Draconomicon™ Sample file

Draconomicon
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Chromatic Dragons
R O L E P L AY 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
CREDITS
Development
Mike Mearls (lead),
Stephen Radney-MacFarland, Rodney Thompson
Editing
Michele Carter (lead),
Jennifer Clarke Wilkes, Jessica Kristine,
Julia Martin, Ray Vallese
Managing Editing
Kim Mohan
Director of R&D, Roleplaying Games/Book Publishing
Bill Slavicsek
D&D Story Design and Development Manager
Christopher Perkins
Graphic Designers
Leon Cortez, Breanne Miller, Keven Smith
Interior Illustrations
Devon Caddy-Lee, Miguel Coimbra, Eric Deschamps,
Vincent Dutrait, Emily Fiegenschuh, Tomas Giorello,
Lars Grant-West, Warren Mahy, Lee Moyer, Andrew
Murray, Steve Prescott, Vinod Rams, Tara Rueping, Rick
Sardinha, Ron Spears, Ron Spencer, Joel Thomas, Francis
Tsai, Franz Vohwinkel, Eva Widermann, Sam Wood,
James Zhang
D&D Script Design
Daniel Reeve
Cartographer
Jason A. Engle
Publishing Production Specialist
Erin Dorries
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D&D System Design and Development Manager
Andy Collins
Cover Illustration
Todd Lockwood
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Design
Bruce R. Cordell (lead),
Logan Bonner, Ari Marmell, Robert J. Schwalb
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Art Director
Jon Schindehette
Special thanks to Brandon Daggerhart, keeper of Shadowfell
Prepress Manager
Jefferson Dunlap
Imaging Technician
Carmen Cheung
Production Manager
Cynda Callaway
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
James Wyatt (4th Edition).
620-21788720-001 EN
987654321
First Printing:
November 2008
ISBN: 978-0-7869-4980-9
U.S., CANADA, ASIA, PACIFIC,
& LATIN AMERICA
Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
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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
Wizards of the Coast, Inc. This material is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork
contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. Any similarity to actual people, organizations, places, or events included
herein is purely coincidental. Printed in the U.S.A. ©2008 Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.WIZARDS.COM/DND
contents
3: DRAGON LAIRS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Lair Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
The Ruins of Castle Korvald . . . . . . . 94
The Gatekeepers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Tower of Murderous Ice . . . . . . . 100
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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
Crossfire (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
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2: DM’S GUIDE TO DRAGONS. . . 44
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 MONSTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
CHROMATIC 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
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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
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1: DRAGON LORE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
PLANAR 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 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 CREATURES . . . . . . . . 210
Abishai . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Draconic Parasite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Dragonborn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Dragonspawn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
Drake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
Kobold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
Living Breath . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
Squamous Thing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
DRAGON HALL OF FAME . . . 232
Ashardalon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
Cyan Bloodbane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Dragotha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
Gulgol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
Nefermandias . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
Rime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
Tiamat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
Zebukiel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
TEMPLATES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
Draconic Creature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
Dragonguard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
ALTERNATIVE POWERS . . . . 251
CHAPTER 1
Dragon Lore
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Come not between the dragon and his wrath.
—William Shakespeare
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has been spilled on describing dragons than on nearly any other creature. These ancient,
noble, yet savage beasts are a favorite subject of guidebooks, 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 fortune. 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 dragons’ anatomy.
✦ Life Cycle: The life of a dragon from egg to
ancient.
✦ Outlook and Psychology: How chromatic dragons see the world.
✦ Society: A description of dragon social structure.
✦ Language: Draconic language and script.
✦ 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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S T E V E P R E S COT T
✦ Religion: Dragons’ favored deities.
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ORIGINS
First Dragons
During the wars between the primordials and the
gods that followed the world’s creation, the primordial 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 liberated 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.
FR ANCIS TSAI
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The five major dragon families (chromatic, catastrophic, 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 flowed in their veins
and spewed from their mouths in gouts of flame 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 Sundering
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Only the most arrogant enthusiast might claim certain 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.
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