Monday, May 13, 2013

Dragons

This is posting late, and thick with spelling and grammar errors. Sorry. It got really lengthy on me and I didn't even pretend to spell check or correct grammar. Fucking dragons.

I always liked dragons as kid. Any movie or book with a dragon in it instantly won with me (this includes Dragonheart with Sean Connery and Dennis Quaid). I read a lot of Dragonlance before I ever played any actual DnD or knew what DnD was, so much so that I was constantly asking in my head "What color is this dragon?" At that time I just kind of assumed all dragons were color coded by chromatic or metallic color with their breath weapon. I had just read so much Dragonlance that I assumed this rule extended to all dragons in fiction and folklore. The first time I read a DnD book that wasn't Dragonlance, the first book in the Drizzt Do'Urden series (Homeland, which was actually the fourth one published. Chronologically it is the first book in the series and details Drizzt's life in Menzoberranzan and his self imposed exile from his race due to moral objections to their culture.), I was constantly like "Where the fuck are all the dragons?" To be fair, I didn't think fuck, I was still youngerish then. I just assumed that all DnD books had as many dragons as Dragonlance did, which is the only reason I tried reading other DnD fiction. I liked dragons a lot. Eventually I learned that not all dragons adhered to Mr. Gygax's color scheme and Dragonlance's plethora of dragons. I really really wish I could find an interview or something with Gygax or Arneson to figure out who the fuck is responsible for the color coded breath weapon scheme of dragons and why it ended up being that way. While researching for this post, I discovered something neat in the 1st Edition AD&D Monster Manual. Each dragon has a faux-latin name in parentheses next to its name. For instance, a silver dragon is also known as draco nobilis argentum (noble silver dragon?), a gold dragon is also called draco orientalus sino dux (I had to actually check  this one out instead of guessing at the meaning of sino and dux and Google Translate calls it Oriental dragon allows leader.) and a black dragon is also called Draco Causticus Sputum (acidy spit dragon?) I kinda like that, makes me grin to read them.

I have issues with dragons and their biology. They sleep a lot, eat a lot, have spells, live a long time, can breed with pretty much anything that is alive, and breathe some fucked up crap. Fire, acid, lightning, and so on and so forth. Where does all that nonsense come from? These creatures aren't like golems (magically animated unliving creatures) or aberrations (living creatures that are specifically fucked up and alien in terms of biology and psychology and such), they have to adhere to some of the logic of reality, and it can't be some magical effect stemming from a magical magic organ inside of the dragon's gut either. It if were, dispel magic would be the most potent weapon in the arsenal of dragon hunters. How do they drag their heavy asses into the air with their wings? They obviously don't have hollow bones, otherwise they'd use smaller hit dice than a d12 in later editions due to their internal fragility. Can't be magic or an unspecified magical magic organ, otherwise dispel magic would be the most potent weapon in the arsenal of dragon hunters. Anyway, I try not to think about that all too hard and use my own dragons in my campaign world and stuff, which is not to say that giant Komodo dragons that spit acid make much more sense. This post isn't about addressing the weird and wonky stuff of dragon biology and how they violate the laws of physics and such. I mean, fine, I'll poke and prod at combat and make fun of abstract subsystems, but making dragons make sense or arguing that they should? Ha! Anyway, this post is just about dragons and their breath weapons, just to kind of collect as much material as I can from my various sources to see some of the crazy crap dragons have roiling in their gut. Should be a fun time. Maybe. I'm not really doing anything here other than making a list because I want to dig around and see what I can find. 

I'm going make a big long list with the following format: Name of Dragon (editions present in): Breath weapon description. The breath weapon will be followed by any other notes I feel like adding in and I'll use the most modern version of the breath weapon, unless I feel like mentioning what it used to be or ended up being.  Editions will be labelled as follows: 0 is Dungeons and Dragons. B refers to the Basic, Expert, Companion, Immortals, and Master rulesets. 1st is 1st Edition AD&D. 2nd is 2nd Edition AD&D. 3.X is 3.0 and 3.5 Edition Dungeons and Dragons. 4th is 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons (not that my access to 4th Edition material is exactly comprehensive). PF is Pathfinder. The things I add to the list will be actual dragon dragons, not drakes or dragonnes or dragon turtles or creatures that just possess the dragon type in latter editions and they will all be TSR/WotC or Pathfinder material and not third party random stuff I have lying around. I'll restrict the Pathfinder material to their core Bestiary stuff, and leave out Pathfinder setting or adventure path dragons (if there are any). I'm also probably going to stick to the main books for other editions as well, there are lots of modules and digging through them is not a feat I wish to deal with, I'll skim them as best I can, but no promises. I also lack a lot of material from 1st Edition, like the Oriental Adventures stuff, Mystara campaign, and Red Steel campaign. I'm only doing this for shits and giggles for myself though, so I suppose it isn't exactly a huge deal if some dragons are missing. 

Adamantine (2nd, 4th): Cone of fire and a cone of time stop. These are planar dragons and may only use their cone of time stop when on their home plane (the Twin Paradises). In 4th Edition, they have a cone of thunder that knocks enemies prone as their breath weapon.
Air Dragon (2nd): Varies. Air dragons are great wyrm dragons that are so ancient that their mind is the only thing sustaining their bodies. The dragons basically become a diamond colored air shape. They have all the abilities they had in life, but no physical presence. They can still use their breath weapon, but no other physical attacks. They also gain the ability to push and pull objects with control air at high velocity. 
Amethyst Dragon (2nd, 3.X): Faceted, violet lozenge that it spits into enemies that explodes with concussive force to deal damage and knock people down and unconscious. They're also psionic. 
Amphi Dragon (2nd Edition): Stream of acid that works in water as well as air. Crossbreed between green and sea dragons. Also have warty skin that oozes acid and vestigial wings. They can't fly. They are apparently a Dragonlance specific dragon.
Astral Dragon (2nd): See gold dragon. Astral dragons are another Dragonlance specific dragon, but are kind of like an primordial species of gold dragon, despite being white. Apparently the gods of Krynn created two astral dragons that gave birth to all other dragons and those dragons were adopted by the various gods and took on the color schemes and alignments of the gods that adopted them.  When the wars between the gods and dragons (the children of the first two astral dragons) of Krynn bugged the two dragons too much, they asked the gods to leave them alone, so the gods acquiesced and sent them to the Abyss, where the gave birth to more neutral dragons.  They can only be killed by power word kill, wish, or a similar spell. They apparently operate best in mated pairs, because they have the abilities of a 35th level cleric when mated. 
Battle Dragon (3.X, 4th): Cone of sonic energy and a cone of fear gas. These guys are planar dragons from Ysgard. They can rage like a Barbarian and inspire courage in their allies. In 4th Edition, their breath weapon becomes a close blast of radiant damage and some ongoing radiant damage (save ends). 
Black Dragon (0, B, 1st, 2nd, 3.X, 4th, PF): Line of acid. 
Blazewyrm (4th): None. Their bite does fire damage and they have an ability to do fire damage as a close blast that deals ongoing fire damage (save ends) and allows them to teleport to any space adjacent to where the blase damage was dealt. 
Blight Dragon (4th): Close blast of fire damage and ongoing necrotic damage (save ends).
Blizzard Dragon (4th): None. They have an aura that lets them slide enemies 1 square and their claws and bite do cold damage. The aura can also expand and deal damage. They can also do a close blast that does cold damage and slows enemies when an enemy deals damage to them, which isn't a breath weapon. These guys are dragons coated in frost that switched sides to serve the primordials after the primordials slew Io (the god and creator of dragons) and they thought the gods were going to lose against them. Traitors. Dragon traitors covered in ice. 
Blue Dragon (0, B, 1st, 2nd, 3.X, 4th, PF): Line of lightning.
Brass Dragon (0, 1st, 2nd, 3.X, PF): Cone of sleep gas or cloud of blistering desert heat. In earlier editions, the blistering desert heat breath weapon was a cloud of fear gas. 
Brine Primal Dragon (PF): Line of acid. These guys are primal dragons, which is Pathfinder speak for planar dragons, these dragons specifically live on the Plane of Water. They're covered in salt and acidic crystals that are so caustic and painful that their bite deals strength damage and their natural attacks can stun you with pain.
Bronze Dragon (0, 1st, 2nd, 3.X, PF): Line of lightning or cloud of repulsion gas.
Brown Dragon (B, 2nd, 3.X, 4th): Line of acid. Also called an amber dragon in Basic. In 2nd Edition, they lose the ability to fly and are desert burrowers. In Basic, their breath weapons were a cone of fire, cone melting (see ruby dragon), and cloud of rotting disease (see jade dragon). In 4th Edition they are also referred to as sand dragons, despite sand dragons already existing in 3.X and not being brown dragons, which also exist in 3.X. Their breath weapon becomes a swirling area of sand that blocks line of sight. They can also fly now as well. 
Carp Dragon (1st): None. These dragons are apparently young oriental dragons, when they reach 101 years of age they are metamorphosed into another random type of oriental dragon. Also called yu lung. 
Celestial Dragon (1st, 2nd): Cone of fire. Also called t'ien lung.
Cerilian Dragon (2nd, 3.X): Cone of burning venom that is half fire damage and half acid. According to the entry, there are only a dozen dragons left in the Birthright setting. 
Chaos Dragon (3.X): Randomly determined line of energy and a cone of confusion gas. These guys are from the plane of Limbo. The Githzerai tried to make a pact with them like the Githyanki did with the red dragons, didn't work out so well. 
Chromatic Dragon (0, 1st, 2nd, 3.X, 4th): Line of acid, cone of cold, line of lightning, cloud of chlorine gas, or cone of fire. Also known as Tiamat, god/queen of chromatic evil dragons.
Cloud Dragon (1st, 2nd): Cloud of cold air and icy shards that does cold damage and knocks enemies around. 
Cloud Primal Dragon (PF): Cone of clouds that hangs around for a few rounds acting as the fog cloud spell and dealing electricity damage to anyone within it. These are planar dragons that live on the Plane of Air and bear no resemblance to the DnD cloud dragons.
Coiled Dragon (1st): None. They can coil around an enemy and constrict them. Also called pan lung.
Copper Dragon (0, 1st, 2nd, 3.X, 4th, PF): Line of acid or cloud of slow gas. 4th Edition combines both breath weapons into one. 
Crystal Dragon (B, 2nd, 3.X): Cone of glowing shards that deal damage and dazzle enemies with light and penalize attack rolls. They're also psionic. In Basic the breath weapons are a cone of cold and cone of crystal transmutation breath that turns all nonliving carried items into fragile crystal
Crystal Primal Dragon (PF): Cone of sonic damage. These guys are made of crystal and shiny and they can reflect rays back at attackers and their shiny body radiates glittering light to stun or confuse those nearby. This is another planar dragon and they live on the Plane of Earth.
Deathmask Dragon (4th): Close blast of necrotic damage that blinds. They also have some fear abilities and a wail of death that deals psychic damage (huh?). These guys are purple dragons that eat souls and have dozens of legs like a centipede shoving from out between their scales. Faces of the souls they've consumed push our from between their scales. 
Deep Dragon (2nd, 3.X): Cone of flesh-corrosive gas that affects leather and hide armors as well ask skin. According to the entry, they can use most magical items and enjoy hiding their treasure and putting traps on it. They can also transform into a snake form. 
Diamond Star Dragon (B): Any breath weapon of the lawful dragons (crystal, gold, ruby, and sapphire dragons). Called a dragon ruler. 
Dracolich (2nd, 3.X, 4th): Same as original form. Name says it all, a dragon lich. Have all the toughness of dragons plus some undead resistances and immunities, but now they're fucking liches that paralyze anything they attack with their natural weapons. Yeesh. 
Dragon (2nd, 4th): Cone of superheated sand. There are no dragons as we normally know them in the Dark Sun campaign setting, as far as I know. There are dragons though, and they are ultra powerful  defilers (magic users that have no problem with the fact that magic use drains vitality from the planet and is the reason Athas is a wasteland) and psionicists. There are no natural dragons, it is a metamorphic process that occurs when a 20th level defiler/psionicist use a specific spell to undergo a metamorphosis over the next ten levels. As they progress, they become more and more dragon-like eventually becoming these 40 ft. long, 25 ton, winged dragons that look like kind of like green dragons from regular DnD. Up until the latter stages of the metamorphosis, they look like these gangly bipedal lizard guys that are like sixteen feet tall. Preservers (good guy magic users that restrain their power so it doesn't further blight Athas) also have a metamorphosis. They become an avangion and end looking like a giant, shining, metallic colored fucking butterfly thing with a ninety foot wingspan. In 4th Edition, the dragon is a epic destiny for an arcane defiler and completely loses any psionic portions that are part of the 2nd Edition material. It states you turn into a dragon, but doesn't really indicate what they means. You can breathe fire and fly, but there's no mention of transforming into a 40 ft. quadruped or anything. 
Dragon Eel (4th): Lightning that targets a creature within ten squares of the dragon and a second target within ten squares of the first. Cool. Teleporting lightning breath. That's kind of neat. Obviously it is teleporting lightning breath, because if it was a bolt of lightning or something like chain lightning it would just be a line of lightning that dealt damage to every creature it passed through. 
Dragonwight (1st): None. Dragonwights are Forgotten Realms specific undead dragons. They have no magical abilities or breath weapons that the particular color of dragon did in life, but the are immune to attacks from non-magic or non-silver weapons. Their attacks also drain one level of experience when they hit and when they kill a dragon or character, they rise from the dead at half their strength (level/hit dice?) as dragonwights and wights under the command of the dragonwight that killed them.
Earth Dragon (1st, 2nd, 3.X): None. They can cause an earthquake effect once a day as per the spell around them in a larger area as they age. They are immune to this effect. Also called li lung.  
Earthquake Dragon (4th): None. They have an aura that knocks people prone when they don't attack the dragon and they can knock other enemies in the aura prone if the dragon is pulled, pushed, slid, or knocked prone first. These guys are petrified dragons that serve the primordials, specifically because they were scared when Io died and wanted to be protected and safe. Yup. Chickenshit dragons that are petrified and can knock you over if you knock them over first. So majestic and draconic, let all heroes quail and cower before their might. 
Emerald (2nd): A sonically vibrating wail that deals damage, deafens, disorients, and stuns everyone within 120 feet. They're also psionic.
Ethereal Dragon (3.X): Cone of force. These guys are native to the Ethereal Plane and spend a lot of time watching people on the Material Plane. 
Faerie Dragon (1st, 2nd, 3.X, 4th): Cone of euphoria gas. They also have a bunch of less than deadly magic-user and druid spells they can use as they get older in 1st Edition, and they can turn invisible at will. These little guys are included in the dragon entry in the 1st Edition AD&D Monster Manual II so I put them in this list, but in 2nd they are removed from the dragon entry and put into the dragonet entry, whatever that means. In 4th Edition, their breath weapon becomes a close blast of radiant damage and lets them teleport one square away for every enemy caught in it. In Pathfinder, they retain the euphoria breath weapon, but lose the age category system of improving power that other dragons have. 
Fang Dragon (3.X): None. These guys are spiky dragons that like brawling. They have no breath weapon, but their claws and bite deal damage as if a size category larger than they are and their bite drains Constitution. 
Forest Imperial Dragon (PF): Cone of stony shards that deal piercing damage and can summon a greater earth elemental within the cone once per day. This guy is a wingless, serpentine dragon that. Also known as a dilung. The imperial dragons seem to be Pathfinder version of the oriental lung dragons of DnD.
Frostforged Wyrm (4th): Close blast of cold. White dragons enslave by demons that can be spurred to frenzy by pain and nearby demons.
Gold Dragon (0, B, 1st, 2nd, 3.X, 4th, PF): Cone of fire or cloud of chlorine gas. In 4th Edition they lose the cloud of chlorine gas, but their cone of fire also weakens targets. 
Gray Dragons (4th): Close blast of acid damage. The can also petrify (save ends) and immobilize (save ends). 
Great One (B, 2nd?, 3.X?, 4th?): Any breath weapon of any dragon. Called a dragon ruler, specifically The Great One Ruler of All. Perhaps an early incarnation of Io, the god of all dragonkind that appears in latter editions?
Green Dragon (0, B, 1st, 2nd, 3.X, 4th, PF): Cloud of chlorine gas. 
Howling Dragon (3.X): Cone of howling sound that deals sonic damage and a cone of maddening wails that deals Wisdom damage. These crazy fuckers are skinny dragons that live in the Windswept Depths of Pandemonium. 
Incarnum Dragon (3.X): Cone of resonating energy that deals damage to living creatures, but not objects, and drains meldshapers of essentia. You either know what those mean, or don't. I don't have the energy to explain the 3.5 incarnum rules here. 
Iron Dragon (4th): Close blast of lightning that pulls the target 3 squares. 
Jade Dragon (B): Cloud of chlorine gas and a cloud of rotting disease that causes all nonmetal items to rot away and deals 1 damage every ten minutes and prevents all healing spells and magic items from functioning on the victim, except cure disease.
Kodragon (2nd): Small cloud of shrinking and a small cloud that negates the effect of their shrinking breath. Another Dragonlance dragon. Their wingspan is only three feet long and they apparently live with the astral dragons. They look kind of cat-like and have fur instead of scale and give birth to live young and carry them in a pouch like marsupials, the pouch functions as a bag of holding. They also have opposable thumbs. They can also teleport without error once per round. They also write down history with a tablet and stylus. These are the fucking kender of dragons. You can also make a potion of shrinking out of a gland in their neck.
Magma Primal Dragon (PF): Cone of fire or cone of magma that clings to the targets. These guys are big fire bastards the have magma glowing in the cracks between their scales, they live on the Plane of Fire.
Mercury Dragon (2nd): Line of brilliant light that deals heat damage and ignites flammable objects. Since they're so shiny, they can also arc their wings to reflect light and blind enemies. They also talk quickly and have very...mercurial personalities. (See what I did there? Do you!?)
Mirage Dragon (4th): Close blast of psychic damage that causes the target to flee or attack their allies and also gain the weakened condition. 
Mist Dragon (1st, 2nd): Cloud of scalding vapor that blinds and drowns air breathing enemies. They can also enter a mist form that makes them almost invisible in natural mist. They can use all their magical abilities in mist form, but not attack or use their breath weapon.
Mithril Dragon (2nd): Ten foot wide line of blinding silver light that is a combination of heat and radiation that also blinds. The entry states there is no known form of immunity that protects against this damage. 
Moon Dragon (2nd): Cone of black frost that deals damage and hardens to entomb enemies. Evil dragon from the Spelljammer setting, its strength and alignment and color change in thirty day cycles, though it retains the evil portion of its alignment throughout the change.  
Moonstone Dragon (2nd): Cloud of light motes that ends all magical effects (except those necessary to sustain life) and puts enemies to sleep. These dragons live in the Ethereal Plane and eat moonbeams and faerie nectar. Supposedly, their tears are droplets of mithral that elves use to make elven chain mail and if the dragon dies well, its heart turns into a lump of purest adamantine.
Oceanus Dragon (3.X): Line of lightning and a cone of tranquility gas. These guys are winged, eel-like dragons that guard the River Oceanus, which connects all the Upper Planes. 
Onyx Dragon (B): Line of acid and line of darkness that puts a 15' darkness effect centered on victim that doesn't hinder the dragon at all.
Opal Sun Dragon (B): Any breath weapon of the neutral dragons (blue, jade, onyx, and white dragons). Ruler of all neutral dragons. 
Othlorx Dragon (2nd): Varies. These are Dragonlance metallic and chromatic dragons that either didn't join Takhisis in the War of the Lance, or didn't jump to the defense of humankind when the metallic dragons found out about their eggs being corrupted to breed draconians. According to the entry, there are no gold othlorx dragons. The chromatic othlorx are each cursed by Takhisis and the metallic othlorx all seem to have developed a crippling or crazy personality quirk. 
Pact Dragon (4th): Close blast of fire. These guys are the descendants of the red dragons that made the pact with the Githyanki. They're apparently smaller and more compact than normal red dragons. They can also astral jaunt as a minor action encounter power, which teleports them 10 squares. That'd be really useful, as the Githyanki live in the Astral Plane. I say that'd be really useful, instead of it is really useful, because all it does it teleport them ten squares instead of letting them go into the Astral Plane.
Pearl Moon Dragon (B): Any breath weapon of the chaotic dragons (black, brown, green, and red dragons). Called a dragon ruler. 
Platinum Dragon (0, 1st, 2nd, 3.X, 4th): Cone of cold, cloud of gaseous form, or line of sonic vibration that causes a  disintegration effect. Also known as Bahamut, god/king of metallic good dragons.
Pocket Dragon (B): Venom bite.
Prismatic Dragon (2nd): Cloud of gas that has the effects of the rainbow pattern spell. The dragon is also vulnerable to this hypnotic effect. The gas also transmutes water into a milky, luminous solid matter and includes the water present in humanoid bodies. This causes a slowing effect and damage while moving. According to the entry, these dragons are closely related to gem dragons.
Purple Dragon (4th): Close blast of psychic damage. They also have a dominating gaze. 
Pyroclastic Dragon (3.X, 4th): Cone of superheated ash and sonic force that deals half sonic damage and half fire damage, and a line of disintegration. The live on the plane of Gehenna. In 4th Edition, their breath weapon deals fire and ongoing fire (save ends) and blinds enemies. If the first save against ongoing damage fails, enemies are slowed as well. They also have an aura that deals fire damage and poison damage to anyone within it. They also migrate from Gehenna (which I'm pretty sure doesn't exist in 4th Edition) to the Elemental Chaos.
Radiant Dragon (2nd, 3.X): Line of force and a cone of light that blinds. These guys live in the Seven Mounting Heavens of Celestia. They're also a Spelljammer dragon. 
Rattlyr Dragon (3.X): Cone of fire. A wingless dragon with a cobra hood and a rattle on its tail. When  the hood is extended, it grants the dragon spell turning. 
Red Dragon (0, B, 1st, 3.X, 4th, PF): Cone of fire. They have a pact with the Githyanki to aid them in battle. 
River Dragon (1st, 2nd): Rain clouds. Also called chiang lung.
Ruby Dragon (B): Cone of fire and cone of melting that causes all carried items to burn or melt, including items immune or resistant to fire. 
Rust Dragon (2nd, 3.X): Line of acid and cone of oxidation that disintegrates anything metal within it. These dragons live in Acheron and have butterfly wings, antenna, and an exoskeleton instead of scales. They also have no special magical abilities. The entry suggests the rust monsters are a sort of larval state of the rust dragon. These dragons also posses the base color of any of the metallic dragons, but pitted and rusted and corroded looking. These dragons only collect treasure in small amounts, and only to eat. The 3.X entry flatly denies the rust monster connection and does away with all insect characteristics of the dragon. 
Sand Dragon (3.X): Cone of grit propelled at high velocity. Its wings look more like a dimetrodon fin, but obviously more mobile. 
Sapphire Dragon (B, 2nd, 3.X): Cone of high pitched, almost inaudible sound that deals damage and causes fear and panic and makes creatures flee the dragon. The entry states this fear is a metabolic effect, and creatures unaffected by magical fear are still subject to it (the 3.X entry loses the metabolic statement. They're also psionic. In Basic, the breath weapons were a line of lightning and a line of vaporization that causes the victim and all items are turned into a gaseous form, made invisible, and cannot make noise or affect solid items. 
Sea Dragon (1st, 2nd): Cone of steam. These guys are also found in the Dragonlance setting, but the entry makes Krynn's sea dragons look fairly toad-like, despite saying they have a shell like the oriental version. They're also evil in Krynn. The oriental version is also called lung wang. 
Sea Imperial Dragon (PF): Cone of superheated steam or a line of pressurized water that deals bludgeoning damage. Also called jiaolungs.
Shadow Dragon (1st, 2nd, 3.X, 4th): Cone of energy draining shadows that inflicts negative levels based on the age category of the dragon. In 4th Edition, the breath weapon becomes a close burst of necrotic damage that drains a healing surge, inflicts the weakened condition (save ends), and negates the targets necrotic resistance till the end of the encounter.
Silver Dragon (0, 1st, 2nd, 3.X, 4th, PF): Cloud of paralyzing gas and cone of cold. The paralyzing gas used to be a cloud of chlorine gas in the earliest version of Dungeons and Dragon. In 4th Edition they lose the paralyzing gas, but the cone of cold (which is referred to as a close blast) inflicts vulnerability 5 (save ends) to all damage. 
Sky Imperial Dragon (PF): Cone of lightning that can knock flying creatures out of the sky and also penetrates immunity and resistance to electricity. Also called tienlungs.
Song Dragon (3.X): Cone of electrically charged gas. Dragons from the Forgotten Realms setting that can transform into human females and prefer to live among humans.
Sovereign Imperial Dragons (PF): Cone of sonic damage. Can coat themselves in golden armor and counterspell any spell. Also called lungwangs. 
Spirit Dragon (1st): None. They can use bless, curse, control weather, and ice storm. Also called shen lung. 
Steel Dragon (1st, 2nd): Cube of toxic gas that can be as large or small as the dragon's age category allows. Gas functions as an inhaled or contact poison and kills instantly on a failed save. In 1st Edition, specifically the Greyhawk setting, these guys were called Greyhawk dragons. These dragons apparently prefer to live within the cities of humanoids. 
Stellar Dragon (2nd): 3200 foot long cone of gravity (50 feet wide at the dragon's mouth and 600 feet wide at the other end) that draws enemies towards the sphere of annihilation stellar dragons generate in their bellies (dafuq!?). These dragons are kind of neat, they're lurker/voyeurs of the neutral alignment. According to the entry, Bigby of the Greyhawk setting learned his interposing hand and grasping hand spells from one. Their diet consists of knowledge, which they eat and transform into milky gems that are gems of wisdom and pearls of knowledge embedded in their scales. They can also teleport an attacks 1500 - 18000 feet in any direction. They can also use any wizard spell in the Player's Handbook without error, and can merge any spells it wants together to suit its needs (the example in the entry is fireball and darkness, 50' radius). They can also get to be up to 3 million feet long (tail and body combined) at great wyrm status. 
Styx (3.X): Line of acid that persists for three rounds and a cone of stupefying gas that deals Intelligence damage. These legless guys swim around in the River Styx, their physical attacks can inflict a wasting disease.
Sun Dragon (2nd): Fireballs. Not a cone of fire, but fireballs like the spell. It can also coat the fireball in special saliva to delay the detonation of the fireball for up to ten rounds. Sun dragons are another Spelljammer dragon. They can be any good alignment. As they move through the draconic age categories, their coloring matches what the Monstrous Compendium calls stellar evolution. They start out fiery red as a hatchlings, then burnt orange, then brilliant yellow, and then bluish white as venerable. When they achieve great wyrm age, they shrink back to slightly bigger than hatchling size and change to a flat white color. Apparently they make their lairs by scooping out the fiery matter of the suns they live on to hollow out good sized caverns and coat their hoard in their saliva to keep it from melting. They also turn into a sphere of annihilation or a well of many worlds when they die. Heh.
Tarterian Dragon (3.X): Line of disruptive force and a cone of will-sapping gas. These guys live on the prison plane of Carceri. 
Tempest Dragon (4th): None. They are dragons made entirely of water. They have an aura that makes every square within it difficult terrain. They can also deal electricity damage to every creature in the aura. 
Topaz Dragon (2nd, 3.X): Cone of dehydration that deals damage and dries up water. They're also psionic. The 2nd Edition version of the breath weapon also did Strength damage. 
Umbral Primal Dragon (PF): Cone of shadows that blind and deal strength damage. These guys live on the Plane of Shadow and are basically shadow dragons. Their breath does not inflict negative levels, just Strength damage, but their physical attacks do.
Underworld Imperial Dragon (PF): Line of fire. These dragons have adamantine claws and they can burrow underground during a fight and erupt from the earth in a blast of lava in a 30 ft. radius around it. Also called fustanglungs.
Vishap (2nd): None. This is a flightless, much less magically potent Al-Quadim setting dragon. They are much more stealthy and tricky and have a camouflage ability that allows them to stalk potential enemies. It will then approach them for an interview and leave them alone of they offer up their treasure and swear to serve as its slaves. If they refuse, it will immediately flee so that it can surprise them later. The few magical abilities it has are geared towards stealth and magical persuasion techniques. 
Volcanic Dragon (4th): None. They have an aura that does 5 poison damage to any enemy that ends their turn in the aura, their bite attack does fire damage, and they can expand the aura and deal fire damage and ongoing fire damage (save ends) to everyone within it. They can also deal damage at will to any enemy in their aura that attacks them with a fire attack first. Right, because the first thing I'm going to do when attacking a dragon that has been literally hollowed out and filled with fire is attack it with fire. The image is literally a dragon that looks like it has been gutted and then filled with fire. There is a huge hole in its chest filled with fire and it is just hanging out by a river of lava. These dragons were angry when Io died, so they sought power from a primordial, then betrayed him, then served the gods, then betrayed them. They're mercenaries. 
White Dragon (0, B, 1st, 2nd, 3.X, 4th, PF): Cone of cold. 
Wretch Dragon (4th): Close blast of psychic damage that teleports the targets where the dragon wants. 
Yellow Dragon (2nd): High velocity blast of scorching air mixed with sand that can blind with grit. Apparently, according to the entry, this dragon type was only discovered 5 years ago but its existence had long been suspected because of theories based on primary colors. 

A little note about the dragon rulers that appear in Basic Dungeons and Dragons and their breath weapons. In earlier editions of DnD, there were only three alignments: chaotic, lawful, and neutral. Chaotic was basically considered evil, lawful was basically considered good, and neutral was considered neutral, but the description in the Basic Rulebook makes it read is kind of selfish and reactive, they won't do things unless there is profit for them personally, but they treat people as they are treated. This stuff also comes from the time when each alignment had a language tied to it that any character or monster could use if they had that alignment. 

A little note about oriental dragons from the 1st Edition AD&D Fined Folio. These dragons all appear to be able to fly, but have no wings. Most also have an ability that prevents unintelligent, scaled, water creatures from willingly attacking the dragons . I think lung is the "oriental" word for dragon.

A little note on psionic gemstone dragons, at least the 2nd Edition ones. These psionics are nothing like what we currently use in our game. These are pretty basic attack and defense modes. I think. I don't really understand psionic abilities from earlier editions of the game. Regardless, these dragons also have piles of arcane spellcasting and magical abilities and immunities like all other dragons. 

A little note on 4th Edition metallic dragons and 4th Edition dragons in general. Apparently all the metallic dragons up and changed their minds and are no longer the good guys. They're alignment is unaligned, which is WotC for  true neutral or "we are no longer comfortable with the idea of including good monsters in books so players can kill them." I really really hate 4th Edition dragons. Most of the new ones are just stupid, and the updated versions are irritating as well. I have the chromatic dragon copy of the 4e Draconomicon, but not the metallic version, so I can only assume the brass and bronze dragons are included there to make room for the iron and adamantine dragons in Monster Manual 2. Seriously, the new dragons bug me. I mean earthquake dragons? Really? Dragons that were so terrified by the death of the god and creator of dragons that they fled to a primordial, the guys that killed him, for protection? Not all dragons are savage and terrible and fearsome, some of them are fairly cowardly, but none of them (except whites) are that stupid and if whites are going to flee to a primordial, wouldn't they flee to a primordial of cold instead of one of earth and fire, and perhaps become blizzard dragons? No? Ok, just checking WotC.

Some other interesting dragon creatures I found are the dracimera (a chimera with a dragon-lion head, dragon-goat head, and a dragon head/neck for a tail, each head has a breath wearpon), dracohydra (winged hydra with two to five heads that can each spit a line of acid), dracolisk (black dragon and basilisk hybrid), dracotaur (dragon centaurs that can spit fire, but humanoid and quadruped parts are both dragon), dragonnel (dragon and pteradon hybrid in 2nd Edition and also a somewhat horse-like dragon mount for paladins in 3.X), dragonne (lion and brass dragon hybrid), linnorm (primeval Pathfinder dragons that are evil, cantankerous bastards that are more powerful than even some true dragons, they have these death curses they inflict when they're killed, and are also poisonous), mantidrake (manticore and evil dragon hybrid), and wyvern drake (wyvern and evil dragon hybrid).

Edit After The Fact: I went to bed, added in the Pathfinder dragons. Looked around and couldn't find any 3.5 Oriental Adventures stuff that I used to have. Boo.

If that isn't comprehensive enough for your tastes, here, enjoy the glories of Wikipedia. That's a link to an actual page about dragons of Dungeons and Dragons, not just a "fuck you, go look at Wikipedia" snark. 

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