Everyone seems to have their own way of doing dragons. For my current campaign setting, I've decided to go with a more Monster Hunter or How to Train Your Dragon approach, where my dragons are a class of animal like reptiles or amphibians with many species. The dragons in this post are only a few (the bookwyrm is one too) and I plan to make more at some point.
I've tried to distinguish each dragon species from the others (mechanically and aesthetically) to make them stand out from each other more than D&D's chromatics/metallics do.
I also wanted an excuse to draw some cool dragons.
A Note on Dragons (or, In MY setting...)
So a few things that might set my dragons apart from what we're used to seeing in D&D:
1. Dragons' intelligence varies by species. I see it as a sliding scale where the extremes are 'average crow' and 'Smaug', with Jurassic Park's velociraptors set firmly at the middle.
2. Dragons can't cast spells, but some have innate spell-like abilites.
3. Basically any weird magical lizard-thing will be referred to as a dragon. I hate going into semantics about "actually that's technically a wyvern, not a dragon". Each species here is also listed with multiple colloquial names.
With that out of the way, time for the dragons!
Frost Wyrm
AC 2 [17], HD 7** (31 hp), Att 2 x claw (1d4), 1 x bite (2d8), or breath, THAC0 13 [+6], MV 90’ (30’) / 240’ (80’) flying, SV D8 W9 P10 B10 S12 (7), ML 9, AL Chaotic, NA 1, XP 1,250, TT E + heart
Breath: 80’ cone of cold.
Freezing Body: Attacking the dragon with a non-magical metal weapon has a 1-in-6 chance to break the weapon. If the dragon’s body touches flesh it inflicts 1d4 damage.
Cold Immunity: Unharmed by cold-based attacks.
Cold Drakes. Ice Dragons. They are equal parts beautiful and deadly. Where they fly, the winter storms follow in their wake. Northern tribes have many beliefs about the ice drakes, and to them these are creatures both respected and feared.
It is said that the aurora is the snow shed from their wings that floats into the sky and mingles with starlight.
The body of a frost wyrm is so cold that the air slightly freezes around it; the dragon constantly sheds an icy mist.
This cold aura is believed to be generated by the dragon’s heart, an egg-shaped crystal of green ice about the size of a human head. A frost wyrm heart would fetch a high price with collectors and magicians studying the lores of ice and snow.
Along with the heart, a frost wyrm’s skeleton is made of elemental ice. The tribes call them “icebones” and use them to make weapons and jewelry through a process only known to their tribal elders and most revered warriors. Unlike our impure ice, elemental ice is extremely durable and carries that same magical freezing property.
The Tale of White Death
There is a legend amongst their people of a mortal hero who became a god; a man who slew the mother of all frost wyrms, a great dragon called White Death. She plagued the north with unforgiving winter, until the hero ascended the highest mountain in the land and jumped from its peak, wrestling the beast out of the sky over six days and six nights. He broke the White Death’s body on the mountainside and forged an axe from her crystal bones. When the hero died, he and his axe were entombed inside the great mountain in a vast crypt, to await the day when a worthy successor will claim the axe as his own.
To this day, tribal leaders ritualistically hunt frost wyrms to prove their cunning and martial might, and to craft an icebone weapon of their own.
Red Tyrant
Dragons with red-gold scales, powerful wings, and muscular limbs. They dwell in the hearts of abandoned kingdoms and scorched ruins.
AC -1 [20], HD 10** (45hp), Att 2 x claw (1d8), 1 x bite (4d8) or 1 x breath, THAC0 11 [+8], MV 90’ (30’) / 240’ (80’) flying, SV D6 W7 P8 B8 S10 (10), ML 10, AL Chaotic, XP 2,300, NA 1, TT H
Pride: Red Tyrants are immensely prideful and will always listen to flattery.
Breath Weapon: 90’ long cone of fire.
Charming Voice: Save vs. spells at -2 or be affected as per charm person. Any who resist the charm are immune to its effects in the future.
Fire Immunity: Immune to fire-based attacks.
Dread Worms, Fire Drakes, the quintessential dragon. They breathe fire, devour princesses, and sleep on mountains of golden treasures. These dragons are so named for their red-gold scales (they grow more red with age) and the curled horns and spiny frills which frame the dragon’s head like a crown.
The red tyrant’s monstrous body betrays its sinister intelligence. They are narcissistic and delight in the degradation and suffering of beings they deem “beneath” themselves. A tyrant will toy with its prey, seeking either to scare them to death or to give them a glimmer of hope just to snuff it out before burning them alive.
Red Tyrants lair among the bones of the kingdoms they’ve burned, sleeping on piles of ancient wealth in scoured keeps and abandoned mountain halls. Each one keeps a hoard of treasures and has an encyclopedic knowledge of it, enough to notice if even a single coin is out of place. When a Red Tyrant notices a treasure has been taken, it flies into a rage, becoming the bloodthirsty monster it appears to be.
Tyrants are one of the few dragon species that can speak, and their voices carry a powerful magic. Their hypnotic voices can charm weak-willed beings; a low growl that echoes through the target's body and evokes some primal fear and awe that all "lesser" creatures share when faced with a dragon.
"It wasn’t telepathy...telepathy was like hearing a voice in your head.
This was like hearing a voice in your body. His whole nervous system twanged to it, like a bow."
The dragons often use this ability to keep lesser beasts as guards and spies, or to further torment their victims by turning allies against each other.
Those with no means to combat the dragon have historically resorted to sacrifice; regular offerings of young maidens left to be consumed by the beast. This keeps the dragon at bay, who is satisfied with the sorrow of the people. Their only hope is to call upon wayward heroes to slay the beast.
Storm Serpent
30’ serpentine dragons with yellow, blue, or violet scales coursing with electricity. They dwell in mountain peaks above the clouds.
AC 3 [16], HD 6** (28hp), Att 1 x bite (2d8), 1 x tail (2d4 + electricity), or scream, THAC0 13 [+6], MV 240’ (80’) flying, SV D10 W11 P12 B13 S14 (4), ML 9, AL Neutral, NA 1, XP 950, TT F
Electrical Body: If the dragon’s body touches with flesh or metal in contact with it (armor, weapons) the electricity coursing through it inflicts 1d4 damage.
Summon Storm: Takes 1 turn.
Lightning Bolt: If a storm is present, a storm serpent’s scream can summon a lightning bolt from the sky, affecting a 10’ area. Inflicts damage equal to serpent's current hp total (save vs. spells for half).
Electrical Immunity: Unharmed by electrical attacks.
Flight: Having no wings, the storm serpent’s flight is seemingly by magic.
Storm serpents’ bodies course with electricity. Their scales pulse with electrical light, and the manes of coarse hair on their necks are always stood on end from static.
Storm serpents make their lairs in only the highest mountain peaks, the ones that disappear beyond the clouds.
Some believe these dragons to be divine spirits of cleansing. That they bring rain and spark purifying fires. Perhaps they are right to believe this. Despite having no wings, storm serpents fly with supernatural agility.
They have no breath weapon, but their screams have the power to conjure lightning from the sky.
Some storm serpents have been known to become guardians of villages in the valleys beneath their mountains.
Courageous folk journey up the mountainside to the serpent’s lair to give offerings of food and treasures, as gaining a storm serpent’s favor leads to healthy rainfall and good harvest. The dragons can also use their powers to divert devastating storms away from their protected territories.
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