Homebrew Dragon: Wake Dragon
Yes, this is from that dream I had, about the pirate captain who had a dragon form from the wake of their ship as an embodiment of its speed and purpose. I did think of doing this as a spell or possibly an elemental so a captain actually could summon them, but … I just love dragons as their own thing so very, very much. So. Oceanic dragons!
(If the description doesn’t quite make sense later, picture something close to an eastern dragon combined with a flying fish)
WAKE DRAGON
Wake dragons are serpentine oceanic dragons, so named for the pair of parallel frills that run down their backs, reminiscent of the parallel lines of turbulent water left in the wake of ships. This was not their original name, but they gleefully adopted it as soon as they learned of it, accepting it as tribute to their playful, purposeful, and above all speedy nature.
Wake dragons delight in nothing more than the idea and sensation of speed and purpose. They are exceptionally fast in the water and equally so in the air, the powerful undulations of their serpentine bodies propelling them equally well in either medium. This motion is aided in the air by the unfurling of graceful, translucent wingfins along the length of their bodies. These wingfins are curled close in the water, covering their legs, narrowing their profile and adding a slippery layer over their scales to improve their dynamics. Everything about wake dragons is designed with speed in mind, whether in air or water, and their favourite prey are equally speedy beasts such as seals, whales or dolphins. The one place a wake dragon is not likely to be found, or willing to remain for long, is on land, for they feel horribly slow and ungainly there on their four stubby legs, and there is nothing a wake dragon despises more than feeling slow.
Freshly hatched, wake dragons are a deep, marbled blue-grey colour, like certain seals or whales, with hints of white along their frills and wingfins. As they age, these colours deepen and the whites grow stronger. Ancient wake dragons might have fully deepened to a blue-black colour, with frills and fins of a frothy blue-white. Their frills are a wake dragon’s proudest feature, and those with particularly bright and elegant examples will often flare and ripple them pridefully. Particularly sweeping, translucent wingfins are a similar source of pride.
Playful and Free
Wake dragons embody the spirit of the free oceans. They delight in travel, exploration and speed. Wake dragons tend to command vast ocean territories, and often migrate huge distances over their lifespans. While a young or wyrmling wake dragon might be content with a large bay or similar area, adult wake dragons venture much further afield, preferring to explore vast tracts of deep ocean, perhaps only returning to their original home bay every so often out of nostalgia.
As a consequence of this, wake dragons don’t tend towards large lairs or hoards. They will usually maintain one or several smaller lairs, one of them often being their first, in order to keep their very favourite objects in, and will usually circle in large migratory patterns between such smaller lairs. Wake dragons are most often encountered in or above open ocean, rather than near their lairs.
As a similar consequence of such vast territories and distances, wake dragons are a good deal less territorial and more social than many dragons. They will freely share oceans and migratory paths with each other, though lairs are usually not to be interfered with, and when several wake dragons share an ocean together they will often congregate at set times to catch up, play games, and almost always race, their absolute favourite activity. This dragonmeet might be at the same place each time, or it might move on a whim if one or more of its members find a newer or more interesting location.
Ship Wakes
The first moment a mortal built a wooden shell and pushed it out onto the waves, nothing has amused or fascinated wake dragons more than ships and shipping. From the smallest skiffs to the greatest warships, they adore them all, but the faster, bolder and more daring, the better. While some wake dragons might nurse a certain disdain for wallowing merchantmen, and perhaps even hatred for slow, oar-driven slave galleys and the like, fast courier ships, naval interceptor vessels and swift pirates almost universally delight them. There is nothing that delights wake dragons more than interacting with ships, playfully following them, nudging them, or even, yes, playacting as the ship’s wake, swimming behind it with their frills just visible above the water. Boat races of any kind are an activity that is sure to earn their favour, and young wake dragons in particular can often be found as the judges and sponsors of annual events (though they are not above cheating on behalf of a particularly favoured competitor, if they believe their ship is the prettiest and therefore the best).
They might also interfere in ocean conflicts, battering ships they disapprove of, driving storms into the path of war fleets, or even picking slow ships or small vessels up on their backs and speeding them ahead of pursuit. It is not uncommon for a wake dragon to develop a ferocious fascination and fondness for a single particular vessel, spending years or even decades following and protecting it. The captains and crews of such vessels consider themselves blessed, but woe betide anyone who then seeks to retire or, worse, break up even the most ageing recipient of a wake dragon’s favour. Better to offer it to the dragon themselves in that case, if it truly cannot be safely run anymore, for doing so will earn the dragon’s gratitude, if also grief. Many a wake dragon’s hoard has a single, beautifully preserved sunken vessel as its centerpiece.
Bubbles on the Seabed
Wake dragons, valuing freedom and travel as much as they do, tend not to be as acquisitive as many dragons. Nor do they prefer enclosed lairs, preferring to be free to move at all times. Many of their lairs, therefore, lie directly on the seabed, often in sheltered hollows in the vicinity of powerful ocean currents, the better to move and be carried far and wide as soon as they leave their lair. However transient and thrifty a wake dragon might be, however, they do value the aesthetic of their lair. Much as their frills and wingfins are a source of aesthetic pride, so too is the lair, and so wake dragons often create what they call bubble lairs, using magic to create thin, translucent membranes of water encapsulating bubbles of air and treasure on the sea floor. There are usually several ‘bubbles’ arranged artistically around each other per lair, each containing specially chosen objects and terrain, and the centerpiece, or largest bubble, very often contains a ship or vessel of some kind. They are almost never wrecks, however, but fully intact vessels that look like they might be resurrected to the surface in an instant and gladly sail again. Wake dragons find the surface-dweller idea of a ‘ship in a bottle’ absolutely delightful, and believe that it must have originated when a sailor witnessed a bubble lair and found the idea as beautiful and worthy of replication as they do.
These bubble lairs, as open and visible as they are, might often seem unprotected, and they occasionally might be, if the wake dragon only enjoys the small hoard but is not overly attached to it. Bubble lairs built around ships, however, will usually have more stringent defenses, and even relatively unprotected lairs will earn the dragon’s wrath if despoiled. A favourite trick of wake dragons if they catch despoilers in their lairs is to render one or more of the bubbles impenetrable, trapping the intruders in the bubble until the intruders starve or beg for release from the dragon looming in the waters around the bubble. Should the intruders somehow manage to escape, or find a lair undefended, they are not necessarily free and clear either, for wake dragons can track objects touched by their magic the length and breadth of the world’s skies and oceans.
Wake Hoards
As well as preserved ships, wake dragons tend to favour clever, animated objects, representations of ships and ocean creatures, magic items that grant speed, flight or transformation, and objects with a shimmering or opalescent sheen. Mother of pearl is their favourite material, followed closely by fine woods, pale stones, and silver. They deeply love alabaster objects, despite how vulnerable such things are to water and the oceanic environment of their lairs, and go out of their way to protect and preserve them.
ADULT WAKE DRAGON STATBLOCK
Huge dragon, usually chaotic good or chaotic neutral
Armour Class: 18 (natural armour)
Hit Points: 207 (18d12 +90)
Speed: 30ft, fly 80ft, swim 80ft
STR 20 (+5) DEX 16 (+3) CON 21 (+5) INT 16 (+3) WIS 17 (+3) CHA 18 (+4)
Saving Throws: Dex +8, Con +10, Wis +8, Cha +9
Skills: Acrobatics +8, Perception +13, Stealth +8
Damage Resistances: cold, thunder
Senses: blindsight 60ft, darkvision 120ft, passive Perception 23
Languages: Common, Draconic, Aquan
Challenge: 14 (11,500 XP) or 15 (13,000 XP) if encountered in lair. Proficiency Bonus: +5
TRAITS
Amphibious. The dragon can breathe air and water.
Legendary Resistance (3/Day). If the dragon fails a saving throw, it can choose to succeed instead.
ACTIONS
Multiattack. The dragon can use its Frightful Presence. It then makes three attacks: one with its bite and two with its tail.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 10ft., one target. Hit: 16 (2d10 + 5) piercing damage.
Tail. Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 15ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d8 + 5) bludgeoning damage.
Frightful Presence. Each creature of the dragon's choice that is within 120 feet of the dragon and aware of it must succeed on a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw or become frightened for 1 minute. A creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. If a creature's saving throw is successful or the effect ends for it, the creature is immune to the dragon's Frightful Presence for the next 24 hours.
Booming Breath (Recharge 5-6). The dragon hurls a compressed bubble of air to a point it can see within 120ft. The bubble bursts upon impact in an explosion of pressure. Each creature within a 30ft radius of the point of impact must make a DC 18 Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, they take 49 (11d8) bludgeoning damage and become stunned until the end of their next turn. On a successful save, they take half as much damage and aren’t stunned.
Change Shape. The dragon magically polymorphs into a humanoid or beast that has a challenge rating no higher than its own, or back into its true form. It reverts to its true form if it dies. Any equipment it is wearing or carrying is absorbed or borne by the new form (the dragon's choice).
In a new form, the dragon retains its alignment, hit points, Hit Dice, ability to speak, proficiencies, Legendary Resistance, lair actions, and Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores, as well as this action. Its statistics and capabilities are otherwise replaced by those of the new form, except any class features or legendary actions of that form.
LEGENDARY ACTIONS
The dragon can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature's turn. The dragon regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn.
Tail. The dragon makes one Tail attack.
Deluge. A wave of water crashes outwards from the dragon. Everyone within 30ft of the dragon must make a DC 17 Strength saving throw or take 11 (3d6) bludgeoning damage and be pushed 15ft away from the dragon.
LAIR ACTIONS
On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the dragon takes a lair action to cause one of the following effects; the dragon can't take the same lair action two rounds in a row:
Create or Collapse Bubble. The dragon creates one magical bubble of air, anywhere from 30ft to 500ft in diameter, at a location of the dragon’s choosing within half a mile. This bubble cannot be moved from that location. The bubble is surrounded by a magical membrane of water that allows creatures and objects to pass through it, but does not allow water to pass through or air to escape.
Alternately, the dragon can collapse one of the existing bubbles of its lair. Any creature within the collapsing bubble must make a DC 17 Constitution saving throw or be stunned for 1 round by the inrushing torrent of water. All creatures that were in the collapsed bubble are now underwater.
Impenetrable Bubble. The dragon causes the membrane of one of the bubbles of its lair to become impenetrable: creatures, objects, energy and spell effects can no longer pass through the membrane. If any creatures are inside the bubble, they are imprisoned there until the dragon dies or uses this action again to make the bubble permeable again.
A disintegrate spell aimed at a section of the membrane can create a spherical 10ft diameter hole in it for 1 minute, until the membrane regenerates itself. This allows water to rush in, but at a slower rate than if the bubble collapsed. Creatures attempting to pass outward through the hole must pass a DC 15 Strength check or be forced backwards by the water up to half their movement speed.
Entrancing Membrane. The dragon causes entrancing patterns to flow across the surface of the membrane of one of its bubbles. Creatures who can see the membrane must make a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw or become charmed for 1 round. While charmed by the membrane, the creature is incapacitated and has a speed of 0.
REGIONAL EFFECTS
The region surrounding a legendary wake dragon's lair is altered by the dragon's magic, creating one or more of the following effects:
Windy Weather. Once per day, the dragon can alter the weather in a 6-mile radius centered on its lair. The dragon doesn't need to be outdoors; otherwise the effect is identical to the control weather spell.
Loving Preservation. Crafted objects within 6 miles of the wake dragon’s lair, particularly ships and other water-going vessels, become magically charged and can’t be damaged by non-magical means.
Playful Companions. Many fast ocean creatures, such as whales, porpoises and dolphins, as well as many sea birds, are attracted to the area around the wake dragon’s lair.
Phantom Corsair. The phantom of a sleek, often archaic pirate vessel might appear to ships sailing within 6 miles of the dragon’s lair. This ghostly vessel will often appear to hunt or harry normal ships, hoping for a good chase. A ship which acquits itself well against the phantom racer might be shown to the surface above the dragon’s lair, while those that freeze, surrender, or attempt to wound the phantom vessel will be harried until they leave the area.
If the dragon dies, changed weather reverts to normal, as described in the spell, and the other effects fade in 1d10 days.
