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63: Dragons of Another Facet · Dungeonpedia

0:00
SPEAKER_04: You the adventurer.
0:02
SPEAKER_04: Yes, you.
0:03
SPEAKER_04: Do you desire knowledge of immense worlds and arcane power?
0:07
SPEAKER_04: A codex of untold stories and lore?
0:10
SPEAKER_04: Or perhaps simply easy listening for your daily commute.
0:13
SPEAKER_04: Then feast your eyes, or more accurately, yes, upon Dungeon Pedia.
0:19
SPEAKER_04: Shit's about to get nerdy in here.
0:47
SPEAKER_01: And I'm Travis Beasley.
0:48
SPEAKER_02: So um Lewin comes in with, I've got a great opener.
0:54
SPEAKER_01: You can remove it if you want to.
0:56
SPEAKER_01: Don't oversell it.
0:57
SPEAKER_01: Um, so for one, thank you to everybody for all of the belated birthday wishes.
1:04
SPEAKER_01: Um, I really appreciate it.
1:06
SPEAKER_01: I I had a like, I don't want to get too into it, but my my birthday is typically kind of a weird time for me.
1:13
SPEAKER_01: And so, like all the birthday wishes and all of my friends and and everything, I had a I had a really great birthday this year.
1:20
SPEAKER_01: So thank you guys in part for that.
1:22
SPEAKER_01: And also you guys, I guess, who are here with me.
1:24
SPEAKER_01: Um, we had tacos and we played video games.
1:29
SPEAKER_01: Also, as we discussed last week, there is a little bit of a window timing aspect to recording, which is to say that I started this research a little bit before this episode actually got recorded.
1:43
SPEAKER_01: So around the time I started my research, it was a little bit closer to my birthday.
1:47
SPEAKER_01: And I thought, I am always so selfless and so magnanimous with with my research for this podcast.
1:54
SPEAKER_01: Like anytime there's a listener request that comes in, bam, I have that episode done yesterday.
1:59
SPEAKER_01: And every time there's a part two required for a topic, I have it done immediately the next week.
2:06
SPEAKER_01: No distractions.
2:07
SPEAKER_01: Yes, except for elves.
2:08
SPEAKER_01: What?
2:09
SPEAKER_01: So I decided, since I'm always so so selfless and magnanimous with my content, I'm like, it's my birthday.
2:17
SPEAKER_01: It's my birthday month.
2:18
SPEAKER_01: What do I want to do?
2:20
SPEAKER_01: What do I want to talk about?
2:21
SPEAKER_02: What does Lewin want to talk about?
2:23
SPEAKER_01: Dragons.
2:23
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
2:24
SPEAKER_01: I mean, okay.
2:26
SPEAKER_01: You know what else Lil wants to talk about?
2:28
SPEAKER_01: Gemstones.
2:29
SPEAKER_02: Lewin is uh gesturing towards the microphone with her uh little gemstone that necklace that she has.
2:36
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
2:37
SPEAKER_02: While wearing gemstone jewel uh bracelet.
2:41
SPEAKER_01: I'm pretty sure these are fake.
2:42
SPEAKER_02: But anyway.
2:43
SPEAKER_00: Gemstones are everywhere.
2:45
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
2:45
SPEAKER_02: I want to talk about gem dragons.
2:47
SPEAKER_02: Gem dragons.
2:48
SPEAKER_02: I believe you briefly mentioned those in the last dragon episode you did.
2:53
SPEAKER_02: Which one?
2:54
SPEAKER_02: The last one.
2:56
SPEAKER_01: I don't even remember which one the last one was.
2:59
SPEAKER_01: That one was the catastrophic dragons?
3:01
SPEAKER_01: Catastrophic dragons, yeah.
3:03
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so for gem dragons, we're gonna go back quite a ways.
3:07
SPEAKER_01: Um, gem dragons, which are often also frequently referred to as neutral dragons, but that's stupid.
3:13
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna call them gem dragons.
3:15
SPEAKER_01: Um you don't call well, I guess sometimes people do, uh, call metallic dragons good dragons or chromatic dragons evil dragons or uh bad dragons.
3:26
SPEAKER_01: So shh they were bear in mind they were originally referred to as neutral dragons and then were later referred to as gem dragons.
3:33
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
3:34
SPEAKER_01: But you'll see why.
3:35
SPEAKER_01: Because they're neutral.
3:36
SPEAKER_01: Yes, and also they gemstones.
3:38
SPEAKER_01: So they gemstones.
3:40
SPEAKER_01: So uh gem dragons were introduced in Dragon Magazine issue number 37 in the article That's not in the monster manual by Arthur W.
3:50
SPEAKER_01: Collins, and this one was published in 1980.
3:53
SPEAKER_01: I I love the title.
3:55
SPEAKER_00: The title is really good.
3:57
SPEAKER_00: I was thrown off.
3:58
SPEAKER_00: I was like, wait, what?
4:00
SPEAKER_01: I mean, yeah, he's not wrong, it's not on the monster manual.
4:04
SPEAKER_01: So um, he stated in this article that he wanted to create new types of dragons, both to explore dragons with neutral alignments, because at this point you just had like they weren't even referred to, I think at this point, as chromatic and metallic.
4:19
SPEAKER_01: You literally had like chaotic and lawful dragons.
4:21
SPEAKER_01: Right.
4:22
SPEAKER_01: Um makes sense.
4:24
SPEAKER_01: So he wanted to explore the neutral alignment with dragons and also give DMs a new dragon that they could actually surprise their party with, as quote, everyone and his brother has a monster manual, end quote.
4:38
SPEAKER_01: Additionally, like I've never met we like, we don't know each other.
4:43
SPEAKER_01: I've never met Mr.
4:45
SPEAKER_01: Collins, but I feel like we are spiritually connected.
4:48
SPEAKER_01: I am starting to feel that way too.
4:52
SPEAKER_01: Because he said also that that he could like created these dragons because quote, there is just something fascinating about dragons, which leads us to explore new variations simply to enjoy the essence of dragonness, which is like I read that and I was like, you understand me.
5:10
SPEAKER_01: The essence of dragonness, the essence of dragonness, yeah, yeah.
5:16
SPEAKER_02: I'm pretty sure that you like ghostwrote this.
5:20
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, this just then in 1980.
5:23
SPEAKER_01: I I ghostwrote this.
5:25
SPEAKER_01: 16 years before she was born, mind you.
5:27
SPEAKER_01: Yes, when my mother was seven years old.
5:30
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you're just that damn good at it.
5:32
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
5:33
SPEAKER_01: From from beyond the egg.
5:36
SPEAKER_01: I was trying to think of the opposite of Beyond the Grave, and all I could come up with is Beyond the Egg.
5:40
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you're not technically wrong.
5:42
SPEAKER_00: I'm not technically wrong.
5:44
SPEAKER_00: So, like, that works.
5:45
SPEAKER_00: Anyway.
5:46
SPEAKER_01: Sure.
5:48
SPEAKER_01: So, um, introduced in this article are the first five or six kind of types of gem dragons that are considered true gem dragons.
5:58
SPEAKER_01: So there are some other dragons that are introduced in later stuff that are neutral dragons that are named after precious or semi-precious stones.
6:08
SPEAKER_01: But I and I thought I would be able to include them in this, and then I discovered I don't have enough time to do that.
6:14
SPEAKER_01: So I might do I might do something on lesser gem dragons later.
6:18
SPEAKER_01: And also, when I said six, kind of, that that sixth is the ruby dragon Sardior, who is the gem dragon god.
6:27
SPEAKER_01: He's essentially the Bahamut Tiamat of the Neutral Dragons.
6:32
SPEAKER_01: Um Okay.
6:34
SPEAKER_01: So he will not be in this episode because I quickly discovered that I would not have enough time to talk about him and his entourage.
6:43
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and I am not actually sure if he could be his own episode.
6:48
SPEAKER_01: But at the very least, he could be part of an another episode.
6:51
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but but not part of this episode.
6:54
SPEAKER_01: Right.
6:55
SPEAKER_01: Like, there's definitely too much for me to just tack on to the end of this.
6:59
SPEAKER_01: So we will probably we will talk about Sarduor another day.
7:02
SPEAKER_01: Also, potentially bonus content.
7:04
SPEAKER_01: Ooh.
7:05
SPEAKER_01: We'll see.
7:06
SPEAKER_01: So, some qualities uh introduced in this article.
7:10
SPEAKER_01: So, gem dragons are reclusive and not generally too fond of visitors, but are smooth talkers who enjoy charming and entrapping other creatures.
7:20
SPEAKER_01: So they're fond of the indirect methods.
7:23
SPEAKER_01: As their name suggests, they have a powerful love of gems and jewelry, which is a note that's given to pretty much almost every dragon.
7:30
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, every type of dragon, it's like they have an exceptional love for this, but it's like, do they really it's really not that like different?
7:39
SPEAKER_01: Different, yeah.
7:40
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like I mean, they're dragons, of course they love gemstones and stuff.
7:43
SPEAKER_02: Every dragon's like, I love gemstones the most.
7:46
SPEAKER_02: And then it's like, do you really Do you really though?
7:50
SPEAKER_01: So in like as they were written for this would be Advanced Dudes of Dragons first edition, I believe.
7:57
SPEAKER_01: Um, as they were written for this, they are smaller and like slower moving than other types of dragons, ranging from 12 feet long of the smallest, and then 36 feet long, which is how big Sardior was.
8:11
SPEAKER_01: And it tends to like they make up for this with their intelligence and charisma.
8:16
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
8:17
SPEAKER_01: But later on, this is not typically the case.
8:20
SPEAKER_01: Like later on, it's just like they're dragons, they you know, they get big.
8:24
SPEAKER_00: I mean, 12 feet is still pretty big.
8:26
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
8:27
SPEAKER_00: Like I mean, not for a dragon, though.
8:28
SPEAKER_00: For a dragon, no, but just kind of like in general, it's still a pretty big creature.
8:33
SPEAKER_00: That's fair.
8:35
SPEAKER_01: So, and and in in this uh iteration, they have a weaker fear aura due to their smaller size, but have the innate ability to blink per the spell six times a day.
8:46
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
8:46
SPEAKER_01: So it kind of balances out.
8:48
SPEAKER_01: And later this is kind of discarded in favor of like making them kind of more like every other dragon.
8:56
SPEAKER_01: Which, well, well, I mean, we'll see how they're different still, but you know, whatever.
9:01
SPEAKER_01: Right.
9:02
SPEAKER_01: So, uh per this uh entry in dragon magazine, 50% of gem dragons are psionic.
9:08
SPEAKER_01: That's a high number.
9:10
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
9:10
SPEAKER_01: Uh just wait.
9:12
SPEAKER_01: And all of them are telepathic, though they cannot communicate with non-telepathic creatures or those with an intelligence of under 17.
9:21
SPEAKER_01: Right.
9:21
SPEAKER_01: Oh.
9:22
SPEAKER_01: Right?
9:23
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
9:24
SPEAKER_01: So there's that.
9:25
SPEAKER_01: Sure.
9:26
SPEAKER_01: Um, the vibe for them in this uh dragon article is that they are a little bit physically less capable than regular chromatic and metallic dragons, but they are they kind of have more, I wouldn't say they're necessarily more intelligent, but they have kind of an more of an emphasis on the the mind things.
9:47
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
9:47
SPEAKER_01: On their their intelligence, their charisma, their like general cunning, and also the fact that 50% of them are psionic.
9:53
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, they're more mind-centric than just like thought-centric.
9:57
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
9:58
SPEAKER_01: So before we go into specific the five kinds of true gem dragons, um, I'm gonna talk briefly about how everything for them kind of changes.
10:10
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
10:11
SPEAKER_01: So, um, their last appearances in third edition, rip in pieces.
10:16
SPEAKER_02: Maybe there's a future for them in fifth.
10:18
SPEAKER_01: Maybe.
10:19
SPEAKER_01: So, as of third edition, all gem dragons are psionically gifted, which was a change that was made in Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2nd edition.
10:27
SPEAKER_01: And as of third edition, they typically dwell within the inner planes, but they are not native to them.
10:33
SPEAKER_01: They are native to the prime.
10:35
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
10:35
SPEAKER_01: So, for the next sections where we talk about each specific kind of gem dragon, I'm gonna pull from a lot of different places, and I kind of will be talking about each of them like chronologically as they as a type move through the editions.
10:49
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
10:49
SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna be pulling from the monstrous manual for Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2nd edition, the third edition monster manual 2, which was their last, well, not their last like core appearance, but that's the last new body of text that was made for them.
11:03
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
11:03
SPEAKER_01: And also, we're gonna talk a lot about psionics today.
11:08
SPEAKER_00: Yay! Well, that's good.
11:09
SPEAKER_00: Psionics are very confusing.
11:12
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, interesting, though.
11:13
SPEAKER_02: Haven't we been avoiding a psionics episode for a while?
11:16
SPEAKER_02: We haven't been avoiding it.
11:18
SPEAKER_00: We just haven't been doing it.
11:20
SPEAKER_00: And it was way too much for me to research in a short period of time, so I stopped.
11:25
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so um mostly I'm going to be pulling um information about psionics from the complete psionics handbook, which was released in 91, for Advanced Ninja Dragon 2nd edition, and also the expanded psionics handbook with Arata that was released in 2006.
11:42
SPEAKER_01: I believe that updated version was released in 2006, and the original was released in 2004, but it had a lot of errors, so they released the updated.
11:49
unknown: Okay.
11:50
SPEAKER_01: The way that I'm ordering these is based on how they were ordered kind of in the order of strength from the original dragon article.
12:00
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
12:01
SPEAKER_01: Because that was very much the vibe in their original iteration.
12:05
SPEAKER_01: But as of third edition, I would say that they are all very similar in strength.
12:11
SPEAKER_01: Like the the challenge ratings for the uh Great Worms, which is the oldest age category of dragons, like the lowest is 21 and the highest is 25.
12:21
SPEAKER_01: Which I'm not a lot of variation there.
12:23
SPEAKER_01: Which I'm not saying isn't a difference, but like they're they're a lot closer in strength than they were in the dragon article.
12:30
SPEAKER_01: Right.
12:31
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, bear in mind that when considering stuff from like Advanced Dungeons and Dragons first edition, this order very much had them getting bigger and stronger, but as of third edition, it's kind of all the same.
12:43
SPEAKER_01: So, first we're gonna talk about crystal dragons.
12:46
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
12:46
SPEAKER_01: So, um, crystal dragons have white scales that become translucent as they age, and in direct sunlight, their scales shine so brightly that they are almost unbearable to look at.
12:57
SPEAKER_01: Uh, they live in mountains, and as of uh third edition, preferred the plane of air, but still sometimes live on cold or or temperate mountain peaks.
13:08
SPEAKER_01: They just like mountains.
13:10
SPEAKER_01: Right.
13:10
SPEAKER_01: Um, and as of the uh second edition monsters manual on, all crystal dragons are chaotic neutral.
13:17
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
13:18
SPEAKER_01: So um their breath weapon, because they have breath weapons too.
13:21
SPEAKER_01: Of course.
13:22
SPEAKER_01: In addition to psionic powers, go fuck yourself.
13:25
SPEAKER_01: Um, their breath weapon is one of dazzling light, which was described as a cone of dazzling shards in the monster manual that blinds those uh caught up in it.
13:35
SPEAKER_01: So here's where we start talking about psionics.
13:38
SPEAKER_01: So, per the monsters manual, they're common psionic powers, which this is not advancement for psionics, is kind of like advancement in magic.
13:48
SPEAKER_01: There's different disciplines that have different abilities that are kind of like spells, and you get you gain them as you level, like you gain the ability to learn new ones.
13:59
SPEAKER_01: Okay, these aren't necessarily that they only learn these.
14:03
SPEAKER_01: I think this is just kind of examples given.
14:05
SPEAKER_01: Like if you just want to pull a crystal dragon real quick, it's like these are the things that it's gonna probably have.
14:11
SPEAKER_01: Right.
14:12
SPEAKER_01: But they level like regular psionicists, which we're not like I there were some equations in there that took me back to like chemistry and made me want to die.
14:23
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, same.
14:24
SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna, you know.
14:26
SPEAKER_00: And as we all know, I am bad at math and equations, so it just I almost failed chemistry, so let's not talk about it.
14:32
SPEAKER_01: I did fail chemistry, so but you know, the there's gonna be a lot of definitions still though.
14:38
SPEAKER_01: So their common psionic powers are clairsentient sciences, which sciences are major powers in psionics.
14:46
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
14:46
SPEAKER_01: Um, so their common psionic powers are the clairsentient sciences of clairudience, clairvoyance, and precognition.
14:53
SPEAKER_01: And there are also they don't have any particular ones of these, crystal dragons do not, but there are also psionic devotions, which are minor powers.
15:04
SPEAKER_01: Okay, which is an interesting word choice, in my opinion.
15:09
SPEAKER_01: Psionic devotion and sciences.
15:13
SPEAKER_01: Most of the most of these definitions are more or less being pulled from the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons psionic book.
15:19
SPEAKER_01: Right.
15:19
SPEAKER_01: But I they are pretty similar to how psionics are in third edition, um, and 3.5 because psionics are also in 3.5, but I will point out where there are notable differences.
15:30
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
15:30
SPEAKER_01: So Clair Sensions is defined in Advanced Dungeons and Dragons as the ability to acquire knowledge beyond the typical limitations of the senses.
15:38
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
15:39
SPEAKER_01: So, uh, for example, as is their uh common sciences, Clare Audience is the ability to essentially throw your hearing.
15:48
SPEAKER_01: So the psionicist chooses a point within range, which the range for that is unlimited.
15:53
SPEAKER_01: And on a success, which the use of psionic powers is quite a bit different than magic, but there's a lot of numbers.
16:01
SPEAKER_01: Let's assume success.
16:02
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
16:03
SPEAKER_01: So on a success, they can hear as though they were standing in that chosen area.
16:08
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
16:09
SPEAKER_02: That makes sense.
16:10
SPEAKER_02: The audience is audio, is Claire, is light in France.
16:17
SPEAKER_01: So uh clairvoyance is the same, but with seeing.
16:22
SPEAKER_02: Right, right.
16:23
SPEAKER_02: And I've I mean, I feel like everyone's heard the word clairvoyance at some point in their life.
16:28
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
16:29
SPEAKER_00: It's not like really common, but it is still like a fairly common thing, especially if you get into books or movies.
16:36
SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
16:36
SPEAKER_02: Where clairvoyance is like the most common form of like telepathy or or something that someone can yeah.
16:43
SPEAKER_01: Or being uh brain brain stuff.
16:46
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
16:46
SPEAKER_01: Psychic.
16:47
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly.
16:48
SPEAKER_01: Um, so and there's also some of these that are listed that the power is essentially exactly what it sounds like, so I won't be defining it.
16:56
SPEAKER_01: Right.
16:56
SPEAKER_01: But there's also plenty that like their their definition was different from what I thought of when I heard it, or I just was I read it and I was like, what the fuck is that?
17:04
SPEAKER_01: So also finally, precognition is the ability to see the most probable outcome of a scenario that will happen no further out than a few hours after the use of the ability.
17:14
SPEAKER_01: So it's seeing the future, but it's not like it's not OP seeing the future.
17:19
SPEAKER_01: It's a very limited.
17:21
SPEAKER_01: And it also, if I remember correctly, this functions very similarly to the clairvoyant spell from Pathfinder.
17:30
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I was actually that was almost like I was like, where have I heard that exact phrasing before?
17:37
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
17:38
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, if if this was at all confusing, clairsentience is the not school discipline.
17:45
SPEAKER_01: Clairsentience is a specific psionic discipline, which is to say, like for magic, you know, evocation, conjuration.
17:52
SPEAKER_01: Right.
17:53
SPEAKER_01: Yada yada.
17:53
SPEAKER_01: So clairsentience is like the the school, if you will.
17:57
SPEAKER_01: Okay, in third edition, their primary discipline was changed to that of telepathy, which is telepathy.
18:03
SPEAKER_01: Thankfully, that one's easy.
18:05
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
18:05
SPEAKER_01: Like there's specifics within that, but telepathy as as like a the discipline as a concept is exactly what you think it is.
18:12
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
18:13
SPEAKER_01: So crystal dragons are the friendliest of the gem dragons.
18:16
SPEAKER_01: While they do not tend to seek out conversation unless the other party seems boring or actively threatening, they will happily converse with people who visit them.
18:26
SPEAKER_01: Nice.
18:26
SPEAKER_01: Um, they also pr tend to prefer resolving conflicts with charm rather than combat, but will fight back if threatened or provoked.
18:33
SPEAKER_01: So they like uh they like a charm person, you know, kind of kind of thing.
18:37
SPEAKER_00: And they don't like boring people.
18:39
SPEAKER_01: No, that's uh that's a theme.
18:41
SPEAKER_01: I I really actually enjoyed that little tidbit.
18:43
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they're uh they're their flavor.
18:46
SPEAKER_01: Their reaction to boring people is not as uh extreme as some other gem dragons, though.
18:50
SPEAKER_01: Oh.
18:52
SPEAKER_01: Crystal dragons are mischievous and fun-loving, enjoying activities such as stargazing and playing in the snow.
18:59
SPEAKER_01: Oh my god.
19:00
SPEAKER_01: Right?
19:00
SPEAKER_01: That's so cute.
19:02
SPEAKER_01: They are also known to make off with white dragon eggs in an attempt to raise the hatchlings in a friendlier environment, and are described as good parents if a little irresponsible.
19:12
SPEAKER_01: Oh my god! I'm not like other moms.
19:14
SPEAKER_01: I'm a cool mom.
19:16
SPEAKER_00: They steal eggs to raise them better.
19:20
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
19:21
SPEAKER_01: I like it.
19:22
SPEAKER_01: And they're fun parents.
19:23
SPEAKER_00: And they're fun parents.
19:24
SPEAKER_00: They're so just a little irresponsible.
19:30
SPEAKER_01: Right?
19:31
SPEAKER_01: Uh this egg napping, as well as generally sharing the same environment as white dragons, causes frequent conflicts between the two types of dragons.
19:39
SPEAKER_01: There's also the fact that white dragons are evil.
19:41
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, typically.
19:44
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's a theme.
19:46
SPEAKER_01: Uh oh.
19:48
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, crystal dragons are they're I love them.
19:50
SPEAKER_01: I know, I kind of do too.
19:52
SPEAKER_01: So, next we're gonna move on to Topaz Dragons.
19:56
SPEAKER_01: I like it.
19:57
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
19:57
SPEAKER_01: So Topaz dragons are born a dull yellow color, but as they age, their scales become translucent and their color brightens, eventually making them look like they were carved from their namesake stone.
20:08
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
20:09
SPEAKER_01: So also, you'll like this.
20:11
SPEAKER_01: Per third edition material, the pupils of their eyes fade as they age, so eventually their eyes come to resemble solid balls of fire.
20:18
unknown: Yeah.
20:19
SPEAKER_01: Which is so cool.
20:21
SPEAKER_01: Um, as of third edition, all Topaz Dragons are always chaotic neutral.
20:26
SPEAKER_01: I don't think any of their alignments change except from neutral to then whichever chaotic boss or whatever.
20:34
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
20:34
SPEAKER_01: Like, but after that's established in Advanced Dungeons Dragons 2nd edition, it literally doesn't change, which is like, thank God.
20:41
SPEAKER_00: Also, it didn't change because they didn't make it to fourth edition.
20:44
SPEAKER_01: I was gonna make that joke.
20:46
SPEAKER_01: They did not make it to fourth edition to have some bullshit.
20:52
SPEAKER_01: Which is ironic because fourth edition has so many dragons.
20:55
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
20:56
SPEAKER_01: That it's ironic that the gem dragons weren't there.
20:58
SPEAKER_01: But that's because psionics are such a big part of their whole thing.
21:03
SPEAKER_01: That without psionics, it's really it's just like it's just a pretty faceted looking dragon.
21:09
SPEAKER_01: So Topaz dragons live on sea coasts and also in the plane of water as of third edition, but interestingly, they don't much care for water and like to keep their layers dry, even on the elemental plane, and even when the entrance to their layer is submerged.
21:24
SPEAKER_01: How do they do that?
21:26
SPEAKER_01: I'm glad you asked.
21:28
SPEAKER_01: Their breath weapon is a cone of dehydration that dries out of space relative to the damage dealt, which is obviously relative to age category, yada yada.
21:38
SPEAKER_01: However, up until third edition, it also did strength damage equal to one d6 plus six on a failed save or one d6 on a successful save.
21:51
SPEAKER_01: Holy shit.
21:52
SPEAKER_00: Jesus.
21:52
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
21:53
SPEAKER_01: And it I believe in it was in um Advanced Dungeons Dragons 2nd edition in the monstrous manual, like Obviously it's been established in like later things that if your strength falls below zero, you die.
22:04
SPEAKER_01: Right.
22:05
SPEAKER_01: But it was like it was intense in second edition.
22:08
SPEAKER_01: It was like you could only heal it like once per like one point per day naturally.
22:14
SPEAKER_01: Like literally, if you got hit with this thing, you were fucked.
22:17
unknown: Yeah.
22:18
SPEAKER_01: Sounds like it.
22:18
SPEAKER_01: That isn't that like that is insane.
22:21
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
22:22
SPEAKER_01: I'm not the only person who thinks that's insane, right?
22:24
SPEAKER_00: No, no.
22:25
SPEAKER_00: Like it.
22:26
SPEAKER_01: If if if Nix like my gnome from Pathfinder had a strength score of seven.
22:32
SPEAKER_01: If she got hit with this and failed her save, she would die immediately.
22:36
SPEAKER_00: Like Yeah.
22:37
SPEAKER_00: See, Pathfinder was very big into like a lot of things did X damage plus strength or intelligence.
22:47
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
22:47
SPEAKER_00: Blah blah blah.
22:48
SPEAKER_00: They were they were a lot bigger on.
22:49
SPEAKER_00: And for the most part, I chose to ignore those just because I'm not a big fan of the idea of that.
22:56
SPEAKER_00: Mm-hmm.
22:57
SPEAKER_00: It feels too And that is insane.
23:00
SPEAKER_00: Is a very good reason.
23:02
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like that's actively insane.
23:05
SPEAKER_01: Um, so as of third edition, it only has the drying effect.
23:09
SPEAKER_01: Like it dries up liquids and simply does damage to target's hit points instead of their strength.
23:15
SPEAKER_01: Good, good.
23:16
SPEAKER_01: Like imagine a dragon breathing on you and you just fucking die.
23:19
SPEAKER_01: It's not even fire.
23:20
SPEAKER_01: It's just like this gust of hot air comes out and you're like, oh, whatever.
23:24
SPEAKER_01: And then you just your your friend just fucking dies.
23:26
SPEAKER_01: You just shrivel up and die.
23:28
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you'll say you'd like shrivel up like a raisin or something because it just dehydrates.
23:32
SPEAKER_02: I was literally picturing like when you put um meat in a dehydrator.
23:38
SPEAKER_00: It just shrivels and shrinks and becomes all dead.
23:42
SPEAKER_01: That's that's what we would beat, right?
23:44
SPEAKER_01: That's what we would be to dragons, just meat to throw in a dehydration.
23:47
SPEAKER_00: You're like Cassandra when she dehydrates.
23:49
SPEAKER_02: Which drives me.
23:52
SPEAKER_01: Your party members just like face down on the floor, like reaching out to the cleric.
23:58
SPEAKER_01: Which drives me drives me.
24:00
SPEAKER_01: Oh my goodness.
24:00
SPEAKER_01: And then the topesh dragon just wastes all of you.
24:03
SPEAKER_01: Yay.
24:04
SPEAKER_01: For that reference.
24:05
SPEAKER_01: So, per the monstrous manual, um, topesh dragons prefer psycho-metabolism as their primary discipline.
24:14
SPEAKER_01: So uh psycho-metabolism is defined as psionic abilities that affect the body, such as producing decay or changing shape.
24:21
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
24:22
SPEAKER_01: Pretty pretty simple.
24:23
SPEAKER_01: Is it?
24:24
SPEAKER_01: Well, I'm I'm not sure.
24:25
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it sounds pretty straightforward.
24:29
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, okay, that's a good word for it.
24:31
SPEAKER_01: Um, and their other common powers include uh things from the psychokinesis discipline, which psychokinesis deals with the moving of objects with your mind.
24:43
SPEAKER_01: And this goes on a molecular to a very large scale.
24:48
SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna start with their psychokinesis, since that's not their primary thing.
24:52
SPEAKER_01: So they uh some of their common powers from the psychokinesis discipline are the science, telekinesis, and the devotions, animate object, control wind, molecular manipulation, and soften.
25:06
SPEAKER_01: So telekinesis is what you think it is, but it is also the the it's not as simple as I think it's made to look in some other media.
25:17
SPEAKER_01: Right.
25:17
SPEAKER_01: Like it it does actually function kind of proportionally to how heavy or big the object is you're trying to move and this and that.
25:25
SPEAKER_01: Right.
25:25
SPEAKER_01: It isn't just simple.
25:27
SPEAKER_01: So Animate Object is essentially a weaker version of telekinesis, so it's limited by weight, that kind of thing.
25:34
SPEAKER_01: Right.
25:35
SPEAKER_01: Um, it's very much just the minor power version of telekinesis.
25:38
SPEAKER_01: Molecular manipulation involves the agitation of molecules to create a breaking point in a small area of an object.
25:45
SPEAKER_01: So you can destroy a rope, like you can snap a rope.
25:48
SPEAKER_01: Okay, uh, that kind of thing.
25:50
SPEAKER_01: And soften is kind of similar to molecular manipulation, but it gradually softens the area in an entire object through a similar process.
26:00
SPEAKER_01: And there's different examples of time given for stone, wood, uh, metal, that kind of thing.
26:06
SPEAKER_01: So uh interesting.
26:08
SPEAKER_01: Yes, soft, soft rocks.
26:10
SPEAKER_00: Soft rocks.
26:11
SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's literally what it makes, though.
26:13
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
26:14
SPEAKER_01: Which is crazy.
26:15
SPEAKER_01: To their primary discipline, which is psychometabolism.
26:18
SPEAKER_01: Um, their common powers in that sphere are energy containment, life drain, metamorphosis, and the which are the sciences.
26:26
SPEAKER_01: Right.
26:27
SPEAKER_01: And the devo and there's a lot more than just the ones I'm listing.
26:31
SPEAKER_01: And also the devotions of biofeedback, body equilibrium, cause decay, and chemical simulation.
26:38
SPEAKER_00: Jesus.
26:39
SPEAKER_01: Damn.
26:40
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there's a lot of uh information there.
26:42
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
26:43
SPEAKER_01: So um energy containment is the ability to absorb and assimilate energy from non-living sources, think fire, um, you know, lightning, that kind of thing.
26:53
SPEAKER_01: Right, right.
26:53
SPEAKER_01: Metamorphosis is an advanced polymorph where the user can transform into anything that has a similar mass as itself, which is dragon, is big.
27:04
SPEAKER_01: Is big.
27:05
SPEAKER_01: A lot of mass usually.
27:07
SPEAKER_01: Biofeedback enables the user to control the flow of blood in their body.
27:12
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and body equilibrium allows the user to change their weight relative to the surface they are standing on, enabling one to walk on water or a spider web, for example.
27:23
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
27:23
SPEAKER_01: Um, cause decay causes an inanimate object to instantly decay.
27:28
SPEAKER_01: Self-explanatory.
27:29
SPEAKER_01: Well, self-explanatory, but it did feel like pointing out that it only applies to inanimate objects.
27:34
SPEAKER_01: And uh chemical simulation allows the user to produce a weak acid.
27:38
SPEAKER_01: So this acid does very little damage, but it will like dissolve things.
27:42
SPEAKER_02: Right.
27:43
SPEAKER_01: So it's not like an acid attack, really.
27:46
SPEAKER_02: But it is definitely like yeah, I get it.
27:50
SPEAKER_02: Like it'll definitely corrode things.
27:54
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it it would be something that would be more applicable in non-combat situations.
27:58
SPEAKER_01: Right.
27:58
SPEAKER_01: Um, so all very to do with the body.
28:02
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
28:03
SPEAKER_01: And like, you can do some crazy stuff.
28:06
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'll I'll say.
28:08
SPEAKER_01: So, um, as of third edition, their primary psionic discipline remains that of psycho metabolism.
28:14
SPEAKER_01: Right.
28:14
SPEAKER_01: Um topash dragons are generally unfriendly, selfish, and behave erratically.
28:21
SPEAKER_01: Um, while they are not particularly malevolent, they do not like intruders and will attack anyone who is actually hostile.
28:28
SPEAKER_01: Right.
28:29
SPEAKER_01: Actively hostile, excuse me, as well as those who bore them in conversation.
28:36
SPEAKER_01: So it's literally like, you're boring.
28:38
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna kill you now.
28:39
SPEAKER_01: Time to eat you.
28:40
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, right?
28:41
SPEAKER_01: Time to make some beef jerky.
28:44
SPEAKER_01: God.
28:45
SPEAKER_00: Dehydration.
28:46
SPEAKER_01: Human jerky.
28:48
SPEAKER_01: Um, and they they're often fond of trying to trick enemies with a false surrender or retreat.
28:53
SPEAKER_01: So they're just they're they're they're just bastards.
28:56
SPEAKER_01: I I kind of love them.
28:58
SPEAKER_01: I know, I kind of like them too.
28:59
SPEAKER_01: But they are like bastards.
29:00
SPEAKER_01: Bastards.
29:01
SPEAKER_01: They're bastards who can polymorph into things, and if they breathe on you, you'll shrivel up and die.
29:08
SPEAKER_01: Which is insane.
29:11
SPEAKER_01: Right.
29:12
SPEAKER_01: So, um, due to sharing territory, they often clash with bronze dragons, and while they don't enjoy the water, and they typically only bother with it to hunt their usual prey, which includes sharks and giant squids, yeah, which is super metal, um, they like to sun themselves on rocky outcroppings and feel the sea breeze.
29:32
SPEAKER_01: No.
29:33
SPEAKER_01: Which is like, I know that's such a cute thing for these kind of of bastardy kind of kind of dragons.
29:41
SPEAKER_00: But they just want to feel the sea breeze.
29:43
SPEAKER_01: Which is like a moose.
29:45
SPEAKER_00: Relax.
29:46
SPEAKER_01: And then yeah, then they don't want to be bothered with boring conversation.
29:50
SPEAKER_01: I feel that.
29:51
SPEAKER_01: Boring conversation anyway.
29:53
SPEAKER_01: And then just like breathes on on uh so next we're gonna talk about emerald dragons.
29:59
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
30:00
SPEAKER_01: Um emerald dragons are noted as being particularly beautiful among these.
30:05
SPEAKER_01: Um Emerald Dragons have scales in many shades of green that seem to be in constant motion.
30:14
SPEAKER_01: In their first iteration in Dragon magazine, they were described as knowing how to undulate their bodies, undulate was the particular word used, okay, in such a way to distract and entrance a target, which I believe it was like if uh someone was engaged in conversation for like three rounds, they would be so entranced by this dragon's body that the dragon could surprise attack them if they chose.
30:39
SPEAKER_01: Uh okay.
30:42
SPEAKER_02: I mean they kind of love it.
30:44
SPEAKER_02: Right?
30:45
SPEAKER_01: This was cast off in later editions.
30:47
SPEAKER_01: They were like, no, no, we don't want to use the word undulate, so we're not gonna wait a minute, hang on.
30:53
SPEAKER_01: No, hold on.
30:54
SPEAKER_01: This is kind of horny.
30:57
SPEAKER_01: So as of uh third edition, I don't know why it is this way for some of them, but not others.
31:03
SPEAKER_01: Um, as of third edition, uh Emerald Dragon's pupils fade as they age, like Topaz Dragons, which leaves their eyes looking like glowing green orbs with no pupils, which is great.
31:14
SPEAKER_01: So cool.
31:15
SPEAKER_01: Sounds so pretty.
31:16
SPEAKER_01: Right.
31:16
SPEAKER_01: They're very they're very pretty.
31:18
SPEAKER_01: They have a lot of nice art for these guys.
31:20
SPEAKER_01: Um, so as of Monsters Manual, all Emerald Dragons are always lawful neutral.
31:24
SPEAKER_01: So now we're going over to the lawful side.
31:26
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
31:27
SPEAKER_01: Their breath weapon, it is a whale of sonic energy that in earlier edition knocks all within range, unconscious or stunned on a failed save and temporarily deafened on a successful one.
31:42
SPEAKER_01: Jesus.
31:42
SPEAKER_01: What the breath look their breath weapons were broken in but third edition softens it so this successful save negates any deafening.
31:51
SPEAKER_01: And I believe you cannot be knocked unconscious by it.
31:54
SPEAKER_01: Well, I mean, you could be knocked unconscious by the damage, but not by the secondary effect.
31:57
SPEAKER_01: Right.
31:58
SPEAKER_01: So, yeah, their breath weapons were fucking broken earlier on.
32:02
SPEAKER_04: So bad.
32:03
SPEAKER_01: I know it.
32:04
SPEAKER_01: So per the monstrous manual, their primary discipline is telepathy, but they also have common powers of the clairsentient sciences, auracyte, object reading, precognition, and the clairsentience devotions of all-around vision, combat mind, and danger sense.
32:21
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
32:21
SPEAKER_01: So auracyte allows the user to see a target's aura, which in this case determ you they can determine either their alignment or their level.
32:31
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
32:32
SPEAKER_01: So, you know.
32:33
SPEAKER_01: But maybe, maybe in Kfabe, you could they could sense their mood or whatever.
32:38
SPEAKER_01: I don't know much about auras.
32:39
SPEAKER_01: Um, object reading allows the user to examine an object for psychic imprints left by the previous owner, which I think is cool.
32:46
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
32:46
SPEAKER_00: Psychic imprints.
32:48
SPEAKER_01: So you can learn things about the person who had it before.
32:52
SPEAKER_01: Um, so and the devotions, all around vision allows the user to see in all directions.
32:58
SPEAKER_01: Uh, combat mind sharpens the user's senses in combat, which improve at various levels improves things like initiative, thacko, etc.
33:05
SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, don't forget that all of this is also being being run alongside like Thacko.
33:13
SPEAKER_01: I would have had no idea what I was doing back then.
33:16
SPEAKER_01: I would have cried.
33:17
SPEAKER_02: Right.
33:17
SPEAKER_01: I would have like like, hi, imagine having to do chemistry and math homework to play Dungeons and Dragons.
33:23
SPEAKER_01: Imagine.
33:24
SPEAKER_01: Um, and danger sense is essentially Spidey Sense.
33:28
SPEAKER_01: Um Spidey Sense.
33:29
SPEAKER_01: So they can't tell exactly what's gonna happen, but they can detect danger and also the direction that it would be coming from, but they don't know exactly what it is.
33:40
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
33:41
SPEAKER_01: So it literally is like Spidey Sense.
33:42
unknown: Okay.
33:43
SPEAKER_01: Well, I say you know, it's essentially it's essentially Spidey Sense.
33:47
SPEAKER_01: My danger sense is tingling.
33:49
SPEAKER_00: There's danger somewhere, we're just not quite sure where.
33:52
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
33:53
SPEAKER_01: So now that we move into their primary discipline, which is telepathy, they have common powers in the telepathy sciences of ejection, mind link, probe, and the Yeah.
34:07
SPEAKER_01: Thanks, Daniel.
34:08
SPEAKER_01: I was trying to be serious.
34:10
SPEAKER_02: I I like I I I it's nothing.
34:12
SPEAKER_02: I just don't like the the yeah the word probe, right?
34:16
SPEAKER_01: Um and the telepathy devotions of contact, ESP, life detection, sight link, and sound link.
34:22
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
34:22
SPEAKER_01: So ejection is the ability to force another psionic out of the user's mind.
34:27
SPEAKER_01: Pretty simple.
34:28
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
34:28
SPEAKER_01: Um mind link opens a two-way psychic communication between the user and another, wherein language is not a barrier, but this is not the same thing as mind reading.
34:36
SPEAKER_01: It's essentially like the message, yeah, it's message spell, where it's like it's something that is sent between the two.
34:45
SPEAKER_02: Okay, like it's not like it's not you can't use that connection to get anything that they don't want to do.
34:51
SPEAKER_01: To probe their mind.
34:52
SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
34:52
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's what probe is for.
34:54
SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, it's it's like a a thing where they can respond, but that's that's all it is.
35:00
SPEAKER_01: It's maybe reply to this message.
35:01
SPEAKER_01: You you may reply to this message.
35:03
SPEAKER_01: Um, and probe allows the user access to the target's thoughts and memories as the target knows them to be true.
35:10
SPEAKER_01: Kind of like how like zone of truth.
35:12
SPEAKER_01: You can't lie, but it can be influenced by what the target thinks and believes and knows exactly.
35:19
SPEAKER_01: So probe is where we get in there.
35:22
SPEAKER_00: Um deep inside your mind.
35:25
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
35:25
SPEAKER_01: So as for the devotions, contact is essentially the first step to linking telepathically on a different level per probe, for example.
35:33
SPEAKER_01: Um so therefore, it's often referred to as a prerequisite for other telepathic abilities.
35:38
SPEAKER_01: So it's like in order to do this, you have to have used contact already.
35:42
SPEAKER_01: Um, ESP allows the user to explore the surface level thoughts of the target, so not as deep as probe.
35:48
SPEAKER_01: Right.
35:48
SPEAKER_01: Um, sight link and sound link allow the user to tap into the visual and auditory senses of the target, respectively.
35:55
SPEAKER_01: Right.
35:55
SPEAKER_01: So it's pretty simple.
35:57
SPEAKER_01: Um, and also life detection is exactly what it sounds like.
36:00
SPEAKER_01: It just detects mind activity in a specific area.
36:04
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
36:04
SPEAKER_01: Um, as of third edition, Emerald's drag Emerald Dragons' primary discipline was changed to that of Clairsentient.
36:11
SPEAKER_01: So they essentially flip-flop with crystal dragons.
36:13
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
36:14
SPEAKER_01: Emerald dragons are very curious, particularly about history and culture, civilized societies, but also very paranoid and suspicious, which is a big mood.
36:23
SPEAKER_01: Because of this, they like to settle close enough to populated areas that they can observe what's going on, but not close enough that they're gonna be noticed or get involved in it.
36:34
SPEAKER_02: Right.
36:35
SPEAKER_01: Um, they also tend to like to settle in dormant or rarely active volcanoes.
36:40
SPEAKER_01: Ooh.
36:41
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
36:41
SPEAKER_00: Dormant or really active.
36:43
SPEAKER_00: Rarely active.
36:44
SPEAKER_00: Oh, rarely active.
36:45
SPEAKER_00: I thought you said really active.
36:46
SPEAKER_00: I was like, they're just covering that whole spectrum.
36:48
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's like they they not like in the middle.
36:50
SPEAKER_01: Like, it has to be one extreme or the other.
36:53
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, rarely active.
36:55
SPEAKER_01: Um, hand in hand with their paranoia is their very strong desire to protect their treasure and their offspring, who they have very strong bonds with.
37:02
SPEAKER_01: So it's not, it's unit's not uncommon to see like an emerald dragon that has like with their with their children.
37:10
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
37:10
SPEAKER_01: Um, which is nice.
37:11
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
37:12
SPEAKER_01: They uh they stay at home longer than other gem dragons.
37:15
SPEAKER_01: Um, the layer and surrounding area of an emerald dragon is usually covered in traps, both magical and physical, because of aforementioned paranoia.
37:25
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
37:26
SPEAKER_01: So like I I I relate to that a lot, being a curious person who likes to learn and likes to observe, but is also very paranoid.
37:37
SPEAKER_01: So it's an emerald dragon.
37:39
SPEAKER_01: And possessive of their um turns out possessions.
37:43
SPEAKER_01: So, um, next we're uh we're kind of starting to move into the big boys.
37:48
SPEAKER_01: The big boys, the big boys um and girls and friends, and we're gonna talk about sapphire dragons.
37:55
SPEAKER_01: Sapphire.
37:56
SPEAKER_00: Ooh.
37:57
SPEAKER_01: After we take a break.
37:59
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I was rotating around the mic, it was a it was a whole thing.
38:02
SPEAKER_01: It was a whole thing.
38:04
SPEAKER_01: Hey everybody, thank you for checking out our gem dragons episode.
38:08
SPEAKER_01: I hope I haven't fried your brain yet talking about psionics.
38:12
SPEAKER_01: You're doing a pretty good job.
38:13
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
38:14
SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of words that sound the same.
38:16
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38:17
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38:19
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39:47
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39:55
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39:57
SPEAKER_00: So initially things were calming down, but um, as a lot of us predicted, things are starting to ramp back up a little bit.
40:08
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40:12
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40:13
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40:26
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40:33
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40:38
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40:44
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40:45
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40:51
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40:55
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40:56
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40:58
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40:59
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41:03
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41:07
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41:15
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41:17
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41:26
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41:26
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41:27
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41:31
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41:32
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41:32
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41:33
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41:40
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41:47
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41:48
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41:49
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41:50
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41:51
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41:52
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41:53
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41:54
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42:04
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42:14
SPEAKER_01: I don't have that much of a blown-up self-image, I promise.
42:17
SPEAKER_01: No, but I I do appreciate suggestions because it's, you know, sometimes I there's so much in in DD I get overwhelmed by choice.
42:25
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42:25
SPEAKER_01: So sometimes to have someone like point something out to me is very helpful for me.
42:29
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42:30
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42:31
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42:32
unknown: Yep.
42:32
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42:43
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42:46
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42:48
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42:49
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42:52
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42:54
SPEAKER_01: You know, I was about to say, I feel like if they're a person who likes the former, they also probably like the latter.
43:00
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43:02
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43:03
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43:05
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43:12
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43:14
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43:15
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43:22
SPEAKER_01: Yes, and the dragon continues to eat its tail.
43:25
SPEAKER_02: Big thank you to Alexander Nakarata for our theme song Blacksmith.
43:30
SPEAKER_02: We love you, Alexander.
43:31
SPEAKER_00: We do.
43:32
SPEAKER_00: And with that, let's go ahead and get back to Gemstones because I believe we're waiting on sapphire information, and that has to be interesting, right?
43:42
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, it it's And let's face it, I'm just impatient.
43:45
SPEAKER_00: Let's go.
43:46
SPEAKER_01: All right, yes.
43:47
SPEAKER_01: Give me the sapphires.
43:48
SPEAKER_01: Yes, the sapphires.
43:50
SPEAKER_01: Um, sapphire dragons do not change color as they age, which is a common theme for other types of gem dragons, but they come in all shades of blue.
43:58
SPEAKER_01: So you can have some that are like A very light blue, some that are very dark blue.
44:03
SPEAKER_01: Um it's all yeah, it's it's pretty yeah, and it's they're it's very um like they're very individual in that kind of way.
44:11
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
44:11
SPEAKER_01: So as a third edition, their pupils also fade as they age, leaving their eyes looking like solid blue orbs.
44:17
SPEAKER_01: It's not as exciting as fire orbs, but it's still pretty cool.
44:21
SPEAKER_01: Still, though, yeah.
44:22
SPEAKER_01: Like it's a big dragon.
44:23
SPEAKER_01: Big dragon.
44:24
SPEAKER_01: Big blue dragon with blue eyes that kind of blend in with everything else because they don't have pupils, which is that uh yes.
44:31
SPEAKER_01: Um, they can be mistaken for blue dragons, despite the fact that blue dragons live in arid climates and sapphire dragons settle deep underground.
44:39
SPEAKER_01: So they look similar, but they live in different environments.
44:43
SPEAKER_02: So you're like, you get there and you're like, what the hell is a blue dragon doing here?
44:47
SPEAKER_02: But it's not a blue dragon.
44:48
SPEAKER_01: And then it does some weird uh psionic shit, and you're like, oh fuck, not a blue dragon.
44:54
SPEAKER_01: Not a blue dragon, not a blue dragon.
44:56
SPEAKER_01: I fucked up.
44:57
SPEAKER_01: Right?
44:57
SPEAKER_01: Um, so from the monstrous manual onward, all sapphire dragons are lawful neutral.
45:02
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
45:02
SPEAKER_01: Um, in Dragon Magazine, their breath weapon was a screech that disintegrated targets with less HP than the dragon, leaving others alive with all of the equipment disintegrated.
45:15
SPEAKER_01: Now I will say the way it worked was like the sleep spell, doesn't 5th edition.
45:20
SPEAKER_01: So it's like it it would use up H like its HP on multiple targets.
45:26
SPEAKER_01: So it's like, you know, with the sleep spell, you roll an amount, and then, you know, like you roll 20, let's say, and you have two targets with 10 hit points each, they'll both fall asleep.
45:38
SPEAKER_01: But if there's like other people, they they're not they're not gonna fall asleep.
45:42
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, precisely.
45:43
SPEAKER_01: So that's still excessive.
45:45
SPEAKER_00: How much health do they have, though?
45:49
SPEAKER_01: That depends on how old they are, obviously.
45:52
SPEAKER_01: But like I said, with the way I'm ordering these, as we progress through Dragon Magazine, or yeah, as we progress through, these are the second most powerful type of gems.
46:05
SPEAKER_01: So, like, this is like they're they're gonna have a lot of HP.
46:09
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
46:13
SPEAKER_01: And also uh leaving others alive with all of their equipment disintegrated.
46:18
SPEAKER_00: Which also like, what a dick move.
46:20
SPEAKER_01: I know, like it kills all your friends and then leaves you like naked and afraid in a cave because it destroyed your sword.
46:27
SPEAKER_01: And all you agree, clothes and armor.
46:29
SPEAKER_01: Um, however, in Monstrous Manual and On, it was changed to a whale that inspired a fear effect on a failed stage.
46:36
SPEAKER_01: So they like nerfed.
46:38
SPEAKER_01: They nerfed these breath weapons because some of them were insane.
46:42
SPEAKER_01: They definitely needed to.
46:44
SPEAKER_02: I I will agree to that.
46:45
SPEAKER_02: Like sometimes I get sad when something loses something cool, but like that was excessive.
46:51
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
46:51
SPEAKER_01: And the the dehydration, excessive.
46:54
SPEAKER_01: Excessive.
46:55
SPEAKER_01: Um, so it what I thought was really interesting about this actually was that in Advanced Dungeons of the Dragon 2nd edition, the fear effect was described as metabolic.
47:04
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, those immune to magical fear could still be affected.
47:07
SPEAKER_02: That is interesting.
47:09
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
47:09
SPEAKER_01: But this note was not present in um their the third edition description of this uh breath weapon.
47:16
SPEAKER_01: But like I think that's cool.
47:17
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, I think it's cool too.
47:19
SPEAKER_01: The note that it's uh it's metabolic.
47:21
SPEAKER_01: It um I I I like when I don't know how to describe this without sounding like I'm hating on magic, but I love when things in Dungeons and Dragons are sort of put in the realm of being like slightly off-center from magic, if that makes sense.
47:36
SPEAKER_01: So it's like it seems magical, but it's like it's really not.
47:40
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like how we were like when we talked about like this the kind of pseudoscience in the um Blink Dog and Behold and Beholder Beast.
47:47
SPEAKER_01: Whoa, no thank you.
47:49
SPEAKER_01: No thank you, displacer beast uh episode.
47:52
SPEAKER_01: I kind of enjoy when that's present in Dungeons and Dragons instead of just the explanation for something being, I don't know, magic.
47:58
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
47:58
SPEAKER_01: It's just it's something And I'm not hating on magic, I just think it's it's cool when there's like really crazy things that are not necessarily magical.
48:07
SPEAKER_01: Anyway.
48:08
SPEAKER_01: I understand.
48:09
SPEAKER_01: So as of Monsters Manual, um, their primary discipline is psychoportation, which uh is defined as the ability to transfer objects from one place to another without actually moving through space.
48:22
SPEAKER_01: So like teleportation, basically.
48:24
SPEAKER_01: Is basically teleportation and assorted things.
48:27
SPEAKER_01: They also have common powers in clairsentience, uh, with the clairsentient sciences of clair audience and clairvoyance, which we already discussed, and the clairsentience devotions of no direction and radial navigation.
48:39
SPEAKER_01: No direction is is exactly what it sounds like.
48:42
SPEAKER_01: You know what direction you're looking.
48:44
SPEAKER_02: Okay, I was thinking in O direction.
48:46
SPEAKER_00: No direction.
48:48
SPEAKER_00: See, I was thinking it was just a covered band of one direction.
48:53
SPEAKER_01: And they have beautiful singing voices.
48:55
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, I wonder.
48:57
SPEAKER_01: I wonder if if they're dragons and beautiful singing voices.
49:00
SPEAKER_01: Probably.
49:01
SPEAKER_01: Or if they just sound gruff.
49:02
SPEAKER_01: There probably are.
49:04
SPEAKER_01: Um, and radial navigation allows the user to know their location in relation to a fixed starting point.
49:11
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
49:12
SPEAKER_01: So it you could not you could not use radial navigation to retrace your steps out of a maze, for example, but you would know where you walked in to that maze.
49:22
SPEAKER_01: You would know like I am 500 feet away from where I walked in, if that makes sense.
49:27
SPEAKER_01: No, that's it.
49:28
SPEAKER_01: It's like um, it's like in in uh video games, video games, where you have like a marker and you know what direction that marker is, and sometimes it'll tell you how far away you are, but it won't tell you how to walk around the mountain to get there.
49:40
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
49:41
SPEAKER_01: That kind of thing.
49:42
SPEAKER_00: That's why you just climb the mountain.
49:43
SPEAKER_01: Yes, exactly.
49:44
SPEAKER_01: Or if you're a dragon, you just fly over it.
49:46
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
49:47
SPEAKER_01: Or that.
49:48
SPEAKER_00: Also, we kind of followed the same train of thought that.
49:51
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, like I was just thinking, well, it's just Skyrim, you just climbed the mountain.
49:54
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
49:55
SPEAKER_01: I'm glad you realized I was talking about Skyrim.
49:58
SPEAKER_01: So I guess it wouldn't be too chill to be a dragon in Skyrim, but whatever.
50:03
SPEAKER_01: Um, they also have common powers in psychokinesis in these sciences, disintegrate, molecular rearrangement, and telekinesis, and the psychokinesis devotions of animate shadow, control light, molecular manipul manipulation, excuse me, and soften.
50:20
SPEAKER_01: Um disintegrate is exactly what it sounds like.
50:23
SPEAKER_01: Okay, I was thinking.
50:24
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's it's disintegrate.
50:26
SPEAKER_01: Um, and uh animate shadow is exactly what you think it is.
50:31
SPEAKER_01: It's just shadow puppets, and uh control light is exactly what you think it is.
50:36
SPEAKER_01: Uh we already talked about molecular manipulation and softness.
50:39
SPEAKER_01: Uh molecular rearrangement is described as the psionic equivalent to alchemy.
50:44
SPEAKER_01: Ooh.
50:47
SPEAKER_01: Um nice.
50:48
SPEAKER_01: They cannot create or destroy mass, uh, you know.
50:52
SPEAKER_01: Right.
50:53
SPEAKER_01: Uh oh, what's the what's the full metal equivalent to exchange?
50:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
50:58
SPEAKER_01: All uh, you know, all I don't know the laws from I don't I can't recite it like I can't either.
51:04
SPEAKER_01: I used I'm sure I used to be able to, because I'm a fucking nerd.
51:08
SPEAKER_02: But I I do know like the law of equivalence exchange and um Yeah.
51:13
SPEAKER_01: All things have a price.
51:15
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so that's the vibe.
51:17
SPEAKER_01: It's very much the vibe.
51:18
SPEAKER_01: There's a whole there was a whole big paragraph underneath that.
51:21
SPEAKER_01: So these dragons can do alchemy, which is great.
51:25
SPEAKER_01: Uh their primary discipline of psychoportation, they can have all of these sciences and all of the disciplines as common powers.
51:34
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
51:35
SPEAKER_01: Because we're we're getting into the high level, the b the big boys.
51:38
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
51:39
SPEAKER_01: And also, psychoportation can be used to travel to another time or plane.
51:43
SPEAKER_01: Cool.
51:44
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
51:45
SPEAKER_01: Um, and this remains their primary discipline into third edition.
51:51
SPEAKER_01: So, uh, sapphire dragons are highly territorial and consider many other inhabitants of the underground in which they live to be their enemies, like the drought, the aboliths, etc., deep dragons, etc.
52:03
SPEAKER_01: Um, they don't tend to entertain conversation unless it revolves around military strategy, which they are particularly interested in and consider themselves to be experts on.
52:12
SPEAKER_01: Because they are dragons.
52:14
SPEAKER_01: At the end of the day, they're full of themselves.
52:17
SPEAKER_01: And they also enjoy being challenged to games of strategy.
52:21
SPEAKER_01: And it's stated that in such games it's dangerous to let the dragon lose, because again, they're dragons.
52:26
SPEAKER_01: At the end of the day, they're big piss babies.
52:29
SPEAKER_01: They're big piss babies who are full of themselves.
52:31
SPEAKER_00: They're just big piss babies.
52:33
SPEAKER_01: Mm-hmm.
52:34
SPEAKER_01: Uh they often dwell in the elemental plane of Earth, if not deep underground in the prime.
52:39
SPEAKER_01: Uh, their layers are large with treasures and trophies of former enemies spread throughout in a decorative manner.
52:45
SPEAKER_01: They keep trophies.
52:47
SPEAKER_01: Like, what how?
52:49
SPEAKER_01: Do they get them stuffed?
52:51
SPEAKER_01: Like, they literally gave examples of uh drow and aboleth trophies.
52:56
SPEAKER_01: Like, imagine just someone having an abolith up on their wall, like people have fucking swordfish.
53:00
SPEAKER_00: Maybe they dehydrate them.
53:02
SPEAKER_01: They call their topaz dragon friends to dehydrate.
53:05
SPEAKER_00: Like, hey, I need you to do this for me.
53:07
SPEAKER_00: It's like the taxidermy of the dragon world.
53:09
SPEAKER_01: Or they just go to an actual taxidermist.
53:11
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
53:12
SPEAKER_01: They go to an actual taxidermist, like a human taxidermist with um like an abolith, and they're like, hey.
53:19
SPEAKER_01: You know, I need you to do something for me, or I will actually eat.
53:22
SPEAKER_02: I feel like at a certain point you start building this relationship, and you're like, you know, you're really the only human I trust, man.
53:30
SPEAKER_02: Thank you for doing this for me.
53:32
SPEAKER_01: And then they eat them.
53:33
SPEAKER_02: Oh.
53:35
SPEAKER_01: And I'm kidding.
53:36
SPEAKER_01: And then the human's like, hey, do you want to play some pie show?
53:40
SPEAKER_01: And then they then they eat them because they lost.
53:42
SPEAKER_01: I don't know why pie show was the first game I thought of.
53:45
SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure either, but I'm okay with that.
53:47
SPEAKER_01: Sure.
53:47
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
53:48
SPEAKER_01: Um, also, another fun tidbit about their layers is that they have a particular love of giant spiders as cuisine.
53:57
SPEAKER_01: So they sometimes allow giant spiders to live and reproduce in certain areas of their layer to serve as snacks.
54:06
SPEAKER_02: Which is hilarious to me for some reason.
54:08
SPEAKER_02: No, I mean it's pretty fucking great, honestly.
54:12
SPEAKER_01: Like, oh, like, hey, this is my pantry, and it's just a bunch of spiders.
54:19
SPEAKER_01: Fuck.
54:20
SPEAKER_01: So finally, we're gonna talk about the last of the type of gem dragons that we're gonna talk about today, which is amethyst dragons.
54:28
SPEAKER_01: Ooh, that is my breathstone.
54:30
SPEAKER_01: I just realized I'm wearing an amethyst bracelet.
54:33
SPEAKER_00: Amethyst dragon.
54:34
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
54:35
SPEAKER_01: So uh they're very pretty.
54:38
SPEAKER_01: First, I'm going to read the entire section about amethyst dragons from the original dragon article.
54:42
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
54:43
SPEAKER_01: Um, buckle up.
54:44
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
54:44
SPEAKER_01: Quote Amethyst dragons love to dwell near isolated highland terns.
54:50
SPEAKER_01: Tarns?
54:50
SPEAKER_01: Twice per day, the amethyst dragon can shriek with the same effects as a banshee.
54:55
SPEAKER_01: Amethyst dragons are a sparkling lavender in color.
54:58
SPEAKER_01: End quote.
54:58
SPEAKER_01: That's the entire section.
55:00
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I was Yeah, I was you were you were actually buckling up for it to be long.
55:04
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I was excited.
55:08
SPEAKER_01: No, um, I mean, there was a chart earlier on that had all their numbers and stuff, but that's their descriptive section, which was like sparse.
55:16
SPEAKER_01: It was uh also quite a bit shorter than all the other ones.
55:19
SPEAKER_01: So, well, it was funny.
55:21
SPEAKER_01: As you went on in the article, they got shorter, which I thought was funny.
55:25
SPEAKER_01: They like this guy losing steam.
55:27
SPEAKER_01: Like this guy losing steam.
55:28
SPEAKER_01: He's like, fuck, fucking amethysts, uh, lavender.
55:32
SPEAKER_01: Okay, I'm done.
55:34
SPEAKER_01: That's that's that's a joke.
55:35
SPEAKER_01: I don't know what what his thought process was.
55:37
SPEAKER_01: I just thought it was funny.
55:38
SPEAKER_01: It is funny, regardless.
55:41
SPEAKER_01: So, um, in later iterations, amethyst dragons are described as having a lavender hide with scales that darken and grow more crystalline as they age.
55:49
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
55:50
SPEAKER_01: In Advanced Dungeons of Dragons, second edition, they live near isolated lakes, sometimes underground.
55:55
SPEAKER_01: And in third edition, they live in large underground caverns, often in the plain of Earth, and they are always neutral.
56:03
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, just neutral.
56:04
SPEAKER_01: So we had our chaotic neutrals, we have our lawful neutrals, and now we have the true neutral gem dragons.
56:10
SPEAKER_01: Right, right.
56:11
SPEAKER_01: So um in Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2, their breath weapon is described as a violent lozenge, which I didn't realize could also mean a rhombus or diamond shape, which is apparently an alternate definition of it.
56:25
SPEAKER_01: I thought it was just uh throw lozenge.
56:27
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, same.
56:28
SPEAKER_01: So um, there's your new word, word of the day.
56:32
SPEAKER_01: Lozenge, but the other one.
56:33
SPEAKER_01: Lozenge, but not uh, you know, a cough drop.
56:37
SPEAKER_01: Um, so it is described as a violet lozenge that explodes into kind of like these, it's like shrapnel kind of.
56:46
SPEAKER_01: Um, and can paralyze or knock enemies unconscious.
56:50
SPEAKER_01: Oh boy.
56:52
SPEAKER_01: Um, so again, with the broken breath weapons, but they don't really lose it because this was later changed to be an additional power that they have in third edition, and their breath weapon is described simply as a line of concussive force that can like knock you prone.
57:08
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
57:09
SPEAKER_01: So they still kind of have it.
57:10
SPEAKER_01: It's just not their breath weapon.
57:12
SPEAKER_00: We all know that concussive force can actually cause major damage.
57:15
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
57:16
SPEAKER_01: Like it look yeah, like in real life.
57:18
SPEAKER_01: Huh.
57:18
SPEAKER_01: Huh.
57:19
SPEAKER_01: Weird.
57:19
SPEAKER_01: What do you think?
57:20
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
57:21
SPEAKER_01: So they, since these are like the top-tier ones, um, they have way too many common psionic powers to talk about all of them.
57:30
SPEAKER_01: But their favorite.
57:31
SPEAKER_01: So let's go with all of them.
57:32
SPEAKER_01: Yes, all of them.
57:33
SPEAKER_01: Their favorite discipline is that of psychokinesis, which they maintain in third edition.
57:39
SPEAKER_01: Um, they draw common powers from the psychokinesis discipline as well as psychometabolism, telepathy, and metasionics.
57:48
SPEAKER_01: What?
57:49
SPEAKER_01: Metasionic okay.
57:50
SPEAKER_01: I I found it very interesting to learn about all of these disciplines, which I feel like at this point we have actually talked about all six of them that are in second edition.
57:59
SPEAKER_01: Um, Metasionics does not exist in third edition.
58:03
SPEAKER_01: It was replaced with metacreativity, which is essentially the creation of new things with your brain.
58:09
SPEAKER_01: Meta psionic, like, Metascionics is insane.
58:12
SPEAKER_01: All these other disciplines are like the the vibe is the same.
58:16
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
58:16
SPEAKER_01: You know, brain stuff with with and and you feel the differences in each, like, it doesn't just have a name slapped on it.
58:25
SPEAKER_01: Right.
58:26
SPEAKER_01: You know, like telepathy is is things that the the powers all relate to each other, psychometabolism, the powers all relate to each other.
58:33
SPEAKER_01: And then metasionics is just fucking cuckoo bananas.
58:36
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
58:36
SPEAKER_01: Like I was I was reading this and I was like, I was like thinking about my my my place in the universe.
58:44
SPEAKER_01: So um common powers in the metasionic uh discipline for amethyst dragons are the sciences of empower, psychic surgery, and ultra blast.
58:55
SPEAKER_01: The devotions magnify, psionic sense, and power, and psychic drain, excuse me.
59:01
SPEAKER_01: So empower allows the user to impart rudimentary intelligence and psionic power onto an object.
59:09
SPEAKER_01: What?
59:10
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
59:11
SPEAKER_01: Um you don't just animate it and make it move around.
59:15
SPEAKER_00: You make it intelligent, yes.
59:17
SPEAKER_00: And psionic.
59:18
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
59:18
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
59:19
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
59:20
SPEAKER_02: That's I need that performed on me.
59:25
SPEAKER_01: Like my brain is the only the only thing that it would it would give you is psionic powers.
59:30
SPEAKER_01: You're already intelligent and functional.
59:32
SPEAKER_01: Well, I don't know about the second one.
59:34
SPEAKER_01: I love you.
59:34
SPEAKER_01: You're intelligent you're intelligent and functional.
59:37
SPEAKER_01: You don't need psychic powers.
59:38
SPEAKER_01: I do need psychic powers.
59:40
SPEAKER_01: Um psychic surgery allows the user to repair psychic damage in a target or even themselves in some circumstances.
59:47
SPEAKER_02: Okay, Travis and I went up went on a joint face journey when she said uh psych psychic surgery.
59:53
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I was really like my brain was stuck on that.
59:57
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
59:59
SPEAKER_01: And okay, it's not near as bad as I was thinking, but um, so and this I thought this was really interesting because this is again kind of that left of center of magic things that I was talking about.
1:00:12
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:00:13
SPEAKER_01: Um, earlier.
1:00:15
SPEAKER_01: Because it this the things that can be repaired with psychic surgery are described as like real things, like phobias, comas, um, brain damage, uh, that kind of thing.
1:00:28
SPEAKER_01: Oh, okay.
1:00:28
SPEAKER_01: It's and not magical effects like charm, gases, things like that.
1:00:33
SPEAKER_00: Oh, still is big and powerful as I initially thought then.
1:00:39
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
1:00:40
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so you can yeah.
1:00:42
SPEAKER_01: So it yeah.
1:00:44
SPEAKER_01: Well, that's so emethysis dragons are also brain surgeons.
1:00:48
SPEAKER_01: Cool.
1:00:49
SPEAKER_02: That can per that can get rid of trauma.
1:00:52
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:00:52
unknown: Yeah.
1:00:54
SPEAKER_00: Something that should be permanent.
1:00:55
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:00:56
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, right.
1:00:57
SPEAKER_01: Um, so not only can they get rid of it, um, Ultra Blast damages psyches within range, causing psionics to potentially lose their powers.
1:01:06
SPEAKER_01: Oh.
1:01:06
SPEAKER_01: And the quote from this is it said that the affected quote may never be the same again.
1:01:12
SPEAKER_01: So they can also inflict trauma.
1:01:15
SPEAKER_01: They can also inflict that kind of damage with this ability.
1:01:19
SPEAKER_00: Oh, God.
1:01:20
SPEAKER_01: And keep in mind, these are only their common powers in this discipline.
1:01:24
SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of there's things other things you can do within this discipline.
1:01:28
SPEAKER_01: Um, which to the credit of the people who wrote Metasionics, it is described as being the most advanced and demanding both physically and also in training and focus of the disciplines.
1:01:43
SPEAKER_01: So it's like, this is some crazy shit, but this isn't entry-level shit.
1:01:47
SPEAKER_02: This is like as crazy as it gets, pretty much.
1:01:49
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, this is the top tier.
1:01:51
SPEAKER_01: This is your ninth, tenth, eleventh, twelfth Carsus' Avatar level spells.
1:01:55
SPEAKER_00: And then there's like, you know, probably three beings in the entire universe that know how to do it.
1:02:02
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and they're all and they're all amethyst dragons and Sardior.
1:02:05
SPEAKER_01: Um, so uh Magnify, which we get into the devotions now, allows the user to increase all attributes of a particular power, range, duration, etc.
1:02:15
SPEAKER_01: Right.
1:02:16
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:02:17
SPEAKER_01: Um and psychic drain allows the user to drain psionic power from others within range.
1:02:26
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
1:02:27
SPEAKER_01: And psionic senses exactly.
1:02:29
SPEAKER_01: It's detect magic before psionics.
1:02:31
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
1:02:31
SPEAKER_00: You just detect psionics.
1:02:33
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you just detect psionic activity within a specific range.
1:02:36
SPEAKER_01: So yeah.
1:02:38
SPEAKER_01: So um, yeah.
1:02:40
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:02:41
SPEAKER_01: It gets pretty bad shit.
1:02:43
SPEAKER_00: I don't think a tinfoil hat is gonna save you on this one.
1:02:48
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so um, they they get they get pretty insane.
1:02:52
SPEAKER_01: So they they really seem to.
1:02:54
SPEAKER_01: So Metasionics does not exist in that way in third edition, but I had to talk about it because that's crazy.
1:03:00
SPEAKER_01: That isn't they have an ability called psychic surgery.
1:03:04
SPEAKER_02: Come on.
1:03:05
SPEAKER_02: Uh man, I don't know how if I am like sad that it's gone or happy.
1:03:11
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, right.
1:03:12
SPEAKER_01: Both.
1:03:12
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
1:03:13
SPEAKER_01: Oh god.
1:03:14
SPEAKER_02: Which I imagine a lot of players and DMs felt that way as like DD progressed while they were playing.
1:03:22
SPEAKER_01: Mm-hmm, for sure.
1:03:24
SPEAKER_01: Like, they like read that and they were like, this is too much.
1:03:27
SPEAKER_00: And this is there's just too much here.
1:03:28
SPEAKER_01: This is this is too much.
1:03:30
SPEAKER_01: Now bear in mind this was an advanced edge of the dragon second edition, so this is still pretty, pretty early.
1:03:35
SPEAKER_01: Um so uh amethyst dragons are wise and regal, which is good that they're wise since they can gain the ability to literally destroy somebody's mind.
1:03:45
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:03:45
SPEAKER_01: Um, they better use that power wisely.
1:03:48
SPEAKER_01: Um, they view the squabbles between good and evil and law and chaos as petty and sometimes act as intermediaries in conflicts between other dragons or humanoids or entire humanoid civilizations.
1:03:59
SPEAKER_01: I love them.
1:04:00
SPEAKER_01: Right.
1:04:02
SPEAKER_01: They're very uh I don't I can't think of a good word for it.
1:04:06
SPEAKER_01: Um they don't attempt to surprise or hide from anyone, instead fighting honorably if initial attempted conversation goes badly.
1:04:15
SPEAKER_01: Right.
1:04:15
SPEAKER_01: Um they consider fleeing to be dishonorable, but will do so if their life is threatened.
1:04:20
SPEAKER_01: So they're very um like they're very straightforward, very principled.
1:04:26
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
1:04:26
SPEAKER_01: Um, which is good because they can literally destroy your mind.
1:04:30
SPEAKER_01: So which to be fair, the the implications of Ultra Blast did seem to mostly revolve around other psionics.
1:04:38
SPEAKER_01: But like when it says those affected, quote, may never be the same, end quote, like that's some that's some shit right there.
1:04:46
SPEAKER_01: That is some shit.
1:04:47
SPEAKER_00: Like you know, there's some pretty intense uh stuff going on.
1:04:52
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like going on behind the scenes there.
1:04:54
SPEAKER_00: There's some pretty intense repercussions from that.
1:04:58
SPEAKER_01: So that is all I have about the primary um the the quote true gem dragons, because sadly, they have not been included since third edition.
1:05:10
SPEAKER_01: Um and I didn't Wizards of the Coast.
1:05:13
SPEAKER_01: Please.
1:05:14
SPEAKER_01: So uh because I I think and I didn't look too much into this because even though this accidentally turned into a psionic sidebar, this was not the psionic episode.
1:05:23
SPEAKER_01: Um, but apparently psionics haven't been included since 3.5, I think.
1:05:28
SPEAKER_01: I believe so, yeah.
1:05:30
SPEAKER_00: And they are currently running a beta test for psionics for a fifth edition.
1:05:35
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so I'm hoping that maybe once they get that sorted out, we would have gem dragons again.
1:05:41
SPEAKER_01: Because like it's it's nice to have the neutral dragons.
1:05:45
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and it's it's also such a big part of kind of their whole thing that if you just like like an amethyst dragon would just be a deep dragon.
1:05:55
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:05:56
SPEAKER_01: That you know is nicer.
1:05:58
SPEAKER_00: Like I I feel I feel like if they're going to reintroduce the gym dragons again, they're first gonna sort out really need to do that.
1:06:08
SPEAKER_01: And like psionics is complicated.
1:06:10
SPEAKER_01: Like, I I was just summarizing some of what these abilities do because I think they're interesting and I wanted to talk about the different disciplines.
1:06:18
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
1:06:18
SPEAKER_01: Um, just to give like an overview.
1:06:20
SPEAKER_01: But there's like there's a lot of equations, there's a lot of and also bear bear in mind that these things I'm talking about tend to have more and there's also a lot of differences between how it is presented in Advanced Dungeons Dragons second edition, how fast can I say that, and like third edition, because in third edition to me it feels a lot more like magic but slightly different.
1:06:41
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
1:06:42
SPEAKER_01: Whereas in second edition, it does feel like its own very, very different discipline.
1:06:47
SPEAKER_01: Um, but but there's a lot more about it that is different to magic in that it is very physically strenuous.
1:06:56
SPEAKER_01: Right.
1:06:56
SPEAKER_01: Um, and there's also limitations on like your character's alignment that come into play, um, that sort of thing.
1:07:04
SPEAKER_01: So it it's it's different too, but I just wanted to kind of talk about the different disciplines and some of the abilities to give everyone a a baseline.
1:07:13
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, a vibe that is more than just like it's psychic powers.
1:07:16
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:07:18
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it it was definitely necessary to talk about if we were going to talk about gem dragons.
1:07:23
SPEAKER_01: And also, these are not even the most powerful examples of gem dragons because I did not even get much into their god, Sardi or the Ruby Dragon.
1:07:34
SPEAKER_01: Right.
1:07:34
SPEAKER_01: Um, and his five I forget what they're called.
1:07:37
SPEAKER_01: They're they're basically like Bahamut's Exarchs, um, you know, the five companions for Talicid.
1:07:44
SPEAKER_01: There were five more, right?
1:07:45
SPEAKER_01: Talisid and the five companions?
1:07:47
SPEAKER_02: I want to say five, but honestly, any number you had thrown at me probably would have I would have agreed with.
1:07:52
SPEAKER_02: 69.
1:07:53
SPEAKER_01: Talicid did have some 69 companions.
1:07:57
SPEAKER_01: Anyway, but but they're like Bahamut's Exarchs.
1:07:59
SPEAKER_01: Right, okay.
1:08:00
SPEAKER_01: So um, you know, I feel like if I include them, I could make an episode about Sardior and his friends.
1:08:05
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I really think that you should.
1:08:07
SPEAKER_01: So there's more gem dragons, and there's more psionics.
1:08:12
SPEAKER_02: And there also needs to be a psionic episode.
1:08:16
SPEAKER_02: One of these days, one of us has to bite the bullet.
1:08:18
SPEAKER_01: One of these days it'll happen.
1:08:20
SPEAKER_01: No, what it would have to be is we would have to like video record because we would have to have like a whiteboard where we like write all the equations.
1:08:29
SPEAKER_01: Our first video episode.
1:08:31
SPEAKER_01: Oh, Jesus.
1:08:32
SPEAKER_01: Oh, we don't promise that we're ever.
1:08:33
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, no.
1:08:35
SPEAKER_01: But if we did do a video episode, like that's how we would have to really do psionics.
1:08:39
SPEAKER_01: Or we would have to be like, go to like follow this link while you listen to the episode so you can see all the equations.
1:08:47
SPEAKER_00: Um and just to correct myself, so the current thing that is in playtest is the psionic soul, which is a part of the sorcerer class.
1:08:58
SPEAKER_00: Right.
1:08:59
SPEAKER_00: So they're adding psionics to the sorcerer as a variation.
1:09:04
SPEAKER_00: Variation.
1:09:06
SPEAKER_01: Um sorceress bloodline.
1:09:08
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
1:09:09
SPEAKER_01: I have feelings about that.
1:09:11
SPEAKER_00: Um So the Psionic isn't currently its own class, it is just a bloodline of the sorcerer.
1:09:18
SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay, okay.
1:09:19
SPEAKER_02: So it looks like uh Wizards of the Coast is playing with introduce reintroducing psionics.
1:09:26
SPEAKER_00: Yes, that is actually exactly what they're doing, is they're introducing this playtest to get feedback and information and to try to design psionics to the game rules of fifth edition.
1:09:38
SPEAKER_01: I will say, I do feel like that is several steps away from psionic dragons, but but maybe it's good that it's good that they're at least interested in reintroducing it because I personally found it really interesting.
1:09:50
SPEAKER_01: And like, you know, maybe maybe given time I could parse all of it, but I just kind of like I wanted to talk about gem dragons, and I didn't realize that I was gonna get so into psionics, and so this was this was pretty cool for me, like to research.
1:10:07
SPEAKER_01: So I hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed researching it.
1:10:11
SPEAKER_01: I I really did.
1:10:12
SPEAKER_00: It was definitely interesting, and it was really good to hear more information about psionics because I mean we haven't talked about it, and the little bit that I researched fried my brain.
1:10:23
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I hope you guys enjoyed hearing me say the prefixes Claire and Psycho over and over again.
1:10:28
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:10:28
SPEAKER_01: Because that's what that was.
1:10:30
SPEAKER_02: Um and honestly, I'm curious to any of our listeners who have played um editions with psionics and have specifically played psionics, how do you guys feel about it?
1:10:41
SPEAKER_02: Are you do you want it back in like fifth edition?
1:10:45
SPEAKER_02: What what's your what's your take, especially DMs?
1:10:47
SPEAKER_01: What's your secret on how to parse it?
1:10:49
SPEAKER_01: Also that.
1:10:51
SPEAKER_01: But but uh yeah, if if you have feelings about that, feelings and opinions and thoughts, we would love to hear them.
1:10:59
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you can tweet us or email us.
1:11:02
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:11:02
SPEAKER_02: And just tell us how you feel.
1:11:04
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
1:11:05
SPEAKER_02: Uh that email, by the way, is dungeonpedia.podcast at gmail.com.
1:11:10
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:11:10
SPEAKER_00: Uh thank you everyone for listening to the Gym Dragons.
1:11:14
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:11:15
SPEAKER_00: And psionic sidebar.
1:11:17
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:11:18
SPEAKER_00: Um, don't forget to, you know, do all the lovely following us on all of our social medias.
1:11:26
SPEAKER_00: Spread the word to your friends, you know, all of that lovely stuff.
1:11:29
SPEAKER_00: Also, don't forget Metallic Dice Games.
1:11:31
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1:11:34
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1:11:34
SPEAKER_00: We uh still have that discount code.
1:11:36
SPEAKER_00: It's still running.
1:11:37
SPEAKER_00: So if you need some more dice or you always do.
1:11:40
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1:11:41
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1:11:42
SPEAKER_00: But if you need anything else, check their website and uh use our discount code.
1:11:46
SPEAKER_00: We would greatly appreciate that as well.
1:11:48
SPEAKER_02: Thank you guys once again for listening, and we're gonna catch you next week with another episode here on Dungeon Pedia.
1:11:57
SPEAKER_01: Jake Dragons, Jacynth Dragons, Moonstone Dragons, there's so many.
1:12:03
SPEAKER_01: Oh my god, are there really all that are are those like real ones?
1:12:06
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, those are actual ones that I didn't like.
1:12:09
SPEAKER_01: I thought I had time to get to Sardior and all of them, and then psionics happened.