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D R A C O N O M I C O N ™Andy Collins, Skip Williams, James
Wyatt
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Inc.
This d20™ System game utilizes mechanics developed for the new
Dungeons & Dragons® game by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook,Skip
Williams, Richard Baker, and Peter Adkison.This WIZARDS OF THE
COAST® product contains no Open Game Content. No portion of this
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License, please visitwww.wizards.com/d20.
Playtesters: Greg Collins, Jesse Decker, Viet Nguyen, Marc
Russell, Dennis Worrell
Valuable advice provided by Todd Lockwood and Sam Wood (Dragon
Anatomy and Motion), Monica Shellman and Michael S.Webster (Dragon
Names)
Resources for this product (and the authors of those works)
include Atlas of Animal Anatomy (W. Ellenburg and H. Deittrich),
Book ofEldritch Might (Monte Cook/Malhavoc Press), Book of Vile
Darkness (Monte Cook), Bulfinch’s Mythology (Thomas
Bulfinch),Transformations of Myth Through Time (Joseph Campbell),
“Class Acts: Dragonkith,” Dragon Magazine #284 (Monte Cook),
Council ofWyrms (Bill Slavicsek), Defenders of the Faith (Rich
Redman and James Wyatt), AD&D® 2nd Edition Draconomicon (Nigel
Findley,Christopher Kubasik, Carl Sargent, John Terra, and William
Tracy), “Dragontongue: A Draconic Language Primer,” DragonMagazine
#284 (Owen K. C. Stephens), Forgotten Realms® Campaign Setting (Ed
Greenwood, Sean K Reynolds, Skip Williams, andRob Heinsoo), The
Golden Bough (James George Frazer), AD&D 1st Edition Monster
Manual (Gary Gygax), Monsters of Faerun (JamesWyatt and Rob
Heinsoo), AD&D 2nd Edition Monstrous Manual, Oriental
Adventures (James Wyatt), Savage Species (Jennifer ClarkeWilkes,
David Eckelberry, and Rich Redman), Tome and Blood (Bruce Cordell
and Skip Williams).
620-17668-001-EN 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
First Printing: November 2003
Visit our website at www.wizards.com/dnd
D E V E L O P E RAndy Collins
D E S I G N A S S I S T A N C EEd Stark, Gwendolyn F.M.
Kestrel
E D I T O R SMichele Carter, Dale Donovan,
Gwendolyn F.M. Kestrel, Charles Ryan
M A N A G I N G E D I T O RKim Mohan
D & D D E S I G N M A N A G E REd Stark
D I R E C T O R O F R P G R & DBill Slavicsek
V I C E P R E S I D E N T O F P U B L I S H I N GMary
Kirchoff
P R O J E C T M A N A G E RMartin Durham
P R O D U C T I O N M A N A G E RChas DeLong
A R T D I R E C T O RDawn Murin
C O V E R A R TTodd Lockwood
I N T E R I O R A R T I S T SWayne England, Emily
Fiegenschuh,
Lars Grant-West, Rebecca Guay-Mitchell,David Hudnut, Jeremy
Jarvis, Ginger Kubic,
John & Laura Lakey, Todd Lockwood,David Martin, Dennis
Crabapple-
McClain, Matt Mitchell, Mark Nelson,Steve Prescott, Vinod Rams,
Richard
Sardinha, Ron Spencer, Stephen Tappin,Joel Thomas, Ben Thompson,
Sam Wood
G R A P H I C D E S I G N E R SDawn Murin, Mari Kolkowski
C A R T O G R A P H E RTodd Gamble
G R A P H I C P R O D U C T I O N S P E C I A L I S T SErin
Dorries, Angelika Lokotz
O R I G I N A L I N T E R I O R D E S I G NSean Glenn
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TAB
LE OF
CO
NTEN
TS
ContentsIntroduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . 4
Chapter 1: All About Dragons . . . . . . . . . 5The Dragon’s
Body . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Dragon Physiology . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Dragon Life Cycle. . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . 10Dragon Senses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . 17Flight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . 18Other Modes of Movement . . . . . . . . . .
19Combat Abilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Dragon
Weaknesses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Outlook and
Psychology. . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Dragon Society . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26Language. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . 28Religion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . 30Dragons by Kind. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . 36
Dragon Sizes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36Black
Dragons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Blue Dragons. . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38Brass Dragons . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . 40Bronze Dragons . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . 42Copper Dragons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
44Gold Dragons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Green
Dragons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48Red Dragons . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50Silver Dragons . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . 53White Dragons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . 55
Chapter 2: A DM’s Guideto Dragons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . 57
Dragons in the Campaign. . . . . . . . . . . . 57Running a
Dragon Encounter . . . . . . . . 59
The Mechanics of Melee . . . . . . . . . . 59Fighting on the
Wing . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59Using a Breath Weapon . . . . . .
. . . . . 62To Breathe or Not to Breathe? . . . . . . 63Using
Special Attack Forms . . . . . . . 64Dragons as Spellcasters. . . .
. . . . . . . . 65
Dragon Feats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
66Feat Descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67Dragon
Spells. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75Spell
Descriptions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76Dragon Magic
Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Lair Wards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
84Dragon Prestige Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Bloodscaled Fury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86Disciple of
Ashardalon . . . . . . . . . . . . 87Dispassionate Watcher
of Chronepsis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89Dragon
Ascendant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90Elemental Master. . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 92Hidecarved Dragon . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . 94Sacred Warder of Bahamut . . . . . . . . 96Unholy Ravager
of Tiamat . . . . . . . . . 97
Advanced Dragons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99Sample
Advanced Dragon . . . . . . . . 100
Chapter 3: The Player’s Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . 101
Fighting a Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
101Forewarned Is Forearmed . . . . . . . . 101Limit the Battlefield
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 101The Element of Surprise . . . . . . .
. . 102Spread Out, Concentrate Attacks . . 102Don’t Stay Too Long.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Feats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
103New Spells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
106Cleric Domains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107Spell
Descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109Dragonhide Armor.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115Dragoncraft Items . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . 116Magic Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . 118
Armor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
118Weapons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118Rings.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119Rods . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119Staffs . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119Wondrous Items . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . 119Minor Artifact . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . 121
Prestige Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
122Dracolyte . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
122Dragonkith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
123Dragonrider. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
124Dragonslayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
125Dragonsong Lyrist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127Dragonstalker
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128Hoardstealer . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 130Initiate of the Draconic
Mysteries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131Platinum
Knight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133Talon of Tiamat. . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Dragons in the Party . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136Dragons’
Advantages
and Disadvantages. . . . . . . . . . . . . 136Dragons as Mounts
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136Dragons as Cohorts . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . 138Dragons as Special Mounts . . . . . . . 139Dragons as
Familiars . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Dragons as Player Characters. . . . . . . . 141
Chapter 4: New Monsters. . . . . . . . . . . 145Abyssal Drake .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145Monsters by Type (and
Subtype) . . . . 146Dracolich . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . 146Draconic Creature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
149Dragonkin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
150Dragonnel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
150Elemental Drake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Air Drake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152Earth
Drake. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153Fire Drake . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154Ice Drake . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Magma Drake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155Ooze Drake
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156Smoke Drake . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157Water Drake . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . 157
Faerie Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158Fang
Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159Felldrake,
Spiked . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160Ghostly Dragon. . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161Golem . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Dragonbone Golem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164Drakestone Golem.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164Ironwyrm Golem. . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . 165
Half-Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
166Hoard Scarab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
167Landwyrm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Desert Landwyrm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169Forest
Landwyrm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170Hill Landwyrm. . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . 170Jungle Landwyrm . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . 171Mountain Landwyrm . . . . . . . . . . . . 172Plains
Landwyrm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172Swamp Landwyrm. . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . 173Tundra Landwyrm . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. 174Underdark Landwyrm . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Planar Dragons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176Battle
Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176Chaos Dragon . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177Ethereal Dragon . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . 179Howling Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
180Oceanus Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181Pyroclastic
Dragon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182Radiant Dragon . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . 185Rust Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . 186Styx Dragon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
187Tarterian Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Shadow Dragon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191Skeletal
Dragon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192Squamous Spewer. .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193Storm Drake. . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . 194Vampiric Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . 195Zombie Dragon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
197
Chapter 5: Sample Dragons. . . . . . . . . 199Customizing the
Dragons. . . . . . . . . . . 199Sample Black Dragons. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . 201Sample Blue Dragons . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
207Sample Brass Dragons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216Sample
Bronze Dragons . . . . . . . . . . . . 223Sample Copper Dragons . .
. . . . . . . . . . 233Sample Gold Dragons . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . 239Sample Green Dragons . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247Sample Red
Dragons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254Sample Silver Dragons . .
. . . . . . . . . . . 263Sample White Dragons . . . . . . . . . . .
. . 270
Appendix 1: The Dragon’s Hoard . . . . 277
Appendix 2: Index of Dragons . . . . . . 286
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IntroductionThe dragon reared, roaring, clawing at airAnd
belching fire, and began to lunge downUpon Dydd, but the druid
slashed intoAshardalon’s heart, her scimitar cut And the lifeblood
began to spill. Then Dydd Was slain, her heart wrested from her
breast byThe dragon’s grasping jaws, swallowed, consumedTo sustain
Ashardalon’s ebbing lifeFor a time. . . .—The Lay of Dydd
More than any other creature, dragons are a symbol of allthat is
the DUNGEONS & DRAGONS® game. From the savagewhite to the
majestic gold, dragons represent the greatestperils adventurers
face at any point in their careers, as wellas the greatest rewards
they may hope to claim. From thetiny wyrmling at the bottom of an
adventurer’s very firstdungeon to the colossal great wyrm he meets
at the heightof his career, dragons are the ultimate climactic
encounter:a brutal and memorable fight that will pay off in
richesfrom the dragon’s hoard.
Dragons are creatures of myth, often described as the
firstsentient race to appear on a world, with life spans
thatstretch over hundreds of years. They symbolize the worlditself
and embody its history, and the oldest dragons arerepositories of
vast knowledge and ancient secrets. Thisaspect of dragons makes
them much more than just a chal-lenging combat encounter: They are
sages and oracles, fontsof wisdom and prophets of things to come.
Their veryappearance can be an omen of good or ill fortune.
Perhaps most important, dragons are a reminder thatthe action of
the D&D game takes place in a world of fan-tasy, wonder, and
magic, a world far from mundane inevery way. Any attempt to
describe them as little morethan glorified lizards with wings and
breath weapons is adisservice, not only to dragons, but to the
fantasy universeof D&D and the wealth of legends, myths, and
heroic sto-ries that place dragons in such an iconic position
thatthey had to be a part of the very name of the game. Dragonsare,
by their very nature, epic forces in the world. Their
actions, their schemes, even their dreams are felt through-out
the world. From a wyrmling raiding herds of sheep tothe mighty
Ashardalon feasting on preincarnate souls,dragons do things that
matter, whether on a small localscale or in the cosmic big picture.
They are the embodi-ment of fantasy itself.
That, in a nutshell, is the reason for this book. Dragonsare
such a central part of the game that a rules referenceof this
nature is an essential addition to any campaign,enhancing the
excitement of draconic encounters forplayers and Dungeon Masters
alike. A DM will find infor-mation here on the powers and tactics
of dragons, as wellas a wealth of new feats, spells, magic items,
and prestigeclasses designed to make dragon encounters more
interest-ing, challenging, and unusual. In case the dragons
alreadydescribed in the Monster Manual and other books are
notenough, this book also presents a variety of new dragon-related
monsters of all types to include in the game. Players,meanwhile,
can unearth dragonslaying tactics and takeadvantage of new feats
and spells, magic items, and prestigeclasses to make their
characters the ultimate dragon slayers,dragon riders, or even
dragon servants.
Draconomicon is not just about the rules, tactics, and ecol-ogy
of dragons, however. The illustrations in this book areintended to
inspire a fresh sense of wonder and awe at thecreatures that make
up such an important part of the D&Dgame. Dragons are
rapacious, arrogant, and deadly—butthey are also majestic, awesome,
and magnificent. A renewedsense of the grandeur of dragons might
not have as con-crete or noticeable an impact on your game as all
the newrules you will find in this book, but its influence will
surelybe felt around your gaming table.
Let this book inspire you. Whether you use it to buildnew
draconic adversaries and exciting dragon lairs stockedwith
legendary treasure, or to build a character who ridesa silver
dragon into battle against the servants of Tiamat,you are sure to
find not just the rules you want, but thewonder you need to make
your game more fun. Dragonsare creatures of legend, and with this
book you can be apart of that legend. Retell it, relive it, reshape
it in yourcharacter’s or your campaign’s image. Draconomicon
willshow you how.
INTR
OD
UC
TIO
N
THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF DRAGONSIn the D&D game, the term
“dragon” encompasses a numberof different creatures, some of which
bear little resemblance tothe great flying creatures with breath
weapons that we commonlythink of as dragons.
For the most part, this book concerns itself with the
tenvarieties of true dragon described in the Monster Manual—the
five chromatic dragons (black, blue, green, red, white) andthe five
metallic dragons (brass, bronze, copper, gold, silver).True dragons
are those creatures that become more powerfulas they grow
older.
A number of other true dragons are described in Chapter 4of this
book. In addition, Appendix 2: Index of Dragons provides
a complete list of all true dragons that have been presented
inofficial sources.
Other creatures of the dragon type that do not advancethrough
age categories are referred to as lesser dragons (whichshould not
be taken to mean that they are necessarily lessformidable than true
dragons).
The three kinds of lesser dragon described in the MonsterManual
are the dragon turtle, the pseudodragon, and thewyvern. Chapter 4
of this book contains a number of descrip-tions of other lesser
dragons, and Appendix 2 lists every lesserdragon that has been
described in a DUNGEONS & DRAGONS rule-book or accessory.
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wealth of material, from bard’s tales and ponderoustomes alike,
has been recorded about dragons.Unfortunately for adventurers
planning to con-front a dragon, most of that information is
wrong.The opening chapter of this book presents the
truth about dragons—their types, habits, physiology,
andworldview.
THE DRAGON’S BODY“How can one imagine anything more magnificent
than . . . adragon, the paragon of creation?”
—Bheilorveilthion, red wyrm
“Nothing but a bunch of vain, glorified flying reptiles, if
youask me!”
—Hatredymaes, androsphinx
At first glance, a true dragon resembles a reptile. It has
amuscular body, a long, thick neck, a horned or frilledhead with a
toothy mouth, and a sinuous tail. The crea-ture walks on four
powerful legs with clawed feet, and itflies using its vast, batlike
wings. Heavy scales cover adragon from the tip of its tail to end
of its snout. Asyou’ll see from the details to come, however, that
firstglance doesn’t begin to tell the whole story about thenature
of dragons.
EXTERNAL ANATOMYDespite its scales and wings, a dragon’s body
has fea-tures that seem more feline than reptilian. Refer tothe
illustrations on the next few pages as you read on.
Like a cat’s eye, a dragon’s eye has a comparativelylarge iris
with a vertical pupil. This arrangementallows the pupil to open
extremely wide and admitmuch more light than a human eye can.
The sclera, or “white,” of a dragon’s eye is oftenyellow, gold,
green, orange, red, or silver, with aniris of a darker, contrasting
color.
To a casual observer, a dragon’s pupils alwayslook like vertical
slits. If one were to look veryclosely into a dragon’s eye,
however, one couldsee a second iris and pupil within the first.
Thedragon can shift and rotate this inner apertureup to 90 degrees,
so that the inner pupil canoverlay the outer one or lie at a right
angle to it.This ocular structure gives a dragon extremelyaccurate
depth perception and focusing abil-ity no matter how much or how
little light isavailable.
A dragon’s eye is protected by a leatheryouter eyelid and three
smooth inner eyelids, ornictitating membranes. The innermost
mem-brane is crystal clear and serves to protect theeye from damage
while the dragon flies, 5
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fights, swims, or burrows with its eyes open. The other
twoeyelids mainly serve to keep the inner membrane and thesurface
of the eye clean. They are thicker than the inner-most membrane and
less clear. A dragon can use theseinner lids to protect its eyes
from sudden flashes of brightlight. A dragon’s eyes glow in the
dark, but the dragon canhide the glow by closing one or more of its
inner eyelids;doing this does not affect its vision.
A dragon’s ears often prove indistinguishable from thefrills
that frame its head, especially when the dragon is atrest. The ears
of an an active dragon, however, constantlytwitch and swivel as the
dragon tracks sounds.
Not all dragons have external ears; bur-rowing and aquatic
dragons usu-ally have simple ear holesprotected by an overhang-ing
fringe.
A dragon’s mouthfeatures powerfuljaws, a forkedtongue, and
sharp teeth. The exact num-ber and size of a dragon’s teeth
depend on the dragon’s age,habitat, and diet; however, a dragon’s
array of teeth usuallyincludes four well-developed fangs (two
upper, two lower)that curve slightly inward and have cutting edges
on boththe inner and outer surfaces. A dragon uses its fangs
toimpale and kill prey, and they serve as the dragon’s pri-mary
weapons.
Immediately in front of the fangs in each jaw lie thedragon’s
incisors, which are oval in cross-section and haveserrated edges at
the top. When a dragon bites down onlarge prey, these teeth cut out
a semicircle of flesh.
Behind the fangs in each jaw, a dragon has a row of
peglikemolars that help it grip prey. A dragon is not well
equippedfor chewing, and it typically tears prey into chunks
smallenough to gulp down. A dragon can create a sawing motionwith
its incisors by wiggling its lower jaw and shaking itshead from
side to side, allowing the incisors to quickly shearthrough flesh
and bone.
Many dragons learn to seize prey and literally shake it to
death. Other dragons have mastered the technique of grab-bing
prey and swallowing it whole.
Some dragon hunters boast that they can hold a dragon’smouth
closed, preventing the creature from biting. It is truethat a
dragon applies more force when closing its jaws thanit does when
opening them; however, holding a dragon’smouth closed still
requires prodigious strength. Even if anfoe were to succeed in
clamping its jaws shut, the dragon islikely to throw off the
opponent with one flick of its head,claw its attacker to ribbons,
or both.
The spines, frills, and other projectionsthat adorn a dragon’s
headmake the creature look
fearsome, and that is theirmain function.
A dragon’s horn is a keratinousprojection growing directly
from
the dragon’s skull. A dragon withhorns that point backward can
use
the horns for grooming, and they alsohelp protect the dragon’s
upper neck in combat.
Horns projecting from the sides of a dragon’s headhelp protect
the head.
A dragon’s spines are keratinous, but softerand more flexible
than its horns. The spines areimbedded in the dragon’s skin and
anchored to
the skeleton by ligaments. Most spines arelocated along the
dragon’s back and tail. Unlikehorns, spines are mobile, with a
range of motion
that varies with the kind of dragon and thespines’ location on
the drag-
on’s body. The spinesalong a dragon’s back,
for example, can only beraised or lowered, whereas
the spines supporting a dragon’s ears can be moved manydifferent
ways.
The frills on a dragon’s back and tail help keep the
dragonstable when flying or swimming.
To a scholar who knows something about the naturalworld, a
dragon’s powerful legs are decidedly nonreptilian,despite their
scaly coverings. A dragon’s legs are positionedmore or less
directly under its body, in the manner of mam-mals. (Most reptiles’
legs tend to splay out to the sides, offer-ing much less support
and mobility than a dragon ormammal enjoys.)
A dragon’s four feet resemble those of a great bird. Eachfoot
has three or four clawed toes facing forward (thenumber varies,
even among dragons of the same kind), plusan additional toe, also
with a claw, set farther back on thefoot and facing slightly inward
toward the dragon’s body,like a human’s thumb.
Although a dragon’s front feet are not truly prehensile, adragon
can grasp objects with its front feet, provided theyare not too
small. This grip is not precise enough for tooluse, writing, or
wielding a weapon, but a dragon can holdand carry objects. A dragon
also is capable of wieldingmagical devices, such as wands, and can
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components required for the spells it can cast (see
Spell-casting, below). Some dragons are adroit enough to seizeprey
in their front claws and carry it aloft.
A dragon can use the “thumbs” on its rear feet to grasp aswell,
but the grip is less precise than that of the front feet.
A dragon’s skin resembles crocodile hide—tough, leath-ery. and
thick. Unlike a crocodile, however, a dragon hashundreds of hard,
durable scales covering its body. Adragon’s scales are keratinous,
like its spines. Unlike thespines, however, a dragon’s scales are
not attached to itsskeleton, and the dragon cannot make them move.
Thescales are much harder and less flexible than the spines,with a
resistance to blows that exceeds that of steel.
A dragon’s largest scales are attached to its hide alongone edge
and overlap their neighbors like shingles on aroof or the
articulated plates in a suit of armor. These scalescover the
dragon’s neck, underbelly, tail, and toes. As thedragon moves its
body, the scales tend to shift as the skinand muscle under them
moves, and the scales’ free endssometimes rise up slightly. This
phenomenon has led someobservers to mistakenly conclude that a
dragon can raiseand lower its scales in the same manner as a bird
fluffingits feathers.
The majority of a dragon’s scales are smaller and attachedto the
skin near their centers. These scales interlock withneighboring
scales, giving the surface of the body a pebblytexture. The scales
are large enough to forma continuous layer of natural armorover the
body even when itstretches or bulges to itsgreatest extent. Whenthe
body relaxes orcontracts, the skinunder the scalestends to fold
andwrinkle, though theinterlocking scalesgive the body a
fairlysmooth look.
A dragon’s scalesgrow throughoutits lifetime, albeitvery slowly.
Unlikemost other scaled crea-tures, a dragon neither shedsits skin
nor sheds individual scales.Instead, its individual scales grow
larger, and italso grows new scales as its body gets bigger. Over
the years,a scale may weather and crack near the edges, but its
slowgrowth usually proves sufficient to replace any portion
thatbreaks off. Dragons occasionally lose scales, especially ifthey
become badly damaged. Old scales often litter thefloors of
long-occupied dragon lairs.
When a dragon loses a scale, it usually grows a new one inits
place. The new scale tends to be smaller than its neigh-bors and
usually thinner and weaker as well. This phenom-enon is what gives
rise to bards’ tales about chinks in adragon’s armor. These tales
are true as far as they go, but one
new scale on a dragon’s massive body seldom leaves thedragon
particularly vulnerable to attack.
A dragon’s long, muscular tail serves mainly as a rudderin
flight. A dragon also uses its tail for propulsion whenswimming,
and as a weapon.
A dragon’s wings consist of a membrane of scaleless
hidestretched over a framework of strong but lightweight
bones.Immensely powerful muscles in the dragon’s chest providepower
for flight.
Most dragons have wings that resemble bat wings, with
arelatively short supporting alar limb, ending in a vestigialclaw
that juts forward. Most of the wing area comes froma membrane
stretched over elongated “fingers” of bone(the alar phalanges; see
Skeleton, below), which stretchfar beyond the alar limb.
Some kinds of dragons have wings that run the lengths oftheir
bodies, something like the “wings” of manta rays. Thissort of wing
also has an alar limb with phalanges supportingthe forward third of
the wing, but the remainder of the wingis supported by modified
frill spines that have only a limitedrange of motion and muscular
control.
Inside the Dragon’s EyeMost scholars remain unaware of how
complex and unusuala dragon’s eye really is. In addition to its
four layers of eye-lids and its double pupil, a dragon’s eye also
has a double
lens. The outer lens (1) is much the sameas any other creature’s
in form and
function. The inner lens (2), however,is a mass of transparent
muscle fibers thatcan polarize incoming light. The inner lensalso
serves to magnify what the dragon
sees, and helps account for the drag-on’s superior long-
distance vision.A dragon’s ret-
inas (3) are packedwith receptors
for both color andblack-and-white vision.
Behind the retina lies the tapetumlucidum (4), a reflective
layer that helps the
dragon see in dim light. A dragon literallysees light twice,
once when it strikes
the retina and again when it isreflected back. It is the
tapetum
lucidum that makes a dragon’s eyes seem toglow in the dark.
INTERNAL ANATOMYAs you’ll see from the following section, a
dragon’s resem-blance to a reptile is literally only skin deep.
Refer to theaccompanying illustrations as you read on.
SkeletonAlthough complete dragon skeletons are hard to come
by,most scholars agree that a little more than 500 bones com-prise
a dragon’s skeleton, compared to slightly more than
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