| Mod | Save | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| STR | 17 | +3 | +3 |
| DEX | 19 | +4 | +10 |
| CON | 26 | +8 | +14 |
| Mod | Save | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| INT | 20 | +5 | +5 |
| WIS | 16 | +3 | +3 |
| CHA | 21 | +5 | +5 |
Abberant Movement. The Eldritch Dragon cannot become coated in abberant liquid, and does not consider surfaces coated in it to be difficult terrain. In addition, on its turn it may use a bonus action to enter a surface coated in abberant liquid and emerge from another that it can see up to 500 feet away. Both "patches" of abberant liquid must be at least as large as it.
Chameleon Skin. The Eldritch Dragon has advantage on stealth checks made to hide, and other creatures have advantage on insight checks made to determine the dragon's emotions.
Multiple Heads. The Eldtritch Dragon has advantage on saving throws against being blinded, charmed, deafened, frightened, stunned, or knocked unconscious, as well as Perception checks. Also, when entering initiative, the Eldritch dragon rolls for initiative three times and takes three turns each round.
Planar Destablization Aura. When another creature attempts to cast a spell of level one or greater or ends its turn while concentrating on a spell within 60 feet of the dragon, it must make a DC 16 concentration check or the spell fails or ends, respectively.
Multiattack. The Eldritch Dragon makes two Rend attacks. It can choose to replace one attack with a use of Spellcasting to cast Abberant Sphere.
Rend. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 10 ft., 1 target. Hit: 12 (2d8 + 3) slashing damage.
Alien Magic. The Eldritch Dragon casts one of the following spells, requiring no material components and using intelligence as the spellcasting ability (spell save DC 19, +11 to hit with spell attacks). It can concentrate on up to three spells at a time, and maked concentration saving throws independantly for each of them.
At Will: Abberant Sphere, Darkness, Fly, Mage Armor, Enlarge/Reduce, Shapechange (Aberration or Humanoid form only, no Temporary Hit Points gained from the spell, and no Concentration or Temporary Hit Points required to maintain the spell)
1/round: Abberant Surge (level 5 version), Charm Person, Command, Gravity Sinkhole
1/day each: Compulsion, Tether Essence, Greater Invisibility
Branching Tentacle. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 10 ft., 1 target. Hit: If the target is Huge or smaller (no size limitation if the dragon is enlarged), it is grappled by the dragon (escape DC 15) and is restrained until the grapple ends. The dragon has six tentacles and can grapple one creature with each, or use more than one on the same creature. While a creature is grappled by more than one tentacle, it may only attempt to escape from one at a time.
Legendary Action Uses: 1 (2 in Lair). Immediately after another creature's turn, the eldritch dragon can expend a use to take one of the following actions. The dragon regains all expended uses at the start of each of its turns.
Alien Magic. The Eldritch Dragon uses its Alien Magic action to cast one spell that it can cast at will.
Pounce. The Eldritch Dragon moves up to half its speed without triggering opportunity attacks, and it may make one Rend attack
Warp Space: The Eldritch Dragon collapses space inside a 60-foot cube within 120 feet of itself for 1 minute. Any creature in the area is shunted to the nearest unoccupied space of its choice. Any creature, object, or effect that enters one face of the cube will exit seamlessly from the opposite face, in the same direction.
Description
The easiest reference point to understand an eldritch dragon is, funnily enough, a dragon. However, there are multiple key differences. Most immediately obvious is that it has three heads, three tails, four forelegs, and tentacles running along its back rather than wings. These tentacles take the form of two rows of three stalks, which each split into three part way down, and can split again near the ends to function as fingers for precise tasks. Also, as a result of this lack of wings, an eldritch dragon is unable to fly as a wyrmling, but it has psionics that develop as it ages, giving it access to magic that will allow it to do so. Rather than replenishing via rest, these psionic powers constantly regenerate, also fueling abilities such as the dragon’s breath weapon, and are theorized by some to be integral not only to the dragon’s survival but also its ability to use its remarkable total of thirty appendages effectively and to link its three brains to a single consciousness.
In addition to their psionics and an impressive quantity of limbs, eldritch dragons have several other defining features. They have six eyes on each head, in rows of three on either side. Also, they lack the scales that true dragons have, relying on their psionics in combination with their significant physical bulk to repel attacks instead. This, despite their noticeably lesser musculature compared to typical dragons, gives them a significantly bulky stature which they manage to maneuver with surprising ease. Besides this, they also have skin that changes color, both for camouflage and to display their emotions.
Where true dragons are embodiments of the material plane that anchor the fabric of reality around them, eldritch dragons embody the far realm and destabilize reality wherever they go. Usually, they don’t intentionally attempt to reach the material plane, but in some cases they are used by others, whether cultists or entities in the far realm trying to invade the material plane, to take advantage of these destabilizations to make it easier for even stronger entities to either create portals themselves or be summoned. However, this is a risky strategy as eldritch dragons only cause a disruption equivalent to their power, and must somehow be persuaded to cooperate with the ritual through its rage at being ripped from its home plane. Most of the time, the thing an eldritch dragon that has been brought to the Material Plane wants most is to return to its home in the Far Realm. However, this is hampered by the fact that they have no way to make a portal back for themselves, so they then must find another way back.
Due to their constantly regenerating pool of magical energy, eldritch dragons are highly sought after by wizards who either want to fuel their own spells or create magic items with that energy. While it is possible to simply extract energy from the aberrant liquid created by an eldritch dragon’s breath weapon, this requires the cooperation of the dragon and adds unnecessary variables, so those few wizards that have gotten their hands on an eldritch dragon instead opted to remove their core. They use it as a focus to have the “convenience” of being able to carry the power with them, only to find out that, much to their surprise, the core still has a mind of its own, and will attack their killer immediately after extraction.
As does any true dragon, eldritch dragons also must have minions. Unfortunately for them, since they are only pulled to the material plane themselves, they do not have access to the creatures they would normally choose while in their home plane. However, they still have the options available to them that true dragons do, except for one important difference: their presence creates half dragons much more often than true dragons do, meaning that they are all but guaranteed to have them in the ranks of their minions. Because of this, there are two stand-out options: kobolds, for their insanely fast population growth to guarantee the presence of many half-dragon minions, and Huge or Gargantuan monstrosities or beasts for the fact that if they do become half dragons, they will become truly formidable fighters with their psionic abilities.
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