Deep dragons present a subterranean variation on the chromatic dragon theme. They exist in wyrmling, young, adult and ancient variants, just like their chromatic cousins, and share a sequence of features and traits that they acquire according to the same pattern as they age. Their challenge ratings are lower, however, since they have fewer hit points, deal less damage than even white dragons, and lack the Frightful Presence trait; we might think of them as degraded versions of the chromatics.
Like their kin, deep dragons are melee-favoring brutes, with Strength as their primary offensive ability and Constitution as their primary defensive ability. Despite living underground, they can fly as fast as their skyborne relatives, and they can also burrow and swim. Sadly, lacking the Tunneler trait, deep dragons have no way of burrowing through solid rock; they have to make do with whatever passages nature carves for them. But they’ll certainly favor caves with large halls, and flooded areas are a plus—to an extent. Unlike green dragons, deep dragons aren’t amphibious and have to hold their breath underwater. That’s no big deal, though: Fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons’ suffocation rule is generous, as long as you can take a deep breath and hold it before you dive. Deep dragons also have exceptional darkvision—90 feet as wyrmlings, 150 feet later on—so they have no reason to light their lairs, and they love locations with straight passages and long sight lines, which allow them to see other creatures long before they can be seen themselves.
They have proficiency in the ambush skills of Perception and Stealth, but they also have proficiency in Persuasion. To confabulate with a deep dragon wyrmling, you’ll have to speak Draconic, but young, adult and ancient deep dragons all speak Common (and Undercommon) and also have high enough Wisdom and Charisma that they’ll stop fighting and parley if a combat encounter is going awry for them, generally when they’re moderately wounded (for a young deep dragon, reduced to 65 hp or fewer; for an adult, reduced to 102 hp or fewer; and for an ancient, reduced to 140 or fewer).
This point merits a digression. How do you use a social skill like Persuasion against player characters when players have free will and full dominion over their PCs’ thoughts, feelings and choices? You do it by using your authoritative Dungeon Master voice to present the point of view of a creature or nonplayer character as if it were fact. It’s fairly easy to do with Deception or Intimidation—you tell the player that whatever the character or creature wants the PC to believe is true, DM’s honor—but it’s trickier when the opposing character or creature uses Persuasion. With that skill, a lost contest means the PC’s judgment is overwhelmed by the argument, which you need to convey by making it your argument. In other words, reiterate the logos, ethos and pathos of the appeal out of character, speaking as yourself. If the PC’s Insight prevails, on the other hand, present the actual facts of the situation instead. In the case of a strong argument, that might mean reiterating how strong it is, but in the case of a weak one, it reveals the weaknesses.
Beyond these basics, deep dragons fight the same way their chromatic kindred do: They stay in the air if they can, land when they must, use their breath weapon whenever it’s available and they can hit enough targets with it, and otherwise Bite (wyrmlings) or Multiattack (all others). Deep dragons’ breath weapon is Nightmare Breath, which deals psychic damage and can impose the frightened condition; imagine that they’re exhaling hallucinogenic spores that send their targets on a bad trip.
Adult and ancient deep dragons have legendary and lair actions, as chromatic dragons do. Tail is an opportunistic whack at an enemy who tries to get cute and outflank them, or who thinks they’re far enough away to avoid being hit but aren’t. Commanding Spores is useful for making one of a pair of adjacent enemies attack another, but it’s even better if the attacking enemy is engaged in melee with a deep dragon who’d rather be somewhere else at the moment, because when it works, it wastes the enemy’s reaction, allowing the dragon to withdraw without risking an opportunity attack. Spore Salvo is best against shock attackers such as rogues and monks: They have to be close enough for the spores to reach them, but they also have to depend on Dexterity rather than Constitution for defense, so that they’re more likely to fail the saving throw. Being poisoned also makes it harder for a rogue to pull off a Sneak Attack.
Deep dragons’ lair actions follow the chromatic pattern of debilitator (Deep Torpor), movement restrictor (Mossy Sludge) and direct damage (Toxic Spores), although Deep Torpor also restricts movement, and Toxic Spores also debilitates. Deep Torpor is another feature that’s great to use against rogues and monks, because it hoses their action economy, and Toxic Sludge is deep dragons’ only source of area-effect damage beyond their breath weapon, for use against four or more clustered targets.
Deep dragon wyrmlings retreat when reduced to 10 hp or fewer; young deep dragons, 37 hp or fewer; adult deep dragons, 58 hp or fewer; and ancient deep dragons, 80 hp or fewer. Wyrmlings and young deep dragons engaged in melee Disengage before withdrawing if running, swimming or flying away, but they Dash without Disengaging if they’re burrowing. Adult and ancient deep dragons engaged in melee always Disengage first.
Sea serpents are marine ambush predators. They’re Amphibious, but they’re slow on land and strongly prefer to stay in the water; the only time they’ll come out is to attack an opponent on the deck of a ship or to pursue one a short distance on land, and they break off pursuit once their quarry flees beyond the reach of their breath weapon.
Young and ancient sea serpents alike are brutes with formidable Strength and Constitution and proficiency in Perception and Stealth. They have 120 feet of darkvision, useful at depths where sunlight doesn’t penetrate, but also predisposing them to make surface attacks only at night. And they share the Siege Monster trait, which means that before they attack their victims, they attack their victims’ vessel, crushing it to matchsticks with their Constrict attack and chomping through the hull with Bite. If the vessel is Large or smaller—a rowboat, for instance—Constrict can grapple and restrain it. Once their victims’ vessel is destroyed, sea serpents pick the tasty morsels out of the water one by one.
They save their Rime Breath for when their targets are adrift and helpless, since it deals damage only against creatures, not against objects or structures, and they first position themselves where they can strike at least three targets in the area of effect. They always favor their Rime Breath over their Multiattack when it’s available. When they do use Multiattack, they Constrict before they Bite, to try to gain advantage on the latter by restraining their targets. As a Multiattack option, Tail is inferior to Constrict in most cases, since its reach is equal or less, it always deals less damage, and restraining an opponent is stronger than knocking them prone. The only reason to prefer Tail over Constrict is if a troublesome melee opponent needs to be shoved away.
When all their foes are fleeing, they pursue, but when one or more are unconscious, sea serpents pause in their pursuit to gobble them up with coup de grâce Bite attacks. Ancient sea serpents can do that more effectively than young ones, since they can Bite as a legendary action. As a legendary action, Tail is most entertaining when employed as retaliation for a successful hit.
Sea serpents retreat when seriously wounded (for a young sea serpent, reduced to 49 hp or fewer; for an ancient sea serpent, reduced to 68 hp or fewer).
Next: dragon turtles revisited.
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