The Shadow Dragon

Climate / Terrain: Non-arctic / Ruins, subterranean, and plane of Shadow

Frequency: Very rare
Organization: Solitary or clan
Activity Cycle: Nocturnal (any on the plane of Shadow)
Diet: Special
Intelligence: Genius (17-18)
Alignment: Chaotic evil
Armor class: -4 (base)
Movement: 18, Fl 30 (D), Jp 3
Hit Dice: 12 (base)
Thac0: 9 (base)
No. of Attacks: 3 + special
Damage / Attack: 1-6 / 1-6 / 3-18
Size: H (21' base)
Morale: Champion (16)

Dragon Information by Age (General)

Age Age Hit Dice Combat Fear Fears Save
Level Category (In Years) Modifier Modifier Radius Modifier
1 Hatchling 0–5 -6 +1 Nil Nil
2 Very Young 6 – 15 -4 +2 Nil Nil
3 Young 16 – 25 -2 +3 Nil Nil
4 Juvenile 26 – 50 Nil +4 Nil Nil
5 Young Adult 51 – 100 +1 +5 15 yards +3 (+7)
6 Adult 101 – 200 +2 +6 20 yards +2 (+6)
7 Mature Adult 201 – 400 +3 +7 25 yards +1 (+5)
8 Old 401 – 600 +4 +8 30 yards 0 (+4)
9 Very Old 601 – 800 +5 +9 35 yards -1 (+3)
10 Venerable 801 – 1000 +6 +10 40 yards -2 (+2)
11 Wyrm 1001 – 1200 +7 +11 45 yards -3 (+1)
12 Great Wyrm 1200+ +8 +12 50 yards -4 (0)
*Parenthetical values in the Fear Save Modifier column apply to gem dragon only.

Dragon Information by Age (Type Specific)

Shadow Dragon, Chaotic Evil
Age Body Lgt. (feet) Tail Lgt. (feet) AC Breath Wpn. Spell (W/P) MR
1 1–4 1–3 -1 1d4+1 Nil 5%
2 4 – 11 3–8 -2 1d4+2 Nil 10%
3 11 – 18 8 – 13 -3 2d4+1 Nil 15%
4 18 – 23 13 – 18 -4 2d4+2 2 20%
5 23 – 29 18 – 23 -5 3d4+1 22 25%
6 29 – 36 23 – 28 -6 3d4+2 222 30%
7 36 – 42 28 – 33 -7 4d4+1 2222/1 35%
8 42 – 48 33 – 38 -8 4d4+2 22222/2 40%
9 48 – 55 38 – 43 -9 5d4+1 222222/3 45%
10 55 – 61 43 – 48 -10 5d4+2 422222/31 50%
11 61 – 67 48 – 53 -11 6d4+1 442222/32 55%
12 67 – 74 53 – 58 -12 6d4+2 444222/33 60%
General Information
Shadow dragons are sly and devious. They are instinctively cunning and are not prone to taking
risks.
At all ages, a shadow dragon's scales and body are translucent, so that when viewed from a
distance it appears to be a mass of shadows.
Shadow dragons hate both bright light and total darkness, preferring variegated lighting with
patches of diffuse light and deep, inky shadows. On the Prime Material plane, their lairs are always places
that provide shadowy light for most of the day. They prefer ancient ruins, where they can hide
underground when the sun is bright and still find shadows above ground during dawn and twilight. In the
plane of Shadow, they live in dense thickets of trees and brambles, fortified castles, or labyrinthine caves.
In either plane, they prefer to locate their lairs near colonies of other creatures that can alert them to
potential foes or victims. The dragons seldom actually cooperate with these allies, however, though the
dragons commonly prey on them.
Shadow dragons love dark-colored, opaque gems, and especially prize black stones. They also
collect magical items that produce shadows or darkness. They use these items to turn areas filled with
total darkness or light into masses of shadows.
Shadow dragons eat almost anything. Their favorite food is rotting carrion, though they often kill
for sport. Slain victims are left to decay until they become suitably foul. These dragons are equally fond of
frost-killed, waterlogged, or salt-poisoned plants.

Special and Innate Abilities

Special Abilities: Shadow dragons speak their own tongue and a tongue common to all evil dragons.
Also, 17% of hatchling shadow dragons can speak with any intelligent creature. The chance to possess
this ability increases 5% per age category. A shadow dragon casts spells and uses its magical abilities at
6th level plus its combat modifier. Shadow dragons are born immune to energy draining and with the
ability to hide in shadows with 40% chance of success; this ability increases 5% per age category to a
maximum of 95%.
Innate Abilities: Juvenile: mirror image three times a day (1d4+1 images); Adult: dimension door twice a
day; Old: non-detection three times a day; Venerable: shadow walk once a day; Great Wyrm: create
shadows three times a day. (This ability creates a mass of leaping shadows with a radius of 100 yards,
duration one hour. All magical {and normal}light and darkness sources are negated for as long as they
remain in the radius. Creatures able to hide in shadows can do so in these magical shadows even if under
direct observation. Shadow dragons and other creatures from the plane of Shadow can move and attack
normally while hiding in these shadows, effectively giving them improved invisibility. A successful dispel
magic spell banishes the shadows.)

Dragon Tactics and Attacks

Typical Tactics: Shadow dragons prefer to attack from hiding, usually employing invisibility or hiding in
shadows. They use illusion/phantasm spells to confuse and misdirect foes. Older dragons are especially
fond of their non-detection ability.
Physical Attacks: A shadow dragon's claws cause 1d6 damage, plus combat modifier. Its bite causes
3d6 damage, plus combat modifier.
Breath Weapon: A shadow dragon's breath weapon is a cloud of blackness that is 40 feet long, 30 feet
wide, and 20 feet high. Creatures caught in the cloud are blinded for one melee round and lose ¾ (round
up) of their life energy (levels or Hit Dice); a successful saving throw vs. breath weapon reduces the loss
to ½ (round up). The life energy loss persists for a variable number of turns, shown on the table above.
Negative plane protection spells prevent this life energy loss. A character who is reduced to 0 or fewer
levels lapses into a coma for the duration of the cloud's effect.
Base Movement: 18, Fl 30 (D), Jp 3

Mating
Chromatic dragons tend to be greedy and selfish when choosing their mates, sometimes regardless of
consequences. Red dragons enjoy the company of strong-willed, lusty dragon partners, though because
of their greedy natures they rarely share lairs. They tend to have frequent love affairs of short duration.
Blue dragons, being territorial in nature, do join with a single mate for a time - sometimes for as long as
three or four age levels - before moving on to new conquests. Green dragons tend to build intricate living
arrangements with multiple partners, whom they move among as desire directs. Their societies tend to be
either polygamous or polyandrous, and there is no prevalence of one over the other. Black dragons and
white dragons have the least formal arrangements, mating whenever the mood strikes, almost on the level
of animals. They have no regard for love, nor do they care (or even understand) the problems inherent
with inbreeding.
Dragons of all type tend to mate with members of their own type. Gold dragons mate with golds, red
dragons mate with reds, and so on. Sometimes they will go against their natural tendencies and mate with
dragons of other types.
The mixed-appearance crossbreeds, however, are considered abominations. The chromatic dragons tend
to kill these hatchlings immediately. Metallic dragons simply banish them from their domains (rumors
abound that these crossbreeds are sent to other worlds, but this has yet to be proven). The gem dragon,
however, believe that something as majestic as a dragon can never be an abomination. In the rare
instances when a gem dragon produces a mixed hatchling, the newborn is allowed to remain a member of
the clan.