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Archives of Nethys

Archives of Nethys

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Dragon, Crystal

Source Bestiary 2 pg. 91 2.0
Good-natured but vain, crystal dragons are beautiful creatures with brilliant hides made of multicolored crystal and gemstone. Their beauty is a source of great pride but is also something of a weakness, as crystal dragons are easily angered by insults about their appearance. Despite their relatively benign natures when compared to other true dragons, crystal dragons can be short tempered and prone to finding insults where none were intended. Although their opinions are changeable, crystal dragons prefer orderly environments and are not fond of sudden interruptions or distractions.

Crystal dragons build their lairs in underground grottoes, where they cultivate environments of great beauty. Their exacting standards and vivid imaginations mean that they are always working to improve the appearance or layout of some part of their lair. These lairs are unique to each individual crystal dragon, but there are always plenty of reflective surfaces that allow the dragon to observe their own appearance. These range from crystals to reflecting pools to finely crafted mirrors, which are arranged throughout the lair in a pleasing array. Gifts of well-crafted or magical mirrors are an excellent way to curry favor with a crystal dragon.

Although crystal dragons are easily distracted by their sparkling collections or their vanity, they remain good-hearted creatures at the core and make friends quickly. While a crystal dragon tends to find evil creatures uncouth and unpleasant, any other nearby denizen or inhabitant of their home could become fast friends or beloved pets, depending upon the creature's capacity for conversation (and for providing the frequent praise and compliments that crystal dragons hunger for).

Members

Adult Crystal Dragon (Creature 11), Ancient Crystal Dragon (Creature 16), Young Crystal Dragon (Creature 7)

Sidebar - Advice and Rules Crystal Dragon Spellcasters

Crystal dragon spellcasters tend to cast the following spells.

Young

Primal Prepared Spells DC 25, attack +18; 3rd earthbind, meld into stone; 2nd faerie fire, glitterdust, shatter; 1st grease, mending, pass without trace; Cantrips (3rd) acid splash, detect magic, light, prestidigitation, telekinetic projectile

Adult

Primal Prepared Spells DC 30, attack +24; as young crystal dragon, plus 5th cloak of colors, wall of stone; 4th hallucinatory terrain, shape stone, stoneskin; 3rd haste; Cantrips (5th) dancing lights, detect magic, light, prestidigitation, telekinetic projectile

Ancient

Primal Prepared Spells DC 37, attack +32; as adult crystal dragon, plus 7th energy aegis, spell turning, volcanic eruption; 6th flesh to stone, stone tell, true seeing; 5th chromatic wall; Cantrips (7th) dancing lights, detect magic, light, prestidigitation, telekinetic projectile

Sidebar - Related Creatures Shardizhad

Still a relatively young crystal dragon, Shardizhad has already made a name for herself in the city of Wati in Osirion. She has taken on a somewhat unusual role as a shopkeeper in that city's necropolis, where she's eager to trade magic items she's collected for more gems and valuable stones.

Dragon, Primal

Related Groups Dragon, Brine, Dragon, Cloud, Dragon, Magma, Dragon, Umbral
The strange and otherworldly primal dragons hail from realities adjacent to the Material Plane—the four Elemental Planes and the Shadow Plane. These true dragons have natures and powers that exemplify their plane of origin and an affinity for primal magic, unlike chromatic and metallic dragons, who favor arcane or divine magic. Although they come from distant planes, primal dragons can be found on the Material Plane in regions touched by or reminiscent of their home plane. Although such encounters are rare, adventurers and travelers have sometimes found a brine dragon dwelling near a salty inland sea, for example, or a crystal dragon living in massive natural caverns deep in the Darklands. Unlike chromatic and metallic dragons, primal dragons tend not to develop shape-changing powers, and they are less interested in infiltrating settlements or influencing others from the shadows.

Primal Dragon Spellcasters

Each type of primal dragon features a note in the margins on spellcasting dragons of that type. To make a primal dragon spellcaster, remove the dragon’s Draconic Frenzy and Draconic Momentum abilities and give it the spells outlined in its sidebar. You can swap out any number of these with other primal spells, provided you keep the same number of spells for each level. You might also want to increase the dragon’s Wisdom or Charisma modifier by 1 or 2 to reflect their mastery of magic.

Primal Dragons of Golarion

Golarion is not home to many primal dragons. Yet primal dragons do still come to Golarion now and then, whether to escape persecution in their home plane, build new lairs, torment and brutalize weaker creatures, or seek knowledge and resources that are scarce or unavailable at home.

Brine dragons can be found along Golarion’s coastlines but are often frustrated by piracy and other lawless elements. They tend to avoid heavily populated coastal areas like the Shackles and instead choose remote islands in the oceans as their homes, where they can rule small communities of their own curation. Cloud dragons are even more isolated, and lacking any interest in politics, they prefer to dwell in large mountain ranges like the Kodars or the Barrier Wall. Crystal dragons’ vanity compels them to seek places that complement their natural beauty, such as gem-studded caverns in the Darklands. Of all the primal dragons, cantankerous magma dragons may be the ones most often found dwelling on Golarion, where they are drawn to volcanic ranges like the Five Kings Mountains. Umbral dragons hail not from an Elemental Plane but the Shadow Plane, and they can be encountered anywhere the borders to that plane grow thin, particularly in the sinister nation of Nidal.