendants. Would you maybe do a bit of a video on Psionics? Different editions handle it differently, and with variable levels of skill, but I've always been a fan of it, be it Mind Flayers, Psionic Liches, Blue Goblins, or the whole world based around it that is Athas, of Dark Sun fame. I liked how in 2e, there were groups of Drow Psionicists, particularly better at this skill than many other races, despite being the only ones who weren't enslaved by the likes of the Illithids, or Aboleths. The Duergar and Gith races are also really cool, even if I feel neither REALLY hammers home weaponozing their mental powers. A video that talks about psionics, what it really is, and where it actually comes from,across so many races, would be fun!
I'm playing a sapphire gem dragon that was turned into an androgynous elf pally by Bahamut. This is for Dragon Hoard lol I have to prove myself worthy to get my body back 😊
Nice seeing someone talk about my favorite type of dragons! I don't know how much was moved over to the newer editions but they are beautifully terrifying in 3.5.
AJ, I need to tell you that this series is easily my favorite new find on TH-cam. Thank you for all of this amazing content! (And I don't usually comment on videos...)
The final session of the first chapter in a homebrew game I'm running is coming up and the gem dragons will fit perfectly into it as well as giving me a great source for story development for the next chapter. Thank you so much for the awesome videos, they have birthed so many of the stories in the campaigns I run.
I like the idea of "dragons as guardians of reality." Really gives dragon hunting lots more danger. "Congradulations, Mighty Heroes. Now, instead of just some missing livestock, you have Horrors From Beyond reality to deal with!"
So I've been doing a bit of research here and there for a campaign I'm going to try and write, and it has lead me to your video. I've read on the idea that spells can be loaded into gems/crystals. Would it be possible for a spell to be loaded into a dragon of this sort? Also, what would you think a diamond dragon would be like? I feel like if my theory is possible, a person could load an epic level spell into diamond dragon, if any of them.
I remember having a 2nd edition book called The Dragon isles or something like it. It was a rule book for making playable dragons as well as other draconic characters. Pretty neat book and had the chromatic metalic and gem dragons as well as some other the other types like the steel and mercury dragons. I think there was some others as well. i wish I still had that book. I can't seem to find the info online probably because i don't have the exact name anymore and I had bought that book about 20 years ago. If you see this comment AJ Pickett, and you know of this book, please let me know. I would love to get that book again because it had lots of neat info even if it might be out of date.
Hey AJ, this video is mind boggling. I have said it before and I will say it again you never cease to amaze me. I will never face a Gem Dragon because I will be running like a madman in the other direction. Thanks AJ & have a great day.
Pairing them with flumphs sounds fitting for avoiding trouble and psychic nature. The mediator sounds interesting, like some sort of court system between certain beings.
Hey, just discovered your channel. Definitely going to be spending time here. Quick advice, please find a way to lower the bass in your audio. It makes it difficult to hear what you're saying, and I think the videos would be much more watchable with a solid audio track, since a lot of your videos are just pictures anyway. As someone else said, having pictures line up with what you're talking about would be nice too, but ultimately right now the content of your videos lies in what you're hearing more than what you're seeing; thus audio is the most important thing. Definitely excited for more of your work, and I hope you're encouraged. I, for one, don't really criticize youtube videos unless I see good potential for easy fixes that could vastly improve the already great content.
AJ Pickett I attempted first with desktop speakers, as I pass the time at work with TH-cam vids in the background. After, I switched to headphones. Had slightly better luck with headphones, but it was still hard to follow. Having given it some thought now, I'm not sure if it's the mic or if the recording could use a "podcast" filter to clean up some of the extraneous highs and lows. I think audacity has a function for that, but im no audio engineer.
Wish granted they are now a thing in D&D5E thanks to Fizban's Treasury of Dragons the Gem Dragonborn types are Crystal, Emerald, Sapphire, Amethyst, and Topaz. The Racial traits are: Humanoid type creature of Gem Draconic Ancestry, your size is Medium, your walking speed is 30 ft, your Gem Draconic Ancestry determines the damage type of your Breath Weapon, and your innate Elemental Resistance which will be either Radiant, Psychic, Thunder, Force, or Necrotic, you also get innate Psychic Powers with Psionic Mind which you get at Lv. 1 and allows you to communicate with any creature/person within 30 ft of you via telepathy though the creature/person has to be able understand one of the languages you speak in order to comprehend your telepathic speech, and Gem Flight which is gained at Lv. 5 which grants you the ability to summon spectral dragon wings made of psychic energy as a bonus action which grants you the ability to fly via a flight speed equal to your walking speed and the ability to hover for a minute however once Gem Flight is used you can't use it again until you take and finish a long rest.
i am just surprised there is not YET a diamond based dragon honestly. though if there was one... or any it would likely be above the ruby dragon in the dragon hierarchy in my opinion.
The crystal dragons sometimes adopt baby white dragons, so, they are kind of the precursor of white and silver dragons, which would technically make them the diamond dragons.. I say give Sardior a queen!
There are, but they aren't Gem dragons, the Diamond Dragon is a unique entity that is the ruler of all Lawful dragons in the Mystara setting, where the dragon families and its members are all different. There are a group of six "Gemstone" dragons in Mystara too, and while in second edition the Sapphire dragon was only different from the standard by alignment, in Basic D&D the six, Ruby, Sapphire, Jade, Onyx, Crystal and Brown or Amber, are totally unrelated to their counterparts in AD&D. Well, I guess except the Onyx Dragon, since it doesn't have an AD&D equivalent.
You have to realize other gems were more valuable in the past. It's only in the 20th Century that diamonds became the most expensive of modern gems (Ref: An episode of "Adam Ruins Everything"). For part of the Middle Ages the value of gems (from most valuable to least) was Rubies (believed to protect against poison), sapphires (protection from sickness and madness), diamonds (protect against bad dreams and give wisdom), emeralds, then balas rubies (a more pale and rose-red ruby.) Ref: "The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England" pp. 118-119.
chris hardy I created a diamond dragon and shot AJ the stats......i'll edit in the name of the video he put out and you can go to it in the comment section and copy it down for personal use if you'd like.....be right back!........ I'm back its in his shadow dragon video!!! ( good vid by the way)
Would someone with a sealed metal armor that even has something if a tempered glass covering the eyes protect from exhaustion and dehydration of that breath weapon?
Looking for advice for a home-brew campaign, what type of dragon (Gem, Metallic, etc) would best fit the idea of a dragon sent to the prime material plane as an egg to watch over and protect the founding, growth, and expansion of a powerful trade city for reasons only a race of nigh-divine creatures? So far it seems that Adamantium, Platinum, or Mithril fit the bill best. This dragon ecology playlist as been a fantastic resource for ideas, keep up the amazing work!
I would definitely consider the Mithril dragon. They have a tendency to involve themselves in the activities of primes even though they normally live in the astral sea with the gods.
Hmmm only encounter I ever had with a gem dragon was when some super beholder my party and I were fighting was attempting a ritual and due to whatever roll or script the DM was using. A Sapphire Dragon came in, bust lots of heads, fought the beholder with us, destroyed the ritual altar, blasted us too, then left after taking some big fancy white crystal with swirling blue clouds out and away... the weirdest and shortest encounter.
I love this. They'll make a great addition to my future campaign. Now, a follow up question: How would you include them into a Draconic Sorcerer? I mainly play this class, and now have new possibilities.
Surprised that you didn't cover the alternate take on Sardior, that he was one of the direct children of Io...a generation after Tiamat and Bahamut, with a sister (The dead sister that Tiamat murdered for the audacity of creating the Lesser Chromatics) and turned away from his initial alignment because he couldn't bring himself to actually battle either of his remaining siblings, choosing to stay out of it entirely.
Eh, sardior was born BEFORE Tiamat and bahamut, being that Io DIED and his corpse created Tiamat and bahamut, so he is actually if anything, the OLDER brother.
5:47 nah man. An attack like that should instantly kill any creature with blood period. You should have to require things hit by that attack to have some sorta magical means of resistance for it to not just KO you right away. Thats an insane ability. Dragon scales count as magical resistances right? I guess it would need to for the breath to not kill the wielder. What an op ability.
No, they are draconic beings made of flesh and bone, they are named for their appearance being somewhat between the metallic and chromatic dragons, not as shiny as the metallic, not as uniform a tone as the chromatic, they sometimes have an array of hues. They look quite different from each other, like the different body forms of the chromatic and metallic dragons, but generally have a leaner, longer tail that ends in a whip-like taper, the neck is also longer and thinner.
@@AJPickett AH! I see, now and according to what I've read in Fizban's Treasury of Dragons, Gem Dragons seem to prefer artistic items to hoard as "treasure" (compared to the typical gold and jewels other dragon types hoard in their caves.) Is this true
1. Is there anywhere i could find the 5e statblocks for these dragons, as well as the shadow and deep dragons? 2.Can you provide sources for this stuff?
so far we do have a 5e version of the adult sapphire dragon offically via dnd beyond, they released it as part of a charity fund raiser, only costs a couple bucks
I have a weird draconic lore because I really enjoyed Dragon's Moon, Sun, Star Great One system so I combined it with Bahamut and Tiamat. Anyone want to hear it?
Mainly copied from Dragon's Great One mythology, but there are five dragon "lords", which are effectively minor gods, corresponding to alignment, so the " lords" and their alignments are: Sun/Law, Moon/Chaos, Star/Neutrality, Platinum/Good, Titanium(or Adamantine)/Evil, then with a higher unaligned Dragon God interested purely in dragons, the Great One. Each "lord" lives in their own small plane, each also connecting to the Great One's. The dragon "lords" are not single beings however. They are ageless, but not unkillable. If they die, there is a process, decided upon by the previous lord, to find a new one, held between all dragons that hold that alignment, possibly a massive battle or a democratic election, maybe even random chance. The selected Dragon ascends, and undergoes a ritual removing secondary alignments. Bahamut and Tiamat are simply the names of the current Platinum and Titanium dragons. The same is even true for the Great One, upon his death (the death of a greater deity, so not exactly common), the current lords fight until one emerges victorious, who then undergoes a ritual which completely removes any trace of alignment, and they ascend. Deaths of a lord or Great One could temporarily cause a massive drop in dragon sightings, or even in extreme cases lead to some or all just vanishing off the face of the earth.
I am currently researching the nagaji for a game that I will be playing in. I've seen claims that the nagaji can be found in Dungeons and Dragons and not just in Pathfinder, but I've not found any sources for that.
The information I'd like to know is a naga and the egg, if you will. Not whether naga came first, but where nagaji stop being naga and where it starts being something else. Do nagaji lay eggs like naga or do they give live birth due to some other heritage? Ecology and culture more so than mechanics!
So there are Metallic or the "Good" Dragons Chromatic or "Evil" Dragons Ferrous or "Lawful" Dragons Gem or "Neutral" Dragons That implies the existence of another broad category of dragon the Chaotic so what are they like and what kind are there 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔 any ideas
The Chaos Dragons first burst onto the scene in the late 1970's, mostly coming on after the headline act during some rock concerts, which was a short lived trend at the time, so a lot of folks who saw them live have no actual recollection of having done so. They appeared live on an unaired episode of Ricki Lake after they reformed in the early 1990's when half of them got out of rehab at the same time by mistake, and since then, have had a lucrative career playing house party gigs at bitcoin moguls shell start ups. Rumours of a world tour surface now and then, but that has never and likely will never eventuate, so, although they have sold more T-shirts than the Pet Shop Boys, the members of The Chaos Dragons are one of the least publically known, oldest heavy rock bands in music history.
So I was flipping through monster manual number 2 for 3rd edition and I came across the listing for the amethyst dragon and while it is described as a sound-based breath weapon it is also said to do Force which is extremely interesting as very few creatures in D&D are resistant or even immune to force damage they also have the ability to channel their breath weapon into subdue damage instead of lethal damage which is absolutely fascinating when you think about it that means they have the ability to incapacitate with their breath weapon instead of harm
Hey. Quick question. do you have some notes on these dragons? I'd love to be able to easily use them in my own game. if not, I'll try to write down everything I can from your vid. :)
I have yet to watch one of your videos, and see you use an introduction more than once. You must put a lot of work into your channel, maybe a behind-the-scenes look would be nice!
Can casters use different dragon breath attacks? Seems that sapphire dragon breath caster attacks would at least be a great diversion for some of the very nasty baddies.
Sonic disintergration beam... 😵🐉😵 that would actually be good at boring through rock, they could probably dig their own lairs. psychick paranoid and territorial, it would fun to have one as a kind of trap, a dragon if seen will try to take you out. but i love the lore of them being guardians against incursions from the far realm, talk about battles beyond mortal comprihension.
the breath weapon that destroys X# cubic feet of water sounds like the blight spell. i would assume it has a similar effect on plants as the blight spell does.
Thank you for compiling and sharing all of this. I'd like to add that there's a named amethyst dragon in Faerun named Eldenser that folks might be interested in learning more about: archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/wn/20030618a
AJ Pickett okay I'll have to look for the video on the death Knights and I wasn't aware that they change Claire all that much appreciate the info thank you
Its weird that the Gem dragons aren't more powerful then the normal chromatic and metalic dragons. If we go with the dragon's belief that Io was split into Bahamut and Tiamet then its understandable that the dragons Io makes would be stronger/greater then the dragons his split personifications could make. Since they would only have half the power that Io had.
Indeed. 2nd edition gem dragons were the best. I had an amethyst dragon the party saved from sahuagin raiders return in the eleventh hour to crash into a huge undead treant that was draining the life from all the pc's and the militia accompanying them while regenerating the fallen undead in a swamp near Cormyr. It's breath weapon tore the bark from the treant and obliterated the forward ranks of zombies. While the dragon was anti social it remembered the kind deed. Had they not attempted to save the dragon on the coast I may have allowed them all to die in the swamp. : )
Yeah it's a sweeter than Dragon doesn't take no sides or just remain neutral how interesting to have psychic powers they look like she belonged to Warhammer 40K
Sooo would Gem Dragons like fellow benevolent psionics like Kalishtar? Also if one mentions Sardior would they be more likely to befriend these Gem Dragons? Maybe mutual foes with psionic invaders like an mind flayer hive? Anyone played a campaign like this?
Gem dragons are not made of gem stone, but are just as likely as most to include flawless gems in their horde of treasures, so, sure, don't see why not.
The amount of things one can do with these dragons is mind boggling compared to the more likely to stick to tropes chromatic and metallic(i am convinced not all dragons obey said tropes 100% a gold may be ousted for being evil ect each dragon is intelligent enough to fight its instincts or do its own thing).
"Smaller than their kin," huh? I bought a sapphire dragon figure today, and it's pretty damn big compared to my Bahamut and Niv-Mizzet figures, and it might have been slightly larger than the white dragon figure at the store.
Power creep :) Dragons have been constantly changing over the history of D&D. Lately things have been pretty stable, but, you never know, a couple of years there could be Phyrexian dragons and Sparkle vampire dragons.. who knows?
I hadn't even known about gem dragons (in D&D, anyway) until I looked them up once I got home with it. I'm fairly new to D&D, and I'd been watching your videos to catch up on the lore.
@@AJPickett Most definitely, that's why I was asking what was the source in this video, lol. Just wanna know where I can have this info in a book for myself.
I quite like the idea of incorporating some of the mysticism and lore of gemstones to these dragons. Especially if you encounter a particularly... well... not GOOD, per se... but patient gem dragon. I'm most familiar with Topaz, so some examples could be a more kind (albeit still neutral and reclusive) Topaz dragon could hold the secrets to curing blindness (topaz, as a stone has been associated with improving vision and even curing visual ailments.) So a permanently blinded character or NPC could be an impetus to seek out an ancient, or adult Topaz dragon. And perhaps that dragon could (with the right incentives, of course), bestow upon the character a flask of magical wine (another associated part of topaz and sight based healing) that could act as a multiple-step healing salve for the character. Perhaps they could be the one to seek to attempt to convince to aid a town or kingdom that's being plagued by supernatural nightmares. Topaz has been associated with protecting from nightmares and aiding sleep. And this could be done with any of them (Perhaps using quartz for the crystal dragon). So much cool lore to sift through. And so many awesome ideas to bring in
Thus a Ruby dragon could probably bring characters back to health with the ability to cast a greater restoration once per day.. oh yes, I am familiar with the properties of gemstones.. I have had an interesting life :)
2:06 - Crystal
4:30 - Topaz
7:21 - Emerald
10:34 - Saphire
12:45 - Amethyst
14:21 - Sardior (Ruby)
ty
Can’t believe there is not a diamond dragon… 😢
Gosh bless.
@@357Dejavu ikr? I’m sure people have homebrewed them somewhere. I’d take a look at those and make one with what I liked best from all them.
Did he skip the Obsidian Dragon?
Dwarven Lore bard: did you ever hear of gem dragons?
Kobold thief rouge: the… the WHAT?!
Dwarven Lore bard: yeah! They are pretty reclusive though, and aren’t keen on visitors.
I actually bought this Dragon Magazine back in 1980. I fell in love with these dragons but no one else seemed interested in them. Thank you for producing this video!
Very late additional comment. I adored them in the expanded monstrous compendiums of 2nd edition. Amethyst my fave. Photon torpedo breath weapons...
Obsidian dragons have roughly the same stats as green or amethyst dragons, except there intelligence is MUCH HIGHER! They have a fire breath weapon ( like a brass or gold dragon) and all obsidian dragons have psyonic abilities like mind flayers.
Love it
Genesis is a great 3.5e spell. I love that Obsidians can seemingly cast it at will 😅
True.
One thing about the Crystal Dragon that is normally not taken notice is they are the most Gregarious dragon species out of all of them!
Just beating the gold and silver out for sheer hospitality. They will even welcome a Tyrant into their home, lend money to anyone it deemed it's friend-
Red: So you Gived them gold?
Crystal: Yep.
Red: And expected _Nothing_ back!?
Crystal: Yep.
Red: At least did they owe you Anything?!
Crystal: The Trust and Friendship of my companions is its own reward. :)
Red: What is!?- *(confused dragon noises)*
-and the fact that they take young WHITE DRAGONS and make them chaotic good.
If some female Crystals were to gain polymorph as a ability, it wouldn't surprise me if they were atomatically be taken by adventurers who don't know any better other than the fact that they are great wife material.
Crystal halve-dragons were probably a common sight in years long past.
XD
Note'r of the unnoted Very true!
Curious if this video had the smallest hint of Red's ego placed within?
Correct.
And Crystal Dragons are also for the most part Neutral Good meaning unlike their Lawful Good and Chaotic Good Metallic Cousins they protect innocent lives from their Chromatic Cousins, and their arch-enemies the so-called black sheep of the Gem Dragons the Obsidian Dragons not because of a code of honor or Bahamut worship it's simply for the sake of being good because they want to be good meaning if a Crystal Dragon wants to protect an innocent settlement he or she will do so for the sake of being good dragon and not out of a sense of duty or wanting glory.
So are the gem dragon breath weapons like radiant for crystal, necrotic for topaz, thunder for emerald, force for amethyst, and psychic for sapphire? These could make some interesting Dragonborn options.
Yeah pretty much, an interesting grab bag of unusual and gnarly breath attacks.
One of them actually has a Sonic Breath Weapon
True, there are revisions to the Gem dragons.
I think that gets called Thunder in 5e.
and in 4th edition.
Gym Dragons clearly don't follow the Path of the Swole.
I'm imagining a lightly audible to hypnotic cacophony of crystal tinkling sounds, as it moves and it's little gemlike scales produce the most beautiful notes.
These guys are neat, I think I'll have one guarding a strange little dungeon that dips into the Far Realm a bit, something for the PCs to role play their way past.
That sounds right up their alley.
I'm gonna use Gem Dragons in my own campaign and am going to have them be residents of The Feywild.
That's a great idea, contrast with the shadow dragons of the shadowfell.
If you like the idea of them in the Feywild, look up the AD&D Moonstone Dragon, the only gemstone not mentioned here. It's a Faerie/Dream gem dragon.
I used a crystal dragon as a hook between 2 campaigns
@@47thStreet gem and gemstone dragons aren't the same. Similar, not the same.
@@zionthedragon8866 The Moonstone dragon is said to be the largest of the Neutral Dragons in its description. The Neutral dragons are the Gem Dragons, lawful neutral, true neutral, and chaotic neutral. In D&D lore as far I as know that's it.
I'm sooooo glad you did Gem Dragons! They're so easily forgotten and it's so nice to see them being expanded on.
Gem dragons are also proficient in psionic magic. D&D 3.5 ed, Monster Manual 3, great description.
I had no idea gem dragons were a thing... well thanks AJ for the information, very interesting as always!!
Thank you Nixs!
After looking at Chromatic Dragons and Metallic Dragons I thought
"Where are the Gem Dragons?"
"Where are the Pure (and mixed) Elemental Dragons?"
"Where are the Pure Legion (Divine, Abyssal, Devilish, and the like) Dragons?"
@@quintoncraig9299 most of aren't flushed out classes and don't really have a historic lore, the only 3 being metallics, gems, and chromatics.
first appeared AD&D as official canon -- MM2
@@TheSoling27 they appeared in 1st edition, unless AD&D also had a 1e version.
Heya AJ first of all big fan, i know there's a lot of great d and d coverage on youtube but for some reason yours just really captures the spirit of the game to me. Really appreciate all the effort you put into these as well as the tutorials for those wanting to host their own game.
I was curious though, do you think you'll ever do a lore video for Tharizdun? Back a few years ago i had to choose a deity [eventually named my tiefling warlock after him] and he seemed pretty interesting but the more i dug into his lore the more his portfolio seemed to change from one edition to the next and i m kind of curious just what the heck he is a this point.
Dreadlum Alias mmm I'd love to! Good request :)
I love all these vids about Dragons. I could just imagine a band of relatively young and good and/or neutral aligned dragons hanging out together (for mutual defense) in a cave on a large hoard as something along the D&D/Pathfinder Version of "Friends"/"Seinfeld." :P XD LOL.
I am a big fan of Gem Dragons; I first saw them in 2e, and then in the Council of Wyrms campaign. As a big fan of psionics, and purple, they always appealed to me. One thing I do struggle with, though, is making them feel psionic. 5e isn't always good with innate casting, anyway, be it Psionics or Sorcery, and so I struggle to figure out how to make these dragons feel like they are using mind magic, and nor just casting spells like many dragons do, that they can even pass on to their sorcerers descendants.
Would you maybe do a bit of a video on Psionics? Different editions handle it differently, and with variable levels of skill, but I've always been a fan of it, be it Mind Flayers, Psionic Liches, Blue Goblins, or the whole world based around it that is Athas, of Dark Sun fame. I liked how in 2e, there were groups of Drow Psionicists, particularly better at this skill than many other races, despite being the only ones who weren't enslaved by the likes of the Illithids, or Aboleths. The Duergar and Gith races are also really cool, even if I feel neither REALLY hammers home weaponozing their mental powers. A video that talks about psionics, what it really is, and where it actually comes from,across so many races, would be fun!
Hmmm! I had nor considered making a video on Psionics, but now you mention it, I think I really should.
I'm playing a sapphire gem dragon that was turned into an androgynous elf pally by Bahamut. This is for Dragon Hoard lol I have to prove myself worthy to get my body back 😊
And your mojo.
We're playing that module right now and a friend of mine did the same thing except he was a gold dragon.
Nice seeing someone talk about my favorite type of dragons! I don't know how much was moved over to the newer editions but they are beautifully terrifying in 3.5.
A quick reminder than in 2e Sapphire Dragons breath weapon was a explosive spit ball.
AJ, I need to tell you that this series is easily my favorite new find on TH-cam. Thank you for all of this amazing content! (And I don't usually comment on videos...)
Gem dragons are outrageous. Truly, truly, truly outrageous. Gem!
Thank you! Very informative and well laid out as always!
The final session of the first chapter in a homebrew game I'm running is coming up and the gem dragons will fit perfectly into it as well as giving me a great source for story development for the next chapter. Thank you so much for the awesome videos, they have birthed so many of the stories in the campaigns I run.
I like the idea of "dragons as guardians of reality." Really gives dragon hunting lots more danger. "Congradulations, Mighty Heroes. Now, instead of just some missing livestock, you have Horrors From Beyond reality to deal with!"
Wow, I didn't know that they started that far back! My favorite dragons!
wait, ruby dragon + sapphire dragon = garnet dragon???????
the gem dragons are so cool. im planning on using a crystal one in an upcoming adventure
So I've been doing a bit of research here and there for a campaign I'm going to try and write, and it has lead me to your video. I've read on the idea that spells can be loaded into gems/crystals. Would it be possible for a spell to be loaded into a dragon of this sort? Also, what would you think a diamond dragon would be like? I feel like if my theory is possible, a person could load an epic level spell into diamond dragon, if any of them.
Something like a mass suggestion spell.
I remember having a 2nd edition book called The Dragon isles or something like it. It was a rule book for making playable dragons as well as other draconic characters. Pretty neat book and had the chromatic metalic and gem dragons as well as some other the other types like the steel and mercury dragons. I think there was some others as well. i wish I still had that book. I can't seem to find the info online probably because i don't have the exact name anymore and I had bought that book about 20 years ago. If you see this comment AJ Pickett, and you know of this book, please let me know. I would love to get that book again because it had lots of neat info even if it might be out of date.
Way late but I think council of wyrms and draconomicon sourcebook for 2nd edition? We did quite few Draco campaigns way back
Hey AJ, this video is mind boggling. I have said it before and I will say it again you never cease to amaze me. I will never face a Gem Dragon because I will be running like a madman in the other direction.
Thanks AJ & have a great day.
Here I thought the ruler of the gem dragons would be a diamond one.
Yeah, you would think, actually diamonds are not the most uncommon gems, it is their properties that make them so valuable, not their scarcity.
Pairing them with flumphs sounds fitting for avoiding trouble and psychic nature.
The mediator sounds interesting, like some sort of court system between certain beings.
Yeah, sort of a shock to realize that not just humanoids have species of intelligent, reasonable beings who step in to help settle conflicts.
16:58 that`s a time dragon from pathfinder
Hey, just discovered your channel. Definitely going to be spending time here. Quick advice, please find a way to lower the bass in your audio. It makes it difficult to hear what you're saying, and I think the videos would be much more watchable with a solid audio track, since a lot of your videos are just pictures anyway.
As someone else said, having pictures line up with what you're talking about would be nice too, but ultimately right now the content of your videos lies in what you're hearing more than what you're seeing; thus audio is the most important thing.
Definitely excited for more of your work, and I hope you're encouraged. I, for one, don't really criticize youtube videos unless I see good potential for easy fixes that could vastly improve the already great content.
Thanks James, may I ask what device you are using when you listen to the videos?
AJ Pickett I attempted first with desktop speakers, as I pass the time at work with TH-cam vids in the background. After, I switched to headphones. Had slightly better luck with headphones, but it was still hard to follow. Having given it some thought now, I'm not sure if it's the mic or if the recording could use a "podcast" filter to clean up some of the extraneous highs and lows. I think audacity has a function for that, but im no audio engineer.
Lol the Ruby Dragon is the leader? Man even with Dragons the red one is the leader.
*chcck* Copy that gold leader *chcck*
Go Go (fire) Power Dragooooooooooons~!
Dear AJ... you should do a video on the githyanki because...
They're cool
They are cool.
Is it possible to make dragonborn based on the gem dragon? I'm very curious to see how that will work.
matt coalville, strongholds and followers
New UA now has em!
Wish granted they are now a thing in D&D5E thanks to Fizban's Treasury of Dragons the Gem Dragonborn types are Crystal, Emerald, Sapphire, Amethyst, and Topaz.
The Racial traits are: Humanoid type creature of Gem Draconic Ancestry, your size is Medium, your walking speed is 30 ft, your Gem Draconic Ancestry determines the damage type of your Breath Weapon, and your innate Elemental Resistance which will be either Radiant, Psychic, Thunder, Force, or Necrotic, you also get innate Psychic Powers with Psionic Mind which you get at Lv. 1 and allows you to communicate with any creature/person within 30 ft of you via telepathy though the creature/person has to be able understand one of the languages you speak in order to comprehend your telepathic speech, and Gem Flight which is gained at Lv. 5 which grants you the ability to summon spectral dragon wings made of psychic energy as a bonus action which grants you the ability to fly via a flight speed equal to your walking speed and the ability to hover for a minute however once Gem Flight is used you can't use it again until you take and finish a long rest.
Fun fact: The picture at 3:48 is that of a Brine Dragon from Pathfinder 1E! Not a Gem Dragon, lol.
This video is a rare *gem*
i am just surprised there is not YET a diamond based dragon honestly. though if there was one... or any it would likely be above the ruby dragon in the dragon hierarchy in my opinion.
The crystal dragons sometimes adopt baby white dragons, so, they are kind of the precursor of white and silver dragons, which would technically make them the diamond dragons.. I say give Sardior a queen!
There are, but they aren't Gem dragons, the Diamond Dragon is a unique entity that is the ruler of all Lawful dragons in the Mystara setting, where the dragon families and its members are all different. There are a group of six "Gemstone" dragons in Mystara too, and while in second edition the Sapphire dragon was only different from the standard by alignment, in Basic D&D the six, Ruby, Sapphire, Jade, Onyx, Crystal and Brown or Amber, are totally unrelated to their counterparts in AD&D. Well, I guess except the Onyx Dragon, since it doesn't have an AD&D equivalent.
More radiant breath.
You have to realize other gems were more valuable in the past. It's only in the 20th Century that diamonds became the most expensive of modern gems (Ref: An episode of "Adam Ruins Everything"). For part of the Middle Ages the value of gems (from most valuable to least) was Rubies (believed to protect against poison), sapphires (protection from sickness and madness), diamonds (protect against bad dreams and give wisdom), emeralds, then balas rubies (a more pale and rose-red ruby.) Ref: "The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England" pp. 118-119.
chris hardy I created a diamond dragon and shot AJ the stats......i'll edit in the name of the video he put out and you can go to it in the comment section and copy it down for personal use if you'd like.....be right back!........ I'm back its in his shadow dragon video!!! ( good vid by the way)
Would someone with a sealed metal armor that even has something if a tempered glass covering the eyes protect from exhaustion and dehydration of that breath weapon?
Sure.
Looking for advice for a home-brew campaign, what type of dragon (Gem, Metallic, etc) would best fit the idea of a dragon sent to the prime material plane as an egg to watch over and protect the founding, growth, and expansion of a powerful trade city for reasons only a race of nigh-divine creatures? So far it seems that Adamantium, Platinum, or Mithril fit the bill best.
This dragon ecology playlist as been a fantastic resource for ideas, keep up the amazing work!
Clarifying, do you mean Platinum as in *THE* platinum dragon Bahamut? Are the rest homebrew or are they established?
I would opt for either a Brass or Bronze dragon for that task.
I would definitely consider the Mithril dragon. They have a tendency to involve themselves in the activities of primes even though they normally live in the astral sea with the gods.
Hmmm only encounter I ever had with a gem dragon was when some super beholder my party and I were fighting was attempting a ritual and due to whatever roll or script the DM was using. A Sapphire Dragon came in, bust lots of heads, fought the beholder with us, destroyed the ritual altar, blasted us too, then left after taking some big fancy white crystal with swirling blue clouds out and away... the weirdest and shortest encounter.
I'd imagen a bronze and Sapphire Dragons could be good friends when it comes to military strategies
I love this. They'll make a great addition to my future campaign. Now, a follow up question: How would you include them into a Draconic Sorcerer? I mainly play this class, and now have new possibilities.
Will you do the Elemental Dragons? I know they were introduced in the "Tome of Beasts" for 5E but I'm not sure on other settings.
I'll be covering as many dragons as I can
Surprised that you didn't cover the alternate take on Sardior, that he was one of the direct children of Io...a generation after Tiamat and Bahamut, with a sister (The dead sister that Tiamat murdered for the audacity of creating the Lesser Chromatics) and turned away from his initial alignment because he couldn't bring himself to actually battle either of his remaining siblings, choosing to stay out of it entirely.
I think you just covered that pretty well!
Eh, sardior was born BEFORE Tiamat and bahamut, being that Io DIED and his corpse created Tiamat and bahamut, so he is actually if anything, the OLDER brother.
@@zionthedragon8866 wasn't that the abandoned 4e lore?
@@benthomason3307 No? Why do you ask?
@@zionthedragon8866 I know for a fact that it's lore from 4e. please don't tell me they kept it in the transition to 5e
Could you make a video about Obsidian Dragons? You don't talk about them here, and they aren't in Fizban Treasury of Dragons either.
5:47 nah man. An attack like that should instantly kill any creature with blood period. You should have to require things hit by that attack to have some sorta magical means of resistance for it to not just KO you right away. Thats an insane ability. Dragon scales count as magical resistances right? I guess it would need to for the breath to not kill the wielder. What an op ability.
Steven Universe but with gem dragons instead of Crystal Gems
I haven't seen Steven Universe since around the end of season 1, but that would DEFINITELY get me re-interested
They remind me of a twist on gnomes, being gems and all...
it would probly be an actually watchable show at that point. just tone down the agenda
@@KatsuhiroHebi maybe add some actual...story writing?
@@draxthemsklonst What about the Shardamind?
Are these dragons actually made of crystal or the gemstone they're affiliated with?
No.
No, they are draconic beings made of flesh and bone, they are named for their appearance being somewhat between the metallic and chromatic dragons, not as shiny as the metallic, not as uniform a tone as the chromatic, they sometimes have an array of hues. They look quite different from each other, like the different body forms of the chromatic and metallic dragons, but generally have a leaner, longer tail that ends in a whip-like taper, the neck is also longer and thinner.
@@AJPickett AH! I see, now and according to what I've read in Fizban's Treasury of Dragons, Gem Dragons seem to prefer artistic items to hoard as "treasure" (compared to the typical gold and jewels other dragon types hoard in their caves.)
Is this true
Are there any more other gem dragons?
1. Is there anywhere i could find the 5e statblocks for these dragons, as well as the shadow and deep dragons?
2.Can you provide sources for this stuff?
1. The internet
2. Yes I can
1. Shadow dragon:Monster Manual
so far we do have a 5e version of the adult sapphire dragon offically via dnd beyond, they released it as part of a charity fund raiser, only costs a couple bucks
I've heard that crystal dragons like to steal white dragons and raise them
I have a weird draconic lore because I really enjoyed Dragon's Moon, Sun, Star Great One system so I combined it with Bahamut and Tiamat. Anyone want to hear it?
Please. ^_^
Mainly copied from Dragon's Great One mythology, but there are five dragon "lords", which are effectively minor gods, corresponding to alignment, so the " lords" and their alignments are: Sun/Law, Moon/Chaos, Star/Neutrality, Platinum/Good, Titanium(or Adamantine)/Evil, then with a higher unaligned Dragon God interested purely in dragons, the Great One. Each "lord" lives in their own small plane, each also connecting to the Great One's. The dragon "lords" are not single beings however. They are ageless, but not unkillable. If they die, there is a process, decided upon by the previous lord, to find a new one, held between all dragons that hold that alignment, possibly a massive battle or a democratic election, maybe even random chance. The selected Dragon ascends, and undergoes a ritual removing secondary alignments. Bahamut and Tiamat are simply the names of the current Platinum and Titanium dragons. The same is even true for the Great One, upon his death (the death of a greater deity, so not exactly common), the current lords fight until one emerges victorious, who then undergoes a ritual which completely removes any trace of alignment, and they ascend. Deaths of a lord or Great One could temporarily cause a massive drop in dragon sightings, or even in extreme cases lead to some or all just vanishing off the face of the earth.
@@firetarrasque4667 you should have asgorth as the great one
I am currently researching the nagaji for a game that I will be playing in. I've seen claims that the nagaji can be found in Dungeons and Dragons and not just in Pathfinder, but I've not found any sources for that.
Why not just use a Yuan-ti Malison?
The information I'd like to know is a naga and the egg, if you will. Not whether naga came first, but where nagaji stop being naga and where it starts being something else. Do nagaji lay eggs like naga or do they give live birth due to some other heritage? Ecology and culture more so than mechanics!
Out of curiosity, is there any plans to do lore videos about specific dragons from the Forgotten Realms such as Hoondarrh or Old Gnawbone?
So there are
Metallic or the "Good" Dragons
Chromatic or "Evil" Dragons
Ferrous or "Lawful" Dragons
Gem or "Neutral" Dragons
That implies the existence of another broad category of dragon the Chaotic so what are they like and what kind are there 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔 any ideas
The Chaos Dragons first burst onto the scene in the late 1970's, mostly coming on after the headline act during some rock concerts, which was a short lived trend at the time, so a lot of folks who saw them live have no actual recollection of having done so. They appeared live on an unaired episode of Ricki Lake after they reformed in the early 1990's when half of them got out of rehab at the same time by mistake, and since then, have had a lucrative career playing house party gigs at bitcoin moguls shell start ups. Rumours of a world tour surface now and then, but that has never and likely will never eventuate, so, although they have sold more T-shirts than the Pet Shop Boys, the members of The Chaos Dragons are one of the least publically known, oldest heavy rock bands in music history.
So I was flipping through monster manual number 2 for 3rd edition and I came across the listing for the amethyst dragon and while it is described as a sound-based breath weapon it is also said to do Force which is extremely interesting as very few creatures in D&D are resistant or even immune to force damage they also have the ability to channel their breath weapon into subdue damage instead of lethal damage which is absolutely fascinating when you think about it that means they have the ability to incapacitate with their breath weapon instead of harm
Why’s there no diamond boi?
Hey. Quick question. do you have some notes on these dragons? I'd love to be able to easily use them in my own game. if not, I'll try to write down everything I can from your vid. :)
Can I have monster sheets of all these dragons??
Pretty sure Matt Colville will have some decent 5E conversions.
Would it be possible to have an Obsidian with Duergar worshippers, and would so said Dragon also keep kobolds as slaves/worshippers as well?
I don't know if the Duergar would worship them, but yeah, thematically, it could work well.
Are there any corrupted dragons you can talk about, any will do
I have yet to watch one of your videos, and see you use an introduction more than once. You must put a lot of work into your channel, maybe a behind-the-scenes look would be nice!
What type of dragon is that @ 17:42
Blue dragon from Pathfinder RPG
Can casters use different dragon breath attacks? Seems that sapphire dragon breath caster attacks would at least be a great diversion for some of the very nasty baddies.
Wait, what happened to the amethyst dragon's exploding lozenge of force? Or did you mention it and I missed it?
Are you going to do a video about scourge dragons (Linnorms) from AD&D?
I probably will, I want to cover as many dragons as I can.
Alright good to know.
can we get some chaos dragon stuff as some point if possible
.
Yes, they are on my list of dragons to cover.
What are you pulling these details for, if I might ask? Would be awesome to get the source material for my own game
Sonic disintergration beam... 😵🐉😵 that would actually be good at boring through rock, they could probably dig their own lairs. psychick paranoid and territorial, it would fun to have one as a kind of trap, a dragon if seen will try to take you out. but i love the lore of them being guardians against incursions from the far realm, talk about battles beyond mortal comprihension.
so gem dragons are baiscally the original dragons if they were born before tiamat and bahamut?
Any plans to do anything for the song dragons? :o
All the dragons and drakes.
the breath weapon that destroys X# cubic feet of water sounds like the blight spell. i would assume it has a similar effect on plants as the blight spell does.
Where does the adamantine/adamantium dragon fit into the dragon types
Thank you for compiling and sharing all of this. I'd like to add that there's a named amethyst dragon in Faerun named Eldenser that folks might be interested in learning more about: archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/wn/20030618a
When you get around to doing clerics it may save you time to do Paladin's blackguards and death Knights along with it
I did a video on Death Knights, Clerics are a very complex and involved class as they are so diverse, even more so than Wizards.
AJ Pickett okay I'll have to look for the video on the death Knights and I wasn't aware that they change Claire all that much appreciate the info thank you
TH-cam turns up nothing when you do a search for: Asgorath
I'm first so I have to say something
The intros are getting better and better every episode
Yay first reply to a comment!
I wonder if it would be possible for certain gem type dragon borne to develop telepathy 🤔
100% yes
Pickett could you provide the links to this gem dragon information i wanna give them to my dm
Its weird that the Gem dragons aren't more powerful then the normal chromatic and metalic dragons. If we go with the dragon's belief that Io was split into Bahamut and Tiamet then its understandable that the dragons Io makes would be stronger/greater then the dragons his split personifications could make. Since they would only have half the power that Io had.
You should do a part of this with the other ones.
Indeed. 2nd edition gem dragons were the best. I had an amethyst dragon the party saved from sahuagin raiders return in the eleventh hour to crash into a huge undead treant that was draining the life from all the pc's and the militia accompanying them while regenerating the fallen undead in a swamp near Cormyr. It's breath weapon tore the bark from the treant and obliterated the forward ranks of zombies. While the dragon was anti social it remembered the kind deed. Had they not attempted to save the dragon on the coast I may have allowed them all to die in the swamp. : )
Side note. The negative plane aura was a concept from a later edition but as a scion of it's class and being undead I wrote it in.
Yeah it's a sweeter than Dragon doesn't take no sides or just remain neutral how interesting to have psychic powers they look like she belonged to Warhammer 40K
Sooo would Gem Dragons like fellow benevolent psionics like Kalishtar?
Also if one mentions Sardior would they be more likely to befriend these Gem Dragons?
Maybe mutual foes with psionic invaders like an mind flayer hive?
Anyone played a campaign like this?
Those would all be DM decisions for your campaign.
Anything on moonstone dragons?
How would raise from an egg to ancient Sapphire dragon?
Time.
Is it possible for a dracolich to harvest gems off a gem dragon to create phylacteries for the necromancers under them?
Gem dragons are not made of gem stone, but are just as likely as most to include flawless gems in their horde of treasures, so, sure, don't see why not.
AJ Pickett How much would you say one of these things bodies would cost
The amount of things one can do with these dragons is mind boggling compared to the more likely to stick to tropes chromatic and metallic(i am convinced not all dragons obey said tropes 100% a gold may be ousted for being evil ect each dragon is intelligent enough to fight its instincts or do its own thing).
Do gem dragons breathe a rainbow laser?
So when are we going to see a video exploring the types of Ferrous Dragons and their origin?
I remember gem dragons being much different in the second edition monstrous compendium. . .
Intro be all like COME ON AND SLAM AND WELCOME TO THE JAM...
yeah, that is quite thumpy music, not my usual classic metal or dubstep.
"Smaller than their kin," huh? I bought a sapphire dragon figure today, and it's pretty damn big compared to my Bahamut and Niv-Mizzet figures, and it might have been slightly larger than the white dragon figure at the store.
Power creep :) Dragons have been constantly changing over the history of D&D. Lately things have been pretty stable, but, you never know, a couple of years there could be Phyrexian dragons and Sparkle vampire dragons.. who knows?
I hadn't even known about gem dragons (in D&D, anyway) until I looked them up once I got home with it. I'm fairly new to D&D, and I'd been watching your videos to catch up on the lore.
The Gem dragons don't seem to be in the Draconomicon, so I am wondering what is the source of this information? Thanks for the video.
There is more than one Dragon Sourcebook. :)
@@AJPickett Most definitely, that's why I was asking what was the source in this video, lol. Just wanna know where I can have this info in a book for myself.
Where can I find the stat blocks
Look up tome of beasts.monsterous compendium.monster Manuel.and creature codex.volos guide.mordenkainens foe tome.it's in those or at least one
I quite like the idea of incorporating some of the mysticism and lore of gemstones to these dragons. Especially if you encounter a particularly... well... not GOOD, per se... but patient gem dragon.
I'm most familiar with Topaz, so some examples could be a more kind (albeit still neutral and reclusive) Topaz dragon could hold the secrets to curing blindness (topaz, as a stone has been associated with improving vision and even curing visual ailments.) So a permanently blinded character or NPC could be an impetus to seek out an ancient, or adult Topaz dragon. And perhaps that dragon could (with the right incentives, of course), bestow upon the character a flask of magical wine (another associated part of topaz and sight based healing) that could act as a multiple-step healing salve for the character. Perhaps they could be the one to seek to attempt to convince to aid a town or kingdom that's being plagued by supernatural nightmares. Topaz has been associated with protecting from nightmares and aiding sleep.
And this could be done with any of them (Perhaps using quartz for the crystal dragon). So much cool lore to sift through. And so many awesome ideas to bring in
Thus a Ruby dragon could probably bring characters back to health with the ability to cast a greater restoration once per day.. oh yes, I am familiar with the properties of gemstones.. I have had an interesting life :)
@@AJPickett I was certain there was only ONE ruby dragon, that being sardior.
I'm excited to see the new UA stuff. I may make a topaz dragonborn for my next campaign
I am very much a fan of the new Unearthed Arcana, they got that one right.
I "War In Tethyr" there is a female Ruby Dragon. Any comment?