Legendary Resistance (3/Day). If the dragon fails a saving throw, it can choose to succeed instead.
Living Shadow. While in dim light or darkness, the dragon has resistance to damage that isn't force, psychic, or radiant.
Shadow Stealth. While in dim light or darkness, the dragon can take the Hide action as a bonus action.
Sunlight Sensitivity. While in sunlight, the dragon has disadvantage on attack rolls, as well as on Perception checks relying on sight.
Innate Spellcasting. The dragon can innately cast the following spells once per day, requiring no material components (spell save DC 19, +11 to hit with spell attack rolls):
1/day each: Danse Macabre, Shadow of Moil, Negative Energy Flood, Circle of Death, Enervation
Multiattack. The dragon can use its Frightful Presence. It then makes three attacks: one with its bite and two with its claws.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +14 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 19 (2d10 + 8) piercing damage plus 7 (2d6) necrotic damage.
Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +14 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 15 (2d6 + 8) slashing damage.
Tail. Melee Weapon Attack: +14 to hit, reach 15 ft., one target. Hit: 17 (2d8 + 8) bludgeoning damage.
Frightful Presence. Each creature of the dragon's choice that is within 120 feet of the dragon and aware of it must succeed on a DC 19 Wisdom saving throw or become frightened for 1 minute. A creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. If a creature's saving throw is successful or the effect ends for it, the creature is immune to the dragon's Frightful Presence for the next 24 hours.
Shadow Breath (Recharge 5–6). The dragon exhales fire in a 60-foot cone. Each creature in that area must make a DC 21 Dexterity saving throw, taking 63 (18d6) necrotic damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. A humanoid reduced to 0 hit points by this damage dies, and an undead Shadow rises from its corpse and acts immediately after the dragon in the initiative count. The Shadow is under the dragon's control.
The dragon can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature's turn. The dragon regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn.
Detect. The dragon makes a Wisdom (Perception) check.
Tail Attack. The dragon makes a tail attack.
Wing Attack (Costs 2 Actions). The dragon beats its wings. Each creature within 10 feet of the dragon must succeed on a DC 22 Dexterity saving throw or take 15 (2d6 + 8) bludgeoning damage and be knocked prone. The dragon can then fly up to half its flying speed.
Description
An adult red shadow dragon features the same physical characteristics as normal red dragons, with the exception of translucent wings, charcoal scales, and a generally wispy appearance, as if made from shadow.
Lair and Lair Actions
A Red Shadow Dragon’s Lair
Red shadow dragons make their homes in places like those of their non-shadow counterparts. In the Shadowfell, they find shady mountains covered in black clouds of poisonous gasses. These creatures lair in dark caverns, and their need for heat is replaced with a craving for intense darkness.
With its hoard well protected deep within the lair, a red dragon spends as much of its time outside the mountain as in it. For a red dragon, the great heights of the world are the throne from which it can look out to survey all it controls—and the wider world it seeks to control.
Throughout the lair complex, servants erect monuments to the dragon’s power, telling the grim story of its life, the enemies it has slain, and the nations it has conquered.
Lair Actions
On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the dragon takes a lair action to cause one of the following effects; the dragon can’t use the same effect two rounds in a row:
- A geyser of necrotic energy erupts from a point on the ground the dragon can see within 120 feet of it, creating a 20-foot-high, 5-foot-radius geyser. Each creature in the geyser’s area must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw, taking 21 (6d6) necrotic damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
- A cloud of shadow fills a 20-foot-radius sphere centered on a point the dragon can see within 120 feet of it. While in this cloud, a creature is Blinded. If a creature ends it's turn while within the cloud, it must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or take 11 (2d10) necrotic damage, or half as much on a successful save.
- Shadow surrounds the head of a creature the dragon can see within 120 feet of it. The creature must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or be stunned until the end of it's next turn.
Regional Effects
The region containing a legendary red shadow dragon’s lair is warped by the dragon’s magic, which creates one or more of the following effects:
- The land is supernaturally dark within 6 miles of the lair, and the sky is perpetually filled with thick black clouds.
- Plants within 1 mile of the lair wither and die, and water sources are polluted.
- Undead roam the landscape within 1 mile of the lair, specifically shadows are the most common.
If the dragon dies, these effects fade over the course of 1d10 days.
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