Purple Dragons - Schemers in the Dark

It's hard for me to get dragons off my mind. Grand mythical reptiles of ancient power and wisdom that breath fire or lightning will always, always be cool to me. With the last article about them fresh on my mind, I think it's high time we visited more dragons.

Purple Dragon by Todd Lockwood

Part two of this series will take us somewhere much more insidious, compared to the cityscapes and ancient ruins that the titanium dragons call home. Now we go dark. Now, we venture to the deep places of the Dungeons and Dragons worlds. Now, things get trippy.

This material has my own spice to it, but it is heavily inspired by The Draconomicon from a previous edition. We all know how we feel about that edition, but its good ideas need to be brought into the now.

Purple Dragons

Purple dragons, sometimes called deep dragons or eldritch dragons, are often dismissed by draconologists as being extinct, a myth, or both. Those living in the deep underground civilisations of the world know better. Purple dragons are a very real threat.

As the world was progressively dominated by dragons of other colours, purple dragons were drawn under the world's crust. Lured by the civilisations that dwell there, and their insatiable greed to fill their treasure hoards with gemstones – the more irregular and uncut, the better.

Life underground has had a profound impact on their physiology. The need to fly is still present in massive underground canyons, but the great soaring wings of surface dragons have been shrunk over time into wider frills suited for gliding. The claws on these wings aid in climbing the vertical stretches of tunnels found deep underground. Their forms are lithe and thin, making many deep dragons able to slide and slither as well as walk or climb through underground caverns.

Ancient Purple Dragon Stats - Stat block made oonHomebrewery

As a deep dragon moves into an area, usually one surrounded by a populace of some kind, it makes every effort to learn the tectonics of the cave its in. To know where the fault lines are and where the stone is its strongest and weakest. Holding an underground civilisation to ransom is easy when you can threaten a cave-in or boulder-fall at a moment's notice. As such, the dragon insists on a gaggle of devoted followers to do its bidding in places too small or narrow for it to travel.

The purple dragon is a master manipulator. While the surface dragons have fearsome might to bend enemies to their will, purple dragons have chosen a subtler art to control. The glamour of their scales and the dulcet tones of their voice can beguile the minds of those in their presence, and if that fails, the dragon's breath attacks the mind far stronger than it attacks the body.

Purple Dragon Lairs

Purple dragons dwell in immense caves of unworked gemstones and crystals. It makes every effort to sharpen its claws on the raw earth, so that the crystals are made visible, but are too deep for humanoid races to excavate without time. Time the purple dragon would never permit.

Lair Actions:

Adult Purple Dragon Stats

The dragon has memorised the placement of each crystal in their lair and can use that to its advantage. The dragon beats its wings and scratches the loose earth in the cavern. Each creature within 20 feet of the dragon must make a DC 15 Dexterity Saving Throw. On a failure, each creature is blinded and cannot take reactions until the start of its next turn.

The dragon, despite its intense love of the crystals, will use them as a weapon if needed. The dragon chooses a 10 feet radius cylinder it can see within 120 feet of it. Crystal shards fall from the ceiling or jut from the ground in that area. All creatures in the cylinder must succeed a DC 15 Dexterity Saving throw or take 14 (4d6) piercing damage.

Region Effects:

Creatures that are within 6 miles of the dragon's lair, and underground get the feeling of consistent dread when going towards the dragon's lair.

Sources of running within 1 mile of dragon's lair run still, and provide no refreshment to anyone who drinks from it.

Crystal nymphs patrol thinner caverns within 6 miles of the dragon's lair. Crystal nymphs have the statistics of ice mephits, but it has an Intelligence and Charisma of 1 (-5) and all instances of cold damage are replaced with psychic damage.

Leaving the Caves

Young Purple Dragon and Purple Dragon Wyrmling Stats

With the creep factor fresh in your mind, we want to hear from you. Where would purple dragons feature in your Dungeons and Dragons world? Are there other types of forgotten dragons, or creatures from old editions you’d love to see remastered. Let us know on social media or the comments below!

Adam Ray contributes much for adventurers here on Apotheosis Studios. As co-founder of fantasticuniverses.com, he writes about card gaming and PC gaming to a corner of the internet he carved out himself. On Youtube, he can be found game mastering for No Ordinary Heroes, or editing the antics on The Hostile Atmosphere. Follow his Twitter @IzzetTinkerer.