THE LAND OF NOD: Shades of Green

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Shades of Green

Ah - Green! The color of plants and She-Hulk, Spring and infections. Also the color of nasty reptilian beasts who belch chlorine gas. Enjoy some variations on the green dragon ...

Moss Dragon: The moss dragon is a small green dragon with a serious inferiority complex. A bully, it lurks near rivers and streams, its grey scales mottled with green looking like a moss-covered boulder, and then jumps out at travelers demanding their lunch money. They dwell in burrows dug into river banks. The entrance to the burrow is always submerged, while the main dwelling cave is above the water table (well, most of the time). Moss dragons breath a pale green vapor that condenses on the skin (or armor) as green slime. The cloud is 30-ft in diameter. All within must pass a saving throw or be struck by a green slime (with all the fun that entails). Moss dragons only have a 25% chance of speaking, but the normal chance of magic-user if they do speak.

MOSS DRAGON: HD 7 (28 hp); AC 2 [17]; Atk 2 claws (1d6), 1 bite (2d10); Move 9 (Fly 24); Save 9; CL/XP 10/1400; Special: Camouflage (surprise on 3 in 6), slime breath.

Chartreuse Dragon: Chartreuse dragons are large brutes, with a tortoise-shaped body (no shell) and a wicked sense of humor. Chartreuse dragons enjoy luxury and decadence – the heady scent of exotic perfumes, rare delicacies, soft silk cushions, etc. Their eyes, large and golden, can hypnotize and command humanoids (save at -2 vs. charm monster), and people enslaved are used to construct wooden palaces in hard-to-find places. A chartreuse dragon has an 85% chance of speech, but only a 5% chance for magic-use, as their lazy minds are rarely up to the mental contortions and acrobatics needed to bend reality. Their breath is an acidic fog that covers a 60-ft diameter area and deals 1d6 points of damage per round to everyone and everything in the vicinity. Assume that armor can suffer 2 points of damage per armor bonus before it is useless, and weapons damage equal to their own maximum damage output. Magical items are unaffected by this acid. A chartreuse dragon’s acid breath has reduced more than a few adventurers to Frazetta-esque nudity!

CHARTREUSE DRAGON: HD 9 (36 hp); AC 2 [17]; Atk 2 claws (1d6), 1 bite (2d10); Move 9 (Fly 24); Save 6; CL/XP 11/1700; Special: Breathes poison gas.

Celadon Dragon: These medium-sized beasts dwell in the tree tops. They have sinuous bodies, like constrictors, with stubby legs that are tipped with long claws for climbing trees. They have two rows of spines on their backs that are connected with a thin membrane. When held close to their bodies, they nearly disappear, but when unfurled they look like sails, and allow the beast to glide and fly. Celadon dragons are ill-tempered brutes that kill as much for the fun of it as for practical reasons. Celadon dragons always speak, but they never cast spells. Their poisonous cloud breath (50-ft diameter) causes half normal breath damage and robs people of 1d4+1 points of strength, dexterity and constitution as it sears their lungs. While the hit point damage from a celadon dragon’s breath cannot be reduced with a saving throw, the ability score damage can be so negated. Lost ability score points are regained at the rate of 1 point per night of complete rest. Points not regained after one week are lost permanently.

CELADON DRAGON: HD 8 (32 hp); AC 2 [17]; Atk 2 claws (1d8), 1 bite (2d10); Move 9 (Fly 18); Save 8; CL/XP 10/1400; Special: Poison gas.

Beryl Dragon: Beryl dragons are large, overbearing know-it-alls. More neutral than chaotic, they are always capable of speech, though rarely capable of interesting speech. Beryl dragons are sages (per the rules for sages) with a pedantic, superior attitude. They stock their lairs with scrolls and books and sometimes resort to chaining humanoid sages to the walls as a sort of living reference source. Beryl dragons are severely near-sighted, making escaping their attention at long distance somewhat easy. They are always magic-users, with the normal complement of green dragon spells plus the following: Detect magic (at will), ESP (at will), legend lore (1/day) and sleep (1/day). They can communicate telepathically up to a range of 100 feet. The gas exhaled by a beryl dragon is a vivid green and covers a diameter of 30 feet. Creatures within the gas must pass a saving throw or lose their memories for 24 hours. During this time, their effective class level and hit points are reduced to one half (i.e. they retain some of their skill, but not all of it).

BERYL DRAGON: HD 9 (36 hp); AC 2 [17]; Atk 2 claws (1d6), 1 bite (2d10); Move 9 (Fly 24); Save 6; CL/XP 12/2000; Special: Forgetting gas, spells.

Viridian Dragon: These medium-sized green dragons live among rocky places in small caves, curing their snake-like bodies into a coil. They are extremely greedy and paranoid, though not entirely evil – some even become boon companions of similarly greedy people provided the dragon always gets the first choice and largest share of discovered treasure. Viridian dragons bury their treasure in multiple locations around their lair and cannot be forced to divulge its location by anything less than a wish (and a saving throw applies here to force the truth out of them). A viridian dragon’s breath is like a powerful drug. It makes people who fail a saving throw immune to fear and besets them with powerful, frightening hallucinations (per the nightmare spell, only while awake). These effects last for 2d6 hours and are then followed by withdrawal symptoms for 1d6 days minus a victim’s constitution bonus. Withdrawals include chills, nausea and an aching neck and shoulders. Viridian dragons have the normal green dragon chance for speaking and magic-use.

VIRIDIAN DRAGON: HD 8 (32 hp); AC 2 [17]; Atk 2 claws (1d6), 1 bite (2d8); Move 9 (Fly 18); Save 8; CL/XP 10/1400; Special: Hallucinogenic gas.

Harlequin Dragon: Harlequin dragons are small, feral looking beasts that dwell in mountain caves overlooking tracts of woodland. Harlequin dragons always look like their grinning, but this is just a trick of their anatomy, for they are morose and moody things that despise life. Harlequin dragons have the normal chance to speak for green dragons, but no chance to cast spells in the normal sense. All harlequin dragons, however, are capable of summoning the local wildlife (say, 1d3+3 wolves or 1d3 brown bears) once per day and they can command and speak with plants. Their poisonous breath covers the same diameter as a green dragon’s (50 feet) but causes uncontrollable laughter (as the spell) rather than damage.

HARLEQUIN DRAGON: HD 7 (28 hp); AC 2 [17]; Atk 2 claws (1d6), 1 bite (2d8); Move 12 (Fly 24); Save 9; CL/XP 10/1400; Special: Command plants and animals, laughing gas breath.