Reading the recent Dragonewt Zombie thread, a thought has occurred to me. Leaving aside the issue of Dragonewt Skin Armor (which Greg has said in print he is not too fond of), what happens to dragonewts when they die?
It would make the most sense, to me, if their bodies did not hang around too long after they died. I think the presence of a major chunk of their former body _would_ be a problem for their reincarnation ability.
And Dream Dragons, admittedly different and more magical, though related, do fade after a number of years. So, it would seem that a dragonskin shield would be a problem. Yet I am sure such exist -- some sort of enchantment ought to be able to keep a piece of dragonbone (or dragonteeth, recalling Biturian Varosh's visit to troll town) from fading away.
What if dragonewts were the same? What if, when they died properly by commmitting utuma, what if their bodies just wen t"poof!" or something, and were not just ruined, but disappeared almost completely, leaving just a pile of ash or dust or slime or something? Wouldn't this make them cool foes -- your party comes upon dragonewts, and when the first one is slain in battle (which would count as an honorable death, IMO), it poofs into nothing! Wouldn't a real Gloranthan be freaked out by something like this?
As for Dragonewt Skin Armor, a special enchantment could be used to keep this from happening. Maybe the dragonewt doesn't poof right away, but fades out or decays at a much faster rate than dream dragons, say within a few days or so. Unless you can get that corpse to the local shaman and master armorer, your chances of magical armor are fading fast.
Just a suggestion, take it for what it's worth. I like it, though.
Stephen Martin
ilium_at_juno.com
- -----------------------------------------------The Book of Drastic Resolutions
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