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Dragons! A rather crucial part of the gameDungeons & Dragons. It’s easy to remember to include them in your game, but might be trickier to implement them correctly. With all the different colors and flavors of dragons, it can be a bit daunting at first to choose one that best fits your campaign.
Related:D&D’s Practically Complete Guide To Dragons Is Great For Readers, Not Players
These Dragons are seen as explicitly greedy, taking on hoards of wealth and gold inside mountains and underground lairs, and the first time a group of players encounters a dragon, especially a Chromatic Dragon, they should be intimidating and larger-than-life.
Chromatic Dragons
There arefive different types of Chromatic Dragons, each of which taking upon itself a different color matchingtheir mother, Tiamat, thefive-headed dragon god. Each of them possesses differentelemental breath weapons, desiresanddomains.
Breath Weapon
Red
Greedy and vain, they are by far the most arrogant of dragons. They are often larger, using their foreboding size to intimidate anyone they deem lesser than themselves – which is everyone.
Deep mountain caverns, volcanoes, hills, and repossessed dungeons. Red Dragons amass great hoards they often sit upon, deeming themselves worthy of every bauble and treasure they desire.
Fire breath in a large cone.
Green
Deeply territorialand lovers of secrets, Green Dragons spend their time manipulating creatures of the forest. They are cunning, using their wit and environment to stalk their prey.
Forest clearings, woodland towers, and dense fields, Green Dragons prefer lairs surrounded by trees and teeming with life.
Poisonous gas in a large cone.
Blue
Schemers and illusionists, Blue Dragons utilize their expertise in aerial warfare to overwhelm their enemies. Blue dragons are recognized for being especially heinous, bringing nightmares to life for their foes through magic and trickery.
Expansive deserts and wastelands, where they can survey their territory from above. The fewer obstructions, the better; especially if there’s a direct line of sight from the sky.
Electricity in a massive line.
Black
Easily the evilest of dragons, Black Dragons are renowned for their hostility and sadism. Their cruelty surpasses that of the other Chromatic Dragons, and they utilize their swimming prowess to ambush their enemies.
Black Dragons thrive in deep swampsand water-logged areas, tending to prefer places with large bodies of water. They utilize the difficult landscape to their advantage.
Acidic breath in a large cone.
White
Ferocious and foolhardy, White Dragons tend to strike first and ask questions later. Though they might lack the size of a Red Dragon, they are still massive creatures, and they utilize their brute force wherever they can.
High mountaintops and snowy plainsare a White Dragon’s domain. Even glaciers and frozen tundras can accommodate a White Dragon, as they prefer the cold.
Frost breath in a large cone.
Playing A Chromatic Dragon
It cannot be overstated thatChromatic Dragons are the penultimate form of high-fantasy villainy. While Black, Blue, and Green dragons are more likely to bescheming and mischievous, Red and White dragons tend tofavor their formidable size, intimidating their subordinates into submission.
Regardless of their personality types,Chromatic Dragons should always favor a confident demeanor. In a Chromatic Dragon’s mind, you are timeless; a critical culmination of evolution and elemental dominion. Mortals cannot intimidate a god, after all. And no Dragon knows it better than a Chromatic Dragon.
While Red, Black, and White Dragons are allChaotic Evil, Green and Blue Dragons areLawful Evil. This means that while the first three might be more interested indoing things sporadically and without restraint, Green and Blue Dragons instead live byestablished codes or senses of honor(as distorted as they might be).
A Chromatic Dragon not onlycommands respect, but theyexpect it. If a player is boastful or rude, some Dragons might brush it off or ignore it, while others might take is as a great offense. How dare this mortal not grovel at your feet, after all. Be sure to maintain anair of superiorityin the way you take to the party, and how they approach conversation.
Don’t hesitate toprepare traps for the players, especially if they don’t comply with your Dragon’s demands.
Red Dragons
Thehaughtiness of Red Dragonsstems from theirTiamat’s favoritism. As her chosen children,Red Dragons are largerand more foreboding than the others. While some dragons might strike deals with each other, Red Dragonsfeel superior to the others, and will go out of their way to prove it. The only thing they take their time with is with how they cook their meals; consistently, and with their fire breath. Use Red Dragons when you want to have a fiery presence in a mountainous region with alarge treasure hoard as the player’s reward.
Related:Dungeons & Dragons: Everything You Need To Know About The New Hoard Item Mechanic
Green Dragons
Natural forest dwellers,Green Dragons view themselves as apex predators. Utilizing a Green Dragon is best done as a way for forest creatures to communicate their constant panic or mistrust of others. Foxes eat the rabbits, wolves eat the foxes, dire bears eat the wolves, and the bears get eaten by the dragon.
Green Dragons aremore animalistic in nature, but still abide by a Lawful code. When playing them, understand thatthey see the natural world as something to obey, even if the only rule is thestrong eat the weak.
Blue Dragons
Although not the wisest of dragons,Blue Dragons consider themselves more intelligentthan their Chromatic brethren. They command vast open spaces intentionally, so that they may swoop down and destroy intruders from afar. Even though theymay not be the strongest, Tiamat views them as the most loyal of her brood, and they maintain a deep respect for their Goddess.
Playing a Blue Dragon meansholding a strong devotion to dragon-kind, and a thorough hatred of others.
Black Dragons
Cruelty has a form, andits name is the Black Dragon. Black Dragons survey larger swamps and bogs with the intention of ambushing their enemies, drowning them in the lagoon. Their acidic breath allows them to witness every moment of a creature’s despair as they dissolve into dust. Theirfascination of life begins and ends with their love of decay.
Whenever you play a Black Dragon, understand thattheir greatest desire is to see the party die in a horrible and slow death. Working with a Black Dragon in any capacity is a near impossibility unless the players have a mutual desire for sadism.
White Dragons
The smallest of the Chromatic Dragons, they share thebrutality of Red Dragonsand theferocity of Green. Although they occasionally take assistance from ice mephits and other creatures of the snow, theymore commonly strike out alone.
Constantlyfeeling a need to prove themselves in the eyes of Tiamat, they isolate themselves far away from the other Dragons. Theirlack of intelligenceshould be paramount in their demeanor, leading them to be irrational and frank. They keep few secrets, laying out their desires freely.
Populating A Lair
Theminions that a Chromatic Dragon keep depends on the environment; while Red Dragons might keep a smallplatoon of Koboldsor Goblins at the ready, Black Dragons might favor the company ofNight Hags and Bullywugs. Blue Dragons seek assistance from creatures of the sky, including Sirens and Harpies.
Whatever the company,Chromatic Dragons view their minions as disposable and insignificant. Some might even choose toforgo allies altogether, seeing themselves as more than enough to defend their lair, especially when it comes to White and Red Dragons.
In most cases, followers of Dragons will fall under two categories;rabid devotionandforced servitude. Few subordinates of Dragons truly understand the depths of their plans, either following blindly or through a fear of death. When choosing creatures to accommodate a Dragon’s lair, do your best toinclude creatures that are easy to manipulate. Alternatively, good choices areany minions that might revel in a Dragon’s sheer power, such as Bugbears and Gnolls for a Green Dragon.
