Looking for some advice or help to stat this bad boy. Let's get creative!

Arkanian dragon

BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION

DESIGNATION

Semi-sentient ^[1]

CLASSIFICATION

Reptile ^[1]

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

DISTINCTIONS

• Breathe fire ^[1]
• Hardened scales ^[1]

SOCIOCULTURAL CHARACTERISTICS

This article is about the creature. You may be looking for the Arkanian Dragon , the Star Destroyer that was named after them.

The Arkanian dragon was a flying reptile native to the frozen planet Arkania in the Perave system . Classified as semi-sentient by many xenobiologists, the dragons were capable of breathing fire.

Description

A large flying reptile, the Arkanian dragons were native to the frozen wastes of Arkania . Studied by native xenobiologists, the dragons were revealed to be semi-sentient and thus protected from hunting by Galactic Republic law. Covered in hardened scales which protected their bodies from most conventional weapons of sentients such as vibroblades ; the dragons possessed the ability to spew fire from their mouths as a defense mechanism. The dragon could fly up to 3,000 meters at speeds of 140 kilometers per hour; their propensity for lightning-fast strikes led to the famed Jedi Master Arca Jeth to craft a lightsaber training technique which was modeled on the dragon's ability. Instructing such famed Jedi as Ulic and Cay Qel-Droma and Tott Doneeta in the technique, Jeth's teachings lived on within the Jedi Order long after his death. ^[1]

Eventually, the dragons of Arkania declined in numbers and were largely considered extinct as of 4000 BBY . Despite this, rumors persisted of sightings across Arkania, leading some to believe that they continued to live in small pockets in abandoned diamond mines.

How big were they supposed to be?

Maybe kitbash the Krait Dragons, add flight and souped up flame projector.

Job's a good un.

2 hours ago, whafrog said:

How big were they supposed to be?

That's actually a very relevant question.... I'll see if I can find out

Edit- There doesn't seem to be any indication of size in any of the material I can find. Though fanart depictions vary.

I would say 5 meters long body, 10 meters to the end of its tail. 4 metres tall when on all fours?

Not massive is probably best. Smaller than a Krayt Dragon for sure.

So Krayt Dragon, chop 25-30% off Brawn(adjust attack damages and soak accordingly), and 30-50% off Wounds and Strain.

8 hours ago, CloudyLemonade92 said:

Looking for some advice or help to stat this bad boy. Let's get creative!

Here is my first quick go at it, done in all of 20 minutes with a little research here and there.

I would suggest giving it an ability similar to the Droideka's Fire Sweep.

The only difficulty is coming up with a name for it... *strokes chin* AHA! I have it! "Firey Sweep."

1 minute ago, P-47 Thunderbolt said:

I would suggest giving it an ability similar to the Droideka's Fire Sweep.

The only difficulty is coming up with a name for it... *strokes chin* AHA! I have it! "Firey Sweep."

You mean "Spicy Sweep" ;D

13 hours ago, GameboyAK said:

Here is my first quick go at it, done in all of 20 minutes with a little research here and there.

I like this! Great job, considering its lower WT though, do you think it should have a stronger bite?

I'm just thinking, against my party of 6 I'm not sure it will last too long. Perhaps a pair of them 😁

Also, what about the cortosis quality for its scales so its immune to pierce? The write up suggested it was resistant to vibroblades etc.

2 minutes ago, CloudyLemonade92 said:

I like this! Great job, considering its lower WT though, do you think it should have a stronger bite?

I'm just thinking, against my party of 6 I'm not sure it will last too long. Perhaps a pair of them 😁

Also, what about the cortosis quality for its scales so its immune to pierce? The write up suggested it was resistant to vibroblades etc.

10 Soak and Cortosis makes it immune to Breach, and consequently pretty much immune to Lightsabers unless they've got heavily modded lightsabers or get really good rolls.

With a Soak of 10, it is already resistant to Vibroblades. With a Brawn of 4 and a Vibroblade with an Augmented Vibro-motor, you'd need 2 success to get past Soak. Or Feral Strength 1 and one success.

1 minute ago, P-47 Thunderbolt said:

10 Soak and Cortosis makes it immune to Breach, and consequently pretty much immune to Lightsabers unless they've got heavily modded lightsabers or get really good rolls.

With a Soak of 10, it is already resistant to Vibroblades. With a Brawn of 4 and a Vibroblade with an Augmented Vibro-motor, you'd need 2 success to get past Soak. Or Feral Strength 1 and one success.

Right, good point.

What about making its Fire Breath more of a "Oh sh$%" moment for the party, its powerful bread and butter move. Right now I think it may have trouble pulling off its auto-fire with its low AG.

I'm thinking make its AG 4 like its Brawn, then change the breath to this bad boy:

Fire Breath

Dmg: 6 Crit: 3

Qualities: Breach 1, Burn 2, Auto-fire, Slow-firing 1-2

I'd suggest giving it an ability like the Droideka's Fire Sweep. Make a [difficulty] Ranged (Light) check to land a hit on up to two targets, plus one per Advantage on the check, at [range] with its fire breath. Spend Triumph to apply Burn to two affected targets.

If you somehow haven’t watched The Mandalorian, you should at least check out episode 7 for its

1 hour ago, CloudyLemonade92 said:

I like this! Great job, considering its lower WT though, do you think it should have a stronger bite?

My main concern with making it much stronger in terms of direct strength is two things.

A)it's a nearly extinct animal, meaning either it wasn't strong enough to put up a good fight, or not strong enough to warrant a full extinction like the mythosaur

B) its teeth/claws attack is already comparable to that of the wampa claws (Dam: 8 / Crit: 3 /Pierce 3, Vicious 3)

2 hours ago, CloudyLemonade92 said:

I'm just thinking, against my party of 6 I'm not sure it will last too long. Perhaps a pair of them

I feel your pain, as I have a party size between 5-7 players. That would be my initial suggestion to that problem, rather than making them stronger. There is nothing in the lore saying they don't have a small pack mentality. Alternatively, you could have it have two turns in a single round of combat, making it a quick force of nature.

1 hour ago, P-47 Thunderbolt said:

I'd suggest giving it an ability like the Droideka's Fire Sweep. Make a [difficulty] Ranged (Light) check to land a hit on up to two targets, plus one per Advantage on the check, at [range] with its fire breath. Spend Triumph to apply Burn to two affected targets.

I've been toying with that a little bit myself. I'm thinking of upping the number of initial targets as it does have a shorter range a lower damage than the 'deka, but the Burn quality has been keeping me from doing it. Your thoughts?

1 hour ago, Edgehawk said:

If you somehow haven’t watched The Mandalorian, you should at least check out episode 7 for its

classic

“wyverns attack at night” scene.

Ohhhhh yesss, now I gotta stat those out for a nasty surprise for my campaign

7 minutes ago, GameboyAK said:

I've been toying with that a little bit myself. I'm thinking of upping the number of initial targets as it does have a shorter range a lower damage than the 'deka, but the Burn quality has been keeping me from doing it. Your thoughts?

Burn takes 2 Advantage to trigger (per target), so it shouldn't be a problem.

Upping the number of targets shouldn't be too much of a problem though. Treat it as a "STAY AWAY" button to discourage charging it with a sword, fantasy knight style.

44 minutes ago, P-47 Thunderbolt said:

Treat it as a "STAY AWAY" button to discourage charging it with a sword, fantasy knight style.

Ended up choking on my toast with that line, cuz one of my players is really guilty of that lol xD

Here is the updated stat block with the new Natural Napalm ability.

Side question, does anyone remember if Pierce is applied to the damage when the Burn effect is going on? I know I did some digging around on it in the past but I'm feeling lazy today xD

11 minutes ago, GameboyAK said:

Side question, does anyone remember if Pierce is applied to the damage when the Burn affect is going on? I know I did some digging around on it in the past but I'm feeling lazy today xD

Yes. I believe it was clarified in the Dev Answered Questions thread, but I know for certain that I confirmed it. Basic answer, Passive qualities apply to Blast/Auto-Fire/Linked/etc. hits.

Just now, P-47 Thunderbolt said:

Basic answer, Passive qualities apply to Blast/Auto-Fire/Linked/etc. hits.

With linked and auto fire, that makes sense, but Blast and Burn cause different effects, hence why I'm sure it isn't as clear to some people

Maybe buff it to Adversary 2.

As for the Fire Breath, it does barely more than a compact flame projector (the vambrace thingies).

Here are its stats: 5; 2; Blast 2, Burn 2, Pierce 2, Vicious 3 (Damage+Pierce=7)

Here's what I would suggest to buff the dragon breath: 6; 3; Blast 4, Burn 3, Pierce 3, Vicious 4 (Damage+Pierce=9)
This makes it a bit better in all categories except for crit, which can be justified by saying it isn't as focused/chemically potent.

**** tiny file size allowance xD it won't let me upload a new stat block entirely, so here's the lower half with updates

Looks good, but it occurs to me that Natural Napalm should probably only be Average or Easy given range and skill, otherwise you're better off just using Auto-Fire since it'd be easier and more likely to score a hit in the first place.

For ease of uploading, I'd suggest uploading to Imgur and posting the link.

Links just seem so messy to me tbh lol I don't want to open and shut tabs all the time (meaning more than I already do xD)

46 minutes ago, P-47 Thunderbolt said:

it occurs to me that Natural Napalm should probably only be Average or Easy given range and skill, otherwise you're better off just using Auto-Fire since it'd be easier and more likely to score a hit in the first place.

Its a risk/reward thing in my opinion. Being that at short range, you either choose Auto Fire to hit two more people or decide to Burn someone. With Natural Napalm, it allows to hit three targets automatically, and also burn two if you get a Triumph, ignoring any Threat generated. However, the link I'm posting is lowering it to an Average difficulty for the sake of anyone who wants it that low
https://imgur.com/xV50tzb

4 minutes ago, GameboyAK said:

Its a risk/reward thing in my opinion. Being that at short range, you either choose Auto Fire to hit two more people or decide to Burn someone. With Natural Napalm, it allows to hit three targets automatically, and also burn two if you get a Triumph, ignoring any Threat generated. However, the link I'm posting is lowering it to an Average difficulty for the sake of anyone who wants it that low

That is a good point, but I'd say when compared to the Droideka's ability, Average works the best. Balancing this is definitely a hard question, so I'll think on it more.

Definitely shouldn't be Easy though, that was a very dumb idea.