Lesser Drake Overview [Dark Sun]

The 'lesser' in their name refers to psionic might, not size. These drakes came from the paraelemental planes but have forgotten their origins entirely and cannot go back. Their mental powers lag behind those of the elemental drakes, yet in a physical fight they are fearsome, and they are well equipped to survive the desert world. Four kinds are known: magma, rain, silt and sun drakes.

Lesser drakes rely on brute force over psionics, and the details of their attacks differ by type. Each concentrates everything on a single foe until it is down. Sun and silt drakes swallow victims alive, while magma and rain drakes prefer their food dead. A swallowed creature suffers 6-15 damage each round from the digestive fluid; ordinary objects dissolve in a few hours, and magical items must save vs. acid or be destroyed too.

None has a breath weapon or elemental attack, but every lesser drake has a tail strike, which varies by kind. Unless an entry says otherwise, a creature struck by it is stunned for 1d6 rounds unless it makes a save vs. petrification at -2.

Each kind has a particular elemental drake as its sworn enemy and gains +2 to attack rolls against it. Such feuds are fought to the death, and the battles wreck the surrounding countryside; bystanders who linger rarely survive to describe them.

All but the silt drake have defensive innate psionic devotions, identical across the kinds, that cost no strength points to start or keep running. They are tamer than the elemental drakes' powers. Each drake's body control power is tied to its paraelemental home plane.

Lesser drakes are uncommon, but plenty of people have seen one, and some have even survived. Hunting one is serious business: lucky hunters might bring down an aging drake, but the party is more likely to end up eaten. Desert aarakocra count a silt drake hunt among their most important rites. These drakes live for decades.

Their homes depend partly on their plane of origin. Lairs, where they exist, are hard to locate, about twice the drake's size and easy to hold from inside; the silt drake keeps none. Lesser drakes get along well with creatures of their own plane but attack beings from other elemental planes on sight, regarding them simply as food. Psionicists of high level with strong beast mastery may try to master one, and lesser drakes resist such control less than elemental drakes while being even more dangerous in a fight.

They are carnivores, and scale-runner or halfling is the meat they like best, though the magma drake has a taste for dwarves.

A lesser drake hide sells well in the right market, but it can draw the templars, who may take it for an elemental drake's hide. Owning one of those is a capital crime, so sellers must choose their buyers carefully, even though lesser drake hides themselves are perfectly legal.

The leather is superb for armor and luxuries such as overstuffed chairs. Armor from a magma or sun drake gives +2 to saves against fire attacks and cuts the damage to half on a failed save or a quarter on a successful one. Silt drake hide offers identical protection from choking, suffocation and dust storms, while rain drake leather reduces water loss by 50% and grants matching bonuses against dehydrating attacks. A suit costs 5 gp and needs a skilled craftsman working a month or more, and each hide yields only one. Dishonest armorers sometimes accept the job and then hand the finished suit to the templars or other officials.

Teeth and claws become fine edged weapons, and bones make sturdy clubs, each granting +1 to damage but nothing to hit. Each takes a skilled craftsman two weeks and at least 1 gp. The digestive fluid is useful in fine metalwork or any task needing a strong corrosive, but stays potent only 1d4+1 days past the drake's death. Humans and demihumans find the meat foul, and nothing else of the creature has any use.

Lesser drakes are bashful about mating. Twice a year they seek out the loneliest corners of their range to find a partner. Both parents incubate the eggs for three weeks, and the male departs as soon as they hatch. The young are fiercely independent and leave within a few days, after drying off, eating scraps of meat the mother provides and learning to move in their kind's fashion. In those first days they triple or quadruple in size, then grow 6 to 8 feet a year for about 10 years.