Better Know a Pretender: The Green Dragon

[OmikronWarrior]

The stars have aligned and it is that time again, time to learn about another Pretender in my ongoing, if slowly updated, Better Know a Pretender series. Today, I bring you the Green Dragon.

Better Know a Pretender: the Green Dragon

“A dragon lives forever,
But not little girls and boys.
Painted wings and giant things
Make way for other toys.
One grey night it happened,
Jackie Paper came no more
And Puff that mighty dragon,
He ceased his fearless roar.

His head now bent in sorrow,
Green scales fell like rain,
And Puff no longer went to play
Along that cheery lane.
Without his life-long friend,
He could not be brave,
So Puff that mighty dragon
Sadly slipped into his cave.” - from “Puff the Magic Dragon,” by Peter, Paul, and Mary

Cost: 50
Base Dominion: 1
HP: 125
Size: 6
Strength: 25
Attack: 15
Defense: 12
Precision: 12
Base Protection: 18 (no armor)
Starting Magic: Nature-2 and 80 points per new path
Starting equipment: Bite (Damage: 2, Attack: 0, Defense: -1), Claw(Damage:0, Attack:0, and Defense: 0), and Bile (a special ranged weapon, does significant poison damage in AoE: 3, but short, strength based range and only ammunition: 5).
Movement: 3 and Flying
Base Encumbrance: 3
Miscellaneous: Fear+5, 100% Poison Immune, Shape Changes into Master Druid, and Suffers -2 Magic Penalty in Dragon form, e.g. has Nature-5 in Druid shape, but only Nature-3 in Dragon shape.
Availability: Most land nations, especially human land nations.

Summary: Though this write up focuses on the Green Dragon, much of what is said can be easily applied to the Blue and Red Dragons as well. Dragon Pretenders are excellent Super Combatants from the get go, which come with mobility and magical aptitude in a single path.

Pros: An excellent, Turn-2 (or Turn-1 if the player feels lucky) expander. Unlike its immediate competitor the Wyrm, the Green Dragon comes with flight, a base magic path, substantially more protection, and in human form can equip any item type which greatly increases the Dragons ritual casting capabilities.

Cons: A paltry base Dominion of 1 means spending a lot of points to get the Dragon up to Dominion-9 for Awe+0. Unlike the Wyrm, the Dragon does not come with Regeneration ultimately making it easier to kill. The exorbitant cost for new magic paths (80 design points) greatly limits the Dragon's diversity, thus not a strong candidate for Sleeping.

Awake Strategy: First, buy Dominion-9. A second path is probably out of the question. However, this alone is enough to let the Dragon take provinces right from the get-go, without equipment or casting. Just script the Dragon (in Dragon form) to (hold and fire)x5, followed by either more firing or just outright attacking. Obviously avoid the usual independent SC killers such as undead and darkvines, but also avoid provinces with large numbers of crossbowmen (that AP damage is killer). Fatigue is the Dragon's major weakness, and even though the Green Dragon has a lot of HP, it will take damage and eventually an unlucky hit will cause some afflictions. Do not panic, but be prepared to have to retire the Dragon from SC duty. Later, the player should look to cast Personal Regeneration and Elemental Fortitude (in human form, followed by shape shifting). Barkskin is not worthwhile, since it only adds 1 protection while giving 25% fire vulnerability.

Typical Equipment Includes: The Dragon only comes with three slots, a head slot and 2 miscellaneous. Any other gear equipped while the Dragon is in human form is lost when he shape shifts. This greatly limits his ability to be a competitive SC past year 2 without further mage support. Still, there is a lot that can be done with those three slots. On the head, the Horror Helm is fantastic since it provides a lot of protection and further boosts the Dragons formidable Fear to +10. Also worthy of consideration is Black Steel Helm (cheap, Construction-0, and provides the best additional protection), the Dragon Helm (still cheap, provides 50% fire resistance which combines with Elemental Fortitude for Fire Immunity), and Horned Helm (cheap, gives a third attack, unfortunately lowers defense). For those miscellaneous item slots, the most desirable item is an Amulet of Resilience which solves the Dragon's fatigue weakness. That leaves just one final slot, and the player must decide how to fill it based on expected opposition. A Lukcy Pendant is a solid choice and helps against melee foes who can ignore Awe (such as the undead). An Anti-Magic Amulet is useful against mage supported armies, especially those with Astral magic. The various element immunity rings are rather obvious, as is the Amulet of Water Breathing. Finally, the Amulet of Missile Protection may be necessary to take on large archer and more dangerously crossbow armies.

Bless Strategy: A nature bless can be very utilitarian. Any unit benefits from regeneration, though units with higher HP or extra protection more so, and buying Nature-4 on the Green Dragon is a cheap way to pick a useful bless while retaining an awake Super Combatant pretender. Furthermore, the cheap base cost means the Dragon can be a cheaper way to pick up a much higher Nature Bless than many other chassis, though its base Dominion score of 1 makes the math less rosy. Also, be warned that Nature-9 can be a double edged sword. The ability to berserk and become immune to routing can be very useful for infantry. Unfortunately, sacred mages if blessed and damaged also go berserk. Buying a second path for bless purposes is very expense and rarely worthwhile on this chassis.

Army Strategy: Here is where the Dragon's flexibility starts to shine. Want a vicious monster SC? Easy. However, there are also a lot of Nature based, army wide buff spells. A high level mage can cast multiple of these spells and greatly increase an armies survivability. Thus, the Dragon shifts to human form, equips a Thistle mace or a Treelord's Staff and a Moonvine bracelet if the nation has it, and casts some battle changing buffs. The big ones are: Relief (Enchantment-6) , Mass Protection (Alteration-7), Mass Regeneration (Enchantment-8), and situationally Growing Fury (Thau-5). Alternatively, other mages can buff the Dragon with magic from other paths allowing him to become a much stronger Super Combatant. Options include Luck, Quickness, and Anti-Magic.

Magic Diversity Strategy: The Green Dragon does not provide much in the way of diversity, except for Nature magic, of course. Adding any other path is really expense and not terribly useful for improving expansion (Air is an exception due to Air Shield). Yet, for nations without Nature Magic, getting it is a big deal. Finding a Nature-1 independent mage is fairly easy. Getting him or her a Thistle Mace to grant Nature-2 is much harder, and a lot more spells and forging options open up and Nature-2 including remote site searching. Other useful nature equipment includes Rings of Regenerations, Amulets of Resilience, Vine Shields, Boots of the Messenger, Hydra Skin Armor, Endless Bag of Wine, Vine Bow, and the Vine Whip. Also, the Green Dragon, in human form, should be in good position to do some early site searching, once conquest immediate conquest is done, and build up a reservoir of Nature gems. In particular, casting the globals rituals Mother Oak (Alternation-5) and Gift of Health (Enchantment-5) are great ways to boost a player's mid-game. Gift of Nature's Bounty (Enchantment-9) is also an enormous money booster, though by the time the player is able to cast it, the gem cost (70) might be more valuable than the extra gold (+20% for each level of dominion). Conjuration does not provide a lot of cost effect summons, but Faerie Court does give another Nature Mage, with Air-3 and healing.

Conclusion: Honestly, the Wyrm probably remains a safer and, due to the difference in base dominion, cheaper option for early expansion. However, the Green Dragon (and any other Dragon) shine on maps with rough terrain. In addition, the Dragon lets the player immediately and cheaply break into a single path without sacrificing early expansion. Once the expansion role is done, the Dragon can shift to more magic, less brawn roles.