The Dragoning

I finally got around to putting together the stats for dragons on Hekinoe. I'm pretty pleased with the result. Check it out:

Wyrmling Dragon

CR 1

XP 400

Tiny Dragon

Init: +6; Senses: darkvision 120 ft; low-light vision, scent; Perception +6

Defense

AC: 24, touch 18, flat-footed 15 (+1 dodge, +6 Dex, +5 natural, +2 size)

HP: 3 (1d12-3)

Fort: +1; Ref: +7; Will: +3

DR: 1/-; Immune: acid, paralysis, poison, sleep.

Offense

Speed: 30 ft.

Melee: bite +4 (1d3+1/20 plus grab); claw -1 (1d2+1/20) x2

Space: 2 ½ ft.

Reach: 0

Special Attacks: acidy spit (20 ft. burst, 10 ft. range, DC 10, 1d6 acid); poison

Statistics

Str: 12+1; Dex: 22+6; Con: 7+-2; Int: 2-4; Wis: 12+1; Cha: 8-1

Base Atk: +1; CMB: +0; CMD: 18 (+4 vs. trip)

Feats: Dodge

Skills: Perception+6, Stealth +18 (+8 size modifier, additional +8 in undergrowth)

Ecology

Environment: everywhere!!1!

Organization: solitary, pair, or pack (3-12)

Treasure: none

Special Abilities

Acidy Spit (Ex): Dragons possess an extremely caustic acid in their stomachs that helps them digest food. They can spit this acid out to a range of 10 feet per age category to all creatures within a 20 ft. radius spread. Once a dragon has spit its acid, it may not do so again for 1d6 rounds. The Reflex save DC 10 + ½ the dragons racial hit dice + its Constitution modifier.

Camouflage (Ex): The brownish-green coloring of dragons makes them adept at remaining hidden in undergrowth, they gain a +8 bonus to Stealth checks in such conditions.

Crush (Ex): A jumping huge or larger dragon can land on its foes as a standard action, using its whole body to crush them. Crush attacks are effective only against opponents three or more size categories smaller than the dragon. A crush attack affects as many creatures as fits in the dragon’s space. Creatures in the affected area must succeed on a Reflex save (DC equal to that of the dragon’s acidy spit) or be pinned, automatically taking bludgeoning damage during the next round unless the dragon moves off of them. If the dragon chooses to maintain the pin, it must succeed at a combat maneuver check as normal. Pinned foes take damage from the crush each round if they don’t escape. A crush attack deals appropriate damage (2d8 for huge, 4d6 for gargantuan) plus 1½ times the dragon’s Strength modifier

Grab: Dragons have the grab ability when they latch onto a foe with their bite. This allows them to initiate a grapple combat maneuver as a free action against creatures equal to their size or smaller with a successful bite attack without provoking an attack of opportunity. The dragon may continue the grapple as normal, or may choose to merely maintain its hold on the creature with its bite. If it chooses to do the latter, it takes a -20 penalty on checks to maintain the grapple, but does not gain the grappled condition. The grab ability confers a +4 bonus on checks made to initiate and maintain the grapple.

Poison (Ex): Dragons secrete a venom from glands in their mouth that serves to weaken and slow prey. A favored hunting technique of mother dragons is to bite prey and allow their young to hunt the weakened creature. The save DC is 10 + ½ the dragon’s racial hit dice + its Constitution modifier.

Dragon Venom

Type: poison, injury; Save: Fortitude DC 10

Onset: 1 minute; Frequency: 1/hour for 6 hours

Effect: 1d2 Dexterity damage

Cure: 1 save

Scent (Ex): Dragons have the scent ability.

Tail Slap (Ex): Medium size or larger dragons have long, powerful tails that they can sweep into foes, knocking them prone. When a dragon strikes an enemy with his tail slap, it immediately initiates a trip combat maneuver. The dragon gains a +2 bonus on trip attempts. The dragon's tail slap is a secondary attack.

Tail Sweep (Ex): Gargantuan or larger dragons are able to sweep with their tails as a standard action. The sweep affects a half-circle with a radius of 30 ft. (or 40 for a colossal dragon), extending from an intersection on the edge of the dragon’s space in any direction.  Creature’s within the swept area are affected if they are four or more size categories smaller than the dragon. A tail sweep automatically deals the appropriate damage (2d6 for gargantuan, 2d8 for colossal) plus 1½ times the dragon’s Strength bonus.

I also made age categories and stuff. Hehe.

Dragon Age Categories

Age Category	Size	CR	Hit Dice	Acidy Spit	Damage Reduction	Natural Armor
Wyrmling	Tiny	1	1d12	1d6	1/-	+5
Very Young	Small	2	1d12	1d6	2/-	+7
Young	Medium	4	2d12	2d6	3/-	+9
Juvenile	Medium	6	4d12	4d6	4/-	+9
Young Adult	Large	8	5d12	5d6	5/-	+12
Adult	Large	10	7d12	7d6	6/-	+12
Mature	Large	12	8d12	8d6	7/-	+12
Old	Huge	14	9d12	9d6	8/-	+16
Very Old	Huge	16	11d12	11d6	9/-	+16
Ancient	Huge	18	12d12	12d6	10/-	+16
Wyrm	Huge	20	14d12	14d6	11/-	+16
Great Wyrm	Gargantuan	22	15d12	15d6	12/-	+19

Age Category	Strength	Dexterity	Constitution	Intelligence	Wisdom	Charisma
Wyrmling	12	22	7	2	12	8
Very Young	16	18	11	3	12	8
Young	20	16	13	4	12	8
Juvenile	21	16	13	5	12	8
Young Adult	29	14	17	6	12	8
Adult	29	14	17	7	12	8
Mature	33	18	22	8	16	12
Old	41	18	26	9	16	12
Very Old	41	18	26	10	16	12
Ancient	42	18	26	11	16	12
Wyrm	42	18	26	12	16	12
Great Wyrm	54	20	34	13	20	16

I also, hehehe, made different types of dragons. 

Dragon Variants
Ambush Dragon: These dragons are found primarily in the northmost and eastmost portions of The Wilds Lands, and are always one size category smaller than normal and increase their Dexterity by +2 (for a total of +4 due to the size change). These dragons are stealthy hunters, and typically lie in wait for their foes, despite their size and ferocity. Instead of increasing hit dice as they age, these dragons gain levels of Rogue (Scout). Obviously, their capabilities are limited by their lack of speech and body shape.
Bestial Dragon: These dragons are found only in The Beast Lands and exhibit the same massive size and savage temperament of all carnivorous creatures found in those forests. These dragons are always one size category larger than normal for their age, their Intelligence cannot be more than 2, and when damaged they gain a +2 to Strength and Constitution until they or their foes are dead.
Brood Dragon: These dragons are warped by sorcerous experimentation and instead of laying eggs and nesting as normal for dragons, they house their living young inside of them, allowing them to feed at their leisure. Females of young adult age have a 25% chance of being mothers and spitting 1d4 wyrmlings out with each use of their acidy spit. Additionally, due to the sorcerous energies used to alter these creatures, and their years spent in their mother’s belly, these dragons are dazzled in conditions of bright light and they have a 25% to convert precision damage and critical hits into normal attacks due to the rearrangement of their internal organs.
Cave Dragon: These dragons are found in the depths of Whurent and The Fell Peaks. They are always one size category smaller than normal for their age. Their scales typically match the color of stone in their environment and grant them a +8 circumstance to Stealth checks in that environment instead of in undergrowth. They also have a 30 ft. burrow speed through rock and dirt (leaving a tunnel through the rock) and their claw damage is increased by one die step.
Clacker Dragon: These dragons were found primarily in Whurent, and were a foe of the mute giants of those mountains before their exodus. With the absence of a ready food supply, these dragons are believed to be nearly extinct. It is believed that these dragons developed their particularly tough teeth to aid in hunting the tough skinned giants. These dense teeth can be “clacked” together, thus the name of the dragon, igniting the dragon’s strangely flammable stomach bile and causing it to deal ½ fire and ½ acid damage. The critical threat range for their bite is increased to 19-20 and their bite attack is also treated as wolf-iron (adamantine) for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction.
Crystal Dragon: These extraordinarily rare dragons have not been seen in over a thousand years, but were once found in the desert of The Old Empire. Supposedly, they were highly intelligent and were resistant to the psychic arts of the Elduman race. Over long years of exposure to the sun and harsh winds of The Old Empire, their scales took on a pale sandy color with hints of crystal within it. These dragons increase their Intelligence and Wisdom by 2 per age category, have power resistance equal to 11 + their hit dice, and have a +8 bonus to Stealth checks in the desert of The Old Empire instead of when among undergrowth.
Fell Dragon: This type of dragon was specially bred by the sorcerers of The Fell Peaks for use as cavalry. Breeding males can grow as large as normal dragons, but those used as mounts typically only appear as large creatures. These dragons absorbed the ambient sorcerous energy found within Meroteth obsidian and their scales have a similar appearance to that stone. They also developed spell resistance due to this exposure, gaining spell resistance 11 + their hit dice. Instead of a trip attack, these dragon’s have a barbed spike on the end of their tails that secretes the same venom as their bite.
Nel Dragon: These dragons are only found in the homeland of the Nel and have developed a resistance to the Gifts of the Nel. They gain Gift resistance equal to 11 + their hit dice. Much like the Sarownel forest-kin, the venom of these dragons can affect the Nel.

Now, these guys aren't nearly as tough as Pathfinder and DnD dragons are, but I like them. On paper, and despite their size, I feel like they have some good potential as ambushers. They're dragon type creatures, so they have decent hit points and attack and such, but they don't have nearly the natural armor or damage reduction of regular dragons. I compensate for this, slightly, by making it impenetrable damage reduction instead of DR/magic. I dunno, I'll have to try them out at some point (and not get them one shotted) to see if I got the CRs right.

The math behind what I did, because I don't know how to monster, is that I took the monitor lizard entry from the Pathfinder Bestiary and applied the half-dragon template to it and then I added two hit dice and said that was a juvenile dragon with a CR of 6. I chose the base as monitor lizard because that's the entry for Komodo dragons as far as I can tell, and I keep saying my dragons are really fucking big and smart Komodo dragons. So it made sense to me. I modeled the size increases at various age categories off of black dragons, because acid. With all that in mind, I just applied the giant creature and advanced creature templates as needed to get the CRs I wanted. These guys end up with CRs comparable to red dragons, but only like 2/3 the hit points (partly because they have 1/2 the hit dice, at least the great wrym versions of both do), none of the special abilities related to being magical, but a significantly higher Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution, and nowhere near the damage output (at least compared with great wyrm red dragons). Not sure if it works. Pretty sure it doesn't.

In short, I think they still need tweaking. But right now, I'm pleased with what I have and where it is going. I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts, if anyone has any.