Once the pandemic is over and we’re able to play D&D in-person again, you’ll want to have your first game back be one to remember. If you play with maps and minis, there’s no better way to make a session memorable than to plant a gigantic monster miniature on the table and give your players the fight of their lives.
WizKids has just released (or made available for pre-order) a trio of hulking dragon miniatures that will have your players’ characters running for cover! Take a look at some photos of these monsters, and learn how you might be able to use them in your campaign!
Adult White Dragon
The most common of the three new dragon miniatures is the adult white dragon. Clocking in at CR 13, the adult white dragon is an excellent boss monster to challenge adventurers at the high end of tier 2 or the low end of tier 3.
White dragons are the most bestial of the chromatic dragons. They lack the intelligence of their other chromatic kin, but they do possess a certain bestial cunning. It’s easy to imagine an adventuring party being hunted by an adult dragon and their young through an icy wasteland.
An adult white dragon appears not once, but twice in the Tyranny of Dragons saga. The first, Glazhael the Cloudchaser, appears at the end of Hoard of the Dragon Queen. The second, a mighty dragon known as Old White Death, can be found within his iceberg lair in the early chapters of Rise of Tiamat.
This miniature is massive compared to adult white dragon miniatures from previous editions. Its intimidating size is sure to make an impression!
You can pre-order this miniature from WizKids’s website.
Sapphire Dragon
Last year, for D&D’s 45th anniversary (the “sapphire anniversary”), Wizards of the Coast released special statistics for the mighty sapphire dragon.
The sapphire dragon's game statistics were originally bundled with an incredibly expensive commemorative dice set with a real sapphire embedded in the d20! Fortunately, you don't need to shell out hundreds of dollars to get the sapphire dragon’s game statistics on D&D Beyond.
Sapphire dragons are living gemstones imbued with immense psionic power. They are also lawful neutral, meaning that they could be either ally or enemy for a group of adventurers—no matter their alignment.
At CR 15, an adult sapphire dragon could be a truly mighty boss monster for tier 3 adventurers to test their mettle against.
You can buy this miniature on WizKids’s website.
Chardalyn Dragon
Monstrous and enormous beyond any dragon miniature seen since the dawn of fifth edition D&D, the chardalyn dragon is a truly terrifying foe found within the upcoming adventure Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden.
This dragon is a construct crafted from chardalyn, a mysterious substance that is cold as black ice and yet harder than steel. This unsettling magical material can be found scattered across the snowy wastes of Icewind Dale.
The chardalyn dragon is suffused with evil magic, and its malevolence radiates from its icy body to corrupt those around it. If your characters fight this creature in Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden, this truly colossal miniature will make a huge impact.
Even though this creature’s size is Gargantuan (it occupies a 4-by-4-square area), its base size is bigger to support its massive size. There’s a white line drawn in a ring in the middle of the dragon’s clear plastic base to show you where its “true” space is. This lets miniatures move onto its base without entering its space, so the fight keeps running smoothly.
You can pre-order this miniature from WizKids’s website.
Get ready for icy adventures in Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden by preordering the digital version on D&D Beyond, and get free preorder bonuses like the Glacial Digital Dice Set.
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James Haeck is the lead writer for D&D Beyond, the co-author of Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus, and the Critical Role Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, a member of the Guild Adepts, and a freelance writer for Wizards of the Coast, the D&D Adventurers League, and other RPG companies. He lives in Seattle, Washington with his fiancée Hannah and their animal companions Mei and Marzipan. You can find him wasting time on Twitter at @jamesjhaeck.
So I thought we were finally getting accurately sized dragons from WizKids? These things wouldn't fit in a 4x4 square if they were standing straight up on their tails.
Gargantuan doesn’t only mean 4x4. It’s 4x4 and beyond
The 4x4 square isn't really accurate to their size though, it's just the area they occupy for fighting purposes. A roc has a 100ft wing span but you can put it in a 4x4, it just wouldn't be an accurate representation.
Wow. That's... big.
Basically, their wings are above the ground and out of reach. Although I would probably use the full base to represent the last one’s space, just to show how huge it is.
Did they ever make a Green Dragon in this size?
#NEEDCHARLATAN
OMG they look so cool!
My understanding is that WizKids will be releasing a full line of adult chromatic dragons in 2021 and beyond. The adult white is the first of this line.
The problem is that adult dragons are only huge which is 3x3. The white and sapphire dragon minis (models really) are supposed to be adult dragons but don't even come close to fitting in a 4x4. They're all cool models but trying to use them at the table will be more hassle than it's worth. At least when the dragons were under-scaled you could still use them for more that decorations on your shelf.
Personally, I love the size of these dragons! They seem properly intimidating at this scale. Because they're sculpted in flight and raised above the ground, their size (esp. their vast wingspan) doesn't interfere with moving minis underneath them.
the dragons are a little big but personally I think they look great! Also the bases underneath are only that large to keep the mini upright and properly balanced, they have a smaller inner ring that represents the actual space that it is supposed to take up on a game board.
What battle map is used in the pictures of the white dragon? I need it!
It's from Tactical Maps Reincarnated, a set of 20 poster maps! You can get them digitally on the D&D Beyond Marketplace, or physically through Amazon or your local gaming store.
awesome
These are ridiculous. I don't have much of a minis collection yet, but one day...
I gotta agree that they are a bit too big.
Like, I have the spell effects mini sets, and something like force cage would never fit over that white dragon, even though it should technically fit in the cage.
Or even, on the bigger ones with the inner ring showing their "true" size for rules, sure you can move your minis onto the outer part of the base because it's clear, but what about 3D terrain features? The chardalyn dragon won't be fitting on my 4d settings stone bridge any time soon...
The whole point of using minis over theater-of-the-mind is to be more tactical, so it's strange that they don't function well in a tactical way :/
I think they would work perfectly as an ancient dragons but that still leaves no adult. And apparently WizKids are planning on releasing ancient dragons. I can't even imagine how big that would be but I'm pretty sure I'd have to look around it to see the players on the other side of the table...
You should make another one with the other new miniatures like the frost giant skeleton. Also maybe include some new content like the Hero's Feast cookbook.
Here's the prototype sitting on 1 inch squares!
Sweet. I have all the old colossal Chromatics It will be nice to finally finish off a set of all 5 core colors.