got too deep into my dragon specie hcs for smaugust and realised some of the classes just dont work for what ive got in my head. ive always been a bit ehh on the classes anyway so im taking this opportunity to rework them into something i personally like—its not gonna be everyones cup of tea and thats totally chill! this is a fun excerise for myself and a way to indulge The Autism
all the classes are based on how the dragons hunt, which is how i imagine the vikings wouldve classed them before befriending dragons as a quickhand on how a certain species is going to go about attacking them.
for the examples of dragons within the classes, i have listed as many mainstream species as i could as well as most species from the school of dragons game. for this reason it is not comprehensive. while i did my best to fix the issue of the classes being imbalanced, some are still more populated than others.
and lastly, if any classification confuses you, or youd like to know why x dragon is in y class, or i havent mentioned a dragon and youd like to know where itd go, feel free to comment or send an ask! id love to explain my thought process
STOKER
dragons of the stoker class are known for a lack of stealth or grace when attacking their prey; they tend to charge in when a target is spotted or when provoked into it, using any and everything at their disposal including their firepower. these dragons are not witless or stupid for this aggression as they posses enough raw power to hold their own against even the mightiest of foes; sometimes a good offense trumps reason.
monstrous nightmare
terrible terror
singetail
fireworm queen
thunderpede
dramillion
abomibumble
triple stryke
crimson goregutter
screaming death
graveknapper
red death
TRACKER
dragons of the tracker class are lauded for their ability to hunt down specific targets over vast distances, which comes from a need to track prey through difficult terrain, where other senses may falter. these dragons typically dwell in hard to reach habitats or hunt sneaky prey, and they utilise these heightended senses to beat foes to the punch. you cant hide from a tracker.
deadly nadder
rumblehorn
snow wraith
mudraker
shockjaw
seastormer
hobblegrunt
rockstomper
sword stealer
zipplewraith
cavern crasher
snafflefang
boneknapper
TIDAL
submaripper
dragons of the tidal class have an affinity for aquatic hunting, but it doesnt necessarily mean that the dragons themselves call the ocean home. water is a primary force in the hunting methods of this class, whether it be dipping underwater for a shark snack, divebombing prey near the surface, or having a preference for attacking ships. for this reason, vikings man the shorlines to watch for uneven ripples in the water.
hideous zippleback
light fury
thunderdrum
scauldron
windwalker
slithersong
sliquifier
flightmare
dreadstrider
ridgesnipper
shellfire
bewilderbeast
DWELLER
chimeragon
the first deviance from the og classes, the dweller class houses many of the former boulder class as dragons who live in caves tend to find themselves here. the dweller class consists of dragons who dont go out to hunt, instead sitting and waiting patiently for prey to enter their territory, or into their open mouth. though they have a reputation for being lazy, these hunters are nothing but clever, carefully choosing when and where to exert their energy.
gronckle
hotburple
sand wraith
sentinel
hushboggle
sandbuster
snaptrapper
catastrophic quaken
scuttleclaw
armourwing
groncicle
buffalord
eruptodon
AMBUSH
foreverwing
first of the entirely new classes (technically), dragons of the ambush class will stalk their prey over large distances and wait, patiently, for the perfect moment to strike. these dragons are often stealthy with high stamina to allow them to stalk their chosen target for long periods; some may even use persistence hunting and allow themselves to be seen to control the herd. however, as a general rule, if an ambush class dragon doesnt want you to see it, you wont.
night fury
nightlight
razorwhip
deathgripper
tide glider
woolly howl
shivertooth
prickleboggle
flamewhipper
changewing
shadow-wing
sweet death
AERIAL
humbanger
the high fliers of the dragon world, the aerial class houses dragons that soar through the open air to hunt their chosen prey, ranging from high speed chases over the ocean to divebombing grounded targets to using the weather to disorient opponents. there are no dragons as agile as the aerial class, and they often sport large wingspans to support their airborn lifestyles.
stormcutter
timberjack
skrill
silver phantom
raincutter
devilish dervish
typhoomerang
grapple grounder
deathly galeslash
bonestormer
voltknapper
SWARM
ghastly zapplejack
the last of the classes, the dragons in the swarm class are noteable for their hunting methods relying on the large groups they live in. thats not to say any of the above dragons dont live in groups, but these ones find teamwork necessary to being food home. the swarm class is one of the most diverse, and the most deadly; if you see onez you're missing the other ten.
I gave Primrose the huntress secondary job so she could get the Patience and Second Serving support skills. I felt like... H'aanit would have words to say about her new outfit. Or maybe she would have a lack of words, haha. gay.
How hard is it to change MOS after a few years service? I checked goarmy, and decided (for plot reasons) my character starts as a 91D (Generator Repair). Could he change to 12B (Combat Engineer) after 4 years and one deployment to Iraq/Afghanistan? He's got a clean record, is good at PT, reasonably well liked, and considered "competent but not outstanding" by his superiors. If it's hard/impossible, how could a 91D get seriously injured while deployed (resulting in leg amputation)? Thanks a lot!
A soldier’s personal record is always secondary to one thing: the needs of the army.Soldiers don’t usually enlist in an MOS because that’s what they want to do. They usually enlist in an MOS because that’s what was available. I remember when I enlisted, I actually got a high ASVAB score which theoretically open up a lot of jobs to me, but there were only six choices, none of which I was particularly interested in. When I said I’d go home and think about it, when I got back the next day, not only were there now five choices, but they were all completely different than the ones the previous day. For all I know my recruiter was playing with me to get me to join, (though, having known him for a few years beforehand I doubt it) but I feel like it’s a good example of how fast vacancies can fill in the army. If your character wants to go 12B, there has to be a vacancy in the army for a 12B with your soldier’s rank. This is easier the lower ranked you are, (after four years your character is probably a specialist, especially if he’s considered competent but not exceptional) so it might not be very hard at all. The other problem is that your soldier has to reclass to an MOS during re-enlistment, which is when you take on a new contract after your old one expired. This means that if a soldier wants a particular job, he would have to hope that not only is there a need in the army for a 12B of his rank, but that vacancy just so happens to coincide with the window of his re-enlistment. Since this is your world and you call the shots, you could very easily decide for there to be an availability in that MOS and for it to happen in that window. You could also decide for it to not be available. I probably would shrug either way. The needs of the army are completely variable. One year my MOS was hemorrhaging NCOs and you couldn’t get promoted if you paid them, and one year my MOS was rush-promoting specialists because they had no other NCOs available. Your call is as good as mine.If you don’t want it to see too contrite that he got exactly what he wanted, you can always make it so that he had three preferences and 12B was one of them, or he didn’t have a preference at all and 12B just sorta spoke to him. The exact details of this process are lost on me, but a quick google search should answer most specific questions you have. I will mention that while contracts are used in even numbers, so your soldier’s contract probably read four years, he’s probably been in around four and a half years given the time to complete BCT and AIT, neither of which are counted in your contracted time.Obviously the soldier does have to meet the needs of that MOS, so they might be rejected if they don’t meet physical standards and such, so then the personal history of the soldier does become important.Regarding a 91D being injured, honestly think of any way people can have an injury resulting in amputation. Soldiers get into accidents the same way as civilians do. If you want it to be in combat, maybe an explosion or something, go for it. If you want there to be a motor pool accident with a runaway truck, do that. 91 series are maintenance MOSs but that doesn’t mean they won’t find themselves in combat for some reason. Oh yeah; we call a soldier who’s changed MOSs a “reclass.” They reclass, they are a reclass, they have reclassed. They have to go through AIT again, but they get special privileges to the other AIT students due to having been in the real army. I don’t know Combat Engineering culture that well, but I don’t think they’d mock a reclass who used to be a 91 series. They might mock a 42A or similar tho.-Kingsley
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Edit: there are occasionally offers from the army for people to reclass to MOSs in need outside of their re-enlistment dates, but as those are so unpredictable and fairly rare I’d say stick with the reclass idea.
