Malcurion Dragon (3.5e Monster)

Author: Sulacu (talk) Date Created: March 31, 2015 Status: A small off-duty Czechoslovakian traffic warden Editing: Clarity edits only please

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Malcurion Dragon

Type:	Dragon
Environment:	Outer space, the far realm, and strongly positive energy aligned planes.
Organization:	Solitary
Challenge Rating:	Wyrmling 8; very young 12; young 15; juvenile 17; young adult 21; adult 24; mature adult 27; old 30; very old 33; ancient 36; wyrm 39; great wyrm 42
Treasure:	Triple standard
Alignment:	Usually neutral
Advancement:	Wyrmling 7-9 HD HD; very young 11-13 HD HD; young 15-17 HD HD; juvenile 19-21 HD HD; young adult 23-25 HD HD; adult 27-29 HD HD; mature adult 31-33 HD HD; old 35-37 HD HD; very old 39-41 HD HD; ancient 43-45 HD HD; wyrm 47-49 HD HD; great wyrm 51+ HD HD
Level Adjustment:	—

Malcurion Dragons by Age

Age	Size	Hit Dice (hp)	Str	Dex	Con	Int	Wis	Cha	Base Attack/ Grapple	Attack	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Breath Weapon (DC)	Frightful Presence DC
Wyrmling	M	6d12+24 (36 sp, 63 hp)	18	13	18	12	12	22	+6/+10	+19	+9	+6	+6	4d8 (17)	19
Very young	L	10d12+60 (70 sp, 125 hp)	20	13	22	15	15	25	+10/+19	+14	+13	+8	+8	8d8 (21)	22
Young	L	14d12+98 (126 sp, 189 hp)	23	15	24	18	18	29	+14/+24	+19	+16	+11	+13	12d8 (24)	26
Juvenile	L	18d12+144 (198 sp, 261 hp)	25	17	26	21	21	32	+18/+29	+24	+19	+14	+16	16d8 (27)	30
Young adult	L	22d12+198 (286 sp, 341 hp)	28	19	28	24	24	36	+22/+35	+30	+22	+17	+20	20d8 (30)	34
Adult	L	26d12+260 (364 sp, 429 hp)	30	21	30	27	27	39	+26/+40	+35	+25	+20	+23	24d8 (33)	37
Mature adult	H	30d12+360 (480 sp, 555 hp)	33	21	34	30	30	43	+30/+49	+39	+29	+22	+27	28d8 (37)	41
Old	H	34d12+442 (612 sp, 663 hp)	35	23	36	33	33	46	+34/+54	+44	+32	+25	+30	32d8 (40)	45
Very old	H	38d12+532 (760 sp, 779 hp)	38	25	38	36	36	50	+38/+60	+50	+35	+28	+34	36d8 (43)	49
Ancient	H	42d12+630 (882 sp, 903 hp)	40	27	40	39	39	53	+42/+65	+55	+38	+31	+37	40d8 (46)	52
Wyrm	H	46d12+736 (1,058 sp, 1,035 hp)	43	29	42	42	42	57	+46/+70	+60	+41	+34	+41	44d8 (49)	56
Great wyrm	G	50d12+900 (1,250 sp, 1,225 hp)	45	29	46	45	45	60	+50/+79	+63	+45	+36	+44	48d8 (53)	60

Dragon Abilities by Age

Age	Speed	Initiative	AC	Special Abilities	Caster Level	SR
Wyrmling	30 ft., fly 200 ft. (good)	+1	22 (+1 Dex, +5 natural, +6 deflection), touch 17, flat-footed 21	Spells, anima shield, enhanced magic, immunities, radiation aura, Regeneration 10, space-capable	5th	18
Very young	40 ft., fly 250 ft. (good)	+1	24 (-1 size, +1 Dex, +7 natural, +7 deflection), touch 17, flat-footed 23	Regeneration 20	8th	21
Young	40 ft., fly 250 ft. (good)	+2	29 (-1 size, +2 Dex, +9 natural, +9 deflection), touch 20, flat-footed 27	Regeneration 30	11th	24
Juvenile	40 ft., fly 250 ft. (good)	+3	34 (-1 size, +3 Dex, +11 natural, +11 deflection), touch 23, flat-footed 31	Regeneration 40	14th	27
Young adult	40 ft., fly 300 ft. (good)	+4	39 (-1 size, +4 Dex, +13 natural, +13 deflection), touch 26, flat-footed 35	Regeneration 50	17th	30
Adult	40 ft., fly 300 ft. (good)	+5	43 (-1 size, +5 Dex, +15 natural, +14 deflection), touch 28, flat-footed 38	Regeneration 60, tactical nuke (1-round casting) 1/day	20th	33
Mature adult	40 ft., fly 300 ft. (average)	+5	46 (-2 size, +5 Dex, +17 natural, +16 deflection), touch 29, flat-footed 41	Regeneration 70	23rd	36
Old	40 ft., fly 300 ft. (average)	+6	51 (-2 size, +6 Dex, +19 natural, +18 deflection), touch 32, flat-footed 45	Regeneration 80	26th	39
Very old	40 ft., fly 350 ft. (average)	+7	56 (-2 size, +7 Dex, +21 natural, +20 deflection), touch 35, flat-footed 49	Regeneration 90	29th	42
Ancient	40 ft., fly 350 ft. (average)	+8	60 (-2 size, +8 Dex, +23 natural, +21 deflection), touch 37, flat-footed 52	Regeneration 100	32nd	45
Wyrm	40 ft., fly 350 ft. (average)	+9	65 (-2 size, +9 Dex, +25 natural, +23 deflection), touch 40, flat-footed 56	Regeneration 110	35th	48
Great wyrm	40 ft., fly 350 ft. (average)	+9	67 (-4 size, +9 Dex, +27 natural, +25 deflection), touch 42, flat-footed 58	Regeneration 120, megaton (1-round casting) 1/week	38th	51

Within planes too far within the outer rim of the multiverse or too unformed to sustain mortal life dwell beings of terrible power. Before men and even Gods tamed its power, before the concept of its life-giving and destructive force was even understood, ancient dragons that lived beyond the stars harnassed the power of the atom.

Amongst all of the primeval dragons known to man, the malcurion dragons are often considered to be the most fundamentally terrifying. Wielding powers that few mortal civilizations can comprehend, malcurion dragons are seen as advents of widespread disaster. The truth about these beasts is however far more nuanced; their exile from the material plane is self-imposed, and they make their lairs in places where few mortals are capable of treading. The far realm, the reaches of outer space, these are the places where malcurion dragons can sustain themselves, absorbing the intense radiation of vast celestial bodies. While their mentality makes them nearly impossible to predict, on the whole malcurion dragons prefer noninterference over violence.

Malcurion dragons have an immense amount of vital force that lets them recover from almost anything with no limit, and a robust body that resists many conventional forms of damage. Physically, their bodies are fairly small, but their internal organs are laced with a renewing source of high density fissionable materials that maintains the nuclear reactions that sustain their unnaturally long life. Conversely, their wingspan is very large, in order to allow them to maintain altitude within areas of atmosphere and gravitation.

Because of their natures, malcurion dragons are highly reclusive, and most of them dislike being sought out. However, many millennia of roaming the dark, faraway places of the multiverse have garnered them a large collection of esoteric knowledge that few other creatures could hope to possess. To a malcurion dragon, experience is a hoard far more valuable than any pile of mere material riches. As such, even the most reclusive, jaded misanthropes amongst the species will likely forego baring their fangs if sufficiently appeased with new experience, whether in the form of knowledge, stories, learned discourse or various media. Travelers of the far realm however should be wary, as the morality of these dragons is often as alien as their home, unclassifiable by any means other than 'above Good or Evil', to the point that the reason behind any kindness or atrocity they commit in pursuit of some greater scheme can only be guessed at.

Combat

A malcurion dragon’s natural weapons and any weapons it wields are treated as magic (wyrmling – adult) or epic (mature adult – great wyrm) for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. Furthermore, due to their alien morality, a malcurion dragon automatically emulates any alignment in its attacks or spells, in the form of bypassing DR/alignment or adding Alignment-based descriptors whenever it is favourable to them.

Aside from possessing the natural weapons, abilities and traits innate to all true dragons, malcurion dragons have the following unique qualities.

Breath Weapon: (Ex): A malcurion dragon's breath weapon is a concentrated gamma ray burst that bathes everything it hits in radioactive fire. Any living creature that takes damage from the burst is afflicted on the microscopic level by the intense gamma radiation, and takes Constitution damage as per the Breath Weapon column of Table: Malcurion Dragon Radiation Effects.

Any 5-foot square targeted by the dragon's gamma ray breath remains acutely radioactive for 1d4+1 rounds. Any creature that took damage from the breath weapon or that starts its turn within an afflicted square counts as having been directly exposed to the dragon's radiation aura.

Anima Shield (Ex): A malcurion dragon's internal physiology is a nigh-infinite wellspring of hazardous energies. The only thing that keeps it from being a walking calamity is the shield they project throughout the outer shell of their bodies. A malcurion's anima shield compresses and contains the vast amounts of radiation inside of its body.

The anima shield is a shield with strength and hardness equal to the dragon's Charisma bonus, and a Very Slow (1 hit point/HD per hour) recharge rate. The anima shield also bestows the dragon a deflection bonus to Armor Class that turns away attacks in the same way it contains its own radiation.

Once the anima shield reaches 0 hit points, the malcurion dragon's radiation aura spills out and becomes active until the shield regains at least 1 hit point.

Enhanced Magic (Su): Within the confines of a malcurion dragon's body, magics with the Light descriptor are empowered and maximized, without requiring a higher level spell slot. Spell-like abilities based on spells with those descriptors are also enhanced.

Radiation Aura (Ex): Upon depletion of its anima shield, a malcurion dragon's radiation will pour out unstoppably, bathing everything in its vicinity in lethal gamma radiation. Any creature directly exposed to the aura incurs Constitution drain (see Radiation Exposure).

Regeneration (Ex): A malcurion dragon can recover almost limitlessly from any kind of damage it takes. The only thing that can bypass a malcurion dragon's regeneration is a sufficient amount of depleted darklight being forcibly inserted into its heart. This requires a called shot with a -20 penalty to the attack roll using a darklight weapon or another effect that involves a large mass of darklight or some similar fission-retarding substance, that is then either broken off into the wound or left there completely, and the attack furthermore must do more than 10 points of damage per age category of the dragon in order to successfully pierce the heart. This retards the nuclear reaction that sustains it and eventually brings it to death. Even then, whenever the malcurion dragon takes lethal damage, the first 5 points per age category becomes nonlethal damage instead. The dragon still heals nonlethal damage as if its regeneration is still active, but only half the amount per round (i.e. 5 points per age category).

Space Capable (Ex): A malcurion dragon is capable of living within the void of space as easily as a mortal lives on the material plane. It standardly has the Astroadaptation feat. The dragon does not need to breathe, and its sustenance is radiation, which it absorbs simply by bathing in a sufficiently powerful source of it, such as a star.

Spells: Malcurion dragons cast spells as a sorcerer of their effective caster level.

Immunities: Radiation, Light effects, cold and fire.

Radiation Exposure

Radiation sickness is a phenomenon that sets in after having being exposed the malcurion's breath weapon or its radiation aura. The severity of the exposure depends on the dragon's age category, as per the tables below.

Table: Radiation Sickness

Severity	Con Drain/Time		Severity	Con Drain/Time
1	1/day		6	1d2/round
2	1/hour		7	1d3/round
3	1/10 minutes		8	1d4/round
4	1/minute		9	1d6/round
5	1/round		10	1d8/round

Table: Malcurion Dragon Radiation Effects

Age	Radiation Aura Severity1	Breath Weapon Con Drain2		Age	Radiation Aura Severity1	Breath Weapon Con Drain2
Wyrmling	4	1d4		Mature Adult	8	1d10+3
Very Young	5	1d4+1		Old	8	1d10+4
Young	6	1d6+1		Very Old	9	2d6+4
Juvenile	6	1d6+2		Ancient	9	2d6+5
Young Adult	7	1d8+2		Wyrm	10	2d8+5
Adult	7	1d8+3		Great Wyrm	10	2d8+6
See Radiation Exposure for more information. Fortitude half.

The Severity in the two tables above represents the strength of the malcurion dragon's radiation aura. It determines the amount of Constitution drain a completely unprotected creature would take over time while remaining exposed to the aura. However, the better protected the creature during exposure, the less severe his radiation sickness will be.

Protecting against Exposure

Protection against radiation exposure reduces the Severity of a character's exposure, as follows.

• The following physical barriers (or distances from the dragon through medium) will reduce Severity of Exposure by 1 point: 5 miles of vacuum, 200 feet of air, 15 feet of water, 3 feet of dirt, 1 foot of mineral or stone, 4 inches of iron or steel, one inch of lead or similarly dense mundane element, half an inch of orichalcum or darklight, or a quarter inch of proteum. Being hit by the dragon's breath weapon counts as being directly exposed.
• Wearing full-body armour fashioned from darklight or orichalcum will reduce Severity of Exposure by 2 points.
• Having the Astroadaptation feat reduces Severity of Exposure by 4 points.
• If your protection reduces exposure to 0, you count as not being exposed to radiation.

Radiation Sickness is the periodic Constitution drain that remains after exposure has ended. It is equal to the highest Severity of Exposure suffered, reduced by 2 points (see above tables). It continues indefinitely until healed or until the character dies. Nothing can remove Constitution drain due to radiation while the radiation sickness isn't cured.

Creatures usually immune to Constitution drain still incur half of the drain from radiation (rounded up). At severity 5 or less, the interval at which they take Constitution drain doubles.

Example 1: Bob the Deprived has nothing but life affirming flesh with which to fight. He fell afoul of the radiation aura of a Young Adult malcurion dragon (base Severity 7), at a distance of 450 feet (two times 200 feet of air, -2 Severity). Knowing what was up when the flash hit, he immediately took shelter behind a stone wall, hoping to protect himself, but the damage was already done. Bob takes Severity 5 Con drain (1/Round). 1 round later, thanks to the extra foot of rock that is now between him and the radiation source (-1 Severity), he takes Severity 4 Con drain (1/minute). Before the minute ends, the heroes slay the dragon, and the radiation aura disappears. No longer exposed once the minute ends, Bob now has Severity 3 (5 minus 2) Radiation Sickness. He keeps taking 1 Con drain every 10 minutes until he dies an ignoble deathand is resurrected at the closest bonfire.

Treatment

Any restoration spell (lesser restoration, restoration, greater restoration or complete restoration) is capable of removing radiation sickness, though the spell level needs to be at least equal to the Severity of the radiation sickness. Since the maximum severity once exposure ends is 8, complete restoration (as well as miracle or wish) is capable of restoring any severity of radiation sickness.

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