Battle dragon

Battle dragons were fierce and brave dragons who took immense joy in fighting glorious battles.

Description
The scales of battle dragons changed in appearance depending on the dragon's activities. If at rest, they had a dull brown color, and they became bright golden when the dragon was flying, allowing sunlight to reflect from them. Other variants existed, with green-tinted scales and bronze, red, or golden tips.

They also displayed sharp horns that protruded from the back of their heads and from several extremities. Battle dragons' wings were large and brilliantly patterned.

Personality
Fearless and optimistic, battle dragons found great pleasure in simple armed conflict. They were capable of finding positive sides in any situation, no matter how grim, an ability that made them great inspiring forces and morale boosters within an army.

It was also common for battle dragons to serve as mounts for humanoid combatants.

Combat
When in combat, battle dragons fought fiercely while also providing support and encouragement to their allies. They could sing chants that inspired courage in their armies much like bards, while sufficiently old battle dragons could enter a furious battle rage, dealing devastating damage to their enemies.

They possessed two breath weapons: a cone of fear-causing gas and a deafening cone of sonic energy. They could also innately cause effects similar to the aid, heroes' feast, protection from evil, and shield other spells.

Society
From a very young age, battle dragons were trained to take pleasure in the art of fighting. They could be found alone or in families as they raised their young. Clutches of young battle dragons were also commonly found.

Many communities forged long-standing alliances with battle dragon families for mutual assistance and protection, so that several generations of riders could count on generations of the same line of dragon allies.

Battle dragons could be found in Ysgard, Arvandor, the Dragon Eyrie, the House of the Triad, and Warrior's Rest, as well as in the Astral Plane itself.

Due to their loyalty and liking for battle in general, it was not uncommon to find battle dragons in direct service of deities such as Bane and Gruumsh. They were as likely to be found loyally aiding armies to fight fiends as to be directly serving deities in battle against their rivals.

History
Battle dragons were originally chromatic dragons that had spent a sufficiently long time in the Astral Plane as to diverge from their ancestors.