Amphibious. The dragon can breathe air and water.
Spider Climb. The dragon can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check.
Sunlight Hypersensitivity. The dragon takes 20 radiant damage when it starts its turn in sunlight. While in sunlight, it has disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks.
Vampiric Curse. While not undead itself, the dragon is susceptible to effects that turn undead. In addition, spells and effects that grant protection from undead (Protection from Evil and Good, for example) also grant protection against the dragon.
Multiattack. The dragon makes three attacks: one with its bite and two with its claws.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 15 (2d10 + 4) piercing damage plus 4 (1d8) necrotic damage. The target’s hit point maximum is reduced by an amount equal to the necrotic damage taken, and the dragon regains hit points equal to that amount. The reduction lasts until the target finishes a long rest. The target dies if this effect reduces its hit point maximum to 0.
Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) slashing damage.
Enervating Breath (Recharge 5–6). The dragon exhales necrotic energy in a 30-foot line that is 5 feet wide. Each creature in that line must make a DC 14 Dexterity saving throw, taking 49 (11d8) necrotic damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one as the necrotic energy drains it's life force. The dragon regains hit points equal to half the damage dealt.
Lair and Lair Actions
Vampiric dragons dwell in deep, dark places where they can hide from the light. A vampiric dragon’s lair is a dark cave, deep forest, or ruin that provides shelter from the light. The lair is littered with the desiccated corpses of previous victims and often contains a number of still-living captured creatures, which the dragon will drain slowly until they die. Bats, rats and other vermin infest the lair, which is filled with the stench of death and decay.
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 writhing mass of vermin covers the ground in a 20-foot-radius circle centered on a point the dragon chooses within 120 feet of it. The mass spreads around corners and remains until the dragon dismisses it as an action, uses this lair action again, or dies. The area is considered difficult terrain for the duration, and any creature that ends it's turn on the ground within the area must succeed on a DC 15 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone as it is dragged down into the fleshy mass.
- A cloud of swarming bats fills a 20-foot-radius sphere centered on a point the dragon chooses within 120 feet of it. The cloud spreads around corners and remains until the dragon dismisses it as an action, uses this lair action again, or dies. The cloud is lightly obscured. Any creature in the cloud when it appears must make on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw, taking 10 (3d6) piercing damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. A creature that ends its turn in the cloud takes 10 (3d6) piercing damage.
- Magical darkness spreads from a point the dragon chooses within 60 feet of it, filling a 15-foot-radius sphere until the dragon dismisses it as an action, uses this lair action again, or dies. The darkness spreads around corners. A creature with darkvision can’t see through this darkness, and nonmagical light can’t illuminate it. If any of the effect’s area overlaps with an area of light created by a spell of 2nd level or lower, the spell that created the light is dispelled.
Regional Effects
The region containing a legendary vampiric dragon’s lair is warped by the dragon’s magic, which creates one or more of the following effects:
- The land within 6 miles of the lair is shrouded in near constant cloud cover, only seeing sunlight a few minutes each day.
- Unusually aggressive packs of wolves patrol the area 6 miles around the lair, harrying any would-be intruders relentlessly.
- Spiked pit traps are dotted around the land within 1 mile of the lair, giving the dragon easy opportunities to capture and drain living prey. A pit trap can be spotted from a safe distance with a successful DC 20 Wisdom (Perception) check. Otherwise, the first creature to step on the thin crust covering the pit must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or fall 1d6× 5 feet into the pit and take 11 (2d10) piercing damage from the spikes.
If the dragon dies, the cloud cover will dissipate and the wolves behavior will gradually return to normal over 1d10 days. The pit traps remain where they are.
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