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.
There, now I feel better!
dang
is it too early to start thinking about festivus? (christmas alternative)
I have to agree that their size may be a bit much...I understand that they can be bigger and all that, but thinking about use makes their size a bit too much.
I get the wings being big but still...
I think one of the limitations of D&D sizes us the fact we imagine the entirety of a creature fitting into that little #x# box. Logically something like a dragon or purple worm should be a long rectangle.
Nice
Got to see the Adult White and Sapphire dragons at the game store yesterday. I like the white dragon, but already have one in my collection. The Sapphire dragon, I was excited about, but it just looks cheesy. The sculpt isn't sharp like the every other dragon. Highly disappointed in it, and won't be getting it like I had planned. Ended up getting the Pathfinder Deep Cuts Skeletal Dragon for less than half the cost of these new ones.
For my birthday this month (September), my mother in law thought it would be appropriate to gift me the beautiful Sapphire Dragon mini and a few bucks to buy the stat block. The mini came from a local shop, and it's gorgeous. That's not my issue.
The stat block is... underwhelming. Much of it is okay, but
"Debilitating Breath (Recharge 5–6). The dragon exhales a pulse of high-pitched, nearly inaudible sound in a 60-foot cone. Each creature in that cone must make a DC 18 Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, the creature takes 45 (13d6) thunder damage and is incapacitated until the end of its next turn. On a successful save, the creature takes half as much damage and isn’t incapacitated."
*So its thing is Psionics, but it doesn't do Psychic damage with its breath weapon - which I would think of as kind of a 'Brown Noise' sonic attack instead of a modified Thunderwave.*
"Telekinetic Fling. The dragon chooses a Small or smaller object that isn’t being worn or carried that it can see within 60 feet of it, and it magically hurls the object at a creature it can see within 60 feet of the object. The target must succeed on a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw or take 14 (4d6) bludgeoning damage."
*this "Legendary" action is basically a small mod of the Magic Stone cantrip, instead of using its actual Telekinesis spell (I can imagine this beast slinging actual boulders inside its lair like Darth Vader or some Jedi masters -and they're not even Dragons).*
Teleport (Costs 2 Actions). The dragon magically teleports to an unoccupied space it can see within 30 feet of it.
*so this adult dragon in all its enormity can... Misty Step? For the cost of 2 entire Actions, an adult Dragon does something that costs other creatures a Bonus Action. It already moves 40ft per round, so what's the point in this Legendary action? Looking at the base on my mini, I can see how 30 feet of instant movement would be more like a Dodge, which still only costs but 1 Action.*
I can clearly see my DM taking many liberties with this monster to bring it up to par with other adult dragons we've faced.
I hope this entry gets an Errata soon. Thanks for your time.
Legendary actions are not normal actions. They are actions that a legendary creature takes outside of its own turn, immediately after another creature's turn.
On its turn, the dragon takes its move, it action, and any bonus action. It can take one reaction if one is triggered. Then, after another creature takes its turn, it can spend one or more legendary action.
So, in one round of combat, the dragon uses (frightful presence, bite attack, claw attack) or (breath weapon) or (casts a 1-action casting time spell), and then, in addition, it uses its Legendary actions. If a reaction (like an opportunity attack) is triggered, it also takes that.
Because they happen so often, and happened outside the legendary creature's own turn, legendary actions are rarely as substantial as the actions it takes on its turn.
aren't dragons huge?