Let’s Read the 4e Monster Manual/Vault: Dragonspawn

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

Dragonspawn are weird mutants created by the application of an eldricht ritual to an unhatched dragon egg. The ritual mutates the embryo inside, and what hatches from the egg is one of these beasts. The ritual was first developed by cultists of Tiamat.

If this sounds familiar to you it might be because it’s almost the same origin story for Dragonlance’s Draconians, but the result here is different. Dragonspawn are much larger and more dangerous than the gimmicky humanoids of that setting, and have animal-level intellects (with a very dangerous exception). They also breed true, so you can start your very own dragonspawn ranch with a relatively small cache of dragon eggs.

Another big difference is that the dragonspawn depicted here come from chromatic dragon eggs, which indicates that chromatics as a whole don’t form a unified faction in the implied 4th edition setting like they do in Dragonlance. These aren’t the only dragonspawn in existence, as the ritual spread out in the usual way and people started coming up with additional varieties. It works just fine in metallic and other dragon types too.

Dragonspawn are only present in the MM.

Redspawn Firebelcher

This round boy is a Large Natural Beast (reptile), and a Level 12 Artillery beast with 97 HP. It has low-light vision, fire resistance 20, and an aura 5 that grants fire resistance 10 to allies within it. It gambols about at Speed 4.

It attacks with a bite that does physical damage and ongoing fire damage (save ends); Fire Belch, a Range 12 attack that targets Reflex and does physical + ongoing fire damage (save ends); and Fire Burst, an Area 2 Within 10 attack version of the belch that does a bit more damage than it and recharges on a 5-6.

At Int 2, Firebelchers are just smart enough to receive basic combat training: they can recognize friend from foe and understand an attack command. They prefer to attack at range, and their temper combined with their slow speed mean they fight to the death even when overrun. Also of note is the fact that they suffer greatly from the math bug. If you want to use them, you should definitely increase their damage to its proper level and likely make their ranged attacks do fire instead of physical damage.

Blackspawn Gloomweb

This thing has all the cruelty of a black dragon combined with the intellect of your average spider. It likes hiding out in dark caves and catching unsuspecting passerby in its acidic webs. It doesn’t like waiting for the acid to kill its victims before it begins eating them.

Gloomwebs are a bit of a failed experiment in that they’re hard to train properly. So I guess their creators just left them in places their enemies would have to pass through, and later on they became a wild species.

These things are Large Natural Beasts (reptiles), and Level 16 Lurkers with 120 HP. The scuttle with Speed 8, and have the same climb speed (with Spider Climb, obviously). It has acid resistance 15 and constantly exudes a cloud of gloom that grants it concealment in any turn in which it doesn’t move. It’s trained in Stealth.

For attacks, the gloomweb has a bite that deals physical and ongoing acid damage (save ends). It can also perform a Goring Charge that targets Fortitude. On a hit this deals damage, knocks prone, and allows a free bite attack! It can also use a Mobile Melee attack that allows it to scuttle half its speed and bite at any point along the movement, without provoking opportunity attacks. Finally, it can launch an acidic web as a Ranged 10 attack that targets Reflex. On a hit this restrains and deals ongoing acid damage (save ends both).

All of these attacks are at-will and none of them have a stealth prerequisite, so this lurker is really more of a skirmisher with a dash of control. Goring Charge is a good opener, and the Mobile Melee Attack can get the monster into position for another charge.

Bluespawn Godslayer

This dragonspawn stands out from its fellows not only because its name is Extremely Metal but because it’s sapient. Not a warbeast but a mercenary, the godslayer hires itself out to people who need violence inflicted upon powerful creatures such as angels and other immortals. In other words, “godslayer” is its job description.

These reptilian giants were created by Tiamat cultists to fight their enemies, but their mercenary temperament suggests that the PCs themselves might be able to hire them to help fight opposition such as devils, evil dragons or even those self-same cultists. Yes, the bluespawn is also Evil, but it’s not like evil creatures have any solidarity towards each other.

A bluespawn godslayer is a Huge Natural Humanoid (reptile) and a Level 22 Elite Brute with 510 HP. It has low-light vision, 30 resistance to lightning and thunder, and runs at speed 8. It wields a greatsword one-handed and a heavy shield.

The greatsword deals a mix of physical and lightning damage. It can also be used in to deal an Awesome Blow that does the same damage and allows a secondary attack against Fortitude. If that hits, the target is pushed 3 squares and knocked prone. If the sword isn’t available for some reason, the godslayer can bite for somewhat less physical damage but the same amount of lightning damage.

All of these attacks deal an extra 10 damage against dragons, dragonborn, and immortals. This is why keywords and origins are important even though they don’t have built-in rules of their own! Dragonborn PCs are going to have a bad time here, but this is also what makes it desirable for the PCs to hire a bluespawn to fight their draconic/devilish enemies.

That said, this god-slayer might have some trouble living up to its hype. Aside from fixing the math, I’d probably roll Awesome Blow into the basic sword attack so it can be used in a charge, and make the bite a minor action.

Sample Encounters and Final Impressions

Each dragonspawn gets one.

Level 12: 1 redspawn firebelcher and 4 githyanki warriors.
Level 16: 1 blackspawn gloomweb and a bunch of kuo-toa.
Level 22: 2 bluespawn godslayers and a storm giant.

Basically, anyone who could be found hanging around a given type of chromatic dragon might also be found hanging around the equivalent dragonspawn, though in that case the power relationship is likely inverted. This makes me think that the dragons themselves wouldn’t have a problem hanging around dragonspawn, though obviously they wouldn’t like to have their own eggs turned into these creatures.

Despite the math issues, I find myself liking these monsters more than I expected. They’re certainly a lot better than draconians, which never made much of an impression on me.