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Shadow dragons are a form of evil true dragons.[1][2]

Description[]

Physically seeming insubstantial, shadow dragons have dark and translucent scales that help them camouflage into the darkness around them. Shadow dragons are often mistaken for black dragons, but their horns point backwards. A long fringe of spines emerges from the back of their neck, and their powerful tail features a swimming fin.[2]

A dragon egg can be identified as that of a shadow dragon by the purple tinge seen when held in front of an intense white light.[4]

Personality[]

A shadow dragon is patient and cunning, never fighting fair. It hides in the darkness, stalking its prey for hours before striking. When it attacks, it uses globes of darkness to disorient its foes and shadow walk to gain the perfect position for its breath weapon. As its enemies weaken, it uses its claws and fangs to tear into them, continuing to use darkness to teleport around the battlefield.[2]

Abilities[]

Shadow dragons are physically weak compared to other dragons. For example, even at great wyrm stage, shadow dragons are, in terms of raw physical strength, below a white dragon, the weakest of the chromatic dragons, at the same stage.[5][6]

They have the frightful presence like other dragons and a number of abilities that allow them to be stealthy and move fast. They start with a predisposition towards mundane hiding, sneaking, and jumping. They aren't exactly fast flyers but can move unusually fast on their feet for dragons.[3]

Senses[]

Like any other true dragon, shadow dragons have sharp hearing and sight, which is capable of low-light vision and darkvision. They also have blindsense.[7]

Breath[]

A shadow dragon's breath is a cone of shadows. Creatures caught in it lose parts of their vitality, skills, and spells, possibly permanently, all while temporarily empowering the dragon.[6]

Magic[]

As they age, shadow dragons learn an increasing number of magical abilities to hide from enemies and enhance their movement. They can hide away into shadows, even those in otherwise well-lit areas, and learn over their ages to cast mirror image, dimension door; nondetection and shadow walk.[3][8]

Once at great wyrm stage, they can fill a large area with darkness. Once this ability is used, a battle becomes a one-sided matter in favor of the shadow dragon. The darkness is impossible to disperse with light, magical or not. Creatures without ties to the Plane of Shadow are practically blind as long as they remain in the area that encompasses a radius of 100 yards (91 meters). Those with ties to the plane are largely unaffected. This ability is usable multiple times.[3]

Like many other true dragons, they develop sorcerer abilities with at least the potential to learn spells usually only open to divine casters as well as from the chaos, evil and trickery domain.[9]

Combat[]

A shadow dragon stalks its prey from the shadows,[2] It fights in many of the ways typically done by true dragons — biting, clawing, bludgeoning with its wings and/or its tail, crushing on an enemy and sweeping with its tail.[10]

A shadow dragon has very strong spell resistances and very hard scales. As it grows, it gains an increasingly stronger resistance against spells and non-magical physical attacks. Their scales are hard even among dragons and grow only harder with age. All shadow dragons have an outright immunity against life-sapping effects.[3]

Shadow Dragon Lair=[]

Shadow dragons are usually found in shadowed areas, particularly underground. A shadow dragon lair is a twisted and dangerous place. Creatures who enter a shadow dragon's lair will often fall prey to strange mental conditions or possess a distorted perception of time. However, creatures who enter these lairs with the intent to steal or sabotage can expect their opponents to use every means possible to protect what is theirs. Because of their cleverness and deviousness, it’s not uncommon for a shadow dragon to keep other creatures, such as ogres or goblins, as servants to guard its hoard and territory.[2]

Notable Shadow Dragons[]

Appendix[]

Gallery[]

Notes[]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Mike Mearls, Jeremy Crawford, Christopher Perkins (2014). Monster Manual (5th Edition). (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 84–85. ISBN 978-0786965614.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 Bruce R. Cordell, et al. (November 2008). Draconomicon: Chromatic Dragons. Edited by Michele Carter, et al. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 199. ISBN 978-0-7869-4980-9.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Andy Collins, Skip Williams, and James Wyatt (2003). Draconomicon: The Book of Dragons. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 191–192. ISBN 0-7869-2884-0.
  4. Ed Greenwood (January 1996). Volo's Guide to the Dalelands. (TSR, Inc), p. 193. ISBN 0-7869-0406-2.
  5. Skip Williams, Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook (July 2003). Monster Manual v.3.5. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 77. ISBN 0-7869-2893-X.
  6. 6.0 6.1 Andy Collins, Skip Williams, and James Wyatt (2003). Draconomicon: The Book of Dragons. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 191. ISBN 0-7869-2884-0.
  7. Skip Williams, Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook (July 2003). Monster Manual v.3.5. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 69. ISBN 0-7869-2893-X.
  8. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named MoF-pp42-44
  9. Andy Collins, James Wyatt, and Skip Williams (November 2003). Draconomicon: The Book of Dragons. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 192. ISBN 0-7869-2884-0.
  10. Skip Williams, Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook (July 2003). Monster Manual v.3.5. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 68– 69. ISBN 0-7869-2893-X.
  11. Keith Baker, Bill Slavicsek, & James Wyatt (2004). Eberron Campaign Setting. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 70. ISBN 0-7869-3274-0.
  12. Scott Fitzgerald Gray & Nicolas Logue (October 2007). “Lethal Locations: Dragons of Eberron”. In Chris Youngs ed. Dragon #360 (Wizards of the Coast), p. 24.
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