Arcanum Dragon (3.5e Monster)

Author: Eiji-kun (talk) Date Created: 8-16-21 Status: Complete Editing: Clarity edits only please

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Arcanum Dragon

Type:	Dragon
Environment:	Mountains
Organization:	Solitary
Challenge Rating:	Wyrmling 5; very young 7; young 9; juvenile 11; young adult 14; adult 16; mature adult 19; old 21; very old 22; ancient 24; wyrm 25; great wyrm 27
Treasure:	Triple standard
Alignment:	Usually Any Neutral
Advancement:	Wyrmling 9-10 HD; very young 12-13 HD; young 15-16 HD; juvenile 18-19 HD; young adult 21-22 HD; adult 24-25 HD; mature adult 27-28 HD; old 30-31 HD; very old 33-34 HD; ancient 36-37 HD; wyrm 39-40 HD; great wyrm 42+ HD
Level Adjustment:	Wyrmling +4; very young +5; young +6; others —

Arcanum Dragon Dragons by Age

Age	Size	Hit Dice (hp)	Str	Dex	Con	Int	Wis	Cha	Base Attack/ Grapple	Attack	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Breath Weapon (DC)	Frightful Presence DC
Wyrmling	M	8d12+8 (60)	15	10	13	16	15	16	8/10	10	7	6	8	2d8 (15)	-
Very young	L	11d12+22 (93)	19	10	15	18	17	18	11/19	14	9	7	10	4d8 (17)	-
Young	L	14d12+28 (119)	23	10	15	18	17	18	14/24	19	11	9	12	6d8 (19)	-
Juvenile	L	17d12+51 (161)	27	10	17	20	19	20	17/29	24	13	10	14	8d8 (21)	-
Young adult	H	20d12+80 (210)	29	10	19	20	19	20	20/37	27	16	12	17	10d8 (24)	25
Adult	H	23d12+92 (241)	31	10	19	22	21	22	23/41	31	17	13	18	12d8 (25)	27
Mature adult	H	26d12+130 (299)	33	10	21	22	21	22	26/45	35	20	15	21	14d8 (28)	29
Old	G	29d12+174 (362)	37	10	23	26	25	26	29/54	38	22	16	23	16d8 (30)	32
Very old	G	32d12+224 (432)	39	10	25	28	27	28	32/58	42	25	18	26	18d8 (33)	35
Ancient	G	35d12+290 (507)	41	10	27	30	29	30	35/62	46	27	19	28	20d8 (35)	37
Wyrm	C	38d12+342 (589)	43	10	29	32	31	32	38/70	46	30	21	31	22d8 (38)	40
Great wyrm	C	41d12+410 (676)	45	10	31	34	33	34	41/74	50	32	22	33	24d8 (40)	42

Arcanum Dragon Dragon Abilities by Age

Age	Speed	Initiative	AC	Special Abilities	Caster Level	SR
Wyrmling	60 ft, fly 200 ft (poor), swim 60 ft	+0	17 (+7 natural), touch 10, flat-footed 17	Alternate Form, Detect Magic, Water Breathing	1st	-
Very young	60 ft, fly 200 ft (poor), swim 60 ft	+0	19 (+10 natural, -1 size), touch 9, flat-footed 19	-	3rd	-
Young	60 ft, fly 200 ft (poor), swim 60 ft	+0	22 (+13 natural, -1 size), touch 9, flat-footed 22	-	5th	-
Juvenile	60 ft, fly 200 ft (poor), swim 60 ft	+0	25 (+16 natural, -1 size), touch 9, flat-footed 25	Magic Missile	7th	-
Young adult	60 ft, fly 200 ft (poor), swim 60 ft	+0	27 (+19 natural, -2 size), touch 8, flat-footed 27	DR 5/magic	9th	21
Adult	60 ft, fly 200 ft (poor), swim 60 ft	+0	30 (+22 natural, -2 size), touch 8, flat-footed 30	Greater Dispel Magic	11th	23
Mature adult	60 ft, fly 200 ft (poor), swim 60 ft	+0	33 (+25 natural, -2 size), touch 8, flat-footed 33	DR 10/magic	13th	25
Old	60 ft, fly 250 ft (clumsy), swim 60 ft	+0	34 (+28 natural, -4 size), touch 6, flat-footed 34	Permanency	15th	27
Very old	60 ft, fly 250 ft (clumsy), swim 60 ft	+0	37 (+31 natural, -4 size), touch 6, flat-footed 37	DR 15/magic	17th	28
Ancient	60 ft, fly 250 ft (clumsy), swim 60 ft	+0	40 (+34 natural, -4 size), touch 6, flat-footed 40	Limited Wish	19th	30
Wyrm	60 ft, fly 250 ft (clumsy), swim 60 ft	+0	39 (+37 natural, -8 size), touch 2, flat-footed 39	DR 20/magic	21st	31
Great wyrm	60 ft, fly 250 ft (clumsy), swim 60 ft	+0	42 (+40 natural, -8 size), touch 2, flat-footed 42	Wish	23rd	33

The gray scales of this dragon shimmer with octarine iridescence, a greenish yellow-purple that is difficult to focus upon. Its eyes glow with runes of power circling its pupils, and its breath was a thick mist of raw arcane power.

Dragons and arcane magic have always been tied at the hip, with dragon blood being the number one cause of spontaneous sorcerers in other species. But none represent the direct tie to the magical forces than the arcanum dragon, kings among their kind in the arcane arts. They are powerful but often absorbed in their magic item collections, the lore of ancient tombs, and magical mysteries and secrets. Some of the stereotypical 'wizard in a tower' studying magic are actually secret arcanum dragons seeking to understand the nature of the real and the unreal. Their work leads them to hide themselves away in tall towers and secret caves close to other sources of danger or power. This can sometimes put them at odds with other spellcasters they are lurking after, or adventurers who conquer a lich's dungeon only to find a dragon ready to relieve them of their liberated loot. Their lairs are often constructed, though well hidden, and filled with magical utility items and traps. They might be towers, dungeons, or the occasional invisible flying castle in the clouds. They are not beyond inhabiting pre-existing magical structures either.

Arcanum dragons have relatively stubby snouts for a dragon, with jutting bony plates and spines along their back that glow with magic when they grow active or use their breath weapon. Their wings are small for their size, powered largely by raw magical potential, and they have long tails for their body mass. Horn shapes vary wildly, either having no horns or having horns in impractical geometric shapes seemingly designed to channel magic in and around certain patterns. Their eyes that have active glowing magic script along their iris, and as they age their entire eye is filled up with more and more patterns and script until their pupil is unseen.

At birth, an arcanum dragon has silver-gray scales, mottled with other dull gray green, yellow, and purple patches. These patterns quickly fade, and their scales gain an iridescent shine of greenish yellow-purple that is difficult to describe, and seems to shimmer on its own rules rather than being a trick of the light. Their breath and from cracks in their scales emits a rapidly dispersing gray mist which seems to share its iridescent properties with the scales.

Arcanum dragons enjoy the company of magical items and magic effects, seeming to absorb some manner of required nutrition from bathing in their radiation. They enjoy eating magic items as well, though they are loathe to do so if these items are at all rare. Because their loot is so valuable, they often invest heavily into traps, especially magical traps, for which they can bask in the glow of these hidden hazards as well. It puts them at odds with people, especially adventurers, who would want to steal their treasures and disrupt their precious study time.

Combat

As the closest thing to a primary dragon caster, they are more than happy to employ magical solutions to threats, and are intelligent tacticians in whatever school they choose to focus on. They are not beyond using the raw power of a dragon's body to win, but no glory comes from such a barbaric victory.

Breath Weapon (Su)

An arcanum dragon as two types of breath weapon, a line of untyped magic energy and a cone of disruptive magical waves. Creatures hit by the cone of magic disruption must succeed on a Will save or become unable to activate any magic items for 1 round per age category of the dragon.

Alternate Form (Su)

An arcanum dragon can assume any humanoid form of Medium or Small size as a standard action at will. The dragon can remain in its animal or humanoid form until it chooses to assume a new one or return to its natural form.

Water Breathing (Ex)

An arcanum dragon can breathe underwater indefinitely and can freely use its breath weapon, spells, and other abilities while submerged.

Spell-Like Abilities (Ex)

At will- detect magic (wyrmling or older); 3/day-magic missile (juvenile or older); 1/day- greater dispel magic (adult or older), permanency (old or older); 1/week- limited wish (ancient or older); 1/year-wish (great wyrm).

Skills

Autohypnosis, Concentration, Knowledge Arcana, Knowledge History, Spellcraft, and Use Magic Device are considered class skills for arcanum dragons.

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