Bones Dragons - What D&D size category are each of them in?

[LordJosh]

Deathsleet, DDS2, Narthrax, Nehyrmaul, Fire Dragon, Shadow Dragon, Ebonwrath, Jabberwock, Pathfinder Read, Young Fire Dragon, Kaladrax (and all the others not currently showing up with a search for "Bones Dragon", such as Velocithrax, Cinder, and Blightfang from the Second KS campaign).  What D&D/Pathfinder Size category are these?

 

I'm having a hard time guessing, and wanted other folks' opinions.

 

Also, if this has already been discussed, please send me a link, and we can lock this thread.

[Von Krieger]

Considering Kaladrax is the size of a small cat, I can safely say he clocks in at Colossal.

[chris_valera]

A 2-inch base is too small for Velocithrax, he needs a three, or even four inch base. I don't have the figure but the undead skeleton dragon from the first game needs a five or six inch base - there were issues in production that led to the figure being produced way larger than it should have been.

 

--Chris

www.chrisvalera.com

[Von Krieger]

http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/48723-nethermaul-cthulu-and-kaladrax-base-sizes/

 

This has some discussion of dragon base sizes.

[Lt. Coldfire]

Considering Kaladrax is the size of a small cat, I can safely say he clocks in at Colossal.

 Here's a great idea based on the cat comment:  use a litterbox as the base for Kaladrax!

[Von Krieger]

 

Considering Kaladrax is the size of a small cat, I can safely say he clocks in at Colossal.

 Here's a great idea based on the cat comment:  use a litterbox as the base for Kaladrax!

 

 

FOOLISH HUMAN, I HAVE NO NEED FOR A LITTER BOX, HAVING LONG SINCE DIVESTED MYSELF OF MUNDANE NEEDS LIKE SHOVELING DORITOS AND HOT POCKETS INTO MY MAW AND EXCRETING NEON ORANGE FAECES.

[Arikiel]

In D&D terms they seem to have gone with all the chromatics in "huge" size.

 

Deathsleet = White Dragon

Ebonwrath = Black Dragon

Blightfang = Green Dragon

Narthrax = Blue Dragon

Cinder = Red Dragon

 

You can certainly go with that and wait for dragons to cover the metallic dragons in Bone 3 maybe.

 

…………………...

 

Personally I'm going to switch it up a bit with different size categories rather then have them all be in the "huge" range. An Adult white dragon is only supposed to be "large" after all. This will also nicely cover the metallic dragons with what we have available now. Additionally in my personal campaign setting dragons only age up to adult size and then start taking class levels for further growth / development (Not that anyone cares).

 

Anyways! Taking all the adult sized "large" and "huge" dragons we end up with a total of 5 "larges" and 5 "huges".

 

"Large" Dragons: Fire Dragon, Pathfinder Dragon, Shadow Dragon, Silver Dragon, Young Fire Dragon (small end of "large").

"Huge" Dragons: Blightfang, Cinder, Deathsleet, Ebonwrath, Narthrax

 

If we then arrange all chromatics and metallics by size we get the following.

 

Dragons by Size: White, Brass, Black, Copper, Green, Bronze, Blue, Silver, Red, Gold

 

Then by appearance I'll match up the first batch of five (white-green) with the "larges" and the second batch five (bronze-gold) with the "huges".

Which gives me the following.

 

Larges

White (Young Fire Dragon): By far the smallest this one also has very obviously white physical features.

Brass (Pathfinder Dragon): This was pretty much the remainder after matching up everything else. :/

Black (Shadow Dragon): The most aquatic looking of the "larges". See Ebonwrath below for further details.

Copper (Silver Dragon): Has a wing pattern that is somewhat reminiscent of D&D metallic dragons. :)

Green (Fire Dragon): Within the "large" grouping this one definitely has a greenish feel to me.

 

Huges

Bronze (Blightfang): This sculpt has the most aquatic look of any of the dragons by far.

Blue (Narthrax): This is the intended blue dragon and there's no reason to change that.

Silver (Deathsleet?): Has a rather white head. Will require a little bit of green stuff work.

Red (Cinder): This is the intended red dragon and there's no reason to change that.

Gold (Ebonwrath?): Has an obviously black head. Will swap heads with Shadow Dragon.

 

…………………...

 

As a further point of possible interest I'm going to blur the lines between chromatic and metallic dragons with a more unified color scheme, using Reaper's colored metal paints. The chromatics will have a metallic sheen and the metallics will fill in the missing (yellow/orange) end of the color wheel. Keep in mind with the following that the paint colors on the web site often look a bit different then they do in person.

 

Unifying Color Sequence

Silvered Grey: Honed Steel base (Stormy Grey recesses, Cloudy Grey highlights, Rainy Grey details)

Coppery Orange: Coppery Orange base (Harvest Brown recesses, Orange Brown highlights, Fire Orange details)

Golden Yellow: New Gold base (Chestnut Gold recesses, Palomino Gold highlights, Clear Yellow details)

Tarnished Bronze (Olive): Old Bronze base (Olive Shadow recesses, Olive Drab highlights, Worn Olive details)

Emerald Green: Emerald Green base (Forest Green recesses, Grass Green highlights, Jade Green details)

Sapphire Blue: Sparkling Blue base (Clear Blue recesses, Sapphire Blue highlights, Sky Blue details)

Amethyst Purple: Sparkling Amethyst base (Nightshade Purple recesses, Imperial Purple highlights, Amethyst Purple details)

Ruby Red: Ruby Red base (Deep Red recesses, Blood Red highlights, Clear Red details)

 

Ya… So to have a full color wheel my Black Dragons are going to be a dark purple. :p

That just leave the lesser true dragons (white & brass) that are going to fall outside of the main color sequence.

 

Pearl White: Pearl White base (Rainy Grey recesses, Pure White highlights, Misty Grey details)

Brassy Brown: metallic brown base* (Dark Highlights recesses?, Tanned Shadow highlights?, Tanned Highlights details?)

*I haven't gotten this metallic paint yet so I'm not sure which browns from the flesh range to use with it.

 

For dragon-kin (dracolisks and the like) I'm going to paint them flat neutral brown (without the metallic sheen of the true dragons).

Edited March 3, 2015 by Arikiel

[LordJosh]

This is outstanding, thank you!

[Verdugo]

Thank you Arikiel. Its obvious you know your dragons very well. Just one small comentary, I don’t think Narthrax is the most appropriated mini to use in place of a blue dragon, in my humble opinon that place belongs to Stormwing, but he doesn’t have a bones version yet, so let’s hope the next Kickstarter includes it.

[Sanael]

I've posted this before, deep in the annals of time, but I find it useful and hope others will, too, so i post it again here.

 

For the huge chromatics (Ebonwrath, Cinder, et al), Reaper's done us a pretty big solid. We can identify them pretty readily. For a lot of other dragons, by Reaper or other manufacturers, I wanted a pretty simple way to tell what was what.

 

I put together this set of measurements based on the D&D ppm dragons. My theory is that, what with muscles and poses and whatnot, it's hard to measure a dragon from snout to tail, so why not measure a constant? That constant for me is the cranium; presumably the head of any dragon is similar in size (if not shape) to that of another dragon of the same size category, regardless of species. So I took the D&Dppms available to me at the time and found this (I use a tailor's tape for these measurements, as it's flexible...you can also use a string to find the length of the head, then lay the marked string on a rigid rule):

 

Small White Dragon: 6mm skull

Medium Blue dragon: 10mm skull

Large red dragon: 17mm skull

Colossal Red Dragon: 80mm skull

 

Looking at the small, medium, large dragons, we see a pattern of roughly 2/3 increase per size category, so we can extrapolate the other sizes:

 

Small: 6mm

Medium: 10mm

Large: 17mm

Huge: ~29mm

Gargantuan: ~47mm

Colossal: 80mm

 

With that, I can measure the skull (cranium only, not including any horns or spines or frills) of any dragon mini I have from snout to the back of the head and have a reasonable idea what size category it will fit.

 

Now, it's important to keep in mind that D&D size categories, especially at Huge and larger, represent a range of sizes. There's a ~12mm difference between "Large" and "Huge" cranium measurements, and an ~18mm difference from "Huge" to "Gargantuan." If we assume the midpoint of the difference is the boundary, then any dragon with a cranium between 23 and 38mm is in the "Huge" range. This gives us my conclusion; this is the cranial size chart I use for my dragons now:

 

Small: 6-8mm

Medium: 8-13mm

Large: 14-22mm

Huge: 23-38mm

Gargantuan: 39-63mm

Colossal: 64mm+

 

Once we hit Gargantuan and Colossal, I typically use a round or oval base that looks good with the dragon: either 4" or 5" for Gargantuan, and 6" or larger for Colossal.

 

I hope this is of use to some of you!

 

[ub3r_n3rd]

Thank you Arikiel. Its obvious you know your dragons very well. Just one small comentary, I don’t think Narthrax is the most appropriated mini to use in place of a blue dragon, in my humble opinon that place belongs to Stormwing, but he doesn’t have a bones version yet, so let’s hope the next Kickstarter includes it.

 

I'd have to respectfully disagree with you about Narthrax being a blue.

 

Just check out Michael Proctor's (Clever Crow) official Reaper paint job on Narthrax and you'll see what I mean.

[LordJosh]

Oooh, that's a solid set of parameters, Sanael; many thanks.

 

Also, that blue painting of Narthrax is amazing.

[Arikiel]

Given the fact that they chose not to include Stormwing (the traditional blue) and instead put in Narthrax I've concluded that Narthax is meant to replace Stormwing as the new blue. Also Narthrax's tail strikes me as very blueish. When compared to the blue hatchling he has the most similar feel imo.

Edited March 4, 2015 by Arikiel

[dsmiles]

 

Thank you Arikiel. Its obvious you know your dragons very well. Just one small comentary, I don’t think Narthrax is the most appropriated mini to use in place of a blue dragon, in my humble opinon that place belongs to Stormwing, but he doesn’t have a bones version yet, so let’s hope the next Kickstarter includes it.

 

I'd have to respectfully disagree with you about Narthrax being a blue.

 

Just check out Michael Proctor's (Clever Crow) official Reaper paint job on Narthrax and you'll see what I mean.

 

Right. Also, during the KS I asked what type of dragon Narthrax was meant to represent, and was informed that he was closest to a Deep Dragon.

[Reaperbryan]

 

 

Thank you Arikiel. Its obvious you know your dragons very well. Just one small comentary, I don’t think Narthrax is the most appropriated mini to use in place of a blue dragon, in my humble opinon that place belongs to Stormwing, but he doesn’t have a bones version yet, so let’s hope the next Kickstarter includes it.

 

I'd have to respectfully disagree with you about Narthrax being a blue.

 

Just check out Michael Proctor's (Clever Crow) official Reaper paint job on Narthrax and you'll see what I mean.

 

Right. Also, during the KS I asked what type of dragon Narthrax was meant to represent, and was informed that he was closest to a Deep Dragon.

 

I do believe that was my response, and It's mostly personal opinion. Many deep Dragon variants look nothing like Narthrax.