Moon dragons, also called lunar dragons or occasionally phase dragons, were a species of dragon native to wildspace regions, where they made their homes on moons.[1][2]
Description[]
Moon dragons changed coloring over the course of thirty days, beginning with a solid, brilliant white form, then having a "shadow" appear on the left side of the dragon, that spreads over the course of 15 days until the beast is solid black in color, at which time a sliver of white appears on the left side and then spreads, again over the course of 15 days, until the dragon is once again solid white. These states of coloration affected their strength and personalities, and were called phases.[1][2]
Personality[]
Moon dragons were evil, though their ethical outlook varied between phases. During their solid-black phase they were chaotic, while during their solid-white phase they were more lawful; in the transitional phases (and thus most of the time) they were neutral.[1][2] As a group, moon dragons tended to be arrogant and have elitist attitudes. Even more than their evil nature and natural pride, they were obsessed with the dichotomy of light and darkness and the moon motif.[2]
Abilities[]
A lunar dragon in flight.
Moon dragons were stronger during their solid-black phase, being only half as powerful in their black-white phase or white-black phase as during the black phase, and only a quarter as powerful during their white phase. In any phase, they were unbothered by cold and had superior vision that was unaffected by either darkness or light spells. In their white phase, lycanthropes were forced to shift into their were-form and obeyed the moon dragon as though charmed.[2]
Moon dragons breathed a cone of black frost that not only damaged enemies, but also hardened around them, slowing or even entombing foes in blackened ice. Additionally, lunar dragons could become partially incorporeal to avoid taking damage from material weapons.[1][2]
Like many other true dragons, moon dragons had several spell-like abilities: as young, they gained light; as juveniles, darkness, 15' radius; as adults, continual light; as old dragons, Melf's minute meteors; as very old dragons, repulsion; and when venerable, reverse gravity.[2]
Combat[]
Lunar dragons were known to use their fangs, claws, tails, and wings as weapons in combat,[1] but they generally considered mere "brawling" beneath them, instead relying on their breathe weapon and spell-like abilities.[2]
Ecology[]
A moon dragon wyrmling.
Moon dragons, as their name would suggest, lived in lunar caves and had natural spelljamming abilities. They could eat anything, but favored frozen meat, which they typically kept ample supplies of in icy larders within their lairs. A female lunar dragon would, before laying eggs, stock up so that she did not have to leave her lair until the eggs hatched and the hatchlings old enough to fend for themselves. There were one to four eggs in a brood; the eggs themselves had stony shells that were white to light grey in color.[1][2]
Due to their obsession with the moon motif and the light-dark dichotomy, moon dragons preferred to make their hoards of black and white pearls and diamonds, moonstones, and any coin called a "moon" by its society; they also were known to hoard spelljamming helms taken from ships that dared invade their territory.[1][2]
Moon dragons were mortal enemies of sun dragons and would attack members of that species on sight.[2]
Appendix[]
Appearances[]
- Video Games
- Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Christopher Perkins (August 2022). “Boo's Astral Menagerie”. In Judy Bauer, Kim Mohan eds. Spelljammer: Adventures in Space (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 32–35. ISBN 978-0-7869-6816-9.
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 Scott Davis, Newton Ewell, John Terra (1991). Monstrous Compendium Spelljammer Appendix 2. Edited by Allen Varney. (TSR, Inc.), p. 18. ISBN 1-56076-071-0.
Connections[]
Chromatic dragons: Black • Blue • Brown • Gray • Green • Orange • Pink • Purple • Red • Salt • White • Yellow
Gem dragons: Amethyst • Beljuril • Crystal • Emerald • Obsidian • Sapphire • Topaz • Ruby
Neutral dragons: Amber • Jacinth • Moonstone • Pearl
Lung dragons: Chiang lung • Li lung • Lung wang • Pan lung • Shen lung • T'ien lung • Tun mi lung • Yu lung
Ferrous dragons: • Cobalt • Iron
Planar dragons: Adamantine • Astral • Battle • Blight • Chaos • Ethereal • Hellfire wyrm • Howling • Mirage • Oceanus • Pyroclastic • Radiant • Rust • Shadow • Styx • Tarterian
Spelljamming dragons: Moon/lunar • Radiant • Sun/solar
Epic dragons: Force • Prismatic • Time
Catastrophic dragons: Blizzard • Earthquake • Volcanic
Miscellaneous dragons: Cobra • Dzalmus • Mist • Rattelyr • Song • Vishap
Linnorms: Corpse tearer • Dread • Stygian
Drakes: Ambush • Black firedrake • Dragonne • Elemental (Earth • Fire • Ice • Magma • Ooze • Smoke • Water) • Felldrake (Crested • Spitting) • Greater • Guard • Mind • Portal • Rage • Space • Storm • Vulture
Dragonbloods: Draconic creature • Dragonborn of Bahamut • Dragonspawn
Drow-dragon (shadow) • Drow-dragon (deep) • Half-dragon • Kobold (Dragonwrought • Urd) • Weredragon • Zar'ithra • Zekyl
Hybrid monsters: Dracimera • Dracolisk • Mantidrake • Wyvern drake