The Practically Complete Guide to Dragons

by Wizards of the Coast

This lavishly illustrated guide showcases the variety of fantastic dragons encountered in the worlds of Dungeons & Dragons.

With tips on everything from fighting dragons to riding them, The Practically Complete Guide to Dragons offers abundant insight into the most awe-inspiring creatures in all the worlds. Detailing the appearance, capabilities, habits, lairs, and treasures of ten dragon kinds, and annotated with the extraordinary wizard Sindri Suncatcher’s personal observations and experiences, this beautiful volume will inspire endless adventures in the imagination.

The Practically Complete Guide to Dragons combines the very best content from three classic A Practical Guide to Dragons , A Practical Guide to Dragon Riding , and A Practical Guide to Dragon Magic . Fully updated with all the latest lore, this indispensable volume contains everything new adventurers need to know about the most iconic monsters of fantasy!

Genres: Fantasy, Dungeons and Dragons, Role Playing Games, Gaming, Fiction, Dragons

200 pages, Hardcover

Published August 15, 2023

About the author

Wizards of the Coast LLC (often referred to as WotC /ˈwɒtˌsiː/ or simply Wizards) is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games. Originally a basement-run role-playing game publisher, the company popularized the collectible card game genre with Magic: The Gathering in the mid-1990s, acquired the popular Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game by purchasing the failing company TSR, and experienced tremendous success by publishing the licensed Pokémon Trading Card Game. The company's corporate headquarters are located in Renton, Washington in the United States.[1]

Wizards of the Coast publishes role-playing games, board games, and collectible card games. They have received numerous awards, including several Origins Awards. The company has been a subsidiary of Hasbro since 1999. All Wizards of the Coast stores were closed in 2004.

Reviews

[H (no longer expecting notifications) Balikov · Rating 3 out of 5]

Many who are RP gamers have some Dungeons & Dragons experience in their resumes. Dragons are some of the most powerful creatures in D&D adventures and can easily overwhelm the adventuring party and it takes a savvy “dungeon master” to know when to feature their appearance.

Gary Gygax was fascinated by dragons and early on created a list of dragons, differentiated by “color,” whose attributes were many and varied. The were present in the first AD&D manuals including the Monster Manual and the DM Guide. In almost every respect, this book’s “information” is consistent with those so it can be seamlessly employed by the DM to augment other material.

So, what are the benefits of buying and using this book? Most they are collateral, not central to any adventure. There are no new dragons portrayed (unless you count the Queen Dragon, which for me is just a variant on existing material). Aside from the lavish illustrations, there are only a few newer species such as “draconians” and “shadow dragons.” But other related species are included such as pseudodragons, dragon turtles, etc.

Helpful features for each dragon type include: eggs; wyrmlings; lairs; combat and treasures. There are sections on dragon speech, dragon writing and dragon encounter etiquette: “always say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’, never lie to a dragon, bring a gift.” Other sections include dragon air combat and how to ride a dragon.

This book is neither necessary or sufficient in itself but, aside from its visual delights, can provide enough ideas on creating adventures to make it worth its high cost of acquisition.

3.5*

[Kaitlyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has a lot of information that I would have liked to see fleshed out in Fizban's, with mechanical support.

If you've gotten copies of the Draconomicon from 2e-4e, you will find this book charming but light on content. If you weren't able to snag copies of the practical guides when they were in print, this is a great way to get abridged copies of the content. The reading level is more for children and tweens than adults, so adults offended by YA lit in their very, very serious dragon game should avoid it.

[Ita · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unfortunately, not the best dragon read out there. That said, the cover is absolutely stellar.

[Andrea D. McCarthage · Rating 1 out of 5]

Where the Young Adventurer's Guide is essentially a game guide that obfuscates its own mechanics, this is more of a fictional journal, and seems to be mostly a compilation of previously published material from the aughts. The art here is a lot better, but there's less actionable content, and much of it is specific to Krynn, which is not the default D&D setting.

The maps and descriptions of dragon lairs and how to differentiate between them were the most intriguing bits (the paintings showing their wing pattern and distinguishing traits when you spot them from below are a particularly nice touch), but the majority of the book's content isn't particularly engaging or useful at the table.

There's tons of references here to various characters which will no doubt make a Dragonlance enthusiast gasp in recognition, but I haven't the nostalgia to on here, and I'm not sure how well-known the Dragonlance: The New Adventures novels are amongst children of today. There's very little to ameliorate that initial impression of "That's it?".

The Young Adventurer's Guide series of books are the perfect gift for a kid who's playing Dungeons and Dragons. The Practically Complete Guide to Dragons only really works if you're already sold on the novels it's attached to.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a fan of A Practical Guide to Dragons when I was a kid, long before I got into Dungeons & Dragons and even longer before I got into Dragonlance, this earned five stars from me largely from nostalgia, as it’s mostly that book with a 5th edition D&D twist. I wouldn’t recommend this book for most D&Ders, as it is 100% lore (often basic lore at that) and 0% rules/mechanics. It’s in a very accessible, kid-friendly style, which could also turn off a lot of readers, but the artwork, both the new and the reused, is downright gorgeous.

[Carla Kipp · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was introduced to D&D by my brother who loved the role of DM. It was during our high school years, and while I was already a devout SciFi/Fantasy fan, I never had the patience to play the actual game. What did draw my attention was the core rulebooks. They were extremely imaginative in terms of storytelling, and the artwork was impressive. To this day, whenever I see a D&D books display at a bookstore or gaming shop, I always stop to take a look at them. I bought this book because it was more narrative than rulebook, and the artwork is beautiful. It's a delightful read if you love fantasy, and that much more enjoyable if you love dragon lore. I'm giving it 5 Stars for the artwork alone.

[Timothy Pitkin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great read for DnD fans as while it does not give game play info it does give some great lore for Dragons including how to interact with dragons and even teaches how to role play with dragons when it happens in game play sessions. It also provides some tactics that can be used for combat situations and I do like that cover dragons outside of the usual Chromatic and Metallic like Dragoliches and Shadow Dragons but I do wish it went into more detail on those types of dragons and there are types of dragons that seem to be missing.

[David Correia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was expecting something more serious to be useful during DnD sessions, it was still interesting and you could retain a lot of information to further use during roleplaying, but this specific book seems to be targeted to younger audiences since it’s written in a way of like a field guide instead of appendix to complement adventures/rulebooks/etc.

It was a pleasant surprise but nothing too thrilling.

[Dana · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great "guide" to D&D dragons! I liked all the little stories added in there too. Good for kids, players, or even DMs wanting to learn more about a dragon type before throwing them at their players. The illustrations are beautiful too!

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a more thorough review of The Practically Complete Guide to Dragons see mine at https://www.enworld.org/threads/the-p...

[John Stinebaugh · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun in universe guide that focuses on story not stats.

[Yúri · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a campaign cooking with a lot of information taken from this book!

[Apa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining D&D coffee table sourcebook. No game mechanical content, instead it is written as a diegetic book. Perfect for kids!