Vote Up a Monster (3.X) #5: 28 Votes Later (Monster Complete, PEACH)

[Zeta Kai]

Dragon, Spirit

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A spirit dragon in its natural form.

Type: Dragon (Incorporeal)
Environment: any
Organization: Wyrmling, Very Young, Young, Juvenile, & Young Adult: solitary or clutch (2-5); Adult, Mature Adult, Old, Very Old, Ancient, Wyrm, or Great Wyrm: solitary, pair, or family (1-2 & 2-5 offspring)
Challenge Rating: Wyrmling 8, Very Young 10, Young 12, Juvenile 14, Young Adult 16, Adult 18, Mature Adult 20, Old 22, Very Old 24, Ancient 26, Wyrm 28, Great Wyrm 30
Treasure: triple standard
Alignment: often Chaotic Neutral
Advancement: Wyrmling 13-14HD, Very Young 16-17HD, Young 19-20HD, Juvenile 22-23HD, Young Adult 25-26HD, Adult 28-29HD, Mature Adult 31-32HD, Old 34-35HD, Very Old 37-39HD, Ancient 41-43HD, Wyrm 45-47HD, Great Wyrm 49+HD
Level Adjustment: Wyrmling +5, Very Young +6, Young +7, Juvenile +8, & all others N/A

A spirit dragon is a strange & terrible sight to behold, in any form. The creature looks like the skeleton of a dragon, with a faint glowing outline of a fully-fleshed dragon surrounding its bones. Sometimes, especially when the dragon is angry or otherwise excited, a colorful glowing orb will appear in their empty eye sockets, signifying the intensity & nature of their mood. In these states, their outline will become more defined as well, to the point where ethereal scales can be seen on their spectral hide. Faint whispers in forgotten tongues can be heard whenever they are near.

Also known as a lhuxeiodraakh, a spirit dragon is the essence of a normal dragon that has undergone a ritual to prolong its already-protracted life by being reborn as a ghostly version of its former self. As an alternative to becoming a dracolich, the path of a spirit dragon is an appealing one for those dragons who dislike the apotheoses of death (known to some as the Twilight) & the alternatives in equal measure. Spirit dragons are treated with great respect by other dragons, as well as no small measure of fear.

Most spirit dragons spend their days pursuing the interests that they had in their previous lives. However, as they are not undead, yet not fully among the living, they tend not to take much notice of worldly issues. Because of this, they tend not to defend their territorial claims or engage in maneuvers of Xorvintaal. This makes them less obviously dangerous than other dragon types, yet their unearthly appearance & great power makes them fearsome creatures nonetheless.

Table 1-1: Spirit Dragons by Age

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{table=head]Age|Size|Hit Dice (HP)|Strength|Dexterity|Constitution|Intelligence| Wisdom|Charisma|BAB/Grapple|Attack|Fortitude|Reflex|Will|Breath Weapon (DC)|Frightful Presence DC
Wyrmling|Small|12d12+36 (114)|--|20 (+5)|17 (+3)|12 (+1)|13 (+1)|10 (+0)|+12/--|+18|+11|+13|+9|3d6 (19)|16
Very Young|Small|15d12+60 (157)|--|23 (+6)|19 (+4)|14 (+2)|15 (+2)|12 (+1)|+15/--|+22|+13|+15|+11|6d6 (21)|20
Young|Medium|18d12+90 (207)|--|26 (+8)|21 (+5)|16 (+3)|17 (+3)|14 (+2)|+18/--|+26|+16|+19|+14|9d6 (24)|23
Juvenile|Medium|21d12+126 (262)|--|29 (+9)|23 (+6)|18 (+4)|19 (+4)|16 (+3)|+21/--|+30|+18|+21|+16|12d6 (26)|26
Young Adult|Large|24d12+168 (324)|--|32 (+11)|25 (+7)|20 (+5)|21 (+5)|18 (+4)|+24/--|+34|+21|+25|+19|15d6 (29)|29
Adult|Large|27d12+216 (391)|--|35 (+12)|27 (+8)|22 (+6)|23 (+6)|20 (+5)|+27/--|+38|+23|+27|+21|18d6 (31)|32
Mature Adult|Huge|30d12+270 (465)|--|38 (+14)|29 (+9)|24 (+7)|25 (+7)|20 (+5)|+30/--|+42|+26|+31|+24|21d6 (34)|36
Old|Huge|33d12+330 (544)|--|41 (+15)|31 (+10)|26 (+8)|27 (+8)|22 (+6)|+33/--|+46|+28|+33|+26|24d6 (36)|37
Very Old|Gargantuan|36d12+396 (630)|--|44 (+17)|33 (+11)|28 (+9)|29 (+9)|24 (+7)|+36/--|+49|+31|+37|+29|27d6 (39)|40
Ancient|Gargantuan|40d12+480 (740)|--|47 (+18)|35 (+12)|30 (+10)|31 (+10)|26 (+8)|+40/--|+54|+34|+40|+32|30d6 (42)|43
Wyrm|Colossal|44d12+572 (858)|--|50 (+20)|37 (+13)|32 (+12)|33 (+11)|28 (+9)|+44/--|+56|+37|+44|+35|33d6 (45)|46
Great Wyrm|Colossal|48d12+672 (984)|--|53 (+21)|39 (+14)|34 (+14)|35 (+12)|30 (+10)|+48/--|+61|+40|+47|+38|36d6 (48)|49[/table]

Table 1-2: Spirit Dragon Abilities by Age

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{table=head]Age|Speed|Initiative|AC|Special Abilities|Caster Level|SR
Wyrmling|5’, fly 120’ (average)|+5|17 (+1 size, +5 Dex, +1 deflection), touch 17, flat-footed 12|Glorious Manifestation, Immunity to Sonics|2nd|20
Very Young|5’, fly 120’ (average)|+6|18 (+1 size, +6 Dex, +1 deflection), touch 18, flat-footed 12|magic missile|4th|22
Young|5’, fly 160’ (poor)|+8|20 (+8 Dex, +2 deflection), touch 20, flat-footed 12|DR 5/magic|6th|24
Juvenile|5’, fly 160’ (poor)|+9|22 (+9 Dex, +3 deflection), touch 22, flat-footed 13|glitterdust|8th|26
Young Adult|5’, fly 160’ (poor)|+11|24 (-1 size, +11 Dex, +4 deflection), touch 24, flat-footed 13|DR 10/magic|10th|28
Adult|5’, fly 160’ (poor)|+12|26 (-1 size, +12 Dex, +5 deflection), touch 26, flat-footed 14|greater invisibility|12th|30
Mature Adult|5’, fly 160’ (poor)|+14|27 (-2 size, +14 Dex, +5 deflection), touch 27, flat-footed 13|DR 15/magic|14th|32
Old|5’, fly 160’ (poor)|+15|29 (-2 size, +15 Dex, +6 deflection), touch 29, flat-footed 14|telekinesis|16th|34
Very Old|5’, fly 160’ (poor)|+17|30 (-4 size, +17 Dex, +7 deflection), touch 30, flat-footed 13|DR 20/magic|18th|36
Ancient|5’, fly 200’ (clumsy)|+18|32 (-4 size, +18 Dex, +8 deflection), touch 32, flat-footed 14|disintegrate|20th|38
Wyrm|5’, fly 200’ (clumsy)|+20|31 (-8 size, +20 Dex, +9 deflection), touch 31, flat-footed 11|DR 25/magic|22nd|40
Great Wyrm|5’, fly 200’ (clumsy)|+21|33 (-8 size, +21 Dex, +10 deflection), touch 33, flat-footed 12|insanity|24th|42[/table]

Combat
A spirit dragon is difficult to see clearly, given its ghostly nature, & it will often use this fact to great tactical advantage. They will often hide within walls or under the ground to become even harder to detect, waiting to ambush their prey. Once they are ready to strike, they usually start combat with their breath weapon, or magic missile (for very young dragons). The youngest of spirit dragons use the skies to their advantage, taking flight & using hit-&-run tactics to decimate their foes; they still possess the memories of their old life, & they rely on their past tactics to survive while they are still “young” & weak. Older dragons prefer to be left alone, & so they typically rely on their spell-like abilities to rid themselves of any nuisances. They consider retreating to be a mark of great shame, so they are loathe to run away from a battle unless they are sure to lose. They do not breed, so they have no eggs to protect, but they will often have pet projects left over from their previous lives. The projects are sometimes the impetus for their reincarnation, so they will usually be defended by the dragons to the death.

Breath Weapon (Su): A spirit dragon has one type of breath weapon, a cone of sonic damage.

Antimagic (Ex): Three times per day, a spirit dragon can emit an antimagic field centered upon itself. This field has a 40’ radius, & lasts up to 1 hour. A spirit dragon can dismiss its own field as a free action, but any time remaining on the effect is wasted. Activating a field is a swift action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity. While its field is active, a spirit dragon can remain incorporeal, but all restrictions on supernatural & spell-like abilities apply.

Glorious Manifestation (Su): Once per day, as an immediate action, a spirit dragon can unveil its full magnificence, frightening & blinding those around them. While manifesting, the dragon loses its Incorporeal subtype, along with all related traits. Its Strength score during this time is equal to its Dexterity score. Any creature within 40’ of a spirit dragon that is manifesting in this manner must make a successful Fortitude save (DC = 10 + ½ of the dragon’s HD + the dragon’s Charisma modifier) or be blinded for 1 hour. A spirit dragon can maintain this form for a number of minutes equal to their Charisma bonus (minimum 1 minute). A spirit dragon can dismiss its manifestation as a free action, but any time remaining on the effect is wasted.

Spell-Like Abilities

• At will: magic missile (very young or older), glitterdust (juvenile or older)
• 3/day: greater invisibility (adult or older), telekinesis (old or older)
• 1/day: disintegrate (ancient or older), insanity (great wyrm)

Skills: Hide, Intimidate, & Spot are considered class skills for spirit dragons. A spirit dragon has a +8 racial bonus on Hide checks.

Dragon Traits: A dragon possesses the following traits:

• Darkvision out to 60’ & low-light vision.
• Immunity to magic sleep effects & paralysis effects.
• Proficient with its natural weapons only unless humanoid in form (or capable of assuming humanoid form), in which case proficient with all simple weapons & any weapons mentioned in its entry.
• Proficient with no armor.
• Dragons eat, sleep, & breathe.

Incorporeal Subtype
An incorporeal creature has no physical body. It can be harmed only by other incorporeal creatures, magic weapons or creatures that strike as magic weapons, & spells, spell-like abilities, or supernatural abilities. It is immune to all non-magical attack forms. Even when hit by spells or magic weapons, it has a 50% chance to ignore any damage from a corporeal source (except for positive energy, negative energy, force effects such as magic missile, or attacks made with ghost touch weapons). Although it is not a magical attack, holy water can affect incorporeal undead, but a hit with holy water has a 50% chance of not affecting an incorporeal creature.

An incorporeal creature has no natural armor bonus but has a deflection bonus equal to its Charisma bonus (always at least +1, even if the creature’s Charisma score does not normally provide a bonus).

An incorporeal creature can enter or pass through solid objects, but must remain adjacent to the object’s exterior, & so cannot pass entirely through an object whose space is larger than its own. It can sense the presence of creatures or objects within a square adjacent to its current location, but enemies have total concealment (50% miss chance) from an incorporeal creature that is inside an object. In order to see farther from the object it is in & attack normally, the incorporeal creature must emerge. An incorporeal creature inside an object has total cover, but when it attacks a creature outside the object it only has cover, so a creature outside with a readied action could strike at it as it attacks. An incorporeal creature cannot pass through a force effect.

An incorporeal creature’s attacks pass through (ignore) natural armor, armor, & shields, although deflection bonuses & force effects (such as mage armor) work normally against it. Incorporeal creatures pass through & operate in water as easily as they do in air. Incorporeal creatures cannot fall or take falling damage. Incorporeal creatures cannot make trip or grapple attacks, nor can they be tripped or grappled. In fact, they cannot take any physical action that would move or manipulate an opponent or its equipment, nor are they subject to such actions. Incorporeal creatures have no weight & do not set off traps that are triggered by weight.

An incorporeal creature moves silently & cannot be heard with Listen checks if it doesn’t wish to be. It has no Strength score, so its Dexterity modifier applies to both its melee attacks & its ranged attacks. Non-visual senses, such as scent & blindsight, are either ineffective or only partly effective with regard to incorporeal creatures. Incorporeal creatures have an innate sense of direction & can move at full speed even when they cannot see.

Monster Lore
Characters that have ranks in Knowledge (Arcana) or Knowledge (Religion) can learn more about spirit dragons. When a character makes a successful skill check, the following lore is revealed, including the information from lower DC’s.

• DC18: “Spirit dragons are ghostly creatures that have prolonged their lives using an arcane ritual.” A character making this check recalls all incorporeal dragon traits.
• DC23: “They possess a breath weapon that produces a cone of painful sound.” A character making this check knows the workings of the Breath Weapon ability.
• DC28: “They are immune to sonics & can Glorious Manifestation from birth. At various stages of its life, a spirit dragon gains damage reduction; young: DR 5/magic, young adult: DR 10/magic, mature adult: DR 15/magic, very old: DR 20/magic, & wyrm: DR 25/magic.”
• DC33: “At various stages of its life, a spirit dragon gains the following special abilities; very young: magic missile, juvenile: glitterdust, adult: greater invisibility, old: telekinesis, ancient: disintegrate, & great wyrm: insanity.”

Manifesting in its full glory, a great wyrm spirit dragon is an awesome & terrifying sight.

Sublime Spirit (ritual)
Requirements

• Race: Must be a chromatic, metallic, or gem dragon.
• Age: Must be of wyrm age (1,001 years) or older.
• Skills: 36+ ranks in Knowledge (arcana) or Spellcraft.
• Spells: The ability to cast reincarnate.

Ritual Benefits
A dragon that wishes to perform this ritual (known to dragons as arkhenylhuxeio) must procure at least 5,000,000GP in silver coins. To begin the ritual, the dragon must meditate for 3 uninterrupted days while lying atop the coins, taking no other actions. The meditation requires a Concentration check (DC10) after each hour; if a check is unsuccessful, then the ritual must continue for 1 additional hour to succeed; if 2 consecutive checks are unsuccessful, then the ritual fails. This ritual provokes attacks of opportunity, & any distraction requires another Concentration check (DC10+).

Once the meditation is complete, the dragon must attack themselves with a slashing or piercing weapon than is able to overcome their damage reduction. They must continue to attack themselves until they are at exactly 0HP. At this point, they must cast reincarnate upon their body as they attack themselves once more dealing the killing blow. After this is done, the dragon must make a Knowledge (arcana) check or a Spellcraft check (DC50). If the check is unsuccessful, then the ritual fails & the dragon will die; if the check succeeds, then the dragon’s body, soul, mind & coins will fuse into a spirit dragon’s egg.

This egg will have 67HP, a hardness of 22, & will hatch within 1 year. The resultant spirit dragon wyrmling will have all the memories of the dragon that it was created from, although its statistics will be completely different. The wyrmling has a 60% chance of maintaining the alignment of the previous dragon; otherwise, its alignment will be transformed by the ritual, becoming Chaotic Neutral.

[LordZarth]

Dragon, Spirit

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A spirit dragon in its natural form.

Type: Dragon (Incorporeal)
Environment: any
Organization: Wyrmling, Very Young, Young, Juvenile, & Young Adult: solitary or clutch (2-5); Adult, Mature Adult, Old, Very Old, Ancient, Wyrm, or Great Wyrm: solitary, pair, or family (1-2 & 2-5 offspring)
Challenge Rating: Wyrmling 8, Very Young 10, Young 12, Juvenile 14, Young Adult 16, Adult 18, Mature Adult 20, Old 22, Very Old 24, Ancient 26, Wyrm 28, Great Wyrm 30
Treasure: triple standard
Alignment: often Chaotic Neutral
Advancement: Wyrmling 13-14HD, Very Young 16-17HD, Young 19-20HD, Juvenile 22-23HD, Young Adult 25-26HD, Adult 28-29HD, Mature Adult 31-32HD, Old 34-35HD, Very Old 37-39HD, Ancient 41-43HD, Wyrm 45-47HD, Great Wyrm 49+HD
Level Adjustment: Wyrmling +5, Very Young +6, Young +7, Juvenile +8, & all others N/A

A spirit dragon is a strange & terrible sight to behold, in any form. The creature looks like the skeleton of a dragon, with a faint glowing outline of a fully-fleshed dragon surrounding its bones. Sometimes, especially when the dragon is angry or otherwise excited, a colorful glowing orb will appear in their empty eye sockets, signifying the intensity & nature of their mood. In these states, their outline will become more defined as well, to the point where ethereal scales can be seen on their spectral hide. Faint whispers in forgotten tongues can be heard whenever they are near.

Also known as a lhuxeiodraakh, a spirit dragon is the essence of a normal dragon that has undergone a ritual to prolong its already-protracted life by being reborn as a ghostly version of its former self. As an alternative to becoming a dracolich, the path of a spirit dragon is an appealing one for those dragons who dislike the apotheoses of death (known to some as the Twilight) & the alternatives in equal measure. Spirit dragons are treated with great respect by other dragons, as well as no small measure of fear.

Most spirit dragons spend their days pursuing the interests that they had in their previous lives. However, as they are not undead, yet not fully among the living, they tend not to take much notice of worldly issues. Because of this, they tend not to defend their territorial claims or engage in maneuvers of Xorvintaal. This makes them less obviously dangerous than other dragon types, yet their unearthly appearance & great power makes them fearsome creatures nonetheless.

Table 1-1: Spirit Dragons by Age

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{table=head]Age|Size|Hit Dice (HP)|Strength|Dexterity|Constitution|Intelligence| Wisdom|Charisma|BAB/Grapple|Attack|Fortitude|Reflex|Will|Breath Weapon (DC)|Frightful Presence DC
Wyrmling|Small|12d12+36 (114)|--|20 (+5)|17 (+3)|12 (+1)|13 (+1)|10 (+0)|+12/--|+18|+11|+13|+9|3d6 (19)|16
Very Young|Small|15d12+60 (157)|--|23 (+6)|19 (+4)|14 (+2)|15 (+2)|12 (+1)|+15/--|+22|+13|+15|+11|6d6 (21)|20
Young|Medium|18d12+90 (207)|--|26 (+8)|21 (+5)|16 (+3)|17 (+3)|14 (+2)|+18/--|+26|+16|+19|+14|9d6 (24)|23
Juvenile|Medium|21d12+126 (262)|--|29 (+9)|23 (+6)|18 (+4)|19 (+4)|16 (+3)|+21/--|+30|+18|+21|+16|12d6 (26)|26
Young Adult|Large|24d12+168 (324)|--|32 (+11)|25 (+7)|20 (+5)|21 (+5)|18 (+4)|+24/--|+34|+21|+25|+19|15d6 (29)|29
Adult|Large|27d12+216 (391)|--|35 (+12)|27 (+8)|22 (+6)|23 (+6)|20 (+5)|+27/--|+38|+23|+27|+21|18d6 (31)|32
Mature Adult|Huge|30d12+270 (465)|--|38 (+14)|29 (+9)|24 (+7)|25 (+7)|20 (+5)|+30/--|+42|+26|+31|+24|21d6 (34)|36
Old|Huge|33d12+330 (544)|--|41 (+15)|31 (+10)|26 (+8)|27 (+8)|22 (+6)|+33/--|+46|+28|+33|+26|24d6 (36)|37
Very Old|Gargantuan|36d12+396 (630)|--|44 (+17)|33 (+11)|28 (+9)|29 (+9)|24 (+7)|+36/--|+49|+31|+37|+29|27d6 (39)|40
Ancient|Gargantuan|40d12+480 (740)|--|47 (+18)|35 (+12)|30 (+10)|31 (+10)|26 (+8)|+40/--|+54|+34|+40|+32|30d6 (42)|43
Wyrm|Colossal|44d12+572 (858)|--|50 (+20)|37 (+13)|32 (+12)|33 (+11)|28 (+9)|+44/--|+56|+37|+44|+35|33d6 (45)|46
Great Wyrm|Colossal|48d12+672 (984)|--|53 (+21)|39 (+14)|34 (+14)|35 (+12)|30 (+10)|+48/--|+61|+40|+47|+38|36d6 (48)|49[/table]

Table 1-2: Spirit Dragon Abilities by Age

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{table=head]Age|Speed|Initiative|AC|Special Abilities|Caster Level|SR
Wyrmling|5’, fly 120’ (average)|+5|17 (+1 size, +5 Dex, +1 deflection), touch 17, flat-footed 12|Glorious Manifestation, Immunity to Sonics|3rd|20
Very Young|5’, fly 120’ (average)|+6|18 (+1 size, +6 Dex, +1 deflection), touch 18, flat-footed 12|magic missile|6th|22
Young|5’, fly 160’ (poor)|+8|20 (+8 Dex, +2 deflection), touch 20, flat-footed 12|DR 5/magic|9th|24
Juvenile|5’, fly 160’ (poor)|+9|22 (+9 Dex, +3 deflection), touch 22, flat-footed 13|glitterdust|12th|26
Young Adult|5’, fly 160’ (poor)|+11|24 (-1 size, +11 Dex, +4 deflection), touch 24, flat-footed 13|DR 10/magic|15th|28
Adult|5’, fly 160’ (poor)|+12|26 (-1 size, +12 Dex, +5 deflection), touch 26, flat-footed 14|greater invisibility|18th|30
Mature Adult|5’, fly 160’ (poor)|+14|27 (-2 size, +14 Dex, +5 deflection), touch 27, flat-footed 13|DR 15/magic|21th|32
Old|5’, fly 160’ (poor)|+15|29 (-2 size, +15 Dex, +6 deflection), touch 29, flat-footed 14|telekinesis|24th|34
Very Old|5’, fly 160’ (poor)|+17|30 (-4 size, +17 Dex, +7 deflection), touch 30, flat-footed 13|DR 20/magic|27th|36
Ancient|5’, fly 200’ (clumsy)|+18|32 (-4 size, +18 Dex, +8 deflection), touch 32, flat-footed 14|disintegrate|30th|38
Wyrm|5’, fly 200’ (clumsy)|+20|31 (-8 size, +20 Dex, +9 deflection), touch 31, flat-footed 11|DR 25/magic|33rd|40
Great Wyrm|5’, fly 200’ (clumsy)|+21|33 (-8 size, +21 Dex, +10 deflection), touch 33, flat-footed 12|insanity|36th|42[/table]

Combat
A spirit dragon is difficult to see clearly, given its ghostly nature, & it will often use this fact to great tactical advantage. They will often hide within walls or under the ground to become even harder to detect, waiting to ambush their prey. Once they are ready to strike, they usually start combat with their breath weapon, or magic missile (for very young dragons). The youngest of spirit dragons use the skies to their advantage, taking flight & using hit-&-run tactics to decimate their foes; they still possess the memories of their old life, & they rely on their past tactics to survive while they are still “young” & weak. Older dragons prefer to be left alone, & so they typically rely on their spell-like abilities to rid themselves of any nuisances. They consider retreating to be a mark of great shame, so they are loathe to run away from a battle unless they are sure to lose. They do not breed, so they have no eggs to protect, but they will often have pet projects left over from their previous lives. The projects are sometimes the impetus for their reincarnation, so they will usually be defended by the dragons to the death.

Breath Weapon (Su): A spirit dragon has one type of breath weapon, a cone of sonic damage.

Antimagic (Ex): Three times per day, a spirit dragon can emit an antimagic field centered upon itself. This field has a 40’ radius, & lasts up to 1 hour. A spirit dragon can dismiss its own field as a free action, but any time remaining on the effect is wasted. Activating a field is a swift action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity. While its field is active, a spirit dragon can remain incorporeal, but all restrictions on supernatural & spell-like abilities apply.

Glorious Manifestation (Su): Once per day, as an immediate action, a spirit dragon can unveil its full magnificence, frightening & blinding those around them. While manifesting, the dragon loses its Incorporeal subtype, along with all related traits. Its Strength score during this time is equal to its Dexterity score. Any creature within 40’ of a spirit dragon that is manifesting in this manner must make a successful Fortitude save (DC = 10 + ½ of the dragon’s HD + the dragon’s Charisma modifier) or be blinded for 1 hour. A spirit dragon can maintain this form for a number of minutes equal to their Charisma bonus (minimum 1 minute). A spirit dragon can dismiss its manifestation as a free action, but any time remaining on the effect is wasted.

Spell-Like Abilities

• At will: magic missile (very young or older), glitterdust (juvenile or older)
• 3/day: greater invisibility (adult or older), telekinesis (old or older)
• 1/day: disintegrate (ancient or older), insanity (great wyrm)

Skills: Hide, Intimidate, & Spot are considered class skills for spirit dragons. A spirit dragon has a +8 racial bonus on Hide checks.

Dragon Traits: A dragon possesses the following traits:

• Darkvision out to 60’ & low-light vision.
• Immunity to magic sleep effects & paralysis effects.
• Proficient with its natural weapons only unless humanoid in form (or capable of assuming humanoid form), in which case proficient with all simple weapons & any weapons mentioned in its entry.
• Proficient with no armor.
• Dragons eat, sleep, & breathe.

Incorporeal Subtype
An incorporeal creature has no physical body. It can be harmed only by other incorporeal creatures, magic weapons or creatures that strike as magic weapons, & spells, spell-like abilities, or supernatural abilities. It is immune to all non-magical attack forms. Even when hit by spells or magic weapons, it has a 50% chance to ignore any damage from a corporeal source (except for positive energy, negative energy, force effects such as magic missile, or attacks made with ghost touch weapons). Although it is not a magical attack, holy water can affect incorporeal undead, but a hit with holy water has a 50% chance of not affecting an incorporeal creature.

An incorporeal creature has no natural armor bonus but has a deflection bonus equal to its Charisma bonus (always at least +1, even if the creature’s Charisma score does not normally provide a bonus).

An incorporeal creature can enter or pass through solid objects, but must remain adjacent to the object’s exterior, & so cannot pass entirely through an object whose space is larger than its own. It can sense the presence of creatures or objects within a square adjacent to its current location, but enemies have total concealment (50% miss chance) from an incorporeal creature that is inside an object. In order to see farther from the object it is in & attack normally, the incorporeal creature must emerge. An incorporeal creature inside an object has total cover, but when it attacks a creature outside the object it only has cover, so a creature outside with a readied action could strike at it as it attacks. An incorporeal creature cannot pass through a force effect.

An incorporeal creature’s attacks pass through (ignore) natural armor, armor, & shields, although deflection bonuses & force effects (such as mage armor) work normally against it. Incorporeal creatures pass through & operate in water as easily as they do in air. Incorporeal creatures cannot fall or take falling damage. Incorporeal creatures cannot make trip or grapple attacks, nor can they be tripped or grappled. In fact, they cannot take any physical action that would move or manipulate an opponent or its equipment, nor are they subject to such actions. Incorporeal creatures have no weight & do not set off traps that are triggered by weight.

An incorporeal creature moves silently & cannot be heard with Listen checks if it doesn’t wish to be. It has no Strength score, so its Dexterity modifier applies to both its melee attacks & its ranged attacks. Non-visual senses, such as scent & blindsight, are either ineffective or only partly effective with regard to incorporeal creatures. Incorporeal creatures have an innate sense of direction & can move at full speed even when they cannot see.

Monster Lore
Characters that have ranks in Knowledge (Arcana) or Knowledge (Religion) can learn more about spirit dragons. When a character makes a successful skill check, the following lore is revealed, including the information from lower DC’s.

• DC18: “Spirit dragons are ghostly creatures that have prolonged their lives using an arcane ritual.” A character making this check recalls all incorporeal dragon traits.
• DC23: “They possess a breath weapon that produces a cone of painful sound.” A character making this check knows the workings of the Breath Weapon ability.
• DC28: “They are immune to sonics & can Glorious Manifestation from birth. At various stages of its life, a desert dragon gains damage reduction; young: DR 5/magic, young adult: DR 10/magic, mature adult: DR 15/magic, very old: DR 20/magic, & wyrm: DR 25/magic.”
• DC33: “At various stages of its life, a desert dragon gains the following special abilities; very young: magic missile, juvenile: glitterdust, adult: greater invisibility, old: telekinesis, ancient: disintegrate, & great wyrm: insanity.”

Manifesting in its full glory, a great wyrm spirit dragon is an awesome & terrifying sight.

Sublime Spirit (ritual)
Requirements

• Race: Must be a chromatic, metallic, or gem dragon.
• Age: Must be of wyrm age (1,001 years) or older.
• Skills: 36+ ranks in Knowledge (arcana) or Spellcraft.
• Spells: The ability to cast reincarnate.

Ritual Benefits
A dragon that wishes to perform this ritual (known to dragons as arkhenylhuxeio) must procure at least 5,000,000GP in silver coins. To begin the ritual, the dragon must meditate for 3 uninterrupted days while lying atop the coins, taking no other actions. The meditation requires a Concentration check (DC10) after each hour; if a check is unsuccessful, then the ritual must continue for 1 additional hour to succeed; if 2 consecutive checks are unsuccessful, then the ritual fails. This ritual provokes attacks of opportunity, & any distraction requires another Concentration check (DC10+).

Once the meditation is complete, the dragon must attack themselves with a slashing or piercing weapon than is able to overcome their damage reduction. They must continue to attack themselves until they are at exactly 0HP. At this point, they must cast reincarnate upon their body as they attack themselves once more dealing the killing blow. After this is done, the dragon must make a Spellcraft check (DC50). If the check is unsuccessful, then the ritual fails & the dragon will die; if the check succeeds, then the dragon’s body, soul, mind & coins will fuse into a spirit dragon’s egg.

This egg will have 67HP, a hardness of 22, & will hatch within 1 year. The resultant spirit dragon wyrmling will have all the memories of the dragon that it was created from, although its statistics will be completely different. The wyrmling has a 60% chance of maintaining the alignment of the previous dragon; otherwise, its alignment will be transformed by the ritual, becoming Chaotic Neutral.

Oh. My. God.

That is amazing.

In fact, with your permission, I have officially now stolen that and the Xorvintaal game from WotC for featuring in a dragon-themed campaign setting. Yay.

[Pronounceable]

Nifty. I'd say awesome, but that last picture is so utterly horrible beyond words it degrades anything it's related to. If I pretend that picture isn't there, then I can say it's great.


Note: it says desert dragon in monster lore.

[afroakuma]

Very nice, Zeta. Reminds me of someone else's work... *cough*

[Zeta Kai]

Nifty. I'd say awesome, but that last picture is so utterly horrible beyond words it degrades anything it's related to. If I pretend that picture isn't there, then I can say it's great.

Well, it is meant to cause blinding. And I didn't draw it, anyway. There's not accounting for taste.

Note: it says desert dragon in monster lore.

Fixed; thanks for the catch.

Very nice, Zeta. Reminds me of someone else's work... *cough*

Funny thing, AA: I noticed when you first joined the forum that your work somewhat resembled mine. I always thought that I inspired you.

[afroakuma]

Psssh, nah. Probably the other way around.

[Zeta Kai]

I know that I could have just cooked up a simple Dragon, like a wyvern or linnorm. But I felt that if people voted for a Dragon, then they should get what people expect when they hear "Dragon".

With the alignment, I sort of cheated. The concept for this monster works best, in my mind, if it just inherits the alignment of the original dragon. So I just sort of slapped the "often CN" label on it without integrating the alignment with the fluff. If I were to use this creature in one of my campaigns (which might happen soon), I'd probably ignore the CN stipulations, & just keep the original alignment.

As for the special abilities, I was surprised by the votes. Usually, someone suggests a unique homebrew ability early on, & it gets adopted by the other voters, eventually getting added in. This time, nobody even made a suggestion, instead opting to go with traditional dragon abilities. That's fine, of course, but I felt that it needed something extra, so I added a unique ability myself, which became Glorious Manifestation. The voters chose Antimagic, Breath Weapon, & SLA's, so those were used. But they also liked Sonics & Psionics, so I made the BW a sonic blast & I added a telekinesis SLA for the psionics fans. I made Glorious Manifestation a shape-changing power, to please the Alternate Form crowd (both of them).

I hope that you guys like this one, because I don't think I'll be doing anouther dragon for a while. I can see why people don't homebrew these often.

[paddyfool]

Regarding the ritual:

A dragon that wishes to perform this ritual (known to dragons as arkhenylhuxeio) must procure at least 5,000,000GP in silver coins. To begin the ritual, the dragon must meditate for 3 uninterrupted days while lying atop the coins, taking no other actions. The meditation requires a Concentration check (DC10) after each hour; if a check is unsuccessful, then the ritual must continue for 1 additional hour to succeed; if 2 consecutive checks are unsuccessful, then the ritual fails. This ritual provokes attacks of opportunity, & any distraction requires another Concentration check (DC10+).

Hourly concentration checks for three days - that's 72 rolls. It seems obvious the dragon should only fail on a 1. The probability of success on the first attempt (undistracted) would be 0.95^32, which comes out as 0.025. The second attempt brings up the chances to just under 0.05, which means that less than 1 dragon in 20 that attempts this gets this far. Are you saying that only dragons with access to multiple rerolls should bother trying this, or have I misunderstood somehow?

[Zeta Kai]

Well, the 2-loses-to-fail rule should raise the chances substantially (as well as make the calculations more complicated). My math had the odds a bit higher. Should I perhaps make it 3-loses-to-fail?

Also, there's nothing lost but time, really, so there's no harm in trying again. The real risk is when the dragon has to stab itself to death & then make a single Spellcraft check; if they lose the check, then the ritual fails & they are as good as dead. This is not a ritual for the faint of heart or weak of spirit, which is largely the point.

[puppyavenger]

Well, the 2-loses-to-fail rule should raise the chances substantially (as well as make the calculations more complicated). My math had the odds a bit higher. Should I perhaps make it 3-loses-to-fail?

Also, there's nothing lost but time, really, so there's no harm in trying again. The real risk is when the dragon has to stab itself to death & then make a single Spellcraft check; if they lose the check, then the ritual fails & they are as good as dead. This is not a ritual for the faint of heart or weak of spirit, which is largely the point.

or the not maxed out of spellcraft.

[vegetalss4]

Regarding the ritual:



Hourly concentration checks for three days - that's 72 rolls. It seems obvious the dragon should only fail on a 1. The probability of success on the first attempt (undistracted) would be 0.95^32, which comes out as 0.025. The second attempt brings up the chances to just under 0.05, which means that less than 1 dragon in 20 that attempts this gets this far. Are you saying that only dragons with access to multiple rerolls should bother trying this, or have I misunderstood somehow?

actually the concentration check will most likely not be a problem, considering that you don't automatically fails a skill check on a natural 1

[DracoDei]

The cost for a True Resurrection or ten pales in comparison to the mine or two worth of silver that this requires. They can afford to take a few tries at it.

[paddyfool]

2 loses to fail

For some reason, I mistakenly thought a loss reset the timer. My bad.

actually the concentration check will most likely not be a problem, considering that you don't automatically fails a skill check on a natural 1

Doh! Never mind, then. Short of distractions and/or effects which reduce Constitution, this part should be no problem at all.