Warp Dragon (3.5e Monster)

= Warp Dragon =

''The sensors picked up an object moving at high speed, far faster than even light should travel. Such an impossible thing, yet completely invisible, until suddenly, in a flash of light, a massive organic craft with a spiral horn appeared nearby them. No, that is no starcraft, a dragon! To battle stations!''

Upon some strange world, draconic beasts unlocked the secrets of traveling through the stars with nothing but their own bodies. Adapting to the alien environments of deep space, they travel from star system to star system in search of food and valuables, harvesting planets full of biomass and growing fat and bulky before heading off to find a new planet. Their territories spread across entire star systems, and the unwitting planets often remain unaware of the dragon until it makes its visit again, bringing with it change and chaos.

Warp Dragons have a strange biology, as well as white plates and scales which gray with age, which shield it from the various dangers of space. While they are shaped as a traditional dragon, their wings are black as night, soaking up sunlight for warmth and energy and shaped into the design of a japanese fan, folding up into a series of bony slats held along its back. They possess no "face", nor much of a mouth to speak. Their heads are dominated by two long horns where the snout would lie, ending in the center, a funnel-shaped toothless maw which crackles with strange energy. A similar, smaller horn is situated on the base of the tail, though it lacks a "mouth". Both horns are employed in their ability to warp, as well as serving as both breath weapon and mouth. A warp dragon is capable of pulling matter apart at the atomic level, syphoning the base components magnetically into the funnel-shaped mouth.

Warp Dragons, like any dragon, do have a fondness for treasure. They make their lairs within great asteroids, hollowing them out by literally devouring the innards and coating them with all manner of lavish goods found. These astreoids are difficult to find, appearing much like their ilk, but a discovered one is a treasure filled with artifacts and goods around the cosmos... and sure to bring unwelcome attention to those who have harvested it. Warp Dragons are territorial louts, driving off their own to uninhabited worlds. The more evil among them make slaves of their worlds they hunt upon, while kinder dragons may wish to plant the seeds of life in order to grow viable worlds to peacefully harvest from.

Combat
Graced with great speed and incredible endurance, warp dragons are hardy fighters capable of outlasting their opposition. They strafe back and forth, releasing great cosmic blasts upon their foes and throwing them to the far corners of the universe, and in the rare event their health drops, they can escape by drilling through the fabric of space itself, breaking past the limit imposed by light.


 * Alien Form (Ex and Su)

Due to the abnormal nature of the warp dragon's biology, warp dragons do not have a bite attack. Instead, they possess a gore attack with their helix-shaped horn. The gore attack deals the same amount of damage as a bite for the dragon's size. Their flight is partially natural and partially supernatural, allowing them to cruise at half their flight speed even in vaccuum environments. In addition, warp dragons eat, but do not breathe or sleep, and can survive for ages without food by slipping into hibernation (something they employ during warp travel). During hibernation, a warp dragon is dimly aware of its surroundings, such as when it has arrived at its destination point, and consumes very little food. When glutting themselves upon a planet, they can store up to 1 year of hibernation food per HD of the dragon to help handle their travel times.

The warp dragon has a strange form of magic which draws upon the surrounding warp for power. It may choose to use its Wisdom modifier in place of Charisma for its spells and spell-like abilities.


 * Astroceptive (Ex)

A warp dragon can intuit its position within the universe so long as it can see the stars. This is the species' primary form of navigation, especially on long warp trips. On the surfaces of planets, it only serves to mark their position relative to the ground at night.


 * Breath Weapon (Su)

A warp dragon has two types of breath weapon, a line of light and a cone of distorted space. The light from the line of light is considered a 1st level spell plus +1 per age category for the purpose of dispelling darkness effects, deals 1d6 points of damage (or 1d10 of damage against light-sensitive creatures), and blinds creatures for 1 minute/age category. A successful Fortitude save negates the blindness and halves the damage.

The cone of distorted space forces the subject to make a Will save or be shunted from the material plane into a demiplane for 1 round/HD of the dragon. Creatures shunted are unable to move or act in this demiplane, but are returned unharmed when the duration expires. If the creature is capable of plane shifting without somatic components, they may do so to escape the demiplane.


 * Immunity to Radiation (Ex)

Warp Dragons are immune to the effects of radiation and any spells with the [Light] discriptor.


 * Spell-Like Abilities (Sp)

3/day- Blink (young or older); 1/day-Maze (adult or older), Meteor Swarm (ancient or older); 1/year-Genesis (great wyrm).


 * Warp and Planar Warp (Su)

A unique ability among warp dragons, whatever strange arcane energies they produce allows them to manipulate the fabric of space. As a full-round action, the warp dragon may project a beam of energy from their horn, twisting space around them to form their own personal bubble which then drills through reality at superluminal speeds. From the inside, space becomes a colorful warped bubble, through from the outside the dragon seems to collapse into a infinitely thin line and dart invisibly off into the horizon. The warp dragon may take along any creatures which are currently within its space at the time, and is largely protected from damage while in warp travel. This warp bubble may be breached by a greater plane shiftSpell Compendium, assuming one can judge the position of the dragon, and it is sure to gain the dragon's unwelcome attention. Warp travel has a speed measured by the speed of light, which is 1 warp. Thus, a wyrmling can travel up to ten times the speed of light to cross distances. Such travel is swift but inaccurate, so it is important that the dragon stops far enough away from a planet when it leaves warp, or it risks phasing into solid rock. When the warp ends, the dragon ends up 1d10x10 miles from the expected arrival point. If this would place the dragon within a non-vaccum area, they are shunted 1d10x10 miles in the same direction and take 10d6 damage, repeating until they are no longer within a space filled with significant matter.

Due to the nature of the warp travel, warp cannot be engaged while within the confines of a major gravitational force or non-vaccuum environment, at the risk of being shorn apart or creating a large explosion as matter is suddenly rended in all manner of ways. Warp Dragons typically fly up to the very upper limits of the atmosphere at high speed before engaging. Entering warp, and maintaining it, takes 1 point of bio-energy per day in transit, and the bio-energy is not renewed until the dragon rests.

When a warp dragon reaches juvenile age, it is capable of entering even other planes of existance through the warp. Transit between planes is a process which takes 1d4 hours of travel time in the warp, regardless of how fast the dragon's warp speed is.


 * Warp Armor (Su)

As a standard action, a warp dragon can energize its very body with its space-warping energies, transforming its natural armor bonus into a deflection bonus for 1 minute. They may perform this 1/day.


 * Xenotheric Traits (Ex)

As a xenotheric creature, a warp dragon possesses telepathy out to 100 ft., a bio-energy pool of 3 + the dragon's Constitution modifier, immunity to poison, petrification, and polymorphing or other form-altering effects, and may take feats with the xenotheric tag. A warp dragon comes with the Varia Skin feat as a bonus feat, giving it resistance to fire and cold 10, and a +2 bonus on saving throws against fire or cold effects.


 * Skills

Bluff, Disguise, and Survival are considered class skills for warp dragons.