Dragon, Deathwyrm
| Statistic | Value |
|---|---|
| Climate/Terrain | Any ruins, mountains, Plane of Shadow, Negative Plane, and quasi-planes |
| Frequency | Very Rare |
| Organization | Solitary |
| Activity Cycle | Night |
| Diet | Special |
| Intelligence | Supra-Genius (19-20) |
| Treasure | Special |
| Alignment | Neutral-Evil |
| No. Appearing | 1 |
| Armor Class | -5 (base) |
| Movement | 18, Fly 30 |
| Hit Dice | 16 (base) |
| THAC0 | 7 (base) |
| No. of Attacks | 3 + Special |
| Damage/Attack | 1-10/1-10/3-30 |
| Special Attacks | Energy drain, Breath Weapon |
| Special Defenses | See Below |
| Magic Resistance | Special |
| Size | Huge |
| Morale | Fanatic (18) |
| XP Value | See Below |
Description
The dreaded deathwyrm is one of the most powerful evil dragons in existance. It is a more powerful cousin of the shadow dragon, as it is larger and contains a far greater percentage of negative matter in its essance. Deathwyrms speak the tongue of shadow dragons, and the language of all evil dragons. In addition, 25% of all hatchlings can speak with any intelligent creature, an ability that increases by 5% per age level.
| Age | Body Length | Tail Length | AC | Breath Weapon | Spells as a Wizard/Priest | MR | Treasure Type | XP Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2-8 | 2-6 | -2 | 1d6+1 | Nil | 15% | Nil | 8,000 |
| 2 | 8-22 | 6-16 | -3 | 2d6+1 | Nil | 20% | Nil | 12,000 |
| 3 | 22-36 | 16-26 | -4 | 3d6+1 | Nil | 25% | Nil | 16,000 |
| 4 | 36-46 | 26-36 | -5 | 4d6+2 | 2nd / Nil | 30% | H/2 | 20,000 |
| 5 | 46-58 | 36-46 | -6 | 5d6+2 | 3rd / Nil | 35% | H | 22,000 |
| 6 | 58-72 | 46-56 | -7 | 6d6+2 | 4th / Nil | 40% | Hx2 | 25,000 |
| 7 | 72-84 | 56-66 | -8 | 7d6+3 | 6th / 2nd | 45% | Hx3 | 32,000 |
| 8 | 84-96 | 66-76 | -9 | 8d6+3 | 8th / 3rd | 50% | Hx4 | 40,000 |
| 9 | 96-110 | 76-86 | -10 | 9d6+3 | 10th / 4th | 55% | Hx5 | 44,000 |
| 10 | 110-122 | 86-96 | -11 | 10d6+4 | 12th / 6th | 60% | Hx6 | 50,000 |
| 11 | 122-134 | 96-106 | -12 | 11d6+4 | 14th / 8th | 65% | Hx7 | 60,000 |
| 12 | 134-148 | 106-116 | -13 | 12d6+4 | 16th / 10th | 75% | Hx8 | 70,000 |
Combat
Deathwyrms are terrifying in combat, as their breath weapon and physical attacks are far more insidious than those of the shadow dragon. Older deathwyrms command armies of undead, and nearly all great wyrms eventually become dracoliches.
Breath Weapon: A deathwyrm's breath weapon is a cone of negative energy 20 feet per age level long, and 5 feet wide per age level inflicting 1d6 per age level of damage, and draining 1 level per three age levels from all affected. A successful save vs. breath weapons halves the damage and level loss.
A deathwyrm's vampiric bite, aside from physical damage, drains as many levels from its victim as the breath weapon, except that no save is permitted against the drain.
Both the deathwyrm's bite and claw attacks are vampiric (the claw is not strong enough to drain levels). If the dragon has sustained damage, half the damage inflicted by bites, and a quarter by claws is transfered to the dragon as healing. All creatures killed by the dragons breath, bite or claws become undead of half their original level (or first level).
Deathwyrms of adult age and older radiate a powerful aura of negative energy that is harmful to living things in the long run. When a mature deathwyrm lairs in an area for more than 6 months, changes start to take place in the environment. For a radius of 2 miles per age level, plant life starts to die. The sky becomes unnaturaly dark, even on the brightest day. Normal animals become hard to find, and the territory becomes a bleak landscape of twisted, dead trees, hardy weeds, and undead, mutated or otherwise unnatural animals. It becomes obvious that something is horribly wrong, much like one finds in the terrritory of a banshee. All plant life within a deathwyrm's fear aura withers as the beast passes.
Negative matter attacks heal deathwyrms, and they are immune to cold based attacks. Deathwyrms suffer double damage from light based attacks and save versus fire at -2. Deathwyrms receive the following abilities as they age:
- Young: Darkness 3/day.
- Juvinile: Mirror image 3/day.
- Young Adult: Dimension door, 3/day.
- Adult: Create shadows 3/day.
- Mature Adult: Plane shift, 3/day.
- Old: Death spell, 3/day.
- Very Old: Animate dead, level at hit dice, 3/day.
- Venerable: Monster summoning VII, undead, 3/day.
- Wyrm: Control undead at will.
- Great Wyrm: Control weather 1/day as 24th level druid.
Habitat/Society
Deathwyrms hate light; they thrive in the deep, inky and unnatural darkness of their lairs and the negative material plane. They can function normally in their territories, but can only venture further under cover of night or clouds. Sunlight inflicts 1d8 hp per round.
Ecology
Deathwyrms are a scourge to the lands they inhabit, despoiling all they touch. When a deathwyrm flies low to the ground, all plant life under its foul wings withers. Needless to say, alchemists and necromancers can find many uses for a deathwyrm carcass.