| RACE:
Mithril Dragon
CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Any mountains and hills FREQUENCY: Very rare ORGANIZATION: Solitary or clan ACTIVITY CYCLE: Any DIET: Special INTELLIGENCE: Genius (17-18) TREASURE: Special ALIGNMENT: Neutral good NO. OF APPEARING: 1 (2-5)
Mithril dragons are closely related to silver dragons; in appearance, they are quite similar to their cousins, except a mithril dragon is somewhat larger and has distinct facial features: the mithril's head is bigger, and it has two "fins" on the top of its head, as opposed to the silver's one. A mithril dragon's scales are also a richer silver in color and have more of a metallic brilliance than the silver dragon's. Mithril dragons speak their own tongue, a tongue common to all good dragons, and 18% of hatchling mithril dragons have an ability to communicate with any intelligent creature. The chance to possess this ability increases 5% per age category of the dragon. COMBAT: Mithril dragons prefer to avoid combat; instead, they will try to convince their opponents not to attack. If combat does ensue, mithril dragons will fight without hesitation - they will rarely back down from any opponent. Unless the foe is clearly inferior, a mithril dragon will almost never enter melee prior to using a special attack form, be it spells, breath attacks, or special abilities; however, these attacks are not used foolishly - the mithril dragon's high intelligence gives it the ability to choose the appropriate attack mode(s) with near-perfect accuracy. Once the enemy is sufficiently softened up, the mithril dragon will leap (or plummet) to the attack, using claws, bite, tail slap, etc. with great efficiency. BREATH WEAPON: A mithril dragon has two breath weapons. The first is a ** cloud of paralyzing gas **; this cloud has a radius of 5' per age category of the dragon. All creatures caught inside the cloud must save vs. breath weapon or become paralyzed for 1d10 turns + 1 turn per age category of the dragon. This cloud may not be dissipated by anything short of a hurricane (although it may be moved) and will stay in effect for 1d3 rounds. The second breath weapon is a ** cone of disintegration ** 50' long, 5' wide at the dragon's mouth, and 20' wide at the base. Anyone/anything caught inside this cone is disintegrated as per the spell. A successful save vs. breath weapon (not spell) negates this affect. Mithril dragons cast their spells and use their special abilities at 9th level plus the combat modifier. At birth, they are immune to paralyzation and all forms of ** death magic ** (that is, any magic that kills outright such as ** power word, kill **, ** disintegrate **, etc.; this does not include magic attacks that due to excessive damage such as ** fireball **, ** lightning bolt **, etc..) They are also able to ** polymorph self ** three times per day. As they age, they gain the following additional powers: AGE SPECIAL ABILITY Young ** Gaze reflection ** (three times per day) Young adult ** Blink ** (three times per day) Adult ** Feeblemind ** (twice per day) Mature adult ** Mass suggestion ** (once per day) Old ** Spell turning ** (once per day) Venerable ** Maze ** (three times per week) HABITAT: Mithril dragons reside in any climate; they prefer to inhabit high mountains, but will sometimes be found travelling in hilly regions. Their lairs will almost always be located on the top of the tallest peak in their territory; the entrances to these lairs are nearly unaccessible, and will always be protected by various traps and magics. Mithril dragons sometimes clash with red dragons, since their territories often overlap; these fights are fierce and deadly, and even though the mithril dragon will usually get the best of the red, the latter will rarely back down. Mithril dragons have been known to band together with silver dragons in order to accomplish a common goal (such as defeating a group of persistent red dragons), and the bond between the two species is especially close. Mithril dragons will also ally themselves with electrum and adamantite dragons [q.v.], as their goals are usually similar. ECOLOGY: Mithril dragons prefer a diet of silver; the higher the quality, the better. They are able to sustain themselves indefinately on this metal, but will also eat meat from time to time. Mithril dragons will sometimes aid good humanoids in times of trouble, but will usually expect a service in return, such as a quest to thwart evil or to further the aims of good. Allan J. Mikkola (allanm@vulcan.med.ge.com) |