Copper Dragon

(From 5th Edition Monster Manual - 2014):

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.

A Copper Dragon’s Lair

Copper dragons dwell in dry uplands and on hilltops, where they make their lairs in narrow caves. False walls in the lair hide secret antechambers where the dragon stores valuable ores, art objects, and other oddities it has collected over its lifetime. Worthless items are put on display in open caves to tantalize treasure seekers and distract them from where the real treasure is hidden.

Lair Actions

On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the dragon takes a lair action to cause one of the following effects:

• The dragon chooses a point on the ground that it can see within 120 feet of it. Stone spikes sprout from the ground in a 20-foot radius centered on that point. The effect is otherwise identical to the spike growth spell and lasts until the dragon uses this lair action again or until the dragon dies.

• The dragon chooses a 10-foot-square area on the ground that it can see within 120 feet of it. The ground in that area turns into 3-foot-deep mud. Each creature on the ground in that area when the mud appears must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or sink into the mud and become restrained. A creature can take an action to attempt a DC 15 Strength check, freeing itself or another creature within its reach and ending the restrained condition on a success. Moving 1 foot in the mud costs 2 feet of movement. On initiative count 20 on the next round, the mud hardens, and the Strength DC to work free increases to 20.

Regional Effects

The region containing a legendary copper dragon’s lair is warped by the dragon’s magic, which creates one or more of the following effects:

• Magic carvings of the dragon’s smiling visage can be seen worked into stone terrain and objects within 6 miles of the dragon’s lair.

• Tiny beasts such as rodents and birds that are normally unable to speak gain the magical ability to speak and understand Draconic while within 1 mile of the dragon’s lair. These creatures speak well of the dragon, but can’t divulge its whereabouts.

• Intelligent creatures within 1 mile of the dragon’s lair are prone to fits of giggling. Even serious matters suddenly seem amusing.

If the dragon dies, the magic carvings fade over the course of (1d10) days. The other effects end immediately.

(From Fizban's Treasury of Dragons - 2021):

Creating a Copper Dragon

Use the Copper Dragon Personality Traits and Copper Dragon Ideals tables to inspire your portrayal of distinctive copper dragon characters, and use the Copper Dragon Spellcasting table to help select spells for a spellcasting dragon.

Copper Dragon Personality Traits

d8 - Trait:

1 - I am generous with my time, my words, and my considerable wisdom—but my treasure is mine.

2 - I love music. It is truly the universal language, able to express ideas far better than mere words alone.

3 - I find the notion of trade and barter fascinating, and sometimes even find ways to participate in them.

4 - There is no sound I love more than laughter, a powerful balm for hearts and minds.

5 - I enjoy games of all kinds, especially challenges of wit and intellect—and those I can decisively win.

6 - I admire how brightly short-lived creatures shine before their lights go out.

7 - Nothing is more satisfying than deflating the egos of the high-and-mighty with a well-placed jibe.

8 - When I’m bored, stirring up a settlement and watching its people scurry about amuses me.

Copper Dragon Ideals

d6 - Ideal:

1 - Beauty. The ability to create, appreciate, and sustain beauty is the true measure of a creature or civilization. (Good)

2 - Curiosity. The world holds so much to experience. I value different perspectives and insights. (Any)

3 - Creativity. Our purpose is to create something new and clever, and I admire those who do so. (Any)

4 - Change. The only constant is change, and we must change with the world. (Chaotic)

5 - Fairness. Life is often unfair, and it is up to us to rebalance its scales from time to time. (Good)

6 - Cruelty. Existence is a cruel joke. You can either be in on the joke, or be made a fool by it. (Evil)

Copper Dragon Spellcasting

Age        Spell Save DC        Spells Known

Ancient        19                   lesser restoration, move earth, phantasmal force, stone shape

(From 2nd Edition AD&D Monstrous Manual - 1991):

Copper dragons are incorrigible pranksters, joke tellers, and riddlers. They are prideful and are not good losers, although they are reasonable good winner. They are particularly selfish, and greedy for their alignment, and have an almost neutral outlook where wealth is concerned.

At birth, a copper dragon’s scales have a ruddy brown color with a copper tint. As the dragon gets older, the scales become finer and more coppery, assuming a soft, warm gloss by the time the dragon becomes a young adult. Beginning at the venerable stage, the dragons’ scales pick up a green tint.

Copper dragons speak their own tongue, a tongue common to all good dragons, and 14% of hatchling copper dragons have an ability to communicate with any intelligent creature. The chance to possess this ability increases 5% per age category of the dragon.

Combat: Copper dragons like to taunt and annoy their opponents, hoping they will give up or become angry and act foolishly. Early in an encounter, a copper dragon will jump from one side of an opponent to another, landing on inaccessible or vertical stone surfaces. If there are no such places around a dragon’s lair, the dragon will create them ahead of time using stone shape, move earth, and wall of stone. An angry copper dragon will mire its opponents using rock to mud, and will force victims who escape the mud into it with kicks. Once opponents are trapped in the mud, the dragon will crush them with a wall of stone or snatch them and carry them aloft. When fighting airborne opponents, a dragon will draw its enemies into narrow, stony gorges where it can use its spider climb ability in an attempt to maneuver the enemy into colliding with the walls.

Breath Weapon/Special Abilities: A copper dragon’s breath is either a cloud of slow gas 30’ long, 20’ wide, and 20’ high or a spurt of acid 70’ long and 5’ wide. Creatures caught in the gas must save vs breath weapon or be slowed for three minutes per age level of the dragon. Creatures caught in the acid take damage, save vs. breath weapon for half. A copper dragon cast its spells and uses its magical abilities at 7th level, plus its combat modifier.

At birth, copper dragons can spider climb (stone surfaces only) and are immune to acid. As they age, they gain the following additional powers:

Young: neutralize poison three times a day. Juvenile: stone shape twice a day. Adult: forget once a day. Mature adult: rock to mud once a day. Old: move earth once a day. Great wyrm: wall of stone once a day. A copper dragon can jump 30 yards forward or sideways, reaching heights up to 20’ at mid jump. They can jump 30’ straight up.

Habitat/Society: Copper dragons like dry, rocky uplands and mountains. They lair in narrow caves and often conceal the entrances using move earth and stone shape. Within the lair, they construct twisting mazes with open tops. These allow the dragon to fly or jump over intruders struggling through the maze.

Copper dragons appreciate wit, and will usually leave good or neutral creatures alone if they can relate a joke, humorous story, or riddle the dragon has not heard before. They quickly get annoyed with creatures who don’t laugh at their joked or do not accept the dragon’s tricks and antics with good humor.

Because they often inhabit hills in sight of red dragons’ lairs conflicts between the two subspecies often occur. Copper dragons usually run for cover until they can equal the odds.

Ecology: Copper dragons are determined hunters, the good sport a hunt provides is at least as important as the food they get. They are known to eat almost anything, including metal ores. However, they prize giant scorpions and other large poisonous creatures (they say the venom sharpens their wit). The dragon’s digestive system can handle the venom safely, although injected venoms affect them normally.