Qilung Dragon (3.5e Monster)

= Qilung Dragon =

Full article: Qilung Dragon (3.5e Monster)

As the moon pushes and pulls the oceans of the world, so too does the Qilung direct its ebb and flow.

Keepers of many natural secrets, these old and secretive wingless dragons are sought after by many for their boundless wisdom and their legendary mastery of the element of water. It is said that the first druids of the ancient world received the secrets of Water from the Qilung Dragon. Qilung dragons have a serpentine body whose scales possess a faded cyan glow and transition to a more dull greenish hue as the dragon gets older. The scales of a Qilung have the unique property of lunar luminescence - glowing bright in the light of the moon. The tops of their backs are clad in hardened ridges from which rows of fins protrude that grant them their supremely hydrodynamic forms. While the body of the Qilung is wingless, it can swim through air as easily as it can through the waters of the Deep Seas.

The Qilung's mentality and mind are fluid and adaptive, like water itself. They detach themselves from worldly concerns and tend to go with the flow of things. Many Qilung dragons style themselves as non-interfering observers and rarely show themselves unbidden to mortals, resulting in the relative rarity of their sightings compared even to those of other primeval dragons. They do hold a great dislike for forces that seek to subvert the natural cycle and readily show themselves when the balance of the world is threatened, but tend to be indifferent to the plights of single creatures, neither acting to help nor hurt most who trespass within their aquatic domains.

Some Qilung dragons that have taken up a more proactive stance on maintaining balance within the Prime Material may use their powers to guard dangerous artifacts or relics hidden in the deep, ensuring that certain perils remain hidden from the unworthy, and others may commune candidly with mortals through their power of granting wishes provided the mortal in question proves himself or shows concern for the natural balance.

Combat
Qilung dragons are very defensive in combat, mainly using the fluidity of their natural motions with their control over the surrounding water to guard against all attacks, and prefer to retreat to the deep waters of the ocean when provoked, instead of fighting back with force. They do not quickly let themselves be goaded into an actual fight, and even more rarely do they initiate a combat, but when prompted to do battle a Qilung's water mastery, proficiency with summoning and potent nature magic are quick to throw the enemy ranks into chaos.

A Qilung dragon’s natural weapons and any weapons it wields are treated as magic (wyrmling – mature adult) or epic (old – great wyrm) for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. A Qilung dragon has no wings, and gets no wing attacks in its full attack.

SRD:Breath Weapon : A Qilung dragon's main breath weapon is either a line or a cone of lunar light. This breath weapon deals damage according to the time of day and the phases of the moon. During daytime when the sun is up, a Qilung dragon's lunar breath damage dice are d4s. This increases at night time, to d6s (new moon), d8s (crescent moon), d10s (half moon) or d12s (full moon). The damage from the lunar breath is typeless, and halved on a successful Reflex save.

A Qilung's second breath weapon only functions under water. Its breath creates a massive shockwave that travels through liquid at hypersonic speeds. It is a cone-shape breath weapon that deals 5d6/age category points of magic (wyrmling - adult) or epic (mature adult - great wyrm) adamantine bludgeoning damage. Creatures caught within the effect must make a Fortitude save or be stunned for 1d4+1 rounds.

A Qilung's third breath weapon is a cone of water. The dragon calls forth up to 2 10-foot cubes worth of water per age category from its stomach. Those caught within the water cone take 1d6 points of bludgeoning damage per age category of the dragon. Creatures with firm footing on land when the breath is used, or with a form of movement that allows them to steady themselves in the medium present, are effectively pushed back as if bullrushed with a check modifier equal to the dragon's Wisdom bonus plus its age category, while creatures that cannot steady themselves are treated to have rolled a natural 1 on the opposed check. Creatures pushed back by a Qilung's water breath travel 5 feet for every 5 points by which their opposed check was beaten, and take 1d6 points of extra bludgeoning damage for every 5 feet moved.

 : A Qilung dragon can freely control any water within 5 feet per age category. Any spells, powers or special abilities based on water that enter this area are automatically prevented from taking effect on the Qilung dragon or any of its allies, and the dragon may make any such effects target any creature within the range of its water mastery instead. A Qilung dragon automatically rebukes or commands creatures of the Water subtype when they come into the area of its Water Mastery, using a turning check of 1d20 + its Wisdom bonus + its age category. Water creatures with spell resistance are treated as having turn resistance equal to half that spell resistance. A Qilung dragon can sense nearby bodies of water at a range of 100 feet per age category.

A Qilung dragon with water mastery gains access to the Call the Tides, Extract Water and Pseudopod'' abilities.

For more information about the abilities granted by Water Mastery, Improved Water Mastery, Greater Water Mastery and Supreme Water Mastery, see the Water Mastery listing in the Qilung Dragon article.

 : As long as there is a sufficient amount of water nearby, a Qilung dragon's defense is hard to penetrate. A Qilung can manipulate the ambient water in the area in order to shield its body and anything nearby from incoming attacks. For the purpose of this ability, a sufficient amount of water is defined as enough water to fill up a cube with sides twice as long as the dragon's space. While the water shield is active, the Qilung dragon and any ally within the range of its water mastery gains the Qilung's Wisdom bonus as a shield bonus to AC. This shield bonus is created by water moved consciously by the dragon's water mastery, and requires the dragon to be aware of its surroundings. As such, touch AC benefits from the water shield bonus, but flat-footed AC does not.

Furthermore, the water shield can be used in order to ablate incoming damage. Whenever any creature currently benefiting from the water shield takes damage (the dragon itself or one of its close by allies), the dragon may choose to use its water shield to negate it. This ability functions like temporary hit points. A qilung dragon's water shield has 10 hit points per age category. These hit points come back at the start of the dragon's turn every round.

Immunities: A Qilung dragon is immune to cold, form-altering effects, and light effects. Of those Light effects, effects based on moonlight heal the Qilung for as much as they would otherwise do damage.

 : When a Qilung dragon absorbs light from the moon, all its abilities become stronger. Under a crescent moon, the range of a Qilung dragon's Water Mastery and any abilities associated with it are multiplied by a factor 1.5, and all spells with the Water descriptor cast by the dragon are subject to the Widen Spell metamagic.

Under a half moon, the dragon's age category counts as two higher for the purpose of its Water Mastery, and all of its Water spells become Empowered. These benefits are in addition to all the bonuses from a crescent moon.

Finally, under the full moon, the range of the dragon's Water Mastery doubles (replacing the x1.5 multiplier from crescent moon), the dragon's age category counts as four higher for the purpose of its Water Mastery abilities, and all of its Water spells and spell-like ability are automatically Heightened by two levels. Once per turn under the full moon, the Qilung dragon may also apply either the Quicken Spell or the Rapid Spell metamagic on any one of its Water spells. These benefits add to and overlap with those of the crescent- and half moon benefits.

The Qilung dragon only gains these bonuses at night, even if the moon is up during the day.

 : A Qilung dragon can use water as a conduit to move between planes. When completely submerged, the dragon can shift from the plane it currently occupies to the Elemental Plane of Water, provided the two planes are coterminous, as a standard action. Furthermore, as a full-round action it may use the Elemental Plane of Water as a jump point in order to reappear on the origin plane. This functions as a Lethus Dragon's shadow walk ability, with a similar effective range based on age category, and a cooldown time of 1d4 rounds. Oceanstride can be blocked with a dimensional anchor or dimensional lock effect.

When on the Elemental Plane of Water, the Qilung Dragon can shift as a standard action to any ocean within any plane that it is aware of, that is also coterminous with the Elemental Plane of Water. The body of water it intends to shift to needs to be large enough to accommodate the dragon entirely without any part of it breaking the surface.

 : A Qilung dragon of Juvenile age or higher can apply its mastery over water in even more impressive displays. Its Call the Tides ability now raises or lowers the water level by 5 feet every minute, and it may will one of its Pseudopods to attempt a touch attack on any creature entering their reach as an immediate action. Furthermore, a Qilung dragon at this age gains the following applications of its mastery.

A Qilung dragon with improved water mastery gains access to the Call of the Deep and Control Weather abilties.

 : Once a Qilung reaches Old age, its Water Mastery increases even further. Its pseudopods ignore freedom of movement, instead allowing creatures that have it a +8 bonus to their opposed grapple checks. Its Call the Tides ability now raises or lowers the water level by 5 feet every round. Its Control Weather ability now takes only 1 minute to take effect after activation. By lowering the CR of the creatures called with its Call of the Deep ability by 15, it may instead call 5d10 of them.

A Qilung dragon with greater water mastery gains access to the Whirlpool ability.

 : At the great wyrm stage, a Qilung's Water Mastery reaches its peak. It is counted as always carrying the amount of water required to maintain its water shield. Using a 1-round action, the dragon may use its oceanstride ability to travel to any place within the same body of water instantly. Furthermore, the dragon acquires the following abilities.

A Qilung dragon with greater water mastery gains access to the Pressurized Water Stream and Primal Calling abilities.

Spells: Qilung dragons cast spells as a druid of their effective caster level.

Water
Below follows a list of abilities Qilung dragons gain through their Water Mastery. Save DC for any ability below is 10 + ½ the dragon's HD + the dragon's Wisdom bonus, unless stated otherwise.

Basic range of a Qilung dragon's water mastery is 5 feet per age category.

 : In any particularly large body of water (rivers, lakes, seas or bigger), the Qilung can draw vast quantities of water towards them. The dragon can influence the local tides, and make the water level rise or fall by 5 feet every 10 minutes.

 : Even in the absence of large bodies of water, the Qilung dragon is capable of extracting usable water from living things. As a move action, the dragon may siphon all the water and vitality from nearby flora within the range of its water mastery, amassing a 10-foot cube of water for every 20 10-foot cubes of dense foliage, grass and trees affected. Plants caught within the area of the dragon's water mastery are affected as if by a blight spell. The dragon may focus this power onto a single living target as a full-round action, which will then become the target of an extract water elemental spell (see Spell Compendium). The dragon cannot affect any creature with a size category equal to their own or greater with this ability. The dragon's uses its own caster level as the effective caster level of this ability.

 : A Very Young or older Qilung is capable of manifesting 1 pseudopod per 2 age categories within the range of its water mastery. A water pseudopod counts as a Large creature with an effective HD of twice the dragon's age category, full BAB progression and a Strength score of 20 + twice the dragon's age category. The pseudopods can move up to 20 feet in the dragon's turn, provided they remain within the range of the dragon's water mastery, and attempt to make touch attacks to any enemy in range. A water pseudopod will attempt to initiate a grapple with any creature it hits with its touch attack, forcing it to stay inside the pseudopod's space.

If a creature starts its turn pinned by a Qilung's water pseudopod it is dragged underwater (or within the pseudopod's water) and must make a Fortitude save or be affected by the drown spell (see Spell Compendium, save DC is based on the pseudopod's HD and Strength score). Water pseudopods are immune to physical damage, but any attacks made against them (AC 20) give the trapped creature a bonus on any grapple check to break free during his next turn (+2 for every successful attack against the pseudopod).

Water pseudopods can be turned or rebuked by a creature with the ability to turn or rebuke water elementals, which stops them from initiating or maintaining grapples for the duration of the effect. Manifesting pseudopods requires a body of water at least as big as the area of the dragon's water mastery.

This ability is the equivalent of a spell of level 3 + half the dragon's age category. It may be dispelled partially or in full, but the dragon may reactivate the ability in 1d4 rounds.

Under a half or full moon, this ability can make the water level rise or fall twice as fast.

 : Like the spell at will. The dragon uses this ability as a free action and need not concentrate on using it. The new weather takes 10 minutes to take effect and radiates out to a range of 2 miles per age category of the dragon.

 : As a 1-round action, a Qilung dragon 'speaks' through the medium of water, beckoning the denizens of the sea to show themselves. This is a Calling effect that calls forth creatures of the Aquatic subtype. Call of the Deep also works on mammals that live in water but do not have the Aquatic subtype, such as whales. The CR of a creature called by this ability cannot exceed the Qilung dragon's Caster level -5. By lowering the CR by 2, the dragon may call 1d3 similar aquatic creatures, and by lowering the CR by 4, it may call 1d4+1 creatures. The calling persists until the creatures are dismissed or slain, though they are under no compulsion to stay against overwhelming odds. This ability cannot call forth creatures that do not exist in the body of water that the Qilung dragon currently resides in. The dragon can only sustain a single Call of the Deep at a time, and must wait for 1d4 hours before he can use this spell-like ability again.

This ability is the equivalent of a spell of level 3 + half the dragon's age category.

 : Focusing its water mastery across a vast distance, the Qilung dragon draws in the ocean, stirring its currents into a massive maelstrom that overwhelms ships and leviathans alike. By expending a move action at the start of its turn, the dragon transforms the sea into a treacherous vortex that is 100 feet wide at its base and expands at a rate of 100 feet per round at the top. The vortex is 10 feet tall for every 100 feet that it is wide, and its maximum radius is 100 feet per age category of the dragon. While the dragon focuses on the whirlpool, it cannot move from its location. Any movement on the dragon's part, or any movement caused to the dragon by outside forces causes the whirlpool's expansion to halt. Maintaining the whirlpool costs one move action every turn in terms of concentration.

Creatures one or more size categories smaller than the dragon must succeed on a Reflex save when it comes into contact with the whirlpool or take 1d6 points of damage for every 2 age categories the dragon has. It must also succeed on a second Reflex save or be picked up bodily and held suspended in the powerful currents, automatically taking damage each round. An affected creature is allowed a Reflex save each round to escape the whirlpool. The creature still takes damage, but can leave if the save is successful. The DC for saves against the whirlpool's effects is Wisdom-based.

Creatures trapped in the whirlpool cannot move except to go where the dragon carries them or to escape the whirlpool. Creatures caught in the whirlpool can otherwise act normally, but must make a Concentration check (DC 10 + spell level) to cast a spell. Creatures caught in the whirlpool take a –4 penalty to Dexterity and a –2 penalty on attack rolls. The dragon can have only as many creatures trapped inside the whirlpool at one time as will fit inside the whirlpool’s volume.

Pressurized Water Stream : A special application of the Qilung's water breath, the dragon narrows its water breath into an inch-thick beam that traverses the air and even the water with supersonic speed. The pressurized water breath uses the Sweep breath weapon shape, cutting through everything in the path of the beam. The save DC for the breath is lowered by 10, but any creature and object caught within the path takes 5d10/age category epic and adamantine damage that counts as both piercing and slashing and makes a Reflex save for half damage, as well as a Fortitude save to avoid being bisected and killed outright.

The pressurized water stream effortlessly rips through stone and steel, ignoring any material's hardness that is below 100.

Primal Calling : Once per day as a standard action, a great wyrm Qilung dragon can call forth a primal water elemental, as per the primal calling epic spell, that will serve it faithfully for 5 minutes. This ability is equivalent to an effective 10th-level (epic) spell.