Shumoga Dragons are a skittish breed, more likely to spit fire at a threat and take to the air than stand and fight. However, if cornered, they will wield their fiery breath and sharp hind claws in lethal defense. Their claws are also a powerful weapon for hunting—they drop down on their prey from above and disembowel it with a swift slash. In the wild, females turn their eggs daily in the nest and will crack the shells with a hind claw to encourage hatching once the egg developed enough to survive. Wild Shumoga Dragons always have dark silver scales and black wings due to this forced hatching, and those that survive to adulthood display these colors proudly as a sign of survival of the fittest. However, the stress of hatching early affects their temperament, and adults tend to be nervous, irritable, and quick to take offense.

Dragons are highly-intelligent reptilian creatures that—from a human perspective, at least—appear to live forever. Many different varieties of dragon exist, each with their own unique qualities, habitats, and behavior. Adolescence in dragons is usually marked by the growth of a hatchling’s wings, although not all breeds of dragons grow wings and some breeds have other traits that indicate the beginning of maturation. In Galsreim, dragons and humans coexist peacefully.

Buncombe "is bright and gets along middling well with others", which is what her report cards from her Academy days say, and 45 years later, they still hold true. She is rough, loud, and judgmental, but not so much that other dragons feel like doing something about it. Whenever she's on some sort of team-oriented task, she likes to encourage situations to turn violent, such as declaring, "The best solution is Destruction Magic!" or "Let's hit them until they stop moving!" She seems to be genuinely chipper when suggesting them and even wags the fluffy portion of her tail like a child. Buncombe's idea is almost always a bad one, and everybody else shuts it down. However, when a situation does turn violent, it's not through any fault of hers—to the continued surprise of many community members. When it's a fight involving no more than four individuals, she gleefully hops in to handle peacekeeping.