You may increase three ability scores by 1 (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Wisdom, Intelligence, or Charisma).

For ease, only the main stages are listed.

Ages vary depending on the type of dragon. Chromatic dragons tend to live shorter lives than Metallic dragons, with Twilight happening around 2000 - 2500 years, whereas some metallic dragons can live well over 4000 years before twilight starts.

Twilight

The Twilight years are the last years of a dragon's life, where the dragon rapidly declines within a matter of a few years before death. There are only a few options that a dragon has at this stage of life:

Starting at level 1, twice per long rest, you may shift from your dragon form to your humanoid form as a bonus action. At level 5, you may shift four times. Most dragons do not necessarily need to take the form of the same humanoid when they shift from dragon form to humanoid form, but, with the exception of the feature Stuck In Between for the Song dragon, you must fully shift from humanoid form to dragon form before taking the form of a different humanoid, even if it is of the same race. You may choose to shift twice in one turn by using shift as your action as well, as long as you have another use of shift before a long rest.

While taking a humanoid form, you are small or medium size, depending on the race of humanoid.

Your base walking speed is 30 feet. You can also swim or climb 30 feet, and fly 80 feet. Brown dragons are able to burrow as fast as other dragons can fly. Some races of dragons, such as Mercury dragons or Yellow dragons, have a faster base walking speed. Yellow dragons are capable of moving 40ft. per 6 seconds, and Mercury dragons are capable of moving 50ft. per 6 seconds. Mercury dragons can also swim and climb 50ft. and fly 120 ft, however, using your full movement speed would likely cause other humanoids to suspect you aren't who you appear to be, so use your speed only when it is necessary. You are not able to fly in your humanoid form without revealing that you have wings.

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.

Chromatic Draconic Ancestry

*Rolling dragon ancestry is not suggested, as the breath weapon should be chosen carefully to not be overpowered. But, if you do insist on rolling for draconic ancestry, roll a d10 for the metallic dragon list, with a 10 being a Stellar, or roll a d12 for the chromatic dragon list. If you roll a 12, you are a Shadow dragon, and roll a second d12 for type. If you roll a second 12, you are a shadow metallic dragon, and roll a d10 for type. If the DM excludes Stellar or Shadow from the list, rolling either of these results in the player having choice of their ancestry.*

You can use your action to exhale destructive energy. Your draconic ancestry determines the size, shape, and damage type of the exhalation. When you use your breath weapon, 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. Most saving throws require a creature to pass a Constitution or Dexterity saving throw, but Mercury dragons require a Wisdom saving throw. A creature takes 2d6 damage on a failed save, and half as much damage on a successful one. The damage increases to 3d6 at 6th level and the range of the breath attack increases by 10ft, then 4d6 at 11th level, and 5d6 at 16th level. After you use your breath weapon, you can’t use it again until you complete a short or long rest.

You have resistance to the damage type associated with your draconic ancestry.

You can speak, read, and write Common and Draconic. Draconic is thought to be one of the oldest languages and is often used in the study of magic. The language sounds harsh to most other creatures and includes numerous hard consonants and sibilants.

Dragons take a long time to heal. A dragon may heal only 10 hit points per long rest while in humanoid form, and only 20 hit points per long rest in dragon form. It may be a good idea to fake your humanoid form's death if a normal player character would have died from the amount of damage taken, as this may protect your draconic identity. If your draconic form ever loses all of it's hitpoints, it may be time to start filling in a new character sheet.

There are also a plethora of other dragons, such as Gem dragons, Fey dragons, or Planar dragons, and each one has it's own stats, breath weapon and flavour. Listed above are most of the 'True Dragons', with the possible exception of the Stellar dragon, as well as the Shadow dragon, as the Shadow dragon can be a dragon of any type. Due to the sheer number of dragons in the game of DnD, if you would like to play one of these other dragons, it would be wise to research first and consult the DM accordingly.

Mercury dragons have a number of unique traits:

• Speedy Bois:

Slimmer and nimbler than other dragons, Mercuries are the fastest dragon, having double the walking and climbing speed of a Red dragon, and more than double the flight speed. These numbers are tamed down a bit for use as a playable character, granting 50 walking, climbing, and swimming speed, and 120 flight speed.

• Someone Else's Junk:

Mercuries have a very interesting hoard, not consisting specifically of valuable items, but more of a variety of things that the dragon thinks are interesting. This may be something as simple as a rock with an interesting shape or colour, or may be some powerful magical item. Mercuries tend not to value items by how much they are worth, but rather how interesting an item is, and may be willing to trade powerful magical items for a stone that they find fascinating, or a gold coin for a copper coin from a country they've never been to. Mercuries also tend to be more willing to part with items that they have multiples of for something they don't yet have.

• One Too Many:

Mercuries are only allowed to have one of any particular item in their inventory, unless they succeed on a DC 12 Wisdom save to find this particular item fascinating. This applies to all items, even things like gold coins or arrows, however, different kinds of arrows would count as a different item, so a Mercury could carry one of any different type of arrow without having to roll a saving throw. An exception may be made for currency, but only because they need currency to buy other unique items for their 'hoard'. Mercuries may also be prone to pick up random things they find lying around, and may even try to trade random objects instead of currency.

• Death and Insanity in the Veins:

Not exactly in that order... Mercury dragons' blood contains, surprise: the element mercury. If a creature bites or consumes a Mercury's blood, it must pass a DC 15 constitution save, or else the creature is poisoned, and it acts as if it were under the Confusion spell until it has taken a long rest.

• What Did You Say?:

Mercury dragons are known to speak quickly, and creatures may have to make a Wisdom saving throw to see if they understand what is being said.

You have mixed draconic ancestry. Roll 1d4, and the result is the number of additional ancestry types in your character's heritage (to a maximum of 5). Your breath attack follow the same rules, but you may choose which breath attack to use from the chosen draconic ancestries. You may choose only two resistances from any of the chosen dragon types.

Alternative Variant: The Blood Of All Dragons

Somehow, you have the the ability to utilize any of the breath attacks on the table above, but the breath attack changes randomly each time. Also, you may choose any one resistance from the table above.The breath weapon follows the same rules above, and the random type is rolled by rolling 1d12. If the role is less than 12, choose the corresponding dragon from the chromatic ancestry table, and if the roll is 12, then roll a d10 and choose the corresponding dragon from the metallic ancestry table. A 10 on the metallic ancestry table would result in a breath attack that causes any creatures or loose objects within 60 ft of you to move 30 ft towards you immediately, taking 1d10 bludgeoning damage; any objects that hit you during this attack cause you for 1d4 bludgeoning damage each.

For the ease of use, a Song dragon is simply a flavour of dragon that tends to spend almost it's entire life in human form. Due to similarities to how Steel dragons live, some of these dragons' personality traits and qualities will fit here too. Unlike steel dragons, song dragons don't take on different lives. Their humanoid form is always the same person, and the only aging that happens to their humanoid form is a gradual change from about the age of 18 to less than 40 over the course of their life. In essence, a Song dragon will always appear as the same person, but may need to be creative in taking on new identities, or moving to other cities every few decades to avoid suspicion. Song dragons are like Steel dragons in that they typically enjoy living among humans, and actively conceal their true identities so they can live fairly ordinary lives. Both Steel and Song dragons tend to be good natured, and don't tend to seek power, position, or wealth for their own gain, though Steel dragons may take on a less good natured role for a single life for the sake of knowledge, and some Song dragons are tempted by fame. This being said, it is not impossible for these dragons to turn to more sinister methods, or use their draconic form and abilities for their own purposes, but it is frowned upon by the other dragons of their type.

Song dragons tend to be drawn towards art, song, and performance, and may appear as a merchant girl selling fine cloth in a market, or as a bard stirring a crowd with a joyful song, or something that speaks to art or beauty. As such, a Song dragon essentially hoards experiences and memories.

Steel dragons' or Song dragons' humanoid forms are not affected by spells that detect or dispel magic, and they passively have abilities to protect their thoughts. Essentially, for all intents and purposes, a Song or Steel dragon is human until they decide to reveal otherwise. Steel dragons each have a steel-coloured identifier in their appearance, maybe a lock of hair, a mark on their skin, or a piece of jewellery they are always wearing. Song dragons are not known to have an identifier like this, though other dragons may be able to tell that they are also dragon.

Song dragons also have a unique breath weapon: They release a 15 foot cone of electrically charged gas, which also acts as a natural anti-magic field within the cone, as well as causes Silence within the affected area. Neither of these 'spells' would be counted as magical effects, since they are a side-effect of the dragon's breath attack.

Alternative Variant: Mixed Song Dragon

You are a Song dragon with mixed draconic ancestry. You take on the breath weapon and resistances of the other dragon type, but your breath weapon still has anti-magic properties. For breath weapons with lingering effects, this creates an anti-magic field in the effected area until your next turn, and for breath weapons without lingering effects, any target affected by the breath weapon will be unable to use magic on it's next turn.

Alternative Variant: Stuck In Between

When you shift between your dragon and humanoid forms, you may also choose to stop part way in between and take the form of either a dragonborn or kobold. This allows a Song dragon to have three different forms rather than just two. Your third form will likely have features that resemble a mix of both your human and dragon forms, but it would likely look different enough to fool most people.

You are a Song dragon with mixed draconic ancestry. You take on the breath weapon and resistances of the other dragon type, but your breath weapon still has anti-magic properties. For breath weapons with lingering effects, this creates an anti-magic field in the effected area until your next turn, and for breath weapons without lingering effects, any target affected by the breath weapon will be unable to use magic on it's next turn.

When you shift between your dragon and humanoid forms, you may also choose to stop part way in between and take the form of either a dragonborn or kobold. This allows a Song dragon to have three different forms rather than just two. Your third form will likely have features that resemble a mix of both your human and dragon forms, but it would likely look different enough to fool most people.

Shadow dragons are not their own type of dragon, but rather, are a dragon that has been changed so much from their normal type that they practically become shadows. A shadow dragon may once have been a Red dragon, which now breathes a cone of black flame, which deal necrotic damage instead of fire damage. Though Shadow dragons would tend towards having been chromatic dragons, any dragon may have been turned into a Shadow dragon either by other Shadow dragons, or by living too close to a very dark and evil place for a long period of time, becoming corrupted by the ages. Shadow dragons would pretty much always be chaotic evil in nature.

Shadow dragons are able to melt into shadows and hide in dark areas, only stepping out to strike.

Anyone killed by a Shadow dragon's breath attack will become a Shadow, or, more accurately, the downed creature's shadow will abandon the being it once followed, and will rise and be subservient to the dragon, usually becoming cannon fodder. Beings killed by shadows will raise more shadows from the bodies of the dead.