Monsters of the Hammer (by Spike)

Truenames

The names given below are not the truenames of the dragon in question. The name is either the one given to it by humanoids or one that pleases it. Under no circumstances, even by magical means, will a dragon ever divulge its truename. The truename of a dragon is similar to the truename of fiends, it gives the possessor a certain amount of power over the dragon. This includes, but is not limited to, summoning, binding, spirit, and banishment magics

Combat

Under most circumstances dragons of adult age or older will not join in combat large groups of humans. The dragon’s definition of a large group depends upon both the dragon and its age, to most dragons of old stage or older only a small army is considered a large group. This reluctance towards personal combat is especially true if there are any spellcasters in the group. This is not cowardice on the dragon’s part. Instead it is a caution that the dragon has developed over the years towards those beings that are able to surprise even the gods. Instead they will stand off at a distance and use items from the surrounding territory to whittle it down to a more comfortable size. The usual tactic is to grab a tree, boulder, or even the local livestock and drop it from an altitude of several hundred feet. Once the party is down to a small enough size it will then close to a range close enough to use spells and its breath weapon. Only after all of this will the dragon personally attack the survivors.

Spells

The spells available to dragons are many and varied. Those used most often are the spells known throughout the spheres. The memories of dragonkind is long and full of magic, so each dragon has available to it a repartee that rivals that of most arch-mages, although each dragon knows at least a dozen spells that are either forgotten or unknown to human or elven mages. Most of these spells are useless to non-draconian spellcasters. The common spells in use today can be worthless to certain types of dragons, i.e. a white dragon will never use a burning hands spell, nor will it use any spell that creates fire. Instead most of these useless spells have been modified to use the breath element of the dragon type. This has created many new spells that are both unusual and likely to have never been seen before.

Treasure

While most dragons will collect the usual large amount of coined treasure, gems, or even works of art. The most valuable treasure that a dragon might posses are those items of magic that it can personally use. These items consist of, but are not limited to potions, scrolls, rings, wands, amulets, and other miscellaneous magical items. Under no circumstances will a dragon keep an item that is harmful to it, these items are always destroyed. Items like spheres of annihilation, dragon slayer swords of any type, arrows of dragon slaying are particularly despised. A dragon that is picking over the remains of adventures can instantly spot the above items as well as those items that are cursed. When it finds such items it will destroy them at once. Although a few have been known to keep cursed items to trap the unwary sod that finds it.

Using the Dungeon Masters Option: High-Level Campaigns book can bring a whole new look at dragons. With the inclusion of new levels of dragon might, these great beings just got a lot mightier. Below are listed a number of powers, enhancements, and abilities that are not available to normal dragons.

Breath Weapons

The breath weapon of a legendary dragon of any rank is more powerful then that of a normal dragon. What this means, a legendary dragon of any rank is given an extra die of damage per age category on its breath weapon. If a dragon’s normal breath weapon damage is 6d6+6 and legendary dragon’s damage would be 12d6+6 and one that is 12d6+6 is now 18d6+6. Paragon dragons inflict an extra two die of damage. For breath weapons that do no damage there is a saving throw modifier instead, it starts at -2 for Lesser Scions and ends at -6 for Paragon dragons.

Melee Damage

The simple aspect of being a legendary dragon has the effect of dragons of greater size and abilities. In melee this translates into increased damage. All physical attack do +1, +2, +3 for Lesser Scion, Scion, and Elder dragons respectively. Great Elder have a damage modifier of +3, in addition to this they do an extra die of damage. For Paragon dragons the damage modifier is +3 and they add an extra 2 die to the damage. This extra damage is in addition to all combat modifiers the dragon possesses

Fear Aura

All legendary dragons posses a larger aura. This aura is much more powerful then a normal dragon’s, so that it can now cause those with less then 6+1 hit dice to immediately flee for 2d4 turns, as though affected by the 4^th level wizard spell fear. The modifiers for those not affected automatically are also increased starting at the Scion level.

These modifiers are in addition to other modifiers provided by age.

Regeneration

The regeneration powers of dragons is formidable, all are able to regenerate at a rate of 1 hp per turn. But with legendary dragons that ability is increased even more. All damage inflicted to lesser scion and scion legendary dragons is eventually regenerated unless attacked with fire*, acid*, or magical wounding. If killed it can regenerate back to life if its remains are not destroyed by fire*, acid*, disintegration. Those killed by death magic cannot return to life through regeneration. Elder or great elder dragons can regenerate damage caused by fire or acid. These dragons cannot regenerate damage caused by magical wounding, but any bleeding damage suffered can be regenerated normally. If killed an elder or great elder can be prevented from returning to life only if the remains are destroyed by magical means or they were killed by death magic. Paragon dragons are nearly unbeatable. If killed by disintegration or death magics it will return after enough time has passed to regenerate 20 hp. The only way to permanently kill a paragon dragon is to reduce it to -20 hp and then wish it dead. The table below provides the regeneration rate for the different ranks.

The regeneration of the great elder and paragon dragons is powerful enough to stop the aging process. So that while the dragon continues to grow in size and power, the debilitating effects of great age are no longer felt. This means that most great elder and paragon dragons have been around for a long time.

* Dragons immune to fire or acid can regenerate back to life as their bodies cannot be effected by these means.

Invulnerability to Nonmagical Weapons

When a normal dragon reaches mature adult stage it becomes immune to nonmagical missiles. Legendary dragons of lesser scion rank receive this power at the very young stage. When the dragon reaches  the mature adult stage this immunity is taken one step farther, the dragon is now immune to nonmagical weapons. Lesser scion dragons can be hit only with weapons of +1 enchantments or better. Scion and elder dragons are harmed only by those weapons with a +2 enchantment or better. To hit a great elder or paragon dragon on must have a +3 or better weapon, these dragons are also immune to the melee attacks of dragons below the lesser scion rank.

Age

All legendary dragons start out as dragons of lesser scion or scion rank. As they age they have a chance to develop into greater figures. At the mature adult stage the dragon increases in power to the next rank, so that lesser scions become scions and scions become elder dragons. At the very old stage the dragon advances one more time in rank. Scions become elder dragons and elder dragons become great elder. Even the dragons themselves do not know how these changes occur,, although divine intervention is suspected. The only way for a dragon to become a paragon dragon is through divine intervention.

Legendary Ranks

The Different ranks of legendary dragons have powers in addition to those listed above.

Lesser Scion

Lesser Scion dragons are treated as if they were normal dragons. In most respects they are not very different from their normal cousins. Aside from the powers and abilities that are normal to all legendary dragons, lesser scion dragons have no additional powers. The only difference is the way they are treated by their normal kin.

Scion

The scion dragons are treated as if they were powerful versions of their normal cousins. It is at this rank where they start to generate some of the respect that is given to the elder dragons. When a dragon reaches the scion rank it acquires the ability to assume humanoid form once per day. If the dragon already possesses the power to polymorph into another form the dragon can now do so once more per day. This ability is only allows the dragon to assume a form between 3’ and 8’ in height, so a dragon cannot polymorph into a giant larger then 8’ in height.

Elder

These legendary dragons are the rulers of their clans on the worlds they occupy. Elder dragons are able to enforce their will upon normal dragons of the same alignment. This is not a magical ability, it is just an extension of the formidable will possessed by the dragon. Upon reaching the elder rank the dragon is now able to polymorph self in the same way a gold dragon is able to. This power is usable twice per day. Time for an Elder dragon no longer effects the dragon in the same way. They now age at a rate of one year for every fifty passed.

Great Elder

Great elder dragons are the rulers of their species on the planet they occupy, for some they even rule the sphere. They are served by the elder dragons who pass down their wishes to the lesser dragons. In addition to this the magical might of the great elder dragons is increased. The amount of spells available to them is the same as if they were a priest or wizard of a level equal to their spell casting level. If a great elder dragon is able to cast spells at an 18^th level of ability it can now cast the amount of spells available to an 18^th level spellcaster. This does not grant a dragon spells he could not cast, so a black dragon cannot now cast priest spells. The aging effect is slowed down even more for a Great Elder. Now the rate is one year for every one hundred.

Paragon

The Paragon dragons are the greatest dragons of their type and at any one time there is only one paragon of a dragon type in existence. All paragon dragons serve the Archetype dragons. The metallic paragons are not formal servants of Bahaumat, instead they act as agents between the power and their species. The gem paragons serve Sardior as his Thanes. And Tiamat's consorts are the chromatic paragons. While they are loyal to the archetype they also look after the interests of their own species. The degree of the attention depends upon the species and alignment in question.

In addition to the powers available to great elder dragons, Paragons are able to do the following:

Once per day it can cast the spell contact archetype. All questions asked are answered truthfully and the chance of going insane is reduced to nothing. A false answer is never given. Although those who serve Tiamat will receive a vague response if the answer is not known. Other dragons will receive information on the being that would know the answer to the question.

The paragon dragon no longer ages.