Monstrous Monday: Quazar Dragon

This one took a long time. I know it's not Monday, sue me.

From Susan Lawson's article “There Can Never Be Too Many Dragons, Right?” in Dragon #96 (April 1985), it was never meant to be used in a regular campaign, just to end ones where the PCs had acquired several kingdoms' worth of magical items that made them otherwise untouchable -- by having the quazar dragon devour their home planet. Classic Old School methodology.

Nevertheless, when I read SpectreCreations' Cosmic Dragon Breviary, the idea wouldn't let go of me, to convert the dragon and make it part of the Cosmic Dragon family. It fits really well with the rest of them, and would make a dangerous foe.

So, here is the quazar dragon, in all his formidable glory.

Quazar Dragon

Spoken of in hushed rumors (when it is spoken about at all), the quazar dragon is the subject of much speculation. Some believe they are agents of divine retribution, created by the gods in answer to mortal hubris. Others claim they are a species of alien creature native to Far Realms that come to devour Reality itself.

But among a handful of sages and scholars is speculation that the quazar dragon is part of that family known as the Cosmic Dragons, agents of the Cosmic Balance. They believe this dragon species is intended to address unnatural accumulations of raw magical power in whatever form: a solution to the problem of “too many wizards.”

Whatever the case, these creatures’ rarity makes definitive statements about their habits and abilities difficult to make.

A Thaumovorous Diet. Quazar dragons are thaumovores: they consume magical energy. While many believe magical energy to be diffused throughout the universe, it sometimes collects in pockets: either in living creatures or magic items. In some cases, sorcerers and wizards amass huge amounts of magical power, such that it warps the very nature of reality around them. In other cases, items become imbued with such energy that they become keys to altering the Fates of Worlds. In either case, these accumulations of magic can attract the attention of a quazar dragon.

Capable of following a trail of concentrated magic through the dimensional membrane as well as interstellar space, the quazar dragons are dogged pursuers. Long-lived, eternally hungry, and single-minded, they can follow the scent for centuries until eventually arriving at the origin of the trail and devouring all objects and creatures nearby.

A Quazar Dragon’s Lair

Due to the energy required by their enormous bodies, quazar dragons are nomadic by nature. Once it has depleted a region of magical energy, the dragon may rest for a large amount of time (from a few months to many years), building up energy reserves before heading into the interstellar or interplanar medium to hunt down another area of high magic.

Lair Actions

On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the dragon takes a lair action to cause one of the following effects; the dragon can't use the same effect two rounds in a row:

  • Cosmic Flare. The quazar dragon channels the absorbed magical energy within its body and releases it in a radiant explosion. Brilliant beams of multicolored light shoot out in all directions, targeting creatures within the lair. Each creature in its lair must make a DC 16 Dexterity saving throw or take 25 (10d6) radiant damage. Additionally, any magical effects or spells currently affecting those who fail the saving throw are instantly dispelled.
  • Magic Siphon. The quazar dragon taps into its true nature, absorbing magical energies in the area in one enormous pulse. All magical effects within the lair, including ongoing spells and enchantments, are temporarily sup-pressed for a round. This includes magical items and abilities of creatures within the lair. Nonmagical effects are unaffected.
  • Stellar Burst. The quazar dragon releases a burst of wild magic, creating a localized gravitational anomaly within its lair. All creatures within the lair must succeed on a DC 22 Strength saving throw or be pulled 15 feet towards the dragon's massive form. On a failed save, they are also restrained for a round as they struggle against the intense gravitational force. The dragon can choose to release the restraint early, causing affected creatures to be flung 10 feet away from the dragon and causing them to fall prone.

Regional Effects

The region containing a legendary quazar dragon's lair is warped by the dragon’s magic, which creates one or more of the following effects:

  • Magic Famine. The intense anti-magical presence of the quazar dragon disrupts the natural flow of arcane energy in the region. As a result, the casting of spells and the use of magical abilities becomes more challenging for all creatures within 100 miles of the lair. Any spell or magical ability that requires an attack roll is made with disadvantage and all saving throws against magical abilities and spells are made with advantage, reflecting the inherent struggle to harness magic in the dragon’s presence.
         In addition, spells with a duration have that duration halved within the region affected. Spells with a duration of “Permanent” have the duration changed to “1 year” instead.
  • Radiation Absorption. Light sources within 100 miles of the quazar dragon’s lair are weakened, providing light for only half as much distance as normal. This affects both mundane and magical sources of light. If a source of light that is created by a spell of 4th level or lower is brought into the affected region, the spell that created the light is dispelled.
  • Magical Ecosystem Collapse. Magical creatures are also a target for a quazar dragon’s hunger. Encounters with magical creatures and spellcasters within 100 miles of the quazar dragon’s lair are reduced to 10% of their normal frequency.

If the dragon dies, light sources regain their strength immediately and the magical famine fades over 1d10 days; spells whose duration has not run out revert to their original duration. It can take seasons or years for magical creatures to move back into the region formerly inhabited by a quazar dragon.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fantasy Friday: Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy Races (OSE)

Image
 So, one of the many games I've backed on Kickstarter is Old School Essentials , which is a cleaned-up, streamlined, and corrected version of the B/X version of Basic Dungeons & Dragons (Moldvay/Cook) rules. Gavin Norman (who posts as Necrotic Gnome) does an incredible job editing and collating info into a super-easy-to-read format. One of the modifications to the B/X rules introduced in the OSE Advanced Fantasy book is separating race from class. In original B/X, the races are represented as classes, with the idea that, if you're playing an elf, that should be special enough in-and-of-itself. If you allowed non-human races to take classes, then players will play the non-humans because their innate abilities make them better than equal-leveled human characters. Separating race from class, the default introduced in AD&D, caused huge flamewars and continues to do so today. The Advanced Fantasy book has reasonable versions of the races so that, if it's your preferen...
Read more

Eberron 5E: Race -- Shifter

With shifters, the problem is the new edition's focus on simplicity. Shifting changed your characteristics, and if you wanted your shifting to become really good, you had to take a tree of shifter feats. There were builds focusing entirely on maximizing your shifter advantages. The new edition doesn't really do temporary ability score changes in the same way -- the barbarian's rage, for example, gives a boost to damage and hit points, but doesn't require recalculating your character's abilities. Similarly, the gauntlets of ogre power / amulet of health / headband of intellect change the impacted ability score to a flat 19 -- a +5 bonus that's easy to plug in, and lasts indefinitely as long as you leave the item on. So I decided that 5E shifters should get their +1 stat bump from their trait, and tried to make the traits (which I had to rename "legacies" because "trait" in 5E is a very specific thing) almost as powerful as a feat, ...
Read more

Monstrous Monday: Blink Wooly Mammoth (D&D5E)

Image
Another creature adapted from Dragon issue #156, "Not Necessarily the Monstrous Compendium" -- the feared Blink Wooly Mammoth! It probably would have been even more thematically appropriate to have worked up the werelagomorph (were-hare) but I only thought of that last night. Ancient people, accompanied by the first domesticated dogs, hunted mammoths during the Endless Winter at the beginning of the world. Some mammoths developed a strange magical ability to escape their pursuers – the ability to teleport short distances. While the vast herds of mammoths were eventually greatly reduced through hunting, these blink wooly mammoths proved tricky and many herds survive at the outskirts of civilization, especially in areas that border frozen climates. Some sages believe that some ancient hunters may have bred their dogs in an attempt to create a hunting companion that was a match for these mammoths; these sages believe that this is the origin of the blink dog species. Blink Wooly ...
Read more