Dragon-kin

Possibly very distant dragon relatives, dragon-kin walk upright but have a draconic face, wings, claws, tail, small backswept horns and a dragonlike mane or beard. They are ocher to reddish brown with darker spots or stripes, and their wings are usually green shading to gold, though some match the body. Back and tail scales are large and coarse, those of the chest and limbs finer but still tough. The horns are decorative, perhaps protective, never weapons. They speak a sibilant offshoot of the ancient dragon language and rough Common.

Most live as wild tribes. A dragon-worshiping cult controls a few tribes, imposing discipline, teaching extra fighting skills and keeping chosen chiefs in power with gifts of magic; these are cult dragon-kin.

All dragon-kin detect magic at will, and wild ones go first for whoever carries it, since owning magic items is their strongest urge. Expecting battle, they climb into the air, stay there as long as they can, and dive to rake with their foreclaws. To grab an item, one rolls to hit it (AC 10, modified by the item's magical bonus and its holder's Dexterity bonus), then both make Strength checks (the dragon-kin has Str 13) until someone fails and loses hold. A winner flies off at the first chance, and half the time stays home to gloat over its treasure. On the ground they use claws, spears and pole arms. Easily distracted by dropped magic, grounded tribal dragon-kin still won't usually flee with a prize unless it is safe to, and they never willingly expose their backs.

Tribal dragon-kin won't use stolen magic in a fight for fear of losing it, which leaves them with claws and plain weapons and makes them easy marks for veterans of aerial combat. Cult dragon-kin use combat magic freely, especially cult gifts. Training curbs their greed, but if a grab serves their mission they make it, keeping the item and fighting on unless it is a spear, sword or other weapon they can use at once. Aloft they add a 2d8 rake with both hind claws, and they are trained with bows and javelins on the wing.

Tribal leaders win their place by combat and by owning the best magic, and a defeated but surviving chief is driven out. Half of a den's members stay behind as guards. Beat them and the den holds 1d2 temporary magic items (potions and such) per resident, and each resident adds 10% to the chance of a permanent item, so six give 60% and ten or more guarantee one.

Many serve a powerful cult dragon or a wizard, but few will serve a dracolich without magical compulsion, and the craving for magic never fades. That craving is likely why tribes ally with the cult, which supplies plenty of near-worthless magic. Cult dragon-kin keep much of their plunder once the cult has inspected it, and anything the cult claims is paid for with potions, useful plain weapons, or flashy baubles given a magical aura.

Wild tribes are a plague on any land, taking whatever they like. Nothing hunts them, though bounties on them are common where they have raided. They eat almost anything, preferring meat, especially sentient prey they can torment. Mundane treasure doesn't interest them; coins are left lying. They attack parties without magic half the time (50%) and those carrying it always.

Cult dragon-kin are disciplined and fierce, serving for promised riches and magic, and have learned that money buys useful things. They eat only meat unless desperate, and since the cult frowns on eating people (it attracts attention), they mostly hunt deer, pheasant, goats and other game.