>Dragons are the only true immortal beings in the material

>>51137612
Yeesh, it'd be a rare person who would willingly commit Ego suicide to gain "immortality".

I think it would be kinda anti climatic and seem like kind of a ass pull if the BBEG suddenly started barking like a dog after becoming immortal

>>51137666

The trick is this isn't generally known fact in the world as people pursue it. The Dragons didn't think as much until they did it, now they no longer possess the ability to do so.

>>51137671
True, hence why the bbeg would turn into a monster of somesort, essentially becoming another Dragon in the process.

>>51137666
I assume that the losing your personality bit would be the twist. Like the BBEG doesn't even know or tries to figure out a workaround.

>>51137612
Interesting concept. Not sure how to translate it into a fun campaign but I like where it's going.

>>51137612
Okay, so what does this ultimately mean for your campaign? Can the players find out on convince the BBEG of this? if not why does it matter? if he succeeds does he just turns into a giant fuck off monster for the players to beat, or is there even any point then, since he's just basically become a mindless animal he's kind of self defeating. How long does this reformation process take? Is there a point to "killing" once he's post dragon, in that he'll be ethereal for a while, and not a problem?

>>51137612

>give up your ability to reason
k i got it, its fucking cool but...

>and be self aware
...this irks me, i don't want to go full autism and shitpost this thread into oblivion but giving away your self awareness as simple as it might be isn't really making the whole immortal thing null?

What im getting at is that 'dragons' aren't better that a fucking rock at this point.

>>51137612
Here's a more interesting run:

BBEG *is* a young dragon, and they've noticed their mind starting to go.
Their motive is to stop that from happening.

>>51137979
This. I think that this is a great alternative to your stock fantasy dragon, but self-awareness implies it looks after itself or similar. If anything it should emphasize a singular emotion/action. That way the BBEG becomes pure rage, spite, greed, etc. That leaves room for the newly formed dragon to attack adventurers, start to assimilate E V E R Y T H I N G, etc.

>>51137979
>What im getting at is that 'dragons' aren't better that a fucking rock at this point.

No, they are as good a a lizard that breathes fire.

>>51140546
But then if it's immortal,. how do you stop it? And if you can't that kind of robs players of agency, which they as a general rule don't like.

>>51140867
By destroying the dragon's body, you rob its soul of a physical vessel. You then have to slay the dragon's ethereal form before it reconstitutes a new body. You have to kill a ghost.

>>51141037
who're you going to call for that?

>>51141147
Perhaps some sort of Shadeshankers.

>>51137612
This is unrelated to the point made by OP, but where is the line we cross, when a dragon stops being the typical Western medieval dragon, and the eastern oriental dragon?

Because I want to say we've crossed it with just OP's example, but I'm unsure on just how.

File: 12545353_884971051623986_1239970596_n.jpg (16KB, 320x320px) Image search: [Google]

16KB, 320x320px

>>51141037
DEHUMANIaE YOURSELF AND FACE TO BLOODSHED

File: 1354526115105.jpg (234KB, 1024x768px) Image search: [Google]

234KB, 1024x768px

>>51137612

This is essentially what happens when you accumulate far too much power in the Lovecraft universe, except what lesser mortals percieve as 'animal intellect' is little more than reflexive action, like a heart beat. The body that mortals see is little more than more than the shadow or an 'anchor' of the actual being, which is now mucking around on other planes and in other time periods.

So maybe the BBEG believes that the 'animal intellect' isn't real, instead he believes that his mind will ascend to a higher plane and he can leave this abse Earth to become a God / Slay a God / Become Immortal.

>>51141255
This sounds like a good and interesting idea, whether the BBEG is correct or not.

>>51137612
Is there some sort of karma system?

Possibly one that controls certain attributes of what 'dragon' you would ascend to?

Perhaps enough atrocities would damage your soul/karma enough to make ones ascension a truly horrifying event. Opposite is true for grand/healthy/good souls/karma.

>>51141255
>>51144552
Mash these two together?

>>51140403
I'm stealing this.

How I'm going to use it, I'm still not sure, but I'm stealing it.

>>51145053
>>51140403

I'm stealing this too. Will make some good drama out of this.

>>51140867
Having consistent rules in a world that not even the players can break isnt really robbing them of agency.

>>51137612
>live forever
>become retarded
The fuck makes you think this is a fair deal? The point of trying to achieve immortality is so you can actually *enjoy* having an eternity to do whatever the fuck you want until you inevitably get bored of everything and crave the sweet release of death. Why the fuck would anyone even bother if they couldn't consciously enjoy it? That's just incredibly stupid, even with the whole bit about no one actually realizing it until it happens (which they won't since they lack self awareness).

>>51141168
Or Ghostgankers?

>>51148965
Fear of death will drive you to do insane things. Take actions beyond reason, either through willful self delusion, or an against-all-odds hope that "it will be different with me"

>>51149058
>hope that "it will be different with me"
Then wouldn't it be better to actually have a bbeg be the one lucky fucker thy actually succeeded in staying the same? At least then a story could be spun in which they churn out one savage immortal after another in an attempt to better understand and hopefully recreate the anomaly. It would give the party a chance to explore ways to neutralize their foes beyond the standard hack n' slash methods. Either that or give immortals a one in one hundred shot of regaining their consciousness every few thousand years. Imagine the shock that would come if you were to suddenly "wake up" in the Iron Age when you can still vaguely remember when stepping outside of your cave meant potentially being mauled to death by a saber tooth. The sheer culture shock would drive one insane. Even if these options weren't explored, id bet that even the most desperate of men could be made to realize that if you aren't actually conscious during your eternal life then you're probably more or less worse off than the dead. I mean at least they can enjoy the after life if there's one in the setting.

>>51149536
a /lit/eral faggot's gonna steal this idea, you know?
Is me

>>51149536
The Silicon Mage by Babera Hambly.

>>51148965
You won't have to crave a death that can never come if you are no longer self-aware. Becoming retarded is basically the salvation someone stuck in that position would look for because they would no longer have to care about being immortal. Their sentience and life are essentially over. Instead of giving up your self-awareness up front, have it chip away little by little and the BBEG can be searching (in vain) for a way to stave it off because he was one of the few who realized what was happening to him before he was too far gone.

>>51137612
One eventual problem is that you risk getting into Raiders of the Lost Ark syndrome, where the party could just do nothing and let the bad guys fuck over themselves all alone.

>>51150717
Depends on if the dragons take more of >>51140546 's approach and have them act with some semblance of desire once they're a dragon. Then there are risks to letting them wield their power. In OP's system, dragons are definitely going to eventually fuck themselves over by possessing a pebble or some other crappy form, but dragons could be considered a part of nature, only being problematic when they possess a freighter or something that causes problems for everyone else.

>>51140403
I posted it to r/writingprompt.

https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/5neqm1/wp_immortal_minds_degrade_into_a_vegetative_state/