Gold Dragon

Description

(From 5th Edition Monster Manual - 2014):

The most powerful and majestic of the metallic dragons, gold dragons are dedicated foes of evil.

A gold dragon has a sagacious face anointed with flexible spines that resemble whiskers. Its horns sweep back from its nose and brow, echoing twin frills that adorn its long neck. A gold dragon’s sail-like wings start at its shoulders and trace down to the tip of its tail, letting it fly with a distinctive rippling motion as if swimming through the air. A gold dragon wyrmling has scales of dark yellow with metallic flecks. Those flecks grow larger as the dragon matures. As a gold dragon ages, its pupils fade until its eyes resemble pools of molten gold.

Devourer of Wealth. Gold dragons can eat just about anything, but their preferred diet consists of pearls and gems. Thankfully, a gold dragon doesn’t need to gorge itself on such wealth to feel satisfied. Gifts of treasure that it can consume are well received by a gold dragon, as long as they aren’t bribes.

Reserved Shapeshifters. Gold dragons are respected by the other metallic dragons for their wisdom and fairness, but they are the most aloof and grim of the good-aligned dragons. They value their privacy to the extent that they rarely fraternize with other dragons except their own mates and offspring.

Older gold dragons can assume animal and humanoid forms. Rarely does a gold dragon in disguise reveal its true form. In the guise of a peddler, it might regularly visit a town to catch up on local gossip, patronize honest businesses, and lend a helping hand in unseen ways. In the guise of an animal, the dragon might befriend a lost child, a wandering minstrel, or an innkeeper, serving as a companion for days or weeks on end.

Master Hoarders. A gold dragon keeps its hoard in a well-guarded vault deep within its lair. Magical wards placed on the vault make it all but impossible to remove any treasures without the dragon knowing about it.

A Gold Dragon's Lair

Gold dragons make their homes in out-of-the-way places, where they can do as they please without arousing suspicion or fear. Most dwell near idyllic lakes and rivers, mist-shrouded islands, cave complexes hidden behind sparkling waterfalls, or ancient ruins.

Lair Actions

On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the dragon takes a lair action to cause one of the following effects; the dragon can’t use the same effect two rounds in a row:

• The dragon glimpses the future, so it has advantage on attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws until initiative count 20 on the next round.

• One creature the dragon can see within 120 feet of it must succeed on a DC 15 Charisma saving throw or be banished to a dream plane, a different plane of existence the dragon has imagined into being. To escape, the creature must use its action to make a Charisma check contested by the dragon’s. If the creature wins, it escapes the dream plane. Otherwise, the effect ends on initiative count 20 on the next round. When the effect ends, the creature reappears in the space it left or in the nearest unoccupied space if that one is occupied.

Regional Effects

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

• Whenever a creature that can understand a language sleeps or enters a state of trance or reverie within 6 miles of the dragon’s lair, the dragon can establish telepathic contact with that creature and converse with it in its dreams. The creature remembers its conversation with the dragon upon waking.

• Banks of beautiful, opalescent mist manifest within 6 miles of the dragon’s lair. The mist doesn’t obscure anything. It assumes haunting forms when evil creatures are near the dragon or other non-evil creatures in the mist, warning such creatures of the danger.

• Gems and pearls within 1 mile of the dragon’s lair sparkle and gleam, shedding dim light in a 5-foot radius.

If the dragon dies, these effects end immediately.

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

Creating a Gold Dragon

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

Gold Dragon Personality Traits

d8 - Trait

1 - I prefer to parley before combat. If villains can be reformed without violence, all the better.

2 - Shorter-lived species often have difficulty perceiving the full scope of time’s tapestry and lack the patience for my appropriately thorough explanations.

3 - Others might find me cold and dispassionate, but such is the price of perspective. Few creatures enjoy confronting the relative smallness of their lives.

4 - Disguises allow me to bestow small kindnesses and experience the simple pleasures of companionship without constantly being petitioned. I’m proud of my acting ability and never break character.

5 - The future is writ large in the patterns of history. I enjoy conversing with others who think critically about history and society.

6 - I enjoy gifts but find attempts to hire or bribe me deeply offensive.

7 - My reclusiveness is a filter. If someone lacks the motivation to overcome my barriers, then their matter is unworthy of my attention.

8 - On a long enough timescale, all actions are meaningless. So why should I deny myself anything?

Gold Dragon Ideals

d6 - Ideal

1 - Foresight. Righteous action requires carefully weighing potential consequences to ensure the cure is not worse than the disease. (Lawful)

2 - Restraint. I cannot right every wrong. I encourage others to solve their own problems, and I save my strength for tribulations only I can address. (Any)

3 - Stewardship. I do not serve individuals, but rather history. By acting strategically, I tip the ultimate balance toward justice and virtue. (Good)

4 - Objectivity. I remain impartial in my judgments and refuse to let personal feelings get in the way of what’s fair or necessary. (Lawful)

5 - Isolation. Every interaction has ramifications that stretch on into infinity. I curate my impact on the world by remaining aloof and self-reliant. (Any)

6 - Sovereignty. Other creatures lack my wisdom and must be controlled to prevent wrongdoing. (Evil)

Gold Dragon Spellcasting

Age        Spell Save DC        Spells Known

Ancient        24                   bless, commune,* cure wounds, geas,* plane shift (+16 to hit), slow, suggestion, word of recall, zone of truth.

*This spell’s casting time is longer than 1 action.

(from 2nd Edition Monstrous Manual - 1993):

Gold dragons are wise, judicious, and benevolent. They often embark on self-appointed quests to promote goodness, and are not easily distracted from them. They hate injustice and foul play. A gold dragon frequently assumes human or animal guise and usually will be encountered disguised.

At birth, a gold dragon’s scales are dark yellow with golden metallic flecks. The flecks get larger as the dragon matures until, at the adult stage, the scales grow completely golden.

Gold dragons speak their own tongue, a tongue common to all good dragons, and 18% of hatchling gold 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: Gold dragons usually parley before combat. When conversing with intelligent creatures they use detect lie and detect gems spells to gain the upper hand. In combat, they quickly use bless and luck bonus. Older dragons use luck bonus at the start of each day if the duration is a day or more. They make heavy use of spells in combat. Among their favorites are sleep, stinking cloud, slow, fire shield, cloudkill, globe of invulnerability, delayed blast, fireball, and maze.

Breath Weapon/Special Abilities: A gold dragon has two breath weapons: a cone of fire 90’ long, 5’ wide at the dragon’s mouth, and 30’ wide at the end or a cloud of potent chlorine gas 50’ long, 40’ wide and 30’ high. Creatures caught in either effect are entitled to a save versus breath weapon for half damage.

At birth, gold dragons have water breathing ability, can speak with animals freely, and are immune to fire and gas. They can also polymorph self three times a day. Each change form lasts until the dragon chooses a different form; reverting to the dragon’s normal form does not count as a change. A gold dragon’s natural form has wings. However, they sometimes choose a wingless form to facilitate swimming, gaining the higher swimming rate listed above. A gold dragon in any wingless form can fly at a speed of 6 (MC E).

As they age, they gain the following additional powers:

Young: bless three times a day. Juvenile: detect lie three times a day. Adult: animal summoning once a day. Mature adult: luck bonus once a day. Old: quest once a day, and detect gems three times a day. (This allows the dragon to know the number and kind of precious stones within a 30’ radius, duration is one minute.

The luck bonus power of mature adults is used to aid good adventurers. By touch the dragon can enchant one gem to bring good luck. The gem is usually one which has been embedded in the dragon’s hide. When the dragon carries the gem, it and every good creature in a 10’ radius per age category of the dragon receives a +1 bonus to all Saving Throws and similar dice rolls, cf. stone of good luck. If the dragon gives a gem to another creature only the bearer gets the bonus. The enchantment lasts three hours per age category of the dragon, plus 1-3 hours. The enchantment ends if the gem is destroyed before its duration expires.

Habitat/Society: Gold dragons can live anywhere. Their lairs are secluded and always made of solid stone, either caves or castles. These usually have loyal guards: either animals appropriate to the terrain, or storm or good cloud giants. The giants usually serve as guards through a mutual defensive agreement.

Ecology: Gold dragons can eat almost anything, however, they usually sustain themselves on pearls or small gems. Gold dragons who receive pearls and gems from good or neutral creatures will usually be favorably inclined toward the gift bringers, as long as the gift is not presented as a crass bribe. In the latter case, the dragon will accept the gift, but react cynically to any requests the giver makes.