Copyright 2008 Wizards of the Coast

This is part of a series! Go here to see the other entries.

Compared to the other chromatics, white dragons are stupid and kinda runty. They’re still dragons, though, so adventurer parties should take them a little more seriously than their cousins do.

This is a rare case where the Monster Manual has a little more information about this specific monster than the Monster Vault. Still, both agree that white dragons are gluttonous and greedy, and usually like making their lairs in very cold places like arctic regions, permafrost-covered mountaintops, or near rifts to a cold part of the Elemental Chaos. This is just personal preference, though - they’re not particularly vulnerable to fire and heat. You could meet one in more temperate or warm terrain either because it likes the heat or because it chose to make its lair cold with its ice powers (which grow in number and potency as the dragon ages).

White dragons are very interested in increasing the size of their hoards and securing their next meal, but aren’t fond of hatching complicated plots to do either of those things. They’re also a bit lazy, so they can be bribed to prevent more damaging attacks on inhabited regions. Treasure-wise, they favor gems and like clear diamonds above all others… but a pile of meat will do the job just as well as a pile of diamonds.

Like all dragons, whites are Natural Magical Beasts (dragons). Let’s look at their stats in order of level (and age).

Fledgling White Dragon

Present only in the Monster Vault, this almost makes me a liar when I said 4e doesn’t give any stats to hatchlings. A fledgling is a dragon who just learned how to fly, which takes long enough for it to grow to size Large. This is a Level 1 Solo Brute with 128 HP.

The fledgling has trained Athletics and Perception, darkvision and 5 cold resistance. It has land and flight speeds of 6 with ice walk, which means it ignores ice- or snow-based difficult terrain.

The fledgling is not yet old enough to engage in initiative-based shenanigans, but it does have a Savage Blood trait which causes it to score criticals on a 17-20 while bloodied.

Its basic attack is a Reach 2 bite that does more damage than expected for a Level 1 brute, which makes sense given the lack of multi-attack abilities here. Instead of biting it can make 2 claw attacks that also have Reach 2 and do standard physical damage.

The fledgling’s icy breath weapon is a Close Blast 5 that targets Reflex, does cold damage and slows on a hit, and recharges on 5-6. On a miss, it does half damage.

It someone hits the dragon while flanking it, it can retaliate with a Tail Slap as a reaction, which targets Fortitude, does some physical damage, and pushes the target 3 squares.

As usual for dragons, as soon as it becomes bloodied it recharges and uses its breath weapon immediately. This trait is named Bloodied Breath and I will refer to it as such from now on.

This is literally Baby’s First Dragon, meant to be easy both for the PCs to fight and for the GM to run. It dispenses with several of the more complicated dragon tricks like instinctive actions and Frightful Presence. It could serve as the first “boss battle” at the end of a low-level dungeon that doesn’t give the PCs time for a long rest. Or you could take a page from OD&D and put one of these guarding a sizable pile of treasure in a side area that requires a little effort to find - an easy dragon fight and its attendant hoard are one of the classic dungeon “bonus areas”.

Young White Dragon

This one is present in both books. It’s grown enough to have the full array of dragon abilities, but it’s still size Large. It’s a Level 3 Solo Brute with 200 HP and the same senses and movement as the fledgling. Its cold resistance is raised to 10. The MM also lists an Overland Flight speed of 10, which I think was dropped as a concept from the MV stat blocks. This means it’s better at covering long distances outside of combat.

From here on out the stat blocks are almost entirely different, so we’ll start with the MM version and then the MV one.

The MM version has two basic attacks: a Reach 2 bite that does a mix of physical and cold damage with extra cold damage if it’s an opportunity attack; and a Reach 2 Claw that does physical damage. These are combined in the Dragon’s Fury ability, a standard action that allows the dragon to make two claw attacks and bite a target that it hits with both.

The breath weapon is similar to the fledgling’s, and both slows and weakens on a hit in addition to its cold damage (save ends both). In addition to Bloodied Breath, the young white dragon gains Frightful Presence, a standard-action encounter power that targets Will and affects all enemies in a Close Burst 5. On a hit this stuns for a turn, with a -2 attack penalty as an aftereffect (save ends).

The MV version is a lot more similar to the fledgling, but with increased stats due to its higher level. The bite does a goodly amount of pure cold damage, and does some damage even on a miss. The breath weapon doesn’t weaken, but still slows. Savage Blood, Tail Slap and Bloodied Breath are still here, but instead of Frightful Presence the MV young white has two other dragon signature traits from the late-4e era: Action Recovery and an automatic “instinctive” action.

Action Recovery is a passive trait that ends any dazing, stunning or dominating effect on the dragon when its turn ends. This is equivalent to saying the dragon automatically saves against these effects, and is an important element in making it viable as a solo enemy.

The automatic action for white dragons is Instinctive Rampage. On an initiative of 10+the dragon’s score, it can make a free move action during which it gains Resist 5 to all damage. It can go through enemy spaces, and make a free claw attack against each enemy whose space it crosses. If this claw attack hits, the target also falls prone. If the dragon can’t take this action due to a stunning or dominating effect, that effect ends instead. Got all that?

Overall, I think the MV dragon is clearly the best of the two. The Instinctive Rampage is a little more complex than the MM powers, but in the end I prefer it over the traditional Frightful Presence, which oscillates between “wasted action” and “frustrating for players” depending on how successful it is. In addition the MV dragon is simply harder to pin down and more capable of making multiple attacks, a theme we’ll find persists throughout this multi-entry.

Adult White Dragon

This one is present only in the Monster Manual. It’s still Large, but likely bigger than the young version. It’s a Level 9 Solo Brute with 408 HP. Its land and flight speed go up to 7, and its cold resistance to 20. It is otherwise pretty much an upgunned young white dragon, with the same abilities at its disposal.

You could get the equivalent Monster Vault variant by increasing the level of its own Young White Dragon.

Elder White Dragon

This one is present in both books. A dragon this old is Huge, and a Level 17 Solo Brute with 850 HP (668 in the MV). Its land and flight speed go up to 8, and its cold resistance to 25 (15 in the MV). The lower HP and cold resistance is notable here, and likely a product of the new monster math.

Both versions have all the same abilities of their respective Young versions, only its melee reach is now 3. There’s an important addition in the form of Icy Tomb, a standard-action power that recharges on a 5-6. In both versions, it’s a Ranged 10 ability that targets Reflex and encases the target in ice, but its mechanical representation differs quite a bit.

In the Monster Manual, it does about 75% of the damage of the dragon’s breath and both restrains and stuns the target (save ends both). In the Monster Vault, it stuns, explicitly spells out that the target cannot be pushed, pulled or slid, and does 45 ongoing cold damage (save ends all).

Clearly an elder white dragon is going to spend one of its action points on Icy Tomb shortly before it uses its breath. There’s no better way to say “I hate you specifically” to the party’s fire sorcerer.

Ancient White Dragon

This MM-only entry is a Gargantuan Level 24 Solo Brute with 1145 HP! It can do everything the MM Elder White Dragon can, and has Cold Resistance 30 and movement speed of 9 in the ground and in the air.

The big addition here is the Aura of Winter, which has a radius of 5. Any creature caught in the area takes 30 cold damage, the ground within is treated as difficult terrain, and flying creatures halve their speed. Creatures in the aura have concealment against ranged attacks. This includes the dragon, of course, and it might prompt some adventurers to try to stay inside to reduce the chances of being hit with Icy Tomb… If they are hit with it, though, they’re looking at 75 cold damage per turn.

This dragon is likely to be encountered as a truly solo boss for level 21-22 characters, since there are few creatures that can stand its aura. A squad of ice devils would work very nicely as backup, though.

Sample Encounters

The two sample encouinters in the MM are:

  • Level 4, a young white dragon and a dragonborn soldier. This one likely happens at the end of a dungeon filled with kobold cultists and the occasional dragonborn lieutenant.

  • Level 11, an adult white dragon and a trio of galeb duhrs (humanoid earth elementals). This is likely more of an accidental symbiotic relationship than a proper organization.