Orange Dragon
Created by Lenard Lakofka
<There is another version of this monster in Dragon #65>

Frequency:  Rare
No. Appearing:  2-5
Armor Class:  4
Move;  10”/30”
% in Lair:  65%
Treasure Type:  H
No. of attacks:  3
Damage/attack:  1-6/1-6/2-12
Special Attacks:  Breath weapon and possible spell use
Special Defenses:  Chameleon power
Magic Resistance:  See text above
Intelligence:  15-18
Alignment:  Lawful Neutral
Size:  L (20’ long)
Psionic Ability:  Nil
Chance of Speaking 50%, Magic use 75%, Sleeping 20%

Orange dragons are always found in mated pairs in generally
temperate climes. They are so loyal to one another that if one is killed
the other will pine and die in from 3 + (1-6) days though if they
witness the death consider them as having 2 more H.D. for the
purpose of attack, and the mate will blindly attack the figure(s) who
actually slew his mate, abandoning all considerations of personal
safety! The children of orange dragons are not so protected, nor are
they loyal to their parents to the same maniacal degree (they would
be first to third age level). Orange dragons, regardless of age level,
can change their color to become either a colored or metallic dragon.
This ability is enhanced by the fact that orange dragons are often
Illusionists; thus a limited Change Self is also brought into play to
conform to the shape of the color change-physical size does not
appreciably change in any case. Note that only magic-using dragons
who know and then select Change Self can perform this latter
change, however.

The orange dragon?s breath is a form of Color Spray that extends
in a cone from its mouth to a distance of 6? with a base of 3?. The
spray has these effects: 1. It deals out 2 points of damage per Hit Die
of the dragon, ¼ if a saving throw is successful; 2. Those with fewer
hit dice/levels than the dragon must save versus magic or be blinded
for 4-16 melee rounds; 3. Those with as many hit dice/levels (or
more) than the dragon must save versus magic or be stunned for
2-12 melee segments. An orange dragon can breathe once for every
even-numbered age level it has attained; thus, first age level orange
dragons cannot breathe at all.

If they can cast spells, they gain them in the following way: One
first level spell for each of the dragon?s first three age levels; One
second level spell for each of the dragon?s 4th to 6th age levels; One
third level spell for each of the dragon?s 7th and 8th age levels.

ORANGE DRAGON (Dragon #65)
by Richard Alen Llyod

Mating a yellow dragon with a red pro-
duces an orange dragon. Orange drag-
ons are also very rare (or perhaps non-
existent) on the continent where most
AD&D adventures occur. The armor
class, size, and many other qualities of
an orange dragon would be a hybrid of
the attributes of the red and the yellow:

FREQUENCY: Very rare
NO. APPEARING: 1-4
ARMOR CLASS: 0
MOVE:  9”/24”
HIT DICE: 7-9
% IN LAIR: 45%
TREASURE TYPE: H, S
NO. OF ATTACKS: 3
DAMAGE/ATTACK:  2-7/2-7/2-23
SPECIAL ATTACKS:  Breath weapon
and possible magic use
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Nil
MAGIC RESISTANCE:  Standard
INTELLIGENCE:  Very to high
ALIGNMENT:  Neutral evil
SIZE: L (39’ long)
PSIONIC ABILITY:  Nil
    Attack/Defense Modes:  Nil
CHANCE OF:
    Speaking: 50%
    Magic Use: 25%
    Sleeping: 35%

Orange dragons lair in swamp, river,
or lake areas, frequently living in caves
that either open near water or perhaps
have an underground stream running
through them. They tend to keep to the
shadows, since their brilliant coloration
would make hiding in normal vegetation
very difficult, and often begin their day’s
hunting at dusk.

An orange dragon will either attack
with its claw/claw/bite routine (bite is
3d8-1) or with its breath weapon, liquid
sodium which is expelled in a stream ½”
wide and 6” long in a straight-line direc-
tion from the dragon’s head, in the man-
ner of black dragons. The dull silver-
colored stream of sodium oxidizes rapid-
ly when exposed to air; the oily saliva of
the dragon serves to prevent premature
ignition in the mouth of the dragon. The
sodium itself is stored in the digestive
tract in a nearly solid state, and is not
liquefied until powerful gastric and eso-
phagal contractions bring it up to the
mouth.

Victims hit by the sodium stream are
drenched, and as the saliva runs off and
the sodium is exposed to the air, a victim
will be engulfed in napalm-like flame, do-
ing damage equal to the hit points of the
dragon. This damage is halved if the vic-
tim makes a saving throw vs. breath
weapon. The sodium will ignite in 1-3 (10
minus the hit dice of the dragon) melee
rounds after covering the target.

Sodium explodes when it comes in
contact with water, so if well-meaning
friends of the victim try to wash the sub-
stance off, the resulting blast will do
damage to everyone in a 1½” radius
equal to the points the target alone
would have lost in fire damage. The only
practical way to prevent a victim from
catching fire is to drench him or her in oil
to prevent the sodium from contacting
the air. All clothing and armor must then
be removed and cleaned of sodium while
the objects are still oil-covered, which
takes 7, 8, or 9 (hit dice of dragon) turns.
There is, of course, an element of risk in
the pouring of oil, should the sodium
ignite just as the oil hits the victim.

A favorite attack mode of orange
dragons is to expel sodium into a river or
lake directly adjacent to a camped party
(or a boatload) of adventurers. An aver-
age-sized adult dragon would spit a
stream of sodium “worth” 40 points fire
damage into the water, and the explo-
sion would cause this much damage to
everyone within a 1½” radius— probably
leaving most party members hurt, and
overturning or destroying boats.

An orange dragon able to speak and
employ spells gains a 1st-level spell at
each of the first three age brackets, a
2nd-level spell at each of the fourth and
fifth ages, and a 3rd-level spell at each of
the last three ages. An ancient orange
dragon would therefore know three 1st-
level, two 2nd-level, and three 3rd-level
spells, selected randomly. Orange drag-
ons save vs. metallic poisons such as
sodium or arsenic at +4 and vs. fire (regu-
lar and magical) at +2.
 
 

Dragon Magazine	Monster Manual III	Dragons	Redefining the Dragon	Dragon #38
Orange Dragon	Yellow Dragon	Purple Dragon	The Missing Dragons	Dragon #65