Draconic Lineages

[draconiclineages]

Ancient Draconic Enemies

As a whole, and outside of singular Realms, the dragon species has only had two groups of enemies. The Mu and the Astral Demons.

The Mu have long since been considered to be a non-issue, ever since they decided to kill, capture, or otherwise betray The Five. The Astral Demons, however, are very much still around.

The Mu was an ancient civilization that possessed five Made Gods, each one ended at least a single Realm single-handedly, while together, they conquered dozens. They are single-handedly responsible for the resurgence of Humanity around the multiverse, however, that was thousands of years ago. Since then, Humans have diminished due to extreme evolutionary, societal, and cultural pressures.

Izziks Xiksal, The Realm Scourge

Credit: Robson Michel

Words: Entropy, Fate, Luck, Time, Space

Powerset: Despite the number of words possessed, he has manipulated them to have dozens of other gifts from words. For example, Stronger than You from Might uses the Entropy word, and Swifter than the Sun from Alacrity uses the Time word as two examples.

He controls the fundamental forces of the universe and is single-handedly responsible for the destruction of at least nine entire Realms. Thought to have been killed, he was only imprisoned and has in fact been released by a naive group of Godbound. Due to his capture and containment, he now is missing an eye and has a scarred face, something he hates being pointed out. He has spent his freedom inspecting the further damage that has been done to reality and slaughtering any angel that happened to interrupt him and his work. He believes that reality is stable enough, but only one realm is not enough to keep everything together for good, so he plans to soon build more Celestial Machines in other Realms.

Serenity, The Mindeater

Credit: Ryan Bittner

Words: Command, Deception, Desire, Fear, Madness, Night

Powerset: She uses her powers to manipulate what appears to be reality for those unfortunate enough to be near her.

Serenity changes reality, or at least the perception of it, in her victims. Dismantling the minds of those necessary to dismantle and retaining extreme lucidity in others to cause chaos. She pushes the right levers and then the world will destroy themselves. Like the others, she has been trapped within a standing glass, trapped as a 2nd-dimensional plane standing in the middle of a desert, a compressed space.

Mofin Dall, The Enslaver

Credit: Ryan Bittner

Words: Beast, Command, Death, Lich King, War, Wealth

Powerset: They excel in forming armies in a new Realm and subsuming entire nations with them. Taking beasts, undead, and even a nation's own military.

Mofin Dall was responsible to maintaining hold of the Realms conquered, which caused the Mu to fear it more than many of the others. They tried and technically succeeded in killing them multiple times, however, due to their well-hidden Phylactery, all they could do was take them apart piece by piece and scatter them across the Realms, not killing them but neutralizing them entirely.

Koban, The Realm Manifest

Credit: Shadowverse

Words: Desert, Earth, Fire, Night, Sea, Sky, Sun, Underworld, Winter

Powerset: Capable of controlling the 'elements', she tends to animate lesser elementals, natural phenomena, and the very environment itself. She is not against simply beating someone down with her fists, however.

Koban's main function was to terraform inhospitable Realms, capable of forming, shattering, or drowning continents themselves. Her entrapment was only done after sacrificing an entire Realm to her, the planet lost and shattered. Though, unlike the others who possessed true prisons, her prison was merely isolation, cut off from the rest of the multiverse as they closed their Nightports. Unfortunately for the Mu, the Night Roads will eventually occur naturally, and so, she has gained access to other realms, sending out handfuls of individuals to other realms simply because she can.

Murder, The Slayer

Credit: Dominik Dejanović

Words: War

Powerset: Although only possessing one word technically, he acts as if he as other certain words, such as Murder, Endurance, Bow, Sword, Health, Might, Alacrity, and other such words.

A battle maniac, Murder was there to crush any divinities the Mu encountered or to wipe out armies while Mofin Dall wasn't present. Murder's imprisonment wasn't difficult, strangely enough, he was convinced to allow his essence to imbue a blade. Though, after all these millennia of lacking conflict, he's grown to resent the prison and seeks escape.

[draconiclineages]

Humans and Dragons

As mentioned previously, Dragons hold a special pedestal within the multiverse, godlike beings despite not being bound to any words of divinity. But Humans hold a similarly special place, they were the ones who broke reality, who slaughtered one another so thoroughly that they shattered time and scarred space, and, outside of a single Realm, they are a rare sight indeed. They were the first beings within the multiverse, and they are the most malleable, for some reason, they have a special relationship with dragons. Well, relationships. There are three main forms of relationships which a Human can have with a dragon. As a Speaker, a Chosen, or a Blessed.

Dragon Blessed, the eternal servants

First is the simplest, the undead forms of humans who serve their draconic overlords for eternity, set free to guard their corpses within the wastelands of the diety Realms should the lord perish, losing what little self they have left in the process, or they may serve their liege while they take on a similar state of undeath.

Specific stat blocks of the various Blessed will be expanded upon in the 'Dragons and Death' post.

Dragon Chosen, the mythical riders

The variety of Human chosen to serve within a dragon's army. Dragons, despite their power, can not hold the Realms they take alone. No, they need numbers for that. To meet that end, dragons share their blood with others that have proven useful, capable, or otherwise somehow trustworthy. Some dragons may view a need to share their blood in a manner effectively 'conscripting' a populace. This blood fundamentally changes a Human it was entrusted to, granting them innate magical abilities, supernatural durability and strength, as well as potential other side effects. It grants them the dragon's capacity to grow stronger with time (though it is significantly accelerated with the infusion of more blood into the human.), with a side-effect of making the human sterile. The number of members each caste has depends on a number of factors, the number of Humans present in a Realm and the goals, personality, and 'rank' of the Dragon Liege are a few such factors.

The only non-Human exclusive variety of Dragon Chosen is simply warriors, from the races native to the Realm, though, many scholars have noted that they are strangely weakened compared to non-draconic serving variants of Warriors. AC: 7 to 5; Hit Dice: 1; Attacks: +1; Damage: 1d2 non-straight damage; Move: 30' run; Save: 15+; Morale: 8; Effort: 1. They additionally have the ability "Draconic Devotion: While the soldier can see a Dragon that isn't hostile to it, the soldier has an additional attack.". They have a life expectancy of whatever happens to be the life expectancy for the species, the average for humans would be 40 - 70 years of age.

The first Human exclusive Dragon Chosen rank are the periphery of a draconic army, the proverbial recruits that have been granted a few drops of draconic ichor. AC: 6 to 4; Hit Dice: 3; Attacks: +2; Damage: 1d4 non-straight damage + 1 straight damage of the donor dragon's damaging breath 'type'; Move: 35' run; Save: 14+; Morale: 9; Effort: 2. They additionally have the abilities "Draconic Devotion: While the soldier can see a Dragon that isn't hostile to it, the soldier has an additional attack.", "Draconic Sight: They can see out to 10 feet of darkness as if it were light.", and "Draconic Command: The soldier can not disobey commands given by their donor or dragons related to their donor. Though their donor's commands supersede all others. There is a rarely utilized exception to this, the Draconic Deity of the same Lineage supersede even the donor. They may commit effort for the day and roll their save characteristic with a -2 to disobey the command.". They have a life expectancy of twice the life expectancy for humans, roughly 80 - 140 years of age.

The second Human exclusive Dragon Chosen rank are the true soldiers of a draconic army. They can speak, read, and write Draconic in addition to whatever languages they knew before. AC: 5 to 3; Hit Dice: 6; Attacks: +4; Damage: 1d6 non-straight damage + 1d2 straight damage of the donor dragon's damaging breath 'type'; Move: 40' run; Save: 13+; Morale: 9; Effort: 3. They additionally have the ability "Draconic Devotion: While the soldier can see a Dragon that isn't hostile to it, the soldier has an additional attack.", "Draconic Sight: They can see out to 20 feet of darkness as if it were light.", and "Draconic Command: The soldier can not disobey commands given by their donor or dragons related to their donor. Though their donor's commands supersede all others. There is a rarely utilized exception to this, the Draconic Deity of the same Lineage supersede even the donor. They may commit effort for the day and roll their save characteristic with a -4 to disobey the command.". They have a life expectancy of thrice the life expectancy for humans, roughly 120 - 210 years of age.

The third Human exclusive Dragon Chosen rank are closer to the officers of a proper Draconic Army, usually spotted with 1 to 1d12 Guard Drakes, depending on the individual. They can speak, read, and write Draconic in addition to whatever languages they knew before. AC: 4 to 2; Hit Dice: 10; Attacks: +6 x 2 attacks; Damage: 1d8 non-straight damage + 1d4 straight damage of the donor dragon's damaging breath 'type'; Move: 45' run; Save: 12+; Morale: 10; Effort: 4. They additionally have the ability "Draconic Devotion: While the soldier can see a Dragon that isn't hostile to it, the soldier has an additional attack.", "Draconic Sight: They can see out to 30 feet of darkness as if it were light.", and "Draconic Command: The soldier can not disobey commands given by their donor or dragons related to their donor. Though their donor's commands supersede all others. There is a rarely utilized exception to this, the Draconic Deity of the same Lineage supersede even the donor. They may commit effort for the day and roll their save characteristic with a -6 to disobey the command.". They have a life expectancy of four times the life expectancy for humans, roughly 160 - 280 years of age.

The fourth Human exclusive Dragon Chosen rank are akin to commanders, not an uncommon sight on a battlefield, but not guaranteed either. They often are seen riding Dragonnels, some who prefer the ground may prefer Guard Drakes to accompany them instead. If they ride Dragonnels, usually their immediate subordinates also ride them. They can speak, read, and write Draconic in addition to whatever languages they knew before. AC: 3 to 1; Hit Dice: 15; Attacks: +8 x 2 attacks; Damage: 1d10 non-straight damage + 1d6 straight damage of the donor dragon's damaging breath 'type'; Move: 50' run; Save: 11+; Morale: 10; Effort: 5. They additionally have the ability "Draconic Devotion: While the soldier can see a Dragon that isn't hostile to it, the soldier has an additional attack.", "Draconic Sight: They can see out to 40 feet of darkness as if it were light.", and "Draconic Command: The soldier can not disobey commands given by their donor or dragons related to their donor. Though their donor's commands supersede all others. There is a rarely utilized exception to this, the Draconic Deity of the same Lineage supersede even the donor. They may commit effort for the day and roll their save characteristic with a -8 to disobey the command.". They have a life expectancy of five times the life expectancy for humans, roughly 200 - 350 years of age.

The fifth Human exclusive Dragon Chosen rank are akin to battalion lords, rarely seen away from the main forces. They often are seen riding Adult Dragons, usually their donor or the spawn of their donor, many of their immediate subordinates ride Dragonnels. They can speak, read, and write Draconic in addition to whatever languages they knew before. AC: 2 to 0; Hit Dice: 21; Attacks: +10 x 2 attacks; Damage: 1d12 non-straight damage + 1d8 straight damage of the donor dragon's damaging breath 'type'; Move: 55' run; Save: 10+; Morale: 11; Effort: 6. They additionally have the abilities "Draconic Devotion: While the soldier can see a Dragon that isn't hostile to it, the soldier has an additional attack.", "Draconic Sight: They can see out to 50 feet of darkness as if it were light.", and "Draconic Command: The soldier can not disobey commands given by their donor or dragons related to their donor. Though their donor's commands supersede all others. There is a rarely utilized exception to this, the Draconic Deity of the same Lineage supersede even the donor. They may commit effort for the day and roll their save characteristic with a -10 to disobey the command.", and "Draconic Resilience: The Soldier may commit effort for the day to regain 1d4 + 1 hit dice.". They have a life expectancy of twice the life expectancy for humans, roughly 240 - 420 years of age.

The sixth and final Human exclusive Dragon Chosen rank are akin to the generals of the entire army, rarely seen in conflict, they seem to blur the lines between what can be considered a mortal, easily capable of fighting even the likes of Angels unaided. They often are seen riding Adult or Ancient Dragons when in expected conflict, usually their donor or the spawn of their donor, the 'parent' of the entire army or a dragon directly related to them, many of their immediate subordinates ride younger dragons, usually the immediate children of the dragon they themselves ride. They can speak, read, and write Draconic in addition to whatever languages they knew before. AC: 1 to -1; Hit Dice: 28; Attacks: +12 x 3 attacks; Damage: 1d12 + 1 non-straight damage + 1d8 straight damage of the donor dragon's damaging breath 'type'; Move: 60' run; Save: 9+; Morale: 11; Effort: 7. They additionally have the abilities "Draconic Devotion: While the soldier can see a Dragon that isn't hostile to it, the soldier has an additional attack.", "Draconic Sight: They can see out to 60 feet of darkness as if it were light.", and "Draconic Command: The soldier can not disobey commands given by their donor or dragons related to their donor. Though their donor's commands supersede all others. There is a rarely utilized exception to this, the Draconic Deity of the same Lineage supersede even the donor. They may commit effort for the day and roll their save characteristic with a -12 to disobey the command.", and "Draconic Resilience: The Soldier may commit effort for the day to regain 1d4 + 1 hit dice.". They have a life expectancy of twice the life expectancy for humans, roughly 280 - 490 years of age.

Dragon Speaker, the parasite gods

Draconic deities draw their powers from the universe in a fundementally different manner than other divinities, such as Made Gods who were made as strong as they are, or Parasite Gods who siphon off celestial energies, or even the Godbound who can be fed by faith and who grow their power by merely existing. Though the deities do grow in power overtime, that is assumed to be more related to their nature as dragons than their moniker as deities. They grow in power through the spread of their lineages, for every realm they control. This does not make intuitive sense to many humans who revere the dragons, and so they worship. But in this multiverse, faith is an energy which must go somewhere, but it does not go to the dragons who it is meant for, so, where does it go? To the faithful. It cycles its way back into the group, it weaves into their beings, and it mutates their souls. These cults form a pyramid structure, each 'level' possessing ten times the number of the next level, these cults spring up sporadically and often without intention from the dragons they worship. Most dragons believe these cults to be chaotic and unruly elements, though they usually enjoy the praise. There are limits to the amount of power gained from this process, resulting in a total of five levels possible, the lowest possessing no number limits.

All of the cultists have the following abilities:

Dragon Fanatic: While the cultist can see a dragon or higher-ranking dragon cultist friendly to it, the cultist automatically succeeds all morale rolls.

Fanatic's Advantage: Before making an attack roll on their turn, a cultist may commit any amount of effort. For each effort committed, the attack gets +2. For every full +2 that was not required to hit the target, the cultist rolls an additional die to the damage roll. If any extra damage was dealt this way, at the end of their turn, they commit one of those efforts for the day.

Cultist

Effectively a commoner who has devoted themselves to the cult.

AC: 9; Hit Dice: 1; Attack: +1; Damage: 1d2 or weapon; Move: 30' run; Save: 15+; Morale: 7; Effort: 1

Dragonclaw

The changes induced has significantly toughened the hide of the cultist, which will further toughen, as well as caused their hands and feet to grow claws.

AC: 7; Hit Dice: 8; Attack: +2; Damage: 1d2 (fist) or 1d6 (claws) or weapon; Move: 30' run; Save: 13+; Morale: 8; Effort: 2

The cultist reduces damage rolls for damage type of the dragon they revere by 1 and has +1 to saves against 'statuses' similar to the type of dragon they revere can inflict with their breath weapon(s).

Dragonwing

The changes induced has caused the cultist to grow draconic wings from their backs, though currently weak, they strengthen later.

AC: 5; Hit Dice: 16; Attack: +4; Damage: 1d2 (fist) or 1d6 (claws) or weapon; Move: 30' run or 10' fly; Save: 11+; Morale: 9; Effort: 3

The cultist reduces damage rolls for damage type of the dragon they revere by 2 and has +3 to saves against 'statuses' similar to the type of dragon they revere can inflict with their breath weapon(s).

Dragonfang

The changes are nearly complete, they have grown larger, six inches to an entire foot, accommodating new organs within their chest cavities.

AC: 3; Hit Dice: 40; Attack: +8; Damage: 1d2 (fist) or 1d6 (claws) or weapon; Move: 30' run or 20' fly; Save: 9+; Morale: 10; Effort: 4

The cultist reduces damage rolls for damage type of the dragon they revere by 3 and has +6 to saves against 'statuses' similar to the type of dragon they revere can inflict with their breath weapon(s).

Dragonfangs also have the following ability:

Dragon's Breath: The cultist can exhale destructive energies as if they were a Wyrmling of the type of dragon their cult reveres. However, after they exhale their breath, they may roll 1d6. If they do; on an odd number rolled, the effort is committed for the day instead of the scene; on a 6, the effort is immediately reclaimed.

Dragonsoul

The changes have reached their pinnacle, they have grown larger, six inches to an entire foot yet again. Many at this stage find themselves seeking to be worshipped as a sort of avatar or messiah of the dragons rather than to continue worshipping the true dragons themselves.

AC: 1; Hit Dice: 56; Attack: +16; Damage: 1d2 (fist) or 1d6 (claws) or weapon; Move: 30' run or 30' fly; Save: 7+; Morale: 11; Effort: 5

The cultist reduces damage rolls for damage type of the dragon they revere by 4 and has +10 to saves against 'statuses' similar to the type of dragon they revere can inflict with their breath weapon(s).

Dragonsouls also have the following ability:

Greater Dragon's Breath: The cultist can exhale destructive energies as if they were an Adolescent of the type of dragon their cult reveres. However, after they exhale their breath, they may roll 1d6. If they do; on an odd number rolled, the effort is committed for the day instead of the scene; on a 6, the effort is immediately reclaimed.

[draconiclineages]

True Gem Dragons

The Gemmatic lineage of dragons is also known as Gem dragons.

Sardior, the Ruby Dragon

Sardior is an agendered dragon, a deity of gem dragons, and a fairly detached analytical individual. They have a perfect memory and utilize telepathy to simply memorize all information possessed by those near them, using the new information to extrapolate, reinforce, or disprove currently-held ideas.

Credit: Matteo Bondini

Amethyst Dragons

Amythest dragons fundamentally desire knowledge, as all gemmatic dragons do, but they seek to learn about anything. They have particular interests in fundamental forces of the multiverse. Be it shared laws of reality, the Uncreated, or unique laws of the Realm they inhabit. They are, in a general sense, highly educated, and though they believe their work to be highly important (whatever that work may be), they are often willing to educate those who wander into their lairs.

Credit: Joshua Raphael

Sapphire Dragons

Sapphire dragons are a cautious and aggressive lot. Thinking situations through in seconds before seemingly acting rashly. Their favored subjects are that of war, causing them to be seen on the frontlines of many conflicts in veritable Thunders, often actively participating in the battles themselves for the 'experience'.

Credit: WotC

Emerald Dragons

Emerald dragons are hidden watchers, they prefer to observe rather than interact or be interacted with. Reclusive by nature, they are rarely 'extroverted'.

Credit: WotC

Topaz Dragons

Topaz dragons are as salty as their lairs, natural pessimists, quick to become hostile when irritated, and like all salt, hydrophobes. Their fear of water is paradoxical given their ability to vaporize it with their breath and their preference for lair locales.

Credit: WotC

Crystal Dragons

Crystal dragons are bright in breath, appearance, and personality. Perpetual optimists that are friendly to a fault, and prefer to talk rather than resort to violence.

Credit: Joshua Raphael

Beljuril Dragons

Beljuril dragons are much like their namesake gemstones, utterly unpredictable in the long term. In the short term, they can be docile until provoked by something, in which case they can be sporadic. Possibly leaving their lair for a few years, immediately becoming violent, requesting duels, deciding to sleep, becoming a human for a century or two, and other such eccentricities.

Credit: Lana Ansay

Pearl Dragons

Pearl dragons want to know everything, not entirely dissimilar to other gemmatic dragons, but they explicitly want to know everything about you. They want to know how you feel, why you feel that way, what you will do now that you feel that way, what you are currently thinking, why you are thinking that. They do usually identify that asking such questions will eventually result in them receiving the response 'annoyed' followed by some variation of 'because you keep asking me questions.' Naturally, this annoys the dragons, and the diversity of thought ceases for a while.

Credit: Atharea

Obsidian Dragons

Obsidian dragons are second only to amethyst dragons in intelligence. However, unlike amethyst dragons who insatiably feed their thirst for knowledge, obsidian dragons simply know things. This is usually limited to verifiably factual pieces of information, such as how the wind blows, who someone's parents are, what animals are mammals, or the nations of a Realm. They do not know things that are more subjective, such as emotional or religious experiences for example. They view no benefit in sharing what they know nor do they see much benefit in receiving information from their lessers, that is unless it is related to their particular fields of interest.

Credit: mofutom

Agate Dragons

Agate dragons are slow, patient, and deliberate. They speak simply unlike some other dragons, as they prefer to not need to speak, living within their lairs. Though, of the gemmatic dragons, they are the type that will most predictably raid the lands near them, seemingly unprovoked, for the treasures they seek.

Credit: sandara

Diamond Dragons

Diamond dragons are quite simply, hypocrites. They value freedom above all else, their own freedom that is, and they will, in the same sentence as they tell you that locking someone away is a horrid action, suggest removing a threat by locking them away into an extra-dimensional bubble for all eternity.

Credit: Bein' real, I don't know who made this.

[draconiclineages]

Dragon Gods and their Spawn

I don't know why I felt the need to separate these mechanics from the bulk of the mechanics, but I did.

The Dragon Gods and their Draconic Demigods possess two abilities normal dragons do not possess.

Age Change

When shapeshifting, rather than becoming a proportionally aged and gendered creature, they can change those factors as they desire.

Natural Regeneration

At the start of any round where they are missing hit dice and are not dead, they may regain up to 1% of their maximum hit dice (with a minimum regained of 1). They need not expend an effort to benefit from such healing.

[draconiclineages]

Going into a little bit of mechanics

There are general stages of dragon lifecycles. Egg - Not aged as they are unhatched. Wyrmling - >~6 Adolescent - ~6-~30 Adult - ~30-~150 Elder - ~150-~750 Ancient - ~750-~3750 Wyrm - ~3750-~18750 Great Wyrm - ~18750-~93750

After they 'exit' the Great Wyrm stage, they die in a matter of days. That is, unless they are directly 'spawned' from one of the dragon deities. In that case, they age exponentially slower in each stage, making them comparatively immortal.

For the purposes of the twilight stage, treat it as a second Great Wyrm stage for these 'demigod' dragons.

For the purposes of the 'cheated death' forms, repeat any of the bonuses from their current stage. They stop transitioning between stages but can still accumulate health. Though they do have other special rules.

For the purposes of the dragon deities, I simply consider them to be a 'Cheated Death Twilight Great Wyrm' with an additional Great Wyrm bonus.

Hit Die

Now, onto mechanics. Health is the only one that is strictly related to age and it uses my favorite mathematical expression bc it can. (This is the godbound system, bear that in mind) (n*(n+1))/2. Where n is the number of hit die they have, and thus, the result is their age in years.

AC, Saves, and Morale

The AC of an Egg is 8. Each stage they are afterwards decrease their AC by 2.

The saves starts at 10 and decreases by 1 each stage.

The morale starts at 8 and increases by 1 each stage.

Claws, Fangs, and Tails

They possess claw, tail, and bite attacks. They have a -2 to hit and damage and start out dealing 1d2 damage as an Egg. Each stage afterward increases the bonus to hit and damage by 1. It also alternates increasing the die number and die size. The Wyrm and Great Wyrm stages increase both rather than one (ending at 6d12). These attacks have an initial range of 0ft., it increases to 5ft. at the Wyrmling stage and increases the range by 5ft. each stage after adult. The Ancient, Wyrm, and Great Wyrm stages additionally increases the range by 5ft.

Wings

They possess a wing attack (technically an ability). This attack inflicts an evasion or hardiness save on every target in a cone. On a failure, they take the same damage they would from a claw attack, except the initial die size is 1d1 and they (the ones who failed) are pushed a number of feet away from the dragon. The distance they are pushed is initially 0ft. and increased by 5ft. each stage. The range of this cone is initially 0ft. but is increased by 15ft. each stage. The size of this cone's opening is increased by 5ft. every two stages, initially starting at 0ft. The Elder, Ancient, Wyrm, and Great Wyrm stages additionally increases the opening by 5ft. The Wyrm and Great Wyrm stages additionally increases the range by 15ft. each.

They may commit effort to move up to 5ft. per stage they are.

Attacks

Initially, they possess one attack per attack action, gaining an additional attack every two stages.

The Great Wyrm stage gains an additional attack per action.

Actions

Initially, they possess one action per turn, gaining an additional action every three stages.

The Great Wyrm stage gains an additional action.

Movement

They gain 15ft. of movement every stage, initially possessing 15ft. as an egg. Yes, the egg can and will move around if the dragon inside feels threatened.

(n*(n-1)/2)*15 ft., where n is the stage of the dragon, as it's flying speed.

Innate Effort and Influence

Initially, they possess one effort, gaining an additional effort every stage.

Initially, they possess no influence, gaining an additional influence every two stages.

Dragon Fear

The dragon may commit effort to emit an aura out (n*(n-1)/2)*5 ft. where n is the stage of the dragon. This aura causes any non-draconic lesser foes within to roll for morale at the start of their turns, effected by existential fear on failure. This morale roll has an additional -1 for every two stages the dragon is.

The dragon can commit additional effort to this ability to grant the rolls an additional -1.

Dragon Breath

The dragon may commit effort for the scene to exhale a devastating blast of energy. A save is required for these breath weapons, either to avoid their effects or to halve the damage. Lesser foes make the save with a minus equal to the stage of the dragon. The types of dragons will specify any special effects or type of damage as well as what type of save that is required.

Damaging breath weapons initially deal 0d0 straight damage (yes, straight). Both the number and size of the die increasing with every stage (ending at 8d12). Because I can, I will specify the 'chromatic damage bonus', which is twice the number of dice. However, a number of the chromatic breaths have alternatives to the damage bonus as specified by their type.

With a few exceptions, all breath weapons can be exhaled as either a cone or a line, forcing all creatures within the area of effect to make the appropriate save.

A cone will affect out to (n*(n-1)/2)*20 ft., where n is the stage of the dragon. With an initial opening of 0ft. This increases by 5ft. every two stages. It is additionally increased by 5ft. in the Ancient, Wyrm, and Great Wyrm stages.

A line will affect out to (n*(n-1)/2)*60 ft., where n is the stage of the dragon. With an initial width of 0ft. This increases by 5ft. every two stages. It is additionally increased by 5ft. in the Ancient, Wyrm, and Great Wyrm stages.

It should be noted that the creation of a dragon's breath is magical in nature, but not the effects of the breath itself.

Size

Because, for no other reason than I like even square tokens, they start out as a 05x0.5 token.

Increasing to a 1x1 in Wyrmling.

Increasing to 2x2 in Adolescent.

Increasing to 4x4 in Adult.

Increasing to 7x7 in Elder.

Increasing to 11x11 in Ancient.

Increasing to 16x16 in Wyrm.

Increasing to 22x22 in Great Wyrm.

(For the purposes of a token map where each space is 5ft.x5ft.)

Shapechange

The dragon can commit effort in order to change their appearance into another animal. Proportional in age to the chosen animal and in some way colored by the type of dragon. For example, irises like sapphires for a sapphire dragon, black hair for a black dragon, or golden skin for a gold dragon. The dragon types aren't limited to a specific coloration, for example, not all chromatic dragons color hair. Despite the change, they lose no access to any of their draconic capacities, they don't age like their new race, and they don't even lose the ability to speak. This does grant them the ability to sire half-dragons with the race they have changed into, which, can be quite the shock for many. Dragons can likewise use this to simply decrease their draconic bulk, up to half the number of stages they have rounded down.

For the purposes of half-dragons, they lack this feature. Double or halve the other features as appropriate. For example, double the age for the same number of hit points. For the purposes of lifespan, average the dragon's to the other parent's race. This will usually create a far longer-lived member of the race than usual, but a far shorter-lived than normal dragon. Even though they lack this shapechanging trait, they are capable of generating more 'quarter' and 'eighth' and 'sixteenth' and so on. Repeating this process each time, until the differences are near indistinguishable from the standard of the race.

For proportional apparent ages, I will give human age range examples.

Wyrmling - Ages 1 - 12 Adolescent - Ages 13 - 19 Adult - Ages 20 - 29 Elder - Ages 30 - 39 Ancient - Ages 40 - 49 Wyrm - Ages 50 - 59 Great Wyrm - Ages 60 - 69 Twilight - Ages 70+

Draconic Resilience

For the purposes of damage types dealt by the dragon's breath weapon, for each stage of the dragon, they take 24 less damage (yes, damage, not 'lower the damage roll') (a total reduction of 192 at Great Wyrm). No, I did not make them outright immune, see half-dragon for the reasoning there.

As for 'statuses' granted by breath weapons, saves to resist such effects receive a +4 to the roll per stage.

They are capable of resisting the mystical qualities of their lineage with a +2 to the roll per stage.

Due to dragons being an immutable force of the universe, impossible changes related to a dragon gain an additional resistance of +3 per stage, improbable changes gain an additional resistance of +2 per stage, and probable changes gain an additional resistance of +1 per stage. That is assuming that they are opposed to the change, and no, they can't leverage this trait to make changes easier.

Speech

Dragons can innately speak, read, and write Draconic, the language of dragons. There are naturally thirty-four dialects (one 'true' dialect, one for every lineage, and one for every type of true dragon), though dragons can utilize any of them if they wish.

Dragons, due to their innate connection to the realm they are in, can speak, read, and write the most predominant language of the area. However, they do not have any special ability to retain this knowledge after leaving the area. Many dragons, if they actually care about the native languages, will take measures to truly learn them rather than relying on this ability.

Senses

For the purposes of their senses, they are always considered to be worthy foes. They are even allowed rolls against things such as the word of Deception, although they make such rolls with a -12.

For rolls related to vision, they get +2 per stage after Wyrmling.

For rolls related to olfactory or hearing, they get +1 per stage after Wyrmling.

They have tremorsense out 10ft. per stage and blindsight out 5ft. per stage.

Infusion

The dragon may commit effort to make their bite, tail, or claw attacks count as magical for the purposes of overcoming resistances and immunities.

They may commit an effort to infuse a small portion of their breath weapon(s) into their bite attacks. At the Ancient stage and beyond, this infusion is permanent. For the purposes of damaging breath weapons, it is simply 1d2 additional damage per stage of the dragon. Wyrms and Great Wyrms increase the die size by one. Most infusions have additional effects which will be specified in the dragon type.

[draconiclineages]

Dragons

Dragons, in a general sense and regardless of lineage, are massive scaled and six-limbed creatures, normally with four leg-like limbs, two wings, long necks, and tails.

They have powerful breath weapons and they grow stronger and larger with age.

Within two lineages there is a species where true wing-limbs are not truly present and within one there are feathered or multitailed.

Types of Lineages

There are three lineages of dragons (in my setting (yes it is taken significantly from dnd)). Each lineage has ten species of true dragon, which can be corrupted into draconians, utilize their own variety of magic, have their own methods of 'cheating death', and have their own 'breath weapon motifs'. The Metallic dragons, the spawn of the benevolent draconic god Bahamut, the Platinum Dragon. Generally considered to be 'good' by the realms they rule. Their scales are technically comprised of an alloy of their namesake metal, which grants their bodies an obviously metallic appearance. They have multiple breath weapons, one whose apparent purpose is to damage foes and another with a separate utility purpose. They avoid death by preserving their souls within shells of metal. Their magic is 'divine' in nature.

The Gemmatic dragons, the spawn of the ambivalent draconic deity Sardior, the Ruby Dragon. Generally considered 'neutral' by the realms they rule. Noted by scales that have gem-like qualities and often floating gems around them. They have a single breath weapon that simultaneously deals damage and possesses an extra effect. They avoid death by preserving their minds within a gem. Their magic is 'psionic' in nature.

The Chromatic dragons, the spawn of the malevolent draconic goddess Tiamat, the Multi-Headed Dragon. Generally considered to be 'evil' by the realms they rule. Simply, their scales have the color that they are called; red, black, white, etc. They, likewise simply, possess a single powerful damaging breath weapon. They avoid death by preserving their bodies, forcing them to continue to move in a macabre manner. Their magic is 'arcane' in nature.

The Dragon Deities

The draconic siblings have a complicated relationship, as they blame one another for the destruction of their home realm. An unfortunate event that was so long ago that no one, not even they, can truly recall it anymore.

Dragons alone are creatures that are capable of ruling entire realms themselves. And the prevailing theory amongst those who do not believe their 'parent' to be faultless is that, quite simply, the stress of three draconic gods creating their own races of dragon was too much for any realm to bear. But that theory is mere conjecture and at this point irrelevant.

The divinities have since taken over and reshaped a realm each, sending out their children across creation to expand the domain, give them their own domains, and deny power from the other two.