Phantom Dragon (3.5e Creature)

In the fog you feel eyes upon you as if you're being watched. A shadow here, a wind there, then nothing. Perhaps it was your imagination... wait, do you hear breathing behind you?

A phantom dragon caught in a rare sunlit moment.

Type:	Air
Environment:	Foggy Valleys and Forests
Organization:	Wyrmling, very young, young: solitary or clutch (2-5); juvenile, young adult, adult, mature adult, old, very old, ancient, wyrm, great wyrm: solitary
Challenge Rating:	Wyrmling 3; very young 5; young 7; juvenile 9; young adult 12; adult 15; mature adult 17; old 19; very old 20; ancient 22; wyrm 23; great wyrm 25
Treasure:	Wyrmling, very young, young, juvenile, young adult: standard; adult, mature adult, old: double standard; very old, ancient, wyrm, great wyrm: triple standard
Alignment:	Usually Chaotic, Often Chaotic Neutral
Advancement:	Wyrmling 7-8 HD HD; very young 10-11 HD HD; young 13-14 HD HD; juvenile 16-17 HD HD; young adult 19-20 HD HD; adult 22-23 HD HD; mature adult 25-26 HD HD; old 28-29 HD HD; very old 31-32 HD HD; ancient 34-35 HD HD; wyrm 37-38 HD HD; great wyrm 40+ HD HD
Level Adjustment:	Wyrmling +4; very young +4; young +6; others —

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	S	6d12+6 (45)	13	10	13	14	15	14	+6/+3	+8	+6	+5	+7	2d4 (14)
Very young	M	9d12+18 (76)	15	10	15	14	15	14	+9/+11	+11	+8	+6	+8	4d4 (16)
Young	M	12d12+24 (102)	17	10	15	16	17	16	+12/+15	+15	+10	+8	+11	6d4 (18)
Juvenile	L	15d12+45 (142)	19	10	17	18	19	18	+15/+23	+18	+12	+9	+13	8d4 (20)
Young adult	L	18d12+72 (189)	23	10	19	18	19	18	+18/+28	+23	+15	+11	+15	10d4 (23)	23
Adult	H	21d12+105 (241)	27	10	21	20	21	20	+21/+37	+27	+17	+12	+17	12d4 (25)	25
Mature adult	H	24d12+120 (276)	29	10	21	20	21	20	+24/+41	+31	+19	+14	+19	14d4 (27)	27
Old	H	27d12+162 (337)	31	10	23	22	23	22	+27/+45	+35	+21	+15	+21	16d4 (29)	29
Very old	H	30d12+180 (375)	33	10	23	22	23	22	+30/+49	+39	+23	+17	+23	18d4 (31)	31
Ancient	G	33d12+231 (445)	35	10	25	24	25	24	+33/+57	+41	+25	+18	+25	20d4 (33)	33
Wyrm	G	36d12+288 (522)	37	10	27	26	27	26	+36/+61	+45	+28	+20	+28	22d4 (36)	36
Great wyrm	G	39d12+312 (565)	39	10	27	26	27	26	+39/+65	+49	+29	+21	+29	24d4 (37)	37

Phantom Dragon Dragon Abilities by Age

Age	Speed	Initiative	AC	Special Abilities	Caster Level	SR
Wyrmling	40 ft., burrow 20 ft., fly 100 ft. (good)	+0	16 (+1 size, +3 natural, +2 deflection), touch 13, flat-footed 14	Concealment 10%, Ghostly Appearance, Ghost Sound
Very young	40 ft., burrow 20 ft., fly 150 ft. (average)	+0	18 (+4 natural, +4 deflection), touch 14, flat-footed 14	Concealment 10%, Ethereal Sense
Young	40 ft., burrow 20 ft., fly 150 ft. (average)	+0	21 (+6 natural, +5 deflection), touch 15, flat-footed 16	Concealment 20%, Obscuring Mist	1th
Juvenile	40 ft., burrow 20 ft., fly 150 ft. (average)	+0	23 (-1 size, +7 natural, +7 deflection), touch 16, flat-footed 16	Concealment 20%, Improved Ghostly Appearance, Blink	3th
Young adult	40 ft., burrow 20 ft., fly 150 ft. (poor)	+0	26 (-1 size, +9 natural, +8 deflection), touch 17, flat-footed 18	Concealment 30%, DR 5/magic	5th	20
Adult	40 ft., burrow 20 ft., fly 150 ft. (poor)	+0	28 (-2 size, +10 natural, +10 deflection), touch 18, flat-footed 18	Concealment 30%, Ethereal Jaunt	7th	22
Mature adult	40 ft., burrow 20 ft., fly 150 ft. (poor)	+0	31 (-2 size, +12 natural, +11 deflection), touch 19, flat-footed 20	Concealment 30%, DR 10/magic	9th	23
Old	40 ft., burrow 20 ft., fly 150 ft. (poor)	+0	34 (-2 size, +13 natural, +13 deflection), touch 21, flat-footed 21	Concealment 40%, Telekinesis	11th	25
Very old	40 ft., burrow 20 ft., fly 150 ft. (poor)	+0	37 (-2 size, +15 natural, +14 deflection), touch 22, flat-footed 23	Concealment 40%, DR 15/magic	13th	26
Ancient	40 ft., burrow 20 ft., fly 200 ft. (clumsy)	+0	38 (-4 size, +16 natural, +16 deflection), touch 22, flat-footed 22	Concealment 50%, Etherealness	15th	28
Wyrm	40 ft., burrow 20 ft., fly 200 ft. (clumsy)	+0	41 (-4 size, +18 natural, +17 deflection), touch 23, flat-footed 24	Concealment 50%, DR 20/magic	17th	29
Great wyrm	40 ft., burrow 20 ft., fly 200 ft. (clumsy)	+0	44 (-4 size, +19 natural, +19 deflection), touch 25, flat-footed 25	Concealment 60%, Antipathy	19th	31

The Phantom Dragon is often confused with the ghosts of other dragons. However, they are of real flesh and blood. They are inherently from the material plane, but often are found shifted onto the ethereal plane. They are chaotic creatures, curious of others yet paranoid and easy to alarm. They creep on others, hiding in banks of mists to observe others, subtly influencing them through tricks and distractions if need be.

Good-aligned Phantom Dragons usually play harmless pranks, or help others avoid danger by quietly guiding their path within the mist. Evil-aligned Phantom Dragons use the mists to sow discord and confusion. Most, however, simply wish to be quiet, curious observers of the events of others, and all of them like to filch away unguarded or dropped treasures for their lairs. This usually begins rumors of a place being haunted or cursed.

A phantom wyrmling’s scales are dark gray with a clear shiny coating that is very reflective. As the dragon approaches adulthood, its color deepens slowly to a darker, haunting pitch, though it retains a thin clear coat over it's colored scales. Very old dragons develop a smoky dark blue tint to the edges of their scales. Able to burrow, they have large claws and small, plated scales. The pupils of its eyes fade as a dragon ages, until in the oldest the eyes resemble glowing pale green orbs.

Combat

Most phantom dragons shun battle, escaping if found out. The best fight is a battle where the opponent does not know where it is, or even what it is. It employs fear tactics with it's Improved Ghostly Appearance and it's fear aura to drive off opponents. If corners, or facing opponents capable of pursuing it into the ethereal, it uses it's breath weapon, a line of force. Only when guarding their lairs do phantom dragons become vicious, and stand their ground.

Breath Weapon (Su): Phantom dragons has one type of breath weapon, a line of force energy.

Ghostly Appearance (Su): As a free action a phantom dragon may cause it's appearance to shimmer and take on the appearance of a frightening, ghostly form of itself. This is an illusion, with a caster level equal to the HD of the dragon, and blurs its form enough to provide concealment as noted for its age. In this form any fear effects it uses, including it's frightful presence, have their DCs increased by 1, and +1 circumstance bonus to intimidate per age category. Its appearance may fool others into thinking it is a ghost. If visible a Will save with a DC equal to 10 + 1/2 HD + Cha to reveal it to still be material, but does not negate the concealment.

Ethereal Sense (Ex): Similar to their distant cousins, the Ethereal Dragons (Draconomicon), they can 'see' into the ethereal plane. However, their senses are less refined, and can only sense ethereal creatures while on the material plane as if by blindsense, out to 60 ft. On the ethereal plane they can see out to the range of their darkvision.

Improved Ghostly Appearance (Su): A juvenile's ghostly appearance improves. Its Ghostly Appearance now can disguise its form as the ghost of something else. Those who see the dragon's Ghostly Appearance instead see an illusion (phantasm) of one of their own kind, in suitable frighteningly ghostly fashion, unless they succeed on a Will save against the DC 10 + 1/2 HD + Cha to recognize it as a dragon. The phantom dragon may choose to reveal its true form if it desires.

Regardless of appearance, the save DC for fear effects rises by 2. This supersedes the +1 bonus of Ghostly Appearance.

Alternate Form (Su): A young or older phantom dragon can assume any animal or humanoid form of Medium size or smaller as a standard action three times per day. This ability functions as a polymorph spell cast on itself at its caster level, except that the dragon does not regain hit points for changing form and can only assume the form of an animal or humanoid. The dragon can remain in its animal or humanoid form until it chooses to assume a new one or return to its natural form.

Other Spell-Like Abilities (Sp): At will—Telekinesis (old or older); 3/day—Ghost Sound (wyrmling or older); 2/day—Obscuring Mist (young or older); 1/day—Blink (juvenile or older), Ethereal Jaunt (adult or older), Etherealness (ancient or older), Antipathy (great wyrm).

Phantom Dragon Identifiers

For the rare times it is visible, a phantom dragon flying overhead is marked by its distinctive profile. It's wing membranes are mottled, nearly transparent at some points and a dusky matte black at others, giving it a tattered appearance that seems almost impossible to fly with. The leading edges of the wings are fringed or scalloped near the tips, and exceptionally long alar thumbs, like the black dragon. The trailing edge of the wing membrane joins the body ahead of the back legs.

On hatching a phantom dragon's wings are entirely transparent. Over a course of a week it's own unique pattern of dark and clear blotches forms. Each pattern is unique for each dragon, like a fingerprint.

Habits

Pending.

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