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| Advanced Dungeons & Dragons | - | Dragon magazine | - | Dragon #146 |
FREQUENCY: Very rare
NO. APPEARING: 1 (5% of 2)
ARMOR CLASS: -2
MOVE: 9?/24? (MC: E)
HIT DICE: 10-12
% IN LAIR: 60%
TREASURE TYPE: H, S, T, U
NO. OF ATTACKS: 2 claws and 1 bite
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1-B/1-8/3-30
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Major breath weapon,
exceptional damage from bite, night
blinding, spell use
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Sun dazzle, low
armor class, high intelligence, detect
invisible/hidden beings, saving- throw
bonus with age
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard
INTELLIGENCE: Exceptional
ALIGNMENT: Neutral evil
SIZE: L (50? long)
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
CHANCE OF:
Speaking: 100%
Magic Use: 100%
Sleeping: 20%
LEVEL/XP VALUE: 10 HD: IX/6,750 + 14
per hit point; 11-12 HD: IX/8,050 per hit
point
The rainbow dragon is one of the most
powerful of all evil-dragons. It is also the
most beautiful, its hide displaying an everchanging
display of iridescent hues of all
colors. When the dragon is in bright desert
light, this dazzling play of colors
gleams so brightly that it is painful to the
eyes, causing any attackers to attack at -2
to hit, or -4 in addition to penalties for
fighting in the light if the attackers (like
orcs or drow) are not accustomed to direct
sunlight.
The rainbow dragon usually fights with
a claw/claw/bite routine. Five times per
day, it can use its breath weapon of pure
energy, which looks like a rainbow-hued
blast of light. This weapon does damage
equal to the dragon?s hit points, but affects
only one target per attack. The breath
weapon is a 5?-wide beam of energy that
extends for 100?. So bright is this light that
if the dragon attacks at night, everyone
within 100? of the beam must save vs.
spells or be blinded for 1-4 rounds.
In addition to-this, all rainbow dragons
are capable of spell use. Very young and
young stages of growth allow the rainbow
dragon to acquire one first-level spell at
each stage; at subadult and young-adult
stages each, it may acquire a second-level
spell. A third-level spell is gained at both
the adult and old stages, and a fourth-level
spell at both the very old and ancient
stages. All rainbow dragons can speak and
enjoy negotiating for ever-larger tributes
and payoffs from cities that wish to keep
such dragons from attacking them.
Rainbow dragons aggressively patrol
their territories (especially in daytime) and
prefer to attack when the sun is out so as
to take advantage of their light-enhancing
defenses. Rainbow dragons prefer brightly
lit desert and plains regions, making their
lairs in old ruins or caverns.
The blood of these beasts can be used as
ingredients in scroll ink for the spells color
spray, prismatic sphere, prismatic spray,
and prismatic wall. A bit of bone from a
rainbow dragon is said to tip the best
wands of conjuration.
Attacks based on elemental sources
(earth, air, fire, and water) affect the rainbow
dragon normally. Electrical attacks
are taken with a - 1 hp/HD penalty to
damage, which is helpful if the rainbow
dragon fights a blue dragon for the same
territory.
LETTERS
Dear Dragon:
I’m pretty sure that I found an error in issue
#146. On page 26, in the statistics for the rainbow
dragon, it says that an 11-12 HD dragon
would be worth 8,050 xp per hit point.
Now, if a 12-HD rainbow dragon with 96 hp
(maximum) came along and it was slain, it would
be worth 772,800 xp! You’d have to kill Asmodeus
11 times before you could match that!
Geoff Manaugh
Blue Bell PA
(Dragon #148)
The experience-point value for the 11-12 HD
rainbow dragon should have read “8,050 + 16
per hit point.” Sorry!