Umbral Dragon

On the one hand, umbral dragons seem to be simply the Plane of Shadow version of their primal dragon cousins—the fifth and most powerful of the set.  And yet…well, there’s something about them that seems…off.  They are definitely creatures of shadow (their mastery of shadow magic speaks to that) but they are also creatures tied to undeath—able to touch, harm, and even consume the restless spirits of the dead in a way few other creatures could.  This speaks of heavy influence from the Negative Energy Plane…not surprising, since the Plane of Shadow is riddled with connections to that even darker place…but it almost seems like a taint.  One has the feeling that they sampled too deeply of undead flesh, lingered too long in the Deep Shadow, gave too much of their souls over to dark powers (to such a degree that some elder dragons can even create undead!).  They are the epitome of all that is the Plane of Shadow, but they are also contaminated and corrupt in ways the other primal dragons are not and never will be.

Killed by a rival, the inventor and philosopher Teolan has returned as a ghost.  Such a significant spirit has attracted the attention of an umbral dragon who longs to slake her thirst on the ghost’s ectoplasmic form.  Adventurers seeking Teolan’s wisdom will have to defend the ghost from her hunger—and defend themselves from the ghost, now a malevolent, bitter apparition who will strike them from behind even as they battle the dragon.

The umbral dragon Noxentia rules a cathedral-sized mausoleum, the dark mirror image of a college and seminary in the real world.  She keeps the place meticulously clean of undead, with the notable exception of allips.  These she allows the run of her lair, basking in the pain and loss inherent in their babbling song.

The Plane of Shadow does not only reflect environs, but sometimes individuals as well—those long-lived enough to cast a reflection across reality, that is.  The gold dragon Heiraurum has two twins: the sovereign dragon Mist’s Remembrance on the Ethereal Plane and an umbral dragon, Vertixpylus, on the Plane of Shadow.  Vertixpylus has recently become aware of his noble gold and contemplative sovereign reflections, and their very existence drives him wild with rage and envy.  Working through proxies, shadow servants, and the odd kyton, he seeks intelligence about his mirror twins and hopes to strike them dead when the time is right.

—Pathfinder Bestiary 2 102–103

Any Ghostwalk fans out there?  I imagine Dracanish’s priests would be fascinated with umbral dragons…weighing their ability to quite literally eat the dead versus their chaotic evil alignment.

Also, for tips on role-playing umbral dragons, I have one name for you: Synn.  Synn was a night dragon on Mystara, a creature of Entropy not unlike umbral dragons, who was a major villainess in Bruce Heard’s “The Voyage of the Princess Ark” series.  When wounded by Prince Haldemar’s boltmen, what does she do?  Dog them through the skies.  Send a polymorphed possessed servant to spy upon them.  Ally with an order of sky knights against them.  Follow them into the Hollow World.  And then send them through a rift in time, and for good measure, dump a former passenger—a woman who assumes Haldemar abandoned her to rot in prison for decades—on the deck as a parting gift.  Now that’s how you play an umbral dragon.

Magma Dragon

One of the primal dragons, magma dragons dwell on the Plane of Fire, border regions of the Plane of Earth, in remote volcanic lairs or deep underground.  Unlike most dragons that dwell in such locations (especially the fiery reds), magma dragons are not evil.  But they are as tempestuous as the volcanoes they resemble, so when they do eventually (and inevitably) explode into anger, the results are similarly catastrophic.

Small for his age, the magma dragon Clasm has left his home plane for the Plane of Earth.  The cold makes him sluggish and irritable, but the shaitans give him so many fascinating things to smelt and so many alien creatures to burn and devour.  The runt plans to return home triumphant with geodes packed with bushels of gems and a hide hardened from consuming so many denizens of Earth.

Magma dragons regard the creation of firearms with fascination. Tyrakolyx thinks it is an abomination, and uses his skills to swim through magma flows and lava tubes to destroy the gunworks of the dwarves.  Pyre of Might sees firearms as a glorification of his element.  He has commanded his army of duergar and azer slaves to come up with a bombard big enough for a dragon to wield, but his violent rages at every setback continue to delay the project.

Once a great fiery terror, the great wyrm Allikaliki’i is content now to slumber and practice various stratagems on his giant obsidian game boards.  (The playing pieces are old foes he entombed in lava.)  Two new developments have roused him from his retirement: the revelation that a pair of underworld dragon twins have been tunneling throughout his territory for months without him noticing, and what they found there—an ark containing four slumbering tzitzimitls.  But since most other dragons only know him as Mad Tephra, Doom of the Western Isles, he doesn’t know how to go about asking for advice or aid in a fashion that doesn’t involve threats, magma breath, and walls of fire.

—Pathfinder Bestiary 2 100–101

Crystal Dragon

In previous editions of the world’s oldest role-playing game, crystal dragons were the least of the gem dragons, the neutral (and psionic!) counterparts to chromatic and metallic dragons.  So far, Pathfinder lacks both gem dragons and psionics, so the crystal dragon label instead lives on in the primal dragon sept.  These are lawful, usually good-natured creatures who are also vain and quick to take offense.  This may seem like a paradox, but any adventurer who has spent time around a royal court full of dandies or the upper ranks of an imperial navy will quickly recognize the type.

A magic staff requires the scale of a crystal dragon as a focus for its prismatic spray.

A crystal dragon and an umbral dragon war for territory in the depths of the Lands Below.  The umbral dragon also employs morlock thralls to raid a nearby abandoned dwarf citadel for ancient magic and weapons.  A tribe of mongrelmen rangers and rogues, excellent scouts and skirmishers all, could turn the tide, but the crystal dragon must be convinced to look past their hideous appearances.

Being lawful neutral, not all crystal dragons scorn the charms of Hell; some older specimens even choose to live there instead of the Plane of Earth.  Their sonic breath affords them wide berth from the local devils, and their domains can thus be pockets of light (deep, cavernous pockets, to be sure) in the otherwise forbidding hellscape.  Devils excel at flattery and persuasion, though, which means characters seeking sanctuary with a crystal dragon had best get the beast’s sworn oath to protect them, lest they find themselves handed over directly to the hamatulas by the apologetic, preening wyrm.

—Pathfinder Bestiary 2 98–99

Cloud Dragon

Cloud dragons have floated in and out of the world’s oldest role-playing game on and off 1st Edition, usually as neutral aloof beasts flying far above the cares of men.  (It’s interesting that most new dragons added to the game tend toward neutral or even good.  Apparently even the most hard-hearted monster designer secretly wants to ride Falkor.)  Pathfinder’s cloud dragons, of the primal sept and associated with the Plane of Air, are more mercurial, free-spirited creatures, prone to acquiring expensive souvenirs of their travels.

A party of adventurers must race against time and a cloud dragon through the jungles of Kemf, in pursuit of a ruby hummingbird idol the size of a man.  Failure means tracking the dragon to its lair on the Plane of Air.

An elven swanboat has gone missing, along with her pilot.  The birdlike airskiff, the pride of the clan, was scooped up by an acquisitive cloud dragon, and the pilot cannot fly to freedom unless the skiff soaks up enough sunlight to recharge.

A flight of demons, vrocks in particular, boil in the skies over Inverness.  Even the local dragons seem powerless—the demons’ ability to shrug off the dragons’ breath weapons telling greatly during the first engagement.  But demons fear sonic assaults, and the thundering bite of an ancient cloud dragon might turn the tide, if only one could be persuaded to take an interest.

—Pathfinder Bestiary 2 96–97

Brine Dragon

Primal dragons are exciting because they’re new—true dragons that tradition hasn’t yet put its stamp on, with some planar flavor to boot.  Brine dragons appear to be the Machiavellis of the family, interested in power for its own sake.  In fact, the cutthroat characters of many peninsular city-states’ governments may be due to the influence of brine dragons (or to seaside princes seeking to emulate them).

Unbeknownst to surface-dwellers, the oceans are home to fiercely territorial empires.  The citizens of Floris were not aware that they verged upon a brine dragon’s domain until the morning they awoke to her sahuagin centurions occupying the ports.

The brine dragon Klettiraxis collects humanoids the way a rare-book collector hoards first editions.  He stores his prize possessions in air bubbles on the Plane of Water, where they remain trapped by his magic and their own sad lack of gills.

Grandfather Tide, as he is known, would claim to be a simple wyrm who wishes to be left alone.  But for more than a hundred miles in each direction, halfling boat people leave a portion of every catch for him, locathah seek him out for baptisms, and merfolk seers refuse to even speak of him.

—Pathfinder Bestiary 2 94–95