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Archives of Nethys

Archives of Nethys

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PFS StandardShadow Drake

Shadow drakes are typically among the smallest and least powerful of their species. Most stand as tall and long as house cats and have charcoal-colored scales and membranous wings just translucent enough to pass for shadows. Attracted to shiny materials, they employ deception, teamwork, and even rudimentary traps to create opportunities to make off with ill-gotten gains. Shadow drakes have a particular fascination and admiration for umbral dragons—a notable exception to the norm for drakes and dragons.

Recall Knowledge - Dragon (Arcana): DC 16
Unspecific Lore: DC 14
Specific Lore: DC 11

Elite | Normal | Weak
Proficiency without Level

Shadow DrakeCreature 2

Legacy Content

CE Tiny Dragon Shadow 
Source Bestiary 2 pg. 100 2.0
Perception +4; darkvision, scent (imprecise) 30 feet
Languages Draconic
Skills Acrobatics +6, Stealth +6, Thievery +6
Str +1, Dex +4, Con +1, Int -1, Wis +0, Cha +2
Light Blindness
Shadow Blend The shadow drake's form shifts and blends reflexively with surrounding shadows. A shadow drake gains an additional reaction each round, but it can use this reaction only for Shadow Evade.
Shadow Evade [reaction] Trigger A creature attacks the shadow drake while it is in an area of dim light; Effect The shadow drake further obscures its position. The attacker must succeed at a DC 11 flat check in order to affect the shadow drake, as if the drake were Hidden for the triggering attack.
AC 15; Fort +5, Ref +8, Will +4
HP 28; Immunities paralyzed, sleep; Weaknesses fire 5
Speed 15 feet, fly 60 feet
Melee [one-action] jaws +9 [+4/-1] (finesse), Damage 1d10+3 piercingMelee [one-action] tail +9 [+5/+1] (agile, finesse), Damage 1d8+3 bludgeoningDraconic Frenzy [two-actions] The shadow drake makes one bite Strike and two tail Strikes in any order.Shadow Breath [two-actions] (arcane, cold, evocation, shadow) A shadow drake spits a ball of black liquid that explodes into a cloud of frigid black shadow. This attack has a range of 40 feet and explodes in a 5-foot-radius burst. Creatures within the burst take 3d6 cold damage (DC 16 basic Reflex save). The explosion of shadow also snuffs out mundane light sources the size of a torch, lantern, or smaller, and attempts to counteract magical light with a +10 counteract modifier. The shadow drake can't use Shadow Breath again for 1d6 rounds.Speed Surge [one-action] Frequency three times per day; Effect The shadow drake Strides or Flies twice.

All Monsters in "Drake"

NameLevel
Desert Drake8
Flame Drake5
Frost Drake7
Jungle Drake6
Prairie Drake2
River Drake3
Sea Drake6
Shadow Drake2
Wyvern6

Drake

Source Bestiary pg. 130
Ravenous, bestial, and driven by instinct—drakes are primitive draconic monsters who bear a fraction of the terrifying might of their larger cousins but little (if any) of the cunning. While they’re weaker, slower, and less inclined toward reason than dragons, drakes are nonetheless a menace to creatures and settlements around them. Their propensity for forming raiding parties—small social groups fittingly called “rampages”—makes them all the more dangerous; a single rampage of river drakes can quickly lay waste to a waterside village, and roving rampages of desert drakes are a plague to caravan traders.

Drakes share a number of physical characteristics that unite them as one species despite their wide variety of habitats and abilities. For example, drakes lack forearms, leaving them only their formidable jaws and thick-scaled tails with which to attack if engaged at melee range. Most drakes would rather avoid close combat, however, preferring to use their breath weapons to wreak havoc in wide swaths from comfortable distances while flying overhead. Finally, all drakes have small reservoirs of their ancestral draconic power that they can tap into to perform incredible feats of speed.

Drake Eggs

While drake hides aren’t any more valuable than those of other, similarly sized creatures, drake eggs are prized commodities. While they are used as components in powerful spells as well as eaten by various cultures, the most common use for drake eggs is hatching and rearing drakes to serve as mounts and guardians.

A typical drake lays a clutch of 2d4 eggs every 5 years. Eggs hatch within 3 to 6 weeks, during which time they must be kept in conditions appropriate to their natural environment, perhaps the most difficult aspect of drake husbandry. While it is generally easy for breeders to incubate the eggs of desert or jungle drakes (which require mildly warm temperatures to hatch) or river drakes (which must be submerged in running water), the eggs of flame and frost drakes require extreme temperatures in order to hatch, which can be difficult to replicate safely.

A drake egg has Hardness 3, 5 HP, and BT 5. The coloration of drake eggs varies only slightly from one species to the next. A creature must succeed at a DC 20 Nature check, or a relevant DC 20 Lore check, to identify the drake species of a specific egg.

Once a drake hatches, it imprints on the first creature that it sees. A creature imprinted on in this way gains a +5 bonus to Nature checks to train or command that drake. The market price of a drake egg varies depending on the region, the type of drake, and the exact purpose the buyer has in mind, but typically depends on the level of the drake. Because drakes are evil, dangerous, and intelligent creatures, many societies do not condone the trade of drake eggs and criminalize those who engage in it.

It takes 2 years for a drake hatchling to grow to full size. A well-trained drake can make a fearsome mount or guardian, but many careless would-be drake trainers are devoured by their charges due to cruelty, overconfidence, or general lack of skill.

Sidebar - Related Creatures Drake Ecology

Drakes reach maturity and reproduce much earlier than dragons, meaning that they are a far more common threat than their more powerful forebears. Drakes have few qualms about dwelling with one another (provided they are the same species), often establishing dens in pockets of wilderness suitable to their needs, such as swampy grottoes, shallow shoreline caves, or cliffside perches.

Sidebar - Additional Lore Drake Hunters

The allure of hunting a dragon is difficult to resist for many adventurers, but accomplishing such a task is fraught with peril. Unscrupulous adventurers have been known to instead hunt drakes and use trophies harvested from these creatures to deceive locals.

Sidebar - Locations Drake Locations

While the different species of drakes are adapted to different climates and environments, many drakes share similar preferences regarding nest location, searching out high places that offer cover from above, such as cliffside or mountaintop caverns, jungle canopies, and so on.

Sidebar - Treasure and Rewards Drake Resources

While every adventurer knows that dragon hide can be crafted into potent armor or weapons, drake hide holds no such intrinsic value. Nonetheless, drake scales and horns are physically impressive, and to the uneducated buyer, might seem at first glance to be legitimate. Unscrupulous leatherworkers have been known to use drake hides to craft and sell counterfeit dragonhide armor, so potential buyers should remain on the lookout for scams.

Sidebar - Treasure and Rewards Drake Treasure

Drakes share dragon’s interest in treasure, but lack dragons’ discerning taste. A drake hoard will certainly contain coins, jewelry, gemstones, gear, and even the odd magic item or two, but the bulk of the hoard invariably consists of broken weapons, shiny rocks, bits of junk, and other doubtful pieces of refuse.

Sidebar - Additional Lore Drakes and Dragons

Although drakes and dragons are related to one another, little love is lost between them, and even the most territorial drakes know better than to remain in a dragon's territory longer than they have to. In rare cases, large rampages of drakes band together to attack an encroaching dragon, especially if the dragon is young and inexperienced.

Sidebar - Related Creatures Other Drakes

The drakes presented on these pages are far from the only types that exist. Forest drakes have green hides, spit acidic clouds, and can be found in temperate woodlands. Rift drakes, among the most powerful of their kind, spit clinging caustic vapors and dwell in badlands and regions scarred by devastating magical disasters. Sea drakes can be found in oceans across the world, lava drakes in volcanic crevasses, mist drakes along coastlines and in salt marshes, and spire drakes in ragged, rocky hills. Undoubtedly, many other types of drakes lurk in the far corners of the world!