Many people get confused all the time by how paladins don’t need a patron god to get their powers even though they use divine magic.
The idea was they channeled law and good itself. They were like Captain America, they would defy even their gods if they felt were wrong. However that brings up question why couldn’t other alignments channel such energy.
Well I propose an explanation that can be put in many generic settings.
While lawful good deities, demi-deities, spirits and semi-sapient concepts are in moral agreement on many things, there is still some politicking and differences of opinion that can keep them from being a unified front when acting on the material plane (each may also feel they better understand mortals than the others). They saw the need for unaffiliated nondenominational champions not beholden to any one sponsor.
To do this, they invented the paladins.
Working together they set up and regularly donate to channels and power reserves for champions of good that followed a code; or at least divine sparks that can activate so long as the host follows a predetermined code, if you prefer that sort of metaphysics.
(This also opens up the idea of a planar adventure where you help stop an incursion on “the paladin factory”)
Imitators/expansion of the program then could in-setting lead to the current version of paladins which can be of alignments other than lawful good, or at the very least swear on oaths other than the original concept. Even chaotic good individuals can hold a factory job/ cooperate long term.
I like to think of a meta-joke of original paladins code (of earlier editions) gave its drafters grief as much as it did roleplayers, as it was a compromise by many different entity’s setting up the program.
Lizardfolk sadly do not take well to cats or dogs and have banned cats in most communities. This is because bacteria harmful to birds and reptiles can be found growing around the claws of canids and felines: the increased risk of illness after being scratched has been noticed and the animals have are seen as unclean by lizardfolk communities
Adventurer lizardfolk, being weird like most adventurers of any species and with ready access to magical healing, may coo and fawn over cats and dogs just as the mammal races do.
Possibly of unnatural origin. Their own creation myths claim ancestry from black dragons, but few find this plausible.
Truly chaotic neutral. Love salt, the ocean itself cannot satisfy them. Patches of salt encrusted in slime that prevents from dissolving are scattered on their hides. No instinctual parental behavior, they’re honestly winging it when they have kids. Have an alkaline breath attack that that often forces black dragons to grudgingly tolerate their presences lest mutually assured destruction occurs, unless of course the Black Dragon determinedly finds a way to break the stalemate. Adults in Dragonlance 2e had the ability to cast acid-arrow three times a day,
Nasty and aggressive, often nihilistic, they lack the sadism to be called a truly evil race once one accounts for their carnivorous nature.
While not explicitly stated, the fact they can’t go on land and lay eggs hints their eggs are very unusual for dragons. Perhaps fishlike, or having other adaptations to survive in the ocean, such as gill-slits in the shell.
Sea Dragon
A shockingly mostly herbivorous evil tyrant of the ocean.
Said to be related to the Dragon turtle, though not as reasonable as the dragon turtle in the tolls they exact upon ships passing through their terrirtory.
How its related to the dragon turtle is puzzling, one’s a dragon another is a turtle? They also have very different diets. Possibly a race of turtles got themselves the honor of becoming dragon? There are tales of various fish becoming dragons and . This also supports the idea of some sages of dragons being a paraphyletic group biologically, tied together only by a shared list of magical traits that the cause spells to acknowledge “this is a dragon”. Dragon may be an objective category recognized by the fabric of reality itself.
As stated, their diet is not that of an apex predator, but more similar to that of a sea turtle, witch occassional additions more expected of a dragon upon a whim
They’re also basically aquaman to anything with scales.
Often live in underwater castles. Use steam breath as a weapon.
More dragons below
Amphi dragon
supposedly a hybrid of a green dragon and sea dragon, despite looking like neither and the two varieities, having little obvious reason to encounter each other. And they spit acid like black dragons.
They are covered in acid secreting warts that have a strong rotten-egg smell outside of water yet somehow don’t give them away to sealife.
These guys as written are even more antisocial than the brine and sea dragons. Like the sea dragons, if it weren’t for the genetic memory of dragons its doubtful they’d be able to speak given how the females give only a few days of parental care to their young.
Like many frog monsters, it has a biologically-inaccurate (for a frog at least, dragons can be like anything) chameleon-like tongue, but hilariously also possesses a camouflage ability.
So its a seagoing frog/chameleon dragon with vestigial wings, that scavenges on seabeds and attacks ships.
Honestly the only change I’d make is make them a bit more social and willing to share territory , because that color changing combined with vestigial wings allows for a lot of interesting intra-species body language.
In a setting where dragons don’t have inborn alignment, they could make I could see them running mercenary salvage buisnesses for wreckages.
from basic 2e Sea linnorm
“Sea linnorms are cold and vicious, viewing land dwellers as a threat to all marine life.”
One part I find very dubious got my gears turning
“Sea linnorms require little food. As herbivores, they eat primarily sea plants and are especially fond of dried seaweed, gathering it and placing it on rocky shores, then waiting for it to become its tastiest in the afternoon sun.” I’ll believe the seaweed, but its powers point more to an entity that evolved to hunt on land and escape into the water as needed. Its breath weapon of acidic cloud strangely doesn’t even work in water. Its hunting surface creatures. Its a sea creature getting its required protein almost entirely from land.
Unlike Sea dragons, they don’t have the ability to mind control fish and reptiles, but often have animals serving them nevertheless, as they can communicate with all sea life and thus come to arrangements.
I suspect they may have been created as a weapon in an ancient war by an underwater civilization, and they are continuing things even though the conflict is long over.
Tend to have not one singular hoard, but multiple scattered hoards in their territory, guarded by sea-life.
Like the amphi dragon, they are capable of changing color, but not from birth. At birth are transparent like many fish. They gain color changing ability as pigment develops.
From dragon magazine 134, one year before second edition Ad&D came out
The simply named aquatic dragon
Like the sea-elves, it can probably be argued to be an underdog in their biome compared to its terrestrial brethren (especially with later introduced dragons above). Despite having a mostly terrestrial build, they cannot survive long outside of water without magical aid as they cannot breath air, they can hold oxygen rich water in pouches of their body to sort of “hold their breath”.
Breath attack an powder that reacts with surrounding moisture in a delayed chemical reaction to produce electricity. Very likely they can develop spells to neutralize this, and thus extort others to quickly give in to their demands. Actually very likely given the fact they are weak to their own breath weapon which could be turned against them by a creative party.
They tend to be collectors of magical items, especially cursed ones that cause people to drown on dry land. Their lairs tend to have an air pocket chamber where the keep books and other loot not resistant to water.
Catching them when asleep is tricky, because they often set up tripwires tied to their tails to alert them of intruders.
Also that is a nasty looking thagomizer
Icthyodrake,
A fully aquatic true dragon with a supposedly completely animalistic mind. None are known to cast spells Basically a mosasaur with gills and a sonic blast. Vibrates fins to attract prey, but could easily see it doing so as a way to communicate with symbiotes considering how often teamups appear in ocean ecologies.
However, its favorite food appears to be other apex predator vertebrates.
Normally ignore ships and people unless starving, which means if its attacking you might have a plot hook. Might also be befriendable by rangers.
When you want something in this world, you TAKE it. If anyone tells you it’s wrong, or tries to stop you, do it anyway. Because everyone who isn’t you is less important and doesn’t matter…Does that help?
Ardon, CE party member’s attempt to cheer up the party paladin
Monsters and Stuff 