Green Dragons

Basic Information

Anatomy

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.

Ecology and Habitats

The forest-loving green dragons sometimes compete for territory with black dragons in marshy woods and with white dragons in subarctic taiga. However, a forest controlled by a green dragon is easy to spot. A perpetual fog hangs in the air in a legendary green dragon’s wood, carrying an acrid whiff of the creature’s poison breath. The moss-covered trees grow close together except where winding pathways trace their way like a maze into the heart of the forest. The light that reaches the forest floor carries an emerald green cast, and every sound seems muffled.
At the center of its forest, a green dragon chooses a cave in a sheer cliff or hillside for its lair, preferring an entrance hidden from prying eyes. Some seek out cave mouths concealed behind waterfalls, or partly submerged caverns that can be accessed through lakes or streams. Others conceal the entrances to their lairs with vegetation.
The region containing a legendary green dragon’s lair is warped by the dragon’s magic. Thickets form labyrinthine passages within one mile of the dragon’s lair. Within one mile of its lair, the dragon leaves no physical evidence of its passage unless it wishes to. Tracking it there is impossible except by magical means. In addition, it ignores movement impediments and damage from plants in this area that are neither magical nor creatures, including the thickets described above. The plants remove themselves from the dragon’s path. Rodents and birds within one mile of the dragon’s lair serve as the dragon’s eyes and ears. Deer and other large game are strangely absent, hinting at the presence of an unnaturally hungry predator. If the dragon dies, the rodents and birds lose their supernatural link to it. The thickets remain, but within about a week, they become mundane plants, losing their thorns.

Dietary Needs and Habits

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.

Behaviour

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.
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.
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.
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.
A green dragon’s favored treasures are 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.

Lifespan

2,150 years

Statblocks:

Green Dragon, Wyrmling
Green Dragon, Young
Green Dragon, Adult
Green Dragon, Ancient
Green Dragon, Greatwyrm