At first glance, a dragon warrior appears to be a human, orc or other sturdy humanoid completely coated in dragon scale armor so exceptionally crafted it fits them like a second skin. A close inspection reveals the creature inside is no normal humanoid, but some sort of reptilian or draconic creature whose finely scaled skin is the hue of its armor. The warrior is normally armed with a broad-bladed longsword made from the same material as its armor.

Organic Armory. An intimate inspection reveals a dragon warrior's scale mail is, quite literally, a second skin; a partially shed hide whose living scales have thickened into a suit of armor. Its longsword is similarly formed from the dragon warrior's body: a single massive scale, or perhaps an enormous fang, that has assumed the shape of a blade.

Draconic Scions. Dragon warriors come in ten varieties matching the five chromatic dragons (black, blue, green, red, white) and the five metallic dragons (brass, bronze, copper, gold, silver). A dragon warrior's scales match the corresponding dragon in color and texture and it often has minor features reminiscent of it, such as vestigial horns or crests. While metallic dragons are renowned for their benevolence and chromatic dragons are notoriously malign, dragon warriors rarely follow the true dragon's morality. While there may be a faint tendency towards their corresponding dragon's alignment (a red dragon warrior is slightly more likely to be evil or chaotic than a bronze one, for example), most dragon warriors are strictly neutral. The dragon warriors do have some other draconic traits though, such as being immune to the damage type of their dragon's breath weapon.

Children of the Dragon's Teeth. The common dragon warrior encountered by adventurers is an artificial being produced by a dragon tooth, an item that becomes a dragon warrior to serve the tooth's user; the transformed tooth is a temporary creature that exist only briefly before crumbling into dust.
 These dragon teeth imitate ancient myth, which says the first dragon warriors were born by planting the teeth of a slain legendary dragon in plowed earth. Called Spartoi (literally "the Sown"), these warriors sprouted from these strange seeds armed for battle, growing to adulthood in moments. Some myths say the handful of Spartoi who survived their initial battlefield went on to found lineages of true dragon warriors. The legendary Spartoi and their dragon warrior descendants are living creatures, rumored to have incredibly long lifespans like a true dragon. True dragon warriors are fantastically rare creatures, and how they reproduce is unknown (or even if they can reproduce). The tales say dragon warriors, or at least the original Spartoi, would marry into human tribes, but the resulting offspring were humanoid, not dragon warriors. A few modern sages claim dragon warriors can mate with dragons or reptilian humanoids as well as each other to produce newborn dragon warriors or eggs, but that is pure speculation.

New Magic Item

DRAGON TOOTH
Wondrous item, rarity by dragon: very rare for gold, red and silver; rare for black, blue, brass, bronze, copper, green and white

A dragon tooth is a reptilian fang three to six inches long, small enough to fit in a pocket. They are usually found in pairs or sets of four, all canine teeth from a deceased dragon of young age or older, and their command word is often a nickname of that dragon (e.g. "Emerald Emperor Salvia" for a set of green dragon teeth). Some legendary ancient dragons have had a score or even dozens of dragon teeth harvested from their remains, but the normal limit is four per dragon.
 When activated by use of its command word, the tooth becomes a living creature, a dragon warrior whose type matches the tooth's dragon (black, blue, brass, bronze, copper, gold, green, red, silver, white). A dragon tooth may be used in one of two ways: it can become a dragon warrior immediately, or it can transform into a trap that becomes a dragon warrior when triggered. See the individual dragon warrior entries for the creature's statistics.
 The dragon tooth warrior exists for 1 hour. At the end of this duration, the creature reverts to its tooth form and crumbles to dust, destroying the dragon tooth. It reverts and crumbles early if it drops to 0 hit points or if you use an action to speak the command word again while touching it.
 To use a dragon tooth immediately, you use an action to speak the command word, squeeze the tooth firmly, and then throw it to a point on the ground within 60 feet of you, where the tooth becomes a dragon warrior. If the space where the warrior would appear is occupied by other creatures or objects, or if there isn't enough space for the creature, the tooth doesn't become a dragon warrior. This dragon warrior is friendly to you and your companions and obeys your spoken commands. It speaks Common and Draconic, but the magic of the tooth allows the dragon tooth warrior to understand commands given in any of your languages. If you issue no commands, the warrior defends itself but takes no other actions.
 To use a dragon tooth as a trap, you use an action to speak the command word and then set the trap-activated tooth, either by laying it upon a firm and level surface within 5 feet (floor, table, etc.), planting it into earth within 5 feet, or sowing it onto plowed soil within 60 feet. You can use one action to activate multiple dragon teeth from the same set as traps and lay any number of them upon a surface within an adjacent 5-foot square, but setting them can require additional actions: it takes one action to plant up to four teeth into earth within an adjacent 5-foot square, or one action to sow up to eight teeth onto plowed soil within a 60-foot cone. You may also use an action to move up to your speed and set one tooth, allowing you to set dragon tooth traps from multiple positions. If you are killed or incapacitated, you will drop any trap-activated dragon teeth you have not yet set, laying each upon a random surface within 5 feet.
 Once planted, a trap-activated dragon tooth will become a dragon warrior if it takes any damage or is stepped upon by a creature sized Small or bigger (including stepping on earth or soil the tooth is buried in, which causes the warrior to sprout from the ground). This dragon warrior ignores you and your orders, and will attack you if its hostility is triggered. The warrior attacks the creature that triggered the trap, fighting to the death. If the triggering creature flees, the warrior pursues it unerringly, sensing its direction as if it was using a locate creature spell. If another creature injures the dragon warrior, the warrior views it as a new triggering creature to fight to the death, although its locate creature ability can only locate the original triggering creature. If no triggering creature is alive, the warrior defends itself but takes no action.

(Originally created by Tony Wilson; appeared in White Dwarf Magazine #21 (Oct/Nov 1980) as part of the Fiend Factory mini-module "One-Eye Canyon", edited by Albie Fiore.)