Time Dragon

(From 5e Planescape: Morte's Planar Parade - 2023):

These sleek dragons harness the power of time to manipulate the past, present, and future. Time dragon wyrmlings are born with shining scales and have horns that are barely more than nubs. As they master the flow of time, their horns grow with branching, rainbow-hued veins suggestive of time’s paths and possibilities.

Ancient time dragons can create temporal gates connected to specific times and places in the multiverse. Using these, they and allied creatures can travel anywhere in time to affect fate-determining moments or to banish threats beyond the flow of time. 

As a result of their ability to travel between ages, time dragons often seem unstuck from the usual flow of time and have a flexible view of what is, what was, and what will be.

Time dragons prize historical records, objects representative of lost cultures, and treasures from long-gone creators. They are fascinated by time-manipulation magic and forgotten knowledge. Those who stumble upon a time dragon’s hoard might find invaluable historical information from eras past.

A Time Dragon’s Lair

Time dragons often lair in the ruins of ancient civilizations or temples to dead gods and do their utmost to preserve these historical sites. A time dragon’s insatiable desire for knowledge means it’s likely to have more than one such lair.

The challenge rating of an ancient or adult time dragon increases by 1 when it’s encountered in its lair.

Lair Actions

On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the dragon can take one of the following lair actions; the ancient or adult dragon can’t take the same lair action two rounds in a row:

Temporal Fling. The dragon attempts to fling a creature it can see within 60 feet of itself forward through time. The target must succeed on a DC 18 Wisdom saving throw or take 26 ((4d12)) psychic damage and move 1 round forward in time. A target moved forward in time vanishes for the duration. When the effect ends, the target reappears in the space it left or in an unoccupied space nearest to that space if it’s occupied.

Temporal Lag. The dragon slows time for each creature within 60 feet of itself. Until initiative count 20 of the next round, the affected creature can move or take an action on its turn, not both. The creature also can’t take a reaction or a bonus action.

Timeline Divergence. The dragon chooses a space it can fit into within its lair. The dragon exists simultaneously in its space and the chosen space until initiative count 20 on the next round. Whenever it moves or takes an action, the dragon chooses which version is moving or acting. If an effect or attack can target both the dragon’s spaces at the same time, the dragon is affected only once.

Regional Effects

The region surrounding an ancient or adult time dragon’s lair is altered by the dragon’s magic, creating one or more of the following effects:

Time Dilations. Time fluctuates within 3 miles of the lair. Short rests taken within this area take 10 minutes or 2 hours (your choice).

Timelessness. Beasts, Humanoids, and Plants within 3 miles of the lair age only 1 year for every 10 years that pass.

If the dragon dies, these effects fade over the course of (4d12) days.

(From Dragon Magazine #359 - 2007):

This dragon's charcoal-gray scales lay closer to its flesh and bear no ridges, giving the creature a smooth look. An hourglass-shapes mask of black scales surroundes its eyes and twelve evenly-spaced lines of black scales radiate back along its body, like tree rings. A spike in the shape of a typical gnomon extends from the back of its skull, effectively doubling the length of its head. Its triangular wings spread from their narrowest points at its back to give them the overall shape of an hourglass. Two spikes of different lengths protrude from the end of its tail, giving it two tips.

Breath Weapons (Su): A time dragon has two types of breath weapon, a line of ravaging time and a cone of time expulsion. Creatures and objects within a line of ravaging time age 1 year per age category (no save); creatures take 1 point of Constitution damage and objects lose 1 point of hardness per age category of the dragon (fortitude half). Creatures within a cone of time expulsion disappear and cannot act for 1 round per age category of the dragon (Will negates). These creatures are not under the effect of a time stop, they arc thrown into the future a number of rounds and effectively do not exist until lhe timestream catches up with them.

Time Control (Su): A time dragon emerges from its egg with some level of natural control over the flow of time and its own place within the flow. From hatching, a time dragon can accelerate its actions relative to the actions of others. As a free action, a time dragon can will itself to move more quickly, enabling it to set as though affected by a haste spell tor up to 5 rounds each day. The duration of the haste effect need not be consecutive rounds.

Time dragons are immune to slow effects.

Time Stop (Sp): At a standard action, a time dragon can cast time stop at will. The time dragon cannot remain completely removed from the timestream, however, and must wait 2d4 rounds between uses of this ability.

Draconic Surge (Ex): A very young or older time dragon can, once per day as a swill action, borrow time from the future. This allows the time dragon to take an extra standard or move action during its turn. An old or older time dragon can use this ability twice per day.

Time Mastery (Su): Thanks to its greater control over its connection (or lack thereof) to the flow of hme, an adult or older time dragon operates continuously under the effects of a haste spell, A time dragon cannot suppress this ability, and if dispelled it automatically resumes at the start of the time dragon's next turn (this requires no action or conscious thought on the part of the time dragon).

This increased control also allows a time dragon of at least adult age to slip into and out of the timestream mote effectively. It must wait only 1d4 rounds between uses of its time stop spell-like ability.

Stow Aura (Su): An ancient or older time dragon possesses godlike control over time but also a much lesser amount of control over the space around it. It can express this control by emanating a slow aura up to 10 fat per age category for up to 10 rounds each day. Choosing to emanate the slow aura is a free action that must be made every round the time dragon wishes to maintain it. The duration of the slow aura need not be consecutive rounds. Creatures are automatically affected as by the slow spell (no save) each round they begin their turn within the area of the aura.

Time Apotheosis (Ex): Once it lives long enough to become a great wyrm, a time dragon has such an intricale tie to the timestream that it can move backward and forward through time almost at will, This movement through time allows a great wyrm time dragon to wait only 1 round between uses of its time stop spell-like ability. In addition, a great wyrm time dragon becomes immune to any spell or effect with a duration greater than instantaneous cast on it by another creature, as well as effects that can affect it over time or that require the passage of time (such as dehydration, disease, poison, and starvation), it is not immune to its own noninstantaneous spells and effects.

Because a great wyrm time dragon can travel into possible futures, it rolls 2d20 on every d20 roil it makes, taking the better of the two results.

I.astly, a great wynn time dragon can make forays into the past and into possible futures. Such forays require preparation, and cannot be performed within the timeframe of a combat.

Traveling Through Time: Generally, the longer into the past or future the time dragon wishes to explore, the more resources it must expend. The details of this preparation, as well as the actual specifics of time travel, are outside the scope of this article and really only affect PCs if they become willing (or unwitting) assistants to a time dragon.

At the very least, a time dragon must spend several minutes in preparation of traveling through time, meditating and preparing itself physically and mentally for its journey.

Spell-Like Ability: At will — time stop (wyrmling and older must wait 2d4 rounds, adult and older must wait 1d4 rounds, great wyrm must wait i round); 3/day- slow (juvenile or older).

Skills: All Knowledge skills and Speak Languages are class skills for time dragons.

Time dragons, also sometimes called chronology dragons, epoch dragons, or ageless dragons, rarely deign to interact with mortals — or even, for that matter, immortals.

Strategies and Tactics

Time dragons have better things to do than to engage in the potential dangers of combat. As such, they never hesitate to use every ability at their disposal to end a fight as quickly as possible or to simply flee if overwhelmed. Note that most time dragons are as satisfied with incapacitating enemies as killing them. They make extensive use of their time stop ability to move around the battlefield and set up spells to hinder or kill their opponents. Generally, time dragons start with their most powerful spells, weakening any who survive with their ravaging time breath. Time dragons never willingly fight to the death.

Ecology: Only disasters or other creatures can kill time dragons. The passage of time itself cannot. As such, they are the only truly immortal nondeific dragons. Because of their unique ties to the timestream, time dragons age randomly. Knowing the age category of a time dragon does not, therefore, give an accurate estimation of its age, as shown on the following chart. To use this chart, roll for each age category the dragon has to see how long it took for it to reach its current level of maturity (and to give you an idea of its actual age).

d%*           Time

up to 05 = 5d12 minutes

06 - 15 = 1d12 hours

16 - 25 = 1d6 days

26 - 35 = 1d4 weeks

36 - 45 = 1d12 months

46 - 65 = 1d10 years

56 - 85 = 1d10 decades

86 - 00 = 1d10 centuries

above 00 = 1d2 millenia

*For each age category the dragon possesses, add 5% to this roll.

Time dragons younger than great wyrms can go months without eating, but doing so makes them lethargic. As dragons, they can eat anything and frequently do so, not bothering with bunting down living food.

Environment: Time dragons can and do live anywhere they find air to breathe. They prefer remote locations for their lairs, although as seminomadic creatures they rarely claim a place as a lair for more ihan a few years. Great wyrms

often relocate their lairs to some distant point in time, such as before the rise of humanoids or after their fall.

Typical Physical Characteristics: A wyrmling time dragon's scales appear silvery white and lack black stripes or a black eye mask As the time dragon approaches very young, its mask and stripes grow in and its scales darken. The black stripes gradually change as the time dragon ages, each moving back along the length of its body and reappearing again near its eye mask when the twelfth stripe runs off the tip of its tail.

Society: Time dragons have no society. They live apart from one another and other living creatures, preferring to spend the time they deign to socialise with deities and other powerful immortals. Roughly once a millenium, a group of four to ten time dragems comes together for the purpose of procreation. As soon as all the females in the group have been fertilised the dragons disband and, likely, never again see one another.

Treasure: Time dragons rarely put much effort into their hoards, abandoning and rebuilding them hundreds of dines over the long course of years. A time dragon does jealously guard any piece in its board that measures time, from a mundane sundial to a mechanically wondrous waterclock.