[top]Dragon, True

The known varieties of true dragons (as opposed to other creatures that have the dragon type) fall into two broad categories: chromatic and metallic. The chromatic dragons are black, blue, green, red, and white; they are all evil and extremely fierce. The metallic dragons are brass, bronze, copper, gold, and silver; they are all good, usually noble, and highly respected by the wise.
All true dragons gain more abilities and greater power as they age. (Other creatures that have the dragon type do not.) They range in length from several feet upon hatching to more than 100 feet after attaining the status of great wyrm. The size of a particular dragon varies according to age and variety.
A dragon?s metabolism operates like a highly efficient furnace and can metabolize even inorganic material. Some dragons have developed a taste for such fare.
Although goals and ideals vary among varieties, all dragons are covetous. They like to hoard wealth, collecting mounds of coins and gathering as many gems, jewels, and magic items as possible. Those with large hoards are loath to leave them for long, venturing out of their lairs only to patrol the immediate area or to get food. For dragons, there is no such thing as enough treasure. It?s pleasing to look at, and they bask in its radiance. Dragons like to make beds of their hoards, shaping nooks and mounds to fit their bodies. By the time a dragon matures to the age of great wyrm, hundreds of gems and coins may be imbedded in its hide.
All dragons speak Draconic.

[top]Combat

A dragon attacks with its powerful claws and bite, and can also use a breath weapon and special physical attacks, depending on its size. It prefers to fight on the wing, staying out of reach until it has worn down the enemy with ranged attacks. Older, more intelligent dragons are adept at sizing up the opposition and eliminating the most dangerous foes first (or avoiding them while picking off weaker enemies).
The table below provides space and reach statistics for dragons of various sizes, plus the natural weapons a dragon of a certain size can employ and the damage those attacks deal.
Bite: Bite attacks deal the indicated damage plus the dragon?s Strength bonus. A dragon also can use its bite to snatch opponents if it has the Snatch feat.
Claw: Claw attacks deal the indicated damage plus 1/2 the dragon?s Strength bonus (round down). The dragon also can use its claws to snatch opponents if it has the Snatch feat. Claw attacks are secondary attacks, requiring a ?5 penalty on the attack roll. (Many dragons choose the Multiattack feat to lessen this penalty to ?2).
Wing: The dragon can slam opponents with its wings, even when flying. Wing attacks deal the indicated damage plus 1/2 the dragon?s Strength bonus (round down) and are treated as secondary attacks.
Tail Slap: The dragon can slap one opponent each round with its tail. A tail slap deals the indicated damage plus 1-1/2 times the dragon?s Strength bonus (round down) and is treated as a secondary attack.
Crush (Ex): This special attack allows a flying or jumping dragon of at least Huge size to land on opponents as a standard action, using its whole body to crush them. Crush attacks are effective only against opponents three or more size categories smaller than the dragon (though it can attempt normal overrun or grapple attacks against larger opponents).
A crush attack affects as many creatures as can fit under the dragon?s body. Creatures in the affected area must succeed on a Reflex save (DC equal to that of the dragon?s breath weapon) or be pinned, automatically taking bludgeoning damage during the next round unless the dragon moves off them. If the dragon chooses to maintain the pin, treat it as a normal grapple attack. Pinned opponents take damage from the crush each round if they don?t escape.
A crush attack deals the indicated damage plus 1-1/2 times the dragon?s Strength bonus (round down).
Tail Sweep (Ex): This special attack allows a dragon of at least Gargantuan size to sweep with its tail as a standard action. The sweep affects a half-circle with a radius of 30 feet (or 40 feet for a Colossal dragon), extending from an intersection on the edge of the dragon?s space in any direction. Creatures within the swept area are affected if they are four or more size categories smaller than the dragon. A tail sweep automatically deals the indicated damage plus 1-1/2 times the dragon?s Strength bonus (round down). Affected creatures can attempt Reflex saves to take half damage (DC equal to that of the dragon?s breath weapon).
Grappling: Dragons do not favor grapple attacks, though their crush attack (and Snatch feat, if they know it) use normal grapple rules. A dragon can always use its breath weapon while grappling, as well as its spells and spell-like or supernatural abilities, provided it succeeds on Concentration checks.
Breath Weapon (Su): Using a breath weapon is a standard action. Once a dragon breathes, it can?t breathe again until 1d4 rounds later. If a dragon has more than one type of breath weapon, it still can breathe only once every 1d4 rounds. A blast from a breath weapon always starts at any intersection adjacent to the dragon and extends in a direction of the dragon?s choice, with an area as noted on the table below. If the breath weapon deals damage, creatures caught in the area can attempt Reflex saves to take half damage; the DC depends on the dragon?s age and variety, and is given in each individual entry. Saves against nondamaging breath weapons use the same DC; the kind of saving throw is noted in the variety descriptions. The save DC against a breath weapon is 10 + 1/2 dragon?s HD + dragon?s Con modifier.
Breath weapons come in two basic shapes, line and cone, whose areas vary with the dragon?s size.
Dragon Breath Weapons
Dragon SizeLine* (Length)Cone** (Length)
Tiny30 ft.15 ft.
Small40 ft.20 ft.
Medium60 ft.30 ft.
Large80 ft.40 ft.
Huge100 ft.50 ft.
Gargantuan120 ft.60 ft.
Colossal140 ft.70 ft.
*A line is always 5 feet high and 5 feet wide.
**A cone is as high and wide as its length.
Frightful Presence (Ex): A young adult or older dragon can unsettle foes with its mere presence. The ability takes effect automatically whenever the dragon attacks, charges, or flies overhead. Creatures within a radius of 30 feet x the dragon?s age category are subject to the effect if they have fewer HD than the dragon. A potentially affected creature that succeeds on a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 dragon?s HD + dragon?s Cha modifier) remains immune to that dragon?s frightful presence for 24 hours. On a failure, creatures with 4 or less HD become panicked for 4d6 rounds and those with 5 or more HD become shaken for 4d6 rounds. Dragons ignore the frightful presence of other dragons.
Spells: A dragon knows and casts arcane spells as a sorcerer of the level indicated in its variety description, gaining bonus spells for a high Charisma score. Some dragons can also cast spells from the cleric list or cleric domain lists as arcane spells.
Spell-Like Abilities: A dragon?s spell-like abilities depend on its age and variety. It gains the abilities indicated for its age plus all previous ones. Its age category or its sorcerer caster level, whichever is higher, is the caster level for these abilities. The save DC is 10 + dragon?s Cha modifier + spell level. All spell-like abilities are usable once per day unless otherwise noted.
Damage Reduction class="errata" |
(Su)
:
Young adult and older dragons have damage reduction. Their natural weapons are treated as magic weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.
Immunities (Ex): All dragons have immunity to sleep and paralysis effects. Each variety of dragon has immunity to one or two additional forms of attack no matter what its age, as given in its description.
Spell Resistance (Ex): As dragons age, they become more resistant to spells and spell-like abilities, as indicated in the variety descriptions.
Blindsense (Ex): Dragons can pinpoint creatures within a distance of 60 feet. Opponents the dragon can?t actually see still have total concealment against the dragon.
Keen Senses (Ex): A dragon sees four times as well a human in shadowy illumination and twice as well in normal light. It also has darkvision out to 120 feet.
Skills: All dragons have skill points equal to (6 + Int modifier, minimum 1) x (Hit Dice + 3). Most dragons purchase the following skills at the maximum ranks possible: Listen, Search, and Spot. The remaining skill points are generally spent on Concentration, Diplomacy, Escape Artist, Intimidate, Knowledge (any), Sense Motive, and Use Magic Device at a cost of 1 skill point per rank. All these skills are considered class skills for dragons. (Each dragon has other class skills as well, as noted in the variety descriptions.)
Feats: All dragons have one feat, plus additional feats based on Hit Dice just like any other creature. Dragons favor Alertness, Blind Fight, Cleave, Flyby Attack, Hover, Improved Initiative, Improved Sunder, Power Attack, Snatch, Weapon Focus (claw or bite), Wingover, and any metamagic feat that is available and useful to sorcerers.
Dragon Age Categories
CategoryAge (Years)
1 Wyrmling0?5
2 Very young6?15
3 Young16?25
4 Juvenile26?50
5 Young adult51?100
6 Adult101?200
7 Mature adult201?400
8 Old401?600
9 Very old601?800
10 Ancient801?1,000
11 Wyrm1,001?1,200
12 Great wyrm1,201 or more

Dragon Space/Reach, Attacks, and Damage
SizeSpace/Reach*1 Bite2 Claws2 Wings1 Tail Slap1Crush1 Tail Sweep
Tiny2-1/2 ft./0 ft. (5 ft. with bite)1d41d3????
Small5 ft./5 ft.1d61d4????
Medium5 ft./5 ft.1d81d61d4???
Large10 ft./5 ft. (10 ft. with bite)2d61d81d61d8??
Huge15 ft./10 ft. (15 ft. with bite)2d82d61d82d62d8?
Gargantuan20 ft./15 ft. (20 ft. with bite)4d62d82d62d84d62d6
Colossal30 ft./20 ft. (30 ft. with bite)4d84d62d84d64d82d8
*A dragon?s bite attack has reach as if the creature were one size category larger. All other attacks are made with the standard reach for the dragon?s size.

[top]Dragon Overland Movement

Chromatic and metallic dragons are exceedingly strong flyers and can cover vast distances quickly. A dragon?s overland flying speed is a function of its tactical fly speed, as shown on the table below.
Dragon Overland Flying Speeds
????? Dragon?s Fly Speed ?????
100 feet150 feet200 feet250 feet
One Hour
Normal15 miles20 miles30 miles40 miles
Hustle24 miles40 miles60 miles80 miles
One Day
Normal120 miles160 miles240 miles320 miles
Dragons do not tire as quickly as other creatures when moving overland on the ground. If a dragon attempts a hustle or a forced march, check for nonlethal damage once every 2 hours instead of every hour.

[top]Dragonhide

Armorsmiths can work with the hides of dragons to produce armor or shields of masterwork quality.

[top]Chromatic Dragons

Chromatic dragons form the evil branch of dragonkind. They are aggressive, greedy, vain, and nasty.

[top]Metallic Dragons

Metallic dragons make up the good branch of dragonkind, but they are every bit as aggressive as their evil cousins when threatened or challenged. They also tend to be covetous and proud.

[top]Epic Dragons

[top]Advanced Dragons

[top]Wikipedia Entries

Dragon

System Reference Document -> List of Creatures (SRD) -> Dragon, True
 
This article is a D20 reference page
The System Reference Document is a comprehensive toolbox consisting of rules, races, classes, feats, skills, various systems, spells, magic items, and monsters compatible with the d20 System version of Dungeons & Dragons and various other roleplaying games from Wizards of the Coast.
 

Tags for this Page

Similar Pages

  1. Dragon, White (Creature)
    By Arjan in forum D20 system reference document
    Comments: 0
    Last Post: 05-20-2007, 12:56 AM
  2. Dragon, Silver (Creature)
    By Arjan in forum D20 system reference document
    Comments: 0
    Last Post: 05-20-2007, 12:56 AM
  3. Dragon, Red (Creature)
    By Arjan in forum D20 system reference document
    Comments: 0
    Last Post: 05-20-2007, 12:55 AM
  4. Dragon, Gold (Creature)
    By Arjan in forum D20 system reference document
    Comments: 0
    Last Post: 05-20-2007, 12:55 AM
  5. Dragon, Brass (Creature)
    By Arjan in forum D20 system reference document
    Comments: 0
    Last Post: 05-20-2007, 12:54 AM

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

Posting Permissions
  • You may not create new articles
  • You may not edit articles
  • You may not protect articles
  • You may not post comments
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your comments
BIRTHRIGHT, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, the BIRTHRIGHT logo, and the D&D logo are trademarks owned by Wizards of the Coast, Inc., a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc., and are used by permission. ©2002-2010 Wizards of the Coast, Inc.