Copyright 2008 Wizards of the Coast

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

Blue dragons are proud, vain, and like lording over lesser creatures in their domain. Unlike greens, they don’t feel the need to stoop to sleazy extortion schemes - they’ll personally land in the middle of your village and announce they’re your new ruler. This, ironically, makes blues one of the more reasonable dragon types, because they’ll take this ruler business seriously if you keep their egos well-inflated.

Their breath weapon is lightning. Previous editions had them prefer deserts, but 4th Edition says their preferred environments are coastal regions and seaside caves. It makes sense, as thunderstorms are closely associated with the sea and blue isn’t exactly the best color for desert camouflage.

Aside from any people they might claim as subjects, blue dragons are known to associate with other coastal or sea monsters, like sahuagin or storm giants. However, they are not themselves aquatic, so their domains likely don’t extend to the depths unless those sahuagin are really enthusiastic about serving the dragon. As usual, they’re Natural Magical Beasts with the Dragon keyword.

Blue Dragon (Monster Manual)

MM Blue Dragons are all Artillery. They have Darkvision, and trained Perception, Athletics, Insight and Nature. They also have an age-dependent amount of lightning resistance. They move on land and fly well enough to hover.

That honking big horn in the illustration means their basic attack is not a bite but a Gore, which does a mix of physical and lightning damage. Their claws also count as a basic attack, and they can use Draconic Fury as an action to make one gore and two claw attacks.

Those melee attacks aren’t the real stars of the show, though. The Breath Weapon is a bolt of lightning that targets 1 creature up to 10 squares away, jumps to another one up to 10 squares away from the first, and then jumps again to a third target up to 10 squares away from the second. Despite looking like a ranged attack, it does not provoke opportunity attacks. It targets Reflex, does lightning damage (half on a miss), and recharges on a 5-6.

The dragon can also spit a Lightning Burst at will. This is an Area 2 within 20 attack that targets Reflex and does a bit less lightning damage than the breath weapon (half on a miss). Finally, we have Frightful Presence as an encounter power and Bloodied Breath as a triggered action.

Young Blue Dragons are Large Level 6 Solo Artillery with 296 HP. Their lightning resistance is 15, their land speed 8 and their flight speed 10 (overland flight 15). Their melee Reach is 2.

Adult Blue Dragons are Large Level 13 Solo Artillery with 655 HP and Lightning Resistance 20. They are otherwise identical aside from icreased level-based stats (accuracy, damage, defenses).

Elder Blues are Huge Level 20 Solo Artillery with 960 HP and Lightning Resistance 25. Their land speed goes up to 10 and their flight speed to 12. To all the powers listed above they add Thunderclap, an at-will Close Burst 3 that targets Fortitude. On a hit it does thunder (AKA sonic) damage and stuns for a turn. On a critical hit, the stun becomes (save ends). So these do have a reason to land: to claw and gore a stunned victim. Its melee reach is 3.

Ancient Blues are Gargantuan Level 28 Solo Artillery with 1290 HP and Lightning Resistance 30. To the elder’s abilities they add Wingclap, a move action that recharges on 5-6 and allows the dragon to fly its speed and make a melee attack with its wings that targets Fortitude and does thunder damage. This doesn’t provoke opportunity attacks! Its melee reach is 4.

Blue Dragons (MV)

Monster Vault Blue Dragons have the same senses as their MV counterparts, dropping Overland Flight as usual. Their bite does pure lightning damage, with fixed math. The claw is no longer a basic attack, but they can still claw twice.

The wording on the lightning breath has been vastly simplified: it’s a Close Blast 10 that targets up to three creatures in the blast. This means the dragon can’t use it on someone 30 squares away any more, and that Lightning Burst is now its longest-ranged attack.

As usual for MV dragons, they lose Frightful Presence but retain Bloodied Breath. Blues also have Wing Backblast, which triggers whenever someone hits them with a melee attack and represents the dragon suddenly taking off. It’s a Close Burst 2 that targets Fortitude and knocks prone with no damage on a hit. Hit or miss, the dragon flies half its speed straight up.

For passive traits, they have Action Recovery and Uncontained Lightning, an Aura 5 that activates when the dragon is bloodied and causes 5 lightning damage to anyone who enters or starts its turn inside. The instinctive action allows them to fly their speed without provoking opportunity attacks and use Lightning Burst at any point in the movement.

The Young Blue Dragon is Large Level 6 Solo Artillery with 296 HP and all the abilities outlined above. Its resistance is 10 and its melee reach 2.

The Elder Blue is Huge Level 20 Solo Artillery with 756 HP, resistance 15 and melee Reach 3. To the youngun’s abilities it adds Thunderclap. This has the same name as the MM ability but it’s pretty different! This is an Area 3 within 20 attack. It targets Fortitude and on a hit does thunder damage and stuns for a turn. On a miss, it does half damage and dazes for a turn. The area of the elder’s breath weapon increases to 20 as well.

Sample Encounters

There are two sample encounters in the MM:

  • Level 13, an adult blue dragon and 3 dragonborn raiders. Pirates! Arrrr!

  • Level 24, an elder blue dragon and 2 thunderwaks (which are like Rocs, but lightning-infused). Just taking the pets out for a leisurely flight along the coast.

Final Impressions

Neither book’s blue dragons have reason to land when fighting PCs. Lightning Burst allows them to outrange everything except the ranger’s arrows and the wizard’s Magic Missiles. The MV variant can actually keep itself even further away and use its instinctive actions to swoop into range, fire off a burst, and move away again. A blue dragon who wants to play it safe can force the party into a very boring extreme-range artillery battle.

Fortunately, very few blue dragons would want to play it safe - they should be closing in to use their more powerful breath weapon, and should land to gore and claw anyone they manage to stun. If that seems like a bad bet even for these vain pirate kings, you should provide them with some lightning-resistant henchthings who will engage and hold the party in position for a bombardment. This should give your melee fighters something to do as well.

You can still play the “long range artillery battle” angle as a run up to the final battle with the dragon - the approach to its lair should have a layout that allows the dragon to bombard the PCs while they deal with the enemies and traps guarding it. Periodic Lightning Burst attacks become another hazard they have to contend with as the blue dragon taunts them from afar.