R O L E P L A Y I N G G A M E S U P P L E M E N T

Richard Baker • Ari Marmell

Draconomicon™

M e t a l l i c D r a g o n s

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CREDITSCREDITS

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, d20, d20 System, WIZARDS OF THE COAST, Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide, Monster Manual, Draconomicon, EBERRON, FORGOTTEN REALMS,

DRAGONLANCE, D&D Insider, Divine Power, Manual of the Planes, Martial Power, Scepter Tower of Spellgard, MAGIC: THE GATHERING, all other Wizards of the Coast product names, and

their respective logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast LLC in the U.S.A. and other countries. All Wizards characters and the distinctive likenesses thereof are property of

Wizards of the Coast LLC. This material is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork

contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of Wizards of the Coast LLC. Any similarity to actual people, organizations, places, or events included

herein is purely coincidental. Other trademarks are property of their respective owners. Printed in the U.S.A. ©2009 Wizards of the Coast LLC.

VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.WIZARDS.COM/DNDVISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.WIZARDS.COM/DND

620-24210000-001 EN

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

First Printing:

November 2009

ISBN: 978-0-7869-5248-9

Design

Richard Baker (lead),Ari Marmell, Peter Lee,

David Noonan, Robert J. Schwalb

Additional Design

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Development

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Graphic Designers

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Additional Graphic Design

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Interior Illustrations

Dave Allsop, Kerem Beyit, Zoltan Boros & Gabor Szikszai, Chippy, Wayne England, Jason A. Engle, Tomás Giorello, Lars Grant-West, Ralph Horsley, Howard Lyon, William O’Connor, Chris Seaman, Franz Vohwinkel

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Game rules based on the original DUNGEONS & DRAGONS®

rules created by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and the

later editions by David “Zeb” Cook (2nd Edition); Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Richard Baker, and Peter Adkison (3rd Edition); and Rob Heinsoo, Andy Collins, and

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1: DRAGON LORE1: DRAGON LORE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Origins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Physiology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Life Cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Outlook and Psychology . . . . . . . . . . 16

Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Metallic Dragons in Detail . . . . . . . . 26

Adamantine Dragons . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Brass Dragons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Bronze Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Cobalt Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Copper Dragons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Gold Dragons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Iron Dragons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Mercury Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Mithral Dragons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Orium Dragons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Silver Dragons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Steel Dragons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

2: DM’S GUIDE TO DRAGONS2: DM’S GUIDE TO DRAGONS . . . 40

Dragons in the World . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Metallic Dragon Patrons . . . . . . . . 42

Other Campaign Roles

for a Metallic Dragon . . . . . . . . . 44

Dragons in the Background . . . . . 47

Draconic Encounters . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Combat Encounters . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Subdual Encounters . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Social Encounters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Draconic Traps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Adventures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Adventure Hooks and Quests . . . 62

The Secret Audition . . . . . . . . . . 62

The Golden Facade . . . . . . . . . . 62

The Inside-Out Lair . . . . . . . . . . 63

Shell Game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Unmask the Conspirator . . . . . . 65

The Good of the Many . . . . . . . . 65

Draconic Campaigns . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Awaken the Sleepers . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Prophecy of Doom . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

A Little Knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

An Age of Endless Storms . . . . . . . 69

The Broken Throne . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

The Pontifex Wyrm . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Draconic Organizations . . . . . . . . . . . 72

The Blood of Barastiss . . . . . . . . . . 72

The Guardians of the Gates . . . . . 73

The Grand Assemblage

of the League of

Eternal Discovery . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

The Solemn Order of the

Knights of Saint Vercesien

the Gold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Artifacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Blood of Io. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Seal of the Lawbringer . . . . . . . . . . 80

3: DRAGON LAIRS3: DRAGON LAIRS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Designing a Dragon Lair . . . . . . . . . . 84

Purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Attendants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Unusual Lairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Goblin Folly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Escaping Goblins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Uneasy Sentries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Standoff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

The Terror of Prospect Hill . . . . . . . . 92

Entering the Fort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

The Central Lair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Tulkau Shayn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Approaching the Cave . . . . . . . . . 100

Cave Entrance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Stirge Chamber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Zanathakla’s Wrath . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Mines of Bolmarzh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

The High Hall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Chasm Battle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Vanathia’s Lair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

The Breaking Tide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Feeding Frenzy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

On the Rocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Methenaera the Mead-Keeper . . . . 124

Upper Chamber. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Lower Chamber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

The Edge of Chaos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Rage of Angels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Radiant Array . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Agent of Prophecy . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Citadel of the Golden Architect . . 138

Mute Sentinels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Night Haunt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Gold Madness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

The Earthen Dagger . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Fire at Will . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Poisoned Pit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

4: NEW MONSTERS4: NEW MONSTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

METALLIC DRAGONS METALLIC DRAGONS . . . . . . . 156

Brass Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

Bronze Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

Cobalt Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Mercury Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Mithral Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166

Orium Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

Steel Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

Metallic Wyrmlings . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Adamantine Dragon

Wyrmling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Brass Dragon Wyrmling . . . . . . . 175

Bronze Dragon Wyrmling. . . . . . 176

Cobalt Dragon Wyrmling . . . . . . 176

Copper Dragon Wyrmling . . . . . 177

Gold Dragon Wyrmling . . . . . . . . 178

Iron Dragon Wyrmling . . . . . . . . 179

Mercury Dragon Wyrmling . . . . 180

Mithral Dragon Wyrmling . . . . . 180

Orium Dragon Wyrmling . . . . . . 182

Silver Dragon Wyrmling . . . . . . . 182

Steel Dragon Wyrmling. . . . . . . . 183

HOLLOW DRAGONS HOLLOW DRAGONS . . . . . . . . . 184

OTHER CREATURES OTHER CREATURES . . . . . . . . 186

Couatl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

Couatl Rogue Serpent . . . . . . . . . 186

Couatl Redeemer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

Draconian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

Adamaaz Draconian . . . . . . . . . . . 188

Aurak Draconian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

Baaz Draconian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

Bozak Draconian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

Ferak Draconian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

Kapak Draconian . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

Kobaaz Draconian . . . . . . . . . . . . 192

Sivak Draconian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192

Drake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

Liondrake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

Vulture Drake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

Drakkensteed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

Drakkensteed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

Grave-Born Drakkensteed . . . . . 196

Cobalt Dragon-Bred

Drakkensteed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

Kobold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

Dragonkin Kobold . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

Wyrmguard Kobold . . . . . . . . . . . 199

Three-Tooth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

DRAGON HALL OF FAME DRAGON HALL OF FAME . . . 202

Andraemos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202

Bahamut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

The Old Man

with the Canaries . . . . . . . . . . . 204

Bahamut’s Dragon Form . . . . . . . 207

Aspect of Bahamut . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

Kuyutha, Exarch of Bahamut . . . 209

Jalanvaloss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

Nifl ung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

Silvara . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214

Valamaradace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

ELITE DRAGONS ELITE DRAGONS . . . . . . . . . . . . 218

Sample Elite Dragon . . . . . . . . . . 218

ALTERNATIVE POWERS ALTERNATIVE POWERS . . . . 219

contents

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1

4C H A P T E R 1 | D r a g o n L o r e

RA

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C H A P T E R 1

Dragon LoreDragon Lore

If a man wishes to become a hero, then the serpent must first become a dragon: otherwise he lacks his proper enemy. —Friedrich Nietzsche

Few creatures can match the power and splendor of dragons. Armed with claws and fangs that can rend steel, armored in scales as tough as iron, faster than an eagle in flight, and strong enough to shatter castle gates, a full-grown dragon is an awesome foe. Dragons would be exceedingly dangerous creatures even if they were dumb, ordinary beasts, because of their size and power. But they are also gifted with cold, calculating reason and furnaces of elemental energy that provide them with terrible breath weapons. In some places and times, dragons are scarcely more than legend, creatures so rare and mysterious that centuries pass without a sighting of one. In other times, dragons rule over the world, darkening the skies and destroying or subjugating lesser beings. The current age falls somewhere between these extremes. In the few centers of civilization, dragons are a rare sight. The typical farmer or merchant might see a dragon only once or twice in his life. But in the bor-derlands or the great wide wildernesses surrounding those domains, dragons are much more common. This chapter explores the nature of metallic dragons and their place in the world. It includes the following topics.✦ Origins: How metallic dragons arose in the world,

and why they differ from their chromatic kin.✦ Physiology: A summary of the physical traits that

give dragons their unique strengths.✦ Life Cycle: The stages of a dragon’s life, from con-

ception to death.✦ Outlook and Psychology: A look at the workings

of a typical dragon’s mind, and how a dragon’s power and self-absorption color its personality.

✦ Society: A discussion of the interactions of the highly social metallic dragons.

✦ Religion: How these prideful creatures view the deities, and which ones they consent to worship.

✦ Metallic Dragons in Detail: A brief look at each of the twelve kinds of metallic dragons.

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6C H A P T E R 1 | D r a g o n L o r e

Dragons have soared through the skies of the world and roamed the far reaches of the cosmos since the earliest days of creation. They are the greatest of mortal creatures, although few in number compared to the myriad hosts of humankind or the numberless hordes of goblins or orcs. Although scores, perhaps hundreds, of dragons are remembered in the myths and the legendary histories of the mortal world, only a handful of sages know the tale of the world’s first dragons.

First DragonsIn the beginning of the world, the gods gave life to the naked substance of the world forged by the primordials. During the days of creation, the gods forged countless mortal vessels, giving rise to all the races, beasts, and plants that would populate the world. But the deity Io chose to bend his will toward creating mortal vessels that would not only live in the world of elements, but would give life and soul to the elements themselves. To contain the awesome power of elements given life, Io had to shape mortal vessels of tremendous strength and hardiness. And so he created the most powerful of all mortal crea-tures: the dragons. Learned metallic dragons believe that each time Io created new dragons, he was in a different mood. The god’s demeanor laid the seeds that determined what those dragons would eventually become. When Io was filled with compassion and the desire to help others, he created dragons that transformed into metallics after his death. When Io spawned dragons to sate his avaricious or destructive impulses, the god’s dark emotions eventually warped those dragons into the first chromatic and catastrophic dragons. In the ages following Io’s death, these seeds altered dragon kind into its various kindreds. Naturally, catastrophic and chromatic dragons do not hold with this version of Io’s story. Scourge dragons like it even less—according to this legend, scourge dragons are poor imitations of true dragons,

created by jealous godlings that lacked Io’s secret of fusing elemental energy with mortal form and soul. Scourge dragons detest this ages-old “slander,” and deal harshly with any sage or scholar they find propa-gating the tale.

Children of IoForemost among the gods in valor and physical power, Io fought and defeated many primordials in the Dawn War. Similarly, his mighty children stood at the forefront of all mortal beings in the fight to preserve creation from the unchecked elemental forces of the angry primordials. But Io finally met an enemy who was his match: the primordial Erek-Hus, the King of Terror. The King of Terror slew Io, and the primordials seemed on the verge of victory. Then, from Io’s shattered body, two new gods arose: Bahamut, the Platinum Dragon, and Tiamat, the Chromatic Dragon. Bahamut and Tiamat together defeated the King of Terror, but then Tiamat turned against the noble Bahamut and attempted to seize dominion over all dragons. Io was a deity who incorporated both honor and fury, ambition and resolve, a love of beauty and a desire to possess it. Tiamat inherited many of Io’s darker traits, and she could not suffer the existence of an equal or allow any other creature to reign over dragonkind. Bahamut obtained more of Io’s noble qualities and the greater part of Io’s strength. The Platinum Dragon defeated Tiamat, and she retreated to the dark depths of Tytherion. She took little part in the rest of the war against the primordials. Bahamut went on to become a champion for the gods nearly as noble and powerful as Io had been.

The War of DragonsThe bitter strife between Io’s heirs carried over to all of dragonkind. For a long age of the world, chromatic dragons battled furiously to throw down Bahamut and elevate Tiamat as the Queen of All Dragons. More than once, metallic dragons established wise

ORIGINS

Though most dragons believe the different types of dragons

arose after Io’s death, many metallic dragons claim oth-

erwise. According to the tales they favor, Io created each

kindred in turn, growing in skill and understanding with

each effort. The catastrophic dragons were Io’s first effort to

shape mortal vessels that could incorporate living elemental

power. They were slaves to their own elemental natures; the

elements within warped and twisted the draconic vessel.

Io set them aside and shaped the chromatic dragons next,

giving them bodies better suited to containing the elemen-

tal energy without being changed by it. But these dragons,

while true to the physical form that Io intended, had souls

that could not master the base passions of their own ele-

mental nature. These too Io set aside. Finally Io forged the

metallic dragons, now perfected in both body and soul to

be masters of their nature, and not slaves to it. Naturally,

the metallic dragons are Io’s last and finest creation—or so

the old and proud among metallic dragons claim.

THE LEGEND OF PERFECTION

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