D&D (2024) 2025's Ancient Green Dragon Stat Block From The New Monster Manual

The new ancient green dragon from the 2025 Monster Manual was previewed at Gen Con.

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[Zaukrie]

When I saw the lack of Dragon Fear, I wondered if they were doing that, placing some iconic "all dragons do this" abilities in the generic "dragon" entry, to open up room in the statblock

Are dragons under D, or G? Because if they are under Green Dragon, and not Dragon, Green, not sure how they can have common abilities.

 

[smetzger]

It means that when a player takes a turn, the dragon can react to them, but only once (aka that player's turn). Then when the next player goes (a new turn), the dragon can take another reaction. They can do this up to 3 times in a round.

ah... different definition of a turn than older editions

 

[Parmandur]

Are dragons under D, or G? Because if they are under Green Dragon, and not Dragon, Green, not sure how they can have common abilities.

Under Green Dragon, based on recent Monster book since the turn of the decade. There isn't likely to be any common abilities loved together anywhere.

 

[Zaukrie]

Under Green Dragon, based on recent Monster book since the turn of the decade. There isn't likely to be any common abilities loved together anywhere.

Ya, I was 99% sure of that (which I hate, but isn't any kind of deal breaker at all)

 

[Mirrorrorrim]

Maybe some of the other dragons will have different physical attacks available to them. Could another dragon type have a special tail attack or wing buffet attack that is something different than the Rend?

 

[Chaosmancer]

Okay, sped read through the thread, noticed a few things people seem to have either not noticed or not remembered.

On Dragon Attacks: I am seeing a lot of people talking about the old Dragon having a bite, claw, and tail attack. And while technically true.... I think people forget how it was supposed to work RAW

RAW Ancient Green Multiattack read: The dragon can use its Frightful Prescence. It then makes three attacks: one with its bite and two with its claws

The tail attack was not included on that. So on its turn, it couldn't use the tail. The Tail attack was specifically ONLY a legendary action.

So, if we ignore the wing attack, the 2014 Ancient Green hit for an average of 124 in a round (19/10 + 22 + 22 + [17x3])

This Ancient Dragon can hit for 162, assuming it takes damage three times a round. Up to 189 in their lair. That is a BIG increase in damage...

But that isn't the best part. People have keyed into the Charm Monster ability, which is at-will, but the dragon can ALSO cast Dissonant Whispers as a 4th level spell at-will. That is 6d6 or 21 damage, which is less than the rend it could do... but also causes the opponent to use their reaction to run away, which triggers an opportunity attack to hit them without the dragon needing to take damage.

On HP and Saves: Oddly, they seem to have lost some proficient saves and two skills, which I don't know why they would, but they do have more HP. Not a lot more, but still more than they used to.

Initiative: This feels really big to me. The old Ancient Green has a +1 initiative. This version has a +8 and advantage. They went from likely going last, to likely faster than anyone NOT specialized in initiative. That means they are far more likely to make the opening move, especially alongside their deceptive natures.

Also, just for fun, I do really like the bits of lair detail, like the sorts of things you might find there. Good bit of detail.

 

[Chaosmancer]

Are dragons under D, or G? Because if they are under Green Dragon, and not Dragon, Green, not sure how they can have common abilities.

Under Green Dragon, based on recent Monster book since the turn of the decade. There isn't likely to be any common abilities loved together anywhere.

Cannot know for certain until the MM is out or being previewed.

 

[Parmandur]

Cannot know for certain until the MM is out or being previewed.

True, but the pagination and recent books suggest that is the case.

 

[cbwjm]

Seems like an improvement to the old ones which I found a little dull. They have spells now which I'm assuming fit with the lore of each dragon, the spells here work with the poison them of the green dragon and it's manipulative nature (like the one which basically brought down Silvanost in the dragonlance saga).

Reactions also look good, I like the way they've laid them out with trigger and response.

For the ability scores, I've done the same thing with grouping modifiers and saving throws, I've felt for a while now that we no longer need the ability scores of monsters (I guess also PCs), just keeping the modifiers.

 

[Zaukrie]

Seems like an improvement to the old ones which I found a little dull. They have spells now which I'm assuming fit with the lore of each dragon, the spells here work with the poison them of the green dragon and it's manipulative nature (like the one which basically brought down Silvanost in the dragonlance saga).

Reactions also look good, I like the way they've laid them out with trigger and response.

For the ability scores, I've done the same thing with grouping modifiers and saving throws, I've felt for a while now that we no longer need the ability scores of monsters (I guess also PCs), just keeping the modifiers.

We totally don't need scores, but that killing that would send people into a tizzy and talk about how wotc is ruining everything they love.