A white dragon
White dragons are dragons of the frozen lands, where glaciers, barren rocks, and snowy fields are the major terrain features. They are often considered the weakest and least intelligent of all the dragons. Savage and cruel, they manipulate their frozen world to bring down their enemies.
Description[]
White dragons are smaller than most dragons. Their heads and necks seem to blend seamlessly into one another, and their wings appear somewhat frayed along the edges. They have a flap of skin (dewlap) lined with spines beneath their chins. Their heads are very streamlined, and they have a high crest atop their skulls. They have a crisp, vaguely chemical odor.
Combat[]
White dragons use the terrain to their advantage when on the hunt, or when sparring with any difficult invaders. They are good swimmers, and can burrow through ice and snow very quickly. They are most famous for their frosty breath, which they prefer to unleash early and often against adversaries. White dragons also delight in melee combat, taking a visceral thrill in the brutality of an up-close-and-personal slaying.
As one may expect, white dragons cannot be harmed by cold damage, though they are vulnerable to fire damage.
Special Abilities by Age[]
- Wyrmling
- Ice Breath: White dragons can blast a cone of cold at their foes.
- Ice Walking: White dragons cannot slip on ice, and can climb it with ease.
- Very Young - Snow Vision: White dragons do not take any penalty for obscurement caused by snow.
- Young - Ice Shape: As Stone Shape, but affects ice and snow.
- Juvenile - Fog Cloud
- Young Adult - Gust of Wind
- Adult - Cold Aura: The dragon radiates cold from its body.
- Old - Freezing Fog. This is similar to acid fog, except it deals cold damage instead of acid damage. It also creates an obscuring fog that also creates a slippery layer of ice on all surfaces in the area, similar to the grease spell.
- Ancient
- Wall of Ice
- Blizzard: This creates a region of thick snow that slows movement and obscures vision.
- Great Wyrm
- Control Weather
- Ice Tomb: This works similarly to an imprisonment spell, but only on subjects standing on ice, and it creates a physical tomb of ice that can be chipped away at.
Lairs[]
White dragon lairs are carved into mountains, glaciers, and icebergs, generally facing away from the sun (usually, northward). Icebergs make good lairs for white dragons, who can use the ocean as a handy way into and out of their home.
White dragons are fond of gems, especially clear or whitish gems, such as diamonds. They find them beautiful.
Lifestyle[]
White dragons like to bask in frigid winds and wallow in snowbanks. They try to keep cool -- they find themselves growing lethargic in temperatures above freezing.
White dragons feel no responsibility to their offspring. While not hostile to them, newly hatched white dragons are expected to fend for themselves. They can watch their parents if they need guidance.
White dragons feed exclusively on frozen prey -- freezing things with their breath weapons, or burying them in snowbanks for later.
Relationships[]
White dragons tend to prey on large aquatic mammals, such as polar bears, seals, and even whales.
Frost Giants and white dragons are fairly hostile to each other -- the giants make a sport out of slaying white dragons, and use force to enslave them as guards and mounts. White dragons frequently balk under this yoke. Fog giants also make a habit of hunting white dragons for armor.
White dragons like to hunt the smaller, weaker crystal dragons, and amethyst dragons regard white dragons with enmity.
Sources[]
- Pathfinder SRD
- d20 SRD
- 2e Monstrous Manual (1993)