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95-486: Monster Vault collects the monsters of the Dungeons & Dragons world in one box and presents all-new variants, including new spins on such monsters as dragons , orcs, and vampires . In addition to combat statistics, each monster entry comes with story information to help DMs incorporate the monsters into their adventures and campaigns. This box also contains die-cut tokens for the monsters that appear within, as well as

190-479: A 32-page adventure that showcases several of the monsters. Monster Vault was written by Logan Bonner , Matthew Sernett , and Rodney Thompson , and published in 2010. Shannon Appelcline commented on Essentials , the last significant expansion in 2010 for Fourth Edition Dungeons & Dragons : "Trade paperbacks like Heroes of the Fallen Lands (2010) offered rules for a variety of character classes in

285-414: A Dragon, named Cerilian Dragon, Cerilia being the main continent in the setting. They resemble more the eastern-type dragons being long and serpentine with leathery wings. Their backs are protected by iron-hard scales, their bellies by layers of thick, leathery skin. Their color ranges from reddish rust-brown to iron gray, with their bellies usually of a paler tone than their scales. Cerilian dragons are among

380-680: A dragon reaches their maximum development. Many D&D dragons have some innate magical abilities, but they vary from race to race. Metallic dragons are often able to shapechange into small animals or human forms, and use this ability to secretly help or watch over humans. Dragons also have some innate powers over the element they are linked to. For example, a red dragon (fire) will have some control over fires. Like all other draconic powers, they gain more as they grow older. Lesser dragons (such as wyverns, halfdragons or dragonwrought kobolds) may lack innate magical abilities, while still counting as dragons for purpose of all other effects. A breath weapon

475-413: A good red dragon (usually evil) is as common as an evil gold dragon (usually good). This rule might throw some players off-balance. Dragons also consider themselves superior, treating all other races as inferior. Furthermore, any half-dragon spotted by these dragons is vowed to be hunted, as they treat these half-breeds as a disgrace to their image. The Birthright campaign setting had its own version of

570-722: A greedy attitude to achieve such wealth by whatever means suit them. For good dragons this lust for treasure is tempered, although they are certainly not averse to earning such wealth, and still appreciate gifts (while being insulted if offered an obvious bribe). Being stronger, faster, generally smarter, and possessing longer life than humans and most other races, dragons tend to consider themselves superior creatures. For good-aligned dragons, this may only mean they often consider humanoid races as children, trying to take care of them and educate them; for evil-aligned dragons, they consider humanoids as mere animals, or as toys to play with; at best, they are minions and slaves, while at worst, they are

665-447: A group, D&D dragons are loosely based on dragons from a wide range of fictional and mythological sources. Dungeons & Dragons allows players to fight the fictional dragons in the game ( Tiamat being one of the most notable) and "slay their psychic dragons" as well. These dragons, specifically their "dungeon ecology", have implications for the literary theory of fantasy writing. D&D dragons also featured as targets of

760-490: A half-dragon. The most commonly heard of are in the humanoid races, particularly with human and elves. Nearly any combination is possible, even with devils or angels . While varying depending on species, dragon senses are often superior in most ways to other creatures; like any predator, they have exceptionally acute senses, which only increase with age. Like avian creatures, they have excellent depth perception and comparingly good peripheral vision, able to see twice as well as

855-698: A high value on personal freedom, but do not have much regard for the lives or freedom of other people. Chaotic evil characters do not work well in groups because they resent being given orders and usually do not behave themselves unless there is no alternative. Examples of this alignment include higher forms of undead (such as liches ), violent killers who strike for pleasure rather than profit, demons, red dragons, and orcs. Creatures not sapient enough to make decisions based on moral choices, but operating purely on instinct, are described as "unaligned". Sharks are savage predators, for example, but they are not evil: they have no alignment. The use of "unaligned" for creatures

950-450: A high value on personal freedom, not only for oneself but for others as well. Chaotic good characters usually intend to do the right thing, but their methods are generally disorganized and often out of sync with the rest of society. Examples of this alignment include copper dragons, many elves, and unicorns. A lawful neutral character typically believes strongly in lawful concepts such as honor, order, rules, and tradition, but often follows

1045-422: A human in daylight; unlike avian, they have great night vision, and are able to see even when conditions have no light to offer, although in such conditions they cannot discern between colors. All true dragons in Dungeons & Dragons are depicted as intelligent beings, and most of them exceedingly so. A dragon's personality varies by individual, but dragons of the same subrace tend to have similar mindsets. This

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1140-592: A lawful neutral character consistently performs good acts, when neutral or evil actions were possible, the character's alignment will shift to lawful good. During game sessions, the Dungeon Master decides when alignment violations occur, as it is subjective and often frowned upon, if not outright disallowed. Characters acting as a party should have compatible alignments; a party with both good and evil characters may turn against itself. Bill Slavicsek and Richard Baker 's Dungeon Master for Dummies noted that

1235-473: A moral outlook derived from that temperament; these factors underlie the personality and behavior of individual dragons. While dragons typically are not portrayed with wide variances in appearance or personality within a species, exceptions are possible, especially in certain in-game settings, such as Eberron. Because dragons in D&;D are portrayed as monstrous creatures designed to antagonize player characters,

1330-449: A natural flair for magic, but they need to practice and hone their skills and come of age before they are able to use it to any meaningful effect. Dragons are inherently magical beings, and are, contrary to appearances, not reptilian in nature. All true dragons are endothermic, with its body temperature varying based on their age and species. However, unlike a most endothermic creatures, dragons have no way of shedding excess heat; instead,

1425-445: A non-damaging effect (paralysis, repulsion, confusion, etc.). Dragons are noted to be egg-layers, and most are described with sharp teeth, horns, and claws. A dragon in D&D is protected by its scaly hide, the color of which is determined by the dragon's species, and which offers a visual clue to the specific elemental nature of each species of dragon. Each species of dragon has a particular temperament associated with it, as well as

1520-480: A party of good or neutral characters works better as the motivations for adventures are easier, the group dynamics are smoother, and the "heroic aspects of D&D shine through in ways that just don't happen when players play evil characters". The law versus chaos axis in D&D predates good versus evil in the game rules. Originally the law/chaos axis was defined as the distinction between "the belief that everything should follow an order, and that obeying rules

1615-605: A personal code in addition to, or even in preference to, one set down by a benevolent authority. Examples of this alignment include a soldier who always follows orders, a judge or enforcer who adheres mercilessly to the letter of the law, a disciplined monk, and some wizards. A neutral character (also called "true neutral") is neutral on both axes and tends not to feel strongly towards any alignment, or actively seeks their balance. Druids frequently follow this dedication to balance and, under Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rules, were required to be this alignment. In an example given in

1710-796: A process of being transformed into a dragon type being, unique to the Athas world, which took several long stages to complete, but became greatly powerful if achieved. In the Forgotten Realms campaign setting , dragons are very close to the ones in Dragonlance . A sect of cultists called the Cult of the Dragon believes that dragons, particularly undead ones, will rule the world, and are trying to persuade evil dragons to become dracoliches —undead lich -like dragons, which are partially bound to

1805-622: A second axis of good, implying altruism and respect for life, versus evil, implying selfishness and no respect for life. The 1977 release of the Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set incorporated this model. As with the law-versus-chaos axis, a neutral position exists between the extremes. Characters and creatures could be lawful and evil at the same time (such as a tyrant), or chaotic but good (such as Robin Hood ). Advanced Dungeons & Dragons ( AD&D ), released between 1977 and 1979, continued

1900-424: A sense of incredible patience, even in situations where all others feel they've not a second to lose. Similarly, evil-aligned dragons that are crossed by belligerent adventurers may plot for dozens of generations before exacting revenge on the trespasser's line—it is not uncommon for those descended from the mentioned adventurer to find themselves the target of a dragon based simply on their lineage. In many settings,

1995-407: A single character being viewed as several alignments, with each being just as appropriate as the other. While this is alright when it comes to placing favorite movie or anime characters on the D&D alignment chart, the individual interpretation of in-game alignments means players can be upset with where a Dungeon Master places their character or how the setting applies an objective morality to what

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2090-578: A strict code of conduct, blue dragons, and hobgoblins. A neutral evil character is typically selfish and has no qualms about turning on allies-of-the-moment, and usually makes allies primarily to further their own goals. A neutral evil character has no compunctions about harming others to get what they want, but neither will they go out of their way to cause carnage or mayhem when they see no direct benefit for themselves. Another valid interpretation of neutral evil holds up evil as an ideal, doing evil for evil's sake and trying to spread its influence. Examples of

2185-544: A threat looms over all. Keith Baker highlighted that in Eberron "alignment is a spectrum". D&D 4th Edition, released in 2008, reduced the number of alignments to five: lawful good, good, evil, chaotic evil, and unaligned. In that edition, "good" replaced neutral good and did not encompass chaotic good; "evil" replaced neutral evil and did not encompass lawful evil; "unaligned" replaced true neutral and did not encompass lawful neutral and chaotic neutral. 4th Edition

2280-402: A trade paperback that was about half the price of one of fourth edition’s hardcover books; while other boxed sets like Monster Vault (2010) added to the board-game like components of 4e by including not just a book of monsters but also tokens to represent those monsters in-game. Besides making D&D cheaper and simpler for new players, Essentials also walked back some of the changes made by

2375-844: A tribe of orcs to so much smoking hamburger without the slightest hesitation or regrets". The nine alignments can be shown in a grid, as follows: The 3.5 edition Player's Handbook provided archetype examples of each alignment, as shown below. A lawful good character typically acts with compassion and always with honor and a sense of duty. However, lawful good characters will often regret taking any action they fear would violate their code, even if they recognize such action as being good. Such characters include gold dragons, righteous knights, paladins, and most dwarves. A neutral good character typically acts altruistically, without regard for or against lawful precepts such as rules or tradition. A neutral good character has no problems with cooperating with lawful officials, but does not feel beholden to them. In

2470-524: Is a categorization of the ethical and moral perspective of player characters , non-player characters , and creatures. Most versions of the game feature a system in which players make two choices for characters. One is the character's views on " law " versus " chaos ", the other on " good " versus " evil ". The two axes, along with "neutral" in the middle, allow for nine alignments in combination. Later editions of D&D have shifted away from tying alignment to specific game mechanics; instead, alignment

2565-659: Is a common motif in D&D and other fantasy fiction . Although player characters can adventure for personal gain rather than from altruistic motives, it is generally assumed that the player characters will be opposed to evil and will tend to fight evil creatures. The third edition D&D rules define "good" and "evil" as follows: Within the game, altruistic heroes and creatures such as angels are considered good. Villains and violent criminals are considered evil, as are inherently evil creatures such as demons and most undead. Animals are considered neutral even when they attack innocents, because they act on natural instinct and lack

2660-412: Is a special form of D&D magic; dragons can cast spells with just a few words, rather than a sometimes long and complex ritual involving words, gestures and preparations like other D&D wizards. In 3 and 3.5 editions dragons cast spells spontaneously like sorcerers do, sometimes having a wider choice of spells. Dragons also radiate a mystical fear aura around them. After a millennium or two,

2755-415: Is a way to categorize players' characters, along with gender, race, character class , and sometimes nationality. Alignment was designed to help define role-playing , a character's alignment being seen as their outlook on life. A player decides how a character should behave in assigning an alignment, and should then play the character in accordance with that alignment. A character's alignment can change. If

2850-469: Is based around a society of dragons and their servitors and uses the standard D&D dragon races and dragon gods. It has detailed rules for creating and playing dragon PCs and NPCs, including various draconic character classes . In the Eberron campaign setting , three dragon gods have created the world: Siberys, Eberron and Khyber. Siberys and Eberron waged war against Khyber and imprisoned it within

2945-528: Is expressed as an affinity for some type of elemental power. Some dragon species are naturally able to cast magical spells as well. Most dragons in D&D have the ability to breathe or expel one or more types of energy associated with their elemental affinity, as well as to resist some damage or injury from other sources of such energy. Some dragons have two different kinds of breath weapons, usually one that can cause physical harm to player characters (fire, ice, acid, lightning, etc.) and another that typically has

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3040-639: Is not always true; several exceptions exist in official D&D material. Dragon subraces encompass all Dungeons & Dragons alignments , going from lawful good paladin-like gold dragons to the cruel and very greedy chaotic evil red dragons. All dragons share a common desire to collect treasure, be it precious, beautiful, magical or just shiny—indeed, the treasure in question needn't always be gold, and may sometimes be aesthetic in nature, ranging from popular artwork or sculptures or even rare books and tomes that might otherwise have an overwhelming monetary value. For evil-aligned dragons, this generally directs

3135-455: Is now "more of a storytelling tool" than something with "mechanical benefits", adding that "the history of the mechanic means that Wizards of the Coast is unlikely to ever remove it in entirely, but the current nine options are outdated and should either be improved or changed outright". Pilon highlighted that "the variety of ways each individual alignment can be interpreted or justified can lead to

3230-591: Is the cone or line shaped weapon exhaled by dragons in D&D . Each type of dragon has a different breath weapon. The chromatic dragons have one breath weapon and the metallic dragons have two. Other dragons and semi-dragons frequently have breath weapons. One example is the dragon turtle's cone of steam breath weapon. Breath weapons typically come in one of three forms. Breath weapons typically are composed of one of several materials (gem dragons may have breath weapons of other materials, such as psychic energy and thunderous bursts of sound). True dragons are born with

3325-448: Is the natural way of life", as opposed to "the belief that life is random, and that chance and luck rule the world". According to the early rulebook, lawful characters are driven to protect the interest of the group above the interest of the individual and would strive to be honest and to obey just and fair laws. Chaotic creatures and individuals embraced the individual above the group and viewed laws and honesty as unimportant. At that time,

3420-420: Is used as a roleplaying guide and does not need to be rigidly adhered to by the player. According to Ian Livingstone , alignment is "often criticized as being arbitrary and unreal, but... it works if played well and provides a useful structural framework on which not only characters but governments and worlds can be moulded." D&D co-creator Gary Gygax credited the inspiration for the alignment system to

3515-646: The Monstrous Manual (1993). The onyx dragon, jade dragon, ruby dragon and amber dragon appeared in the Monstrous Compendium Mystara Appendix (1994). The chromatic dragons (black, blue, green, red, and white), and the metallic dragons (brass, bronze, copper, gold, and silver) appeared in the third edition in the Monster Manual (2000), and in the revised 3.5 Monster Manual (2003). The Gem dragons appeared in

3610-800: The Spelljammer: AD&;D Adventures in Space boxed set (1989). The dragons of Krynn', the amphi dragon, the astral dragon, the kodragon, the othlorx dragon, and the sea dragon appeared in the Monstrous Compendium Dragonlance Appendix (1990) . The cloud dragon, the Greyhawk dragon, the mist dragon, and the shadow dragon appeared in the Monstrous Compendium Greyhawk Appendix (1990). The adamantite dragon appeared in

3705-477: The World of Greyhawk campaign setting , later appearing in other settings like the Forgotten Realms . They have hair-like spines around their heads, cat-like bodies with vaguely human-like faces, and scales resembling steel armor. They are much like the other races of metallic dragon with one primary exception: they prefer to maintain the form of another sentient race in order to mingle with, infiltrate, and study

3800-923: The Monster Manual 2 and Draconomicon: Metallic Dragons . Catastrophe dragons are presented in Monster Manual 3 . Planar dragons have been presented in both Draconomicon: Chromatic Dragons and Draconomicon: Metallic Dragons . The five basic chromatic dragons (red, blue, green, black, and white) and metallic dragons (copper, brass, silver, gold, and bronze) appeared in the fifth edition Monster Manual (2014) in wyrmling, young, adult, and ancient. Gem dragons and other new-to-fifth-edition dragons appeared in Fizban's Treasury of Dragons (2021). In D&D , true dragons continue to become more powerful as they mature and age; they grow bigger and stronger, become more resistant to damage and magic, their breath weapon become increasingly dangerous and their knowledge and magical abilities improves. Old dragons can cast draconic magic which

3895-575: The Monstrous Compendium Fiend Folio Appendix (1992). The chromatic dragons (black dragon, blue dragon, green dragon, red dragon, and white dragon), the gem dragons (amethyst dragon, crystal dragon, emerald dragon, sapphire dragon, and topaz dragon), metallic dragons (brass dragon, bronze dragon, copper dragon, gold dragon, and silver dragon), brown dragon, cloud dragon, deep dragon, mercury dragon, mist dragon, shadow dragon, steel dragon, and yellow dragon appeared in

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3990-848: The Monstrous Compendium Outer Planes Appendix (1991). The moon dragon, the sun dragon, and the stellar dragon appeared in the Monstrous Compendium Spelljammer Appendix (1991). The deep dragon appeared in the Monstrous Compendium Forgotten Realms Appendix II (1991). The gem dragons (the amethyst dragon, the crystal dragon, the emerald dragon, the sapphire dragon, and the topaz dragon) first appeared in The Dragon magazine #037 (May 1980), and then appeared again in

4085-658: The Monstrous Compendium Volume One (1989). The faerie dragon, and the Oriental dragons—lung wang (sea dragon), pan lung (coiled dragon), shen lung (spirit dragon), t'ien lung (celestial dragon), tun mi lung (typhoon dragon), yu lung (carp dragon), chiang ling (river dragon), and li lung (earth dragon)—appeared in the Monstrous Compendium Forgotten Realms Appendix (1989). The radiant dragon appeared in

4180-590: The god - king of the metallic dragons is Bahamut , the Platinum Dragon, and the goddess and queen of the chromatic dragons is Tiamat , the Five-Headed Dragon. She is based on the Tiamat from Babylonian mythology , who was considered the evil mother of dragons, though the appearances of the fictional deity differs greatly from its model. The progenitor and supreme deity of all dragons in

4275-477: The moral panic surrounding the game. In D&D , dragons are depicted as any of various species of large, intelligent, magical, reptilian beasts, each typically defined by a combination of their demeanor and either the color of their scales or their elemental affinity. For example, a commonly presented species of dragon is the red dragon, which is named for its red scales, and known for its evil and greedy nature, as well as its ability to breathe fire . In

4370-556: The "Fifth Age", massive Chromatic Dragons who were not native to Krynn emerged and took over many of the humanoid-controlled nations of Krynn, as well as slaying many of the native dragons. They are known as Dragon Overlords. There was one from each race of Chromatic Dragons; red, green, black, white, and blue. In the world of Athas of the Dark Sun campaign setting , normal D&D dragons do not exist. Dragon-like drake races exist, one for each classical element , but for most people

4465-465: The 11th episode of season 7 of The Walking Dead television series, the character Eugene Porter makes a reference to the D&D alignment system when describing himself as "...not good. I’m not lawful, neutral, or chaotic." The alignment chart Internet meme humorously categorizes various items—often characters from works of pop culture—in a three-by-three grid. The system has also been used in research into how people create virtual avatars in

4560-424: The 2nd Edition Player's Handbook , a typical druid might fight against a band of marauding gnolls, only to switch sides to save the gnolls' clan from being totally exterminated. Examples of this alignment include lizardfolk, most druids, and many humans. A chaotic neutral character is an individualist who follows their own heart and generally shirks rules and traditions. Although chaotic neutral characters promote

4655-593: The 2nd, 3rd, or 4th editions of D&D may be found in their respective editions of the Draconomicon , a supplement book designed to provide players with more information about dragons; fifth edition has the similarly-themed Fizban's Treasury of Dragons . No such book was published for the first edition, although the Basic game had a Bestiary of Dragons and Giants ( coded AC10). Medieval literature scholar Thomas Honegger considered it "no coincidence" that

4750-402: The 4e rules, such as getting rid of fighters' daily powers, to once more increase the differentiation between fighter and spellcaster classes." Monster Vault received the silver ENnie Award for Best Monster/Adversary. Dragon (Dungeons %26 Dragons) In the Dungeons & Dragons ( D&D ) fantasy role-playing game , dragons are an iconic type of monstrous creature. As

4845-634: The Battle of Deismaar, the only verified alive and awake dragons right now are the dragon of Vstaive Peaks in Vosgaard, also known as Vore Lekiniskiy and Kappenkriaucheran who inhabits the Drachenward mountains and controls their magic. The most famous of the dragons is Tarazin the Grey who has not been seen for several decades when the official campaign begins. The only known Dracolich is Komassa who lives in

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4940-477: The Dracorage, was invoked causing countless dragons to rampage throughout Faerûn. A novel trilogy, The Year of Rogue Dragons set ( The Rage , The Rite , and The Ruin ) by Richard Lee Byers , as well as a game accessory, Dragons of Faerûn , details the exploits and deeds of several dragons as the Dracorage swept the continent. Steel dragons , originally known as Greyhawk dragons, are those originating in

5035-560: The Frostmaiden (2020) and Tasha's Cauldron of Everything (2020), player and monster races no longer had preassigned alignments. In December 2021, official errata removed the suggested alignments for playable races in 5th Edition sourcebooks. Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse (2022), a sourcebook which revised roughly 250 previously published monsters, removed preassigned alignments for creatures except in

5130-628: The Great One, Ruler of All Dragonkind) in the Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia (1991). The five chaotic-aligned dragon types from the 1974 boxed set, as well as the gold dragon and the four new dragon types from the Greyhawk supplement (the copper dragon, brass dragon, bronze dragon, and silver dragon) appeared in first edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons in the original Monster Manual (1977), along with Bahamut and Tiamat. The former five dragon types were given as evil-aligned, while

5225-708: The Platinum Dragon is called Paladine, and the Dragon Queen is called Takhisis . Dragons are divided up into good and evil groups, known as the Metallic Dragons and the Chromatic Dragons, respectively. Paladine leads the Metallic Dragons and Takhisis the Chromatic. The Metallic Dragons rarely became involved in the world other than to oppose the actions of Chromatic Dragons, who often joined into war as their goddess Takhisis instructed. However, in

5320-575: The Shadow World. Dragons in Birthright are meant to be rare and powerful beings and only rarely if ever appear in any adventure. Chromatic dragon is a classification of fictional dragon. Chromatic dragons are typically of evil alignment, in contrast to the metallic dragons, which are typically of good alignment. Chromatic dragons have played a large role in various D&D monster compilation books: white, black, green, blue and red dragons being

5415-422: The abilities of true dragons. Examples of lesser dragons include dragon turtles and wyverns . Other creatures with the dragon type include drakes, felldrakes, elemental drakes, landwyrms, linnorms and wurms. With D&D 4th edition , the classifications were changed: chromatic dragons turned not strictly evil, and metallic dragons proved not necessarily good. Also, there are several new categories (although

5510-528: The cases of specifically named characters. Creature stat blocks that also have playable races "now state that they can be any alignment" while "other monsters, such as demons, with a strong association to a given alignment feature the word 'typically' next to their alignment. This insinuates that exceptions to a preassigned alignment are possible, encouraging DMs to potentially subvert player expectations and utilize monsters in unanticipated ways". Richard Bartle 's Designing Virtual Worlds noted that alignment

5605-518: The classic chromatic dragons. Tiamat is the queen of chromatic dragons, based on the evil mother of all dragons from Babylonian mythology . The classification of "chromatic dragons" was used in the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons second edition Monstrous Manual (1993), although the dragons comprising the category had been in print since the original Dungeons & Dragons "white box" set (1974). The term continued to be used in

5700-729: The cult by the rituals which grant them their undead status. Additionally, in the D&D supplement book The Draconomicon , several other undead varieties of the dragon – ghost, skeleton, vampire, and zombie dragons – are described. A series called Wyrms of the North ran in Dragon magazine issues #230 through #259 and was later updated to third edition rules on Wizards of the Coast's website (see external links). Each article detailed an individual dragon of significance in Faerûn . Lately an ancient affliction that attacks dragons, rendering them mad;

5795-563: The cultures of men and their ilk. Few people know when they are interacting with a Steel Dragon, but they always have a feature which betrays them by resembling their natural complexion. Within the Greyhawk setting, such dragons are known to have made journeys into other material planes where they have come to be called steel dragons. The Council of Wyrms campaign setting is the only one that allows for dragon player characters in its base rules. (The Draconomicon introduces rules for dragon PCs in standard Dungeons & Dragons .) The setting

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5890-464: The depths of the earth. In the end, all three dragons merged with the land: Siberys becoming the sky, Eberron the continents and Khyber the underground world. Dragons are apart from civilization, which is mostly concentrated on the continent of Khorvaire. They live on the continent of Argonnessen, a rather unknown place, since dragons are very territorial, it makes exploration often hazardous. The dragons used to rule over Eberron many centuries ago, but at

5985-459: The digital world. For example, the computer role-playing game Neverwinter Nights 2 inherits the D&D alignment system and researchers have used the NW2 avatar creation process to show that American undergraduate students tend to select avatars that are similar to their own moral values. Zachary Pilon, for Comic Book Resources , commented that alignment in 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons

6080-464: The dragon's next dinner. The longevity of dragons is evident in their often lackadaisical attitudes. Good-aligned dragons, while concerned with defeating evil, are able to see a much broader scope of the world, and although certain crises arise that may seem extremely important to good-aligned humans, their dragon counterparts are able to see the event as an unimportant hiccup that will pass in mere centuries; even those that adventure with others tend show

6175-804: The end of the Dragon-Fiend war, against the demons and devils of Khyber, they departed from Khorvaire to go to Argonnessen. Dragons are immersed in the Draconic Prophecy, a legend which all bits of information are scattered throughout the world and that the outcome is unknown. They see every event as an important event in the Prophecy, and they even form an organization called the Chamber, where they send their brethren in search of clues. They can be of any alignment, like any creature in Eberron, so

6270-430: The event that doing the right thing requires the bending or breaking of rules, they do not suffer the same inner conflict that a lawful good character would. Examples of this alignment include many celestials, some cloud giants, and most gnomes. A chaotic good character does whatever is necessary to bring about change for the better, disdains bureaucratic organizations that get in the way of social improvement, and places

6365-696: The fantasy stories of Michael Moorcock and Poul Anderson . The original version of D&D (1974) allowed players to choose among three alignments when creating a character: lawful, implying honor and respect for society's rules; chaotic, implying rebelliousness and individualism ; and neutral, seeking a balance between the extremes. In 1976, Gary Gygax published an article title "The Meaning of Law and Chaos in Dungeons and Dragons and Their Relationships to Good and Evil" in The Strategic Review Volume 2, issue 1, that introduced

6460-597: The first type are an assassin who has little regard for formal laws but does not needlessly kill, a henchman who plots behind their superior's back, or a mercenary who readily switches sides if made a better offer. An example of the second type would be a masked killer who strikes only for the sake of causing fear and distrust in the community. Examples of this alignment include many drow, some cloud giants, and yugoloths. A chaotic evil character tends to have no respect for rules, other people's lives, or anything but their own desires, which are typically selfish and cruel. They set

6555-549: The fourth edition Monster Manual (2008). Chromatic dragons were again presented in the Draconomicon: Chromatic Dragons . This supplement also included three more chromatic dragon types: the brown dragon (aka, sand dragon), the grey dragon (aka, fang dragon), and the purple dragon (aka, deep dragon). The adamantine dragon, copper dragon, gold dragon, iron dragon, and silver dragon appeared in the Monster Manual 2 (2009). Metallic dragons are presented in

6650-425: The game is known as Io. Other deities often included in the draconic pantheon of gods include Aasterinian , Chronepsis , and Faluzure . Other draconic gods may be present in different campaign settings. The Dragonlance novels and campaign setting , which had the idea of "a world were dragons dominated" as a core concept of its development, helped popularize the D&D -derived perspective on dragons. Here

6745-533: The game, dragons are usually adversaries of player characters , and less commonly, allies or helpers. Powerful and intelligent, the fictional dragons of Dungeons & Dragons are usually reptiles with magical abilities and breath weapons. The different sub-species, distinguished by their coloring, vary in power. Despite the variety of dragons in D&D , a number of traits are common to nearly all types of dragons. All species are portrayed as generally reptilian or serpentine in their natural form. Except for

6840-503: The gem dragons did not return): "planar dragons" which are defined as dragons that were warped by living on a plane of existence other than the Material Plane, "catastrophe dragons", which take on the aspects of natural disasters which are chaotic evil and cause chaos for its own sake, and "scourge dragons". The five chromatic dragon types (black, blue, green, red, and white) appeared in young, adult, elder, and ancient variants in

6935-419: The heat is extracted via an organ known as the draconis fundamentum, where it is transformed into energy for the creature. A dragon is also unaffected by a lack of external heat, without slowing their metabolism nor activity level. The number of eggs laid each time depends on the race of the dragon, but is usually low (between one and ten). Dragons can also cross-breed with virtually any other creature, creating

7030-487: The ideals of freedom, it is their own freedom that comes first; good and evil come second to their need to be free. Examples of this alignment include many barbarians and rogues, and some bards. A lawful evil character sees a well-ordered system as being necessary to fulfill their own personal wants and needs, using these systems to further their power and influence. Examples of this alignment include tyrants, devils, corrupt officials, undiscriminating mercenary types who have

7125-410: The intelligence to make moral decisions; in the fifth edition, this is expressed by labeling such beasts as "unaligned". According to Greg Littmann, the predetermined assignment of an alignment to monsters means that they are good or evil by nature. Nevertheless, the rules do allow for individual variances, permitting "a red dragon looking to defect to the side of good"—even though Littmann acknowledges

7220-516: The latter five dragon types were given as good-aligned. The ten dragon types were given pseudoscientific names as follows: black ( draco causticus sputem ), blue ( draco electricus ), brass ( draco impudentus gallus ), bronze ( draco gerus bronzo ), copper ( draco comes stabuli ), gold ( draco orientalus sino dux ), green ( draco chlorinous nauseous respiratorus ), red ( draco conflagratio horriblis ), silver ( draco nobilis argentum ), and white ( draco rigidus frigidus ). The Oriental dragons appeared in

7315-456: The majority of dragons in D&D are described as evil by default. This was more prominent in the original Dungeons & Dragons releases (such as the Dungeons & Dragons "white box" set (1974) and Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set ) where only the gold dragon was specified to be lawful good while all other colors were noted to be chaotic evil (red, green, black) or neutral evil (blue, white). Detailed information about dragonkind in

7410-563: The most ancient inhabitants of the continent, predating even elves and dwarves. Perhaps once there were many, but over the years, in-fighting and fighting the younger races have taken their toll. There are only a half dozen dragons known to be left. All living dragons are of the Old age or higher. Dragons are extremely intelligent and knowledgeable, conserving much lore that has been lost to the younger races. They speak their own language; some also speak Elven or Dwarven. Some of these dragons took part in

7505-560: The original Dungeons & Dragons "white box" set (1974). The Greyhawk Campaign supplement (1975) added the copper dragon, brass dragon, bronze dragon, and silver dragon, along with the Platinum Dragon ( Bahamut ) and the Chromatic Dragon ( Tiamat ). "Dragon" was one of the protected terms from the works of J. R. R. Tolkien involved in a lawsuit between rights holder Saul Zaentz and TSR in 1977. The white dragon, black dragon, red dragon and brass dragon reappeared in

7600-786: The original Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set (1977). The six dragons from the 1974 boxed set appeared in the Dungeons & Dragons Basic Rulebook (1981), and again in the 1983 version of the Basic Set (1983). These six appeared along with the gemstone dragons (crystal dragon, onyx dragon, jade dragon, sapphire dragon, ruby dragon and amber dragon), and the dragon rulers (Pearl (the Moon Dragon), Ruler of all Chaotic Dragons; Diamond (the Star Dragon), Ruler of all Lawful Dragons; Opal (the Sun Dragon), Ruler of all Neutral Dragons; and

7695-566: The original Fiend Folio (1981), including the li lung (earth dragon), the lung wang (sea dragon), the pan lung (coiled dragon), the shen lung (spirit dragon), the t'ien lung (celestial dragon), and the yu lung (carp dragon). The cloud dragon, the faerie dragon, the mist dragon, and the shadow dragon appeared in the original Monster Manual II (1983). In the second edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons ( AD&D ), dragons were altered heavily from their first edition equivalents and were made much more powerful with magic resistance, removing

7790-502: The rarity of such situations. As 5th Edition developed, it removed preassigned alignments to races and monsters. While some monsters have a "strong association to a given alignment", nature is determined by the Dungeon Master. Although good characters can be defined as having a respect for others, Littmann notes that this does not necessarily extend to the treatment of evil creatures—"a party of good characters will chop and char

7885-464: The rulebook specified that "chaotic behavior is usually the same as behavior that could be called 'evil ' ". Neutral creatures and characters believe in the importance of both groups and individuals, and felt that law and chaos are both important. They believe in maintaining the balance between law and chaos and were often motivated by self-interest. The third edition D&D rules define "law" and "chaos" as follows: The conflict of good versus evil

7980-529: The same alignment system. However the Eberron Campaign Setting (2004), released for 3.5 Edition, subverted many of the established D&D tropes including alignment. Evil beings of traditionally good races and good beings of traditionally evil races were encouraged but the alignment definition remained true to D&D standards, with good and evil retaining their meanings. Oppositely aligned characters will side with each other briefly if

8075-428: The seminal role-playing game "features the dragon, a most formidable opponent, as the second element of its name" as the "recognition of the dragon as the most dangerous animal is traditional" in epic literature. Five evil-aligned dragons (white dragon, black dragon, green dragon, blue dragon, and red dragon), and the lawful-good aligned golden dragon (in ascending order of magic power and capabilities) first appeared in

8170-435: The subdual rules, and now had more physical attack forms besides claws and bites. AD&D 2nd edition and D&D 3rd edition divided true dragons further into three main categories: chromatic dragons which are evil- aligned ; metallic dragons which are good; and neutral-aligned gem dragons , rare creatures that possess psionic abilities. In addition, there were other subspecies of true dragons that did not fit into

8265-506: The third edition in the Monster Manual II . The third edition of D&D classifies dragon as a type of creature, simply defined as "a reptilelike creature, usually winged, with magical or unusual abilities". The dragon type is broken down into several classifications. True dragons are dragons which increase in power by age categories (wyrmling to great wyrm). Lesser dragons do not improve in age categories and may lack all of

8360-474: The third, fourth and fifth editions of the Monster Manual . The German magazine Envoyer commented that the artistic rendering of dragons in the game evolved positively through the editions, giving the different races more distinctive characteristics aside from color. Alignment (Dungeons %26 Dragons) In the Dungeons & Dragons ( D&D ) fantasy role-playing game , alignment

8455-629: The three main categories. For example, mercury and steel dragons would seem to be metallic dragons, but in the Dungeons & Dragons world they are considered to be outside of the main family of metallic dragons because of various biological differences (though the book Dragons of Faerûn did list them as metallic dragons). The "lung dragons" or spirit-dragons of Oriental Adventures are also true dragons. The black dragon, blue dragon, brass dragon, bronze dragon, copper dragon, gold dragon, green dragon, red dragon, silver dragon, and white dragon appeared in second edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons in

8550-441: The two-axis system. The 1981 version of the Basic Set went back to the earlier one-axis alignment system. AD&D 2nd Edition , released in 1988, retained the two-axis system. In that edition, a character who performs too many actions outside their alignment can find their alignment changed, and is penalized by losing experience points, making it harder to reach the next level. D&D 3rd Edition, released in 2000, kept

8645-568: The word dragon refers to the Dragon of Tyr, who is a very powerful sorcerer-king (the tyrannic leaders of Athasian cities, who are both masters of magic and psi abilities) who transformed himself into a dragon-like creature using very powerful (and painful) magic. However, this dragon (Bors or Borys) was eventually killed in Troy Denning 's book The Cerulean Storm by his former master, the sorcerer Rajaat. Several other sorcerer kings had been rumored to be dragons, but all others were only in

8740-433: The youngest dragons, they are described as quite large—usually at least as big as a horse, and often much larger. Most species are depicted to have wings and be capable of flight, and nearly all are quadrupedal . Almost all species of dragon are depicted as highly intelligent (at least as intelligent as a human being) and are able to speak. All species of dragon are noted to be magical in nature, and in most species this nature

8835-413: Was decoupled from most of the D&D game mechanics, such as "no rules that limit certain classes to characters of a specific alignment, or spells that impact characters differently depending on" alignment. Players do not need to be rigid or "consistently faithful" to their alignment choice; alignment in this edition is more of a roleplaying guide. Starting with the publication of Icewind Dale: Rime of

8930-634: Was introduced in the 4th edition, and retained in 5th edition. The D&D alignment system is occasionally referenced as a system of moral classification in other contexts. Salon television critic Heather Havrilesky , while reviewing the HBO television series True Blood , analyzed the program's characters in terms of D&D alignments and identified protagonist Sookie Stackhouse as chaotic good, her vampire boyfriend Bill Compton as lawful neutral, Eric Northman as lawful evil, and Lafayette Reynolds as chaotic neutral. In " Hostiles and Calamities ",

9025-511: Was the start of de-emphasizing alignment in D&D . Wired highlighted that 4th Edition's de-emphasis of "alignment and traditional racial stereotypes", along with other adjustments to the core races, allowed for more "PCs and NPCs with unknown and shifting motives". D&D 5th Edition, released in 2014, returned to the previous schema of nine alignments, and included a tenth option of "unaligned" for creatures that operate on instinct, not moral decision-making. With 5th Edition, alignment

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