Iron Dragon [Ferrous]

Hatchlings are flat black, glossing to metallic black by adulthood, then gaining silver highlights until a great wyrm resembles moonlight on rippling water. Iron dragons speak their own and the common ferrous tongue, and 20% of hatchlings can telepathically address any intelligent creature within 60 feet, plus 5% per age category. They are the strongest ferrous dragons and rule the rest; rumor holds the iron sovereign all but invincible.

An iron dragon rarely attacks unless its lair is invaded; it would rather gather news of the world than fight. When it must, it is deadly, relying on spells and powers before claws and teeth. It favors magic that weakens or disables, since it accepts surrender and dead foes cannot be questioned. Captives are usually eaten once drained of information.

It has two breaths: a sleep gas cloud 50 feet long, 40 wide and 30 high (save vs. breath weapon or sleep, regardless of Hit Dice), or a 90-foot cone of superheated sparks 5 feet wide at the mouth and 30 at the end (save for half). Spells and powers work at 9th level plus combat modifier.

From birth it is immune to all heat and fire and can use polymorph self up to three times daily; a new shape holds until it picks another, and going back to its natural body costs no use. Further powers come with age.

Irons lair deep beneath great hills or high mountains, and iron deposits are said to lie wherever they den. They hoard raw iron more greedily than any other metal, and sages suspect they need it both for food and for reproduction, which earns them no love from mining races. They travel in disguise, usually human, to learn about the world; why they favor that shape, no one can say.

Irons prefer iron ore but can live on nearly anything. They share territory with red dragons, and the pair are mortal enemies: reds see irons as weak interlopers, and irons see reds as a disgrace to dragonkind. Neither ever yields, so their battles always end in a death. Irons also feud with dwarves and other iron miners, though on a far smaller scale.