Undead Commander. All undead within 120 ft of the dragon must make a DC 17 WIS save or come under its control. If a player is an awakened undead, they may make a save each turn as a bonus action before or after obeying the dragon's commands. If an undead monster's CR is greater than the dragon's, it has advantage on this roll.
Spellcasting. The Dragon is a 7th-level spellcaster. Its spellcasting ability is INT (spell save DC is 17, +7 to hit with spell attacks). The Grey Dragon usually has following Wizard and Sorcerer spells prepared:
Cantrips (at will): Animate Skull, Chill Touch, Grimlore's Influence, Mending, Control Flames, Fire Bolt, Toll the Dead, Corruption, Minor Illusion, and Acid Splash
1st level (4 slots): Ray of Sickness, False Life, Death's Grasp, Magic Missile, and Charm Person.
2nd level (4 slots): Suffer, Shadow Armor, Cursed with Undeath, and Misty Step
3rd level (3 slots): Mummify, Vampiric Touch, Major Image, and Counterspell
4th level: (3 slots): Blight, Conjure Barlgura
5th level: (2 slots): Defile, Wall
6th level: (1 slot): Circle of Death
7th level: (1 slot): Finger of Death
Tusk Gore. +6 to hit. The Dragon impales a target within 5 ft of itself with its tusks for 6d8+3 piercing damage.
Claw Slash. +6 to hit. The dragon slashes a target in 5t. with sharp claws that deal 6d8+3 slashing damage.
Psychic Strain. The dragon selects a target that it can see and assaults them with mental anguish that deals 8d8+4 non-lethal psychic damage.
Dragon's Breath. The dragon breaths a 15x 50 ft. line of necrotic gas. anything caught in the attack must make a DC 17 DEX save. Targets take 7d8 necrotic damage or half on a successful save. Can only be used three times per long rest.
Touch of Undeath. When the Grey Dragon kills a target, it can use this to immediately transform them into a Zombie, Wight, Skeleton, Ghost, or Wraith under its command. The new undead will have the same stats as when it died. Cannot combo with Finger of Death since the spell already does this.
Necrotic Healing. Three times per long rest, at the end of a round, the dragon can heal any undead under its command for 6d8 health.
Description
This dragon is found in tropical and subtropical deserts and grasslands in the continent of Uveli. They are very rotund with a body built like that of an elephant with a meter-long neck and long, stout tail and a serpentine head. The most prominent features, however, are their spinal sails and their large elephant-like tusks. Unable to fly and slow on the ground, they do rather little for themselves, having minions do most of their work for them if they can get past their rough adolescence.
A mating pair will usually mate, then watch the eggs of which there are usually one to three. If more than three eggs are laid, this is considered bad luck, and the extra eggs are destroyed. Once the children hatch, they are raised and taught by their parents and learn a few essential magic skills, particularly ones to raise the dead. Once they hit adolescence, they are expected to leave the nest and their parents separate to go and live separately again. the adolescent dragon must find its own gravesite to turn into a lair and raise its first undead minions to do its bidding. If it picks a poor spot, it will likely starve or be killed, but it must also be smart with its first minions as anything too big is too obvious while anything too small won't be able to bring it enough food. It needs a mix of large and small minions to perform different functions for it. Because of its mastery of necromancy, the real challenge of fighting one of these Grey Dragons is killing it before it kills anyone in your party.
Uvelian Greys are masters of necromantic magic, and only become more powerful over time. Unlike most dragons, they seldom have qualms with becoming dracoliches since they spend so much time around undead creatures and enjoy commanding them. Typically, a Grey dragon will build its undead army and build up a few humanoid personal servants that make its lair more comfortable for itself and for guests. The dragon treats its guests quite well and is a very gracious host, giving them fine food and drink. However, once they go to bed, it has them murdered in their sleep, and adds the victim to its undead army of slaves. Interestingly however, it has a sense of honor of a sort. If it needs help with something, it will summon adventures and keep them as guests, giving them quests and rewarding them for completing them. They also always keep promises that they make, so if you can get a promise from one, you can be certain that it will be kept, though perhaps not in the way you think.
Lair and Lair Actions
The Lair of an Uvelian Grey Dragon is typically either a cave, ruins, or crypt. It very seldom leaves its lair since its minions gather food and treasure on its behalf. Younger dragons have more crude and simple lairs, but as they get older they turn their lairs into vast and luxurious palaces of stone. The most ancient of them can have a base of operations the size of a small city.
Lair Actions
On initiative count 3 (losing initiative ties), the Grey Dragon takes a lair action to cause one of the following effects; the Grey Dragon can’t use the same effect two rounds in a row:
- Shadow hands. Shadowy hands grab onto the feet of one creature, forcing them to make an STR save of at least 17. If failed, they are restrained for a minute or until the hands are destroyed. The hands have 10 HP and are immune to all damage types except for force damage which does damage as normal and radiant damage, which they are vulnerable to. If in combat, the affected creature can roll an STR save on each of their turn as an action.
- Necrotic fog. A fog of gas envelops the whole room and all creatures must make a WIL save of at least 16 or take 1d6 necrotic damage, and take no damage on success. If a creature is immune to necrotic damage, they automatically succeed.
- Lock/Unlock door. One door of the dragon's choice becomes magically locked or unlocked.
Regional Effects
The region containing a Grey Dragon’s lair is highly ingrained with necrotic magic, which creates one or more of the following effects:
- 1d6+2 zombies rise from their graves each night.
- Nonsapient creatures sometimes die for no apparent reason
- Sapient beings feel ill at basically all times.
If the Grey Dragon dies, these effects fade over the course of 1d4+1 days.
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