Hello once again, Uber here. I wish to welcome you to our Fifth Dragon Development Diary!

Continuing on the path of jumping into the dragons mechanically, I have with me today Dylan, who has worked a lot on everything around the Dragonpit, its keepers, and everything else. But without further ado, I'm going to hand it off to Dylan!

Hello, Dylan here. I do script work on the team—you may recall me from some previous dev diaries. Anyways, let’s cut to the chase and enter the dragonpit.

All About Dragonpits

With the presence of dragons in the world, there will be those who are envious and fearful of them. Any dragonrider will doubtlessly want to protect their most precious possession from those with ill intentions—or, from those with foolish ambitions. The question, then, is how do you protect your dragons from these wrongdoers?

Dragonpits are a building returning to CK3AGOT to answer this very question. For explanatory purposes, dragonpits are delineated into two types: historical and generic. Historical dragonpits are those that appear in canon—for example, the King’s Landing Dragonpit and the Dragonmont (more on this later). Generic dragonpits are those that the player, or AI, can build. In-game, these are called Dragonpens. Gameplay wise, both types of dragonpits function as a stable for dragons.

Dragonpits provide security for dragons that are locked within. Characters who lack access to the dragonpit will find it difficult, or even impossible, to interact with the dragons locked within.

This is one incentive earned by constructing these buildings—you will control who can access your dragons and attempt to tame them. With the ability to limit the access to dragons, a character may deem it fruitful to try to capture a wild dragon and lock them in a dragonpit.

This is a very risky gamble, but if it pays off, any character with access to the dragonpit will receive buffs to the taming and bonding process when trying to tame the encaged wild dragon.

Wild dragons aren’t the only type of dragon that can be locked in a dragonpit. Owned and Tamed dragons can also be locked within dragonpit buildings using a similar button found on their portraits:

Once a dragon is locked in a dragonpit building, you can view it in a list located in the province view, along with any other dragons that happen to be locked within the same pit:

While locking dragons in a dragonpit provides security and stability, there is a major downside…

“It was noted that none of the pit dragons ever reached the size of their ancestors. The maesters say it was because of the walls around them, and the great dome above their heads.” - Barristan Selmy to Daenerys

As Barristan the Bold once explained to Daenerys, when the Targaryens began locking their dragons in the King’s Landing Dragonpit, their growth became stunted. This negative effect is reflected in the dragonpit mechanic for CK3AGOT. Dragons locked in a dragonpit will suffer a health and size growth penalty compared to their counterparts that are not locked away. A player will have to consider this effect when choosing to lock their dragons away.

Though, a player should be wary if they want to free a dragon from their pit. Even that is not free from consequence:

The Dragonpen

While these two buildings have the same function, the effects and rewards they generate do differ. While a dragon-riding lord can aspire to build a dragonpen, it will be impossible to rival the grandeur and majesty of historical dragonpits, such as the one in King’s Landing. Likewise, any character planning to build a dragonpen will need more than a pretty penny. They will need to be wealthy beyond reproach—the dragonpen is among the most expensive buildings in the mod.

Dragonpens are buildable by any character whose highest title is at least kingdom tier, they possess a tamed dragon, or they are an ambitious character of Valyrian heritage that owns an egg. Perhaps there is also another condition between the eccentric trait and owning a dragon egg, but mayhaps I’ll leave that to you all to find.

The King’s Landing Dragonpit

“In King's Landing, your ancestors raised an immense domed castle for their dragons. The Dragonpit, it is called. It still stands atop the Hill of Rhaenys, though all in ruins now. That is where the royal dragons dwelt in days of yore, and a cavernous dwelling it was, with iron doors so wide that thirty knights could ride through them abreast.” - Barristan Selmy to Daenerys. 

In our current bookmarks, the King’s Landing Dragonpit is a ruin. But that does not mean it’s completely useless for burgeoning dragon owners—players can rebuild it. With the coming dragon update, rebuilding the King’s Landing Dragonpit ruin comes with the benefit of restoring its functionality as a working dragonpit building. The reconstruction process will be costly, but what is money compared to the security of your two-story tall scaly pet?

The Dragonmont

“Moreover, six other dragons made their lairs in the smoky caverns of the Dragonmont above the castle.” - Fire & Blood

For gameplay purposes, the Dragonmont acts as a special “natural” dragonpit for the ruler of Dragonstone. The Dragonmont functions as other dragonpits do, but it comes with the bonus that dragons “locked” within do not suffer as the dragons locked in artificial pits do.

The Laws of the Dragonpit

Earlier in this dev diary, you may have seen me mention that characters that have their own dragonpits may control who has access to the dragons locked within. This is accomplished through a custom set of laws in which a character can determine exactly who can access the dragons within. Perhaps you want your entire dynasty to have access to your dragons, or perhaps you (wisely) want to keep it within your close family. Or, perhaps you are truly mad and open the doors to everyone and anybody. The option is yours.

 The Dragonkeepers

“To ascertain there would be no repetition of Princess Aerea’s escape on Balerion, the king decreed that all the dragons should be guarded night and day, regardless of where they laired. A new order of guards was created for this purpose: the **Dragonkeepers, seventy-seven strong and clad in suits of gleaming black armor, their helms crested by a row of dragon scales that continued, diminishing, down their backs**.” - Fire and Blood

No dragonpit would be secure without its guardians. Every dragonpit in CK3AGOT comes with an order of dragonkeepers that act as the buildings’ guardians. The dragonkeepers are represented through a new court position called the Head Dragonkeeper. 

The Head Dragon Keeper provides bonuses to their employer depending on their aptitude. For example, Head Dragonkeepers with higher aptitudes will have a higher success rate for capturing wild dragons—or, they may also provide greater buffs to the taming and bonding processes.

The aptitude of Head Dragonkeepers is controlled by a new Royal Court amenity—Dragonpit Funding. The more money you invest into this amenity, the better your dragonpit and dragonkeeper order will fare. Players who do not own the Royal Court DLC will not be excluded from this mechanic—their Head Dragonkeepers will be generated randomly instead.

The Dragonpit Filler & the Flavour

As a final note to this dev diary, let’s briefly discuss the filler and flavor events associated with dragonpits.

Others and myself on the team have written a number of filler and flavor events that may fire for dragonpit owners. Depending on the funding given to one’s dragonpit, they may find different levels of quality in their events. For those skimping on funding their dragonpits, they may find that their dragonkeepers are underfunded and begging for resources more often. Or perhaps, they may find that their dragons grow unhealthy due to a lack of food. For those who are financially responsible with their dragonpits, they may find that their dragonkeepers treat the dragons locked within with not only reverence but passion as well. And that passion may rub off on others.

Thank you for reading!

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