Converting True Dragons
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Shade
Monster Junkie
NIGHT DRAGON (Drogas retinosis)
FREQUENCY: Rare
NO. APPEARING: 1-6 (20%: family groups of 2-8)
ARMOR CLASS: 2
MOVE: 15'
HIT DICE: 2-8 (d8)
% IN LAIR: 60% (100% in daylight hours, 20% at night)
TREASURE TYPE: Dx2
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1
DAMAGE/ATTACK: Up to 4-32
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Breath weapon
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Hide in darkness
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard
INTELLIGENCE: Average to high
ALIGNMENT: Neutral evil
SIZE: L (up to 32' long)
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
Attack/Defense Modes: Nil
The night dragon gets its name from its nocturnal hunting habits and is well adapted for this style of attack. Its scales are black with grey streaks, camouflaging the creature in any underground or after-dark environment. Night dragons are almost never encountered in daylight, spending their days in their caves or other dark lairs. For this reason their range of vision includes both infravision and ultravision, but their vision is rather weak in the normal spectrum.
The beast's quiet movement and the ability to stand perfectly still when approached provide it excellent cover. In any encounter in the dark, a night dragon will be 90% undetectable at a range of over 3" unless it is backlighted or within the radius of a light spell (or faerie fire, etc.). When within 3" of a party, a night dragon will attack, usually with surprise, unless the dragon has already been detected. If strong light is used by its opponent(s), the dragon will be at a slight disadvantage (-1 "to hit" on all of its attacks, including its breath weapon).
Night dragons are quite intelligent and sometimes hunt in groups of 2 or more. These hunting packs are especially fearsome since they will act in concert, to the maximum disadvantage
of their prey. Such tactics as baiting an enemy into an ambush (with ambushers hidden in the dark), attacks from the rear, and group breath attacks are not unknown.
This species of dragon exhibits increasingly powerful capabilities with age, as do others of this genus (see the Growth Table below). Hatchlings are 3' long including the short, thick tail, with 2d8 for hit points and a bite that does only 1-4 points of damage. The night dragon grows at the rate of 1 foot every 4 years. At the age of 20 years (8' in length), the dragon gains the use of its breath weapon, and the damage from its bite increases to 1-8 points. The dragon gains one hit die for every 20 years of age thereafter, and an additional 1-8 points of damage for its bite every 40 years, to a maximum of 8 hit dice at age 120 and 4-32 points of bite damage at age 140. The dragon does not grow or experience an increase in power beyond age 140; individuals have been reported as old as 160 years.
The breath weapon of the night dragon is an extremely bright beam of light only ½" in width, effective out to a length equal to the length of the dragon converted to scale "inches." Hence, a 25-foot-long dragon can use his breath weapon to a distance of 25", converting to 250 feet indoors or 250 yards outside). When the breath weapon hits an enemy, the light causes damage equal to the dragon's number of hit dice, except that damage is rolled with d6s instead of the d8s used for hit dice; thus, the breath weapon of a 120-year-old night dragon will do 8d6 damage. A successful saving throw vs. breath weapon allows half damage.
In addition - only if the saving throw is failed - the breath weapon will cause blindness in victims by damaging their eyes. A character blinded by a night dragon will remain sightless for 2 days, unless magical aid (such as cure blindness) is used to restore vision. At the end of the 2 days, the victim can regain his or her lost sight by making a save vs. poison. Failing this saving throw means that the victim is permanently blind unless magical aid is employed.
Family groups of these dragons will typically have 1-4 adults (60+ years old) and 1-4 juveniles (each less than 40 years old). The juveniles will only attack if directly threatened, preferring to remain motionless so that they may go undetected while the adults lead the threat away from them.
Night Dragon Growth Table
Age (years) Hit dice Bite damage Length
0-19 2d8 1-4 3-7'
20-39 3d8 1-8 8-12'*
40-59 4d8 1-8 13-17'
60-79 5d8 2-16 18-22'
80-99 6d8 2-16 23-27'
100-119 7d8 3-24 28-32'
120-139 8d8 3-24 33-37'
140-160 8d8 4-32 38'
*Breath weapon capability gained at age 20.
Originally appeared in Dragon Magazine #74 (1983).
FREQUENCY: Rare
NO. APPEARING: 1-6 (20%: family groups of 2-8)
ARMOR CLASS: 2
MOVE: 15'
HIT DICE: 2-8 (d8)
% IN LAIR: 60% (100% in daylight hours, 20% at night)
TREASURE TYPE: Dx2
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1
DAMAGE/ATTACK: Up to 4-32
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Breath weapon
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Hide in darkness
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard
INTELLIGENCE: Average to high
ALIGNMENT: Neutral evil
SIZE: L (up to 32' long)
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
Attack/Defense Modes: Nil
The night dragon gets its name from its nocturnal hunting habits and is well adapted for this style of attack. Its scales are black with grey streaks, camouflaging the creature in any underground or after-dark environment. Night dragons are almost never encountered in daylight, spending their days in their caves or other dark lairs. For this reason their range of vision includes both infravision and ultravision, but their vision is rather weak in the normal spectrum.
The beast's quiet movement and the ability to stand perfectly still when approached provide it excellent cover. In any encounter in the dark, a night dragon will be 90% undetectable at a range of over 3" unless it is backlighted or within the radius of a light spell (or faerie fire, etc.). When within 3" of a party, a night dragon will attack, usually with surprise, unless the dragon has already been detected. If strong light is used by its opponent(s), the dragon will be at a slight disadvantage (-1 "to hit" on all of its attacks, including its breath weapon).
Night dragons are quite intelligent and sometimes hunt in groups of 2 or more. These hunting packs are especially fearsome since they will act in concert, to the maximum disadvantage
of their prey. Such tactics as baiting an enemy into an ambush (with ambushers hidden in the dark), attacks from the rear, and group breath attacks are not unknown.
This species of dragon exhibits increasingly powerful capabilities with age, as do others of this genus (see the Growth Table below). Hatchlings are 3' long including the short, thick tail, with 2d8 for hit points and a bite that does only 1-4 points of damage. The night dragon grows at the rate of 1 foot every 4 years. At the age of 20 years (8' in length), the dragon gains the use of its breath weapon, and the damage from its bite increases to 1-8 points. The dragon gains one hit die for every 20 years of age thereafter, and an additional 1-8 points of damage for its bite every 40 years, to a maximum of 8 hit dice at age 120 and 4-32 points of bite damage at age 140. The dragon does not grow or experience an increase in power beyond age 140; individuals have been reported as old as 160 years.
The breath weapon of the night dragon is an extremely bright beam of light only ½" in width, effective out to a length equal to the length of the dragon converted to scale "inches." Hence, a 25-foot-long dragon can use his breath weapon to a distance of 25", converting to 250 feet indoors or 250 yards outside). When the breath weapon hits an enemy, the light causes damage equal to the dragon's number of hit dice, except that damage is rolled with d6s instead of the d8s used for hit dice; thus, the breath weapon of a 120-year-old night dragon will do 8d6 damage. A successful saving throw vs. breath weapon allows half damage.
In addition - only if the saving throw is failed - the breath weapon will cause blindness in victims by damaging their eyes. A character blinded by a night dragon will remain sightless for 2 days, unless magical aid (such as cure blindness) is used to restore vision. At the end of the 2 days, the victim can regain his or her lost sight by making a save vs. poison. Failing this saving throw means that the victim is permanently blind unless magical aid is employed.
Family groups of these dragons will typically have 1-4 adults (60+ years old) and 1-4 juveniles (each less than 40 years old). The juveniles will only attack if directly threatened, preferring to remain motionless so that they may go undetected while the adults lead the threat away from them.
Night Dragon Growth Table
Age (years) Hit dice Bite damage Length
0-19 2d8 1-4 3-7'
20-39 3d8 1-8 8-12'*
40-59 4d8 1-8 13-17'
60-79 5d8 2-16 18-22'
80-99 6d8 2-16 23-27'
100-119 7d8 3-24 28-32'
120-139 8d8 3-24 33-37'
140-160 8d8 4-32 38'
*Breath weapon capability gained at age 20.
Originally appeared in Dragon Magazine #74 (1983).
JiCi
First Post
A bonus to Hide checks at night seems logical.
Hmmm... that's one nasty breath weapon we've got there. I say we get a "new" rule for this breath weapon.
- At daytime, the breath weapon deals 1d8 points of pure damage per age category, rendering blinded targets for 1d4 rounds on a failed save and nothing else on a success. The range is halved during daytime.
- At night time, the breath weapon deals 2d8 points of pure damage per age category, rendering blinded targets for 1d4 day on a failed save with the secondary effect and blinded for 1d4 rounds on a success. The range is as standard during night time.
- Both as a line-shaped breath weapon
Light Sensitivity (ex) as a weakness, like drows and Concealment in dark areas seem good.
As for which dragon to copy, I have no clues how you guys do so since this thread even began, but my guess would be the blue dragon.
Since these guys are hunters, any spell-like abilities to help them hide and camouflage them would be good, such as darkness, web, entangle, deeper darkness, ghost light, forestfold and such. Furthermore, how about giving them favored enemies, since that wasn't in the 2e edition ?
Hmmm... that's one nasty breath weapon we've got there. I say we get a "new" rule for this breath weapon.
- At daytime, the breath weapon deals 1d8 points of pure damage per age category, rendering blinded targets for 1d4 rounds on a failed save and nothing else on a success. The range is halved during daytime.
- At night time, the breath weapon deals 2d8 points of pure damage per age category, rendering blinded targets for 1d4 day on a failed save with the secondary effect and blinded for 1d4 rounds on a success. The range is as standard during night time.
- Both as a line-shaped breath weapon
Light Sensitivity (ex) as a weakness, like drows and Concealment in dark areas seem good.
As for which dragon to copy, I have no clues how you guys do so since this thread even began, but my guess would be the blue dragon.
Since these guys are hunters, any spell-like abilities to help them hide and camouflage them would be good, such as darkness, web, entangle, deeper darkness, ghost light, forestfold and such. Furthermore, how about giving them favored enemies, since that wasn't in the 2e edition ?
freyar
Extradimensional Explorer
I'm not quite sure where the night/day difference in the breath weapon comes from, but it is logical. Might be too complicated, though.
I'd agree with light sensitivity. Probably a hide bonus in the dark makes sense, though we noted none of the SRD dragons seem to have hide bonuses. An Su ability for concealment in the dark would be neat, though.
We usually figure out age progressions by comparing to the different old edition dragons.
There aren't any SLAs in the original, so we probably won't give it any. Favored enemies might work, though.
I'd agree with light sensitivity. Probably a hide bonus in the dark makes sense, though we noted none of the SRD dragons seem to have hide bonuses. An Su ability for concealment in the dark would be neat, though.
We usually figure out age progressions by comparing to the different old edition dragons.
There aren't any SLAs in the original, so we probably won't give it any. Favored enemies might work, though.
Shade
Monster Junkie
OK, so green size/HD progression.
They have a greater range of intelligent than a green, and can be as smart as the copper. Since the copper only has a slight edge in 3e, let's follow its progression. Shall we follow the copper's other mental stats as well?
Nothing suggests we need to deviated from the green's physical ability scores. Thoughts?
With a 50' land speed, it is faster on the ground than all 1e Monster Manual dragons. I'd suggest we give it a minimum land speed of 60 feet, like the gold. Do any of you think we should go even higher?
Here's the intro text to the article which explains why they cannot fly and lack spells and spell-like abilities:
They have a greater range of intelligent than a green, and can be as smart as the copper. Since the copper only has a slight edge in 3e, let's follow its progression. Shall we follow the copper's other mental stats as well?
Nothing suggests we need to deviated from the green's physical ability scores. Thoughts?
With a 50' land speed, it is faster on the ground than all 1e Monster Manual dragons. I'd suggest we give it a minimum land speed of 60 feet, like the gold. Do any of you think we should go even higher?
Here's the intro text to the article which explains why they cannot fly and lack spells and spell-like abilities:
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