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• Jan 22, 2020

  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.

• Jan 19, 2020

  Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual/Vault: Red Dragon

  

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

  This is it, the one you’ve been waiting for. The most hyped variant of the most hyped monster in the entire game. Red dragons have made it to the cover of the core books in multiple editions, and they’re the ones you think about when you read the words “lays waste to the countryside”.

  Part of this increased mystique comes from the fact that D&D red dragons breathe fire, which means they get to take a ride on every classical myth or fantasy novel that features fire-breathing dragons. Personality wise, the book describes them as doubling up on greed. Red dragons pursue treasure much more vigorously than their weaker kin, which ironically means they’re much harder to buy off with tribute. Why wait for you to give them your money a little at a time when they can just raid you and take it all at once? Their preference for mountain or volcanic lairs means a large enough red in search of a new lair might just be strong enough to clear out a dwarf kingdom and make its lair in the treasure vault.

  The fiery breath of an older red dragon has an additional trick in this edition: it can strip the fire resistance of those it hits. This means they’re equipped to pull the Dark Schneider Maneuver and kill something like an efreet or fire archon with fire. Or your party’s fire sorcerer.

  Red Dragons fill the Soldier role, which means they fight up close and are smart about it. We’ll look at them by book.

  Red Dragon (Monster Manual)

  MM Red Dragons have trained Bluff, Insight, Intimidade and Perception. Like all dragons they have Darkvision and an age-dependent amount of resistance to their signature element (fire). They move fairly fast on land and fly well enough to hover.

  At all ages their basic attack is a bite that does physical and fire damage. They can instead perform two claw attacks if they want. As a reaction, they can use a Tail Strike against an enemy that moves to flank them. This targets Reflex and on a hit does some damage and pushes the target 1 square.

  The famous fire breath is a Close Blast 5 that targets Reflex and does a bundle of fire damage, half on a miss. It recharhes on a 5-6. Bloodied Breath and Frightful Presence round out the universal red dragon kit.

  Young reds are Large Level 7 Solo Soldiers with 332 HP and fire resistance 15. Their land speed is 6, their flight speed 8 (hover) with Overland Flight 12, and their melee reach 2.

  Adult reds are Large Level 15 Solo Soldiers with 750 HP and fire resistance 20. Their numbers are bigger, but they otherwise have the same set of abilities as the young dragon.

  Elder Reds are Huge Level 22 Solo Soldiers with 1050 HP, Fire Resistance 25, and melee Reach 3. Their land speed is 8 and their flight speed 10 (hover). To the standard suite of abilities they add Immolate Foe, a Ranged 20 attack that does slightly less damage than the breath weapon plus ongoing 10 fire damage. It targets Reflex and recharges on a 5-6.

  An Ancient Red Dragon is a Gargantuan Level 30 Solo Soldier with 1390 HP, Fire Resistance 40 and Melee Reach 4. This puts it on par with the Tarrasque, and makes it a good case for this being the Ancient Red Dragon.

  In addition to everything the elder can do, the Ancient has an Inferno aura that extends to 5 squares and does 20 fire damage to anything that enters it or starts its turn there. It also gives everyone inside (including the dragon) concealment against ranged attacks. Its breath weapon gains a secondary attack against Fortitude on a hit, and if that hits it strips all fire resistance from the target until the end of the encounter. This had been hinted at in the lore, but I honestly thought it would kick in earlier in the dragon’s life cycle.

  Red Dragon (Monster Vault)

  MV Red Dragons have the same senses and movement as their MM counterparts, though they lose training in Intimidate for some reason. As usual for MV dragons, they lose Frightful Presence, retain Bloodied Breath, and gain Action Recovery and an instinctive action. In this case it’s Instinctive Assault, which allows them to bite once or claw twice at 10+rolled initiative.

  The basic bite attack got powered up - on a hit it does physical damage and grabs the target with an age-dependent escape DC. Until the grab ends, the target takes ongoing fire damage (which increases if the dragon is bloodied).

  The claw attack also grabs the target on a hit, with a slightly easier escape DC. I think the dragon can have up to three grabbed victims - one from the bite and two from the claws. This can be useful to split the party up.

  The breath weapon works the same: fire damage on a close blast 5, half on a miss. Tail Strike remains, with a reach 1 greater than the dragon’s basic reach.

  The Young Red Dragon is a Large Level 7 Solo Soldier with 332 HP and fire resistance 15. Its melee reach is 2 (3 for the tail strike). Its breath weapon does additional damage if the dragon is bloodied.

  The Elder Red Dragon is a Huge Level 22 Solo Soldier with 832 HP and fire resistance 20. Its land speed is 8, with flight 10. Its melee reach is 3 (4 for the tail). In addition to all of the young red’s abilities, the elder can use Immolate Foe, which works much like its MM counterpart.

  Sample Encounters

  The MM has two, both fairly beefy.

  • Level 18: 1 adult red dragon, and a trio of githyanki. Yes, for some reason red dragons and githyanki get along well. I guess they have a lot in common, since they’re both grasping conquerors and all.

  • Level 24: 1 elder red dragon, 2 fire archon ash disciples, and 2 fire giants. Burn, baby burn! I would probably rewrite the ash disciple stats though.

  Final Impressions

  Ironically, despite being the strongest and most famous of dragons, reds are somewhat lacking in interesting powers compared to the other chromatics. Their breath is straight damage, and their instinctive action doesn’t grant movement. The ability to strip fire resistance is pretty awesome, but only the MM Ancient has it. If I brought it back I’d at least also give it to the Elder.

  The Monster Vault version is better at expressing the monster’s Soldier role. Their grabby attacks allow them to split the party up, and maybe carry a PC or two off if they can’t escape in time.

• Jan 17, 2020

  Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual/Vault: Blue Dragon

  

  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.

• Jan 16, 2020

  Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual and Monster Vault: Green Dragon

  

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

  Green dragons are sly manipulators, which makes me think that the first sign you’ll get that one has decided to lair near your village is when it invites you to negotiate its tribute. They like dense forests and places with connections to the Feywild.

  They’re excellent fliers and quite agile in the ground as well. Their breath weapon is a cloud of poisonous gas. Some sources describe that as chlorine, but that would be more caustic than poisonous.

  Aside from the usual kobold riffraff, their preferred allies and minions are fey creatures. They can also travel in pairs or even in packs. Don’t believe it when a green dragon says it’s alone.

  Like all dragons, they’re Natural Magical Beasts with the Dragon keyword. We’ll look at them book-by-book.

  Green Dragon (Monster Manual)

  The MM green dragons have darkvision, plus training in a wide variety of skills: Bluff, Diplomacy, Insight, Intimidate and Perception. They also have an age-dependent amount of poison resistance. They’re fast runners and even faster fliers.

  In all age categories it has two basic attacks: a bite that does physical damage plus ongoing poison damage, and a weak claw that can attack twice as a standard action. It can also perform flyby attacks, flying up to its speed and biting at any point along its movement without provoking opportunity attacks. This recharges on a 5-6.

  The Breath Weapon is a Recharge 5-6, Close Blast 5 poison cloud that targets Fortitude, does immediate and ongoing poison damage, and slows (save ends both). There’s also a slow aftereffect, meaning that you need to pass two saves to stop being slowed. I guess that poison is some sort of nerve gas! Unusually, the breath weapon doesn’t do anything on a miss, so it must decay fast.

  Aside from the familiar Frightful Presence, the green dragon can also use a Luring Glare, a minor-action charm power that targets Will and slides the target 2 squares. It uses this to pull people into its breath weapon’s area of effect.

  For triggered actions, it has Bloodied Breath and a Tail Sweep that targets adjacent enemies that don’t move in their turns. It targets Reflex, does some damage, and knocks prone on a hit.

  These dragons don’t have a reason to land as long as they have one of Breath Weapon or Flyby Attack available. With enough luck on the dice they can stay up there quite a while, and will take off again as soon as they can.

  Young Green Dragons are Large. They’re Level 5 Solo Skirmishers with 260 HP, Poison Resistance 15, a land speed of 8, and a fly speed of 10 with overland flight 15. Their melee Reach is 2.

  Adult Green Dragons still Large. They’re Level 12 Solo Controllers, which doesn’t look right to me as I’d expect the role of a given dragon to remain constant. Anyway, they have 620 HP, with poison resistance 20 and the same speed and reach as the young green dragon. They also have all the same abilities, which confirms that the Controller label is a mistake. On top of those they add Lashing Tail, an Aura 1 that makes its area difficult terrain for anyone other than the dragon while it’s on the ground.

  The Elder Green Dragon is basically an up-gunned adult, size Huge. They’re Level 19 Solo Controllers (see above) with 910 HP. Their poison resistance is 25, their land speed is 10, their flight speed 14 with overland flight 18. Their melee reach is 3, the area of their Frightful Presence is 10, and so is their ongoing damage. Everything else is the same.

  The Ancient Green Dragon is Gargantuan, a level 27 solo controller with 1250 HP. Its Lashing Tail is an Aura 2, its poison resistance is 30, and its speeds are the same as the elder’s. It has all the same abilities with appropriately increased damage and melee Reach 4, and adds a new one.

  Mind Poison is a Ranged 20 charm power that targets the Will of a target taking ongoing poison damage. On a hit, it inflicts a -2 penalty to attacks and skill/ability checks by that character. After the first failed save, the target os also dazed. And after the second failure, the target can no longer act to harm the dragon and the effect becomes permanent until the dragon is slain or a ritual like Remove Affliction is used to cure them. Yay, another gradual doom effect!

  Now, it’s not 100% clear to me if the daze and -2 penalties persist once the victim fails the second save. Personally, I’m inclined to say it doesn’t, and that the victim becomes a NPC servant of the dragon who’s able to act with their full capacity. This is an epic power from one of the scariest monsters in the book.

  Green Dragon (Monster Vault)

  Monster Vault green dragons are skirmishers at all age categories. They have the same senses as their MV counterparts, and their stat blocks drop Overland Flight and add Forest Walk to their land speed, allowing them to ignore forest-themed difficult terrain.

  Its bite still does physical and ongoing poison damage on a hit, and does a bit of poison damage on a miss. Its claws are only slightly weaker, and allow the dragon to shift 2 squares on a hit. It can still make two claw attacks on its action, but only against the same target. So it could use the first shift to get around the target, and the second to get away!

  The Breath Weapon is largely the same, down to the slow aftereffect. Flyby Attack is still here but no longer forbids opportunity attacks. On the other hand, the dragon can use its breath instead of a bite if it’s recharged.

  Luring Glare is still a minor action, and has been turned into a Close Blast 10 that affects one creature. The practical effect of this change is that it no longer provokes opportunity attacks.

  Tail Sweep and Frightful Presence are gone, but Bloodied Breath remains. For passive traits we have the usual Action Recovery, plus Poisonous Wounds and Instinctive Flyby.

  Poisonous Wounds is an Aura 1 that becomes active once the dragon is bloodied. Enemies take age-dependent poison damage when they enter or start their turns there, and that damage doubles if the enemy is also bloodied. Instinctive Flyby is an automatic flyby attack at 10+rolled initiative, granting a +4 bonus to defenses against opportunity attacks. As usual for instinctive actions, if the dragon can’t perform it due to a stunning or dominating effect then that effect ends.

  The Young Green Dragon is a Large Level 5 Solo Skirmisher with 252 HP, 10 poison resistance, land speed 8 (forest-walk) and fly speed 10. It has all the abilities outlined above with Melee reach 2.

  The Elder Green Dragon is a Huge Level 19 Solo Skirmisher with 720 HP, 15 poison resistance, land speed 10 (forest-walk) and fly speed 14. It has all the abilities above (with melee Reach 3) plus Cunning Glance, which allows it to use Luring Glare as a reaction to an enemy shifting to a square within 2 squares of itself.

  You can use some interpolation to get the other dragon age categories, and I’d be tempted to add Mind Poison to the late-Epic Ancient Green Dragon too.

  Encounters

  The MM gives us two sample encounters.

  • Level 7, a young green dragon and assorted kobold riffraff. Pretty standard.

  • Level 13, an adult green dragon and a couple of banshrae warriors. It makes perfect sense that a green dragon would buddy up with evil fey when you think about it.

  Final Impressions

  From what I’ve seen in published material, it usually feels like green dragons tend to be somewhat ignored by writers. Black dragons live in pretty similar environments and are more outwardly sinister, so they’re a bit more popular.

  Still, I think their abilities make them effective as solo encounters, particularly in the MV version, and Mind Poison is a surprisingly scary ability. Personality-wise they’re also cool, since they’re highly likely to talk to the party instead of attacking right away. Sure, they’re lying liars who lie, but it at least makes for some interesting banter.

  Adult or older green dragons could conceivably end up joining a fey court. So your party arrives to fight the dragon extorting the nearby kingdom and find themselves drawn into a Feywild court where the dragon is a respected noble with enough connections to make itself immune to a direct assault. Can they convince the other courtiers that the beast is a villain? Would they care if it was?

• Jan 14, 2020

  Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual/Monster Vault: Dragons

  

  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.

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