Fizban's Treasury of Dragons is a new sourcebook for Dungeons & Dragons that focuses on dragons and their allies. It adds some incredibly powerful monsters to D&D, some of which can be the villains of long-running campaigns, as only the strongest of parties has a hope of facing them in battle.
Dragons are already some of the strongest enemies in D&D, yet lots of DMs save them for one-off battles or use them as short-term antagonists. Dragons have the potential to be movers and shakers on a global scale, yet they seem content to just sit in their lairs and wait for parties to show up at their doorsteps. There is a lot of potential for using dragons as foes in campaigns, but DMs might want to save them for special occasions, such as one-off battles, as using dragons too often diminishes the effect when they finally do show up. Few things terrify a party more than when the Dungeon Master drops a dragon mini in D&D, and that horror lessens each time it happens in a given campaign.
Fizban's Treasury of Dragons features new Dungeons & Dragons monsters that would make for an incredible final battle for adventures to partake in. These creatures can form the foundation of an entire campaign in Dungeons & Dragons, as they are so strong that players likely won't put up much of a fight unless they are willing to hit level 20. Even then, they will struggle to overcome the nastiest beasts in Fizban's Treasury of Dragons.
Fizban's Treasury Of Dragons: Aspect Of Tiamat Vs. Aspect Of Bahamut
The two strongest monsters in Fizban's Treasury of Dragons are the Aspect of Bahamut and the Aspect of Tiamat, who D&D adventurers may confront. These are the avatars of the two dragon gods, and their power is matched by only the strongest monsters in the game. The fact that they are only aspects of their respected gods means that they also don't permanently die when defeated, as they would need to be defeated on their home plane for that to stick, and the chances of defeating either of these gods on their home turf are practically zero.
The two Aspects are so powerful that it's unlikely that the party would ever become strong enough to face one of them in battle, barring the DM letting the players create high-level characters for the purpose of a sparring match. Instead, the arrival of either of these gods would be an earth-shattering event, and it would be the end goal of a long-running Dungeons & Dragons campaign. It's likely that the party will consist of good characters, so a lengthy campaign about Tiamat's followers trying to bring her into Prime Material Plane would be the most likely premise. A version of this has already been done in Tyranny of Dragons, but the DM can use their own take on the concept, which uses the content from Fizban's Treasury of Dragons. When it seems likely that Tiamat's followers will succeed, the players will then need to figure out how to summon the Aspect of Bahamut, so it can stop her. The players will need something to do if they are too weak to face the Aspect of Tiamat, so they could face her followers, in order to weaken her power in the real world.
Fizban's Gem Greatwyrms Will Break The Universe
Fizban's Treasury of Dragons introduced the Greatwyrms, which are entities composed of several dragons from across the multiverse. The book confirms that there are five Gem Greatwyrms in the multiverse: Aleithilithos, Hrodel, Smargad, Charisma, and Tithonnas. It's said that their role is to find a way to revive Sardior, the former god of the gem dragons, whose consciousness is believed to be spread across the multiverse. The five Gem Greatwyrms are trying to absorb others of the same kind, in order to gain the strength to bring Sardior back.
The gem dragons in Fizban's Treasury of Dragons are generally Neutral, which means that the DM will need to come up with a reason for their inclusion in a campaign, especially as they are said to spend most of their time in the elemental Inner Planes. A multiverse-hopping storyline involving the mystery of the disappearance of Fizban's gem dragons across the cosmos would make for a great story hook, especially when it's revealed that they are being devoured by their own kind, as the Gem Greatwyrms become desperate, and start absorbing weaker gem dragons.
The Gem Greatwyrms aren't quite as OP as the Aspects, but they aren't far off. The story of the campaign could involve finding some way of banishing the Gem Greatwyrms out of the known universe. It's also possible that the final battle could involve a botched attempt to revive Sardior, leading to a battle against a twisted Aspect of Sardior, of the DM's creation.
Fizban's Elder Brain Dragon Leads The Underdark Invasion
The Elder Brain Dragon has one of the best concepts in Fizban's Treasury of Dragons. The Elder Brain is the highest lifeform of the Mind Flayer species, but it's also a giant brain in a jar and isn't known for its mobility. The Elder Brain Dragon is what happens when an Elder Brain's form is connected to a dragon's body, via horrific experiments.
The Elder Brain Dragon would make for the perfect final antagonist of a campaign involving an Underdark invasion of the surface world, similar to the Night Below campaign from AD&D. The Mind Flayers are gathering an army of Underdark races to take over part of the surface world. The dragon that eventually becomes the unwilling antagonist of the campaign can initially be an ally of the party, one who they expect to come to their aid during the final battle. Imagine the player's horror, when not only has the power of their strongest ally been turned against them, but it's carrying one of the most terrifying monsters in D&D on its back.
Fizban's Ancient Dragon Turtle Is Like Godzilla
The Ancient Dragon Turtle might not be as smart as the other monsters in Fizban's Treasury of Dragons, but it's a hellish leviathan from the depths of the sea, and it can easily squash a city beneath its bulk. Sea monsters appear all throughout mythology, such as Cetus from Greek mythology, which was slain by Perseus, yet they usually only appear as a nuisance to D&D characters that need to travel by boat. The Ancient Dragon Turtle is going to change that.
The Ancient Dragon Turtle can be used as a prophecized calamity, similar to Sin from Final Fantasy X. The day is fast approaching when this Godzilla-sized beast is going to rise from the depths and overrun civilization. This campaign can run on a ticking clock, with the entire premise being that the players need to gather powerful allies and become stronger, all with the eventual goal of defeating the Ancient Dragon Turtle when it wakes up. The DM could create a Persona-style D&D campaign, where time management is crucial to victory, as the arrival of the leviathan is always on the horizon.
Fizban's Treasury of Dragons is available now.
