D&D 5E D&D Gem Dragons Are Officially Back

So if you're (not) like me and you don't have the time or patience to watch Spoilers & Swag, you may have missed this awesome reveal... Gem Dragons are back! And I don't just mean back in a third-party book like Matt Colville's Strongholds and Followers (great book, check it out), I mean back officially for D&D 5e.

In case you don't know, Gem Dragons are the third-wheel of dragonkind... they are not Good (Metallic) or Evil (Chromatic), they are Neutral. This makes them easily overlooked in the struggle of good vs. evil, but they've popped up here and there in previous editions.

But it looks like Gem Dragons have returned, first to promote the sale of a very expensive sapphire dice set. This little paper fold-out is included (screenshots below), complete with lore for gem dragons and a statblock for the Adult Sapphire Dragon specifically.

Of course, if you don't want to buy a pricey set of dice for a statblock... you're in luck, as Nathan Stewart reveals that everybody else will get access to it "early in 2020, where we [WotC] will have some fun ways to get that out there." So it looks like some product will be released including the Neutral Dragons, a new adventure or maybe a new monster book!

Feel free to speculate, here's the images;

 

[dave2008]

I know! That's all I was pointing out and dave2008 got all upset that my comment was a waste of space...

I just want to clarify, I am not upset. I just wanted to point out what you posted was already implied in @Urriak Uruk 's post.

I would have been more than happy to just post the initial clarification. Since then, I have only been responding to your post. It sounds to me like we are both done with this pedantic discussion.

 

[dave2008]

If it is a dragon book, I hope they bring back Stellar dragons. I didn't play spelljamer so I completely missed this in 2e. Check our the size of Great Wyrm - up to 3,000,000 feet long!

 

[Demetrios1453]

If it is a dragon book, I hope they bring back Stellar dragons. I didn't play spelljamer so I completely missed this in 2e. Check our the size of Great Wyrm - up to 3,000,000 feet long!
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So they could be up to 3 million feet long (which is over 500 miles), but only had a movement rate of 48.

 

[Parmandur]

I'm not an English major, but I believe the phrase: "But they haven't been in an edition since 3rd I think. " Means, or at least implies, they have have been in each edition from 1st -3rd (because the previous sentence mentioned they started in 1e era Dragon). The author "liked" my post so I assume that his what he/she meant as well. If it was to exclude 2nd, he/she should have written: "But they haven't been in any other edition except 3rd I think. "

The post was ambiguous, the main point was that no Gem Dragons since 3E. It said nothing about 2E, but the contextually logical reading is the one you assumed.

 

[Parmandur]

So they could be up to 3 million feet long (which is over 500 miles), but only had a movement rate of 48.

Movie something that big at all would take tremendous energy, even magically!

 

[Urriak Uruk]

I'm not an English major, but I believe the phrase: "But they haven't been in an edition since 3rd I think. " Means, or at least implies, they have have been in each edition from 1st -3rd (because the previous sentence mentioned they started in 1e era Dragon). The author "liked" my post so I assume that his what he/she meant as well. If it was to exclude 2nd, he/she should have written: "But they haven't been in any other edition except 3rd I think. "

So to make it clear to anyone who cares, Gem Dragons have been in editions 1, 2 and 3, either in official books or dragon magazine. They did not make it in 4, are entering 5 now.

 

[ElectricDragon]

@Urriak Uruk
Both Adamantine and Mithral dragons appeared in the 3.0 Epic Level Handbook as epic monsters.

 

[ddaley]

If it is a dragon book, I hope they bring back Stellar dragons. I didn't play spelljamer so I completely missed this in 2e. Check our the size of Great Wyrm - up to 3,000,000 feet long!

My group never got involved in any of the alternative settings... Eberron, Dragonlance, Spelljammer, etc, back in the day, but I am more interested in checking them out now. Just don't have the free time I had back then

 

[the Jester]

Do gem dragons show up a bunch in your games, and if so what are they doing? And do most DMs go through far more many different monsters than I do?

There's a very prominent one in my game- an ancient amethyst dragon named Bespicacious. She claims a mountain range as her lair, and likes to chat with creatures from the outside world. She most recently made an appearance a couple of months ago- a group of pcs met her, treated with her, made offerings to her, got boons from her and got help returning to their home continent from her.

I like gem dragons, and they do basically the same stuff that most dragons do. Neutral dragons can definitely raid and loot humanoid communities, for example.

 

[dwayne]

here is hoping that a psionics book will be released i mean the class has been up for a while and with eberron and maybe a dark sun thing happening at some point "hope against hope"