BLACK DRAGON
The most evil-tempered --and vile of the chromatic
dragons, black dragons collect the wreckage and
treasures of fallen peoples. These dragons loathe seeing
the weak prosper and revel in the collapse of humanoid
kingdoms. They make their homes in fetid swamps and
crumbling ruins where kingdoms once stood.
With deep-socketed eyes and broad nasal openings,
a black dragon's face resembles a skull. Its curving,
segmented horns are bone-colored near the base and
darken to dead black at the tips. As a black dragon ages,
the flesh around its horns and cheekbones deteriorates
as though eaten by acid, leaving thin layers of hide that
enhance its skeletal appearance. A black dragon's head
is marked by spikes and horns. Its tongue is flat with a
forked tip, drooling slime whose acidic scent adds to the
dragon's reek of rotting vegetation and foul water.
When it hatches, a black dragon has glossy black
scale. As it ages, its scales become thicker and duller,
helping it blend in to the marshes and blasted ruins that
are its home.
Brutal and Cruel. All chromatic dragons are evil, but
black dragons stand apart for their sadistic nature. A
black dragon lives to watch its prey beg for mercy, and
will often offer the illusion of respite or escape before
finishing off its enemies.
A black dragon strikes at its weakest enemies first,
ensuring a quick and brutal victory, which bolsters its
ego as it terrifies its remaining foes. On the verge of
defeat, a black dragon does anything it can to save itself,
but it accepts death before allowing any other creature
to claim mastery over it.
Foes and Servants. Black dragons hate and fear other
dragons. They spy on draconic rivals from afar, looking
for opportunities to slay weaker dragons and avoid
stronger ones. If a stronger dragon threatens it, a black
dragon abandons its lair and seeks out new territory.
Evillizardfolk venerate and serve black dragons,
raiding humanoid settlements for treasure and food to
give as tribute and building crude draconic effigies along
the borders of their dragon master's domain.
A black dragon's malevolent influence might also
cause the spontaneous creation of evil shambling
mounds that seek out and slay good creatures
approaching the dragon's lair.
Kobolds infest the lairs of many black dragons like
vermin. They become as cruel as their dark masters,
often torturing and weakening captives with centipede
bites and scorpion stings before delivering them to sate
the dragon's hunger.
Wealth of the Ancients. Black dragons hoard the
treasures and magic items of crumbled empires and
conquered kingdoms to remind themselves of their
greatness. The more civilizations a dragon outlasts,
the more entitled it feels to claim the wealth of current
civilizations for itself.
A BLACK DRAGON'S LAIR
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Black dragons dwell in swamps on the frayed edges
of civilization. A black dragon's lair is a dismal cave,
grotto, or ruin that is at least partially flooded, providing
pools where the dragon rests, and where its victims can
fr rment. The lair is littered with the acid-pitted bones
qf previous victims and the fly-ridden carcasses of fresh
kills,,watched over by crumbling statues. Centipedes,
scorpions, and snakes infest the lair, which is filled with
the stench of death and decay.LAIR AcTIONs
On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the dragon
takes a lair action to cause one of the following effects;
the dragon can't use the same effect two rounds in a row:
Pools of water that the dragon can see within 120 feet
of it surge outward in a grasping tide. Any creature on
the ground within 20 feet of such a pool must succeed
on a DC 15 Strength saving throw or be pulled up to
20 feet into the water and knocked prone.- A cloud of swarming insects fills a 20-foot-radius
sphere centered on a point the dragon chooses within
120 feet of it. The cloud spreads around corners and
remains until the dragon dismisses it as an action,
uses this lair action again, or dies. The cloud is
lightly obscured. Any creature in the cloud when it
appears must make on a DC 15 Constitution saving
throw, taking 10 (3d6) piercing damage on a failed
save, or half as much damage on a successful one. A
creature that ends its turn in the cloud takes 10 (3d6)
piercing damage.
Magical darkness spreads from a point the dragon
chooses within 60 feet of it, filling a 15-foot-radius
sphere until the dragon dismisses it as an action, uses
this lair action again, or dies. The darkness spreads
around corners. A creature with darkvision can't see
through this darkness, and nonmagicallight can't
illuminate it. If any of the effect's area overlaps with
an area of light created by a spell of 2nd level or lower,
the spell that created the light is dispelled.
REGIONAL EFFECTS
The region containing a legendary black dragon's lair
is warped by the dragon's magic, which creates one or
more of the following effects:- The land within 6 miles of the lair takes twice as long
as normal to traverse, since the plants grow thick and
twisted, and the swamps are thick with reeking mud.
Water sources within 1 mile of the lair are supernat-
urally fouled. Enemies of the dragon that drink such
water regurgitate it within minutes. - Fog lightly obscures the land within 6 miles of the lair.
If the dragon dies, vegetation remains as it has grown,
but other effects fade over ld10 days.