Archdragon

Ancient legends suggest that that first dragon to visit the Feywild laid a clutch of eggs. Nathair happened upon the eggs and infused them with Fey magic, which hatched into the first Moonstone Dragons. Their descendants are now found throughout the Feywild. Nathair and his children didn't stop there...the story continued. There are those that have ascended to a higher status, Archdragons.

Archdragons are born in the Feywild of all species. They align themselves with the Fey Courts or like many are Courtless. They have gained nearly god-like powers and established a position of preeminence among Fey-kind. Each Archdragon has a unique appearance and set of abilities, most maintain a territory in the Feywild.

Some Archdragons are regarded as deities and granted divine abilities to their worshipers.

As a rule, Archdragon's break the mold. They are all unique and cannot be made to fit into boxes, unless that is what they wish.

Creating an Archdragon

Use the Archdragon Personality Traits and Archdragon Ideals tables to inspire your portrayal of distinctive Archdragon characters.

Archdragon Personality Traits

Archdragon Ideals

Archdragon Adventures

The Archdragon Adventure Hooks table offers suggestions for stories and adventures involving Archdragons.

Archdragon Adventure Hooks

Connected Creatures

In the Feywild, Archdragons interact mostly with Fey creatures who revere and serve the dragon. Outside the Feywild, they often prefer to communicate with other creatures in disguise.

Archdragon Connections

Archdragon Lairs

Often, an Archdragon’s lair is not a single location, but rather a collection of personally significant places spread out across multiple planes of existence and connected through portals under the dragon’s control. A lair might include a secluded grove on the Material Plane, a well-protected tower in the Feywild, and even a hidden corner of the Ethereal Plane. Archdragons often use locations in the Feywild as their primary residences, locations on the Material Plane for entertaining guests, and locations on the Ethereal Plane for storage.

Archdragons navigate their multiplanar lairs by opening portals between planes at will. They sometimes forget to close those portals, allowing the inhabitants of one plane to wander into others.

Archdragon Lair Features

You can look to other maps in this chapter as inspiration for the scattered parts of an Archdragon’s lair. For example, a well maintained and above-water tower makes a great Feywild audience chamber, while an enormous tree makes for a very comfortable bedchamber in a grove on the Material Plane. And features such as cloud bridges can be used for the parts of an Archdragon’s lair that lie in the Border Ethereal.

An Archdragon’s Lair

For their lairs, Archdragons make them anywhere and everywhere. They establish multiple lairs from a young age. They link their scattered sites with magic portals, often splitting their time between the Feywild, the Material Plane, and the Ethereal Plane.

The challenge rating of a legendary Archdragon increases by 1 when it’s encountered in its lair.

Lair Actions

On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the dragon can take one of the following lair actions; the dragon can’t take the same lair action two rounds in a row:

Stage Fright. The dragon targets a creature it can smell within 50 feet of it and attempt to petrify them. The target must succeed on a DC 20 Constitution saving throw or be turned to statue of your choosing stone/wood/ore/mineral/gem etc. While petrified, the target is incapacitated until initiative count 20 on the next round. The target suffers from any damage taken in statue form.

Plane Scatter. Sigils appear under your feet. The dragon targets creatures of it's choosing that it can see within 120 feet and attempts to send those creatures to another plane. The targets must succeed on a DC 15 Charisma saving throw or be banished until initiative count 20 on the next round. While there, the target(s) is/are stunned. When the effect ends, the target(s) reappear in the space they left or in the nearest unoccupied space.

Regional Effects

The region surrounding a legendary Archdragon’s lair is altered by the dragon’s magic, creating one or more of the following effects:

Dream Communication. Whenever a creature that can understand a language sleeps or enters a state of trance or reverie within 6 miles of the dragon’s lair, the dragon can establish telepathic contact with that creature and converse with it in its dreams. The creature remembers its conversation with the dragon upon waking.

Planar Transition. The veil between planes is thinned near an Archdragon’s lair. Various portals link the Material Plane, the Feywild, and the Border Ethereal within 6 miles of the lair. Creatures can pass through a portal in either direction by spending 5 feet of movement.

If the dragon dies, any portals near the lair close immediately.