White Dragon

White dragons (also known as ice dragons or glacial wyrms) were the weakest and most feral of the classic chromatic 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 same territories as whites. White dragons can speak as all dragons can, but they rarely talk unless 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 before 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.

Basic Information

Anatomy

White dragons were physically the smallest of the chromatic dragons, even smaller than black dragons. They appeared in shades from white to grey and ice-blue, and in arctic environments, this appearance served as good camouflage.
White dragons were physically distinguished by several features: their heads and necks seemed to blend seamlessly into one another, and their wings appeared somewhat frayed along the edges. They had a flap of skin, called a dewlap, lined with spines beneath their chins. Their heads were very streamlined, and they had high crests atop their skulls. They had a crisp, vaguely chemical odor.

White dragon toes were spaced more widely than those of other dragons, with barbed claws to aid movement on ice. Their very thin eyelids prevented snowblindness when observing arctic landscapes.
When in the stage of being a wyrmling, white dragons had a less pronounced crest and small stubs where their future horns would be. They completely lacked the dewlap and their bodies were protected by a leathery white hide in place of scales.

Genetics and Reproduction

White dragons usually laid about eight or ten eggs in a clutch. A white dragon egg was incubated for fourteen months. The first three and a half months were within the mother's body. On average, between a quarter and a third survived to hatching.
White dragon eggs had to be buried in snow or encased in ice while incubating. The parents did not bother to tend or protect the eggs in any way, although they would usually lay them near their lairs. A newly hatched white wyrmling had scales as clear as ice, which became white as the dragon matured. They were expected to survive on their own from the moment they hatched, although some white dragon parents would permit their young to live in their lair until they reached adulthood.
The wyrmling developed into a young dragon after about three or four years, and then into an adult after about 100 years.

Growth Rate & Stages

Medium 5 years or less
Young Large 6–100 years
Adult Huge 101–800 years
Ancient Gargantuan 801 years or more

Ecology and Habitats

Most white dragons laired in ice caves, often dug into the side of an arctic mountain, on tundra, or glacial plains, although they did not need ice and snow, and some settled near mountain peaks or in forests. They could create their own caves by applying the breath weapon to tightly packed snow in order to transform it into solid ice.
White dragons made their homes in frozen lands and ice-covered mountains. Their lairs often contained many more tunnels and chambers than those of other chromatic dragons. More powerful white dragons would sometimes turn a large iceberg into a floating lair. Such lairs always had an underwater entrance as well as one to the open air.
Whites preferred glittery treasure that resembled ice, such as diamonds or light gems, but platinum, silver, and anything reflective or polished works of art were also popular.

Additional Information

Social Structure

They were still powerful enough to overwhelm most humans and had exceptional long-term memories. Adult white dragons had several abilities well suited to their arctic habitat: they could climb ice cliffs with ease, fly very high and fast, and were exceptional swimmers. They loved to swim in cold water; the more frigid, the better. Much of their diet consisted of aquatic creatures, even whales. White dragons were always hungry, and tended to become more savage as they matured. Knowing that they were the smallest and weakest of dragons, many whites harbored inferiority complexes. They took any opportunity to bully beings such as giants and younger dragons of other species.[citation needed] White dragons preferred to scavenge for and collect treasure, rather than involving themselves in politics as other dragons might. Like other dragons, they looked down on others, and tended to view other creatures as prey.

Scientific Name

Draco Rigidus Frigidus

Average Height

• Wyrmling: 3½ ft.
• Young: 6½ ft.
• Adult: 11 ft.
• Ancient: 15 ft

Average Weight

• Wyrmling: 300 lb.
• Young: 2,400 lb.
• Adult: 19,500 lb.
• Ancient: 159,000 lb.

Average Length

• Wyrmling: 14 ft.
• Young: 29 ft.
• Adult: 52 ft.
• Ancient: 82 ft.

Geographic Distribution

• Icewind Dale