Draconomicon™
R O L E P L A Y I N G G A M E S U P P L E M E N T
Bruce R. Cordell • Logan Bonner • Ari Marmell • Robert J. Schwalb
C h r o m a t i c D r a g o n s
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CREDITSCREDITS
DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, d20, d20 System, WIZARDS OF THE COAST, Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide, Monster Manual, Draconomicon, FORGOTTEN REALMS,
DRAGONLANCE, GREYHAWK, Adventurer’s Vault, Complete Mage, Dragons of Despair, Elder Evils, Exemplars of Evil, Expanded Psionics Handbook, Forge of Fury, Forge of War, Greyhawk Ruins, Hall of the Fire Giant King, Libris Mortis, Martial Power, Sunless Citadel, Tomb of the Lizard King, Tome of Magic, War of the Lance, all other Wizards of the Coast product names,
and their respective logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast in the U.S.A. and other countries. All Wizards characters and their distinctive likenesses are property of
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herein is purely coincidental. Printed in the U.S.A. ©2008 Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.WIZARDS.COM/DNDVISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.WIZARDS.COM/DND
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First Printing:
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ISBN: 978-0-7869-4980-9
Design
Bruce R. Cordell (lead),Logan Bonner, Ari Marmell, Robert J. Schwalb
Development
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Special thanks to Brandon Daggerhart, keeper of Shadowfell
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Interior Illustrations
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Game rules based on the original DUNGEONS & DRAGONS®
rules created by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and the
later editions by David “Zeb” Cook (2nd Edition); Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Richard Baker, and Peter Adkison (3rd Edition); and Rob Heinsoo, Andy Collins, and
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1: 1: DRAGON LOREDRAGON LORE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Origins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Physiology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Life Cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Outlook and Psychology . . . . . . . . . . 18
Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Chromatic Dragons in Detail . . . . . . 30
Black Dragons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Blue Dragons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Brown Dragons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Gray Dragons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Green Dragons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Purple Dragons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Red Dragons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
White Dragons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
2: DM’S GUIDE TO DRAGONSDM’S GUIDE TO DRAGONS. . . 44
Draconic Encounters . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Combat Encounters . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Social Encounters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
The King’s Vizier . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
The Long and Winding Road . . . 48
Draconic Traps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Adventures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Adventure Hooks and Quests . . . 51
False Witness (Level 5) . . . . . . . 51
Out of the Dark (Level 7) . . . . . 52
Gathering Storm (Level 13) . . . 52
Shipwreck (Level 18) . . . . . . . . . 53
Crossfi re (Level 22) . . . . . . . . . . . 53
But the Dead Dragons
Shall Rule (Level 26 or 29) . . . 54
Chromatic Patrons . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Draconic Campaigns . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Fabulous Dragonslayers . . . . . . . . 57
The Dragon’s Hand . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Dragon Hoards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Principles of Hoard Design . . . . . 61
Draconic Artifacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Ilthuviel’s Blackened Heart . . . . . 76
Blue Orb of Dragonkind . . . . . . . . 78
Spear of Urrok the Brave . . . . . . . 80
Unconquered Standard
of Arkhosia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Draconic Rituals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Dragon Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Famous Dragons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
3: 3: DRAGON LAIRSDRAGON LAIRS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Lair Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
The Ruins of Castle Korvald . . . . . . . 94
The Gatekeepers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Tower of Murderous Ice . . . . . . . 100
Cliff side Lair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Vigilant Watchers . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
The Dragon’s Grotto . . . . . . . . . . 108
Feywild Lair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Sylvan Allies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Dragon’s Den . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Where Shadows Fall . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
The Bridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
The Dead Travel Fast . . . . . . . . . . 124
Heart of Darkness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
The Beating Heart . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Something on the Side . . . . . . . . 132
Volcano Lair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
The Weapon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
The Dragon’s Lair . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
The Tomb of Urum-Shar . . . . . . . . . 142
Stairway to Hell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Beneath the Sands . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Abyssal Lair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Isle of Faces. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Demon Miners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Regnant Fane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Guarded Cavern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Inner Sanctum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
4: NEW MONSTERSNEW MONSTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
CHROMATIC DRAGONSCHROMATIC DRAGONS . . . . . 168
Brown Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Gray Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Purple Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Chromatic Wyrmlings . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Black Dragon Wyrmling . . . . . . . 179
Blue Dragon Wyrmling . . . . . . . . 180
Brown Dragon Wyrmling . . . . . . 181
Gray Dragon Wyrmling . . . . . . . . 182
Green Dragon Wyrmling . . . . . . 183
Purple Dragon Wyrmling . . . . . . 184
Red Dragon Wyrmling. . . . . . . . . 185
White Dragon Wyrmling . . . . . . 186
PLANAR DRAGONSPLANAR DRAGONS . . . . . . . . . . 188
Abyssal Dragons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Frostforged Wyrm . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Deathmask Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Astral Dragons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Battle Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Pact Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Elemental Dragons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Blazewyrm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Dragon Eel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Tempest Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Pyroclastic Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Feywild Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Faerie Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Mirage Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
Wretch Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Shadowfell Dragons . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Blight Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Shadow Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
UNDEAD DRAGONSUNDEAD DRAGONS . . . . . . . . . 200
Dracolich . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Bone Mongrel Dracolich . . . . . . . 200
Stoneborn Dracolich . . . . . . . . . . 201
Icewrought Dracolich . . . . . . . . . 201
Dreambreath Dracolich . . . . . . . 202
Draconic Wraith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Wyrm-Wisp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
Soulgrinder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
Draconic Zombie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Winged Putrescence . . . . . . . . . . 205
Rotclaw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Deathless Hunger . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Rancid Tide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Skeletal Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Razortalon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Bonespitter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Siegewyrm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Vampiric Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Thief of Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Bloodwind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
OTHER CREATURESOTHER CREATURES . . . . . . . . 210
Abishai . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Draconic Parasite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Dragonborn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Dragonspawn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
Drake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
Kobold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
Living Breath . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
Squamous Thing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
DRAGON HALL OF FAMEDRAGON HALL OF FAME . . . 232
Ashardalon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
Cyan Bloodbane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Dragotha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
Gulgol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
Nefermandias . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
Rime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
Tiamat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
Zebukiel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
TEMPLATESTEMPLATES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
Draconic Creature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
Dragonguard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
ALTERNATIVE POWERSALTERNATIVE POWERS . . . . 251
contents
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4C H A P T E R 1 | D r a g o n L o r e
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C H A P T E R 1
Dragon LoreDragon Lore
Come not between the dragon and his wrath.—William Shakespeare
More ink has been spilled on describing drag-ons than on nearly any other creature. These ancient, noble, yet savage beasts are a favorite subject of guide-books, bards’ tales, and ancient tomes and scrolls. Draconic knowledge is gained at risk of life and limb; dragons are rapacious, jealous of their secrets, and often hungry. Experts describe dragons as the first sentient race to appear in the world, with life spans stretching into millennia. With such a wealth of experience, dragons embody history. The oldest dragons are repositories of vast knowledge and of the deepest ancient secrets. Dragons are more than just a challenge for knights seeking hoards or glory: dragons are sages, oracles, and even prophets. Dragons’ majesty has clothed them in myth. The appearance of a dragon can portend good or ill for-tune. Pragmatic sages attempt to classify dragons as merely large lizards that have wings and warm breath, but these efforts fail in the true light of the wonder, magic, and fantastic abilities of dragons. Dragons are, by their nature, epic forces.
This chapter covers the following topics:✦ Origins: The beginnings and history of chromatic
dragons.✦ Physiology: A detailed study of chromatic drag-
ons’ anatomy.✦ Life Cycle: The life of a dragon from egg to
ancient.✦ Outlook and Psychology: How chromatic drag-
ons see the world.✦ Society: A description of dragon social structure.✦ Language: Draconic language and script.✦ Religion: Dragons’ favored deities.✦ Chromatic Dragons in Detail: An overview
of the five most common chromatic dragons—black, blue, green, red, and white—as well as the lesser-known brown, gray, and purple dragons.
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Only the most arrogant enthusiast might claim cer-tain knowledge of dragons’ origins, and such a claim should be taken with a grain of salt. Legends and the knowledge that sages do have, however, stretch back for centuries and hint at what might have been. Sometimes new stories come to light, prompting reassessments of the existing body of knowledge and speculation regarding dragon inception.
First DragonsThe five major dragon families (chromatic, cata-strophic, metallic, scourge, and planar; see the Monster Manual for details) share a common origin. Most accounts begin with mention of the deity Io. Io, as legend has it, created dragons in his own shape but without a divine spark, so that dragons might frolic and exult in the new world formed by the primordials. To Io, dragons were the epitome of mortal form. Though they lived in the world, the power of the Elemental Chaos f lowed in their veins and spewed from their mouths in gouts of f lame or waves of paralyzing cold. They also developed keen minds and lofty spirits that linked them, as with all sentient mortal beings, to the Astral Sea.
The SunderingDuring the wars between the primordials and the gods that followed the world’s creation, the primor-dial known as the King of Terror attacked and slew Io and the dragons defending Io. According to one account, the dragon deities Tiamat and Bahamut rose from the two halves of Io’s corpse. Another legend claims that Tiamat and Bahamut were among Io’s eldest creations and received their father’s divine spark upon his death. Io’s remaining children found their position less secure than they had believed it to be. Forced to adapt to a changing world, they chose diverse philosophies and lifestyles to reflect their individual natures. A number of surviving dragons chose to follow Bahamut, called the Platinum Dragon, and they became the first metallic dragons. Over the ages, as Bahamut upheld justice, opposed evil, and liber-ated the oppressed, creatures other than dragons came to honor him as the deity of justice, protection, nobility, and honor. In the fullness of time, he has become better known for those attributes than for his association with metallic dragons. Today, all metallic dragons revere Bahamut as their originator, but not all of them worship him.
ORIGINS
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