Monday, January 19, 2009

Sun and Shadow: Dragonfriend Professional Edge

In Sun and Shadow, dragons are held in the highest regard as sacred protectors of religious sites, powerful artifacts, and sometimes even small villages. Experienced dragons are ancient wyrms of incredible power and prestige; they may play an active role in the politics of entire regions and, in religion, often have a vote in electing a new high priest (or equivalent).

Unsurprisingly, it has become a religious duty of some temples to appoint a young hero to raise a dragon hatchling so they may experience the world. The dragon and dragonfriend receive special training, learning to rely on each other and act as part of a team; the dragonfriend is entrusted to safeguard the dragon at the expense of their own life. Eventually, a dragonfriend ascends to the rank of Dragonlord, and it becomes their lifelong duty to ensure the safety and comfort of their dragon companion as well as acting as their advisor in political matters.

Dragonfriend
Requires: Novice, may only me taken at character creation, Beast Bond, member of appropriate religion
The character gains a dragon hatchling companion and becomes responsible for its care, feeding, instruction, and safety.

The dragon levels up every time the character does and is considered to be of the same Rank as the character. Each new Rank increases its Size and Pace (both on the ground and flying) by 1 and, if it has learned enough, allows it to remove one Hindrance for free. At Veteran level, the hatchling becomes a Wild Card. The dragon's breath weapon also becomes more powerful, dealing 2d6 damage at Seasoned, affecting a cone template at Veteran, dealing 2d8 damage at Heroic, and 2d10 at Legendary.

Characters must take a vow to undertake the responsibilities above. This is a Major Vow Hindrance. Unique to this Edge, characters may take this Vow in addition to their maximum amount of Hindrances.

If the Hatchling is killed, the Dragonfriend becomes responsible for exacting vengeance on the offending party and is expelled from his church until he does. During this period, the Dragonfriend receives one less Benny per session.

Dragon Hatchling
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d6, Spirit d6, Strength d6, Vigor d6
Skills: Fighting d6, Intimidation d4, Notice d6, Persuasion d4, Shooting d6, Stealth d6, Survival d4, Taunt d6
Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 6(2)
Hindrances: All Thumbs, Clueless, Curious, Young
Edges: Charismatic, Dodge
Abilities:
  • Armor +2: Scaly hide
  • Brave: +2 to Guts checks
  • Breath Weapon: The hatchling's breath has not developed the legendary power of a typical dragon. It has a range of 2/4/8, affects a single target, and deals 2d4 fire damage. It can, however, set opponents on fire.
  • Claws/Bite: Str+d4
  • Flight: Pace 10
  • Size -1: Dragon Hatchlings are about the size of a dog.
  • Tenacious: Dragon Hatchlings have 3 Wounds and roll on the Critical Injury Table, just like a Wild Card. They do not, however, have a Wild Die or bennies apart of the one granted by the Young Hindrance.

Please leave feedback below!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

This would be awesome for a game using the Temeraire setting from the books.

http://www.temeraire.org/

Theron said...

Never played that. I posted this partially due to an inside joke with my friend Sarah. She made fun of my hobby and insisted she was a "12th level Dragonlord with the Icy Stare power," but eventually I worked the concept of Dragonlords into the Sun and Shadow setting. Dragons are actually part of the religion now.