Unusual Nature. The dragon does not require air, food, drink, or sleep.
Turn Ward. The dragon is immune to effects that turn undead. If the dragon has used its undead fortitude, this ability does not function until the next dusk.
Undead Fortitude. If damage reduces the dragon to 0 hit points, it must make a Constitution saving throw with a DC of 5 + the damage taken, unless the damage is radiant or from a critical hit, or the dragon is in direct sunlight. On a success, the dragon drops to 1 hit point instead.
Sunlight Hypersensitivity. The dragon takes 5 radiant damage when it starts its turn in sunlight. While in sunlight, it has disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks.
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.
Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) slashing damage.
Bane of Life//Boon of Death (Recharge 6). When it utilizes this ability, the dragon chooses on of the options below. Once it does so, it cannot use either option until successfully recharging this ability.
Bane of Life: The dragon exhales the essence of death 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.
Boon of Death: The dragon exhales the essence of undeath in a 30-foot line that is 5 feet wide. It can raise a number of undead creatures with total hitpoints equal to 49 (11d8). In order to raise an undead creature, a body (or piece of a body), must be present within the affected line.
Description
Creating a Dead Dragon
Use the Dead Dragon Personality Traits and Dead Dragon Ideals tables to inspire your portrayal of distinctive Dead dragon characters, and use the Dead Dragon Spellcasting table to help select spells for a spellcasting dragon.
Dead Dragon Personality Traits
| d8 | Trait |
|---|---|
| 1 | I demonstrate my brutality by my callous dismissal of life, and readiness to exploit death. |
| 2 | Watching the lives of lesser beings fall into rot and ruin fills me with joy. |
| 3 | Why be deceitful of my unusual nature. I am what I am; soon you will join my ranks. |
| 4 | Turning others into helpless thralls is delightful. After, of course, I drink their life essence away. |
| 5 | I will go to great lengths to obtain deadly new necromantic knowledge. |
| 6 | The only constant in life is death. The only constant in undeath is the outlasting of life. |
| 7 | I have witnessed the rise and fall of civilizations. What consideration does a creature as pitiful and short-lived as you deserve? |
| 8 | Gathering souls and growing my army is the only reason to exist. If you can help me in that, I may let you live. |
Dead Dragon Ideals
| d6 | Ideal |
|---|---|
| 1 | Envy. If the armies of others cannot be eclipsed, they can always be turned. (Evil) |
| 2 | Immortality. Undeath is the cure to any ailment, should you be brave to pay its price. (Any) |
| 3 | Corruption. Turning good to evil is pure ecstasy. Heroes will become the villains they hate. (Evil) |
| 4 | Adaptability. It is not the most powerful, but the most flexible who survive. (Chaotic) |
| 5 | Patience. There’s no need to rush a poorly constructed plan when time is on your side. (Any) |
| 6 | Infection. Why expose yourself to direct danger when a few well-placed undead can seed foolish insurrection. (Chaotic) |
Dead Dragon Spellcasting
| Age | Spell Save DC | Spells Known |
|---|---|---|
| Young | 13 | blindness/deafness, Wither and Bloom, False Life |
Dead Dragon Adventures
The Dead Dragon Adventure Hooks table offers suggestions for stories and adventures involving Dead dragons.
Dead Dragon Adventure Hooks
| d8 | Adventure Hook |
|---|---|
| 1 | A dead dragon recently discovered the location of a long-lost battle. After raising the bodies to fight again, the dragon travels the realm to grow its army. |
| 2 | A conflict-averse dead dragon is secretly spreading contaminated remains on local farmland. The abundance has graced many of the region's peoples. However, when a new sickness begins rapidly spreading through the population, inexplicably linked to the abundance, people are desperate to find the cause. |
| 3 | Rival realms are secretly being driven to war by the tactical attacks of a dead dragon and its armies. The resulting wars will no doubt create many bodies, ripe for the turning. |
| 4 | When graveyards in the region begin being replaced by craters in the night, local towns begin paying adventurers to investigate. The first time the dead dragon's floating island is spotted, formed from hundreds of uprooted cemeteries, widespread panic takes hold. |
| 5 | The dead dragon's boon of death is the only way for an important courier to be raised again, and offer the important information they died to protect. |
| 6 | A potent artifact is rumored to lie in the ruins where a dead dragon homes. |
| 7 | A group of adventurers and a dead dragon are hunting the same treasure in the ruins of an ancient settlement. |
| 8 | A dead dragon is poaching game in a noble’s hunting preserve at a frightening pace. Even worse, the noble swears he's encountered undead creations; melded together pieces of animals, raised again. |
Connected Creatures
Dead dragons prefer the company of creatures that are undead or necromantic. Mindless skeletons, shambling zombies, liches, necromancers, and spirits make appealing companions. A dead dragon’s intelligent followers tend to worship the immortality of undeath and typically include cultists, red wizards of Thay, and dullahans.
Young Dead Dragon Connections
| d6 | Connected Creatures |
|---|---|
| 1 | A young dead dragon with a talent for sustaining the intelligence of raised creatures joins forces with a sacrificial cult. |
| 2 | A lich shares a lair with a young dead dragon, sharing knowledge and items alike. |
| 3 | A pack of ghouls infesting a necropolis serve as a young dead dragon's bodyguards and enforcers. |
| 4 | A young dead dragon has cultivated a monstrous beast (use the Tyrannosaurus Zombie stat block) as a lair guardian and has been abducting travelers to feed the long-extinct creature. |
| 5 | A group of Thayan Red Wizards have been terrorizing a local countryside in the name of a young dead dragon, who they seek to feed until it matures. |
| 6 | A young dead dragon has struck up a mutual assistance pact with a nosferatu that haunts the ruins outside the dragon’s lair. |
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