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.
Legendary Resistance (3/Day). If the dragon fails a saving throw, it can choose to succeed instead.
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: +15 to hit, reach 15 ft., one target. Hit: 19 (2d10 + 8) piercing damage plus 9 (2d8) necrotic damage.
Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +15 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 15 (2d6 + 8) slashing damage.
Tail. Melee Weapon Attack: +15 to hit, reach 30 ft., one target. Hit: 17 (2d8 + 8) bludgeoning damage.
Blightful 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 Constitution saving throw or become frightened for 1 minute and takes (1d8) necrotic damage. A creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, taking the damage on a failure or 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 Blightful Presence until the end of the dragon's next turn. If you target a plant creature or a magical plant, it makes the saving throw with disadvantage, and the spell deals maximum damage to it. If you target a nonmagical plant that isn't a creature, such as a tree or shrub, it doesn't make a saving throw; it simply withers and dies.
Bane of Life//Boon of Death (Recharge 5-6). 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 90-foot line that is 10 feet wide. Each creature in that line must make a DC 22 Dexterity saving throw, taking 67 (15d8) 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 90-foot line that is 10 feet wide. It can raise a number of undead creatures with total hitpoints equal to 67 (15d8). In order to raise an undead creature, a body (or piece of a body), must be present within the affected line.
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.
Recharge. The dragon attempts to recharge its breath weapon. Roll to recharge the breath weapon. This recharge only succeeds on a roll of 6.
Tail Attack. The dragon makes a tail attack.
Deathly Haze (Costs 2 Actions). The dragon seeps death into the air around it. Each creature within 15 feet of the dragon must succeed on a DC 23 Dexterity saving throw or take 15 (2d6 + 8) necrotic damage and be knocked prone. The dragon can then fly up to half its flying speed.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Ancient | 19 | blindness/deafness, Wither and Bloom, False Life, Bestow Curse, Contagion |
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.
Ancient Dead Dragon Connections
| d6 | Connected Creatures |
|---|---|
| 1 | An ancient 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 an ancient dead dragon, sharing knowledge and items alike. |
| 3 | A pack of ghouls infesting a necropolis serve as an ancient dead dragon's bodyguards and enforcers. |
| 4 | An ancient 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 an ancient dead dragon, who they seek to feed until it matures. |
| 6 | An ancient dead dragon has struck up a mutual assistance pact with a nosferatu that haunts the ruins outside the dragon’s lair. |
Lair and Lair Actions
Dead dragons dwell in graveyards and ancient battlegrounds. A dead dragon’s lair is a dark and devilish place, frequently holding many shallow, dug-up, or unmarked graves to lay its victims-turned-allies. The lair is littered with the undead, in many forms, that wander and afford protection.
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:
- Hands surge from the ground, grasping at ankles and legs. Any creature on the ground within 20 feet of a grave must succeed on a DC 15 Strength saving throw or be pulled up to 20 feet into the ground and knocked [Tooltip Not Found].
- A cloud of rot and spores 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 (3d10) necrotic 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) necrotic 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 dead 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, plants and trees are rotted thoroughly, and pitfalls appear where root systems have decayed or bodies have dug their way from the ground.
- 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. - Revival spells do not function within 1 mile of the lair, being treated as animate dead under the dragon's control. Nothing short of a Wish spell can revive a person while this effect remains.
If the dragon dies, rot and ruin remains, but other effects fade over 1d10 days.
Previous Versions
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4/13/2023 11:22:55 PM
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Coming Soon
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