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Converting True Dragons
- Thread starter Shade
- Start date
Shade
Monster Junkie
Dragon, Jade
CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Any wooded region
FREQUENCY: Very rare
ORGANIZATION: Solitary or clan
ACTIVITY CYCLE: Any
DIET: Omnivore
INTELLIGENCE: Very (11-12)
TREASURE: Special
ALIGNMENT: Neutral
NO. APPEARING: 1 (1d4+1)
ARMOR CLASS: -1 (base)
MOVEMENT: 9, Fl 30 (C), SW 9
HIT DICE: 13 (base)
THAC0: 7 (base)
NO. OF ATTACKS: 3
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1d8 (claw)/ 1d8 (claw)/2d10 (bite)
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Varies
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Varies
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Varies
SIZE: G (35' base)
MORALE: Fanatic (18)
LEVEL/XP VALUE: Varies
The jade dragon is among the most conversational and least hostile on the planet Mystara. At a distance of 120 feet or more, it cannot be distinguished from a green dragon. (An expert viewer might notice that the jade dragon is somewhat smaller than its green cousin, more heavyset, with a thicker and shorter tail, however.) At closer range the dragon’s translucent scales shimmer and sparkle in the light, reveahg the mighty reptile‘s true nature.
Jade dragons speak their own language and the tongue common to all gem dragons.
Combat: The jade dragon’s breath weapon is a putrid cloud of gas, swirling brown and yellow and green. It has two effects. The first, identical the green dragon’s breath, is a blast of choking chlorine gas. It inflicts damage based on the age of the dragon, as described on the table below; and the damage is reduced by half if a save vs. breath weapon is successful.
The second effect comes into play only if the first saving throw is missed. The victim must make a second saving throw-this time vs. poison-or he will become infected with a rotting disease. A living victim cannot be helped by any healing spell or healing item except a cure disease spell. The disease also inflicts 1 point of damage per turn. (Characters cannot be reinfected; that is, if a jade dragon breathes three times, and a character fails all three saving throws, the character still suffers only 1 point of damage per turn until the disease is cured-assuming he survives that long.
This disease also causes all nonmetal items in the victim’s possession to rot away (magic items get a save vs. acid) in ld6 turns unless a cure disease spell is cast on them during that time.
Habitat/Society: Wooded areas are home to the jade dragon. Jade dragons pride themselves on being cultured, almost urbane creatures. They love to converse philosophically with creatures of all alignments, so as to show off their wisdom (which they, at least, seem to think is prodigious).
In collecting their hoards, jade dragons take a special interest in art objects. They may look favorably upon characters who offer them new artwork, or interesting pieces of information related to pieces that the dragons already possess. Even a hungry jade dragon will be tempted by these prizes.
Ecology: The jade dragon is omnivorous. It devours all manner of forest creatures when hunger strikes. It may also eat plants; young saphngs and bamboo are its favorite vegetables.
Rather than type out the whole table, here are the progressions:
Body length ranges from 2-6 feet to 105-115 feet. Tail length goes from 2-4 feet to 64-70 feet.
AC ranges from 2 to -9.
Breath weapon damage is 2d6+1 to 24d6+12.
Spellcasting ranges from Wizard/Priest Nil/1 at age 4 to 2 2 2 1/4 4 3 2 at age 12.
SR ranges from 30% at age 5 to 65%.
CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Any wooded region
FREQUENCY: Very rare
ORGANIZATION: Solitary or clan
ACTIVITY CYCLE: Any
DIET: Omnivore
INTELLIGENCE: Very (11-12)
TREASURE: Special
ALIGNMENT: Neutral
NO. APPEARING: 1 (1d4+1)
ARMOR CLASS: -1 (base)
MOVEMENT: 9, Fl 30 (C), SW 9
HIT DICE: 13 (base)
THAC0: 7 (base)
NO. OF ATTACKS: 3
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1d8 (claw)/ 1d8 (claw)/2d10 (bite)
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Varies
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Varies
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Varies
SIZE: G (35' base)
MORALE: Fanatic (18)
LEVEL/XP VALUE: Varies
The jade dragon is among the most conversational and least hostile on the planet Mystara. At a distance of 120 feet or more, it cannot be distinguished from a green dragon. (An expert viewer might notice that the jade dragon is somewhat smaller than its green cousin, more heavyset, with a thicker and shorter tail, however.) At closer range the dragon’s translucent scales shimmer and sparkle in the light, reveahg the mighty reptile‘s true nature.
Jade dragons speak their own language and the tongue common to all gem dragons.
Combat: The jade dragon’s breath weapon is a putrid cloud of gas, swirling brown and yellow and green. It has two effects. The first, identical the green dragon’s breath, is a blast of choking chlorine gas. It inflicts damage based on the age of the dragon, as described on the table below; and the damage is reduced by half if a save vs. breath weapon is successful.
The second effect comes into play only if the first saving throw is missed. The victim must make a second saving throw-this time vs. poison-or he will become infected with a rotting disease. A living victim cannot be helped by any healing spell or healing item except a cure disease spell. The disease also inflicts 1 point of damage per turn. (Characters cannot be reinfected; that is, if a jade dragon breathes three times, and a character fails all three saving throws, the character still suffers only 1 point of damage per turn until the disease is cured-assuming he survives that long.
This disease also causes all nonmetal items in the victim’s possession to rot away (magic items get a save vs. acid) in ld6 turns unless a cure disease spell is cast on them during that time.
Habitat/Society: Wooded areas are home to the jade dragon. Jade dragons pride themselves on being cultured, almost urbane creatures. They love to converse philosophically with creatures of all alignments, so as to show off their wisdom (which they, at least, seem to think is prodigious).
In collecting their hoards, jade dragons take a special interest in art objects. They may look favorably upon characters who offer them new artwork, or interesting pieces of information related to pieces that the dragons already possess. Even a hungry jade dragon will be tempted by these prizes.
Ecology: The jade dragon is omnivorous. It devours all manner of forest creatures when hunger strikes. It may also eat plants; young saphngs and bamboo are its favorite vegetables.
Rather than type out the whole table, here are the progressions:
Body length ranges from 2-6 feet to 105-115 feet. Tail length goes from 2-4 feet to 64-70 feet.
AC ranges from 2 to -9.
Breath weapon damage is 2d6+1 to 24d6+12.
Spellcasting ranges from Wizard/Priest Nil/1 at age 4 to 2 2 2 1/4 4 3 2 at age 12.
SR ranges from 30% at age 5 to 65%.
Shade
Monster Junkie
Speed, Int, and damage match the green dragon.
AC matches the 2e topaz dragon.
Size and breath progression compare to green.
SR progression matches red.
Spellcasting most closely matches the topaz, but the jade has 2 more 1st and 2nd-level spells, and 1 more 3rd on the priest side.
AC matches the 2e topaz dragon.
Size and breath progression compare to green.
SR progression matches red.
Spellcasting most closely matches the topaz, but the jade has 2 more 1st and 2nd-level spells, and 1 more 3rd on the priest side.
RavinRay
Explorer
To put it another way, AC is +1 better than green's as the onyx is to the black, so natural AC=HD again perhaps?
It has the best arcane spellcasting progression among the gems, but focuses on more low-level divine spells at the cost of higher-level spells.
Also…
- XP value differs from green as follows: young adult, greater than gold dragon; adult, same as silver dragon; mature adult, same as gold dragon; very old to great wyrm, same as silver dragon.
- Gloom and Styx dragons deal disease with their bites (gray wasting and Stygian wasting respectively). The jade's disease effect appears to have a very short incubation period, and deals HP damage.
- Jade dragons seems to enjoy civilization as much as steel dragons.
RavinRay
Explorer
Both wasting diseases deal Cha damage. I assume they were meant to be non-lethal. If it's Con then it's similar to the fang dragon's bite, if Str then it's similar to the gold dragon's weakening breath. I'm willing to go with Con. (Cha damage reminds me a bit too much of the oinoloth's power, thus I tend to associate it, fairly or not, with evil.) We can make the incubation a bit longer but not 1 day.
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