Dragon Overview

Dragons are a primeval race of winged reptiles whose size, strength and magic make the eldest of them some of the mightiest beings alive. Most are known by scale color, and many belong to one of three families. Chromatics (black, blue, green, red, white) are vilely evil and universally feared. Metallics (brass, bronze, copper, gold, silver) are good and noble, honored by the wise. Gem dragons (amethyst, crystal, emerald, sapphire, topaz) stand neutral on good and evil; usually smaller and slower than the others, they make up for it with sharper minds, psionics, smooth persuasion and a love of riddles. Some outliers only look like family members: a steel dragon resembles a metallic but has one breath weapon instead of two, and a brown dragon passes for a chromatic yet has no wings.

All dragons probably share an ancestor tens of thousands of years back, but the kinds now keep apart, uniting only against a grave common danger. Good and evil dragons never cooperate, though some neutrals associate with either side; golds and silvers sometimes mingle, as do emeralds and sapphires. Rival evil kinds usually fight over turf, while good dragons, equally territorial but more tolerant, try to settle things peacefully. Gem dragons often resolve such disputes with riddling contests.

Every dragon passes through 12 age categories, from a few feet long at hatching to over 100 feet as a great wyrm; wingspan roughly matches body length, and the neck is 15-20% of it. Groups are usually a mated pair (young adult, adult or mature adult) with offspring no older than young adult; roll 1d6 per youngster, where 1 is an egg, 2-4 run from hatchling through very young to young, 5 is juvenile and 6 young adult. Greed pushes the young out early in the young adult stage, rarely as juveniles, and pairs split past the mature adult stage. Older dragons may raise young alone, the other parent leaving once eggs are laid. Elders are solitary and scorn civilization as a silly mortal invention.

Lairs lie far from civilization, carefully hidden, with little wildlife near them. A new young adult drifts for some years through ever-larger caves and usually settles on a permanent home by the mature adult stage, when its hoard is too big to move. Trespass in or near a lair is a threat to the dragon itself and is punished harshly, though some good dragons are lenient. Treasure lies deep inside, sometimes behind deliberate hazards.

Dragons hunt, scavenge when needed and can eat almost anything, inorganic matter included; their furnace-like bodies use 95% of what they consume. All are covetous, collecting coins, gems, jewelry and magic to admire and bask beside, and they leave large hoards only to patrol or feed. They sleep on the pile, molding it to their bodies, so a great wyrm has hundreds of coins and gems embedded in its hide.

Armor Class improves with age. Old and older dragons ignore normal missiles, though large ones (catapult stones, giants' boulders) and magical missiles still hurt them. From young adult on, magic resistance appears and grows. Each dragon has a base Hit Dice for its kind, modified by age: a black dragon's base of 10 becomes 4 as a hatchling (-6) and 18 as a great wyrm (+8). It saves as a fighter with a level equal to its Hit Dice.

Keen sight, smell and hearing let a dragon detect invisible creatures and objects, even ones hidden by darkness or fog, within 10 feet per age category. It also has clairaudience over its lair, 20 feet per age category, focusing on one area at a time. Certain dragons can speak mind to mind with any thinking being; the odds depends on Intelligence and age (see each entry).

Dragonhide armor is supple and light (25 pounds) and has an AC 4 worse than its source's, never worse than 8; a juvenile brass (AC 0) yields AC 4. It costs 1,000-10,000 gp, gives no elemental protection unless enchanted, and accepts enchantment up to +5. Gem dragon scales are faceted and glittering but brittle, needing repair more often. Dragonhide shields (hide over a wood frame) are nothing special: 3 or 8 pounds and 20-120 or 30-180 gp for small or large.

Thanks to strong wings and innate magic, most dragons fly at maneuverability class C, climbing at half speed and diving at double. A wingover swings the dragon through 120 to 240 degrees whatever its size or speed, though it cannot climb that round. Diving claw attacks gain +2 to hit; a dragon diving on grounded foes can add both wings but must then land. In aerial combat it may claw or bite, not both. Spellcasting aloft requires gliding, which loses 1,000 feet a round at half the previous round's speed; innate powers work anytime.

Simply seeing a dragon of young adult age or more sends fleeing anything under 1 HD, along with any peaceful plant-eater whose Hit Dice fall short of the dragon's, running for 4d6 rounds. Others below the dragon's Hit Dice, war mounts and organized troops included, save vs. petrification when inside its aura, which surrounds an attacking or charging dragon and lies along the ground below one flying at 250 feet or lower; failure means -2 on attack and damage rolls. Radius and save modifiers grow with age per the Dragon Table, gem dragons' auras grant save bonuses, and creatures with as many Hit Dice as the dragon are immune.

Every dragon has claw/claw/bite and a breath weapon usable once per three rounds. It usually prefers breath, then magic, then physical attacks, spreading attacks among foes and biting whoever seems toughest. A breathing dragon cannot also attack physically that round; innate powers (not spells) can accompany any attack except breath. The age-based combat modifier adds to physical damage but not breath, and to casting level, so a great wyrm casts at 24th level. Claws reach front and flanks; bites reach flanks and rear.

Snatch (young adult and older): diving, the dragon seizes a creature at least two sizes smaller (a 45-foot Gargantuan dragon can take a Large one). There is a 50% chance the victim's arms are pinned. It may be dropped from a height, crushed in its grip, taking claw damage automatically every round, or shifted to the jaws with a successful attack roll for automatic bite damage (failure drops it). Old dragons can hold and snatch two victims; wyrms and great wyrms three, though before grabbing the third it must move one captive to its mouth.

Plummet (optional, from 30 feet or more): the dragon drops onto a number of creatures up to its combat modifier, rolling a separate attack for each and dealing bite damage. Those hit must save vs. petrification or stay pinned and take automatic crushing damage next round; escaping a held pin needs another such save, all of them penalized by the combat modifier, and the dragon can do nothing else meanwhile.

Kick (any dragon, rear foes): claw damage, and victims failing a 1d20 Dexterity check fly back 1d6 feet plus a foot per age category, then save vs. petrification (adjusted by combat modifier) or fall; kicking costs a claw and rules out a tail slap. Wing buffet (foes at the flanks, young adults and up): claw damage, and a failed Dexterity check knocks the target down. Tail slap (adult and older, rear and flanks): twice claw damage to as many targets as the age category, each rolled separately, stunning for 1d4+1 minutes unless they save vs. petrification (adjusted); it smashes light wooden structures and strips a cube of force of one charge for every two full points of its combat modifier. Stall: a low-flying dragon can hover a round, then must land, attacking with bite and all four legs; over loose soil or trees its downdraft raises dust as wide as its fear aura, blinding those inside and blocking spellcasting for a round.

Dragons learn spells haphazardly, so the DM picks them at random; each can be cast once a day unless rolled more than once. They use no spellbooks or prayers, simply sleeping and concentrating on waking. Their spells need only a verbal component and take a casting time of 1, but while casting, a dragon cannot attack, breathe, use innate powers or fly other than gliding.