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So, is it worth $40? In a word, no, unless you're a total D&D dragon otaku. However, if you have cash to burn and/or the needed interest in dragons, there's some good, detailed material here, if a bit.. focused.
What do you get? Let's go over this a chapter at a time...
Chapter One is where the otaku vibe starts. We are talking tons of details on the physiology of the dragon, down to its bone structure, with detailed diagrams, including a highly detailed diagram of a dragon's eye. I don't know if they got this information from old "Ecology Of..." articles or if they made it up, but the level of detail is scary. We learn about the life cycle of the dragon, and we get all sorts of details regarding hatching and raising dragon eggs. Then we get a lot on how dragons move and fight, and a very interesting section on dragon psychology, including why dragons hoard (answer: because they like to, i.e. it's an instinct -- sort of a cop-out, if you asked me), and including a sample of the draconic language, complete with phrases like "Talk to the ugly elf" in Draconic. (I have to admit the dragonic language looks sort of silly to me -- think "generic fantasy elvish" with a lot of hissing added.)
And if this wasn't enough, we have a big section on draconic relgion, including a nod to Io, the draconic god from the old Council of Wyrms setting, as well as half a dozen other gods. And then, if THAT wasn't enough, we have detailed drawings of all the different dragons, outlining the differences between them, with detailed, naturalist-journal style illustrations! Very nice, but who needs all this detail? To a certain extent, it's contraining -- I'm not sure I want my players to think all red dragons look exactly the same, down the the shape of the scales on their face.
I admit to a bias towards "crunchy bits" in my generic D&D sourcebooks, so the real meat of the book, for me, starts in Chapter Two, aka "A DM's Guide to Dragons". This chapter features highly detailed dragon tactics, dragon-specific Feats (including some nasty Feats that make breath weapons even more deadly in various ways), dragon-oriented spells, dragon-specific magic items, and a host of draconic Prestige Classes -- in essence, everything you need to make a dragon more than "a big pile of hit points", as a friend of mine once put it. Very good stuff -- what player would not be terrified of a breath weapon which clings, doing damage for multiple rounds? Especially notable is the Dragon Ascendant prestige class, which allows a dragon to become a immortal paragon of dragonkind, i.e. an excellent Epic-level opponent and virtual demigod, and the Highcarved Dragon class, simply because I find the image of a monkish, mystical dragon with a hide covered in crude magickal tattoos to be a compelling one.
Of course, they're not going to up the potential power of dragons without giving the players some edge, and that comes in Chapter Three, "The Player's Perspective". This chapter features anti-dragon tactics and Feats that are useful against dragons and other extremely large creatures, as well as the "Dragon Cohort" feat and "Dragon Familiar" feat, allowing a player to get a "dragon of his own", as it were, not to mention Feats oriented toward serving dragons. There are many new spells as well, oriented toward defeating, serving, and emulating dragons. (I particularly like Flight of the Dragon, which gives you dragon wings.)
This is followed up by a section on making armor out of dragonhide, as well as a group of magic items aimed at defeating, controlling, and/or emulating dragons -- I'm sure you're seeing the theme by now. The Prestige Classes follow the same pattern -- some are oriented toward serving or emulating dragons, and of course there is Dragonrider class and, on the dragon-killing end of things, there is the Dragonslayer class. In general, the stuff in here appeals to both the dragon otaku and the person who wants to kill a dragon -- it doesn't quite make up for the previous chapter, but it certainly give a PC more of a fighting chance, if only by turning collaborator in some cases.
The final section of Chapter Three outlines the pros and cons of having a dragon attached to an adventuring party, as well as rules for Dragon cohorts (through the Leadership feat) and Dragons as player characters, complete with ECLs for all the dragons, even the gem dragons and the oriental dragons. Most notable in the "dragons as PCs" section is the mention of playing a dragon-kindred and a dragon as a pair of PCs, as a nod to the style of play set forth in Council of Wyrms.
Chapter Four is a monsters chapter. We get all sorts of new dragons and near-dragons, including the 3.5 stats for the fearsome Dracolich, not to mention D&D 3.5 stats for the fan favorite, the Faerie Dragon. 'Nuff said.
Chapter Five is a big section full of sample dragons of various ages, with several examples of all the major chromatic and metallic dragons, complete with mapped and diagrammed lairs in some cases. Each contains enough information about the dragon and its personality to spark plot seeds, such as Bruntutalephion, a copper dragon tired of his ongoing fued with several younger red dragons.
The book ends with a very interesting appendix on how to make dragon hoards more interesting, with more detail for the contents. This table could be useful in any large treasure hoard -- it's kinda neat to be able to roll up a highly valuable ivory chess set as a random treasure result. Plus, it has pre-made hoards for different Challenge Ratings, so you can outfit a dragon in a hurry if you need to.
The last two pages contain a final Appendix, which indexes all the dragons that exist for D&D 3E by the publication of the book, and where the dragons can be found (such as the fact the gem dragons are in the Monster Manual II).
Overall, the book is interesting and neat, but not essential -- and some of it, particularly the obsessive details on dragon physiology with detailed drawings and labeled diagrams, and to a lesser extent the hoard listings, cry out "filler" to me. It was worth having for free, but I doubt I would have paid $40 American for it, unless I was planning a very dragon-centric campaign.
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