The Practically Complete Guide to Dragons is one of the first mainline D&D 5th Edition releases that isn’t a sourcebook – so is this the right purchase for you? Packed to the brim with every piece of dragon-centric lore you could want, this latest release from Wizards of the Coast presents an in-world guide to the life and activity of dragons – perfect for those who love beautiful art, anatomical drawings, and witty observations.

The Practically Complete Guide is presented by Sindri Suncatcher, a Kender Wizard Apprentice, who details his lessons on dragons as he travels the land with his teacher, Maddoc. This annotated journal is full of Sydri’s sketches, musings, and warnings, giving a colourful insight into the behaviour of Dragons from fellow inhabitants of the fantastical world we know and love to play in.

If you’re keen to add more dimension to the dragons in your game, want a beautiful book of art to add to your collection, or just want to learn how to ride a dragon, then this might just be the book for you! We’re going to look at the different elements of dragon life and culture covered in Syndri’s writings, broken down into three sections: Dragon Basics, Biology and Lifestyle, and Fighting Alongside Dragons.

Fun fact! This book is a compilation of sorts, pulling together information from A Practical Guide to Dragons (by Lisa Trutkoff Trumbauer), A Practical Guide to Dragon Riding (Also by Lisa Trutkoff Trumbauer), and A Practical Guide to Dragon Magic (By Susan J. Morris). Both authors, alongside James Wyatt, were the primary writers for this guide. If you’re an avid dragon fan and already have all these books, you might want to look elsewhere for inspiration (might we suggest our Before You Buy article for Bigby Presents: Realm of the Giants?). However, if you want a perfect generalist guide to dragons and using them in your campaign – this is the book for you. 

If you’re a completely new player or DM and want to know where to start, look no further – like a trusty shield, our D&D Basics article has got your back!

The initial third of this book covers the basics of dragon lore, from anatomy to social order. This section primarily functions as a summary of the general D&D approach to dragons, a handy overview for those who may be new to the table. But for the veterans, the flavour text included could be a great source of inspiration for campaign building, with some brilliant ideas around lairs and hoards. 

This section also details combat strategies against dragons. Sydnri’s suggested approaches on Dragon combat are a must have for your next big battle, or for DMs who want to help their player conquer their first over-sized lizard. These approaches are probably a better plan than axe-swinging and hoping-for-the-best.

Then we touch on the elemental magic and abilities of dragons. Here we have a handy summary of the breath weapons and abilities each type of Dragon uses, as well as how they may wield different types of magic in battle! I found this section particularly useful as I could push my players into unique situations and encourage creative problem solving.

Right after our Dragon Summary, we find a big glossary of Draconic words and a diagram of Draconic letters. There’s everything you’ll need here for writing some mysterious letters for your players to translate! Also included is a list of important phrases (e.g. ‘Many Thank-yous’ and ‘Where’s the bathroom?’) as well as general rules of etiquette (e.g. never lie to a dragon!). This may be handy for players or DMs who deeply care about intricate details and want to carve out a robust storyline or plot hook.

If you’re curious about the biology and lifestyle of these mythical creatures, The Practically Complete Guide To Dragons hosts several informative pages on the many types of dragons, revealing insight into their distinctive features, lifecycles, lairs, and combat abilities

Each Dragon has a table describing their general appearance, wingspan, favourite foods, enemies and more. We get a beautiful selection of Syndri’s sketches highlighting prominent features of each Dragon type, (e.g. The Black Dragon’s Horns, The White Dragon’s Spined Dewlap, The Brass Dragon’s Wings). Then, a dedicated description of each stage of the dragon’s lifecycle covers their shifting appearance and temperament, from harmless eggs to ferocious adults.

Each dragon comes with an example lair, from swamps to forests to volcanoes, with comprehensive sketches and maps for you to use or draw inspiration from. In addition to a description of how the dragon uses and navigates their lair is a section on combat, detailing their strategies and how they utilise their abilities. 

Following the sections on Chromatic dragons and metallic Dragons, we learn a little about their respective leaders. Sections on The Dragon Queen/Tiamat and The Platinum Dragon/Bahamut cover their general abilities, alignments, and goals, along with some awesome art!

To finish off, we have a section covering other types of dragons as well as dragon-kin. This mostly consists of a descriptive paragraph for each, some nice art, and some additional comments from Syndri. These pages act as a handy compilation of options if you’re looking to bring some more dragon to your dungeons! Within you’ll find details on faerie dragons, dragon turtles, pseudodragons, dracolichs, shadow dragons, wyverns, draconians, dragonborn, and kobolds; this is a great opportunity to widen up your pool of important NPCs!

This final section covers allied combat. These pages hold fantastic flavour text to enrich your battle descriptions and some brilliant ideas for running flight combat. You’ll find tips on how to ride a dragon, a comprehensive study on dragon movement, a guide on aiding your dragon companion whilst in flight, and most importantly, how to coordinate your attacks. I’ve often found that dragon battles can feel lacklustre – so I’d recommend this book to other DMs who feel the same way. Traditionally, 5th Edition pins you to the ground, significantly limiting a dragon’s abilities and the dynamics of a battle. However, some of the ideas put forward here have me inspired to break that tradition. In a well thought-out combat encounter, flight could add dimension and tension to a field, rather than confusion, and could open the door to more dramatic and engaging storytelling. 

Lastly, the book touches on a few ways characters can be built with dragon abilities in mind. Draconic Sorcerers, Drakewardens, and Ascendant Dragon Monks are discussed as just some of the ways you can bring the excitement and power of dragon magic into your game. 

This book is certainly a departure from what we usually see in the main book series, but I’m quite pleased to see it. So much of Dungeons and Dragons is about worldbuilding and exploring lore and culture, so I’m happy to see some emphasis put on the tone and art of the world rather than just the numbers of it. The Practically Complete Guide to Dragons isn’t a sourcebook by any means; any statistics in here tend to provide context and visuals more than mechanics, but I think it’s a beautiful addition to any player’s collection, with unique and descriptive art and a fun, immersive approach to its descriptions. The perfect book for dragon-based inspiration or the most interesting coffee-table book you’ve ever had, The Practically Complete Guide to Dragons is available right now! Pop by your local Good Games or grab it right here at our online store.

Good Journey, Adventurer!

– Alyshia