Spellwaste Dragon (3.5e Creature)

Another dragon I met on that world reminded me of a creature I had seen on other worlds when lost amidst ancient ruins of a wizardly society. The cause of the cataclysm on the two worlds did not seem overly similar, but its effects were very close to each other. A blighted waste land filled with twisting ambient magic and monstrosities that have been changed and altered by their homes, and amongst these mutants can even be counted dragons. Whether these dragons on different worlds were originally the same species or not I cannot be certain, having not yet done the necessary studies. What can be said is that this species carries wild magic with them, in their very beings and are terrifying foes to wizards and others who wield magic.

Type:	Dragon (Earth)
Environment:	The Ruins (Any land or underground).
Organization:	Wyrmling, very young, young, juvenile, and young adult: solitary, or clutch (2–5); adult, mature adult, old, very old, ancient, wyrm, or great wyrm: solitary, pair, or family (2-5)
Challenge Rating:	Wyrmling 2; very young 4; young 6; juvenile 9; young adult 11; adult 13; mature adult 16; old 17; very old 19; ancient 21; wyrm 23; great wyrm 26
Treasure:	Triple standard
Alignment:	Usually Chaotic Evil
Advancement:	Wyrmling 4-5 HD; very young 7=8 HD; young 10-11 HD; juvenile 13-14 HD; young adult 16-17 HD; adult 19-20 HD; mature adult 22-23 HD; old 25-26 HD; very old 28-29 HD; ancient 31-32 HD; wyrm 34-35 HD; great wyrm 37-38 HD
Level Adjustment:	-

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	T	5d12+3 (22)	11	10	13	10	11	10	+3/-5	+5	+4	+3	+3	2d4 (12)	(11)
Very young	S	8d12+12 (51)	13	10	15	12	11	12	+6/+3	+8	+7	+5	+5	4d4 (15)	(14)
Young	M	11d12+18 (76)	15	10	15	12	13	12	+9/+11	+11	+8	+6	+7	6d4 (16)	(15)
Juvenile	M	14d12+36 (114)	17	10	17	14	13	14	+12/+15	+15	+11	+8	+9	8d4 (19)	(18)
Young adult	L	17d12+60 (157)	19	10	19	16	15	16	+15/+23	+18	+13	+9	+11	10d4 (21)	20
Adult	L	20d12+76 (193)	21	10	19	16	15	16	+18/+27	+22	+15	+11	+13	12d4 (23)	22
Mature adult	H	23d12+105 (241)	23	10	21	18	17	18	+21/+35	+25	+17	+12	+15	14d4 (25)	24
Old	H	26d12+120 (276)	25	10	21	20	17	20	+24/+39	+29	+19	+14	+17	16d4 (27)	27
Very old	H	29d12+162 (337)	27	10	23	20	19	20	+27/+43	+33	+21	+15	+19	18d4 (29)	28
Ancient	H	32d12+180 (375)	29	10	23	22	19	22	+30/+47	+37	+23	+17	+21	20d4 (31)	31
Wyrm	G	35d12+231 (445)	33	10	25	22	21	22	+33/+56	+40	+25	+18	+23	22d4 (33)	32
Great wyrm	G	38d12+288 (522)	35	10	27	24	21	24	+36/+60	+44	+28	+20	+25	24d4 (36)	35

Dragon Abilities by Age
Age	Speed	Initiative	AC	Special Abilities	Caster Level	SR
Wyrmling	40-ft, fly 150-ft (average), burrow 20-ft, climb 20-ft	+0	14 (+2 size, +2 natural), touch 12, flat-footed 14	Spell Warding (0 and 1st)	-	-
Very young	40-ft, fly 150-ft (average), burrow 20-ft, climb 20-ft	+0	16 (+1 size, +5 natural), touch 11, flat-footed 17	Aura of Wild Magic	1st	10
Young	40-ft, fly 200-ft (poor), burrow 20-ft, climb 20-ft	+0	18 (+8 natural), touch 10, flat-footed 20	Spell Warding (2nd, and 3rd), Wild Power (restrained)	3rd	12
Juvenile	40-ft, fly 200-ft (poor), burrow 20-ft, climb 20-ft	+0	21 (+11 natural), touch 10, flat-footed 22	Create Spell, Wild Power	5ft	15
Young adult	40-ft, fly 200-ft (poor), burrow 20-ft, climb 20-ft	+0	23 (-1 size, +14 natural), touch 9, flat-footed 25	DR 5/magic	7th	17
Adult	40-ft, fly 200-ft (poor), burrow 20-ft, climb 20-ft	+0	26 (-1 size, +17 natural), touch 8, flat-footed 27	Spell Warding (4th, 5th, and 6th)	9th	20
Mature adult	40-ft, fly 200-ft (poor), burrow 20-ft, climb 20-ft	+0	28 (-2 size, +20 natural), touch 8, flat-footed 30	DR 10/magic	11th	22
Old	40-ft, fly 200-ft (poor), burrow 20-ft, climb 20-ft	+0	31 (-2 size, +23 natural), touch 8, flat-footed 33	Devour Magic	13th	24
Very old	40-ft, fly 200-ft (poor), burrow 20-ft, climb 20-ft	+0	34 (-2 size, +26 natural), touch 8, flat-footed 36	DR 15/magic	15th	26
Ancient	40-ft, fly 200-ft (poor), burrow 20-ft, climb 20-ft	+0	37 (-2 size, +29 natural), touch 6, flat-footed 37	Spell Warding (7th and 8th)	17th	28
Wyrm	40-ft, fly 250-ft (clumsy), burrow 20-ft, climb 20-ft	+0	38 (-4 size, +32 natural), touch 6, flat-footed 40	DR 20/magic	19th	31
Great wyrm	40-ft, fly 250-ft (clumsy), burrow 20-ft, climb 20-ft	+0	41 (-4 size, +35 natural), touch 6, flat-footed 43	Spell Warding (9th), Create Spell (9th)	21th	34

They are fairly small, similar in size to white dragons, but their magical powers cannot be compared to such. Even from birth they are resistant to some magics, but their resistance to magic seems to vary depending upon the grade of magic used against them. The exact extent of the variation I have not yet tested, but generally it would seem that there are only two levels of resistance and what spells are weak enough to fall into the stronger level of resistance’s domain are based on the dragon’s own magical powers and age. In addition to this, usually superior, magical resistance these dragons also show magical abilities superior to most dragons, though of course there are many exceptions to this that I could list.

Merely the ability to resist spells and to cast them is not, amongst dragons, a notable achievement. What is more notable is there aura, which from my experiences can extend from seventy to about one-hundred feet and I would predict ranges up to one-hundred and fifty feet at full growth, and possibly as little as forty feet when first born (if they even have such abilities from birth). This aura twists and warps magic used nearby, causing it to spiral wildly out of control, making it unreliable except in the hands of one whose knowledge and control of magic is superb, though I cannot say I have allowed my magic to be twisted from my control personally I have seen it happen to my friends and allies. Even their powerful breath relies upon the qualities of magic, turning magical power inward against its wielders and causing the magic inherent in all living things to burn and rebel against itself, causing a being’s natural magic to annihilate them.

Even this, fascinating as the prospect of a theoretically controllable source of wild magic is, is not their most fabulous ability. They can imbue spells with life, creating dangerous oozes which obey their mental commands. It would seem that there is a small chance for these spells to last beyond their normal span, but if they do so the mental link is broken. In many ways I wonder if these dragons are responsible for the propagation of living spells on many prime material worlds. Yet another possibility to investigate.

While this covers their magical abilities that I have encountered so far, I have not yet covered their mental qualities nor their physical appearance. Mentally they are fairly intelligent on the scale of chromatic dragons which they seem to most closely, mentally, resemble. They are angry and ferocious beasts who seem to consider themselves the absolute kings of all they purvey, but they are capable when it comes to a battle of wits. These dragons attack with vicious cunning once they have been shown that they lack the sheer magical, and physical, might that is required to make an encounter a simple thing, they will use stealth and trickery. Though their attempts at ambush proved untrained from lack of use, as did their ability to function as a team, they were clever enough to at least consider such a possibility. It would seem that naturally they are highly individualistic and arrogant considering themselves above most other forms of life.

In physical appearance they have splotched bodies with scales of dull tan colors mixed with brown and various hues in between. Their eyes seem like a swirling mixture of colors, no one color standing out for long as each is subsumed quickly by the others. Similar to gold dragons they have catfish-like “whiskers” on the sides of their otherwise plain heads. A simple frill runs down their back between two wings situated in the fin-like manner of a brass dragon. Their claws are heavy, designed as much for digging as killing, and capable of being used to dig into the side of stone to facilitate climbing.

This concludes the information I have been able to, thus far, gather on these spellwaste dragons. --Zasper the Dragon Sage.

Combat

Frightful Presence: A spellwaste dragon does not develop frightful presence until the young adult age category (as normal) but beginning at very young has abilities dependent upon Charisma based DCs and therefore it is listed at younger age categories in parenthesis.

Breath Weapon (Su): A spellwaste dragon has a single type of breath weapon a cone of magical pressure that turns the internal magical energy of any creature against its self, dealing the listed damage (Will save halves). This attack is especially potent against dragons, aberrations, fey, undead, constructs, outsiders, and elementals, as well as any creature that can cast spells and any creature that is capable of using one or more spell-like ability, take +1 damage per age category of the dragon. If they can cast spells spontaneously, or have at least one at-will spell-like ability, they instead take +2 damage per age category of the dragon.

Spellwarding (Su): A spellwaste dragon’s Spell Resistance is considered 10 higher against 0 and 1st level spells (and spell-like abilities), as a wyrmling this causes it to have spell resistance 10 against such spells. As a young dragon this becomes effective against 2nd and 3rd level spells as well; at adult it is also effective against spells of 6th level or lower; at ancient this affects spells of 8th level or lower; and as a great wyrm this affects any spell of 9th level or lower.

Aura of Wild Magic (Su): A very young or older spellwaste dragon radiates an aura that disrupts the normal flow of magic nearby. Whenever a creature attempts to cast a spell (including psionic powers or mysteries), or use a spell-like ability, within 30-ft +10-ft per age category of the spellwaste dragon they must succeed a Spellcraft check. The DC of this spellcraft check is based off of the spellwaste dragon’s hit dice and charisma (rendering it equal to their frightful presence under normal situations) with certain special modifications. If they are casting a prepared spell, or using a spell completion or spell trigger item, they suffer a -5 to the check; if they are casting a divine spell or using a mystery as a supernatural ability they gain a +5 to the check; if they are using a spell-like ability (other than an invocation, or mystery) or warlock’s eldritch blast they gain a +10 on the check. Should they succeed the check the spell acts normally, should they fail roll 1d20 and consult the table below. This aura even affects spells cast by the spellwaste dragon; should multiple renditions of this aura stack only the strongest (highest DC) aura is rolled for.

#	Effect
1	Spell is wasted with no effect
2	Spell fails, and roll again on the Rod of Wonder random effects table
3	Spell targets a random creature(s) within area (if targeted, or ranged touch spell) or roll on grenade-like weapons deviation and roll 1d20 for how many squares away from target for Area of Effect spells or spells that create effects
4	Spell fails, but is not expended.
5	Spell works normally
6	Spell works as normal but then caster and target switch places; if the spell creates a free-standing effect (such as Solid Fog) caster and spell switch places (caster is moved to origin of the spell and the spell is treated as being centered on a corner of the caster’s square)
7	Spell is empowered
8	Spell is cast at caster level 1.
9	Spell is cast with a -1d8 to its caster level.
10	Spell is cast with a +1d4 to its caster level.
11	Spell fails but the caster creates a bolt of magical energy dealing 2d6 damage per spell level to any creature or object within 30-ft with a ranged touch attack.
12	Spell fails and all creatures within the wild magic aura heal 3 damage times spell level squared.
13	Spell is cast with a +6 to its caster level
14	Spell has any saving throw DCs increased by 2
15	Spell works as normal but the caster suffers 1d4+1 Con burn
16	Spell works as normal but the caster suffers 1d4+1 ability drain to whatever stat determines their casting
17	Spell works as normal but the caster gains a +4 enhancement bonus to all ability scores for 1 minute per spell level
18	Spell fails but caster gains flight 60-ft with good maneuverability for 1 minute per spell level.
19	Spell has any saving throw DCs associated with it reduced by 5
20	Spell functions normally but is not expended

Spellcasting: A very young or older spellwaste dragon casts spells as a sorcerer of the listed level.

Wild Power (Su): Whenever a young or older spellwaste dragon casts a spell it gets a -2 penalty to its caster level and then adds +1d6 to its caster level to determine what CL the spell was cast at. When they reach juvenile the penalty is increased to -3, but they add +1d10 to their CL for the spell’s effective CL.

Create Spell (Sp): A young or older spellwaste dragon may, as a swift action, expend a spell slot to create a living spell of up to one spell level lower than the expended slow, to a maximum of 8th level, of any spell that it knows and to which the living spell template may be applied. The CL for the living spell is 2 less than the spellwaste dragon’s caster level before magical effects (or Wild Power) modify it, and without any bonus from the Practiced Spellcaster feat. The living spell is under the spellwaste dragon’s mental control, functioning as an extension of its will, and remains for 1 round per CL before vanishing. A spellwaste dragon may only have one living spell under its control at a time, but there is a 1 in 20 chance that when the duration of a living spell ends it remains free from the spellwaste dragon’s control. A great wyrm spellwaste dragon may, by expending a 10th level spell slot gained through an epic feat, create a living spell of a 9th level spell.

Devour Magic (Su): An old or older spellwaste dragon’s bite attack also dispels one spell effect on any creature or object it bites, as per dispel magic; the spellwaste dragon uses its CL (with Wild Power) +4 for this effect and there is no maximum caster level bonus to the dispel check. This effect always affects the highest CL spell effect on a target. Should a spellwaste dragon bite a freestanding magical effect (such as the fog created by Solid Fog) it is affected as if by Dispel Magic using the same bonus to the dispel check.

Skills: Hide, Move Silently, and Spellcraft are class skills for a spellwaste dragon in addition to those common to true dragons.

gollark: 25 people, actually.

gollark: No, not every year, just due to COMPARTMENTAL SLATS.

gollark: Before COMPARTMENTAL SLATS.

gollark: He used to be owner.

gollark: A lot of things got deleted over the years, especially back when LyricLy continuously abused admin powers.

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