D&D 4E White dragon paladin mount

My players have recently finished fighting a tribe of frost giants. The final battle included a frost giant jarl, a few guards and their white dragon pet. Since I made pretty clear with the descriptions that the dragon had been enslaved by the frost giants, the players decided to knock it out instead of killing it. Now the cavalier wants to get to use as his mount.

Since chromatic dragons are usually pretty evil, I want to come up with a feasible explanation for such a thing to happen. Bribes? Could the dragon gradually be convinced to change its ways and alignment? Maybe the dragon suffered "brain damage" during its captivity and acts differently from most other white dragons? What would be a reasonable explanation?

Mechanically it's fine since the cavalier would be getting a silver dragon steed in the next level anyway, the player just wants to reskin it to "redeemed white dragon", and I'd like to allow it since it seems like a cool idea, so I need a reasonable explanation for it.

Unless you had already described the enslaved dragon as evil, you could very easily have the dragon feel gratitude to being freed and agreeing to be a mount as repayment. White Dragons are typically more interested in survival then power due to living in such a harsh environment, and while they can be prideful like any dragon, they are not really schemers or overly ambitious. In truth, Whites are some of the easier dragons to justify as non-evil because of all this.

Make it little-e evil instead of capital-E Evil. It’s still a rapacious greedy animal, but it’s grateful for being saved and loyal to its new companion. Like a very ill tempered horse. (And as someone who grew up riding horses, I can tell you that some horses are ABSOLUTELY lower-case e evil!)

Chemo said:

...since it seems like a cool idea...

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I see what you did there!

Johnathan

@Chemo welcome to the boards.

There is always the classic 'albino' dragon mistaken for a white dragon. Dragon Magazine did this a few times with a red dragon mistaken for a white dragon. A bit of a gotcha, but it can work and always have been a silver dragon.

Perhaps it was reincarnated after dying and came back as a white dragon. It could have been about anything before dying and coming back.

Perhaps it has a long-term plan and agrees to serve the knight for 50 years and then steal his holy blade after he dies.

RoughCoronet0 said:

Unless you had already described the enslaved dragon as evil, you could very easily have the dragon feel gratitude to being freed and agreeing to be a mount as repayment. White Dragons are typically more interested in survival then power due to living in such a harsh environment, and while they can be prideful like any dragon, they are not really schemers or overly ambitious. In truth, Whites are some of the easier dragons to justify as non-evil because of all this.

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Well, they're described in the books as merciless and savage and that they eat people if they feel like it, that sounds pretty evil to me. Could a white dragon be turned to good eventually?

Joshua Randall said:

Make it little-e evil instead of capital-E Evil. It’s still a rapacious greedy animal, but it’s grateful for being saved and loyal to its new companion. Like a very ill tempered horse. (And as someone who grew up riding horses, I can tell you that some horses are ABSOLUTELY lower-case e evil!)

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So, like a naughty pet? But could he be turned to good eventually (the paladin's companion being evil permanently would be kinda ehhh)?

aco175 said:

@Chemo welcome to the boards.

There is always the classic 'albino' dragon mistaken for a white dragon. Dragon Magazine did this a few times with a red dragon mistaken for a white dragon. A bit of a gotcha, but it can work and always have been a silver dragon.

Perhaps it was reincarnated after dying and came back as a white dragon. It could have been about anything before dying and coming back.

Perhaps it has a long-term plan and agrees to serve the knight for 50 years and then steal his holy blade after he dies.

Click to expand...

Thanks!

Do reincarnated creatures even keep their memories?

Unless he dies in battle the paladin will not be dying anytime soon, the player is still undecided between demigod or undying warrior (he's fighter MC) as epic destiny, the dragon is supposed to be a long term companion.

aco175 said:

@Chemo welcome to the boards.

There is always the classic 'albino' dragon mistaken for a white dragon. Dragon Magazine did this a few times with a red dragon mistaken for a white dragon. A bit of a gotcha, but it can work and always have been a silver dragon.

Perhaps it was reincarnated after dying and came back as a white dragon. It could have been about anything before dying and coming back.

Perhaps it has a long-term plan and agrees to serve the knight for 50 years and then steal his holy blade after he dies.

Click to expand...

One of my favorite set ups in a Dragon fiction was a party that went after a white dragon... that breathed fire because, come to find out, it was a WIGHT dragon.

Chemo said:

Well, they're described in the books as merciless and savage and that they eat people if they feel like it, that sounds pretty evil to me. Could a white dragon be turned to good eventually?

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There is no reason they can't if you are fine with it in your setting. Alignments do not have to be set in stone and while different dragon species have tendencies towards certain alignments and personality traits, they are still thinking sentient beings with the ability to make their own choices.

Many Chromatic Dragons in my games are non-evil, and some are even allies the party can interact with. I also have some evil Metallic Dragons in my campaign as well.

To quote … someone… “Don’t look for ways to say no to your players. Find ways to say yes.”

Sure, the listed alignment for white dragons is evil. But 4e cares much less about alignment than previous editions.

So the cavalier has a white dragon mount. Cool! This can continue to be a story element where the PC gradually (or suddenly) redeems the dragon. Or it can fade into the background.

Also - are you using the Dragon magazine cavalier article with the dragon mount feat / class feature? As written it gives a silver dragon but that can easily be reflavored to white.