Dragon egg-laying

[ariasderros]

I don't remember it being in the Draconomicon:
Does anyone know how often a Great Red Wyrm lays an egg?

Say the dragon wanted to use her own eggs as spell components... 

[ksbsnowowl]

Depends if you see them as bird-like or reptile-like.

Some birds will lay eggs even if not fertilized.  Some will not.

Reptiles, to the best of my knowledge, do not lay unfertilized eggs.

Now, how often would they come into "heat," as it were?  Probably once per year.  With reptiles, mating often has to do with environmental factors that come once per year.  If you are breeding them, you can mimic these factors in your artificial habitat and get them to breed more than once per year.

[Tempest]

Depends on what system you're  using, but according to the 3.5 Draconomicon (Page 10) a female dragon can produce eggs beginning at Young Adult and through Very Old. Which also means that a female Great Wyrm can't produce eggs anymore.

Males are capable of fertilizing eggs from Young Adult through Wyrm, and the eggs are fertilized inside the female's body. They're laid in clutches of two to five as often as once per year.

You could always talk to your DM about any special circumstance present in your campaign, or if you're the DM you could always just ignore Draconomicon entirely. Or it's possible some sort of advanced magic or ritual would allow a Great Wyrm female to lay eggs, but that has to be homebrewed.

[littha]

Now, how often would they come into "heat," as it were?  Probably once per year.

Considering the longevity of dragons, the hardiness of even newly born dragons and the fact they lay clutches of eggs at a time I would guess significantly longer than a year between. Otherwise they would be everywhere...

That said, I don't think reptiles go into heat. (not that dragons are reptiles mind you, being warm blooded and all)

[ksbsnowowl]

You are right, "heat" isn't really the right word.  They do come into season, however.  It is highly influenced by the environmental factors around them.

[littha]

You are right, "heat" isn't really the right word.  They do come into season, however.  It is highly influenced by the environmental factors around them.

In the case of dragons we at least know that they only lay their eggs in certain conditions (dependent on the type of dragon), I believe Whites preferred glaciers and Reds volcanoes. The timing of their reproductive cycle could be anything though, maybe even something as esoteric as fluctuations in the local magical field.

All this being said, Dragons are extremely intelligent and probably quite capable of choosing when they want to breed rather than being driven entirely off a hormonal change.


Basically the answer is: Great Wyrms don't lay eggs but if they did the frequency would be entirely up to your DM

[ksbsnowowl]

You are right, "heat" isn't really the right word.  They do come into season, however.  It is highly influenced by the environmental factors around them.

Sorry, I think we've been cross-talking.  I was referring to reptiles at this point, though I was originally talking about dragons in the part you first quoted.  My apologies.

That said, I don't think a dragon should have all that much control over how often they are able to produce eggs.  They are intelligent enough to manipulate their environment, if it is affected by environment like a reptile, though.

[littha]

You are right, "heat" isn't really the right word.  They do come into season, however.  It is highly influenced by the environmental factors around them.

Sorry, I think we've been cross-talking.  I was referring to reptiles at this point, though I was originally talking about dragons in the part you first quoted.  My apologies.

That said, I don't think a dragon should have all that much control over how often they are able to produce eggs.  They are intelligent enough to manipulate their environment, if it is affected by environment like a reptile, though.

As far as I am aware there is an enormous variation on the various breeding habits of reptiles, it is a rather large selection of animals. I certainly know that some snakes give birth to live young for example. It is entirely possible therefore that a dragon might actually only lay eggs once they are fertilised, perhaps existing on a cellular scale until fertilised and then increasing in size before being laid.

Still, we can only guess. And wildly guess at that. Dragons are 6 limbed and have weird blood (If I remember, white and silver dragons are actually colder than their surrounding environment) which makes discussions on their biological processes rather difficult.

Potentially they would be more similar to dinosaurs (Being warm blooded) which would make their breeding habits closer to those of birds than reptiles.

[Kethrian]

Dragons are unique and should not be compared to birds or reptiles, since any such comparisons are going to only appear correct at the most superficial levels.  In fact, the Draconomicon states that dragons share more of their appearance with that of cats than reptiles.  But since the Draconomicon already spelled this all out, as Tempest had said, there's no need to speculate, other than the potential for spells to exist that might allow them to lay eggs more frequently and/or when they are past that age.

[nijineko]

given the number of crossbreeds, one wonders.

[brujon]

Depends on what system you're  using, but according to the 3.5 Draconomicon (Page 10) a female dragon can produce eggs beginning at Young Adult and through Very Old. Which also means that a female Great Wyrm can't produce eggs anymore.

Males are capable of fertilizing eggs from Young Adult through Wyrm, and the eggs are fertilized inside the female's body. They're laid in clutches of two to five as often as once per year.

You could always talk to your DM about any special circumstance present in your campaign, or if you're the DM you could always just ignore Draconomicon entirely. Or it's possible some sort of advanced magic or ritual would allow a Great Wyrm female to lay eggs, but that has to be homebrewed.

Clutches of two to five, once per year, and we're talking about a being that lives thousands of years, and has absolutely NO natural predators? Only adventurers that come to kill them for their jew gold?

How did they not conquer the world already?

[Kethrian]

Clutches of two to five, once per year, and we're talking about a being that lives thousands of years, and has absolutely NO natural predators? Only adventurers that come to kill them for their jew gold?

How did they not conquer the world already?

Simple.  99% of those clutches will likely go unfertilized.  Dragons aren't exactly well known for their hospitality, even of their own kind...

[Halinn]

Depends on what system you're  using, but according to the 3.5 Draconomicon (Page 10) a female dragon can produce eggs beginning at Young Adult and through Very Old. Which also means that a female Great Wyrm can't produce eggs anymore.

Males are capable of fertilizing eggs from Young Adult through Wyrm, and the eggs are fertilized inside the female's body. They're laid in clutches of two to five as often as once per year.

You could always talk to your DM about any special circumstance present in your campaign, or if you're the DM you could always just ignore Draconomicon entirely. Or it's possible some sort of advanced magic or ritual would allow a Great Wyrm female to lay eggs, but that has to be homebrewed.

Clutches of two to five, once per year, and we're talking about a being that lives thousands of years, and has absolutely NO natural predators? Only adventurers that come to kill them for their jew gold?

How did they not conquer the world already?

Those clutches can "only" be laid between the age of 51 to 800.
After being laid, there's a significant incubation time, that requires fairly specific conditions.

[rot42]

Clutches of two to five, once per year, and we're talking about a being that lives thousands of years, and has absolutely NO natural predators? Only adventurers that come to kill them for their gold?

How did they not conquer the world already?

Clearly it must be the case that the dragons have, in fact, already conquered the world. The PCs are unwitting participants in an enormous nature preserve cum theme park, while everyone else they may happen to think they meet are shape shifted dragons, halfbreeds, or illusions projected by the managers. For a small fee, dragon-citizens can immerse themselves in the park to see how people used to live.


Slightly more seriously, for the OP: if you want to cheese it out, you might try to argue that eggs that have been formed but not laid are too independent to be simply subsumed by polymorphing, and logically must transform into eggs appropriate to the new form. A sea turtle may lay dozens to hundreds of eggs in a single sitting.

[nijineko]

Clutches of two to five, once per year, and we're talking about a being that lives thousands of years, and has absolutely NO natural predators? Only adventurers that come to kill them for their gold?

How did they not conquer the world already?

Clearly it must be the case that the dragons have, in fact, already conquered the world. The PCs are unwitting participants in an enormous nature preserve cum theme park, while everyone else they may happen to think they meet are shape shifted dragons, halfbreeds, or illusions projected by the managers. For a small fee, dragon-citizens can immerse themselves in the park to see how people used to live.

world? that's so last era. the dragonstar setting would like a word with you.