OT: Malazan Book of the Fallen

[HoneyBadger]

I wouldn't say so much in terms of an upgrade in sheer unsubtle power, as a shift in the general "design" of dragons. The dragons in the game aren't extremely weak, they're just somewhat bland. They don't necessarily need more hit points-we must keep balance in mind-they just could use a bigger dose of character and chaos.

Dragons, as I mentioned, are protean. They should be somewhat chaotic in terms of their capabilities and appearance. Creating a dragon should be viewed in the same terms as creating a modern piece of military hardware. Is it a tank? a battleship? a submarine? a jet fighter? It's important that it not be just the same "big flying lizard with wings that breathes fire". It may not have wings, and it may not breathe fire. Once you've got it's physical abilities down, then consider the mind. The dragon will have goals, and may be highly intelligent, or highly stupid, but should possess a personality. Finally, consider it's reputation-remember, a dragon is a natural disaster waiting to happen, and it can wait a long, long time, and because of that, people are going to fear it, and do their best to learn about it, and tell stories about it, so a good dragon is going to have a lot of background to it-ofcourse, not everything is going to be known, such is the nature of the beast.

Personally, I'd really like to see dragons in the game tied directly to the environment and forces in nature-as opposed to the elements, which are already well represented.

Earthquake dragons, wildfire dragons, flood dragons, typhoon dragons, lightning dragons, volcanic dragons, sandstorm dragons, plague dragons, and avalanche dragons would all be interesting and different to see in the game.

Now that I think about it-to tie in the human shapeshifting ability they currently have, perhaps each of these types of dragons would be-drawing somewhat from Chinese myth-divine representatives in charge of governing and regulating their respective disaster, capable of taking on humanoid form to fulfill their beurocratic duties, with the dragon form itself being as much a physical embodiment of the power and station they directly control. In this way, again the dragon wouldn't *necessarily* be evil, but would also be more capable of human personality, and all the nuances of evil and danger contained therein-and it allows the dragon "form" itself to become that much more elaborate, because it's not anything that was evolved to suit the demands of Nature, it's instead an avatar of Nature at her deadliest. Our imaginations, in this way, are allowed to run wild.