Secrets of the Dragons (5e Sourcebook)

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Stone Dragons

Stone Dragons are strange dragons known to horde and desire peculiar things, they are all fairly uncommon but not very rare by Draconic standards. It is rumored among scholarly circles that they were all created by a powerful and ancient wizard who constructed them out of various types of stone. Stone dragons themselves worship the draconic pantheon and attribute their creation to the god of the gem dragons, Sardior.

Cobblestone Dragon

Cobblestone dragons are gentle giants, being much larger and heavier than your average dragon. Their weight makes them very slow and incapable of flight, so they form a symbiotic relationship with other races by letting them build settlements atop their backs. To them, their town is their horde and they are extremely protective of it. They are the only herbivorous chromatic dragon, grazing the vast open planes. Due to their more passive nature they rarely get into conflict, and will avoid it if possible. In order to make up for their slow and sluggish nature they have a wide variety of spells they can cast.

Cobblestone dragons often grow attached to individuals inside their horde villages, offering them guidance and guarding them from harm using its magic. A town atop a cobblestone dragon is be destined to forever be small humble village, under the watchful eye of the dragon keeping them safe. However, the cobblestone dragons greed makes them very hostile to the idea of people leaving his villages. Unless one can convince the dragon to let you leave it will do everything in its power to keep them there, including rallying the villagers against you.

The towns on their backs make reproduction fairly difficult, meaning there are very few cobblestone dragons left in the world. When they do manage to reproduce their egg clutches are usually tended to by the villagers inside special buildings. Cobblestone dragons will live on the parents backs as wyrmlings, being raised by the villagers. But once they reach their adolescent stage they grow too large to inhabit the village and leave in search of a village of their own. Life is very rough for a young cobblestone dragon, grazing the plains in search of people to start a village with. If a cobblestone dragon fails to create a village, which they often do, they will surely die.

They have a rocky breath weapon that fires a mass of boulders, creating rough and rocky terrain wherever they land. They have no lair and are completely flightless, but they more than make for it with their spellcasting and earth shattering size.

Marble Dragon

Hedonists obsessed with beauty and vanity, they horde art in grand desert palaces constructed by an army of servant golems. The believe the world revolves around them, not only being self-centered narcissists but also neurotic perfectionists. Any perceived imperfections will drive the marble dragon into a fit of rage, everything they see must be perfectly tailored to their desire or else it must be destroyed.

Despite the marble dragons obsession with beauty, it’s perception of beauty is extremely skewed. To a marble dragon anything that isn’t related to them is hideous and they have an innate disgust for other kinds of dragons, seeing them as horrible corruptions of their own perfect form.

They are masters of arcana. Using their vast knowledge of the arcane to construct golems and other constructs. Their golems are often pieces of art they bring to life, and thus have a wide range of appearances and forms. Most of their golems are identical to stone golems, they are also known to experiment with other types of constructs.

They do not like to get their hands dirty, using their golem servants to do all their city work. They will often have influential artists and bards kidnapped in order to put them into service, spending the rest of their lives designing art for the dragon.

Their breath weapon is a flurry of sharp rock that slices anything in its path to pieces. Their lairs are at the center of their grand palaces are incredibly ornate, filled with the marble dragon’s most prized possessions. If anything inside their lair were to be even scratcher it would send them into a hysterical rampage, killing and smashing everything in their path with no regard for even their precious art.

Marble dragons are infertile, instead reproducing by having an identical replica of themselves created from marble and animated using their powerful arcana. They often only have one child and as soon as it is created they exile it from their home. Marble dragons can be of any size as a result of this, ranging from small to colossal depending on how much work the parent is willing to put in. When a marble dragon is being created, this usually takes the form of arcane knowledge but can manifest as other things as well.

Marble dragons can also instill instructions into their spawn, these instructions to the form of an inscription in draconic scratched onto their torso. Marble dragons will follow and value these instructions over anything else, these instructions can be almost anything the marble dragon desires as long as it fits. Some marble dragons will have instructions wrap around their entire bodies, or some will have no instructions inscribed at all.

Powerful mages will sometimes create marble dragons using this process. Because of the ability to inscribe instructions they can be created for any multitude of purposes, sometimes using them as a way to preserve a powerful archmage’s memories long after their death, or even to serve their creator as a familiar.

Glass Dragon

Composed entirely of glass, the glass dragon is known for extreme fragility. The glass composition of this creature makes it incredibly tough and resistent to most damage types, but if you get a good hit in it will shatter into pieces.

Glass dragons want nothing more than worship and praise, creating vast cults of fanatical worshippers in order to satiate its desire for reverence. It’s takes immense glee in being a creature of myth that is spoken of in legends, often using their cultists to paint itself as a valiant hero and paragon of good. Despite what a glass dragon wants others to believe, it is not a heroic defender of the weak, but rather a vain and cruel tyrant. Because of the misinformation purposefully spread by the glass dragon and its cultists, learning credible info about it is incredibly difficult.

Glass dragons live in the desert, and as such often come into conflict with other dragons that inhabit the this region to feud with them constantly. More powerful blue dragons are known to force them into servitude, which enrages them to no end and makes them extremely desperate to get out of their service. Sometimes they team up with other powerful creatures in order to slay their master blue dragon masters, other times they might use their cults connections to plot against them. They have a fierce rivalry with brass dragons as well, often immediately attacking any in their territory upon hearing about their presence.

Glass dragons also have very powerful telepathy, able to communicate with anyone in a 2 mile (3km) radius. They can also brand a symbol of a dragon onto another creature, allowing them telepathically communicate back and forth with them as well as speak to any in a 12ft radius of the branded individual. They often use their telepathy to convince people they are a divine being and recruit them as cultists, gatherings worshippers from far away using traveling proselytizers to speak to new converts and local sects of worshippers directly.

Glass dragons can magnify light into a sustaining beam of burning light out of their mouths. They use this ability to create intricate glass temples out of their desert habitat. These temples are not as ornate and complex when compared to something like the palace of a marble dragon, instead often being composed of a single room held up by columns. Glass dragons spend most their time basking in the sun sleeping, using their telepathy to communicate to their cultists and give them orders. The glass dragon is known for its laziness. It only awakens from it slumber to brand converts or eat offerings given to it by it’d servants. It’s temple is defended by its most fervent worshippers, with these protectors only waking it up to defend itself if absolutely necessary.

Glass dragon do not reproduce, instead being born from the shards they create when they die. These shards will form into wyrmlings a minute after the glass dragon’s death, flying away to seek safety immediately after. Because of this method of reproduction, killing one can often do more long-term harm then good.

Gem Dragons

The neutral dragons, known for their resemblance to natural gemstones such as amethyst or emerald. They are known for being elusive and rare, avoiding contact with human civilization. Their magic is psyonic in nature, giving them the ability to cat spells with their mind.

Pyrite Dragon

Created by a powerful archmage in a failed attempt to create a gold dragon servant, pyrite dragons are masters of illusion magic. They live the shortest lives out of any type of dragon, only living to 800. They are small and physically weak, their maximum size being around the height of a humanoid.

They make up for their small and weak stature with their magical prowess and cunning. They have the innate ability to polymorph into humanoids and if they are ancient, a gold dragon. They use their polymorphing abilities to deceive and eat people.

Their breath weapon is a gas that charms anyone who fails their saving throw. They also have small and puny lairs, and their ancient members have an illusory aura that makes it look like a legendary horde when it is really quite unimpressive.

Pallasite Dragon

Mysterious creatures from the astral plane that spend half their lives within a gigantic rocky egg that resembles a meteorite. This egg will float around the astral plane until the pallasite dragon reaches maturity or it lands somewhere. Once it reaches maturity it will teleport to another plane, manifesting far up in the sky and crashing into the ground.

The arrival of the pallasite dragon is often seen from miles away as the meteor falls to the ground, usually disregarded as a standard meteor by less superstitious individuals. These meteorites however have some key differences, they often visibly much larger than normal meteors and never burn away or lose mass during the journey. Other dragons sometimes recognize a normal meteorite from a pallasite egg will sometimes go into a mad panic if they see it.

People who are aware of what is inside will often seek to destroy them before they can hatch. This ranges from ancient dragons to archmages who will stop at nothing to prevent the apocalyptic destruction that is soon to come.

This fear is well warranted as as soon as after a week days it will hatch from its egg and bring destruction in its wake. Pallasite dragons are super weapons capable of destroying entire countries. Because they come fully formed they almost always considered ancient after millennia of developing. Their centuries of time spent inside their egg gives them a ravenous and uncontrollable hunger, which drives every action they take. Pallasite dragons are comparable in intelligence to a tarrasque, they are stupid killing machines that consume everything in their path.

Their scales resemble a variety of gems of different colors and sizes, each unique compared to the rest, creating a confusing and alien look to them. They have no heads, instead a giant gaping maw where their neck would begin. This giant maw has a long slender tongue that it uses to grapple and consume whatever it sees. It has one giant eye right above his mouth. This eye offers him 60ft of darkvision, allowing it see and hunt in the pitch black night.

The main difference between them and other apocalyptic creatures like the tarrasque is their alien life-cycle. They have a breath weapon of crystalline spikes which when they pierce the skin of a target, will make them do a constitution saving throw, and if they fail it causes them to gain an affliction known as a pallasite growth. The pallasite growth will slowly take over the target over the course of a week and turn them into a pallasite spawn. Every additional spike endured will speed up the process by a day, and the only way to get of it is by magical means. If a creature with pallasite growth dies, they become pallasite spawn after twenty seconds as the growth quickly consumes their body. An individual with access to healing magic will often be able to cure it easily, but for the majority of the commoners struck by this breath weapon, they will be forever cursed to serve their draconic master.

There are several different types of pallasite spawn but all of them have one thing in common. They will slowly grow in size until after a month when they become a pallasite dragon egg. The pallasite dragon will teleport these eggs into the astral plane whenever it comes across them, starting the cycle over again.

Nobody is 100% what the Pallasite dragon’s connection to the rest of dragonkind is. It was at first debated whether or not it was a dragon at all, but it’s anatomy makes some scholars to believe it to be an evolved version of a species of primitive gem dragons that were believed to have lived in the astral plane alongside the predecessors of astral dragons. What caused its drastic evolution is a uncertain, and some believe an external force may have mutated them against their will into weapons of mass destruction.

Azharul’s Mockeries

Azharul was a dragon god who was known for his study and mastery of magic. He was created alongside Bahamut and Tiamat, and while they created the first world he saw their creations and was inspired. He created several dragons of his own in the image of the chromatic dragons to serve and worship him, and for a time he was tolerated. But when the war between Bahamut and Tiamat began, he fled to his own realm sized library named Azzaraka where would study the nature of the universe for the rest of time. According to the yellow dragons, Azzaraka was destroyed after the yellow dragons’s betrayal of the forces of Tiamat.

Azdrahul’s existence is undeniable to the Orange, Yellow, and Purple dragons. But outside of those spheres his existence is debated, with some scholars and many dragons themselves denying his existence. Adherents of the theory he never existed call these dragons “mules”, the result of other dragons crossbreeding.

Azharul is widely worshipped by these dragons, although they all interpret him and his story differently. Purple dragons worship him as a god of secrets and arcana, who they believe currently resides in his mythical real of Azzaraka. The yellow dragons believe he is dead, but that a piece of his soul resides in all yellow dragons as they are his favorite creations. Orange dragons are not very religious when compared to the fervent worship of the yellow and purple dragons, they often worship Tiamat and other gods that promise them more power like Vecna.

Yellow Dragon

The first creations of Azharul, the dragons in hiding. They are incredibly swift and cunning. They are despised by other dragons, forcing them to go into hiding. They are known for staying out combat unless they have an advantage. They have long and slender bodies with smaller scales, which they tend to shed more often. This shedding makes them smoother and more similar to serpents. They are incredibly fast and have a top speed of 120ft in the air, and can traverse most terrain.

Yellow dragons are known for using ambush and hit and run tactics, they are incredibly cautious in combat. Their caution does not mean they are weak, being much stronger in a one on one compared to other dragon species. Their speed and cunning makes them incredibly fearsome opponents, but they are very cautious and apprehensive.

Bitter Rivals

Other chromatic dragons are actively hostile and aggressive towards yellow dragons, seeing them as cowards. There are a multitude of theories as to why this is, some say it’s origin as spawn of Azharul while other say it’s because they refused to fight when their race was at war with the giants.

They see everything as a threat and are incredibly selfish and cautious, and will use any and all tactics at their disposal to achieve victory. They will never take unnecessary risks, and are incredibly strategic in combat. Yellow dragons are unique in that they almost never have minions, as obtaining them would compromise their hiding.

Way of Life

Yellow dragon society is incredibly cut off and isolated from the rest of dragonkind. However, they do keep communicate with one another and interact socially often. Compared to other chromatic dragons, yellow dragons love the company of their fellow yellow dragon and will socialize them often. However, due to their seclusion yellow dragons travel between each others lairs using portal networks. These portals are powered with magical runes that the yellow dragons learned to write after centuries of isolation and development of their own draconic dialect. This dialect has magical properties and allows them access to several power word spells. They call this runic dialect Ilkarhum, and they often use it’s unique runes to create magical traps in their lairs. Some sorcerers are created by yellow dragons inscribing an Ilkharum rune into another creature.

Aside from being driven by mostly self preservation, yellow dragons are also deeply religious. They believe they are the favored creations of their god Azrahul, and that they have a piece of the dead gods soul within all of them. Most of a yellow dragons time is spent collection sacrifices to offer to Azrahul in order to protect them from danger, these sacrifices take the form of treasure but also sometimes living humanoids.

Kingdom of Salt

They make their home near seaside cave and cliffs, anywhere with salt nearby is favorable for them however. Due to their isolationist nature their lairs are often very hidden and closed off, only being opened when absolutely necessary. Their lairs and the surrounding area are full of traps which it will try to lure any unwanted guests into, using these to hunt instead of going outside and risking attack. Sometimes it will catch dragonslayers off guard by hiding underground in some sand or soft earth, revealing themselves and creating a sand pit into their mouths. This combined with their tremorsense and high speed makes them the perfect ambush predator.

Their breath weapon is a cone of condensed salt, which doesn’t deal much damage. But if you fail a saving throw against the breath weapon you are blinded and have disadvantage on saving throws and skill checks for a whole minute. This salt also covers any orifices like your nose and mouth, which can cause suffocation. However the salt will wash away if the creature is dunked in at least a gallon of water.

Purple Dragon

Schemers, lore hunters, and manipulators. Purple dragons are spreaders of corruption and malice. Being the most common type out of their draconic siblings, they are known to be organized into a wider society based on loyalty to the family. They have dark purple scales which grow more jagged as they get older. Their heads have long curved horns, and their back is adorned with spikes that start on their head and continue to the tip of their tail. Purple dragons are known for being silver tongued devils, using their charisma and knack for intrigue for to spread their influence and gather large amounts of loyal minions. Although they have the usual servants you would expect a dragon to have like half-dragons and cultists, they also have a much further reach. They can have professional mercenaries or assassins serving them, and the more influential ones can push their influence into local governments or other influential insidious, sometimes entire countries can be at the while of an ancient purple dragon.

Purple dragons take immense pride in their plotting and schemes, taking joy in the disastrous effects of their plots. They differ from other dragons in that they won’t simply kill their rivals and enemies, but instead use their agents to have them slowly and lose everything or in the case of a city slowly decay and become a ghost town.

An Offer You Cant Refuse

Unlike other dragons they are family oriented. With both parents staying around to raise their young together, often having multiple clutches of children. With the children only leaving once they reach adulthood, or possibly due to a disagreement or incident within the family. Even when they move out they are still tied to the family and will often be in service to them.

Purple dragons are very loyal to their families, with most families falling under an even larger dynasty. These dynasties are extremely influential, having a massive impact on their member’s lives. Purple dragons who are a part of a dynasty are expected to be completely loyal, respecting all of the orders given to them by an elder of their dynasty. If a purple dragon betrays or disobeys an elder in any way, they become exiled and banished from their territory. Exiled purple dragons are despised by all others in their race and often found new communities with each other.

Each of these dynasties is headed by an ancient matriarch, the ancestor of all the purple dragons in that dynasty. Matriarchs will often have gigantic underground palaces with multiple adult purple dragons living inside at the same time. Matriarchs are known for their ruthless leadership and desire for vengeance, if someone kills a purple dragon the matriarch will do whatever it takes to capture them and get their revenge. Matriarchs will often have grand and complex schemes that the other purple dragons in their dynasty only partially understand, these schemes play out over the course of centuries or millennia and their effects will often take the form of a slow and methodical corruption of an entire country, continent, or maybe even the world depending on their level of influence.

Purple dragons value power and dominion. A purple dragons children, it’s children’s children, and so on and forth, are all loyal to them. Having many families under your control is seen as a symbol of status, but that is not enough for one to be considered a high ranking member of society. Purple dragons also desire to control human villages and cities, spreading their corruption and influence to these places is incredibly important to move up the ranks of purple dragon society. Due to their competitive hierarchy, purple dragon families will often feud with eachother. These feuds can last centuries and start devastating wars between not just purple dragons but also the kingdoms and countries they control.

They will often pay their minions in the form of protection from harm or small trinkets. Although this is only a formality as their goons have little choice in the matter of servitude. Sometimes this takes the form of entire cities that only exist because their leader serves a purple dragon, who will destroy the city if they fail to properly serve the dragon.

Collectors of Lore

Purple dragons have a particular emphasis on religion, worshipping a god other than Azharul is enough to be exiled from their society. Their lairs usually have dedicated temples to Azharul, with their minions often ritually sacrificing people to Azharul. Exiled worshippers of gods like Vecna are often known to become dracoliches, a practice that is incredibly shunned in purple dragon society.

These dragons are nocturnal. Coming out of their lairs at midnight, flying high above the clouds to hide themselves. When they see potential prey, they will descend from the darkness and attack. These ambush tactics will make it common for people who live near an active purple dragon hunting zone incredibly afraid of traveling at night.

Purple dragons are also known for their love of secrets and hidden lore, they will often send their most competent of servants to collect secrets and explore ancient ruins. This often results in them gaining a large amount of not just political secrets, but arcane knowledge as well. They use this knowledge to create purple dragonspawn minions as well as partake in other arcane projects.

They want to horde secrets and lore in order to find a way to reach a mythical location that is unheard of outside of purple dragon society, but is a real and important place to every purple dragon. This realm is known as Azarraka, a gigantic library created by their god Azrahul. This legendary plane is said to have knowledge powerful enough to allow anyone to ascend to godhood. Purple dragons spend their lives in search of this place, often willing to negotiate anyone if they truly believe they can help them find it. They believe that finding Azzaraka and reuniting with their god is their divine destiny. Purple dragons believe that Azzaraka’s entrance is hidden somewhere deep underground, digging out expansive tunnels that seem to go nowhere in order to search as much as possible for it.

Underground Lairs

They build their lairs deep underground, they are a network of tunnels connected to large chambers. These tunnels extend far and wide, sometimes even taking up several regions if multiple purple dragons decide to unify their lairs. The design of their tunnels is easy to navigate for a purple dragon and it’s minions, but confusing and labyrinthine for any unwelcome visitors. The entrances to their lairs are well hidden, maybe behind boulders or in abandoned sewers, They tend to live in total darkness in order to amplify their breath weapon. These chambers will always fill certain roles, like barracks for their most loyal minions or giant libraries where they write down and store their secrets and lore. Purple dragon architecture is very particular, everything is thought through and has a purpose.

The land above their burrows can have creatures like trolls and basilisks found wandering around, naturally drawn to its draconic aura. Sometimes they can also result in an increase of undead if they are careless and disturb ancient catacombs or tombs during their digging. Their lair and the area around the entrance is often extremely dim, with all normal light being turned into dim light and all dim light being snuffed out entirely. An ancient purple dragon’s lair makes all creatures lose their dark vision, forced to use their weak and dim light sources instead.

They have a plasma breath weapon, this breath is hot enough to ignore fire damage resistance and burn through steel. This breath also creates blinding light, which impairs the sight of anyone looking directly at it. They can either shoot a cone or a line thanks to their complex muscular system. The purple dragon can also shoot a highly concentrated beam at a single target, this is known as the plasma spear and it is an incredibly deadly version of their breath weapon.

Orange Dragon

Bloodthirsty, sadistic, and demented. Those are the only words that can describe the amphibious orange dragon. It lives in watersheds where it constructs labyrinthine tunnels in order to quickly travel from river to river, popping in and out of the water as it stalks its prey undetected from below their feet. They are the most sadistic of any chromatic dragon, taking immense pleasure in inflicting suffering on other creatures.

They often come into conflict with both black and bronze dragons as they often share the same habitats. Most black dragons are often forced to reluctantly serve the orange dragon if they want to stay in its territory, as they are usually much weaker compared to them. Bronze dragons on the other hand are on much more equal footing, and they will often become bitter rivals.

They rarely leave their watershed domains, only leaving to hunt for food or to migrate to a new watershed once people stop coming. The breath weapon of an orange dragon is uniquely sadistic, they shoot a viscous sludge composed of sodium that erupts into flame after a few seconds. This sodium also explodes violently when coming into contact with water, dealing devastating damage to anyone in water or soaked in it. However, by coating oneself universal solvent you neutralize the effects of the sodium.

Orange dragons are unlike other dragons in that they have a mating season during the winter, where they all leave their watersheds and swim out into the ocean in order to congregate. Orange dragon mating season often results in most seafaring to shut down in region for months, as any ships passing near them are likely to be torn asunder. This disruption of seafaring combined with their reputation for cruelty makes them some of the most well-paying dragons to slay, with many countries offering extremely high bounties for orange dragons.

Their hordes do not hold any treasure, but instead are sadistic cathedrals of bone. The floor of their lair being an deep pile of bones that is unstable enough to where it will slowly suck you in like quicksand. Their lairs are often underwater caves, making their breath even more deadly.

They were initially created from Azharul combining yellow and red dragons, but because of the rarity of the two species crossbreeding most are born from other orange dragons. They inherit the cruelty of the red dragon, and the cunning of the yellow dragon. Their physical appearance also reflects this, they have the slender form of a yellow dragon as well as their barbed tales. They also have horns and heads that resemble red dragons, however they lack their iconic frill and instead have the barbed frill of the yellow dragon.

Metallic Dragons

Electrum Dragon

A crossbreed of the golden and silver dragon, they’re existence is shunned by the cultures of both their draconic parents. They inherit both the silver’s love of humanity and also the gold’s unrelenting pursuit against evil. Rather than being warriors however, they are philosophers and viziers to stronger beings. They are known to polymorph and advise kings under the guise of a human to share it’s centuries of knowledge with humanity. They are the detectives and persecutors of draconic justice instead of their enforcers, they will investigate and uncover evil plots but leave the punishment to other forces.

They are valued by metallic dragons for their wisdom and dedication to their craft, but their creation is considered taboo by both gold and silver dragons who consider them inferior versions of themselves. Electrum dragons as a result tend to live secluded from other dragons, instead living on mountaintops near humanoid cities. They dedicate their lives to studying the world, building massive libraries of ancient knowledge. They believe if they can gift humanity a fraction of the knowledge of dragons, that they could become more morally righteous.

The most powerful among them are known to become archliches, serving humanity long after their natural lifespan.

Ferrous Dragons

When the dragons ruled the earth, the ferrous dragons were the rulers of the draconic world. They ruled over metallic and chromatic dragons alike, using their natural leadership ability to control them. This period of draconic history is called the Age of Iron, beginning with a wave of conquests and coups from the ferrous dragons. These new leaders were at first united by their common blood, but as the old guard grew old and died the kingdom’s relations began to grow tense. This resulted in huge war between the new kingdoms they had created, tearing apart dragon society until the other dragons had enough and began to begin a mass revolution across the world.

After this war, known as the Swordbreaker War to the non-ferrous dragons, ferrous dragons became incredibly rare. They are despised by other dragons, seeing them as relics of a long forgotten era. Ferrous dragons are forced to live in isolation or on other planes in order to survive.

Empire and leadership is in their blood, they usually specialize in ruling a particular thing. Whether it be commanders of vast armies or masters of industry and trade. They are all lawful, believing in a strict hierarchy determined by their species (similar to the giant Ordning). At the top of their hierarchy is the draconic emperor Gruaghlothor. Gruaghlothor himself is immortal, as whenever he is killed a powerful iron dragon will undergo hibernation, slowly transforming until they fully become Gruaghlothor. Why or how this occurs is not well understood.

All ferrous dragons are bound by what is known as the First Law, organizing them into family units known as clans. These clans are split into species specific kingdoms, ruled by a Soverign. These Sovereigns are the physically strongest members of their species and they have a direct telepathic link to Gruaghlothor. This hierarchy was originally quite different and was specific to each species of ferrous dragon, but the First Law was created by Gruaghlothor after the Swordbreaker war in order to keep them from going win to civil war ever again.

All ferrous dragons have some abilities that are common between them, such as being able to detect any non-precious metal with a range depending on their age. This allows them to sense any adventurers coming after them. They are also known to share to have unique creatures at their disposal, relics from the old empires. The Hodekin is a stronger and wiser kobold, initially created by the ferrous dragons to rule over them, they are known for their martial prowess and undying loyalty to their ferrous dragon lord. Aside from the Hodekin, ferrous dragon minions vary greatly.

Iron Dragons

One of the most powerful kinds of dragon in existence, they are natural born kings. They are at the top of the ferrous dragon hierarchy, demanding respect and submission from all other ferrous dragons. They want to reestablish their great empire, and will stop at nothing to further this collective goal. They use their polymorphing ability to spy on powerful kingdoms and even other dragons. They are known to scheme and plot in order to destroy their enemies just as much using brutal force, they believe that only by mastering both techniques can they rule over others.

Their scales start as rough and take a flat black color, but as they grow older their scales become smoother and they gain silver highlights which grow in size as they get older. They have a set of horns forming a crown-like shape, these horns grow as they age and glisten like silver even as wyrmlings. Their back is covered by protruding spikes from the neck down to the tail.

They are strict adherents of their ancient laws, demanding other dragons follow their edicts and respect them. Weaker dragons will often be forced to obey, only as a temporary solution to keep the threat the iron dragon poses at bay. They rule over their domain with an iron fist, demanding respect from all creatures who know of their existence. They hide from humanoid races, preferring to rule them from the shadows. This scheming often gets them into conflict with purple dragons, but their superior strength usually gets them to back off.

They sustain themselves by eating iron ore, building their lairs near large iron deposits in the mountains or underground. They often come into conflict dwarves or anyone else who finds their ore deposits and will move in search of another lair when these deposits inevitably run dry.

They prefer to subdue their targets and imprison them, seeing living creature as a more useful asset than corpses. They are known to use their minions to fight alongside them, rarely fighting alone. They are not afraid of death and will only retreat if they are certain they will lose, preferring to sit back as their minions fight their battles if they think they are in any real risk of harm.

They are known to amass a modest army of cultists and half-dragons. They will often have disguised cultists as bodyguards whenever they go out to do spying, as well as keeping the iron dragon informed as to what is occurring in its domain. They are also known to have powerful Hodekin as their trusted advisors and generals, having more of them on average compared to other ferrous dragons.

Mountain dwelling dragons such as the silver, red, and white dragon will either exterminate the iron dragon or leave once they learn of their presence. Silver dragons especially are known to despise iron dragons that nest in their territory, often getting the help of adventurers in order to help them slay them if they aren’t powerful enough to do it themselves.

They have the ability to use telepathy, this starts when they are wyrmlings and grows as they get older. They have two breath weapons, one is a cloud of sleep gas and the other is a cone of blazing hot sparks. These sparks do plasma and heat damage, burning so hot it ignores resistances. They are immune to heat and flame and can polymorph three times a day.

Cobalt Dragon

If iron dragons are kings, then cobalt dragons are bandit captains and marauding warchiefs. They gather diverse crews of loyal followers, who they give a small sliver of their loot. They are diabolical schemers, but rather than plots and intrigue they are dirty fighters and criminals. They will organize heists and raids, using their spellcasting abilities to confuse and subdue anyone opposing their schemes.

They are smaller than most dragons, only being medium sized by the time they reach adulthood. But they make up for this by being nimble in the air and on the ground. They have a long and flexible chain-like tail which they use to attack opponents from a safe distance. They have a breath weapon of magnetic energy that can fling enemies away or pull them into its mouth. Enemies wearing metal armor made of ferrous materials like iron are especially vulnerable to this effect, getting flung further and pulled in faster. This will also affect any ferrous objects nearby, slamming them into other creatures.

Their minions have a preference towards firearms (or crossbows if firearms are unavailable) and explosives, laying on supporting fire while the cobalt dragon fights on. Their Hodekin are known fight alongside them as well guard their airships while they are away. Their crews are diverse, as they will accept many creatures into their crew as long they prove their loyalty and strength to their clan leader. Cobalt Dragons have a sense of camaraderie with their minions compared to other dragons, giving them respect as long as they pull their weight.

Despite their way of life they are lawful evil rather than chaotic evil, this is because they not only respect the laws of their race but also the law of their crew. They and their crew are bound same laws, making an oath of complete loyalty to one another. They will never break their oath, mourning the death of every crew member that passes and showing them the proper respect as their oath decrees.

Their lairs are mobile, taking the form of massive wooden ships. Some of these ships are heirlooms that are potentially dating back to the days of their old empire, while most have to settle with stolen ships. Entire clans will inhabit these ships, having a collective horde that belongs to every member. In order to avoid being targeted by other creatures they will often disguise themselves as a normal ship, using their minions to drive the ship while they hide under the deck.

Titanium Dragon

The tacticians and commanders of the ferrous dragons.

Silicon Dragon

Masters of industry and trade, they were once the stewards and merchants of the ferrous empire. They preferr to control things from the shadows, building commerical empires and amassing wealth through economic domination.

Their scales are flat and smooth, starting out as pure white but becoming reflective once they reach adulthood. Their pure black horns are short and curl back on their heads, growing thicker they get older. Their anatomy is comparable to a bear, as they are round and stocky with shorter limbs and stubby necks. They are known to wear ornate jewelry all over their body, making up for their bland appearance.

Their business practices are incredibly predatory, using contracts and legal loopholes in order to control the market. They will often buy out and suppress local guilds in order to gain a monopoly in the region, as a result some nations outright illegalize trading with them. As a result silicon dragons tend to target desperate kingdoms undergoing economic depression, promising them vast economic growth and making deals with their leaders.

Silicon dragons will do anything to make money. Many groups will often come to them for funding, the silicon dragon making them do its bidding in return. They are known fund both sides of large wars, pay off the guards of cities in order to spread their influence, and even construct more factories once their influence has reached its peak.

Silicon dragon clans follow what they call the family business, working together to keep their economic empire alive. Despite being incredibly opportunistic they are held by their ferrous dragon laws to stay in their lane and will often use their influence to serve more powerful iron dragons.

Their lairs are giant factories, inherited by their ancestors who built them during the days of the ferrous empire. Located in the mountains, these factories are run by kobolds who use the natural mineral deposits of the mountain to create goods to sell.

They eat gold and silver to survive, preferring to eat them in the form of coins as a show of wealth. Unlike other dragons this is the only thing they can eat, anything else making them sick. Their breath weapon is a shower of molten gold and silver, created from their unique diet. This substance hardens after 10 seconds, trapping anyone covered or standing in it.

Tungsten Dragon

Calculating, self-righteous, and efficient. Tungsten dragons are morally good, but in a “the ends justify the means” kind of way. They are masters of order, keeping their subordinates in check and giving swift and deadly punishment for any wrongdoers. Tungsten dragons are known to spend most of their time polymorphed as humanoid kings and leaders, ruling during the day and disappearing to enact punishment as a dragon during the night. They were originally enforcers for the ferrous empire but began this practice after the Swordbreaker War, as they collectively decided they didn’t want to serve as the enforcers of iron dragons any longer. Some tungsten dragons still serve in this traditional role, but they are few and far between and usually exclusive to the most powerful and ancient iron dragons.

They will create complex fabricated lives for their humanoid personas, keeping people unaware of their true form. Sometimes they will fake the death of their persona and will create a new persona claiming to be a distant relative or child. Their half-dragon spawn have the natural ability to appear as the race of their mother, keeping up the illusion that the tungsten dragon is a normal humanoid creature. Tungsten dragons will almost always attempt to silence anyone who knows about their true nature, usually by killing them.

They have a breath weapon of metallic dust which deals slashing damage and blinds anything caught in the blast. They are known to lair underneath whatever castle they rule in when disguised as a humanoid, their lairs are simple and humble as they prefer to stay in their humanoid form and their secret lair is only there to store their horde.

Nickel Dragon

Small yet ferocious, the cruel and unpredictable Nickel dragon is a malevolent trickster. They love to cause

Their breath weapon is a cloud of acidic vapor, which causes painful burns. Their body is surrounded by a miasma which causes a painful allergic reaction to any creatures nearby, causing exhaustion for every ten seconds a creature stands in range of the miasma.

Draconic Creatures

Wooden Dragon

An artificer’s magnum opus, it is a colossal construct that is made of wood and metal constructed over the course of years in order to be perfect weapon of war. It cannot act on its own, instead being a vehicle that must be piloted by someone. It is fueled by a fire elemental, which allows their many joints to move using steam power. Piloting a wooden dragon is no easy task, and it often takes months of time to learn how to pilot one.

Despite being a vehicle it is sentient, and will often speak to its driver and correct the pilots movements in order to prevent itself from crashing. Wooden dragons are completely loyal to whoever is driving them at that moment, having no qualms or hesitation on killing creatures it was formerly aligned with. Their intelligence is incredibly simple, often need to have basic concepts explained to them and being generally apathetic and cold. Over time however, if they bond enough with a particular pilot they can become more intelligent and develop a permanent loyalty to the pilot.

The can use a breath weapon of fire that is identical to that of a red dragon, however some artificers will implement different breath weapons if they so wish. Wooden dragons are also often used as bombers, being able to drop explosives from up in the sky down on any unsuspecting targets.

Wooden dragons are weak in direct combat, having an easier time staying in the air and attacking from afar. When they are destroyed, the fire elemental inside goes critical and causes the whole construct to explode in a blaze of fury. This explosion almost always kills the pilot, if the initial burns from the explosion don’t get you the fall will.

Races

Half-Dragon

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