Frequency:  Very Rare
No. Appearing:  1; also see consorts below
Armor Class:  -3
Move:  6”/18” but also astral, ethereal, teleport
Hit Dice:  16 (128 hit points)
%   i n   L a i r :   90%
Treasure Type:  100% H, S T, U
# of attacks:  6
Damage/attack:  2-16/3-18/2-20/3-24/3-30/1-6 and s.t. vs poison
or death
Special Attacks:  breath, weapons, poison, magic use
Special Defenses:  ½ damage from fire, cold, acid, lightning and
chlorine gas, +2 to hit
Immunities:  Holds, Charm, Death Magic, Suggestions
Magic Resistance:  75% in the prime material, 105% in Hell
Intelligence:  Genius
Alignment:  Lawful Evil
Size:  L (60’)
Psionic Ability:  Nil
Sleeps only 10%, and only if consort on guard

Tiamat, like other devils, can use or has, at will: Charm Person,
Suggestion, Illusion, Infravision, Teleportation (no error), Know
Alignment, Cause Fear, Animate Dead. However, because of her
relative immunities to attack forms similar to her breath weapons (½
damage from Fire, Cold, Acid, Lightning and Chlorine, ¼ if s.t.
successful, and she obtains her Magic Resistance first), she takes
double damage from iron weapons (including steel) and double
damage from silver weapons (note: swords like Flame Tongues or
Frost Brands cause no extra damage due to those properties).
Poison can kill her though her saving throw is at +3, Magic Missiles
do full damage. To hit Tiamat, a +2 or better weapon must be used.

Being an Arch Devil, Tiamat is subject to Protection from Evil
spells, Protection from Arch Devil Scrolls, etc. A Holy Word will send
her back to Hell but will only do damage if said aloud in Hell. Holy
Swords, Vorpal Blades, etc. will not sever one of her heads unless a
natural 20 is rolled. All damage to her is divided, 10% going to each
head and 50% to the body, with all points not evenly divisible going
to any single head or the body at the player?s choice. Thus if she took
27 points in one round, 2 would go to each head, 10 to the body and
the remaining 7 points could go to any one head or to the body at the
player?s option. Any head taken out of commission can not cast
spells, breathe or bite.

Tiamat can select from the following spell roster, being allowed
two spells per head per day:
 

White	Black	Green	Blue	Red
Affect Normal Fires	Audible Glamor	Clairvoyance	Confusion	Contact Other Plane
Dancing Lights	Continual Light / Darkness	Clairaudience	Fear	Distance Distortion
Detect Magic	Detect Invisibility	Dispel Magic	Fire Charm	Feeblemind
Identify	Fools Gold	Explosive Runes	Fire Shield	Hold Monster
Light	Forget	Haste	Fire Trap	Magic Jar
Magic Missile	Invisibility	Hold Person	Ice Storm	Telekinesis
Protection From Good	Locate Object	Phantasmal Force	Polymorph Other	Wall of Force
Shield	Mirror Image*	Slow	Polymorph Self	Wall of Iron
Unseen Servant	Ray of Enfeeblement	Tongues	Place Curse*	Wall of Stone
Ventriloquism	Stinking Cloud	Fly	Wall of Fire	Monster Summon III*

The three spells marked with asterisks are very special when cast
by Tiamat; Mirror Images, Place Curse and Monster Summoning III.
When in the presence of her consorts, Mirror Images has the effect of
changing each of them present into a vision of her! That single male
can, of course, use his own normal breath weapon and his normal
spells! Further, the fake heads can inflict 1-6 points of damage each,
though the male can only take the number of points of damage he
can normally withstand. Once he dies the illusion vanishes at once.
Tiamat can only do this in her lair.

Place Curse has the force of a Wish or the decree of a deity but it
can never be used to kill an opponent, turn him/her/it to stone, etc.
though banishment is a proper use of the spell. It has a range of 3? so
that a touch is not required. A saving throw at -3 is allowed the
Curse but items that effect s.t. or racial constitution bonuses (if any)
do not apply to her Curse! Only one target per curse. Finally, her
Monster Summoning can call for other Devils. It will work 100% of
the time in Hell, 70% on the Prime Material (and remember, only
one call is allowed). If successful, 4 Barbed Devils (75%) or 3 Bone
Devils (25%) will arrive in 1 round.

Tiamat?s consorts are a White Adult (7H.D.), Black Adult
(8H.D.), Green Adult (9H.D.), Blue Adult (10H.D.) and Red Adult
(11H.D.). They can all cast spells up to their full potential. While
blessed (?) with consort status, these males can Polymorph themselves three times a day and are allowed to travel astrally or ethereally once a week. Tiamat will rid herself of a consort if he gets Old but
his consort status will still allow him one polymorph per day but
astral and ethereal travel is wholly lost. Her ex-consorts may call
upon her once during their lives on the Prime Material. She is 95%
likely to answer such a call by sending a single Barbed or Bone Devil
to the ex-consort for his free use.

It should be mentioned here briefly that as DM you should decide
what spells, items, and various magics will work in other planes like
Hell. It should be observed that Protection from Evil, or Protection
from Devil Scrolls simply do not function in Hell! Cures are only ½
strength. Calling upon another deity in Hell will summon a Devil at
once and is 65% likely to not be heard on another plane in any
event! When the players decide to take the fight to a deity?s home it
must be at an extreme penalty. All deities are strongest on their home
planes and ?relatively? weakest on the Prime Material?all statistics
for deities are for their powers on the Prime Material only, thus they
may well be, and likely are, far more powerful in their home.

Finally, it must be observed that Tiamat will rarely, if ever, fight to
the death. She has the power of Teleportation and multi-plane travel
and she will use it. For all of you who think you have killed Tiamat,
guess again!
 
 
 
 

Dragon Magazine

Monster Manual III

Dragons

Redefining the Dragon

Dragon #38