Plaid Dragon (3.5e Monster)

= Plaid Dragon =

''The air smells rich of alcohol as a lumbering mass of tartan patterned scales rises from its rest, head swaying unsteadily before it squints one eye shut, looking at you cock-eyed and with a surly look on its face. "Och ye, ye best brought me a fine rum or ye best start runnin'."''

The other true dragons don't like to talk about it, but at some point, their bloodline was experimented on by mad wizards (aren't they all?). In an attempt to breed the perfect dragon, they blended in all the many colors, layering and weaving them together. They expected some manner of super dragon capable of mastering all elements with the strength of the primal beasts. What they got instead swore at them at its moment of birth, caused a brawl amongst the wizards, and escaped into the wild (with several tankards of ale from a nearby tavern). And so began the proud bloodline of the plaid dragons, wild souls who love drinking and fighting as much as a normal dragon loves his gold.

In fact, while happy to sit upon a pile of gold as much as the rest, plaid dragons have a love for alcohols of all kinds and consider themselves best when utterly drunk off their rears. Given their mass, they drink a lot and inevitably devastate any local pubs nearby. It often leads to quarrels with others in an attempt to find more alcohol, though even when satisfied with its supply, it causes quarrels anyway, such as it is wont to do. Their mere presence seems to inflame others and cause confusion, and allies fight allies in short order. Erratically cheerful and unpredictably dangerous while drunk, they're more of a threat when they are sober and are of surly temperament. However, they aren't evil, and usually are satisfied with a verbal lashing or light scuffle before kicking annoyances out the door. When well supplied, they can be downright friendly, and their pride fuels bravery, especially when defending a place they identify as their homeland or friends.

Plaid Dragons are tartan patterned, a complex weave typically of red, with black, green, and blue stripes and squares. Colors vary, but the pattern is always the same. They are large and rotund, with distinctive twin air pipes down the back of their head and along their back which sound like bagpipes when air flows through them. A flexible armored plate covers their haunches and backside, and their heads have long bright red whiskers and beard. Their eyes are a brilliant green, whose pupil fades with time into a orb of solid jade. Their diet is namely alcohol and sheep, with a particular fascination with odd exotic dishes such as haggis and black puddings.

Combat
Plaid Dragons love combat; they care less about spells and more about straight brawling. Their large hit point pool and considerable defenses give them staying power, and their aura provides plenty of chaos surrounding it. While not agile in the slightest, the plaid dragon has a surprisingly high top speed in the event it must flee. When it does use spells, the spells are usually designed to buff itself if it expects a fight, or to shut down an annoying tactic employed by the enemy. Then it wades into combat. Woe be to those who provoke it to combat from its Gullible racial feature, for an even stronger and tougher opponent is a difficult thing to endure. The most important thing to remember is that the plaid dragon is reckless, not stupid, and will abuse an opportunity if it sees fit.


 * Aura of Brawling

Instead of fear, a very young or older plaid dragon projects an aura of good-natured drunken fighting. Whenever a plaid dragon flies overhead, charges, attacks, or does anything that would normally activate its frightful aura, creatures in range must make a will save or become enraged (see barbarian class feature). Each round, there is a 50% chance that affected creatures, instead of attacking their foe, will attack the closest ally instead. This lasts for as long as they remain in the aura. A successful save negates and renders the creature immune to the aura for the rest of the encounter. Other dragons are not immune to the plaid dragon's Aura of Brawling, much to their chagrin. Unlike a frightful aura, the save DC of a plaid dragon's Aura of Brawling is the same as their breath weapon and is Constitution based. This is a mind-affecting effect.


 * Below the Kilt

Plaid Dragons care nothing for rules or fair play when they fight. When striking a creature that is flanked or denied its bonus to Dexterity (whether or not the creature has a Dexterity Bonus), a plaid dragon deals additional damage equal to 1d6 per age categories the dragon has. Creatures immune to sneak attack damage are NOT immune to this extra damage, as this is not precision-based damage based on anatomical knowledge or careful study. This is just plaid dragons being dicks.


 * Breath Weapon

A plaid dragon has two types of breath weapon, a cone of sonic bagpipe music and a cone of intoxicating gas. Creatures within the intoxicating cone must succeed on a Fortitude save or become drunk for 3 rounds per age category. Intoxication gives a -4 penalty to dexterity, intelligence, and wisdom, and gives a 20% failure chance with any task which requires concentration, including spellcasting.


 * Dinnae Feel a Thing

Adult and older plaid dragons are tough as nails from an eternity of killing nerve cells with alcohol. Whenever damaged, a plaid dragon can make a Fortitude save with a DC equal to the damage taken. If successful, the damage is converted to nonlethal damage.


 * Gullible

"WELL, WHY DID YE NOT SAY YE KNEW ME DAFT UNCLE WILLIE IN THE FIRST PLACE?!?!" Plaid Dragons are not emotionally complex creatures. They take a -4 racial penalty to all saves against charms and opposed social skill checks, such as Sense Motive and Bluff. However, plaid dragons that catch someone lying or tricking them will become enraged, gaining a +2 bonus to attack, damage, and saves against the deceitful party or parties for the rest of the encounter. Plaid dragons are also stubborn, and once a deception has been revealed, all skill check retries automatically fail, assuming the plaid dragon even gives you the chance.

An ancient plaid dragon is an even more difficult opponent, and once it's riled up by an attempted deception, all hell will break loose. The bonuses become +4, and the dragon enters a deathless frenzy for 1 round/HD. The plaid dragon cannot perish from hit point loss while in a deathless frenzy, no matter how deep in the negatives it goes. It may continue to act normally, but still dies by non-hp damage effects such as a [Death] effect or being petrified, turned to dust, and so forth.


 * Highland Hygiene

Hundreds of years' worth of eating things like haggis, black pudding, and suchlike, to say nothing of copious amounts of sloshing beer around by the bathtub-full, have left young adult and older plaid dragons smelling like the world's nastiest beer-hall. Anyone within 20' of the plaid dragon makes a Fortitude save or becomes nauseated, with a DC equal to its breath weapon DC. On a successful save, creatures are immune to highland hygiene for the rest of the encounter but are still sickened while in the area. Non-living creatures or creatures with no sense of smell are immune to this effect.


 * Ludicrous Speed

A great wyrm plaid dragon has consumed so much alcohol that they begin to get the laws of physics drunk just by being around it. At least that's the excuse plaid dragons give as to why a great wyrm plaid dragon can burst ahead at superluminal velocities surrounded by a plaid array of lights and colors. As a 1-round action, the plaid dragon can enter ludicrous speed, effectively acting like teleport and plane shift. Ludicrous Speed only effects the plaid dragon and a light load carried by it. The lack of exact accuracy probably has to do with their drunkenness.


 * Shrug it Off

Very old and older plaid dragons are capable of pushing through difficult times with a nice brandy and some iron will. Any negative effect (including damage) which occurs to a plaid dragon does not take effect until 1 round later. A plaid dragon could literally be hit with a trillion damage and not be affected by it until 6 seconds later, when his body remembers that this really hurts. It is possible for the plaid dragon to reduce or negate the effect on it if it manages to take appropriate action before the end of its next round, such as casting neutralize poison, immunizing themselves before the poison received takes effect.


 * Spell-Like Abilities

3/day- stinking cloud (young and older), mind fog (mature adult and older), clenched fist (wyrm and older).


 * Skills

Balance, Gather Information, Intimidate, Knowledge Local, and Perform are considered class skills for plaid dragons.