Draconomicon™

R O L E P L A Y I N G G A M E S U P P L E M E N T

Bruce R. Cordell • Logan Bonner • Ari Marmell • Robert J. Schwalb

C h r o m a t i c D r a g o n s

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CREDITSCREDITS

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, d20, d20 System, WIZARDS OF THE COAST, Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide, Monster Manual, Draconomicon, FORGOTTEN REALMS,

DRAGONLANCE, GREYHAWK, Adventurer’s Vault, Complete Mage, Dragons of Despair, Elder Evils, Exemplars of Evil, Expanded Psionics Handbook, Forge of Fury, Forge of War, Greyhawk Ruins, Hall of the Fire Giant King, Libris Mortis, Martial Power, Sunless Citadel, Tomb of the Lizard King, Tome of Magic, War of the Lance, all other Wizards of the Coast product names,

and their respective logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast in the U.S.A. and other countries. All Wizards characters and their distinctive likenesses are property of

Wizards of the Coast, Inc. This material is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork

contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. Any similarity to actual people, organizations, places, or events included

herein is purely coincidental. Printed in the U.S.A. ©2008 Wizards of the Coast, Inc.

VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.WIZARDS.COM/DNDVISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.WIZARDS.COM/DND

620-21788720-001 EN

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First Printing:

November 2008

ISBN: 978-0-7869-4980-9

Design

Bruce R. Cordell (lead),Logan Bonner, Ari Marmell, Robert J. Schwalb

Development

Mike Mearls (lead), Stephen Radney-MacFarland, Rodney Thompson

Editing

Michele Carter (lead),Jennifer Clarke Wilkes, Jessica Kristine,

Julia Martin, Ray Vallese

Managing Editing

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Bill Slavicsek

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Special thanks to Brandon Daggerhart, keeper of Shadowfell

Cover Illustration

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Graphic Designers

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Interior Illustrations

Devon Caddy-Lee, Miguel Coimbra, Eric Deschamps, Vincent Dutrait, Emily Fiegenschuh, Tomas Giorello, Lars Grant-West, Warren Mahy, Lee Moyer, Andrew Murray, Steve Prescott, Vinod Rams, Tara Rueping, Rick Sardinha, Ron Spears, Ron Spencer, Joel Thomas, Francis Tsai, Franz Vohwinkel, Eva Widermann, Sam Wood, James Zhang

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Game rules based on the original DUNGEONS & DRAGONS®

rules created by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and the

later editions by David “Zeb” Cook (2nd Edition); Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Richard Baker, and Peter Adkison (3rd Edition); and Rob Heinsoo, Andy Collins, and

James Wyatt (4th Edition).

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1: 1: DRAGON LOREDRAGON LORE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Origins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Physiology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Life Cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Outlook and Psychology . . . . . . . . . . 18

Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Chromatic Dragons in Detail . . . . . . 30

Black Dragons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Blue Dragons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Brown Dragons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Gray Dragons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Green Dragons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Purple Dragons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Red Dragons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

White Dragons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

2: DM’S GUIDE TO DRAGONSDM’S GUIDE TO DRAGONS. . . 44

Draconic Encounters . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Combat Encounters . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Social Encounters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

The King’s Vizier . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

The Long and Winding Road . . . 48

Draconic Traps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Adventures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Adventure Hooks and Quests . . . 51

False Witness (Level 5) . . . . . . . 51

Out of the Dark (Level 7) . . . . . 52

Gathering Storm (Level 13) . . . 52

Shipwreck (Level 18) . . . . . . . . . 53

Crossfi re (Level 22) . . . . . . . . . . . 53

But the Dead Dragons

Shall Rule (Level 26 or 29) . . . 54

Chromatic Patrons . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Draconic Campaigns . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Fabulous Dragonslayers . . . . . . . . 57

The Dragon’s Hand . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Dragon Hoards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Principles of Hoard Design . . . . . 61

Draconic Artifacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Ilthuviel’s Blackened Heart . . . . . 76

Blue Orb of Dragonkind . . . . . . . . 78

Spear of Urrok the Brave . . . . . . . 80

Unconquered Standard

of Arkhosia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Draconic Rituals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Dragon Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Famous Dragons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

3: 3: DRAGON LAIRSDRAGON LAIRS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Lair Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

The Ruins of Castle Korvald . . . . . . . 94

The Gatekeepers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Tower of Murderous Ice . . . . . . . 100

Cliff side Lair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Vigilant Watchers . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

The Dragon’s Grotto . . . . . . . . . . 108

Feywild Lair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Sylvan Allies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Dragon’s Den . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Where Shadows Fall . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

The Bridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

The Dead Travel Fast . . . . . . . . . . 124

Heart of Darkness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

The Beating Heart . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Something on the Side . . . . . . . . 132

Volcano Lair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

The Weapon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

The Dragon’s Lair . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

The Tomb of Urum-Shar . . . . . . . . . 142

Stairway to Hell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

Beneath the Sands . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Abyssal Lair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Isle of Faces. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Demon Miners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

Regnant Fane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

Guarded Cavern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Inner Sanctum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

4: NEW MONSTERSNEW MONSTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . 166

CHROMATIC DRAGONSCHROMATIC DRAGONS . . . . . 168

Brown Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168

Gray Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

Purple Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

Chromatic Wyrmlings . . . . . . . . . . . 179

Black Dragon Wyrmling . . . . . . . 179

Blue Dragon Wyrmling . . . . . . . . 180

Brown Dragon Wyrmling . . . . . . 181

Gray Dragon Wyrmling . . . . . . . . 182

Green Dragon Wyrmling . . . . . . 183

Purple Dragon Wyrmling . . . . . . 184

Red Dragon Wyrmling. . . . . . . . . 185

White Dragon Wyrmling . . . . . . 186

PLANAR DRAGONSPLANAR DRAGONS . . . . . . . . . . 188

Abyssal Dragons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

Frostforged Wyrm . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

Deathmask Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . 189

Astral Dragons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

Battle Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

Pact Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

Elemental Dragons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

Blazewyrm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

Dragon Eel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192

Tempest Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

Pyroclastic Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

Feywild Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

Faerie Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

Mirage Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

Wretch Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

Shadowfell Dragons . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

Blight Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

Shadow Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

UNDEAD DRAGONSUNDEAD DRAGONS . . . . . . . . . 200

Dracolich . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

Bone Mongrel Dracolich . . . . . . . 200

Stoneborn Dracolich . . . . . . . . . . 201

Icewrought Dracolich . . . . . . . . . 201

Dreambreath Dracolich . . . . . . . 202

Draconic Wraith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

Wyrm-Wisp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

Soulgrinder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

Draconic Zombie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

Winged Putrescence . . . . . . . . . . 205

Rotclaw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

Deathless Hunger . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

Rancid Tide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

Skeletal Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

Razortalon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

Bonespitter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

Siegewyrm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

Vampiric Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

Thief of Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

Bloodwind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

OTHER CREATURESOTHER CREATURES . . . . . . . . 210

Abishai . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

Draconic Parasite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

Dragonborn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214

Dragonspawn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218

Drake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222

Kobold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224

Living Breath . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

Squamous Thing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230

DRAGON HALL OF FAMEDRAGON HALL OF FAME . . . 232

Ashardalon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232

Cyan Bloodbane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

Dragotha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236

Gulgol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

Nefermandias . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240

Rime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

Tiamat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244

Zebukiel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248

TEMPLATESTEMPLATES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250

Draconic Creature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250

Dragonguard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250

ALTERNATIVE POWERSALTERNATIVE POWERS . . . . 251

contents

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1

4C H A P T E R 1 | D r a g o n L o r e

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C H A P T E R 1

Dragon LoreDragon Lore

Come not between the dragon and his wrath.—William Shakespeare

More ink has been spilled on describing drag-ons than on nearly any other creature. These ancient, noble, yet savage beasts are a favorite subject of guide-books, bards’ tales, and ancient tomes and scrolls. Draconic knowledge is gained at risk of life and limb; dragons are rapacious, jealous of their secrets, and often hungry. Experts describe dragons as the first sentient race to appear in the world, with life spans stretching into millennia. With such a wealth of experience, dragons embody history. The oldest dragons are repositories of vast knowledge and of the deepest ancient secrets. Dragons are more than just a challenge for knights seeking hoards or glory: dragons are sages, oracles, and even prophets. Dragons’ majesty has clothed them in myth. The appearance of a dragon can portend good or ill for-tune. Pragmatic sages attempt to classify dragons as merely large lizards that have wings and warm breath, but these efforts fail in the true light of the wonder, magic, and fantastic abilities of dragons. Dragons are, by their nature, epic forces.

This chapter covers the following topics:✦ Origins: The beginnings and history of chromatic

dragons.✦ Physiology: A detailed study of chromatic drag-

ons’ anatomy.✦ Life Cycle: The life of a dragon from egg to

ancient.✦ Outlook and Psychology: How chromatic drag-

ons see the world.✦ Society: A description of dragon social structure.✦ Language: Draconic language and script.✦ Religion: Dragons’ favored deities.✦ Chromatic Dragons in Detail: An overview

of the five most common chromatic dragons—black, blue, green, red, and white—as well as the lesser-known brown, gray, and purple dragons.

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Only the most arrogant enthusiast might claim cer-tain knowledge of dragons’ origins, and such a claim should be taken with a grain of salt. Legends and the knowledge that sages do have, however, stretch back for centuries and hint at what might have been. Sometimes new stories come to light, prompting reassessments of the existing body of knowledge and speculation regarding dragon inception.

First DragonsThe five major dragon families (chromatic, cata-strophic, metallic, scourge, and planar; see the Monster Manual for details) share a common origin. Most accounts begin with mention of the deity Io. Io, as legend has it, created dragons in his own shape but without a divine spark, so that dragons might frolic and exult in the new world formed by the primordials. To Io, dragons were the epitome of mortal form. Though they lived in the world, the power of the Elemental Chaos f lowed in their veins and spewed from their mouths in gouts of f lame or waves of paralyzing cold. They also developed keen minds and lofty spirits that linked them, as with all sentient mortal beings, to the Astral Sea.

The SunderingDuring the wars between the primordials and the gods that followed the world’s creation, the primor-dial known as the King of Terror attacked and slew Io and the dragons defending Io. According to one account, the dragon deities Tiamat and Bahamut rose from the two halves of Io’s corpse. Another legend claims that Tiamat and Bahamut were among Io’s eldest creations and received their father’s divine spark upon his death. Io’s remaining children found their position less secure than they had believed it to be. Forced to adapt to a changing world, they chose diverse philosophies and lifestyles to reflect their individual natures. A number of surviving dragons chose to follow Bahamut, called the Platinum Dragon, and they became the first metallic dragons. Over the ages, as Bahamut upheld justice, opposed evil, and liber-ated the oppressed, creatures other than dragons came to honor him as the deity of justice, protection, nobility, and honor. In the fullness of time, he has become better known for those attributes than for his association with metallic dragons. Today, all metallic dragons revere Bahamut as their originator, but not all of them worship him.

ORIGINS

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