Dragons
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(from Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual - 2014 - [credits])
True dragons are winged reptiles of ancient lineage and fearsome power. They are known and feared for their predatory cunning and greed, with the oldest dragons accounted as some of the most powerful creatures in the world. Dragons are also magical creatures whose innate power fuels their dreaded breath weapons and other preternatural abilities.
Many creatures, including wyverns and dragon turtles, have draconic blood. However, true dragons fall into the two broad categories of chromatic and metallic dragons. The black, blue, green, red, and white dragons are selfish, evil, and feared by all. The brass, bronze, copper, gold, and silver dragons are noble, good, and highly respected by the wise.
Though their goals and ideals vary tremendously, all true dragons covet wealth, hoarding mounds of coins and gathering gems, jewels, and magic items. Dragons with large hoards are loath to leave them for long, venturing out of their lairs only to patrol or feed.
True dragons pass through four distinct stages of life, from lowly wyrmlings to ancient dragons, which can live for over a thousand years. In that time, their might can become unrivaled and their hoards can grow beyond price.
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 multiverse 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.
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 love 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.
(from Fizban's Treasury of Dragons - 2021)
UNDEATH:
Despite their incredible life spans, some dragons pursue undeath to extend their existences. Others stumble into undeath unwillingly or unwittingly. Either way, an Undead dragon is a force to be reckoned with.
Dracoliches are created by cultists or necromancers who either persuade or trick a dragon into undergoing a foul ritual. In the world of the Forgotten Realms, this ritual originated with the Cult of the Dragon, whose teachings (based on a mistranslated fragment of ancient prophecy) maintain that “dead dragons will rule the world entire.” The cult thus creates dracoliches as a step toward achieving that particular vision of a future paradise. Similar rites exist on other worlds, whether spread by cultists from Faerûn, invented independently, or discovered by dragons who have dracolich echoes on Faerûn.
A hollow dragon comes into being when a metallic dragon gives up mortal life so a fragment of life essence can linger as an eternal guardian of a precious treasure or knowledge. Draconic shards are lingering psychic projections of psionic gem dragons. And dragons can also linger after death as ghost dragons.
Whatever form an Undead dragon takes, the creature’s transformation ripples throughout the Material Plane. Every dragon has echoes on other worlds, and when one dragon violates the natural cycle of life and death, that dragon’s echoes are often affected—particularly in the case of dracoliches. A dracolich’s echoes suffer a wasting affliction that spreads out from the dracolich like a contagion. Afflicted dragons grow increasingly violent and cruel, and the physical deterioration they experience from aging accelerates. This wasting can even drive an affected dragon to seek out undeath.
(from The Draconomicon - 2003 - [credits])
PLANAR DRAGONS:
In addition to the many dragon species native to the Material Plane, a number of dragons hail from other planes, particularly the Outer Planes. Collectively referred to as planar dragons, these creatures hail from planes as diverse as Limbo, Acheron, Ysgard, and even the Ethereal Plane.
Unlike most other true dragons, planar dragons are not innate spellcasters; though they have a variety of spell-like powers, they don’t have the natural affinity for sorcery that their Material Plane relatives have. A planar dragon uses its age category as its caster level for all spell-like abilities.
Though native to planes other than the Material, these creatures are nonetheless of the dragon type and are not outsiders. Instead, they all possess the extraplanar subtype.
