Chromatic Awakening (Recharges after a Short or Long Rest). If the greatwyrm would be reduced to 0 hit points, its current hit point total instead resets to 425 hit points, it recharges its Breath Weapon, and it regains any expended uses of Legendary Resistance. Additionally, the greatwyrm can now use the options in the “Mythic Actions” section for 1 hour. Award a party an additional 105,000 XP (210,000 XP total) for defeating the greatwyrm after its Chromatic Awakening activates.
Legendary Resistance (4/Day). If the greatwyrm fails a saving throw, it can choose to succeed instead.
Unusual Nature. The greatwyrm doesn’t require food or drink.
Multiattack. The greatwyrm makes one Bite attack and two Claw attacks.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +18 to hit, reach 15 ft., one target. Hit: 21 (2d10 + 10) piercing damage plus 13 (2d12) force damage.
Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +18 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 19 (2d8 + 10) slashing damage. If the target is a Huge or smaller creature, it is grappled (escape DC 20) and is restrained until this grapple ends. The greatwyrm can have only one creature grappled this way at a time.
Tail. Melee Weapon Attack: +18 to hit, reach 20 ft., one target. Hit: 19 (2d8 + 10) bludgeoning damage. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a DC 26 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
Breath Weapon (Recharge 6). The greatwyrm exhales a blast of energy in a 300-foot cone. Each creature in that area must make a DC 26 Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, the creature takes 78 (12d12) acid damage. On a successful save, the creature takes half as much damage.
Breath Weapon (Recharge 1). The greatwyrm exhales a blast of energy in a 300-foot cone. Each creature in that area must make a DC 26 Constitution saving throw. On a successful save, the creature is unaffected. On a failed save, the creature Initially looses their Bonus Action, and their speed is halved. If a creature gets hit a second time they loose their Action, Bonus Action, and their speed is 5 feet. If a creature gets hit a third time they loose their Action, Bonus Action, Reaction, and their speed is 0. (A level of effect can be lessened by spending a round coughing and hacking in clear clean air and doing nothing else.)
The greatwyrm 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 greatwyrm regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn.
Attack. The greatwyrm makes one Claw or Tail attack.
Wing Attack (Costs 2 Actions). The greatwyrm beats its wings. Each creature within 30 feet of it must succeed on a DC 26 Dexterity saving throw or take 17 (2d6 + 10) bludgeoning damage and be knocked prone. The greatwyrm can then fly up to half its flying speed.
Arcane Spear (Costs 3 Actions). The greatwyrm creates four spears of magical force. Each spear hits a creature of the greatwyrm’s choice it can see within 120 feet of it, dealing 12 (1d8 + 8) force damage to its target, then disappears.
If the greatwyrm’s Chromatic Awakening trait has activated in the last hour, it can use the options below as legendary actions.
Bite. The greatwyrm makes one Bite attack.
Chromatic Flare (Costs 2 Actions). The greatwyrm flares with elemental energy. Each creature in a 60-foot-radius sphere centered on the greatwyrm must succeed on a DC 26 Dexterity saving throw or take 22 (5d8) acid damage.
Description
The most ancient chromatic dragons, who have survived over twelve hundred years of mortal life and acquired vast hoards worth millions of gold pieces, can achieve a form of apotheosis, reaching a level of power approaching that of Tiamat’s mighty aspect. The competitive avarice of dragonkind and the interference of adventurers prevent most dragons from attaining this level of power. But a chromatic dragon who can outwit all rivals and overcome all potential thieves can rise to become one of the mightiest of dragons.
Often a chromatic greatwyrm’s ascension involves fusing the power of a single dragon’s echoes across different worlds of the Material Plane. The black greatwyrm Chronepsis, for example, is said to have stalked multiple worlds and devoured many of his echoes before withdrawing to a planar lair in the Outlands. The red greatwyrm Ashardalon worked with a balor to ritually drain the power of his echoes, then infused their power into himself by implanting the balor where his heart had been.
In both size and power, chromatic greatwyrms exceed even ancient dragons. The energy of their breath weapons courses over their bodies and glows under their scales, and elemental forces rage around them when they exert their wrath. They no longer need to eat or drink, as their vast hoards magically sustain them. And their power can raze a city to the ground, destroying buildings and defenders alike.
Lair and Lair Actions
Chronepsis dwells in swamps on the frayed edges of civilization. Their lair is a dismal cave, grotto, or ruin that is at least partially flooded in it's breath, providing pools where the dragon rests, and where its victims can ferment. The lair is littered with the acid-pitted bones of previous victims and the fly-ridden carcasses of fresh kills, watched over by crumbling statues. Centipedes, scorpions, and snakes infest the lair, which is filled with the stench of death and decay.
Lair Actions
On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the Greatwyrm takes a lair action to cause one of the following effects; the Greatwyrm can’t use the same effect two rounds in a row:
- Pools of water/breath that the dragon can see within 120 feet of it surge outward in a grasping tide. Any creature on the ground within 20 feet of such a pool must succeed on a DC 15 Strength saving throw or be pulled up to 20 feet into the water and knocked prone.
- A cloud of swarming insects 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 18 Constitution saving throw, taking 10 (3d10) 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 (3d10) piercing damage.
- Magical darkness spreads from a point the dragon chooses within 120 feet of it, filling a 30-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 black 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 takes twice as long as normal to traverse, since the plants grow thick and twisted, and the swamps are thick with reeking mud.
- Water sources within 1 mile of the lair are supernaturally fouled. Enemies of the dragon that drink such water regurgitate it within minutes.
Fog lightly obscures the land within 6 miles of the lair.
If the dragon dies, vegetation remains as it has grown, but other effects fade over 1d10 days.
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