Homebrew Dragon Species Details

He stood on top of the peak of his mountain home. Overlooking the land he called his own, he a breath sigh as he saw the pitiful creatures climbing up the mountain, carrying their metal sticks, burning twigs, and clad in the mockery of his kinds opulent scales. The younger races have always had no respect to their elders, and foolish enough to think they may win against his kind. Though some have been felled by these short lived beings, Alathas wasn't the one to fall this day.

He grinned with his teeth like swords, his claws sharp as spears dug into the stone as he held himself back. It always most fun for him to turn these hunters into his prey. The frozen bodies of his previous victims scattered across the mountain, a grisly warning for those daring to hunt a dragon. With a mighty roar he took flight and let loose his primal wrath on those foolish hunters.

— Old Man Vince, The Yawning Portal

 

From Flesh and Magic

Creatures that reach towering heights and bodies adapted to suit their respective habitats. Dragons have muscular frames that range from a few feet long to hundreds of feet nose tip to tail tip, depending on their age. Dragons have powerful wings that can carry their heavily muscular forms up into the sky and can carry them for long distances and some even are more skilled in flight letting them match giant eagles and other flying monsters. With maws that can crush bone and metal, claws that can tear down stone walls. A dragon has powerful physical body. Their bodies also store and produce incredible magical power. Their very flesh and blood oozes with magical potential.

Lairs and Greed

Dragons as large mostly solitary creatures, who are extremely intelligent make lairs all across from different ranges depending on the dragon's type. While Reds prefer lairing at volcanic mountain, Blues create elaborate palaces in the sands of their desert homes. These lairs are often very secure and heavily defended with traps, natural hazards, unnatural hazards, and all the minions that a dragon can call upon to serve them. These lairs also hold the dragon's hoard, treasure that they collect and protect with fierce determination. These places are often soaked in the dragon's magical presence, changing over time and becoming more adapted to the dragon itself. Their hoards also soak up this magic turning even mundane items into something more mystical. Each dragon has their preference, like any intelligent creatures they have their own personalities, some dragons follow their closer to known behaviors of their specific type. Though you will still find exceptions, for example a White dragon hoarding books of arcane knowledge, a Silver dragon collecting trophies from each adventurer they helped, a Black dragon collecting recipes on ways to cook lizardfolks.

Chromatic Dragons

Black Dragons

Black dragons are the most vile-tempered and cruel of all chromatic dragons and are very likely to avoid talking to others if there isn't a bargain to be made. These dragons are easily distinguished by their horns, which protrude from the sides of their heads, wrap around it, then protrude forward. A large frill adorns the upper part of their neck. They smell of rotting vegetation, foul water, or powerful acid which they can breathe. Considered ambush predators, these jungle or forest dragons revel in the decay and death of civilizations, often residing in the ruins of old cities, smugly relishing the fact that these individuals who lived here before died, and itself survived. Black dragons can control water which they use to grapple and tug the prey to their doom. Ambush predators by nature, it is unlikely for black dragons to engage in direct combat, so even when ambushing others, there is also no guarantee that the dragon is close by, as they can use their abilities to ensnarl its targets.

Blue Dragons

Blue dragons have a single large horn protruding from their heads and large, frilled ears. Their tails are thick and bumpy, their wings are more pronounced than other dragon species wings, and they smell like ozone and sand. Blue dragons usually enjoy mocking and manipulative more than outwardly cruel actions, though they do like torturing and murdering lesser creatures, aided by their natural talents for hallucination. They are able to trick desert travelers into drinking sand or going miles away from their original path. Tactically obsessed and possessing the ability to fly for days on end, an adventure or group of adventurers who will find themselves facing a blue dragon will likely be pushed to their limits, seeing if they would manage to survive its pursuits for days on end. Shooting lightning bolts at a great distance and always keeping away, it isn't an easy target. If an ambushed and severely damage, a blue dragon will simply fly way and plan a different trap or ambush. Sudden encounters with a blue dragon are one of the most incessant and endless tactics, likely of the kind of being more fun to it than just outright attacking the party.

Green Dragons

Green dragons posses a large, waving crest or fin that starts at their nose and runs the length of their body, as well as long, slender forked tongues. They have an unusual taste for treasure and love collecting individuals to enslave. Otherwise, these dragons love to corrupt powerful or influential individuals. They are also highly adept at scheming. For example: A green dragon may fly down, kill half of a group and leave the other half confused or frightened, wondering what happened. "Anyone can take something by force, but few have the cunning to take by wit" is the fundamental nature of these dragons.

Though they are nasty bunch, one of a green dragon’s redeeming qualities is that they love their family immensely. A male and a female mate until death, and if their children are ever threatened, both parents will do their upmost to protect them or in the worst case avenge them. However, don’t be fooled by a green dragon’s familial love, the parents will train their children to be manipulative, treacherous, and teach them how to use humanoids to get whatever they want.

Red Dragons

Red dragons have two swept-back horns on their heads and smell of smoke and sulfur. The biggest, mightiest, and the quickest to anger out of all dragons, these guys are not to be messed with. Being bulky, red dragons prefer to fight on the ground. There will be no dialogue with a red dragon and those it comes across, it will see you, and it will pounce on you. Arrogant, believing its kind to be the pinnacle of all creation, a fight with a red dragon is a fight to the death. Red dragons also believe that those who can't protect what they have do not deserve to have it, and those with the power to take something deserve to have it. Red dragons are typically considered tyrants and the only thing a red dragon cares about is reputation. They will tell other dragons of its feats and downplay the feats of others. It will try to never be outdone and if another dragon’s feats surpass their own, they will do everything in their power to outdo them. If a red dragon cannot outdo its competitor’s fame, it will go into an uncontrolled rage, lasting for days.

The mating of red dragons is quite unique in that around every hundred years, females lay four to six unfertile or fertile eggs. During the period before the eggs are laid, male red dragons go into a frenzy to earn prestige among their kind. When a female is ready to lay her eggs, whichever male red dragon has the most reputation will get the change to reproduce with the female red dragon. After fertile eggs are laid, females will often have help from other female red dragons, often ones too old to be fertile, and they will raise the wyrmlings for hundreds of years or until the babies old enough to become rivals.

Red dragons typically choose to live on tall mountains where everything nearby to the mountain is considered its territory. Even snow-covered mountains work as the bigger the mountain, the larger the territory of a red dragon.

White Dragons

White dragons are the most feral of the classic chromatic dragons. Their heads and necks blend seamlessly into one another, and their wings are frayed along the edges. They have a flap of skin (dewlap) lined with spines beneath their chin and have a high crest atop a streamlined head and have a crisp, blue odor. Though less intelligent than other dragons, they are still smarter than most of sentient creatures and powerful enough to overwhelm most humanoids. White dragons prefer to not interact with others of its kind except during mating, and will actively go out of their way to avoid dragons of other types.

Metallic Dragons

Brass Dragons

Brass dragons are known to be quite sociable for dragons and tend to have a strong mercenary streak, often agreeing to serve as guardians or battle champions for anyone willing to pay suitably well. Although they usually don't kill adventures or travelers who come upon them, they often will try to force them to stay with them for some time and regale the dragon in their adventures and life's story. Those the dragon isn't interested in or those who don't mean well are likely get buried up until their head in sand.

Brass dragons tend to not like being anywhere near other copper or brass dragons. This is because brass dragons are particullary prideful. They might not think they are the best at everything, but each brass dragon usually has a few things it believes it is the best at. In addition, when forced to talk to copper dragons, brass dragons tend to be aggravated at the way copper dragons tend to joke and not take things seriously.

Bronze Dragons

Duty-bound and honorable to a fault, bronze dragons commit themselves to order and are among the most devout champions of that ideal. As order's sworn servants, bronze dragons can seem arrogant and haughty with an inflated sense of self. A tendency that can put them at odds with those they meet. In rare cases, this self-righteousness grows into something far more sinister, and the bronze dragon takes over what it sees as lesser races, ruling as a cruel tyrant to its subjects. Bronze dragons claim coastlines, inlets, and islands as their own, constructing lairs in coastal caves that have access to the sea. More aggressive bronze dragons purposely choose lairs near shipping lanes so they can claim tribute from merchant vessels as those craft pass by. All bronze dragons share a deep and abiding hatred for blue dragons, and they are vigilant in protecting their homes from these interlopers.

Copper Dragons

Copper dragons are born tricksters and jokesters. They tend to be quite devious and clever, but their intent is purely benign. They do not seek to harm others, but merely wish to impress or fool others with clever pranks. A copper dragon will take interest in those who can provide intrigue, interesting information, or the few who manage to trick a copper dragon itself.

Copper dragons tend to live in places with rocky hills, often nearby to other settlements (to a dragon), but never close by. Like all dragons, copper dragons accumulate a number of riches in their hoards, however, copper dragons also tend to collect items that may not contain a lot of value. Often things like artwork, books, and other strange and curious objects can also be found in their hoard.

Gold Dragons

Of all the metallic dragons, gold dragons are the most dedicated to defeating evil. They spend most of their lives shapeshifted as humanoids, and will often travel outside of their lair for periods of time, where their shapeshifting comes in particularly handy when interacting with others. While traveling, gold dragons enjoy learning new knowledge and teaching others on their travels. While often gone from their lairs, gold dragons do not neglect its upkeep. They will often have magical traps, righteous and trustworthy guards, or other measures in place to prevent looting.

Silver Dragons

Silver dragons are true friends to all. Silver dragons enjoy the company of humanoids so much that it will often take the form of one and live among them for the majority of its life. In fact, it is said that silver dragons love humanoids because they believe they are lesser creatures. Silver dragons also love the diversity of human cooking and culture, and are especially interested in items created through human ingenuity such as watches.

Unlike some other metallic dragons, silver dragons believe that just being evil doesn't mean that evil creatures don't have a right to live. They believe that as long a creature does not commit or plan to do evil, they will overlook the fact that a creature is evil.

For periods of time, silver dragons may transform into their true dragon form and purposely be seen by other humanoids in order to attract the attention of other silver dragons to mate.

Gem Dragons

Amethyst dragons

Amethyst dragons were neutral, logical dragons. They had lavender skin and crystal-like scales. Their breath weapon was a blast of concussive force, and they were known to burrow into the ground. They were also the most powerful of the gem dragons.

Crystal dragons

Crystal dragons were friendly, curious gem dragons. They enjoyed conversing with other creatures but sometimes came into conflict with white dragons due to shared preferences in habitats. They were chaotic neutral and had a blinding cone of white light for a breath weapon. They were the smallest of the gem dragons and had translucent, crystalline scales.

Emerald dragons

Emerald dragons were reclusive dragons with a lawful bent. They are inquisitive about history, but also paranoid and distrustful of visitors, whom they deter by setting traps in and by their lairs, and with their breath weapon, a powerful blast of wind. They had scales in many shades of green, with a scintillating appearance that makes the dragon seem to be in constant motion.

Sapphire dragons

Sapphire dragons were territorial, militaristic dragons who normally lived in the Underdark. The majority of their diet was composed of giant spiders, and sapphire dragons considered all the evil races of the Underdark their enemies. Their breath weapon was a blast of noise that caused panic. Because of their sparkling, multi-blue-colored scales, they were sometimes mistaken for blue dragons.

Topaz dragons

Topaz dragons were erratic, antisocial gem dragons who were often selfish and disinterested in things that did not affect them. They preferred to live by beaches, and enjoyed the feeling the sea wind against their faceted, yellow-orange scales.

Dragon Traits

Dragons gain the following traits.

Ability Score Increase

Your Strength, Constitution, and Charisma scores each increase by 1.

Age

Dragons reach adulthood around 100 and it is said that they can live up to 2,000 years.

Size

Young dragons are about the size of humans. Your size is Medium.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Dragon Type

You have draconic ancestry. Choose one type of dragon from the Draconic Ancestry table. Your breath weapon and damage resistance are determined by the dragon type, as shown in the table.

Dragon Type

Dragon	Damage Type	Breath Weapon
Black	Acid	5 by 30 ft. line (Dex. save)
Blue	Lightning	5 by 30 ft. line (Dex. save)
Brass	Fire	5 by 30 ft. line (Dex. save)
Bronze	Lightning	5 by 30 ft. line (Dex. save)
Copper	Acid	5 by 30 ft. line (Dex. save)
Gold	Fire	15 ft. cone (Dex. save)
Green	Poison	15 ft. cone (Con. save)
Red	Fire	15 ft. cone (Dex. save)
Silver	Cold	15 ft. cone (Con. save)
White	Cold	15 ft. cone (Con. save)
Amethyst	Force	15 ft. cone or 30 ft. line (Con. save or Dex. save)
Crystal	Radiant	15 ft. cone or 30 ft. line (Con. save or Dex. save)
Emerald	Psychic	15 ft. cone or 30 ft. line (Con. save or Dex. save)
Sapphire	Thunder	15 ft. cone or 30 ft. line (Con. save or Dex. save)
Topaz	Necrotic	15 ft. cone or 30 ft. line (Con. save or Dex. save)

Breath Weapon

You can use your action to exhale destructive energy. Your draconic type determines the size, shape, and damage type of the exhalation. When you use your breath attack, each creature in the area of the exhalation must make a saving throw, the type of which is determined by your draconic ancestry. The DC for this saving throw equals 8 + your Constitution modifier + your proficiency bonus. A creature takes 1d10 damage on a failed save, and half as much damage on a successful one. The damage increases to 2d10 at 6th level, 3d10 at 11th level, and 4d10 at 16th level.

After you use your breath attack, you can't use it again until you complete a short or long rest.

Claws

Your claws are a natural weapon, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. If you hit with it, you deal piercing damage equal to 1d4 + your Strength modifier, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike.

Lair (Optional)

Most dragons have a lair where, due to your accumulation of treasures, you take everything that has value. Sleeping in your lair and under your treasure reduces your rest time to half the time required. Anyone who approaches up to 60 feet from your lair alerts you to possible invaders but does not give the exact location of them. The lair should typically be built in a terrain that fits your ancestry. Having a lair is optional.

To establish a lair you must first create a hoard worth at least 500 gold of treasures or coins, and must take a long rest on or by that hoard. A lair must be stationary or must have at least cover 2,000 ft2 (example: Sailing Ship, 100 ft. by 20 ft.)

You can only have one lair at a time, to create a new lair you must move your hoard into the new location of your lair. After establishing a lair you cannot establish a new one until 7 days have passed.

Draconic Physique

Although you are a powerful dragon, being a dragon also has some detriments. You can not wield weapons or use armor and must find creative ways to wear rings, hats, and other apparel. Using a weapon to attack counts it as an improvised weapon, unless it is specifically designed to be wielded by dragons. 

Wings

Dragons have great wings that require practice and a honing of draconic ancestry to properly harness. At 5th level, you gain a 30 foot flying speed, and you can't use this speed, if in your current form you don't have the wings, or if you are wearing armor of any kind.

Dragon Bloodline

Depending on if you picked a Chromatic, Metallic, or Gem dragon as your dragon type. Starting at 5th level, you gain one of the following features.

Shapechange (Metallic)

As an action, you may polymorph yourself into a commoner with no concentration required. This trait lasts until you use it again, are dropped to 0 hit points, die, or if you drop the transformation with no action required. After you use this trait, you can not use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

In addition you have advantage on charisma (deception) checks when it comes to pretending to be someone else.

Psionics (Gem)

You can telepathically speak to any creature you can see within 30 feet of you. You don’t need to share a language with the creature, but the creature must be able to understand at least one language.

Additionally you learn the mage hand cantrip. You can cast it without verbal or somatic components, and you can make the spectral hand invisible. If you already know this spell, its range increases by 30 feet when you cast it. Its spellcasting ability is charisma.

Elemental Protection (Chromatic)

You have resistance to the damage type associated with your Dragon Type.

Additionally as an action, you can channel your draconic energy to protect yourself. For 10 minutes, you become immune to the damage type associated with your Dragon type. Once you use this trait, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common, Draconic, and one extra language of your choice.