Dragon, Primal

About

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. 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 Dragon Hoards

Primal dragons may hail from other planes of existence than chromatic or metallic dragons, but they share one thing in common with those types— an obsession with treasure. Specific details on the types of treasures each category of primal dragon favors are detailed in their respective entries on the following pages; beyond those broad guidelines, the treasures in a dragon’s hoard should match the themes of that type of dragon. A brine dragon’s treasures should have nautical themes to them, for example, while an umbral dragon would have collected treasures of grim and shadowy nature; a crystal dragon focuses on gemstone valuables, and a cloud dragon seeks items that grant flight or produce an exotic scent. Of them all, the magma dragon’s treasure hoards are most akin to that of the classic dragon—provided the items collected can survive at the blazing temperatures that tend to be present in these dragons’ volcanic dens!