User:MisterSinister/Lava Dragon

Lava Dragon
Lava dragons, as a whole, make us pretty happy. They're lizards, which means that hot temperatures make them happy, and a volcano is a pretty inhospitable place, which makes it awesome for living in undisturbed by annoying, treasure-seeking adventurers. Their massive wingspan isn't a problem either, since flying around the volcano itself would give it plenty of space, and if it felt like diving into the magma chamber, it totally could do that.

However, it does posit a difficult question - how do you keep gold in a volcano? Gold has a super-low melting point, and even the coldest part of a volcano would cause it to turn into a puddle before too long. Lava is pretty destructive to other precious things, and very few substances exist that lava isn't hot enough to either melt or wreck beyond recognition.

A related, but important issue, is 'what does a lava dragon eat?'. Once again, volcanoes are pretty inhospitable to animal life (aside from other lava dragons, and let's be honest, how many of those would you need to feed even one?), and something that big subsisting on vegetation around an active volcano, while curious, strikes me as more than slightly odd.

The simplest solution is that lava dragons eat metal and stone. They prefer precious gems and metals (like gold, silver and so forth), but will happily dine on anything metallic or stone-based. This means that these kinds of dragons are actually made of precious (and not-so-precious) metals. Their reddish hue would come from iron and rubies and suchlike, but their darker-coloured back plates would come from other metals.

This also means that lava dragons have more reasons than most to acquire gold and precious things - they eat them, and they're basically like good food is for us. Additionally, unlike other dragons, who require sitting on big piles of gold to age and grow stronger, lava dragons have to have huge treasure binges to do so instead. What doesn't appear on the outside would remain on the inside, so that lava dragon intestines are made of iron, and their blood is molten electrum. This also means that their internal body temperature would be fairly high (about 1000 C), which also conveniently gives them their famous fire breath.

This means that the 'treasure' in a lava dragon encounter is its body - all of it is basically valuable. As a result, lava dragons would only keep magic items they can use - the lava would take the stuff that's completely useless, and if the item is unusable, but made of precious things, the lava dragon would likely just eat it instead.

Abilities

Breath of the Lava Dragon (Ex): As a standard action, a lava dragon can unleash a jet of flames. Its size depends on its age (see table above), and it deals 1d6 fire damage per CR of the lava dragon. A Reflex save (Con-based DC) reduces this damage by half. [something else here]. [breath delay] [Breath ability]

Radiant Heat (Ex): A lava dragon's body gives off a powerful haze of heat. This has several effects.

Firstly, a lava dragon is immune to fire damage, but vulnerable to cold. It also has different bands of temperature tolerance (write this up).

Secondly, any creature that ends its turn within a lava dragon's reach is dealt twice the lava dragon's CR in fire damage (no save). Additionally, creatures who take damage from this ability must make a Fort save (Con-based) or become fatigued. If they are already fatigued, they become exhausted instead. If they are already exhausted, they become unconscious instead.

Thirdly, creatures too close to the lava dragon risk having their armour and shields deformed. A creature that is wearing armour not made of adamantine, or carrying a shield that isn't made of adamantine, that ends its turn within 5 feet of a lava dragon must make a Con-based Reflex save or have its armour or shield deformed (roll separate saves for each such item), counting as broken. If the item was already broken, it becomes destroyed instead.

Lastly, the heat deforms manufactured weapons striking the lava dragon, and gives horrible burns to users of natural weapons. This affects melee and ranged attacks differently.

For ranged attacks, a missile becomes deformed automatically unless the user makes attack rolls at an additional -4 penalty (to aim at the dragon's less hot points). A magical missile, or one fired from a magical weapon, can instead make a Reflex save (Con-based DC) to avoid this. If a missile becomes deformed, it counts as having been fired from a broken weapon (or if it is a weapon, it becomes broken itself). If the missile was already broken, or was fired from a broken weapon, it becomes destroyed instead, and deals no damage.

For melee attacks, any manufactured weapon striking the dragon becomes deformed (counts as broken), or if already broken, becomes destroyed. The user can make a Reflex save (DC is Con-based) to avoid their weapon being so damaged. A creature striking the lava dragon with a natural weapon must instead make a Reflex save or take 1d6 fire damage per CR of the lava dragon.

Body of Metal and Stone (Ex): A lava dragon's body is made of stone and metal, making it very difficult to damage. Lava dragons have hardness as if they were an object.

Swallow Whole (Ex): A lava dragon can attempt to swallow a creature up to two size categories smaller than itself. If it succeeds on a grapple check, and maintans the hold for one round, it can make a grapple attempt to swallow the creature. If this attempt is successful, the dragon is no longer grappling that creature, but it is now stuck inside its stomach. Each round, on the lava dragon's turn, any creatures it has swallowed and any equipment they are wielding, wearing or carrying is subjected to 1d6 damage per CR of the dragon. Half of this damage is fire, the other half is acid. [some stuff about cutting your way out].

Crush (some notes on a crush attack here).

Lava Dragon Sphere (get back to this)

Special: You are immune to fire, but are vulnerable to cold. 1: Haze of Smoke (always on) 3: Metal Scent 5: Gullet of Fire and Acid 7: Heart of Fire (always on) 9: Path of Flames 11: Phoenix Rebirth 13: 15: 17: 19: