The topaz dragon is a volatile and almost paradoxical creature. Living an isolated life in coastal caves and tunnels, the topaz is the only gem dragon that will voluntarily live near a large body of water. Living on a diet of pure fish and aquatic mammals, the topaz dragon has little interest in the more land-bound territories dominated by its draconic kin.
A topaz dragon is the most "typically" shaped of all the gems, its scales sculpted in smooth, flat curves that gently encircle its body and wings that, while they glisten in the light unnaturally, are still distinctly draconic without any protruding gem formations or growths jutting randomly from them. The only oddities about them are the fin-like protrusions that stick from the top of their heads and jut towards their spines, which helps make the topaz dragon more water-dynamic, and the lance-like spikes that protrude from the sides of their tails, which they use to hunt sharks, dolphins and other large aquatic creatures that live within their territory. When they are young their scales are a murky, almost milky auburn that slowly darkens and shines as they grow older, the surface becoming a transparent golden-amber. Their scales are some of the thinnest among dragon kind, allowing them to be more flexible at the cost of their protective hide, though their physical training and dominance allows them to mostly compensate for this loss.

Physical pride The topaz dragon is not a studied or particularly charismatic creature, content with what knowledge they can gain naturally and not really caring about any lesser creature or culture. Instead, the topaz dragon prides itself as being one of the quickest, most reflexive of all draconic kind, its body a finely honed machine that can react to any threat with a primal, ferocious rage. They enjoy displaying this physical superiority if given the slightest excuse, using it to "deal" with their intruders and prey. Usually they rely on non-lethal force for clearly outclassed foes, wanting them to spread tales of the dragon's glory and power so that no one is foolish enough to come and try to fight the topaz in their lair. The dragon's psionic energies are bent in helping achieve this physical dominance, used to realign and heal the great beast in the midst of combat, and making the blows of lesser beings have less impact.

Extremely reclusive The topaz dragon actually hates interacting with other beings, even other dragons of their color. Other beings are too talkative, too foolish, too greedy, too prideful or too rancid with their unique scents for the dragon to stand their presence for more than mere hours, and the dragon takes extreme measures to ensure that no one decides to force their company on them. They build their lairs in underwater air pockets contained within caverns deep below the water's surface, they start and spread rumors of a hostile monster to drive away potential settlers from their lands, and they attack all vessels that dare sail across their territory, especially fishing ships that could potentially harm their food supply. Really, the only people that the dragon would get along with are monks who have taken a vow of silence, and who allow themselves to be licked "clean" by the dragon each day or swished around in the dragon's maw to eliminate their scents... so very, very few people over all.

Moisture abhorrence: A topaz dragon, for all of its love of the sea's spray and their choice of lair location, absolutely hates getting wet. In fact, in ascending order of what the topaz dragon hates least to what the dragon hates most, getting wet is second only to congenial halflings and brass dragons. To this end, their psionic energies are bent to the command of moisture, and their breath is designed to sap water from the air and dehydrate anything within it. Most of these modifications are used to keep themselves as dry as possible, and the dragon has developed a rather shocking resilience to necrotic energies from it, but they can also be turned on intruders, leading to quite the nasty hazards and gruesome deaths of those who dare invade the dragon's lair.

Begrudging friendship If the topaz dragon is bested or assisted by a mortal, they might grant a very, very begrudging boon to them. Often something minor, but definitely useful. If the mortal refuses to accept this boon or force the dragon into their service, a topaz dragon will begin to become curious about them, and slowly begin to accept and sometimes even welcome the mortal's presence. Rare is the mortal that can claim to be a topaz dragon's friend, and if one can truly lay claim to such a boon they will benefit from the topaz dragon's deeply suppressed nurturing and protective instincts, and gain a defender that that will jealously protect them beyond all reason.

A topaz dragon's lair is located within a coastal cavern, its entrance underwater and the main chambers in a large, dry underground refuge. The lair is often secure, with only the aquatic entrance leading into it, and any smaller entrances act as mere air holes that are too small for most other creatures to crawl through. The dragon keeps very few markings within its lair, and the tunnels it makes are often winding and chaotic, designed to confuse intruders and either force them to wander around until the dragon returns and takes care of them, or to frustrate them enough that they leave.

Lair actions
On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the dragon takes a lair action to cause one of the following effects.

• The dragon drains all moisture from a line of land, creating a dehydrating, debilitating wall. The dragon makes a line that is 50 feet long and 5 feet wide that is built in 10 foot contiguous sections as the dragon desires. Creatures who start their turn in this wall or who move through it for the first time on their turn must make a DC 15 constitution saving throw or be dealt 14 (4d6) necrotic damage and have their remaining movement reduced by 15 feet. On a successful save, the creature is dealt half as much damage and their movement is not reduced. Creatures immune to necrotic damage automatically succeed on this saving throw. This wall remains until the dragon uses its next lair action or the dragon dies.
• The dragon rapidly dehydrates a target creature, draining them of their stamina. One target creature is forced to make a DC 15 constitution saving throw, being dealt 14 (4d6) necrotic damage and suffering from one level of exhaustion on a failed saving throw. On a successful saving throw, the target suffers half damage and they do not suffer any exhaustion.
• The dragon releases some of the moisture it has absorbed in an aquatic pulse, knocking creatures away from a target point before the water rapidly evaporates once more. Creatures within 50 feet of the target point must make a DC 15 strength saving throw, and on a failed save they are pushed 30 feet straight away from the point of origin. The dragon automatically passes this saving throw.

Regional effects
A legendary topaz dragon's lair is warped by the dragon's magic, creating one or more of the following effects.

• Their lair is bone-dry, despite its watery entrance. Non-magical liquid will evaporate and disappear within five minutes of becoming exposed to this air unless the liquid's container is brought out of the lair. Water within a mile of the lair itself will feel strangely dry.
• The lair will feel strangely off, as if the energies are slightly unbalanced and discordant, and (if the dragon has its way) will make those that spend too long in the lair nauseous, and give intruders an urgent desire to leave.
• The stone of the lair will become encrusted with yellow and orange gem, multi-faceted and glowing brightly. Any aquatic beast that comes in contact with this stone will become mentally connected with the Topaz dragon, who can use this connection to hunt the creature, and to temporarily look through their eyes and scout out the area around its lair.