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Month Index: June, 2003
From: Adam Miller <nghtdrud@??????.net> Date: Tue, 17 Jun 2003 18:56:12 -0500 Subject: Re: New Critter: Sunrise Dragon
Heyall,
don't think I've posted this yet; its been sitting on my computer
for ages. Figured might as well post it :) Hope everyone enjoys! :)
Sunrise Dragon
Dragon (Fire)
Climate/Terrain: Space castles, asteroids
Organization: Wyrmling, very young, young, juvenile, and young adult:
solitary or clutch (2-5); adult, mature adult, old, very old, ancient,
wrym, or great wrym: solitary, pair, family (1-2 and 2-5 offspring), or
clan (10-40 adults, 4-10 offspring).
Challenge Rating: Wyrmling, very young, young, juvenile, young adult,
adult, mature adult, old, very old, ancient, wrym, or great wrym
Treasure: Double standard
Alignment: Always lawful
Advancement: Wyrmling 6-7 HD, very young 9-10 HD, young 12-13 HD,
juvenile 15-16 HD, young adult 18-19 HD, adult 21-22 HD, mature adult
24-25 HD, old 27-28 HD, very old 30-31 HD, ancient 33-34 HD, wrym 36-37
HD, or great wrym 39+ HD
One of the most sociable dragon species ever are the sunrise dragons.
Crafting cities for themselves and their followers, the sunrise dragons
are only encountered in wildspace close to hot fire bodies. A few
revert to a more selfish and hateful nature and will use their abilities
and followers to gain wealth and power.
Sunrise dragons are a breed of dragons that emerged from unions between
red and brass dragons. The dragons departed their homeworld generations
ago and found a new home in wildspace. To survive in such a harsh
environment, sunrise dragons developed strong family ties and built
their first citadels.
At birth, sunrise dragon's scales are a dull rust-red color.
Hatchlings are kept near the nest until they reach the very young age
category, though they have little to fear from predators. As the dragon
ages, it's scales take on a warm orange color along their underbelly. A
sunrise dragon's back darken to a purple color, leaving a band of red
along its sides that blends with its back and underbelly. They have a
trio of horned head plates of deep crimson color with small horns. As
the dragon ages, the horns grow into a distinctive shape that easily
identifies each individual dragon. Their wings are a deep blue color
that lighten to maroon at the edges. The pupils of a sunrise dragon
fade as it ages; the oldest dragons have eyes that resemble a deep red
rising sun.
Sunrise dragons lair in cities of their own design that orbit close to
fire bodies. They love the heat and dry climate being so close to a sun
provides, which is at the very least uncomfortable to humans. Cities
with large human populations will orbit farther away from the sun to
make life more comfortable for their non-dragon residents. Their cities
sport several large, flat platforms where the dragons can sun themselves
for hours on end. Spelljammers sometimes mistake these platforms for
docks, much to the dragons' annoyance. The cities are overgrown with
plants of all sorts to both refresh the atmosphere and to provide food
for their herd animals.
Sunrise dragons are natural carnivores, though they require
surprisingly little food. Their preferred food is krajen, which they
enjoy hunting. Most cities raise large herds of domestic animals such
as sheep, cattle, or rothe as a supplementary to their diets.
Because they do not share territories with many other dragons, sunrise
dragons have few conflicts with other dragons. Their relations with
radiant dragons are mixed, with some radiant dragons welcomed in sunrise
dragon cities, while other radiant dragons are hated enemies of those
same cities. They are on good standing with sun dragons and sometimes
invite those creatures into their cities. They usually welcome the rare
metallic and gem dragons in space, but chromatic dragons are coldly
received.
Combat
Sunrise dragons are surprisingly passive creatures, not liking to engage
in physical combat. Instead, they rather allow their followers and
guards to engage in physical combat. Only if an opponent proves too
much for their guards will a sunrise dragon enter melee.
Sunrise dragons usually attack en-mass, calling in all dragons in range
to join in. They will use their claws and bite attacks to eliminate
weak, isolated foes and their breath weapon to destroy large groups of
creatures quickly. They will gang up on strong opponents, attempting to
rend them apart with their claws and breath weapons. Older dragons will
use their sleep breath weapon and natural fear-ability to scatter and
neutralize weak foes like sailors and hired marines. Any prisoners
taken are given the option of joining the ranks as followers, slaves, or
food.
Breath Weapon (Su): A sunrise dragon has two types of breath weapons.
The first is a line of fire and the second is a cone of sleep gas. Any
creature inside the cone of sleep gas must make a will save or enter a
deep slumber for 1 round per age category of the dragon.
Fire Subtype (Ex): The dragon gains immunity to fire and suffers double
damage from cold attacks on a failed save.
Create Elements (Sp): Once per day, a sunrise dragon can create roughly
1,000 cubic feet of material per age category of the dragon that it can
mold into any shape it desires. The dragon must concentrate for 10
minutes to make use of this ability, making it difficult to use in
combat. If used to create fire, it vanishes quickly but will cause 1d8
points of damage per age category of the dragon to any creature caught
in the area of effect. The dragon can use this ability to create their
cities, creating stone building blocks, filling water reservoirs, and
refresh the air about the city.
Voidflight (Ex): Once the sunrise dragon reaches Ancient status, it can
travel in wildspace as if it were a radiant dragon. The dragon can
travel 100 million miles a day and can travel for up to one day per
point of constitution score before requiring rest. After a long
journey, the dragon needs to rest at least four hours per day of travel,
including sleep, food, and water.
Summon Djinni (Sp): A sunset dragon may summon a djinni once per day, as
per the summon monster spell. The dragon can summon only one djinni per
summons, who will serve the dragon faithfully.
Spell-Like Abilities: 3/day - polymorph self; 1/day - suggestion
Attack Fort Ref Will
Age Size Hit Dice (hp) AC Bonus Save Save Save
Wyrmling S 6d12 15 (+1 size, +4 natural) +7 +5 +4 +5
Very young M 9d12 17 (+7 natural) +11 +8 +6 +7
Young M 12d12 20 (+10 natural) +15 +9 +7 +9
Juvenile L 15d12 22 (-1 size, +13 natural) +18 +12 +9 +12
Young adult L 18d12 25 (-1 size, +16 natural) +22 +14 +10 +13
Adult H 21d12 27 (-2 size, +19 natural) +26 +17 +12 +16
Mature Adult H 24d12 30 (-2 size, +22 natural) +30 +18 +13 +17
Old H 27d12 33 (-2 size, +25 natural) +35 +21 +15 +20
Very old H 30d12 36 (-2 size, +28 natural) +39 +23 +16 +22
Ancient G 33d12 37 (-4 size, +31 natural) +41 +26 +18 +25
Wrym G 36d12 40 (-4 size, +34 natural) +45 +28 +19 +27
Great wyrm G 39d12 43 (-4 size, +37 natural) +49 +30 +21 +30
Breath Fear
Age Weapon (DC) DC SR Speed Str Dex Con Wyrmling 2d6 (13) -- -- 40
ft., fly 100 ft. (average) 12 10 13
Very young 4d6 (16) -- -- 40 ft., fly 150 ft. (poor) 14 10 15
Young 6d6 (17) -- -- 40 ft., fly 150 ft. (poor) 16 10 15
Juvenile 8d6 (20) -- -- 40 ft., fly 150 ft. (poor) 18 10 17
Young adult 10d6 (22) 20 19 40 ft., fly 150 ft. (poor) 20 10 19
Adult 12d6 (25) 23 21 40 ft., fly 150 ft. (poor) 24 10 21
Mature Adult 14d6 (26) 24 22 40 ft., fly 150 ft. (poor) 27 10 21
Old 16d6 (29) 27 24 40 ft., fly 150 ft. (poor) 30 10 23
Very old 18d6 (30) 28 25 40 ft., fly 150 ft. (poor) 33 10 25
Ancient 20d6 (33) 31 27 40 ft., fly 200 ft. (clumsy) 35 10 27
Wrym 22d6 (35) 32 28 40 ft., fly 200 ft. (clumsy) 37 10 29
Great wyrm 24d6 (37) 35 30 40 ft., fly 200 ft. (clumsy) 39 10 29
Age Int Wis Cha Special Abilities Caster Level
Wyrmling 10 11 13 Fire subtype --
Very young 10 11 13 --
Young 12 13 15 --
Juvenile 12 13 15 Polymorph self --
Young adult 14 15 17 Damage reduction 5/+1 1st
Adult 14 15 17 Suggestion 3rd
Mature Adult 16 17 19 Damage reduction 10/+2 5th
Old 16 17 19 Create Elements 7th
Very old 18 19 21 Damage reduction 15/+2 9th
Ancient 18 19 21 Voidflight 11th
Wrym 20 21 23 Damage reduction 20/+3 13th
Great wyrm 20 21 23 Summon Djinni 15th
Sunrise Dragon Society
Sunrise dragons organize themselves families (newly established cities)
or clans (well established and old cities). They use their Create
Element ability to craft enormous cities for themselves in orbit about a
large fire body. These cities take the shape of dozens of discs melded
together at the edge with buildings, gardens, and temples upon the flat
surfaces. The dragons constantly enlarge their cities, such that over
several generations a city can grow into a small island. The larger
discs are at the center of the city while smaller discs are at the
city's parameter. The cities never stop growing, and in time may become
large islands supporting a varied ecosystem. The dragons have found
great value in humans and demihumans as servants and guards. A typical
city will have at least 10 humans and demihumans per dragon, sometimes
more. The non-dragon population include dragon worshippers, servants,
artisans, and even slaves. Because of their close contact with
non-dragons, half-dragons are common, typically the most favored
servants of the dragons. The dragons will seek out young human and
demihuman females for the express purpose of producing half-dragons to
act as their guards and worshippers.
If the dragon population grows larger than 50 dragons, several young
dragons will depart the city to found a new one. This new city may
orbit the same fire body that the parent city orbits, or it may be in a
new sphere altogether. Long established clans may be spread out over a
dozen or more cities orbiting the same fire body, able to call upon one
another for mutual defense or to oppress nearby worlds. It is also
possible for two cities to orbit the same sun be bitter rivals, each
constantly working to undo the other. The dragons will use 'hired
swords' (read: adventurers) to make conduct raids, spy on, and generally
make life miserable for the rival city.
To protect themselves from the predators and pirates of wildspace, the
dragon cities will field a navy of spelljammers crewed by their most
fanatical guards and sometimes carries a polymorphed dragon. A typical
city can put as many as 5 spelljammers into space, though most cities
have only half as many ships. Ship designs favored by the sunrise
dragons include dragonships, squidships, hammerships, and battle
dolphins. In general, the dragons favor large, heavy ships that can
carry a ample guards and numerous weapons. If a city is directly
attacked, every dragon and non-dragon will take up arms against the
invaders. A fighting force of nearly fifty dragons backed up by a
fanatical army is more than enough to terrify even the largest invasion
force!
Dragon cities are varied in their politics. Some cities are benign
trading outposts for spelljammers, others are monasteries for
philosophers and pilgrims, and others still are cruel strongholds for
draconic warlords who extend their rule far beyond the walls of their
cities. Spelljammers need to be wary when visiting a sunrise dragon
city and be aware of all laws the city imposes. Entanglement in the
Byzantine legal system of the sunrise dragons is something most
travelers will wish to avoid. Even the most lawful good dragon city
will have an extremely complicated legal system with many eccentric laws
and procedures.
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