Dragon	-	Monsters	-	Dragon #98
Treasure lust	Finding treasure	Contents of a hoard	Protecting the hoard	Role-playing dragons

There he lay, a vast red-golden
dragon, fast asleep. . . . Beneath him,
under all his limbs and his huge coiled
tail, and about him on all sides stretch-
ing away across the unseen floors, lay
countless piles of precious things, gold
wrought and unwrought, gems and
jewels, and silver red-stained in the
ruddy light. . . . Bilbo had heard tell and
sing of dragon-hoards before, but the
splendour, the lust, the glory of such
treasure had never yet come home to
him.
from  The Hobbit
by J. R. R. Tolkien

Dragons, as everyone knows, hoard
treasure. Their lairs are filled with magical
swords, silver rings, golden coins, and
brilliant gems. Wealth enough to support a
barony for years fills the caves of the winged
serpents. But why do dragons collect trea-
sure, and what do they do with it? How and
where do dragons get it? Are all hoards
alike in content? And how can dragons keep
their hoards safe from marauding adventur-
ers and thieves?

Treasure lust

. . . a certain Dragon . . . in its up-
land lair . . . kept guard over a treasure
in a huge funeral barrow, under which
ran a secret passage. Some man wander-
ing near that pagan hoard found his way
in and stole a great jewelled cup. When
the Worm awoke, the trouble began. . . .
it circled the barrow again and again,
burning with anger, but nobody was to
be seen in that deserted spot. Thirsty for
revenge, it repeatedly went back to the
mound to look for that precious cup.
from Beowulf
(David Wright, trans.)

By Western tradition, dragons have al-
ways symbolized violence and greed. They
may possess enormous mounds of treasure,
and they?ll defend their hoards with their
teeth, claws, and powers. But why? What
possible benefit does the average red dragon
get from sitting on a mountain of gold
pieces?

In modern times, we tend to rationalize
everything in scientific terms. One might
suppose that dragons keep their glittering
treasures because of a particular instinct to
do so, the same sort of instinctual affinity
for shiny objects that many other monsters
in fantasy games seem to have. This comes
off as a rather shallow excuse, even when
bolstered by the supposition that dragons,
like the Australian bowerbird, have mate-
finding rituals in which the males collect
brightly colored, shiny objects to attract
females. It is rather demeaning to suppose
that all of that gold serves the same purpose
that designer jeans or perfume serve some-
one hanging around in a singles? bar. It?s
also illogical as well; if dragons collected
treasure because it was shiny and pretty,
why wouldn?t they collect empty glass bot-
tles, stained-glass windows, or brightly-
colored quilts? Why wouldn?t they plant
flower beds outside their lairs or paint the
insides of their caves in garish, flourescent
colors? (Well, maybe they do; after all, this
is fantasy.) Besides, female dragons collect
treasure just as males do, or at least they do
in AD&D®and D&D®game worlds. And
who?s going to see all that shiny treasure if
it?s hidden in a dark cave?

It might be that dragons, being  extremely
egotistical, selfish, and power-conscious (as
well as power-hungry), measure status
among their own kind according to the
masses of treasure that each dragon has
stolen or discovered, much in the same way
we that measure status among ourselves by
the types of cars we drive or the sizes of our
bank accounts. For dragons (and us as
well), wealth means power and influence. A
dragon with a huge treasure hoard is as-
sumed to be mighty in body, dangerous in
battle, servant to none and ruler of all, and
deserving of even more treasure. A huge
mountain of gold serves as a warning to
other dragons as much as it does to hu-
mans, dwarves, and other ?lesser? crea-
tures. Dragons have no need to spend gold
(though it may come in handy for ransom-
ing their lives, as it did for the dragon in
J. R. R. Tolkien?s  Farmer Giles of Ham).
Treasure serves its own purpose simply by
existing and by being displayed as ostenta-
tiously as possible.

The treasure that dragons collect is con-
sidered to be of extremely high value by
many other creatures on their world, and
dragons are fully aware of this. In fact,
that?s why they collect the kinds of things
they do. It would be a good bet that if hu-
mans, elves, dwarves, and orcs thought that
dog sleds were valuable, dragon lairs would
be crammed with them. The more treasure
a certain dragon collects, the more powerful
it is assumed to be for having taken that
treasure by force from other beings, or for
having successfully defended it from the
depredations of others. Smaug of  The Hob-
bit destroyed an entire dwarven citadel and
much of the land around it in order to gain
the treasure under Lonely Mountain; with-
out question, he was one  tough dragon.

The good ?metallic? dragons of the
Monster Manual,  the Oriental dragons of
the FIEND FOLIO®Tome, and the heavily
magical dragons from  Monster Manual II
all share the same urge to collect treasure as
that of the most evil white, black, green,
blue, and red dragons. Only a few silver
and gold dragons have managed to free
themselves of the intense rivalry, greed, and
status-seeking that motivates all other dra-
gonkind. In the best and most benevolent
dragons, the treasure-hoarding urge is
satisfied in other ways, such as quests for
knowledge or the doing of great deeds.
Treasure, for such dragons, is often used to
purchase goods or is given away to those
who?ll use it to the eventual advantage of all
good beings (good dragons in particular, of
course).
It has been said that a pitched battle
between Tiamat and Bahamut would likely
result in the triumph of the Platinum
Dragon; but if both of them had their fol-
lowers fight it out instead, and if Tiamat got
one chance to bribe the forces of her neme-
sis, a far different outcome might result.
Treasure lust, for whatever reason, runs
deep within all dragons and their kin.

Finding treasure
So my grandfather?s halls became
full of armor and jewels and carvings
and cups. . . . Undoubtedly that was
what brought the dragon.
from  The Hobbit
by J. R. R. Tolkien

Dragons have a number of ways in which
they can amass their treasure hoards. Obvi-
ously, they can go out and steal it, bringing
it all back to their cavern homes. This
method has a number of disadvantages, not
the least of which is the trouble and effort
involved in transporting mounds of loose
gold pieces overland or by air across dis-
tances of tens or hundreds of miles.
Dragons are not usually capable of building
portable storage bins for the treasure they
collect, which would make them look much
like shoppers at a gigantic department store.

Nonetheless, a dragon on the wing that
sees something valuable and easy to carry
would probably not hesitate to snatch it up
and bring it back to its lair. If a wagonload
of precious silks and gems could be grasped
without spilling the contents, the dragon
could haul that away as well. Problems
occur when the dragon tries to grasp cursed
or very small items such as rings, so this
method would not be preferred. Many
dragons, upon seeing a small mass of trea-
sure that they know cannot be taken away
to their own lair, will purposefully destroy it
or bury it so that no one else may claim the
valuables.

Dragons may also extort treasure from
local baronies and kingdoms, threatening to
lay waste to the countryside unless a few
tons of gold are deposited outside their
caves once a year. Aquatic dragons such as
the dragon turtle and sea dragon (lung
wang) often arrange for tribute to be
dumped over the sides of any ships passing
through their waters; no reason exists why
land-going dragons cannot similarly extort
caravans or even small armies that pass
near their lairs.

If a dragon can force a small tribe or
village of humans or humanoids to serve it,
the creature could have its new helpers raid
the countryside and bring all the treasure
they can find back to its cave. More willing
allies of a dragon would do the same in
order to win its favor, and a dragon could
request payment for services (of a good or
evil nature) to be rendered in gold, gems, or
other precious things.

The dragon mentioned in Beowulf had
taken over a rich funeral barrow, and did
not have to fight anyone for possession of it.
Simply moving in and taking a readily
available tomb or treasure vault is another
option for treasure gathering, though this
would usually only happen when the dragon
was not picky about what sorts of treasure
its lair possesses.

Finally, a dragon could attack a castle,
citadel, or underground fortress which
houses a great deal of wealth, and could (if
lucky) gain all the riches therein for itself.
Because of the great danger involved in
attacking a fortified position, even for some-
thing as mighty as a dragon, only the
strongest of dragons will even consider
trying this. Smaug serves as a good example
of the possible failings of this approach,
because the takeover of Lonely Mountain
indirectly led to his death. If a dragon takes
something away, eventually someone will
want to take it all back again.

Contents of a hoard
. . . He entered the vault under the
barrow . . . [and] exultantly took stock
of the priceless jewels and gleaming gold
that littered the floor, and the wonderful
things hanging from the walls. Gazing
upon the den of the Worm, the old
night-flier, he perceived vessels standing
uncared-for, with their decorations drop-
ping off ? the drinking cups of some
bygone race; many a rusty old helmet
and many a cunningly twisted arm-
band. . . .
from  Beowulf
(David Wright, trans.)

One might question why it is necessary to
talk about the contents of a dragon's hoard,
since the Monster Manuals immediately tell
you that they usually have treasure type H,
sometimes with types S and T, etc. This is a
rather unimaginative approach, and DMs
who like to take a little time to add more
?atmosphere? to adventures may want to
consider ways in which they can tailor such
hoards to become more than a mountain of
coins.

A number of factors influence the con-
tents of the typical dragon?s treasure pile.
Rather than randomly rolling up a dragon?s
hoard from the treasure tables, it is sug-
gested that the DM create several hoards,
using the treasure tables and this article as
guidelines, and place them within the cam-
paign area in predetermined spots. Then a
series of adventures could be generated in
which low-level, characters would work their
way up to a point at which they can chal-
lenge one of the dragons in its lair ? hope-
fully with some degree of success.

Some of the most important consider-
ations involved in determining the contents
of a dragon?s hoard are given below.

Age:  The AD&D  Monster Manual  makes
it clear that young dragons will have
amassed very little treasure (if any), while
older ones may have extreme amounts of it.
Younger, smaller dragons, if they are col-
lecting treasure at random, have had little
chance to build up the kinds of fortunes that
older ones have. They are also less able to
attack major active treasure-storage areas,
such as dwarven kingdoms or wizard?s
towers, and they are less able to defend
whatever treasure they get from larger
beings. A young white dragon would only
be a nuisance at most to three or four frost
giants, who would probably kick the dragon
aside and take whatever they wished
from its hoard. Older and more experienced
dragons are less likely to be pushed around
and-have figured out better ways of hiding
or defending their treasures. The bigger the
dragon, the better able it is to take whatever
it wants.

Allies  and  enemies:  The allies and ene-
mies that live in the vicinity of a dragon?s
lair determine the source of much of the
material in some dragon hoards. A dragon
living near and bullying a tribe of kobolds
probably has some kobold-made jewelry
and coins in its possession, as well as what-
ever little monies the kobolds can scavenge
from the countryside to prevent the dragon
from eating them all. A dragon who can
raid caravan shipments from a dwarven
mine will obviously have a lot of gold in its
lair, as well as many dwarven-made weap-
ons, armors, and so forth. Tougher dragons
may have raided the lairs of other monsters,
killing or driving off the owners and pro-
ducing a mix of treasures inherited from
several lairs.

Regardless of where a dragon dwells, the
greatest enemy of a dragon is a thief.
Dragons usually have an exceptional aware-
ness of the entire contents of their treasure
hoards, sometimes down to the proverbial
last copper piece. The loss of any of this
treasure is always regarded as a threat that
must be eliminated immediately. The slave?s
theft of the jeweled cup in the Beowulf saga
and Bilbo?s theft of a similar item from
Smaug?s caverns in  The Hobbit  should both
serve as reminders of the possible outcome
of stealing from dragons. This point is
important in two respects. One, thieves
may inadvertently add to the treasure
hoards they sought to despoil (if they are
caught in the act by the dragons who own
the hoards). Two, dragons often try to find
some items of treasure that can be used to
better detect thieves and catch or slay them.
This. point is discussed in the section below
on ?power enchancement.?

Environment:  Dragons living near
swamps and marshes will probably not gain
the same kinds of treasure-that dragons
living on mountain tops or beside the ocean
would gain. The local environment, which
often determines what sorts of creatures live
in the vicinity and what sorts of things they
consider useful and valuable, has some
effect on the contents of a hoard. A white
dragon?s arctic lair is more likely to have a
cube of  frost resistance in it than a  ring of
water walking,  for example. Likewise, a
mist dragon is more likely to have a  ring of
water walking (no doubt owned at one time
by a sailor who tried to invade its cave).

One side note about white dragons: It
isn?t really logical that a dragon living in a
frozen wasteland would have magical-po-
tions in its hoard, since such liquids would
probably freeze and thereby become worth-
less. Treasure type S should be dropped
from the contents of white dragons? lairs,
and a few gems, substituted instead. White
dragons are the weakest of all dragonkind,
and this is well reflected in the relatively
poor hoards they collect. Besides, who has
money in the frozen wastelands? White
dragons are better off collecting dog sleds.

Intelligence:  The more intelligent a
dragon is, the more choosy it is about what
types of treasure it picks up. A smart
dragon goes for high-value items like gold,
platinum, gems, jewels, and magic items. A
dumb dragon is as happy with copper coins
as with gold ones, and probably wouldn?t
know a magic item if it got bit by one.
Items that can be used to better defend a
lair are more likely to turn up in a smart
dragon?s lair ? and, as one would expect,
such items are put to good use by the
dragon.

It is likely that more intelligent dragons
also seek out and capture magical items
which could be used against them, such as
dragon slayer swords. These items, if they
cannot be destroyed by the dragon finding
them, will certainly be hidden away in the
dragon?s lair where no one will be able to
recover and use them ?  especially not on
the dragon itself.

Power enhancement: Western and Orien-
tal dragons have varying powers, ranging
from the  fear  aura that almost all dragons
have to the specialized  scaly command
abilities of the Oriental ones. Magical items
that grant dragons extra powers that they
do not normally possess are treasured and
used by the more intelligent dragons (and
even a few of the dumber ones). Of course,
an item like a gem of seeing, which is not
especially useful to a dragon that can auto-
matically detect any invisible or hidden
beings near it, is still nice to have. You
might not think of collecting glasses if you
have perfect vision, but you might want to
have a pair of jewel-encrusted glasses once
worn by Elton John. Even if they are rela-
tively useless to the dragon (as swords
would be, compared to a dragon?s claws),
items that someone else considers valuable
are seen as valuable by a dragon as well,
and would tossed into its hoard.

<get image of Elton John>

Some good examples of items that
dragons might collect to supplement their
own powers include bags of holding, efreeti
bottles, ioun stones, medallions of ESP
(except for Oriental dragons, who can use
ESP naturally), periapts of wound closure,
and  stones of good luck. Dungeon Masters
should investigate the possibilities and give
the player characters something to think
about.

Those dragons capable of casting magical
spells, particularly those that can read and
can develop spell books, might desire more
spell books and scrolls to supplement their
own magical powers. Whether a dragon can
cast a spell from a scroll or use the magic of
a wand, staff, or rod is up to the DM, but
the possibility should not be overlooked.
Dragons who can polymorph themselves
into human form are likely to collect human
tools, weapons, armor, and so forth, in case
they wish to disguise themselves for some
mission. (Note that a red dragon with a 4th-
level spell could, with the right teacher,
learn to cast polymorph self).

Pre-existing hoards: Aside from stealing
from other civilized and monster-owned
hoards, dragons may move in and take over
already-existing treasure caches. Funeral
barrows generally contain the wealth of
dead kings and princes, and dwarven cav-
erns are rich in worked metals, especially
gold. Dragons could move in and destroy
the inhabitants of orc, giant, and ogre lairs
as well, thus gaining some very unusual
treasures.

Weakness compensation; Certain dragons
are more vulnerable to certain attack forms
than others, as noted in the Monster Man-
ual. Dragons recognize that anything they
can do to make themselves less vulnerable is
a step in the right direction, and the DM
may pick out a magic item that a dragon
with a weak spot may use to protect itself.

It is possible to graft special weaknesses
onto a dragon, such as a particular form of
insanity or phobia, a strong desire for a
certain type of item of treasure (imagine a
copper dragon who enjoys collecting copper
pieces, and has them arranged in coin-
collection form), or a disease that has weak-
ened or debilitated the dragon.

Once the DM has established a certain
dragon?s background, strengths, weak-
nesses, environment, and so forth, he can
look over the list of treasure that the Mon-
ster Manual gives as belonging to most
specimens of that type of dragon. The DM
should also reread the  DMG,  pp. 91-92, on
the placement of monetary treasures. In-
stead of just throwing in a pile of gold,
silver, and copper pieces, add variety to the
lair. Include a dozen or so old weapons (not
magical in nature), lots of strange bones,
some valuable furs, and anything else that
could potentially be of value that isn?t sim-
ple coinage. In one game I ran, the players
were handed a long list of all the items that
their characters uncovered after ransacking
one particular treasure hoard; no items
were identified as being magical unless the
characters checked for it. Many items ap-
peared to be useless upon first glance, but
were they? Maybe one of the assorted rocks
in the cave was a magical stone, or one of
the bones was a wand. The sorting and
identifying of treasure can prove to be as
great a challenge as the killing of the mon-
ster that guarded it.

Protecting the hoard
Cold gray light filtered into the room
through a crack in the ceiling, shining on
a large altar in the center of the circular
room. On the floor surrounding the altar
were masses of jewels, coins, and other
treasures of the dead city. The jewels did
not gleam. The gold did not glitter. The
dim light illuminated nothing ? nothing
except a black dragon perched on top of
the pedestal like some huge beast of prey.
from Dragons of Autumn Twilight
by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

Obviously, the first and foremost thing
that one must deal with when trying to
plunder a dragon?s hoard is the dragon
itself. And beyond the powers and abilities
already attributed to dragons in general (in
the AD&D rules), much may be done to
further ensure that puny humans, greedy
dwarves, and halfling thieves have no easy
time of it when they invade the lair.

Dungeon Masters who have access to a
copy of the Best of DRAGON® Magazine
Anthology, Vol. III, should look up Gregory
Rihn?s article on "Self defense for dragons."
A number of fascinating combat possibilities
are explored, such as giving dragons tail
lash, foot stomp, and wing buffet attacks.
He mentions the possibility of allowing
dragons to use the treasure they guard to
defend themselves and their hoards (which
is  further explored in the sections above)
and also urges the DM to determine (with-
out die-rolling) when dragons use their
breath weapons.

If a dragon is encountered outside  its lair,
the dragon could also elect to avoid direct
claw-to-sword combat, instead remaining
airborne while using its breath weapons on
ground targets, uprooting trees and boul-
ders and dropping them as aerial ?bombs,?
and using its powerful wings to stir up
blasts of wind to disorient or dust-blind
opponents before attacking with claws and
teeth. Who said dragons had to play fair?

Many other sneaky stratagems, in addi-
tion to the use of magical items mentioned
above, are another possibility. A dragon
with some wits about it might see the effec-
tiveness of digging a moat around its cave
lair, jamming sharpened logs into the earth
to discourage horsemen from attacking, or
setting up pit traps here and there; perhaps
all this work would be carried out by slaves
or allies. Dead-end tunnels, false leads and
clues, ambushing bands of minor monsters,
and well-armed guardians also do much to
keep a dragon alive and its treasures safe.

Role-playing dragons
Like a sword in sharpness but five
times the length of any sword, the point
of the dragon?s tail arched up scorpion-
wise over his mailed back. . . . Dryly
[the dragon] spoke: ?I strike no bar-
gains. I take. What have you to offer
that I cannot take from you when I
like? ?
from A Wizard of Earthsea
by Ursula K. LeGuin

Another very effective defense for
dragons, one that few Dungeon Masters
consider, is talking your way out. A dragon
is supposed to be very persuasive and dan-
gerous when conversing. What sorts of
things could a dragon tell you that would
keep you from attacking it? What if it of-
fered you a bribe, directions to another
treasure hoard, the name of some enemy
who was seeking you, or  the recipe for an
infallible love potion? It might be lying, but
then again, what if it isn?t? What if it can
tell jokes?

Dungeon Masters should try the talking
approach, especially if the dragon doesn?t
look like it will be able to stand up to the
party. Role-play the dragon as if it were
your most favored player character, plead-
ing for its life. Sure, the dragon can break
all of its promises later on and get revenge
on the party, but the party doesn?t need to
know this, right?

Ah, but who said a dragon must always
cringe and beg? Role-playing a dragon in a
forceful and effective manner often does
more to deter potential treasure-seekers
than any tricks or traps that a dragon could
set. During one game in which my player
characters were involved, the DM set up a
sudden encounter between our party?s
caravan and a red dragon, late at night.
The dragon, to our surprise, was able to
send out beams of light from its eyes wher-
ever it looked, rather like Smaug. Though
our characters had been going for their
sword hilts before then, we suddenly be-
came so intimidated that when the dragon
asked for some treasure from us, we gave it
all of our horses and our treasure, as well as
our best wishes ? and then we  ran.

Little surprises like this go a long way
toward making dragons as feared in the
game as they would be if they existed in real
life. Adventurers should give dragons a
healthy degree of respect. If any creatures
in a fantasy world deserve it, dragons cer-
tainly do. It makes taking their treasure all
the more exciting. II