Question: when you imagine a dragon, what color is it? Green? Blue? Or maybe gold? Personally, this is the one I always imagine. A dark, crimson red.
Red dragons prefer mountains or badlands, any other realm in which they can perch up high and observe their domain. This preference brings them into frequent conflict with copper dragons, who share a similar domain. When angered, they’ll fly into an impulsive fury so destructive that they have become the image of evil itself in many cultures.
See? It isn’t just me!
Even among other dragons, the arrogance of the red dragon is remarkable. They see themselves as the most supreme beings in the world, standing even above other dragons. They think themselves chosen by Tiamat herself, often using her name in their conquest.
These creatures are territorial isolationists. However, given their desire to rule the world, they feel they need to know about concurrent events. So, in order to get that information, they’ll utilize lesser creatures, typically evil creatures it claimed lordship over by murdering their leaders, to act as messengers, spies, and the like. Particularly, they long for information regarding other red dragons, whom they are very competitive with.
Above all else, a red dragon treasures their hoard. A red dragon’s treasure hoard is legendary, containing anything and everything of monetary value. However, taking from it is even more dangerous and difficult than any other, as red dragons memorize every single item and its location within the pile. Should it find something missing and fail to find a thief, it’ll go on a rampage and burn everything even near its lair.
Lore wise, there is a ton to work with there! Perhaps they find a recently enslaved village and are employed by a lone rebel to slay the beast! Or perhaps a red dragon is on a rampage, so they need to find a thief who stole from it to try and negotiate! Maybe the party could stumble into a cult-like society worshipping one like a god and choose what to do from there! All of these stories could make for incredible stories and a great boss fight!
Now, stat wise, this one is literally exactly the same as all the other dragons we’ve discussed so far. Seriously, I’m getting tired of repeating the same four paragraphs over and over again. If you’ve read the other ones, you know what this one is about. It’s the exact same thing only it breathes fire.
Which is basic. And awesome.
Let’s stop wasting time and put the red dragons on the Best of the Bestiary!
- Beholder
- Death Tyrant
- Green Dragons
- Red Dragons <————–
- Blue Dragons
- Black Dragons
- Couatl
- Behir
- Aboleth
- Chuul
- Chimera
- Death Knight
- Bone Devil
- Dracolich
- Ankheg
- Shadow Demon
- Marilith
- Aarackockra
- Azer
- Demilich
- Spectator
- Cambion
- Animated Armor
- Banshee
- Basilisk
- Yochlol
- Bulette
- Cloaker
- Darkmantle
- Doppelganger
- Pit Fiend
- Erinyes
- Chain Devil
- Bearded Devil
- Barbed Devil
- Spined Devil
- Ice Devil
- Nalfeshnee
- Glabrezu
- Chasme
- Barlgura
- Horned Devil
- Balor
- Shadow Dragon
- Vrock
- Dretch
- Goristro
- Hezrou
- Manes
- Quasit
- Planetar
- Imp
- Displacer Beast
- Carrion Crawler
- Rug of Smothering
- Bugbear Chief
- Bugbear
- Vine Blight
- Twig Blight
- Needle Blight
- Bullywug
- Cockatrice
- Lemure
- Solar
- Deva
- Cyclops
- Centaur
- Dinosaurs (All six of them)
- Flying Sword
- Crawling Claw
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