Dragon
A Dragon's Body
“How can one imagine anything more magnificent than . . . a dragon, the paragon of creation?”
“Nothing but a bunch of vain, glorified flying reptiles, if you ask me!”At first glance, a true dragon resembles a reptile. It has a muscular body, a long, thick neck, a horned or frilled head with a toothy mouth, and a sinuous tail. The creature usually walks on four powerful legs with clawed feet, and it flies using its vast, batlike wings. Normally, heavy scales cover a dragon from the tip of its tail to end of its snout. As you’ll see from the details to come, however, that first glance doesn’t begin to tell the whole story about the nature of dragons.
External Anatomy
Despite its scales and wings, a dragon’s body has features that seem more feline than reptilian.Eyes
Like a cat’s eye, a dragon’s eye has a comparatively large iris with a vertical pupil. This arrangement allows the pupil to open extremely wide and admit much more light than a human eye can. The sclera, or “white,” of a dragon’s eye is often yellow, gold, green, orange, red, or silver, with an iris of a darker, contrasting color. To a casual observer, a dragon’s pupils always look like vertical slits. If one were to look very closely into a dragon’s eye, however, one could see a second iris and pupil within the first. The dragon can shift and rotate this inner aperture up to 90 degrees, so that the inner pupil can overlay the outer one or lie at a right angle to it. This ocular structure gives a dragon extremely accurate depth perception and focusing ability no matter how much or how little light is available. A dragon’s eye is protected by a leathery outer eyelid and three smooth inner eyelids, or nictitating membranes. The innermost membrane is crystal clear and serves to protect the eye from damage while the dragon flies, fights, swims, or burrows with its eyes open. The other two eyelids mainly serve to keep the inner membrane and the surface of the eye clean. They are thicker than the innermost membrane and less clear. A dragon can use these inner lids to protect its eyes from sudden flashes of bright light. A dragon’s eyes glow in the dark, but the dragon can hide the glow by closing one or more of its inner eyelids; doing this does not affect its vision.Inside a Dragons Eye
Ears
A dragon’s ears often prove indistinguishable from the frills that frame its head, especially when the dragon is at rest. The ears of an an active dragon, however, constantly twitch and swivel as the dragon tracks sounds. Not all dragons have external ears; burrowing and aquatic dragons usually have simple ear holes protected by an overhanging fringe.Mouth
A dragon’s mouth features powerful jaws, a forked tongue, and sharp teeth. The exact number and size of a dragon’s teeth depend on the dragon’s age, habitat, and diet; however, a dragon’s array of teeth usually includes four well-developed fangs (two upper, two lower) that curve slightly inward and have cutting edges on both the inner and outer surfaces. A dragon uses its fangs to impale and kill prey, and they serve as the dragon’s primary weapons. Immediately in front of the fangs in each jaw lie the dragon’s incisors, which are oval in cross-section and have serrated edges at the top. When a dragon bites down on large prey, these teeth cut out a semicircle of flesh. Behind the fangs in each jaw, a dragon has a row of peglike molars that help it grip prey. A dragon is not well equipped for chewing, and it typically tears prey into chunks small enough to gulp down. A dragon can create a sawing motion with its incisors by wiggling its lower jaw and shaking its head from side to side, allowing the incisors to quickly shear through flesh and bone. Many dragons learn to seize prey and literally shake it to death. Other dragons have mastered the technique of grabbing prey and swallowing it whole. Some dragon hunters boast that they can hold a dragon’s mouth closed, preventing the creature from biting. It is true that a dragon applies more force when closing its jaws than it does when opening them; however, holding a dragon’s mouth closed still requires prodigious strength. Even if an foe were to succeed in clamping its jaws shut, the dragon is likely to throw off the opponent with one flick of its head, claw its attacker to ribbons, or both.Spines, Frills, and Horns
The spines, frills, and other projections that adorn a dragon’s head make the creature look fearsome, and that is their main function. A dragon’s horn is a keratinous projection growing directly from the dragon’s skull. A dragon with horns that point backward can use the horns for grooming, and they also help protect the dragon’s upper neck in combat. Horns projecting from the sides of a dragon’s head help protect the head. A dragon’s spines are keratinous, but softer and more flexible than its horns. The spines are imbedded in the dragon’s skin and anchored to the skeleton by ligaments. Most spines are located along the dragon’s back and tail. Unlike horns, spines are mobile, with a range of motion that varies with the kind of dragon and the spines’ location on the dragon’s body. The spines along a dragon’s back, for example, can only be raised or lowered, whereas the spines supporting a dragon’s ears can be moved many different ways. The frills on a dragon’s back and tail help keep the dragon stable when flying or swimming.Legs and Feet
To a scholar who knows something about the natural world, a dragon’s powerful legs are decidedly nonreptilian, despite their scaly coverings. A dragon’s legs are positioned more or less directly under its body, in the manner of mammals. (Most reptiles’ legs tend to splay out to the sides, offering much less support and mobility than a dragon or mammal enjoys.) A dragon’s four feet resemble those of a great bird. Each foot has three or four clawed toes facing forward (the number varies, even among dragons of the same kind), plus an additional toe, also with a claw, set farther back on the foot and facing slightly inward toward the dragon’s body, like a human’s thumb. Although a dragon’s front feet are not truly prehensile, a dragon can grasp objects with its front feet, provided they are not too small. This grip is not precise enough for tool use, writing, or wielding a weapon, but a dragon can hold and carry objects. A dragon also is capable of wielding magical devices, such as wands, and can complete somatic components required for the spells it can cast (see Spellcasting, below). Some dragons are adroit enough to seize prey in their front claws and carry it aloft. A dragon can use the “thumbs” on its rear feet to grasp as well, but the grip is less precise than that of the front feet.Skin, Hide, and Scales
A dragon’s skin resembles crocodile hide—tough, leathery. and thick. Unlike a crocodile, however, a dragon has hundreds of hard, durable scales covering its body. A dragon’s scales are keratinous, like its spines. Unlike the spines, however, a dragon’s scales are not attached to its skeleton, and the dragon cannot make them move. The scales are much harder and less flexible than the spines, with a resistance to blows that exceeds that of steel. A dragon’s largest scales are attached to its hide along one edge and overlap their neighbors like shingles on a roof or the articulated plates in a suit of armor. These scales cover the dragon’s neck, underbelly, toes, and tail. As the dragon moves its body, the scales tend to shift as the skin and muscle under them moves, and the scales’ free ends sometimes rise up slightly. This phenomenon has led some observers to mistakenly conclude that a dragon can raise and lower its scales in the same manner as a bird fluffing its feathers. The majority of a dragon’s scales are smaller and attached to the skin near their centers. These scales interlock with neighboring scales, giving the surface of the body a pebbly texture. The scales are large enough to form a continuous layer of natural armor over the body even when it stretches or bulges to its greatest extent. When the body relaxes or contracts, the skin under the scales tends to fold and wrinkle, though the interlocking scales give the body a fairly smooth look. A dragon’s scales grow throughout its lifetime, albeit very slowly. Unlike most other scaled creatures, a dragon neither sheds its skin nor sheds individual scales. Instead, its individual scales grow larger, and it also grows new scales as its body gets bigger. Over the years, a scale may weather and crack near the edges, but its slow growth usually proves sufficient to replace any portion that breaks off. Dragons occasionally lose scales, especially if they become badly damaged. Old scales often litter the floors of long-occupied dragon lairs. When a dragon loses a scale, it usually grows a new one in its place. The new scale tends to be smaller than its neighbors and usually thinner and weaker as well. This phenomenon is what gives rise to bards’ tales about chinks in a dragon’s armor. These tales are true as far as they go, but one new scale on a dragon’s massive body seldom leaves the dragon particularly vulnerable to attack.Tail
A dragon’s long, muscular tail serves mainly as a rudder in flight. A dragon also uses its tail for propulsion when swimming, and as a weapon.Wings
A dragon’s wings consist of a membrane of scaleless hide stretched over a framework of strong but lightweight bones. Immensely powerful muscles in the dragon’s chest provide power for flight. Most dragons have wings that resemble bat wings, with a relatively short supporting alar limb, ending in a vestigial claw that juts forward. Most of the wing area comes from a membrane stretched over elongated “fingers” of bone (the alar phalanges; see Skeleton, below), which stretch far beyond the alar limb. Some kinds of dragons have wings that run the lengths of their bodies, something like the “wings” of manta rays. This sort of wing also has an alar limb with phalanges supporting the forward third of the wing, but the remainder of the wing is supported by modified frill spines that have only a limited range of motion and muscular control.Internal Anatomy
As you’ll see from the following section, a dragon’s resemblance to a reptile is literally only skin deep.Skeleton
Major Internal Organs
The insides of a dragon have several noteworthy features, all of which contribute to the dragon’s unique capabilities. A dragon’s eyes (1) are slightly larger than they appear from the outside. The bulk of the eye remains buried inside the skull, with only a small portion of the whole exposed when a dragon opens its eyes. The eye’s extra size helps improve the dragon’s ability to see at a distance. The eye’s spherical shape allows the dragon to move the eye through a wide arc, helping to expand its field of vision. A dragon’s brain (2) is exceptionally large, even for such a big creature, and it continues to grow as the dragon grows. It has highly developed sensory centers with specialized lobes that connect directly to the eyes, ears, and nasal passages. The brain also has large areas dedicated to memory and reasoning. The larynx (3) contains numerous well-developed vocal folds that give a dragon tremendous control over the tone and pitch of its voice. A dragon’s voice can be as shrill as a crow’s or as deep as a giant’s. Some scholars, noting that the Draconic language contains many harsh sounds and sibilants, conclude that a dragon’s vocal capacity is limited, but this is not so. Dragons speak a strident language because it suits them to do so. The trachea (4) connects the larynx to the lungs. It is the dragon’s conduit for respiration and also for its breath weapon. A dragon’s vast lungs (5) fill much of its chest cavity. The lung structure resembles that of an avian, which can extract oxygen both on inhalation and exhalation. In addition to being the organs for respiration, a dragon’s breath weapon is generated in its lungs from secretions produced by the draconis fundamentum (see below). A dragon’s mighty heart (6) has four chambers, just like a mammal’s heart. The draconis fundamentum (7) is a gland possessed only by true dragons. Attached to the heart, it is the center of elemental activity inside the dragon’s body. All blood flowing from the heart passes through this organ before going to the body. The draconis fundamentum charges the lungs with power for a dragon’s breath weapon and also plays a major role in the dragon’s highly efficient metabolism, which converts the vast majority of whatever the creature consumes into usable energy. Blood vessels, nerves, and ducts run directly from the draconis fundamentum to the dragon’s flight muscles, charging them with enormous energy, and also to the lungs and the gizzard. A dragon digests its food through a combination of powerful muscular action and elemental force. The interior of the gizzard (8) is lined with bony plates that grind up chunks of food, and the entire organ is charged with the same elemental energy that the dragon uses for its breath weapon.Musculature
Dragon Physiology
“Dragons are scaly, they lay eggs, and they are utterly lacking in any mammalian characteristics. The notion that they are warmblooded is silly.”
“Just like a humanoid to quote three facts, get one of them wrong, and then draw an unrelated conclusion from the lot.”
Metabolism
Laypeople, and some scholars, are fond of the terms “coldblooded” and “warm-blooded” to describe ectothermic and endothermic creatures, respectively. An ectothermic creature lacks the ability to produce its own heat and must depend on its environment for warmth. Most ectothermic creatures seldom actually have cold blood, because they are able to find environmental heat to warm their bodies. An endothermic creature doesn’t necessarily have warm blood. What it has is a body temperature that remains more or less steady no matter how hot or cold its surroundings become. All true dragons are endothermic. Given their elemental nature, they could hardly be otherwise. A dragon’s body temperature depends on its kind and sometimes on its age. Dragons that use fire have the highest body temperatures, and dragons that use cold have the lowest. Acid- and electricityusing dragons have body temperatures that fall between the two extremes, with acid-users tending to have cooler bodies than electricity-users. Fire-using dragons literally become hotter with age. Likewise, cold-using dragons become colder as they age. Acid- and electricity-using dragons have about he same body temperature throughout their lives, with younger and smaller dragons having slightly higher temperatures than older and larger ones. Unlike most endothermic creatures, dragons have no obvious way to shed excess body heat. They do not sweat, nor do they pant. Instead, the draconis fundamentum extracts heat from the bloodstream and stores the energy. In a sense, then, a dragon can be considered ectothermic (because it can use environmental heat). However, when a dragon is deprived of an external heat source, its metabolism and activity level do not change. Unlike a truly ectothermic creature, a dragon can generate its own body heat and is not slowed or forced into hibernation by exposure to cold.Diet
Dragons are carnivores and top predators, though in practice they are omnivorous and eat almost anything if necessary. A dragon can literally eat rock or dirt and survive. Some dragons, particularly the metallic ones, subsist primarily on inorganic fare. Such dining habits, however, are cultural in origin. Unfortunately for a dragon’s neighbors, the difference between how much a dragon must eat and how much it is able to eat is vast. Most dragons can easily consume half their own weight in meat every day, and many gladly do so if sufficient prey is available. Even after habitual gorging, a dragon seldom gets fat. Instead, it converts its food into elemental energy and stores it for later use. Much of this stored energy is expended on breath weapons and on the numerous growth spurts (see below) that a dragon experiences throughout its life.Dragon Life Cycle
“From the tiny egg the great wyrm grows.”Barring some misfortune, a dragon can expect to live in good health for 1,200 years, possibly even a great deal longer, depending on its general fitness. All dragons, however, start out as humble eggs and progress through twelve distinct life stages, each marked by new developments in the dragon’s body, mind, or behavior.
Eggs
Dragon eggs vary in size depending on the kind of dragon. They are generally the same color as the dragon that laid them and the have the same energy immunities as the dragon that laid them (for example, black dragon eggs are black or dark gray and impervious to acid). A dragon egg has an elongated ovoid shape and a hard, stony shell. A female dragon can produce eggs beginning at her young adult stage and remains fertile though the very old stage. Males are capable of fertilizing eggs beginning at the young adult stage and remain fertile through the wyrm stage. The eggs are fertilized inside the female’s body and are ready for laying about a quarter of the way through the incubation period (see Rules: Dragon Eggs). The numbers given on the table are approximate; actual periods can vary by as much as 10 days either way.Laying Dragon Eggs
Dragon eggs are laid in clutches of two to five as often as once a year. Ovulation begins with mating, and a female dragon can produce eggs much less often, if she wishes, simply by not mating. Mating and egg laying can happen in almost any season of the year. Most dragon eggs are laid in a nest within the female’s lair, where the parent or parents can guard and tend them. A typical nest consists of a pit or mound, with the eggs completely buried in loose material such as sand or leaves. A dragon egg’s ovoid shape gives it great resistance to pressure, and the female can walk, fight, or sleep atop the nest without fear of breaking her eggs. Dragons sometimes leave their eggs untended. In such cases, the female takes great care to keep the nest hidden. She or her mate (or both of them) may visit the area containing the nest periodically, but they take care not to approach the nest too closely unless some danger threatens the eggs.Hatching Dragon Eggs
When a dragon egg finishes incubating, the wyrmling inside must break out of the egg. If the parents are nearby, they often assist by gently tapping on the eggshell. Otherwise, the wyrmling must break out on its own, a process that usually takes no more than a minute or two once the wyrmling begins trying to escape the egg. All the eggs in a clutch hatch at about the same time. Properly tended and incubated dragon eggs have practically a 100% hatching rate. Eggs that have been disturbed, and particularly eggs that have been removed from a nest and incubated artificially, may be much less likely to produce live wyrmlings.Wyrmling (Age 0-5 Years)
A wyrmling emerges from its egg fully formed and ready to face life. From the tip of its nose to the end of its tail, it is about twice as long as the egg that held it (the actual size of the wyrmling depends on the variety of dragon; see Chapter 5). A newly hatched dragon emerges from its egg cramped and sodden. After about an hour, it is ready to fly, fight, and reason. It inherits a considerable body of practical knowledge from its parents, though such inherent knowledge often lies buried in the wyrmling’s memory, unnoticed and unused until it is needed. Compared to older dragons, a wyrmling seems a little awkward. Its head and feet seem slightly oversized, and its wings and tail are proportionately smaller than they are in adults. If a parent is present at the wyrmling’s hatching, the youngster has a protector and will probably enjoy a secure existence for the first decades of its life. If not, the wyrmling faces a struggle for survival. Whether raised by another dragon or left to fend for itself, the wyrmling’s first order of business is learning to be a dragon, which includes securing food, finding a lair, and understanding its own abilities (usually in that order). A newly hatched wyrmling almost immediately searches for food. The first meal for a wyrmling left to fend for itself is often the shell from its egg. This practice not only assures the youngster a good dose of vital minerals, but also provides an alternative to attacking and consuming its nestmates. Wyrmlings reared by parents are often offered some tidbit that the variety favors. For example, copper dragons provide their offspring with monstrous centipedes or scorpions. In many cases this meal is in the form of living prey, and the wyrmling gets its first hunting lesson along with its first meal. With its hunger satisfied, the wyrmling’s next task is securing a lair. The dragon looks for some hidden and defensible cave, nook, or cranny where it can rest, hide, and begin storing treasure. Even a wyrmling under the care of a parent finds a section of the parent’s lair to call its own. Once it feels secure in its lair and reasonably sure of its food supply, the wyrmling settles down to hone its inherent abilities. It usually does so by testing itself in any way it can. It tussles with its nestmates, seeks out dangerous creatures to fight, and spends long hours in meditation. If a parent is present, the wyrmling receives instruction on draconic matters and the chance to accompany the parent during its daily activities. Wyrmlings on their own sometimes seek out older dragons of the same kind as mentors. Among good dragons, such relationships tend to be casual and often last for decades (a fairly short period by dragon standards). The youngster visits the older dragon periodically (monthly, perhaps weekly) for advice and information. Evil dragons, too, often counsel wyrmlings that are not their offspring—evil dragons lack any sense of altruism, but usually understand the role of youth in perpetuating the species. No matter what kinds of dragons are involved, such mentor-apprentice relationships require the younger dragon to show the utmost respect and deference to the older dragon, and to bring the mentor gifts of food, information, and treasure. Should the older dragon ever come to view the apprentice as a rival, the relationship ends immediately; when evil dragons are involved, the ending is fatal for the younger dragon.Very Young (Age 6-15 Years)
By age 6, a dragon has grown enough to double its length, though its head and feet still seem too big for the rest of its body. It becomes physically stronger and more robust. The dragon’s larger size often makes finding a new lair necessary. Many dragons relocate at this stage anyway, especially if they do not have parental support. (After the dragon has hunted in an area for five years, the location of the original lair might have become known to outsiders, or the area around the lair could become depleted of prey.) In most ways, a very young dragon remains much like a wyrmling, albeit more confident in itself.Young (Age 16-25 Years)
By age 16, most dragons begin a new growth spurt that eventually carries them to their adult size—though they still retain a wyrmling’s overlarge head and feet. Their intellects become sharper as they gain life experience and master their innate abilities. At this stage, a dragon begins to feel the urge to collect treasure and to establish a territory (though it might well have done both sooner). In some cases, however, a young dragon continues to share its lair and its territory with nestmates or parents. Dragons that leave the nest when they become young often range far from their home lairs, seeking locales where they can set up housekeeping on their own.Juvenile (Age 26-50 Years)
By age 26, a dragon is well on its way to adulthood. It has nowhere near the physical power of an adult, but it has an adult’s body proportions. Some species exhibit the first of their magical powers at this stage.Young Adult (Age 51-100 Years)
As it passes the half-century mark, a dragon enters adulthood (although its body keeps growing for many more years). It is ready to mate, and most dragons lose no time in doing so. By this age, a dragon’s scales have developed into armor formidable enough to turn aside all but magic weaponry or the teeth and claws of other dragons. A young adult dragon also masters its first spells and shows evidence of a formidable intellect. A young adult dragon severs its ties with nestmates, mentors, and parents (if it has not done so already) and establishes it own lair and territory Adult (Age 101-200 Years) During the second century of its life, a dragon’s physical growth begins to slow—but its body is just entering its prime. With the dragon’s initial growth spurt over, the dragon’s body becomes even more powerful and healthy. An adult dragoncontinues to hone its mental faculties and masters more skills and magic. At this stage in life, a dragon is most likely to take a longterm mate and share its lair with a mate and offspring.Mature Adult (Age 201-400 Years)
When a dragon passes the two-century mark, its physical and mental prowess continue to improve, though it usually undergoes little obvious physical change. By this stage of life, a dragon is truly a force to be reckoned with—and it knows it. Mature adults display a degree of self-confidence that younger dragons lack. Mature adults seldom seek out danger just to prove themselves (except, perhaps, against other dragons). Instead, they act with purpose and confidence, often launching schemes that take years to complete. Because of a mature adult’s power, wealth, and age, it seldom remains unnoticed in the larger world. Its name becomes known, at least among other dragons, and it often becomes the target of rival dragons or adventurers. One of a mature adult’s first orders of business is to review and improve the defenses in its lair. Often, the dragon relocates as a matter of prudence. The dragon never chooses its new lair hastily, and usually includes in its plans some scheme to secure more treasure. Bards’ tales of dragons destroying kingdoms and seizing their treasuries often have their roots in true accounts of what happens when a mature adult dragon is on the move.Old (Age 401-600 Years)
By the time most dragons reach this age, their physical growth stops, though they become even more hardy, and their minds and magical powers continue to expand with the passing centuries. Old dragons usually begin to show some outward signs of aging: Their scales begin to chip and crack at the edges and also to darken and lose their luster (though some metallic dragons actually take on a burnished appearance), and the irises in their eyes begin to fade, so that their eyes begin to resemble featureless orbs. Most old dragons continue to hone the patient cunning they began to develop as mature adults. Though quick to defend what they regard as their own, they seldom rush into anything, preferring instead to plumb the possibilities in any situation before acting.Very Old (Age 601-800 Years)
After passing the six-century mark, a dragon becomes even more resistant to physical punishment. It begins mastering potent spells and magical abilities. This is the last stage of life in which female dragons remain fertile, and most females attempt to raise at least two clutches of eggs before their reproductive period runs out.Ancient (Age 801-1,000 Years)
By this stage, female dragons have reached the end of their reproductive years. Many females compensate by mentoring younger dragons of the species, as do many males. Ancient dragons have little to fear from much younger dragons that have not yet reached adulthood, and they have much wisdom and experience to pass on. Most dragons at this age have minds to match the best and brightest humans, and they can tap into vast stores of knowledge, both practical and esoteric.Wyrm (Age 1,001-1,200 Years)
Surviving for more than a thousand years is a grand accomplishment, even for dragons, and this stage is a great milestone in dragon life. Even among rival dragons, a wyrm commands at least grudging respect. Male dragons at this stage are reaching the end of their reproductive years, but their exalted status among dragons practically guarantees them mates. Younger females often establish territories adjacent to a male wyrm for mating, for protection, and to make it easy for the offspring to gain the wyrm as a mentor.Great Wyrm (Age 1,201+ Years)
When a dragon passes the twelve-century mark, its mental and physical development is finally at an end, and the dragon is at the peak of its physical, mental, and magical powers.The Twilight and Death
Exactly how long a dragon can live after reaching the great wyrm stage is a matter of some debate (some scholars contend that a dragon lives forever). Unfortunately, dragons themselves are little help in this matter. They keep no birth records and are apt to exaggerate their ages. The half-elf sages Guillaume and Cirjon de Cheirdon made a study of dragon ages by carefully noting when certain famous (and infamous) dragons reached their wyrm celebrations and then tracking their ages from there. Some later scholars suspect that Guillaume and Cirjon were silver dragons using half-elf guise, and that the speculations they published were in fact field notes. In any case, the pair eventually vanished, and their final resting places are not known. Perhaps they died in a dragon attack, or perhaps they are with us still, in other guises. Guillaume and Cirjon established that the shortest-lived true dragon, the white, can live as long as 2,100 years. The true dragon species that lives the longest is the gold; Guillaume and Cirjon put the gold’s maximum age at 4,400 years. In addition, the sages discovered that dragons can extend their life spans to some extent by entering a state called “the twilight.” That term, coined by Guillaume and Cirjon, refers to the closing phase of a dragon’s life. The cessation of growth at the great wyrm stage heralds the onset of death (as it does for most creatures that grow throughout their lives). A dragon can survive for centuries after reaching the great wyrm stage, but a dragon is mortal and cannot stave off death forever. The twilight occurs when the weight of a dragon’s years finally comes crashing down, forcing the dragon’s physiology into a downward spiral. A dragon’s twilight period can last for a number of years, but often the dragon succumbs when the twilight first sets in.Avoiding the Twilight
Many dragons prefer to avoid a slow descent into death and leave the mortal coil with their dignity intact. Many great wyrms seem to just disappear at the ends of their lives. No one knows exactly where they go, but scholars have identified at least three possibilities: departure, guardianship, and dracolichdom.Departure
A dragon can simply will its spirit to depart. Upon doing so,mthe dragon dies, and its spirit is released into the hereafter.mA dragon prepares for its departure by consuming its entire hoard. Most dragons also travel to a dragon graveyard and die there. Dragon graveyards are ancient places whose origins are lost even to dragon memory. As a rule, they are accessible only to flying creatures, being situated on mountaintops, in hidden valleys (surrounded by jungle, deserts, or mountains), on islands located in windless or storm-tossed seas, or in the depths of great rifts on the earth. Within the graveyard, dangers abound. Storms of elemental energy often wash over dragon graveyards, and elemental vortexes often appear in random spots. Some of these may belch forth groups of hostile elemental creatures or suck the unwary right off the Material Plane and onto an elemental plane. Dragon carcasses or skeletons may spontaneously animate and walk about, attacking any living creatures they meet. Dragon graveyards also are haunted by ghostly dragons. Despite the dangers, dragon graveyards often draw visitors. According to legend, and some reputed discoveries, not all of a departed dragon’s consumed hoard is always destroyed, and many treasure hunters (showing dragonlike greed) eagerly seek out dragon graveyards for the treasures they are said to contain. Other visitors seek to obtain dragon remains for magical or alchemical purposes.Guardianship
At the end of its normal life, a dragon can elect to become a guardian, literally transforming into part of the landscape. After the dragon consumes its hoard, it changes itself into a geographic feature: hills, mountains, lakes, swamps, and groves seem to be the most common choices. Such areas become favorite places for dragons to lay their eggs. It is said that no nest of dragon eggs laid in such a locale will ever be disturbed. Wyrmling dragons living in the site are said to commune with the guardian spirit, receiving the knowledge they need to become strong adults. As with dragon graveyards, legends say that some of the late dragon’s treasure may still remain hidden at the site, making these features prime targets for treasure hunters. Extracting the treasure (if it exists at all) is apt to be difficult. Younger dragons living at the site usually resent intrusions, as do absentee parents who have laid eggs there (as we have seen, dragons that leave their eggs untended often still keep watch over their nests). These sites also attract their share of ghostly dragons, adding a new element of danger for trespassers.Dracolichdom
Some evil dragons enlist the aid of others to cheat death. The dragon and its servants create an inanimate object, called a phylactery, that will hold the dragon’s life force. Next, a special brew is prepared for the dragon to consume. The potion is a lethal poison that slays the dragon for which it was prepared without fail. Upon the death of the dragon, its spirit transfers itself to the phylactery. From the phylactery, the spirit can occupy any dead body that lies close by, including its own former body. If the body it currently inhabits is destroyed, the spirit returns to the phylactery, and from there it can occupy a new body.Dragon Senses
“Dragons don’t see very well in the dark. They don’t hear so well, either.”
“You want to live a long and profitable life? Then don’t try to sneak past a dragon!”Like any predatory creature, a dragon has acute senses. These remarkable senses become even better as a dragon grows and ages, mostly because a dragon’s mind becomes ever more perceptive as the centuries pass. A dragon’s eyes, ears, and nose may not become any more sharper with age, but the dragon’s prodigious intellect can sift increasing amounts of information from its environment.
Vision
Dragons have vision superbly adapted to hunting. They enjoy excellent depth perception, which allows them to judge distances with great accuracy, and they have outstanding peripheral vision as well. Dragons can perceive motion and detail at least twice as well as a human in daylight, and their eyes adapt quickly to harsh light and glare. A dragon can stare at the sun on a clear summer day and suffer no loss of vision. Eagles and other birds of prey can perform similar visual feats. Such creatures often have poor night vision—and it may be this fact that leads some scholars to conclude that dragons don’t see well in the dark. In fact, dragons see exceedingly well in dim light. In moonlight, dragons see as well as they can in sunlight. In even dimmer light, a dragon sees four times as far as a human can under similar conditions. Dragons can even see with no light at all. When any illumination is present, a dragon sees in color. Its ability to discern hues is at least as good as a human’s. In the absence of light, a dragon’s vision is black-and-white.Scent
A dragon’s sense of smell is nearly as well developed as its vision. This refined sense of smell is only partly dependent on the dragon’s sensitive nose; it also uses its forked tongue to sample the air, just as a snake does. A dragon’s ability to sense the presence of other creatures by scent makes it difficult to catch a dragon unawares, and hiding from a dragon is nearly impossible once a dragon is close enough to pick up the quarry’s scent.Hearing
A dragon’s ears are about as sensitive as human ears, and the range of tones a dragon can hear is similar to what a human can hear. Even the youngest of dragons, however, has sharper hearing than a typical human, thanks to its ability to recognize important sounds for what they are and to filter out background noise and focus on significant sounds.Blindsense
One outstanding example of a dragon’s sensory prowess is its blindsense—the ability to “see” things that are invisible or completely obscured. By using its nose and ears, and also by noticing subtle clues such as air currents and vibrations, a dragon can sense everything in its immediate vicinity, even with its eyes closed, when shrouded in magical darkness, or when swathed in impenetrable fog. Of course, some phenomena are entirely visual in nature (such as color), and a dragon that cannot see cannot perceive these phenomena.Taste
A dragon’s sense of taste is highly discriminating. Dragons can note the slightest variations in the taste of water or food, and most dragons develop some peculiar culinary preferences as a result. Copper dragons, for example, relish venomous vermin. Perhaps the most infamous draconic taste is the red dragon’s preference for the flesh of young women. Curiously, dragons don’t seem to respond well to sweet flavors. Whether this is because they don’t like sweets or because they have difficulty distinguishing sweet flavors is unclear. Most dragons refuse to discuss the matter.Touch
Thanks to its thick, scaly hide and clawed feet, a dragon has very little tactile sense. Smaller, younger dragons who have yet to develop impressive natural armor have better senses of touch than older dragons, making touch the only one of a dragon’s senses that gets less acute as a dragon grows and ages. A dragon interested in a object’s texture might touch or stroke the object with its tongue. Even so, a dragon’s tongue proves better at tasting than touching. A dragon’s muted sense of touch might explain its preference for nests made from piles of coins, gems, or other treasure. A bed of so many small, hard, sometimes pointy objects might prove highly uncomfortable to a human, but to a dragon such an arrangement offers a comfortable tickle, like a nubby wool blanket.Flight
“A dragon in flight? Do you call that flying?”
“Dragons are stately and powerful flyers, able to stay on the wing for days.”Some sages speculate that a dragon’s ability to fly is partially magical; however, dragons have been known to take wing and maneuver inside antimagic areas where their spells and breath weapons do not work. A dragon owes its ability to fly, and its flight characteristics, to its peculiar anatomy and metabolism. A dragon weighs much less than a strictly terrestrial creature of the same size does, and its muscles—particularly the ones that enable it to fly—are exceptionally strong, giving the dragon’s wings enough power to lift the dragon into the air. A dragon’s biggest problem in flight is just getting aloft. Given the chance, a dragon prefers to launch itself from a height, where it can gain speed by diving initially. Failing that, a dragon takes flight by leaping into the air, giving itself a boost by snapping its tail downward and pushing off with its hind legs. Once airborne, a dragon stays aloft with deceptively slow and stately wing beats. The wings develop tremendous lift and thrust on each stroke, allowing the dragon to coast for brief periods. To further conserve energy in flight, a dragon makes use of any updrafts it can find. Under the right conditions, a dragon can soar for hours with little effort. A dragon attempting to fly a long distance usually begins by finding an updraft and spiraling upward to a comfortable altitude, then soaring from one updraft to another. Dragons can quickly cover great distances in this manner. A dragon in straight and level flight holds its body fairly straight, with its neck and tail extended, its front legs tucked under its chest, and its rear legs thrown back. The dragon’s powerful neck and tail, along with the frills on its back, help keep it on course. Although a dragon’s wings do not resemble a bird’s wings, a dragon uses its wings as a bird of prey does, with smooth, steady downstrokes and quick upstrokes. Wyrmlings are much less majestic flyers than older dragons; they have smaller wings and are forced to beat them furiously to stay aloft. They resemble fluttering bats when in flight. Despite their vast wingspans, dragons can fly through relatively narrow openings simply by folding their wings and coasting through. Most dragons have difficulty executing quick maneuvers in the air. They prefer to make wide, slow turns, using their tails as rudders. If a more violent maneuver is necessary, a dragon uses its head and tail to turn itself, and it can also alter the shape and stroke of its wings. Even so, a dragon has a wide turning circle, and only the smallest and most maneuverable dragon can turn within its own length. Many dragons have perfected some acrobatic tricks to help them maneuver in tight spaces. The first of these is hovering. Normally, a dragon must maintain some forward momentum to stay in the air, but some dragons can beat their wings with enough speed and efficiency to halt their forward motion and hover in place. While hovering, a dragon can fly straight up, straight down, sideways, or even backward. Hovering takes considerable effort, however, and a dragon can do little else while it hovers. The downdraft created by a hovering dragon is considerable, and can create huge clouds of dust and debris. Some dragons can even use this downdraft as a weapon. Other dragons can take advantage of their supple bodies to perform a wingover—a sort of aerial somersault that lets them change direction quickly. The dragon thrusts the front of its body upward and twists its body into a spin. This maneuver allows the dragon to turn in place through an arc of up to 180 degrees while maintaining its present altitude.
Other Modes of Movement
“Not every dragon falls upon you like a thunderbolt from the heavens.”A dragon doesn’t have to take to the air to demonstrate amazing speed.
Running or Walking
A dragon on the ground moves like a cat, and can be just as graceful (though the bigger dragons tend to lumber along). When it’s not in a hurry, a dragon walks by moving two legs at a time. The dragon lifts one forefoot and the hind foot on the opposite side. Like a cat, with each step a dragon places its hind foot in the place where the corresponding forefoot was. As it strides along, a dragon keeps its wings loosely furled at its side. If it is feeling lazy, it lets its tail drag behind. Usually, however, a dragon holds its tail off the ground, and the tail slowly moves from side to side in time with the dragon’s gait. The motion helps the dragon keep its balance. The tail sometimes brushes the ground, but only briefly and usually well to the left or right of the dragon’s body. A running dragon can easily outpace the finest horse. It uses a galloping motion, moving both front legs together, followed by both back legs. The wings stay furled, but the dragon spreads them occasionally to maintain balance. The tail is held high.Swimming
All true dragons can swim, though only a few kinds can be considered truly aquatic. Aquatic dragons have long, flat tails and webbing between their toes or in their shoulder joints. A swimming dragon usually moves like a big reptile. It folds its wings tightly against its body and throws its legs back, creating a streamlined shape. It moves its body left to right in a sinuous motion, and its tail lashes from side to side, providing propulsion. The truly aquatic dragons sometimes employ their wings as big fins in the manner of a ray or an aquatic bird. The frill along a dragon’s back helps it stay on course when swimming underwater, and also keeps the dragon from rolling over. A swimming dragon steers with its head, tail, and feet. A dragon swimming at the surface often holds its head and neck out of the water, which allows it to scan the surface while most of its body remains submerged. A dragon also occasionally swims with just the upper half of its head out of the water. This restricts the dragon’s field of vision somewhat, but makes it practically undetectable. Most dragons are obliged to hold their breath when submerged. However, the truly aquatic types can breathe underwater as easily as they take in water and extract oxygen from it. The dragon inhales water through its nose, and the water floods the lungs and is exhaled through the nose. The dragon handles the process as easily at it breathes air.Burrowing
Any dragon can gouge out holes in the ground with its claws, but some dragons can also worm their way through sand or loose earth, moving as quickly as a human can move at a brisk walk. Burrowing dragons tend to have shorter, thicker necks than other dragons, stubbier legs, and wedgeshaped heads. When burrowing, the dragon pushes with its head and uses its front feet to claw away material. The back legs kick the loosened material back past the dragon’s body. The tunnel the dragon makes when burrowing usually collapses behind it.Combat Abilities
“Battle is a dragon’s natural element; it is made for combat. It has teeth like spears, claws like scimitars, wings like hammers, and a tail like a battering ram. Lesser beings cower in its presence, and its breath fells armies.”To use its breath weapon, the dragon first draws a very deep inhalation. If sufficient energy is available, the dragon immediately expels the weapon in a violent exhalation. If not, the dragon must wait until more energy builds up. The effect is not unlike a blacksmith fanning a fire that is slightly too small. A puff of air from the bellows produces intense heat, but burns up all the fire’s fuel, forcing the smith to add more fuel before fanning the flame again. A dragon seems to remain aware of the state of its inner energy and never tries to use its breath weapon too soon. Dragons, however, do not seem to have much control over how quickly their inner energy replenishes itself. A dragon can discharge its breath weapon with little or no forewarning. Some dragons are adept at convincing timorous foes that a breath could come at any moment.
Frightful Presence
The mere appearance of a dragon can send pack animals fleeing in terror and shake the resolve of the most stalwart soldier. Usually, a dragon must be of at least young adult age to have this power. Though some commentators speak of dragons inspiring supernatural fear, a dragon’s frightful presence has no magical component. Dragons are simply very good at striking fear in the hearts of foes, and they can do so whenever they take any action that is the least bit aggressive.Immunities and Defenses
Though most forms of attack have at least a slim chance of working against a dragon, some attacks prove useless. Every true dragon is immune to at least one type of elemental energy (acid, cold, electricity, or fire), usually the same type of energy as the dragon uses for its breath weapon. This immunity stems from the dragon’s elemental nature. The same power that allows it to belch forth a blast of energy also keeps that energy from harming the dragon. True dragons have superb internal temperature regulation and seldom suffer from the effects of excessive heat or cold. In addition, all draconic creatures are not subject to effects that put them to sleep or induce paralysis; such creatures possess an unstoppable vitality. True dragons also develop a supernatural resistance to physical blows, which can prevent nonmagical weapons from harming them at all. Bards’ tales about marauding dragons enduring hails of arrows from defending archers without suffering so much as a scratch are all too true. Thanks to their innately magical nature, true dragons also develop the power to shrug off the effects of spells. Older dragons ignore spell assaults from all but the most powerful magical practitioners.Magical Abilities
All dragons develop innate magical abilities as they age. Among these is the ability to cast arcane spells. A dragon’s innate magical abilities tend to reflect the character and attitudes of its species. For example, black dragons prefer damp and dismal swamps, and they also have the ability to create magical darkness. Copper dragons live in rocky hills and have the ability to shape stone. Often a dragon’s innate abilities have little direct impact on combat, but the dragon can use them to defend its lair or to prepare for battle. A dragon’s spells tend to reflect its own personality. Each dragon develops a unique personal repertoire of spells (though many dragons choose similar spells for their sheer utility). No scholar has determined how dragons accomplish this, and it seems that dragons themselves don’t know how they do it. Dragons simply have an inborn talent for arcane magic. They develop rudimentary spellcasting powers as they approach adulthood. Humanoid sorcerers, who often claim their magical powers stem from a dragon ancestor, usually do not develop any magical aptitude until after puberty. Some scholars take this as a sign that no connection at all exists between sorcerers and dragons. Other scholars dismiss the disparity as an inevitable result of the vast differences between draconic and humanoid life cycles. In any case, dragons exhibit a talent that sorcerers lack: They can cast most of their spells without the physical props other spellcasters find necessary,Natural Armor and Weaponry
A dragon’s panoply of overlapping scales backed by layers of hide and muscle and supported by a strong, resilient skeleton offers considerable protection from attack. Even a Tiny dragon is typically as well armored as a human wearing chainmail. A big dragon’s scaly hide provides four or five times more protection than the best suit of plate armor can offer. A dragon’s primary weapon in physical combat is its bite. A dragon can bite at creatures a fair distance way, thanks to its long neck. A dragon’s claws are not as fearsome as its bite, and a dragon on the move often does not use its claws, but anyone fighting a dragon should be wary of them nevertheless. A dragon of roughly human size or larger can strike effectively with the alar limbs at the forward edges of its wings. Though the alar limbs have vestigial claws, the wing is a bludgeoning weapon. A dragon usually keeps the “fingers” supporting the wing closed to avoid damaging the wing, much like a human clenches his fist when delivering a punch. A dragon’s wings may span hundreds of feet when they are fully extended, but it uses only a fairly small portion of the wing as a weapon. A dragon of larger than human size can use its tail to deliver powerful blows. To do so, the dragon curls the tip of its tail upward and uses the upturned portion as a bludgeoning weapon. The biggest dragons have enough power in their tails to sweep them from side to side, knocking over smaller foes. Very big dragons also can use their entire bodies as weapons, crashing into smaller opponents and pinning them to the ground, whereupon the dragon literally grinds them into the dirt.Dragon Weaknesses
“Weakness? Come test thy mettle against me, hairless ape, and we shall know who is weak!”As formidable at they are, dragons have a few vulnerabilities their foes can exploit. Dragons often prove susceptible to attacks involving an opposing element. For example, red dragons are immune to fire but vulnerable to cold. A dragon’s elemental nature also makes it susceptible to the divine influence wielded by certain clerics, who can drive them off, compel them to render service, or even kill them outright. Dragons, however, become very powerful entities as they age, and the influence of such clerics only proves reliable against younger dragons.
Outlook and Physchology
“A good answer today is better than the perfect answer tomorrow.”
“What’s your hurry?”The most important element shaping a dragon’s outlook and state of mind is time. Dragons have no desire to live for the moment; they have a vast supply of moments stretching out before them. They do not worry about wasted time. If dragons have anything in excess, it is time, and they do not concern themselves with haste. Even the dullards among dragonkind seek to fill their time by exercising their minds. Solving puzzles is a favorite activity, though the form these puzzles take depends on the kind of dragon involved. Some, such as the bronze and the copper, seek out challenging puzzles of a benign nature. Others, such as the red and the blue, contemplate a much darker brand of conundrums. They plot ways to satisfy their greed, to defeat opponents, and to gain power over other creatures. Many scholars believe that dragons owe their natural aptitude for magic to the mental games they constantly play just to keep themselves occupied. Many dragons also seek knowledge for its own sake. Older dragons often become repositories of ancient wisdom and lore. Humanoid adventurers usually seek fame and fortune through three stages of their lives (adolescence, adulthood, and middle age). Even the longest-lived elf attempts to cram the bulk of his accomplishments into these phases of life. Dragons, on the other hand, through desire and necessity, seek fame and fortune from the moment they emerge from the egg to the day they finally succumb to time’s eroding waves. Because it spreads its life activities out across its very long life span, a dragon takes much longer breaks between quests and adventures than a group of humanoid adventurers would take. If a dragon were to join a group of adventurers, it might remain interested long enough to complete one or two quests. Then something else might catch its interest, and it would leave for years to engage in another activity. Upon returning, it would discover its former companions to be nearing retirement or already too old to go questing. The dragon, however, would still be young and vital, and growing stronger with each passing year. Although it would feel sadness at the loss of its companions, it would move on to new challenges. All true dragons have great patience. They seldom hurry or rush, because they believe anything worth doing is worth doing right. For a dragon, doing something right usually involves spending a long time (from the viewpoint of shorter-lived beings) contemplating the next step. A dragon’s longevity is perhaps the major source of its vanity and arrogance. A single dragon can watch a parade of beings come and go during its long life. How can a dragon consider such creatures as anything more than inferiors when it watches so many of them enter life, grow old, and die? And all the while, the dragon grows stronger and more powerful, proving its superiority (if only in its own mind). Dragons hold at bay the powerful entity of time, whereas lesser creatures succumb and fade with nary a struggle. With such power at its command, is it any wonder that a dragon believes itself to be the very pinnacle of creation? A dragon can spring into action quickly if it finds its own life in peril, or if it must protect its mate, its offspring, or its hoard. Otherwise, few problems seem urgent. A dragon’s wrath can stretch on for many human generations, matching the creature’s patience. The humanoid who wrongs a dragon may escape its wrath by dying a natural death before the dragon gets around to exacting revenge. The humanoid’s descendants, however, should be wary if they know about the situation, because the dragon might strike at them years or centuries after the original perpetrator has died.
Dragon Society
“Dragons never gather without purpose.”Dragons keep to themselves, breaking their solitude only to mate, rear offspring, or obtain help in meeting some threat. Dragons of different species seldom form alliances, though they have been known to cooperate under extreme circumstances, such as when a powerful mutual threat arises. Some scholars believe dragons suffer from xenophobia. This view is not far from the truth—any dragon simply enjoys its own company. When it becomes prudent or necessary to have a companion, a dragon seeks one out, but it prefers a companion as much like itself as possible. Metallic dragons of different species are more apt to cooperate with each other than chromatic dragons are, though only gold and silver dragons are known to forge lasting friendships. The loquacious brass dragons enjoy the company of other metallic dragons, but most dragons (even other brass dragons) prefer to take brass dragons in small doses. Metallic dragons never cooperate with chromatic dragons. When evil dragons of different varieties encounter one another, they usually fight to protect their territories. Good dragons are more tolerant, though also very territorial, and usually try to work out differences in a peaceful manner.
Territory
A dragon usually claims all the territory within a day’s flying time of its lair. The dragon will share this area with no other dragons except its mate and offspring (if it has any), and even then, younger dragons most often part after mating and leave their eggs untended. Though chromatic dragons are not eager to share territory, they tolerate some overlap between their territories and those of neighboring dragons of the same species or alignment. These boundary areas become places where dragons can meet to parlay and exchange information. In many cases, a dragon shares overlapping territory with a mate or a potential mate. Among dragons too young to mate, the need for security and defense usually overrides the desire for solitude. Clutches of dragons born together usually stick together until each individual is strong enough to survive on its own and establish its own lair.Conflicts and Interactions Between Dragons
When dragons fight, the conflict is seldom over territory. It is much easier for a dragon to simply take wing and find an unclaimed area than to risk injury and death in a battle with another dragon. Dragons most often fight for the opportunity to loot each other’s lairs. A dragon’s desire to amass large amounts of treasure is legendary, even among the dragons themselves, and every dragon knows that a victory over a rival is often the best way to gain wealth. Dragons also fight over mates (such contests are not limited to males) and usually try to kill or drive away neighboring dragons of different alignments. Enmity is particularly strong among chromatic and metallic dragons that typically inhabit similar territories. Blue dragons and brass dragons, for example, both prefer to live in deserts and often come into conflict. When two or more dragons meet and wish to avoid a conflict, they usually take to the air and circle slowly, each examining the other carefully. If the dragons are of different sizes or ages, these preliminaries end fairly quickly. Status among dragons comes with age. Older dragons know they have little to fear from younger dragons, provided the senior dragon is not already injured. Younger are likewise aware that their older brethren can slay them easily, and they know that negotiating gives them the best chance of surviving the encounter. If the dragons in an encounter are the same age or size, they tend to be much more cautious, since a sudden attack by either dragon could doom the other. The dragons might circle each other for hours. Once the preliminaries are over, the dragons converse. If they remain suspicious of each other, they stay aloft, with the older dragon or dragons slightly higher. While aloft, the dragons are obliged to bellow at each other, since they can’t easily close to conversational distance. Thanks to a dragon’s keen ears and tremendous vocal capacity, this hindrance to communication doesn’t present much of a problem. If the dragons become comfortable with one another, they often fly off to some high, inaccessible place where they can speak in private.Mating
A dragon’s attitude and approach to mating depend on its species and its age. Dragons follow a number of reproductive strategies to suit their needs and temperaments. These strategies help assure the continuation of a dragon’s bloodline, no matter what happens to the parent or the lair. Young adults, particularly evil or less intelligent ones, tend to lay annual clutches of eggs all around the countryside, leaving their offspring to fend for themselves. Older females sometimes lay eggs once a decade or even less often, but they usually produce at least one clutch during each age category in which they remain fertile. Often an older female lays several clutches of eggs over successive years, keeping one clutch to tend herself, giving one clutch to her mate (who carries the eggs to a separate lair), and leaving the rest untended. Sometimes a female dragon places eggs (or newly hatched wyrmlings) with nondraconic foster parents. Adult and mature adult dragons are most likely to mate for the long term and to share the task of rearing young. Older dragons are the most likely to mate and then raise their young on their own, and even males do so (with the female laying her eggs in the male’s lair or the male carrying the eggs to his lair). Older dragons also sometimes arrange nondragon surrogate parents for their offspring. One or both parents visit the surrogates periodically to determine how well they are handling the task. Dragon mating is not all about reproduction, however, and dragons often mate out of love. This is particularly true among metallic dragons, but love certainly exists among chromatic dragons as well. Dragons of lawful alignment often mate for life (though if one of the two dies, the other usually finds a new mate). Dragons mated for life do not always remain together. They frequently maintain separate lairs and agree to meet at intervals. Lawful dragons are not always monogamous, and they have been known to build complex intricate living and breeding arrangements with multiple partners. Such relationships usually are built around an older dragon and younger mates, and can be either polygamous or polyandrous. Chaotic dragons tend to change mates frequently, though as they get older they often develop a preference for a single mate. Dragons are notoriously virile, able to crossbreed with virtually any creature. Among metallic dragons, crossbreeding often occurs when the dragon assumes another shape and falls in love, however briefly, with a nondragon. Chromatic dragons may simply feel adventuresome and create crossbreeds as a result. In either case, the dragon involved usually is a young adult. A dragon almost always either abandons its half-dragon offspring or leaves it in the care of its nondragon parent. Chromatic dragons typically remain unconcerned about the half-dragon’s fate. Metallic dragons believe (usually correctly) that the half-dragon will fare better among nondragons than it ever will among dragons. Crossbreeds between dragon species are not unknown, but very rare. A hybrid dragon of this sort is usually left to fend for itself, but on occasion both parents (if they are on good terms with each other) might watch over it until it reaches adulthood.Why Do Dragons Hoard Treasure?
“Dragons lust for treasure because, at heart, they are nothing but large, reptilian jackdaws.”
“A dragon collects treasure mainly for its beauty—you don’t think there can be too much beauty, do you? Besides, some treasure is very good eating.”When one thinks of a dragon piling up treasure and using it as a bed, it’s easy to accuse the creature of greed. After all, what good is all that wealth doing anyone? Some sages equate a dragon’s desire to amass treasure with the behavior of jackdaws, pack rats, and other creatures that instinctively hoard bright, shiny objects. This observation is not without merit, because no dragon seems entirely able to explain why it wants to hoard treasure. Unlike a jackdaw or a pack rat, however, a dragon craves items of monetary value, not just shiny objects. Dragons are well aware of the value of their possessions. When faced with a selection of treasure, even the most virtuous dragon would like to take it all. If it has to choose, the dragon tends to favor the most valuable items. Dragons show a preference for items with intrinsic monetary value over items that are valuable because of their magic. The sheer, primal joy a dragon derives from its hoard is nearly indescribable. In unguarded moments, a dragon will roll in a pile of treasure like a pig wallowing in the mud on a hot day, and the dragon seems to derive a similar degree of physical pleasure from the action. A dragon also derives immense intellectual satisfaction from its hoard. It keeps an accurate mental inventory of the items in it, and a running total of the hoard’s total monetary value. The draconic preoccupation with treasure doubtless has an instinctive element that may never be fully explained, but treasure hoarding among dragons has some practical benefits. First, having a valuable treasure at hand gives the dragon some control over the circumstances of its own death (see Rules: Avoiding Twilight). Dragons that lose their hoards often suffer so much emotional trauma that their spirits become restless even after death. Second, and more important, dragons derive status among their own kind from the richness of their hoards. Though the primary measure of status among dragons is age, the value of a dragon’s hoard is what determines the relative status of dragons of the same age (when comparing hoard values, dragons consider magic items to be worth one-half their market value). A particularly large hoard can place a younger dragon on equal terms with an older dragon; a small one can demote it to an even lower status than its age alone would indicate. Dragons with higher status have better access to mates. They have more influence among other dragons, and are more likely to be asked to render assistance or advice. This in turn increases their status even more. Dragons tend to boast about the value of their hoards among their own kind, which is understandable, since a dragon cannot derive any status from its hoard unless other dragons know about it. Such boasting is not without peril, however, particularly among chromatic dragons, since evil dragons are not above stealing treasure from each other. Among older dragons, treasure hoarding has an additional practical dimension. As a dragon ages, its magical aptitude gets greater, and the dragon becomes better able to employ the magic items in its hoard to its advantage.
Dragons and the Appraise Skill
Though most dragons do not have the Appraise skill, dragons can appraise items readily, thanks to their high Intelligence scores. A dragon gains a +2 competence bonus on any Appraise check (or Intelligence check made to appraise an item) that involves studying physical aspects of the appraised item (such as fine details or weight).Language
The language of dragons is one of the oldest forms of communication. According to the dragons themselves, it is second in longevity only to the languages of the outsiders, and all mortal tongues are descended from it. Its script was likely created long after its spoken form was standardized, since dragons have less need to write than other races. Some scholars believe the written form of Draconic might have been influenced by dwarven runes, but the wise don’t express this opinion within hearing of a dragon. Many reptilian races (including kobolds, lizardfolk, and troglodytes) speak crude versions of Draconic, and present this as proof of their kinship with dragons. It is equally likely that these races were once taught or enslaved by dragons, and it is even possible that they took Draconic for their own simply to make a claim to common ancestors. The Draconic script is also used when a written form is needed for the elemental languages Auran and Ignan. However, this use of the written form does not make it any easier for someone who knows Draconic to learn the languages of air and fire creatures. Slight variations exist in the language used by the various kinds of chromatic dragons. These differences are similar to regional accents, with some slight differences in pronunciation from one version to the next. The accents do not hamper communication, but they are sufficiently obvious for a native speaker to know whether someone learned to speak Draconic from (for instance) a red dragon or a green dragon. The various metallic dragons have similar accents, but without any differences in pronunciation. The Draconic language has not changed significantly for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. The spoken form of the language sounds harsh to most other creatures and includes numerous hard consonants and sibilants. It includes sounds that humans generally describe as hissing (sj, ss, and sv), as well as a noise that sounds a great deal like a beast clearing its throat (ach). Words that modify other words are placed before and after the word they modify. The most important modifier is always placed before the word, and it might be placed directly after the word as well if additional emphasis is desired. A speaker of Draconic who wanted to say a big, black, evil dragon was approaching and doubly emphasize its evil nature would say, “Malsvir darastrix turalisj vutha gethrisj leirith” or even “Malsvir darastrix turalisj vutha malsvir gethrisj leirith.” Most Draconic words are spoken with emphasis on the first syllable. Important ideas are often expressed in spoken Draconic by emphasizing the beginning and the end of the word. In the written form, important words are marked with a special symbol of five lines radiating outward, similar to an asterisk (*). This form of emphasis is most often used by dragons when referring to themselves. The dragon Karajix, for example, might pronounce his name Ka-raj-ix and write it as *Karajix*. This form of emphasis is also sometimes used when commanding, threatening, warning, or making a point. Draconic has no specific word for “my” or “mine,” instead using several prefixes depending on the exact meaning. The name of a physical object claimed as a possession by a dragon speaker would begin with “veth” or “vethi”; the name of an individual with a relationship to the dragon (such as a friend or relative) is expressed by the prefix “er” or “ethe”; and all other forms of possessiveness are represented by putting “ar” or “ari” before a word. Thus, for a dragon to say “my sword” or “the sword is mine” he need only say “vethicaex” (“vethi” plus “caex,” the word for sword), and “arirlym” translates as “my enemy” (“ar” plus “irlym,” the word for enemy). When indicating possession by another, the name of the possessor is combined with the object possessed into a single word that starts with “ar” or “ari.”Pidgin Draconic
Here are some sample sentences and their translations into Draconic. Mialee, talk to the ugly elf.Mialee, ukris vaecaesin nurh. The elf says the magic sword we want is in the lich’s tomb.
Vaecaesin ner levex caex levex yth tuor persvek arikaegrowaere. He’ll take us to the mountain of the tomb if we pay him.
Vaecaesin tuor aurix clax yth ekess ariloexokarthel verthicha. The cave is evil and dangerous. We should go.
Sauriv waere korth. Yth *gethrisj*. Shut up you stupid coward! Get in there!
Thric ner, *pothoc* wux faessi! *Gethrisj* persvek! Tordek, hit the orc with your axe.
Tordek, vargach ghik mrith aritordekgarunt. A red dragon! Scram!
Charir *darastrix*! *Osvith*! Krusk is dead. He died with much bravery.
Krusk loex. Loreat mrith *sveargith*. Yeah, bad luck for him.
Axun malsvir arikruskhaurach. Check out all this gold! Tomorrow we’ll be kings!
Ocuir throden *aurix*! Earenk yth *maekrix*! I am not a thief!
*Thric* virlym! The secrets of the dragon’s treasure are on this scroll.
Ardarastrixrasvim irthos shafaer sjir. Dragon’s blood flows in a sorcerer.
Aridarastrixiejir gethrisj persvek vorastrix. Please don’t disembowel the dwarf.
Martivir thric gixustratt tundar.
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