| Type of Dragon |
Breath Weapon |
Typical Lair Region |
Typical Hoard |
Alignment |
| Black |
Acid |
Swamps |
Ancient Items |
Chaotic Evil |
| Blue |
Lightning |
Deserts |
Gems |
Lawful Evil |
| Green |
Poison |
Forests |
Living Creatures |
Lawful Evil |
| Red |
Fire |
Mountains |
Anything with a High Monetary Value |
Chaotic Evil |
| White |
Cold |
Snowy Areas |
Trophies of its Battles |
Chaotic Evil |
| Brass |
Fire/Sleep |
Deserts |
Sentient Magic Items |
Chaotic Good |
| Bronze |
Lightning/Repulsion |
Coasts |
Coral/Pearls/Military Memorabilia |
Lawful Good |
| Copper |
Acid/Slowing |
Uplands/Hilltops |
Precious Metals/Gems |
Chaotic Good |
| Gold |
Fire/Weakening |
Hard to Reach Areas |
Edible Gifts (Including gold) |
Lawful Good |
| Silver |
Ice/Paralyzing |
Mountain Peaks |
Historical Artifacts |
Lawful Good |
| Emerald |
Psionics |
Underwater |
Lore regarding Oceans/Other Planes |
Chaotic Neutral |
| Ruby |
Psionics |
Varies |
Lore regarding Realitas |
Lawful Neutral |
| Sapphire |
Psionics |
Varies |
Lore regarding Time Manipulation |
True Neutral |
| Topaz |
Psionics |
Varies |
Magical Scrolls, Tomes, Gold Pieces, and Gemstones |
Neutral Good |
| Amethyst |
Psionics |
Varies |
Forbidden/Dangerous Knowledge |
Neutral Evil |
| Shadow |
Necrotic |
Shadowfell |
Same as before its corruption |
Chaotic Evil |
| Deep |
Nightmares |
Underdark |
Obscure Knowledge and Secrets |
Neutral Evil |
| Rust |
Acid/Rust |
Acheron |
No hoard |
Lawful Neutal/Evil |
| Moonstone |
Force |
Ethereal Plane |
Small Treasures |
True Neutral |
Chromatic Dragons
The black, blue, green, red, and white dragons represent the evil side of dragonkind. Aggressive, gluttonous, and
vain, chromatic dragons are dark sages and powerful tyrants feared by all creatures- including each other.
Driven by Greed. Chromatic dragons lust after treasure, and this greed colors their every scheme and plot. They believe that the world's wealth belongs to them by right, and a chromatic dragon seizes that wealth without regard for the humanoids and other creatures that have "stolen" it. With its piles of coins, gleaming gems, and magic items, a dragon's hoard is the stuff of legend. However, chromatic dragons have no interest in commerce, amassing wealth for no other reason than to have it.
Creatures of Ego. Chromatic dragons are united by their sense of superiority, believing themselves the most powerful and worthy of all mortal creatures. When they interact with other creatures, it is only to further their own interests. They believe in their innate right to rule, and this belief is the cornerstone of every chromatic dragon's personality and worldview. Trying to humble a chromatic dragon is like trying to convince the wind to stop blowing. To these creatures, humanoids are animals, fit to serve as prey or beasts of burden, and wholly unworthy of respect.
Dangerous Lairs. A dragon's lair serves as the seat of its power and a vault for its treasure. With its innate toughness and tolerance for severe environmental effects, a dragon selects or builds a lair not for shelter but for defense, favoring multiple entrances and exits, and security for its hoard.
Most chromatic dragon lairs are hidden in dangerous and remote locations to prevent all but the most audacious mortals from reaching them. A black dragon might lair in the heart of a vast swamp, while a red dragon might claim the caldera of an active volcano. In addition to the natural defenses of their lairs, powerful chromatic dragons use magical guardians, traps, and subservient creatures to protect their treasures.
Queen of Evil Dragons. Tiamat the Dragon Queen is the chief deity of evil dragonkind. She dwells on Avernus, the first layer of the Nine Hells. As a lesser god, Tiamat has the power to grant spells to her worshipers, though she is loath to share her power. She epitomizes the avarice of evil dragons, believing that the multi verse and all its treasures will one day be hers and hers alone.
Tiamat is a gigantic dragon whose five heads reflect the forms of the chromatic dragons that worship her: black, blue, green, red, and white. She is a terror on the battlefield, capable of annihilating whole armies with her five breath weapons, her formidable spellcasting, and her fearsome claws.
Tiamat's most hated enemy is Bahamut the Platinum Dragon, with whom she shares control of the faith of dragonkind. She also holds a special enmity for Asmodeus, who long ago stripped her of the rule of Avernus and who continues to curb the Dragon Queen's power.
Black Dragons
The most evil-tempered --and vile of the chromatic dragons, black dragons collect the wreckage and treasures of fallen peoples. These dragons loathe seeing the weak prosper and revel in the collapse of humanoid kingdoms. They make their homes in fetid swamps and crumbling ruins where kingdoms once stood.
With deep-socketed eyes and broad nasal openings, a black dragon's face resembles a skull. Its curving, segmented horns are bone-colored near the base and darken to dead black at the tips. As a black dragon ages, the flesh around its horns and cheekbones deteriorates as though eaten by acid, leaving thin layers of hide that enhance its skeletal appearance. A black dragon's head is marked by spikes and horns. Its tongue is flat with a forked tip, drooling slime whose acidic scent adds to the dragon's reek of rotting vegetation and foul water. When it hatches, a black dragon has glossy black scale. As it ages, its scales become thicker and duller, helping it blend in to the marshes and blasted ruins that are its home.
Brutal and Cruel. All chromatic dragons are evil, but black dragons stand apart for their sadistic nature. A black dragon lives to watch its prey beg for mercy, and will often offer the illusion of respite or escape before finishing off its enemies.
A black dragon strikes at its weakest enemies first, ensuring a quick and brutal victory, which bolsters its ego as it terrifies its remaining foes. On the verge of defeat, a black dragon does anything it can to save itself, but it accepts death before allowing any other creature to claim mastery over it.
Foes and Servants. Black dragons hate and fear other dragons. They spy on draconic rivals from afar, looking for opportunities to slay weaker dragons and avoid stronger ones. If a stronger dragon threatens it, a black dragon abandons its lair and seeks out new territory. Evil lizardfolk venerate and serve black dragons, raiding humanoid settlements for treasure and food to give as tribute and building crude draconic effigies along the borders of their dragon master's domain.
A black dragon's malevolent influence might also cause the spontaneous creation of evil shambling mounds that seek out and slay good creatures approaching the dragon's lair. Kobolds infest the lairs of many black dragons like vermin. They become as cruel as their dark masters, often torturing and weakening captives with centipede bites and scorpion stings before delivering them to sate the dragon's hunger.
Wealth of the Ancients. Black dragons hoard the treasures and magic items of crumbled empires and conquered kingdoms to remind themselves of their greatness. The more civilizations a dragon outlasts, the more entitled it feels to claim the wealth of current civilizations for itself.
Blue Dragons
Vain and territorial, blue dragons soar through the skies over deserts, preying on caravans and plundering herds and settlements in the verdant lands beyond the desert's reach. These dragons can also be found in dry steppes, searing badlands, and rocky coasts. They guard their territories against all potential competitors, especially brass dragons.
A blue dragon is recognized by its dramatic frilled ears and the massive ridged horn atop its blunt head. Rows of spikes extend back from its nostrils to line its brow, and cluster on its jutting lower jaw. A blue dragon's scales vary in color from an iridescent azure to a deep indigo, polished to a glossy finish by the desert sands. As the dragon ages, its scales become thicker and harder, and its hide hums and crackles with static electricity. These effects intensify when the dragon is angry or about to attack, giving off an odor of ozone and dusty air.
Vain and Deadly. A blue dragon will not stand for any remark or insinuation that it is weak or inferior, taking great pleasure in lording its power over humanoids and other lesser creatures. A blue dragon is a patient and methodical combatant. When fighting on its own terms, it turns combat into an extended affair of hours or even days, attacking from a distance with volleys of lightning, then flying well out of harm's reach as it waits to attack again.
Desert Predators. Though they sometimes eat cacti and other desert plants to sate their great hunger, blue dragons are carnivores. They prefer to dine on herd animals, cooking those creatures with their lightning breath before gorging themselves. Their dining habits make blue dragons an enormous threat to desert caravans and nomadic tribes, which become convenient collections of food and treasure to a dragon's eye. When it hunts, a blue dragon buries itself in the desert sand so that only the horn on its nose pokes above the surface, appearing to be an outcropping of stone. When prey draws near, the dragon rises up, sand pouring from its wings like an avalanche as it attacks.
Overlords and Minions. Blue dragons covet valuable and talented creatures whose service reinforces their sense of superiority. Bards, sages, artists, wizards, and assassins can become valuable agents for a blue dragon, which rewards loyal service handsomely.
A blue dragon keeps its lair secret and well protected, and even its most trusted servants are rarely allowed within. It encourages ankhegs, giant scorpions, and other creatures of the desert to dwell near its lair for additional security. Older blue dragons sometimes attract air elementals and other creatures to serve them.
Hoarders of Gems. Though blue dragons collect anything that looks valuable, they are especially fond of gems. Considering blue to be the most noble and beautiful of colors, they covet sapphires, favoring jewelry and magic items adorned with those gems. A blue dragon buries its most valuable treasures deep in the sand, while scattering a few less valuable trinkets in plainer sight over hidden sinkholes to punish and eliminate would-be thieves.
Green Dragons
The most cunning and treacherous of true dragons, green dragons use misdirection and trickery to get the upper hand against their enemies. Nasty tempered and thoroughly evil, they take special pleasure in subverting and corrupting the good-hearted. In the ancient forests they roam, green dragons demonstrate an aggression that is often less about territory than it is about gaining power and wealth with as little effort as possible.
A green dragon is recognized by its curved jawline and the crest that begins near its eyes and continues down its spine, reaching full height just behind the skull. A green dragon has no external ears, but bears leathery spiked plates that run down the sides of its neck. A wyrmling green dragon's thin scales are a shade of green so dark as to appear nearly black. As a green dragon ages, its scales grow larger and lighter, turning shades of forest, emerald, and olive green to help it blend in with its wooded surroundings. Its wings have a dappled pattern, darker near the leading edges and lighter toward the trailing edges.
A green dragon's legs are longer in relation to its body than with any other dragon, enabling it to easily pass over underbrush and forest debris when it walks. With its equally long neck, an older green dragon can peer over the tops of trees without rearing up.
Capricious Hunters. A green dragon hunts by patrolling its forest territory from the air and the ground. It eats any creature it can see, and will consume shrubs and small trees when hungry enough, but its favorite prey is elves.
Green dragons are consummate liars and masters of double talk. They favor intimidation of lesser creatures, but employ more subtle manipulations when dealing with other dragons. A green dragon attacks animals and monsters with no provocation, especially when dealing with potential threats to its territory. When dealing with sentient creatures, a green dragon demonstrates a lust for power that rivals its draconic desire for treasure, and it is always on the lookout for creatures that can help it further its ambitions.
A green dragon stalks its victims as it plans its assault, sometimes shadowing creatures for days. If a target is weak, the dragon enjoys the terror its appearance evokes before it attacks. It never slays all its foes, preferring to use intimidation to establish control over survivors. It then learns what it can about other creatures' activities near its territory, and about any treasure to be found nearby. Green dragons occasionally release prisoners if they can be ransomed. Otherwise, a creature must prove its value to the dragon daily or die.
Manipulative Schemers. A wily and subtle creature, a green dragon bends other creatures to its will by assessing and playing off their deepest desires. Any creature foolish enough to attempt to subdue a green dragon eventually realizes that the creature is only pretending to serve while it assesses its would-be master. When manipulating other creatures, green dragons are honey-tongued, smooth, and sophisticated. Among their own kind, they are loud, crass, and rude, especially when dealing with dragons of the same age and status.
Conflict and Corruption. Green dragons sometimes clash with other dragons over territory where forest crosses over into other terrain. A green dragon typically pretends to back down, only to wait and watch sometimes for decades- for the chance to slay the other dragon, then claim its lair and hoard.
Green dragons accept the servitude of sentient creatures such as goblinoids, ettercaps, ettins, kobolds, orcs, and yuan-ti. They also delight in corrupting and bending elves to their will. A green dragon sometimes wracks its minions' minds with fear to the point of insanity, with the fog that spreads throughout its forest reflecting those minions' tortured dreams.
Living Treasures. A green dragon's favored treasuresare the sentient creatures it bends to its will, including significant figures such as popular heroes, well-known sages, and renowned bards. Among material treasures, a green dragon favors emeralds, wood carvings, musical instruments, and sculptures of humanoid subjects.
Red Dragons
The most covetous of the true dragons, red dragons tirelessly seek to increase their treasure hoards. They are exceptionally vain, even for dragons, and their conceit is reflected in their proud bearing and their disdain for other creatures.
The odor of sulfur and pumice surrounds a red dragon, whose swept-back horns and spinal frill define its silhouette. Its beaked snout vents smoke at all times, and its eyes dance with flame when it is angry. Its wings are the longest of any chromatic dragon, and have a blue-black tint along the trailing edge that resembles metal burned blue by fire.
The scales of a red dragon wyrmling are a bright glossy scarlet, turning a dull, deeper red and becoming as thick and strong as metal as the dragon ages. Its pupils also fade as it ages, and the oldest red dragons have eyes that resemble molten lava orbs.
Mountain Masters. Red dragons prefer mountainous terrain, badlands, and any other locale where they can perch high and survey their domain. Their preference for mountains brings them into conflict with the hill-dwelling copper dragons from time to time.
Arrogant Tyrants. Red dragons fly into destructive rages and act on impulse when angered. They are so ferocious and vengeful that they are regarded as the archetypical evil dragon by many cultures.
No other dragon comes close to the arrogance of the red dragon. These creatures see themselves as kings and emperors, and view the rest of dragon kind as inferior. Believing that they are chosen by Tiamat to rule in her name, red dragons consider the world and every creature in it as theirs to command.
Status and Slaves. Red dragons are fiercely territorial and isolationist. However, they yearn to know about events in the wider world, and they make use of lesser creatures as informants, messengers, and spies. They are most interested in news about other red dragons, with which they compete constantly for status.
When it requires servants, a red dragon demands fealty from chaotic evil humanoids. If allegiance isn't forthcoming, it slaughters a tribe's leaders and claims lordship over the survivors. Creatures serving a red dragon live in constant terror of being roasted and eaten for displeasing it. They spend most of their time fawning over the creature in an attempt to stay alive.
Obsessive Collectors. Red dragons value wealth above all else, and their treasure hoards are legendary. They covet anything of monetary value, and can often judge the worth of a bauble to within a copper piece at a glance. A red dragon has a special affection for treasure claimed from powerful enemies it has slain, exhibiting that treasure to prove its superiority.
A red dragon knows the value and provenance of every item in its hoard, along with each item's exact location. It might notice the absence of a single coin, igniting its rage as it tracks down and slays the thief without mercy. If the thief can't be found, the dragon goes on a rampage, laying waste to towns and villages in an attempt to sate its wrath.
White Dragons
The smallest, least intelligent, and most animalistic of the chromatic dragons, white dragons dwell in frigid climes, favoring arctic areas or icy mountains. They are vicious, cruel reptiles driven by hunger and greed. A white dragon has feral eyes, a sleek profile, and a spined crest. The scales of a wyrmling white dragon glisten pure white. As the dragon ages, its sheen disappears and some of its scales begin to darken, so that by the time it is old, it is mottled by patches of pale blue and light gray. This patterning helps the dragon blend into the realms of ice and stone in which it hunts, and to fade from view when it soars across a cloud-filled sky.
Primal and Vengeful. White dragons lack the cunning and tactics of most other dragons. However, their bestial nature makes them the best hunters among all dragonkind, singularly focused on surviving and slaughtering their enemies. A white dragon consumes only food that has been frozen, devouring creatures killed by its breath weapon while they are still stiff and frigid. It encases other kills in ice or buries them in snow near its lair, and finding such a larder is a good indication that a white dragon dwells nearby.
A white dragon also keeps the bodies of its greatest enemies as trophies, freezing corpses where it can look upon them and gloat. The remains of giants, remorhazes, and other dragons are often positioned prominently within a white dragon's lair as warnings to intruders.
Though only moderately intelligent, white dragons have extraordinary memories. They recall every slight and defeat, and have been known to conduct malicious vendettas against creatures that have offended them. This often includes silver dragons, which lair in the it ries as whites. White a speak as all dragons can, but they rarely moved to do so.
Lone Masters. White dragons avoid all other dragons except whites of the opposite sex. Even then, when white dragons seek each other out as mates, they stay together only long enough to conceive offspring fore fleeing into isolation again.
White dragons can't abide rivals near their lairs. As a result, a white dragon attacks other creatures without provocation, viewing such creatures as either too weak or too powerful to live. The only creatures that typically serve a white dragon are intelligent humanoids that demonstrate enough strength to assuage the dragon's wrath, and can put up with sustaining regular losses as a result of its hunger. This includes dragon-worshiping kobolds, which are commonly found in their lairs.
Powerful creatures can sometimes gain a white dragon's obedience through a demonstration of physical or magical might. Frost giants challenge white dragons to prove their own strength and improve their status in their clans, and their cracked bones litter many a white dragon's lair. However, a white dragon defeated by a frost giant often becomes its servant, accepting the mastery of a superior creature in exchange for asserting its own domination over the other creatures that serve or oppose the giant.
Treasure Under Ice. White dragons love the cold sparkle of ice and favor treasure with similar qualities, particularly diamonds. However, in their remote arctic climes, the treasure hoards of white dragons more often contain walrus and mammoth tusk ivory, whale-bone sculptures, figureheads from ships, furs, and magic items seized from overly bold adventurers.
Loose coins and gems are spread across a white dragon's lair, glittering like stars when the light strikes them. Larger treasures and chests are encased in layers of rime created by the white dragon's breath, and held safe beneath layers of transparent ice. The dragon's great strength allows it to easily access its wealth, while lesser creatures must spend hours chipping away or melting the ice to reach the dragon's main hoard.
A white dragon's flawless memory means that it knows how it came to possess every coin, gem, and magic item in its hoard, and it associates each item with a specific victory. White dragons are notoriously difficult to bribe, since any offers of treasure are seen as an insult to their ability to simply slay the creature making the offer and seize the treasure on their own.
Metallic Dragons
Metallic dragons seek to preserve and protect, viewing themselves as one powerful race among the many races that have a place in the world.
Noble Curiosity. Metallic dragons covet treasure as do their evil chromatic kin, but they aren't driven as much by greed in their pursuit of wealth. Rather, metallic dragons are driven to investigate and collect, taking unclaimed relics and storing them in their lairs.
A metallic dragon's treasure hoard is filled with items that reflect its persona, tell its history, and preserve its memories. Metallic dragons also seek to protect other creatures from dangerous magic. As such, powerful magic items and even evil artifacts are sometimes secreted away in a metallic dragon's hoard. A metallic dragon can be persuaded to part with an item in its hoard for the greater good. However, another creature's need for or right to the item is often unclear from the dragon's point of view. A metallic dragon must be bribed or otherwise convinced to part with the item.
Solitary Shapeshifters. At some point in their long lives, metallic dragons gain the magical ability to assume the forms of humanoids and beasts. When a dragon learns how to disguise itself, it might immerse itself in other cultures for a time. Some dragons are too shy or paranoid to stray far from their lairs and their treasure hoards, but bolder dragons Jove to wander city streets in humanoid form, taking in the local culture and cuisine, and amusing themselves by observing how the smaller races live. Some metallic dragons prefer to stay as far away from civilization as possible so as to not attract enemies. However, this means that they are often far out of touch with current events.
The Persistence of Memory. Metallic dragons have long memories, and they form opinions of humanoids based on previous contact with related humanoids. Good dragons can recognize humanoid bloodlines by smell, sniffing out each person they meet and remembering any relatives they have come into contact with over the years. A gold dragon might never suspect duplicity from a cunning villain, assuming that the villain is of the same mind and heart as a good and virtuous grandmother. On the other hand, the dragon might resent a noble paladin whose ancestor stole a silver statue from the dragon's hoard three centuries before.
King of Good Dragons. The chief deity of the metallic dragons is Bahamut, the Platinum Dragon. He dwells in the Seven Heavens of Mount Celestia, but often wanders the Material Plane in the magical guise of a venerable human male in peasant robes. In this form, he is usually accompanied by seven golden canaries- actually seven ancient gold dragons in polymorphed form.
Bahamut seldom interferes in the affairs of mortal creatures, though he makes exceptions to help thwart the machinations of Tiamat the Dragon Queen and her evil brood. Good-aligned clerics and paladins sometimes worship Bahamut for his dedication to justice and protection. As a lesser god, he has the power to grant divine spells.
Brass Dragons
The most gregarious of the true dragons, brass dragons crave conversation, sunlight, and hot, dry climates.
A brass dragon's head is defined by the broad protective plate that expands from its forehead and the spikes protruding from its chin. A frill runs the length of its neck, and its tapering wings extend down the length of its tail. A brass dragon wyrmling's scales are a dull, mottled brown. As it ages, the dragon's scales begin to shine, eventually taking on a warm, burnished luster. Its wings and frills are mottled green toward the edges, darkening with age. As a brass dragon grows older, its pupils fade until its eyes resemble molten metal orbs.
Boldly Talkative. A brass dragon engages in conversations with thousands of creatures throughout its long life, accumulating useful information which it will gladly share for gifts of treasure. If an intelligent creature tries to leave a brass dragon's presence without engaging in conversation, the dragon follows it. If the creature attempts to escape by magic or force, the dragon might respond with a fit of pique, using its sleep gas to incapacitate the creature. When it wakes, the creature finds itself pinned to the ground by giant claws or buried up to its neck in the sand while the dragon's thirst for small talk is slaked.
A brass dragon is trusting of creatures that appear to enjoy conversation as much as it does, but is smart enough to know when it is being manipulated. When that happens, the dragon often responds in kind, treating a bout of mutual trickery as a game.
Prized Treasures. Brass dragons covet magic items that allow them to converse with interesting personalities. An intelligent telepathic weapon or a magic lamp with a djinni bound inside it are among the greatest treasures a brass dragon can possess. Brass dragons conceal their hoards under mounds of sand or in secret places far from their primary lairs. They have no trouble remembering where their treasure is buried, and therefore have no need for maps. Adventurers and wanderers should be wary if they happen across a chest hidden in an oasis or a treasure cache tucked away in a half-buried desert ruin, for these might be parts of a brass dragon's hoard.
Bronze Dragons
Bronze dragons are coastal dwellers that feed primarily on aquatic plants and fish. They take the forms of friendly animals to observe other creatures of interest. They are also fascinated by warfare and eagerly join armies fighting for a just cause.
A ribbed and fluted crest defines the shape of a bronze dragon's head. Curving horns extend out from the crest, echoed by spines on its lower jaw and chin. To help them swim, bronze dragons have webbed feet and smooth scales. A bronze wyrmling's scales are yellow tinged with green; only as the dragon approaches adulthood does its color deepen to a darker, rich bronze tone. The pupils of a bronze dragon's eyes fade as the dragon ages, until they resemble glowing green orbs.
Dragons of the Coast. Bronze dragons love to watch ships traveling up and down the coastlines near their lairs, sometimes taking the forms of dolphins or seagulls to inspect those ships and their crews more closely. A daring bronze dragon might slip aboard a ship in the guise of a bird or rat, inspecting the hold for treasure. If the dragon finds a worthy addition to its hoard, it barters with the ship's captain for the item.
War Machines. Bronze dragons actively oppose tyranny, and many bronze dragons yearn to test their mettle by putting their size and strength to good use. When a conflict unfolds near its lair, a bronze dragon ascertains the underlying cause, then offers its services to any side that fights for good. Once a bronze dragon commits to a cause, it remains a staunch ally.
Well-Organized Wealth. Bronze dragons loot sunken ships and also collect colorful coral and pearls from the reefs and seabeds near their lairs. When a bronze dragon pledges to help an army wage war against tyranny, it asks for nominal payment. If such a request is beyond its allies' means, it might settle for a collection of old books on military history or a ceremonial item commemorating the alliance. A bronze dragon might also lay claim to a treasure held by the enemy that it feels would be safer under its protection.
Copper Dragons
Copper dragons are incorrigible pranksters, joke tellers, and riddlers that live in hills and rocky uplands. Despite their gregarious and even-tempered natures, they possess a covetous, miserly streak, and can become dangerous when their hoards are threatened.
A copper dragon has brow plates jutting over its eyes, extending back to long horns that grow as a series of overlapping segments. Its backswept cheek ridges and jaw frills give it a pensive look. At birth, a copper dragon's scales are a ruddy brown with a metallic tint. As the dragon ages, its scales become more coppery in color, later taking on a green tint as it ages. A copper dragon's pupils fade with age, and .the eyes of the oldest copper dragons resemble glowing turquoise orbs.
Good Hosts. A copper dragon appreciates wit, a good joke, humorous .story, or riddle. A copper dragon becomes annoyed with any creature that doesn't laugh at its jokes or accept its tricks with good humor. Copper dragons are particularly fond of bards. A dragon might carve out part of its lair as a temporary abode for a bard willing to regale it with stories, riddles, and music. To a copper dragon, such companionship is a treasure to be coveted.
Cautious and Crafty. When building its hoard, a copper dragon prefers treasures from the earth. Metals and precious stones are favorites of these creatures. A copper dragon is wary when it comes to showing off its possessions. If it knows that other creatures seek a specific item in its hoard, a copper dragon will not admit to possessing the item. Instead, it might send curious treasure hunters on a wild goose chase to search for the object while it watches from afar for its own pleasure.
Gold Dragons
The most powerful and majestic of the metallic dragons, gold dragons are dedicated foes of evil. A gold dragon has a sagacious face anointed with flexible spines that resemble whiskers. Its horns sweep back from its nose and brow, echoing twin frills that adorn its long neck. A gold dragon's sail-like wings start at its shoulders and trace down to the tip of its tail, letting it fly with a distinctive rippling motion as if swimming through the air. A gold dragon wyrmling has scales of dark yellow with metallic flecks. Those flecks grow larger as the dragon matures. As a gold dragon ages, its pupils fade until its eyes resemble pools of molten gold.
Devourer of Wealth. Gold dragons can eat just about anything, but their preferred diet consists of pearls and gems. Thankfully, a gold dragon doesn't need to gorge itself on such wealth to feel satisfied. Gifts of treasure that it can consume are well received by a gold dragon, as long as they aren't bribes.
Reserved Shapeshifters. Gold dragons are respected by the other metallic dragons for their wisdom and fairness, but they are the most aloof and grim of the good-aligned dragons. They value their privacy to the extent that they rarely fraternize with other dragons except their own mates and offspring.
Older gold dragons can assume animal and humanoid forms. Rarely does a gold dragon in disguise reveal its true form. In the guise of a peddler, it might regularly visit a town to catch up on local gossip, patronize honest businesses, and lend a helping hand in unseen ways. In the guise of an animal, the dragon might befriend a lost child, a wandering minstrel, or an innkeeper, serving as a companion for days or weeks on end.
Master Hoarders. A gold dragon keeps its hoard in a well-guarded vault deep within its lair. Magical wards placed on the vault make it all but impossible to remove any treasures without the dragon knowing about it.
Silver Dragons
The friendliest and most social of the metallic dragons, silver dragons cheerfully assist good creatures in need. A silver dragon shimmers as if sculpted from pure metal, its face given a noble cast by its high eyes and sweeping beard-like chin spikes. A spiny frill rises high over its head, tracing down its neck to the tip of its tail. A silver wyrmling's scales are blue-gray with silver highlights. As the dragon approaches adulthood, its color gradually brightens until its individual scales are barely visible. As a silver dragon grows older, its pupils fade until its eyes resemble orbs of mercury.
Dragons of Virtue. Silver dragons believe that living a moral life involves doing good deeds and ensuring that one's actions cause no undeserved harm to other sentient beings. They don't take it upon themselves to root out evil, as gold and bronze dragons do, but they will gladly oppose creatures that dare to commit evil acts or harm the innocent.
Friends of the Small Races. Silver dragons enjoy the company of other silver dragons. Their only true friendships outside their own kin arise in the company of humanoids, and many silver dragons spend as much time in humanoid form as they do in draconic form. A silver dragon adopts a benign humanoid persona such as a kindly old sage or a young wanderer, and it often has mortal companions with whom it develops strong friendships.
Silver dragons must step away from their humanoid lives on a regular basis, returning to their true forms to mate and rear offspring, or to tend to their hoards and personal affairs. Because many lose track of time while away, they sometimes return to find that their companions have grown old or died. Silver dragons often end up befriending several generations of humanoids within a single family as a result.
Respect for Humanity. Silver dragons befriend humanoids of all races, but shorter-lived races such as humans spark their curiosity in a way the longer-lived elves and dwarves don't. Humans have a drive and zest for life that silver dragons find fascinating.
Hoarding History. Silver dragons love to possess relics of humanoid history. This includes the great piles of coins they covet, minted by current and fallen humanoid empires, as well as art objects and fine jewelry crafted by numerous races. Other treasures that make up their hoards can include intact ships, the remains of kings and queens, thrones, the crown jewels of ancient empires, inventions and contraptions, and monoliths carried from the ruins of fallen cities.
Gemstone Dragons
A long-forgotten branch of the draco genus, draco crystallus are primarily hexapods like their more common cousins draco metallus and draco chromaticus. They are older than the other draconic genera, which accounts for their wider diversity in body type.
Branching Evolution. Many long ago abandoned their wings or let them atrophy, relying instead on their innate mental powers to lift and propel them telekinetically. They are now rare, hunted for the gemstones that grant them—and, for a brief time, anyone who holds one—their psionic powers. Many have slumbered or hidden from civilization for many thousands of years, only awakening
during times of catastrophic need. They are sages and hoard knowledge rather than treasure and so are often found in or near ancient libraries. Their crystalline structure grants them enhanced speed and agility, their nerve impulses being conducted by the piezoelectric effect rather than mere chemical signals.
As a result they are more agile, and their quasi-crystalline skin grants them natural armor. Weapons spark and chip jeweled fragments off their hides but find little purchase there. They are harder to hit and damage but have less raw health than their metallic and chromatic cousins.
They are the keepers of forgotten lore and rarely take sides in the battles between good, evil, law, and chaos. Rather, they act to preserve the world, or knowledge, or to prevent dangerous knowledge from falling into any hands. They come in every flavor of neutral alignment, but if one is neutral good, they’re more neutral good than neutral good, if you take my meaning. Unlike their more barbaric cousins, they rarely have an affinity for one type of terrain over other (the emeralds being an exception) and so their lairs can be found anywhere—caves, dungeons, libraries, cities, clouds, pocket dimensions. There is no such thing as a “typical” gemstone dragon lair.
Psionics. The gemstone dragons are silico-organic organisms. When hatched, they are almost entirely organic. As they grow, their crystalline structure grows, as does their psionic power.
The crystals that grow on and thread through their bodies form a network of psionic filaments that capture, conduct, amplify, and store charges of psionic energies, which the dragons then convert into manifestations.
Emerald Dragons
One of the oldest species of gemstone dragons, the emeralds studied the lore of the sea and the unique, chaotic boundary between sea and land. It was the tide pools and estuaries that fascinated them, and they developed a theory of the timescape based on this intermingling. The Estuarial Hypothesis holds that the Mundane World lies on an interspace boundary between the worlds, and for this reason good, evil, chaos, and law all intermingle here.
Underwater Lairs. Their obsession with the oceans and their unique biologies and rhythms took them into the sea until, after ten thousand generations, they were specially adapted to it. Their forelimbs atrophied until now all that remains of them are a handful of small bones that can only be seen via dissection.
Water dampens the dragon’s mindspeech and as a result their psionics has evolved to be stronger, to pierce this liquid veil. As a side effect, an emerald dragon’s mind is so powerful that it interferes with the thinking portions of other creatures’ brains, making it very difficult for them to maintain concentration on their spells.
Their interest in our world and its relation to others makes them experts on the planes. Rumors speak of emerald dragons whose wings propel them naturally through the Sea of Stars that separates worlds, allowing them to travel at will to any plane. But this behavior has never been witnessed by mortals.
Ruby Dragons
The rubies protect the knowledge of reality, which they call
realitas, the essential thing that separates real things from illusion.
Defenders of Reality. They alone understand the danger that illusionists present to the Mundane World, because they alone know what even the most powerful spellcasters do not: illusion magic, properly applied, could replace this reality. Starve it until it withers, replace it with a phantasm. They are happy to sequester themselves from the world, locking their knowledge away. But should a sufficiently powerful illusionist catch a glimpse of the power contained within their spells, they will wake, seeking mortals to help them prevent the end of the Real. They believe that illusions are manifestations in this world of beings, objects, and power from other worlds—and that, given the chance, those alien worlds would attack ours.
They are measured and formal, slow to give trust. They like seeing things done properly, traditions obeyed and upheld. If you approach one with respect and introduce yourself properly and do not saw the air too much with your hands, then they will listen and grant you the opportunity to impress them.
Sapphire Dragons
Eldest, first, the sapphire dragons inspire awe in any who see them.
Guardians of the Timescape. They guard the knowledge of past and future and the power that lets one shift between them. They approve of the dwarves, who imposed the rigid rules of causality on the world, and consider the remnant domains of the elves, the wodes, as a danger. Not a threat per se, because they know it is in the elves’ nature to ignore past and future, but when mortals exploit this or discover the means to move through time, or summon creatures from the past and future, then the sapphire dragons get riled up. Of course, because they guard this knowledge, they are also experts on it and thus are sometimes the best sages to seek out if you are in dire need. They will aid adventurers, using their knowledge to bend the rules of the timescape if they feel the danger warrants it.
Being oldest, they are also the most reserved, taciturn. Even the young sapphires are aware of their species’ place in history and expect to be treated with respect. They talk like old university professors who know they have tenure and expect everyone to hang on their every word.
Topaz Dragons
The youngest species, the most enthusiastic about the world, the one you’re most likely to meet, topaz dragons study magic obsessively, and their older kin consider this juvenile. When you’re older you’ll realize magic is just ambient interference from overlapping manifolds constrained by oblique functions. Well, poo on that, look, I made a fireball!
Arcane Researchers. They’re fascinated by it, and they collect scrolls and tomes like other dragons hoard gold pieces and gemstones, which the topaz dragons find vaguely threatening. Why the obsession with gemstones in particular? Why would you sleep on a bed of them if you weren’t trying to make a statement? I don’t sleep on a bed of scales. Harumph.
They all seem like absentminded professors. They accumulate so much lore that they spend all their time categorizing it, and just when they have everything neatly filed away they realize this one treatise doesn’t fit any classification and the whole thing must be redone from scratch. Ugh. It will take millennia at this rate. They’re approachable and easy to talk to as long as you don’t mind never getting a straight answer. You’d think they’d be experts on everything, considering how many books they have, but the opposite is true. They can imagine anything and defend it with references, many of which contradict each other.
Amethyst Dragons
The renegades of the jeweled dragons, the amethyst dragons seek new knowledge and so manipulate mortals to do dangerous, even deadly things in order to push the boundary of the known. The other gemstone dragons are aware of this dangerous obsession but turn a blind eye to it. Perhaps they’re afraid of meddling, or perhaps they look forward to benefiting from the new lore produced this way, without having to get their hands dirty.
Bad to the Bone. The amethyst are sinister, manipulating, and scheming. They enjoy using the psionic manifestation form to disguise themselves as mortals and infiltrate colleges of wizardry and sorcery. They have no feeling or remorse for mortals and willingly drive them and ultimately sacrifice them if it means learning something new about the fabric of the timescape. When encountered, they are often conciliatory, deferent. They want to put you at ease to catch you off guard. They are helpful, they love helping mortals, they love making mortals trust them, because it is a short path from trust to dependence. They cannot be trusted.
Other Dragons and Dragon-kin
Deep Dragons
Making their lairs in the depths of the Underdark, deep dragons are nightmarish cousins of chromatic dragons. The warped magical energy of their subterranean realm gives them the ability to exhale magical spores that instill fear and scar the mind. Deep dragons' black-and-gray hide is smooth like a salamander's, and their eyes are pale. As they age, their spore breath causes fungi to bloom across their skin, especially around the head and neck. Their wings are attached to their front legs and can fold in close to the body, allowing deep dragons to easily maneuver through relatively narrow tunnels.
Hoarders of Secrets. Deep dragons often hoard secrets, delighting in knowledge of far-off lands. Many seek out new insights and tricks that they can use against other denizens of the Underdark, preferring social manipulation and crafty dealmaking to exerting themselves in combat. Deep dragons look down on any creature that isn't useful to them, though they are willing to bargain for knowledge they lack.
Shadow Dragons
Shadow dragons are true dragons that were either born in the Shadowfell or transformed by years spent within its dismal confines. Some shadow dragons embrace the Shadowfell for its bleak landscapes and desolation. Others seek to return to the Material Plane, hungry to spread the darkness and evil of the Plane of Shadow.
Dark Portals. Portals to the Shadowfell manifest in forlorn places and the deep gloom of subterranean caverns. The dragons that lair in such places often discover these portals and find themselves transported to a new realm. Ancient dragons that sleep in their lairs for months or years at a time might find themselves spirited away, never knowing that a portal has formed without their knowledge as they dream.
Recast in Shadow. The transformation to a shadow dragon happens over a period of years, during which time a dragon's scales lose their luster and fade to a charcoal hue. Its leathery wings become translucent, its eyes paling to pools of opalescent gray. Shadow dragons find sunlight abhorrent, and they are weaker in bright light than they are in darkness. Darkness makes the dragon fade to a spectral shadow of its former self. The magical nature of dragons holds an attraction for the Shadowfell, which seems somehow to crave the might and majesty of these great reptiles. The Shadowfell also has a dispiriting effect on its denizens, such that the longer a creature remains on the plane, the more it accepts the plane's malaise. As months and years pass for a dragon on the Shadowfell, it becomes aware of the transformation being wrought upon it, and yet can do nothing to prevent it.
Back in the World. A shadow dragon is so suffused with the power of the Shadowfell that even a return to the Material Plane can't undo its transformation. Some shadow dragons attempt to lure other creatures from the mortal realm back to the Shadowfell to keep them company, at least until they tire of their guests and devour them. Others are happy to leave the Shadowfell behind forever, understanding that treasure and power are easier to come by in the Material Plane.
Rust Dragons
The main sources of sustenance for rust dragons were ores and metals. They had a particular liking for adamantine, gold, mithral, iron, silver, and steel, but did not turn down other metals. They also enjoyed eating meat, particularly vermin, as palate cleansers between servings of different metals, in order to better appreciate their subtle differences in taste.
Metalvores. Rust Dragons hail from the plane of Acheron, and are believed to be Rust Monsters who have been corrupted by the lawful plane. If found in the Material plane, they tended to build their lair in underground caverns near veins of metal, to the usual dismay of miners. They were usually found alone, but could also form families as they raised their young. Clutches of young rust dragons were also commonly found.
Moonstone Dragons
Ethereal dragons, also known as moonstone dragons, were a species of planar dragon native to the Ethereal plane. Ethereal dragon scales had a brownish-gray iridescent coloration. Their claws and teeth were very thin and sharp as needles. Though they can grow just as large as their counterparts, moonstone dragons are roughly one size smaller than other dragons their age.
Otherworldly Watchers. As extremely inquisitive creatures, ethereal dragons enjoyed following and spying on Prime Material plane dwellers, while also looking for any objects in their possession that might interest them. Upon finding such an object, an ethereal dragon would visit the Material plane at a convenient time to steal it and return to its home plane as quickly as possible.
Faerie Dragon
A faerie dragon is a cat-sized dragon with butterfly wings. It wears a sharp-toothed grin and expresses its delight by the twitching of its tail, its merriment ending only if it is attacked.
Invisible Tricksters. The only warning of a faerie dragon's presence is a stifled giggle. The dragon's flys out of sight, watching invisibly as its victims contend with its pranks. When its fun is done, the dragon might reveal itself, depending on the disposition of its "prey."
Friendly and Bright. A faerie dragon has a sharp mind, a fondness for treasure and good company, and a puckish sense of humor. Travelers can play to a faerie dragon's draconic nature by offering it "treasure" in the form of sweets, baked goods, and baubles in exchange for information or safe passage through its territory.
The Colors of Age. A faerie dragon's scales change hue as it ages, moving through all the colors of the rainbow. All faerie dragons have innate spellcasting ability, gaining new spells as they mature.
Pseudodragon
The elusive pseudodragon dwells in the quiet places of the world, making its home in the hollows of trees and small caves. With its red-brown scales, horns, and a maw filled with sharp teeth, a pseudodragon resembles a tiny red dragon but its disposition is playful.
Quiet and Defensive. Pseudodragons have little interest in other creatures, and they avoid them whenever possible. If it is attacked, a pseudodragon fights back using the poisonous stinger at the tip of its tail, one jab of which can put a creature into a catatonic state that can last for hours.
Draconic Familiars. Mages often seek out pseudodragons, whose agreeable disposition, telepathic ability, and resistance to magic make them superior familiars. Pseudodragons are selective when it comes to choosing companions, but they can sometimes be won over with gifts of food or treasure. When a pseudodragon finds an agreeable companion, it bonds with that person as long as it is treated fairly. A pseudodragon puts up with no ill treatment, and it abandons a manipulative or abusive companion without warning.
Language of Emotion. Pseudodragons can't speak, but they communicate using a limited form of telepathy that allows them to share basic ideas such as hunger, curiosity, or affection. When it bonds with a companion, a pseudodragon can communicate what it sees and hears even over long distances. A pseudodragon often vocalizes animal noises. A rasping purr indicates pleasure, while a hiss means unpleasant surprise. A bird-like chirping represents desire, and a growl always means anger or discontent.
Elder Brain Dragons
One of the few consolations available to those who must contend with a mind flayer colony is the limit of its reach, which spreads only as far as the influence of the colony's elder brain. But this small solace withers away when a colony manages to capture a dragon. Teams of mind flayers bind the dragon, which is subject to a gruesome transformation as the elder brain latches onto the dragon's back and digs its tentacles into the dragon's brain. An elder brain dragon is the nightmarish result.
By Powers Combined. Using the mobility of the dragon's body, the elder brain can now serve as a powerful general to illithid armies, free from the confines of its brine pool. The elder brain dragon becomes a psychic threat in addition to a physical one, its body rife with aberrant influence and pulsing with psionic power. Even the elder brain dragon's breath weapon mutates during its transformation, becoming a stream of briny liquid roiling with illithid tadpoles. These tadpoles can swiftly slay victims and transform them into mind flayers, allowing the elder brain dragon to grow its own roving colony.
The Dragon Turtle
Dragon turtles are among the most fearsome creatures of the oceans. As large and voracious as the oldest of its land-based dragon kin, a dragon turtle strikes with its deadly jaws, steaming breath, and crushing tail. A dragon turtle's rough shell is the same dark green color as the deep water where this monster dwells. Silver highlights lining the shell resemble light dancing on open water, and a surfacing dragon turtle is sometimes mistaken for the reflection of the sun or moon on the waves.
Dragons of the Deep. Like true dragons, dragon turtles collect treasure, first by sinking ships and then by sifting through the wreckage for coins and other precious items. A dragon turtle swallows treasure for transport, then regurgitates it when it reaches its lair. Dragon turtles dwell in caves hidden in coral reefs or beneath the seafloor, or along rugged stretches of coastline. If a choice cave is already inhabited, a dragon turtle attacks its current residents in an attempt to take over.
Mercenary Monsters. A dragon turtle is smart enough to be bribed, and pirates sailing seas patrolled by these creatures quickly learn to offer them treasure in exchange for safe passage. Clever sahuagin sometimes ally with dragon turtles, enticing them with treasure to use their blistering breath weapons in sahuagin raids against ships and coastal settlements.
Elemental Might. Dragon turtles sometimes find their way through sunken planar rifts to the Elemental Plane of Water. Those monstrous specimens can often be found in the service of marids, which strap magnificent' .. coral thrones to the backs of dragon turtles and ride ' · them as mounts.
The Wyvern
Travelers in the wild sometimes look to the skies to see the dark-winged shape of a wyvern carrying its prey. These cousins to the great dragons hunt the same tangled forests and caverns as their kin. Their appearance sends ripples of alarm through the borderlands of civilization.
A wyvern has two scaly legs, leathery wings, and a sinewy tail topped with its most potent weapon: a poison stinger. The poison in a wyvern's stinger can kill a creature in seconds. Extremely potent, wyvern poison burns through its victim's bloodstream, disintegrating veins and arteries on its way to the heart. As deadly as wyverns can be, however, hunters and adventurers often track them to claim the venom, which is used in alchemical compounds and to coat weapons.
Aerial Hunters. A wyvern doesn't fight on the ground unless it can't reach its prey by any other means, or if it has been fooled into a position from which aerial combat isn't an option. If forced into a confrontation on the ground, a wyvern crouches low, keeping its stinger poised above its head as it hisses and growls.
Aggressive and Reckless. A wyvern intent on its prey backs down only if it sustains serious injury, or if its prey eludes it long enough for another easier potential meal to wander along. If it corners a fleeing creature in an enclosure too small to enter, a wyvern guards where the quarry hides, lashing with its stinger whenever opportunity allows.
Although they possess more cunning than ordinary beasts, wyverns lack the intelligence of their draconic cousins. As such, creatures that maintain their composure as a wyvern hunts them from the air can often elude or trick it. Wyverns follow a direct path to their prey, with no thought given to possible ambushes.
Tamed Wyverns. A wyvern can be tamed for use as a mount, but doing so presents a difficult and deadly challenge. Raising one as a hatchling offers the best results. However, a wyvern's violent temperament has cost the life of many a would-be master.
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