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Sirwhiteout (talk | contribs) (Rewriting: introduction, description and personality sections; moved Dragonlance image to the Gallery.) |
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| terrain = Plains<ref name="MMv.3.5-pp84-85" /> |
| terrain = Plains<ref name="MMv.3.5-pp84-85" /> |
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| height = |
| height = |
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| − | | length = |
+ | | length = Up to 120 ft (41.1 m) |
| − | | wingspan = |
+ | | wingspan = Up to 135 ft (36.6 m) |
| − | | weight = |
+ | | weight = Up to 1,280,000 lb (580.6 tonnes) |
| skincolor = Gold (scales) |
| skincolor = Gold (scales) |
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| haircolor = |
| haircolor = |
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| first = |
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| + | '''Gold dragons''' were the strongest and most majestic of the [[metallic dragon]]s, and were considered the apex of the draconic race.<ref name="MMv.5-pp113-115" /><ref name="DN24e-p32-33">{{Cite book/Draconomicon: Metallic Dragons|32-33}}</ref> Graceful and wise, they were relentless and dedicated foes of evil, injustice, and foul play.<ref name="MMv.3.5-pp84-85" /><ref name="DN3e-p46-48">{{Cite book/Draconomicon: The Book of Dragons|46-48}}</ref> While respected for their fairness and knowledge, they were also grim and reserved, and usually avoided casual contact with other dragons.<ref name="MMv.5-pp113-115" /> |
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| − | '''Gold dragons''' were the most powerful of the [[metallic dragon]]s, and the most dedicated to defeating evil.<ref name="MMv.5-pp113-115" /> They spent the bulk of their lives in human form, seeking out evil and punishing wrongdoers to the best of their considerable abilities. Their typical mode of operation ran roughly along the lines of a sting operation: the [[dragon]] would listen for stories of dangerous or evil creatures or people, then revealed its true form and meted out punishment. They preferred to turn villains over to law enforcement if available, but would ultimately take whatever actions they deemed necessary in order to see justice served.<ref name="MMv.5-pp113-115" /><ref name="MMv.3.5-pp84-85" /><ref name="DN3e-p46-48" /> They were best summarized as the [[paladin]]s of the draconic world.{{Fact}} |
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==Description== |
==Description== |
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[[File:Gold dragon anatomy - Ron Spencer.jpg|thumb|left|198px|''A review of gold dragon anatomy.'']] |
[[File:Gold dragon anatomy - Ron Spencer.jpg|thumb|left|198px|''A review of gold dragon anatomy.'']] |
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| + | A gold dragon's head was characterized by a short face with long and smooth metallic horns that swept back from its nose and brow, as well as the neck frills that adorned both sides of its neck. From the mouth and nostrils descended four pairs of long, flexible muscular spines that resembled whiskers or barbels. Along with the dragon's narrow eyes, these features contributed to give them a look of sagacity. As the dragon aged, its pupils faded away until the eyes acquired an appearance of shiny, liquid [[gold]]. Other facial features included a pointed tongue and small cheek horned that grew sideways.<ref name="MMv.5-pp113-115" /><ref name="DN3e-p46-48" /><ref name="DN24e-p32-33" /> |
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| − | Physically, gold dragons were quite spectacular. Several large horns tipped with umber shot sideways from their cheeks, and two very prominent horns pointed backwards along their heads. The most obvious feature was probably the tentacle whiskers that sprouted from the top and bottom of the gold dragon's jaw, giving the appearance of a beard of sorts.<ref name="MMv.5-pp113-115" /> Their wings, like those of [[brass dragon|brass]] and [[copper dragon]]s, connected to the body all the way to the tip of the tail. From below, the overall shape resembled that of a brass dragon, but the different coloring and dramatic difference in size enabled easy differentiation. When in flight, the gold dragon's wings rippled, giving the appearance of swimming rather than flying. They smelled of saffron and incense.<ref name="DN3e-p46-48">{{Cite book/Draconomicon: The Book of Dragons|46-48}}</ref> |
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| + | Gold dragons had broad sail-like wings that started from their shoulders and extended all the way to the end of their extremely long tails. During flight, the wings moved in a graceful rippling motion that resembled swimming. This elegant flying motion was considered by many scholars, as well as by the gold dragons themselves, to be the most graceful among true dragons. When on the ground, the wings were kept closed upright over its back if the dragon was at rest, or folded facing back if the dragon was walking or running.<ref name="MMv.5-pp113-115" /><ref name="DN3e-p46-48" /> |
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| − | True to their name, gold dragons were a brilliant, shimmering gold color. Their head was crested with a ring of majestic horns. Their muzzles would often sprout growths that gave the appearance of a mustache or beard. A gold dragon was rarely encountered in its natural form.<ref name="DN3e-p46-48" /> Older gold dragons possessed the ability to change their shape into that of an animal or humanoid creature.<ref name="MMv.5-pp113-115" /> |
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| + | |||
| + | A newly hatched gold dragon had dark yellow scales dotted with metallic specks that increased in size with age, until they totally covered the scales, giving a shiny and radiant golden color to the adult dragon's entire body.<ref name="MMv.5-pp113-115" /><ref name="DN3e-p46-48" /><ref name="DN24e-p32-33" /> |
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| + | |||
| + | Gold dragons gave off scents of [[saffron]] and [[incense]],<ref name="DN3e-p46-48" /> and sometimes a faint smell of molten metal.<ref name="DN24e-p32-33" /> |
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==Personality== |
==Personality== |
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| + | It was common for gold dragons to appoint themselves with quests to promote good. Those that earned a gold dragon's fury found a relentless enemy who would not rest until the utter and complete subjugation of the evildoers. Either by slaying or by bringing villains to justice, a gold dragon's only acceptable outcome was complete victory over evil.<ref name="DN3e-p46-48" /> |
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| + | When looking for a lair, gold dragons usually sought secluded and remote locations. They had a preference for idyllic or picturesque locations, such as rivers or the bottom of lakes, cave complexes, ancient ruins, deep gorges, high plateaus, or mist-covered islands.<ref name="DN3e-p46-48" /><ref name="MMv.5-pp113-115" /> They also had a preference for rolling hills, open plains, and in some rare cases even within [[humanoid]] communities which they have chosen to protect.<ref name="DN24e-p32-33" /> They were very private creatures, mostly keeping to themselves and their families and rarely fraternizing with other dragons.<ref name="MMv.5-pp113-115" /> |
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| − | Gold dragons were the nobility and royalty of the metallic dragonkind. From hatching, they were instilled with a sense of order tempered with a benevolent nature. Some gold dragons, however, saw the need to impose order on others from the good of all. This sense of doing things “for the greater good” could lead a gold dragon to become a tyrant. This was a rare instance, however.<ref name="DN24e-p32-33">{{Cite book/Draconomicon: Metallic Dragons|32-33}}</ref> |
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| + | Strong believers in the greater good and in the rule of order, gold dragons were sometimes viewed as arrogant and dismissive. Due to their vast superiority with respect to the average humanoid, they often had difficulty in understanding the everyday troubles and needs of communities and in some rare instances might even end up becoming tyrants.<ref name="DN24e-p32-33" /> |
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| − | Gold dragons could often be seen talking and teaching their acquired wisdom to [[human]]s, [[elves]], [[aasimar]] and other non-hostile races. When forced to fight, gold dragons preferred to converse with intelligent creatures, using their intimidation and insight to gain the upper hand. Their attitude towards visibly evil characters was not as forgiving though, as they tried to eradicate any evil aspects in their territories.{{Fact}} |
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==Combat== |
==Combat== |
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==Appendix== |
==Appendix== |
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| + | ===Gallery=== |
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| + | <gallery> |
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| ⚫ | |||
| + | </gallery> |
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===References=== |
===References=== |
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{{Refs}} |
{{Refs}} |
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Revision as of 01:56, 2 January 2018
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Gold dragons were the strongest and most majestic of the metallic dragons, and were considered the apex of the draconic race.[1][9] Graceful and wise, they were relentless and dedicated foes of evil, injustice, and foul play.[3][8] While respected for their fairness and knowledge, they were also grim and reserved, and usually avoided casual contact with other dragons.[1]
Description
A review of gold dragon anatomy.
A gold dragon's head was characterized by a short face with long and smooth metallic horns that swept back from its nose and brow, as well as the neck frills that adorned both sides of its neck. From the mouth and nostrils descended four pairs of long, flexible muscular spines that resembled whiskers or barbels. Along with the dragon's narrow eyes, these features contributed to give them a look of sagacity. As the dragon aged, its pupils faded away until the eyes acquired an appearance of shiny, liquid gold. Other facial features included a pointed tongue and small cheek horned that grew sideways.[1][8][9]
Gold dragons had broad sail-like wings that started from their shoulders and extended all the way to the end of their extremely long tails. During flight, the wings moved in a graceful rippling motion that resembled swimming. This elegant flying motion was considered by many scholars, as well as by the gold dragons themselves, to be the most graceful among true dragons. When on the ground, the wings were kept closed upright over its back if the dragon was at rest, or folded facing back if the dragon was walking or running.[1][8]
A newly hatched gold dragon had dark yellow scales dotted with metallic specks that increased in size with age, until they totally covered the scales, giving a shiny and radiant golden color to the adult dragon's entire body.[1][8][9]
Gold dragons gave off scents of saffron and incense,[8] and sometimes a faint smell of molten metal.[9]
Personality
It was common for gold dragons to appoint themselves with quests to promote good. Those that earned a gold dragon's fury found a relentless enemy who would not rest until the utter and complete subjugation of the evildoers. Either by slaying or by bringing villains to justice, a gold dragon's only acceptable outcome was complete victory over evil.[8]
When looking for a lair, gold dragons usually sought secluded and remote locations. They had a preference for idyllic or picturesque locations, such as rivers or the bottom of lakes, cave complexes, ancient ruins, deep gorges, high plateaus, or mist-covered islands.[8][1] They also had a preference for rolling hills, open plains, and in some rare cases even within humanoid communities which they have chosen to protect.[9] They were very private creatures, mostly keeping to themselves and their families and rarely fraternizing with other dragons.[1]
Strong believers in the greater good and in the rule of order, gold dragons were sometimes viewed as arrogant and dismissive. Due to their vast superiority with respect to the average humanoid, they often had difficulty in understanding the everyday troubles and needs of communities and in some rare instances might even end up becoming tyrants.[9]
Combat
Gold dragons preferred to talk rather than to fight. They would never engage in combat if they believed it was unnecessary.[8] Once they believed it was necessary, however, they were amazingly powerful opponents. Their ability to breathe fire rivaled that of the eldest red dragons, and they would pour their entire being into a battle against evil. Gold dragons disliked killing, but they did not hesitate to do so if it was necessary in order to defeat an evil foe.[citation needed]
Breath weapon
Gold dragons were powerful combatants, and they had two separate breath weapons. The first was fire. The second was a blast of weakening gas[1] in which the dragon held the fire in its body and, instead of exhaling it, exhaled air over the fire which emitted a cone of hot, dry, dehydrating air that weakened foes.[citation needed]
Society
Unlike many species of dragons, gold dragons had a very firm and hierarchical social structure, encompassing all members of the species. This structure always had one gold dragon as its leader, who served until he/she either died or stepped down. At that time, all gold dragons congregated and chose the next leader of their kind. Sometimes two dragons could be chosen; in such cases, the two would share the duties of leadership. The position of leader, which bore the honorific Your Resplendence, did not so much involve the maintenance of order — gold dragons were famous for their good behavior — so much as the dispensing of advice and wisdom to any dragons who asked for it.[9] Gold dragons were voracious learners, and they tended to become very wise and worldly as they aged. They freely shared their knowledge and experience to anyone who asked, dragon or not. In fact, it was not unknown for a gold Great Wyrm to take the form of a scholarly professor in order to spread its knowledge at some human center of higher education.[citation needed]
Gold dragons could sometimes be seen taking human form to experience living in human society, and aiding travelers. They were not, however, oblivious to chaotic and evil plots and would do to their best to thwart said plots whilst remaining within lawful grounds.[9]
Lair
Unlike most other species of dragons, gold dragons devoted immense time and energy to the construction of their lairs. The layout of their lairs often resembled those of elegant human mansions, albeit buried underground. Rooms were well-constructed and elegantly decorated with the many art treasures the gold dragon had collected over its lifetime.[9] Typical rooms in a gold dragon's lair included a main hall, a banquet hall, a resting chamber, a study, a kitchen, a lobby, a storage room, and perhaps even a lavatory. Many gold dragons even had a glass-walled observatory, especially if they lived underwater.[citation needed]
Gold dragons were known to reside in the Serpent Hills, the Earthfast Mountains, the Vast, the Graypeak Mountains, Loudwater, the Orsraun Mountains and Turmish.[citation needed]
Parenting and Development
Gold dragon eggs must be incubated in a nest of open flames. A newly hatched gold wyrmling appeared similar to an adult, except that it lacked horns or tentacle whiskers. At some point, however, the biological parents could send the wyrmling to live with foster parents; this allowed the parents to undertake their own quests, as well as exposing the wyrmling to new experiences.[citation needed]
Wyrmling, very young, young, juvenile, and young adult gold dragons tended to be solitary or lived in a clutch of 2-5 dragons; adults, mature adults, older dragons, wyrms or great wyrms would live solitarily, in a pair, or a family consisting of a couple of adults and several offspring.[3]
Language
Gold dragons were the only species of dragon to have their own language. They could only write this language when in human form as their dragon form claws were not practical.[10]
These dragons even kept records of historical events. The content of these records was mostly useless to human historians however, as they described dragon events like dragon births, trials and deaths, rather than events that affected the non-dragon world.[10]
Notable gold dragons
Appendix
Gallery
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 Mike Mearls, Jeremy Crawford, Christopher Perkins (2014-09-30). Monster Manual 5th edition. Edited by Scott Fitzgerald Gray. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 113–115. ISBN 978-0786965614.
- ↑ Template:Cite book/Monster Manual II 4th edition
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Skip Williams, Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook (July 2003). Monster Manual v.3.5. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 84–85. ISBN 0-7869-2893-X.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Doug Stewart (June 1993). Monstrous Manual. (TSR, Inc), p. 78. ISBN 1-5607-6619-0.
- ↑ Gary Gygax (December 1977). Monster Manual, 1st edition. (TSR, Inc), pp. 32–33. ISBN 0-935696-00-8.
- ↑ Andy Collins, James Wyatt, and Skip Williams (November 2003). Draconomicon: The Book of Dragons. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 32–33. ISBN 0-7869-2884-0.
- ↑ Andy Collins, James Wyatt, and Skip Williams (November 2003). Draconomicon: The Book of Dragons. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 14. ISBN 0-7869-2884-0.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 8.7 8.8 Andy Collins, James Wyatt, and Skip Williams (November 2003). Draconomicon: The Book of Dragons. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 46–48. ISBN 0-7869-2884-0.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 9.7 9.8 Richard Baker, et al. (November 2009). Draconomicon: Metallic Dragons. Edited by Logan Bonner, et al. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 32–33. ISBN 978-0-7869-5248-9.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Nigel Findley, et al. (October 1990). Draconomicon. Edited by Mike Breault. (TSR, Inc.), pp. 12, 18. ISBN 0-8803-8876-5.
- ↑ Eric L. Boyd, Eytan Bernstein (August 2006). Dragons of Faerûn. Edited by Beth Griese, Cindi Rice, Kim Mohan. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 12–13. ISBN 0-7869-3923-0.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Eric L. Boyd, Eytan Bernstein (August 2006). Dragons of Faerûn. Edited by Beth Griese, Cindi Rice, Kim Mohan. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 44. ISBN 0-7869-3923-0.
- ↑ Eric L. Boyd, Eytan Bernstein (August 2006). Dragons of Faerûn. Edited by Beth Griese, Cindi Rice, Kim Mohan. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 30. ISBN 0-7869-3923-0.
- ↑ Steve Winter, Alexander Winter, Wolfgang Baur (November 2014). The Rise of Tiamat. Edited by Scott Fitzgerald Gray. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 59. ISBN 978-0786965656.