Gold Dragon

Gold dragons are the strongest and most majestic of the common metallic true dragons, and are considered by many the apex of the draconic race. Graceful and wise, they are relentless and dedicated foes of evil, injustice, and foul play. While respected for their fairness and knowledge, they are also grim and reserved, and usually avoid casual contact with other dragons.

Description

A gold dragon's head is characterized by a short face with long and smooth metallic horns that sweep back from its nose and brow, as well as the neck frills that adorn both sides of its neck. From the mouth and nostrils descend four pairs of long, flexible muscular spines that resemble whiskers or barbels. Along with the dragon's narrow eyes, these features contribute to give them a look sagacity. As the dragon ages, its pupils fade away until the eyes acquire the appearance of shiny, liquid gold. Other facial features include a pointed tongue and small cheek horns that grow sideways.
Gold dragons have broad sail-like wings that start from their shoulders and extend all the way to the end of their extremely long tails. During flight, the wings move in a graceful rippling motion that resembles swimming. This elegant flying motion is considered by many scholars, as well as by the gold dragons themselves, to be the most graceful among true dragons. When on the ground, the wings are kept closed upright over its back if the dragon is at rest, or folded facing back if the dragon is walking or running.
A newly hatched gold dragon has dark yellow scales dotted with metallic specks that increase in size with age, until they totally cover the scales, giving a shiny and radiant golden color to the adult dragon's entire body.
Despite being capable of eating almost anything, gold dragons tend to hunt large and dangerous monsters and are particularly fond of including pearls and gems in their diets. Older dragons even have the ability to supernaturally locate gems in their vicinity. They tend to receive such gifts well, except if that are given as bribes.
Gold dragons can breathe underwayer. They give off scents of saffron and incense, and sometimes a faint smell of molten metal.

Personality

It is common for gold dragons to appoint themselves with quests to promote goodness. Those that earn a gold dragon's fury find a relentless enemy who will not rest until the utter and complete subjugation of the evildoers. Either by slaying or by bringing villains to justice, a gold dragon's only acceptable outcome is complete victory over evil.
When looking for a lair, gold dragons usually seek secluded and remote locations. They have a preference for idyllic or picturesque locations, such as rivers or the bottom of lakes, cave complexes, ancient ruins, deep gorges, high plateaus, or mist-covered islands. They also have a preference for rolling hills, open plains, and in some rare cases even within humanoid communities which they have chosen to protect. They are very private creatures, mostly keeping to themselves and their families and rarely fraternizing with other dragons.
Other gold dragons are capable of shapeshifting into humanoid or animal forms. They usually spend most of the time in this form, even within their lairs. When traveling, it is common for a gold dragon to assume a particularly non-threatening form in order to put adventurers at ease, as well as to observe local communities and to catch up on gossip and news of the outside world. In many cases, the dragon will use its disguise to provide help, company and comfort to those in need, or to set up traps for evildoers by using itself as bait.
Strong believers in the greater good and in the rule of order, gold dragons are sometimes views as arrogant and dismissive. They tend to avoid philosophical or ethical discussions with beings they deem inferior, although they enjoy arguing in favor of law. Due to their vast superiority with respect to the average humanoid, they often have difficulty in understand the everyday troubles and needs of communities and in some rare instances might even end up becoming tyrants.

Combat

Gold dragons prefer to parlay before a fight, using their intimidating presence and insight to determine if fighting is necessary, to find advantages, and to buy time to cast preparatory spells. If fighting becomes necessary, they make heavy use of fire-based spells such as delayed blast fireball and fire shield, as well as deterrant spells such as cloudkill, globe of invulnerability, maze, sleep, slow, and stinking cloud.
A common tactic for gold dragons in a fight is to use their breath weapons as means to scatter and weaken their foes. They possess two such breath weapons: a powerful fire breath and a cone of weakening gas.

Society

Every gold dragon in the world acknowledges a hierarchy which spans the entire race. This structure has a single elected leader at the top: a wyrm or great wyrm called the King—or Queen—of Justice who bares the honorific "Your Resplendence" and serves until death or resignation. The selection of a replacement (either by election or, more frequently, by acclamation) is a process in which all gold dragons take part. It is also possible for two dragons of equal merit to be elected as eladers, in which case they can share duties or alternate leadership.
Because gold dragons are well aware of their responsibilities, the duties of the King of Justice are typically light. They will most frequently act as advisors to other dragons and their quests to defeat evil, pointing out consequences and hidden ramifications. Less frequently, the gold dragon ruler acts as a representative of the entire race when dealing with other species, or as a judge in the extreme rare occasion in which a gold dragon commits an offense.

Lair

Gold dragons do not have strong preferences about their lairs, but they tend to choose lairs made of stone, such as caves and castles, and recruit other loyal creatures as guards.
The lair of a gold dragon possesses some residual magic. While in its lair, a gold dragon has a limited capability to glimpse into the future and to banish invaders into adream plane of the dragon's own creation. The region around the lair also experiences some magical effects, such as banks of opalescent mists that haunt evil creatures and warn good creatures of danger. The dragon is also capable of establishing a telepathic contact with sleeping creatures within 6 miles of its lair. Within 1 mile of the lair, gems and pearls shine and emit a faint light.
Gold dragons enjoy treasure that shows artisanship, such as paintings, sculptures, calligraphy, and porcelain. They have a great fascination for magic items and love to add them to their hoards. It is common for them to magically ward their hoards so that it is impossible for an item to be removed without the dragon's knowledge.

Family and Parenting

When choosing a mate, gold dragons can spend years devating philosophy and ethics and questing together as part of their courtship. Prospective mates then seek approval from the King of Justice. Some gold dragons mate for life through a rite known as the Oath of Concord, while others mate only for a short time. They can be monogamous or hold several mates at the same time.
Gold dragons raise their young with exceptional care. A gold dragon wyrmling does not have whiskers, but they develop quickly. It is also common for gold dragon parents to send their young to the care of foster parents. This can serve a variety of reasons, such as freeing the parents for a quest, or just broadening their horizons.
Wyrmlings, very young, young, juvenile, and young adult gold dragons tend to be solitary or live in a clutch of 2 to 5 dragons; adults, mature adults, older dragons, wyrms, and great wyrms will live solitary, in a pair, or a family consisting of a couple of adults and several offspring.

Languages

Gold dragons are the only species of dragon to have their own written language. However, they can only write in human form, since their dragon claws are not practical for holding writing equipment.
These dragons even keep records of historic events. The content of these recors is mostly useless to human historians however, as they describe dragon events like dragon births, trials and deaths, rather than events that affect the non-dragon world.

History

WIP

Notable Gold Dragons

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Table of Contents

AD&D 2e Statistics

Size

Gargantuan

Alignment

Lawful Good

3.5th Edition Statistics

Size

Wyrmling

Medium

Very Young

Large

Young

Large

Juvenile

Large

Young Adult

Huge

Adult

Huge

Mature Adult

Huge

Old

Gargantuan

Very Old

Gargantuan

Ancient

Gargantuan

Wyrm

Colossal

Great Wyrm

Colossal

Type

Dragon

Subtype(s)

Fire

Alignment

Always Lawful Good

Challenge Rating

Wyrmling

5

Very Young

7

Young

9

Juvenile

11

Young Adult

14

Adult

16

Mature Adult

19

Old

21

Very Old

22

Ancient

24

Wyrm

25

Great Wyrm

27

4th Edition Statistics

Size

Wyrmling

Medium

Young

Large

Adult

Large

Elder

Huge

Ancient

Gargantuan

Origin

Type

Magical Beast

Keyword(s)

Alignment

Lawful Good

Level

Wyrmling

7

Young

9

Adult

17

Elder

24

Ancient

30

5th Edition Statistics

Size

Wyrmling

Medium

Very Young

Large

Young

Large

Juvenile

Large

Young Adult

Huge

Adult

Huge

Mature Adult

Huge

Old

Gargantuan

Very Old

Gargantuan

Ancient

Gargantuan

Wyrm

Colossal

Great Wyrm

Colossal

Type

Dragon

Subtype(s)

Fire

Alignment

Always Lawful Good

Challenge Rating

Wyrmling

5

Very Young

7

Young

9

Juvenile

11

Young Adult

14

Adult

16

Mature Adult

19

Old

21

Very Old

22

Ancient

24

Wyrm

25

Great Wyrm

27

Pathfinder 2e Statistics

Level

Young

11

Adult

15

Ancient

20

Size

Young

Large

Adult

Huge

Ancient

Gargantuan

Alignment

Lawful Good

Traits

, , (ancient only)

General Information

Movement

Flying, Swimming

Vision

Blindsight, Darkvision, Low-Light Vision

Activity Cycle

Any

Diet

Omnivore

Intelligence

Genius

Language(s)

High Draconic, Gold Draconic, Brilliant Draconic

Favored Climate

Warm

Favored Terrain

Plains

Appearance

Skin Color(s)

Gold (scales)

Eye Color(s)

Golden

Typical Build

Dragon

Distinctions

Manta-ray wings, fire breath, whiskers