Skeleton dragons were undead dragons that had been raised as undead, reanimating their bones. They retained no hint of their sapience.[3]
Description[]
They looked like the skeletons of the dragons from which they were created.[3] Later accounts claimed they did in fact have a glow to their eyes.[2]
Behavior[]
Skeleton dragons largely acted as directed by their creators, though they only obeyed relatively simple instructions.[3]
Abilities[]
These dragons lacked their own spellcasting, save for innate spells common to all dragons of their kind, had no breath weapon, and did not project a fear aura. However, they gained common undead immunities; furthermore, skeletons took twice as long to destroy with slashing weapons.[3]
Per later accounts, dragons which were frightening even without supernatural influence, and so retained such capabilities, while losing all supernatural powers, though they became pretty good at responding quickly to foes' movements.[2]
Construction[]
The creation of a skeleton dragon required about six-tenths of the skeleton, with only the spine, skull and claws being indispensable. A special elixir had to be made with the remains from an existing skeleton, and the whole process of animation took three days. It only worked on malevolent dragons of at least young age, and even then, it failed sometimes, more often the stronger the dragon was, requiring the necromancer to start over.[3]
History[]
Sammaster devised the process of creation for skeleton dragons while devising dracolichdom, in the early 10th century DR.[3]
In 1370 DR, the blue dragon Oskurouh had been placed in the ruined Temple of the Dragon Oracle after being reanimated.[4]
After Esvele Greycloak's conquest of Shadowdale, she raised Gormauthator's remains, wrenching them free from the Twisted Tower, and set them to guard Aumry's Tomb.[5]
By 1374 DR, Lady Farkattle, advisor to the hobgoblin king Kardobbik of the Giantspire Mountains had managed to animate the skeleton of a very old deep dragon, and used it to keep the hobgoblins of Giantspire in line.[6]
In 1479 DR, Icingdeath had been raised as a skeletal version of himself.[7]
Appendix[]
Appearances[]
Adventures
Organized Play & Licensed Adventures
References[]
- ↑ Legacy of the Crystal Shard is a multi-volume set and so should not be cited directly. Please use one of the following citation subtemplates:
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Andy Collins, James Wyatt, and Skip Williams (November 2003). Draconomicon: The Book of Dragons. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 196–197. ISBN 0-7869-2884-0.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 Dale Donovan (January 1998). Cult of the Dragon. Edited by Julia Martin. (TSR, Inc.), pp. 105–106. ISBN 0-7869-0709-6.
- ↑ Bryon Wischstadt (February 1999). “Vale of the Dragon Oracle”. In Julia Martin ed. TSR Jam 1999 (TSR, Inc.), pp. 10–11. ISBN 0-7869-1445-9.
- ↑ Richard Baker, Eric L. Boyd, Thomas M. Reid (July 2007). Shadowdale: The Scouring of the Land. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 13. ISBN 07-8694-039-5.
- ↑ Richard Baker, Matt Forbeck, Sean K. Reynolds (May 2003). Unapproachable East. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 188. ISBN 0-7869-2881-6.
- ↑ R.A. Salvatore, James Wyatt, Jeffrey Ludwig (November 19, 2013). “Adventure”. Legacy of the Crystal Shard (Wizards of the Coast), p. 20. ISBN 0-7869-6464-2.
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 • Rain • 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