Something I've meant to make for a long, long while and since I need to somehow get over my writers block...
Parchment Dragon
Note: This lore is written as if the Parchment Dragons were a long existing dragon breed in a regular D&D setting. They are actually a custom creation and in this quest brought to life by creating them in the Flesh Forge of Gorgossos.
A breed of dragon that differs in many aspects from it's bretheren, the Parchment Dragons are often purpoted to be merely draconic creatures, but all scholarly inquiry into their nature shows them to be True Dragons. One of the more common theories on how they came to be is long forgotten mages covens bred them purposefully as guardians of their libraries. Others claim that the first Parchment Dragon came to be when an elder dragon tried to prolong his life by becoming a Dracolich, but the process failed and instead tying his essence to a phylactery, he instead gave his life to animate the arcane texts he used as a new dragon breed. The truth is hard to discern and still sought after by scholars, first and foremest by the curious Parchment Dragons themselves, but if any of them managed to uncover the secrets of their existense, they have yet to share that knowledge.
Appereance
In their build, Parchment Dragons share some superficial similarity with Red Dragons, but they are much smaller and surprisingly light. Their tips of their scales have a tendency to stick off their bodies, giving them a rough appearance and making their horns and crests blend in with the surrounding scales. In their youth, they are usually of beige color, with a few rare examples whose scales veer into a dirty white. As they age, their at first leathery scales begin to harden more and more until they become stronger than even Adamant, but they never lose their flexibility, making the scales of elder Parchment Dragons highly prized for the creation of armors. At the same time, the scales begin to darken and take on a blotchy, light brown texture, with the edges usually turning a darker brown. Once they learn to cast spells, they begin to scribe them onto their scales, which is why older Parchment Dragons are usually covered in arcane script, with ever more powerful spells scribed on them the older they become, often accentuated by gold and gemstones to bind arcane power to their bodies. The very rare Parchment Dracolichs are known to use sheets of solid gold as a replacement for their scales.
Personality
Unlike most dragons, a Parchment Dragon is rarely concerned with physical wealth or the desire to rule over other creatures. They are scholarly by nature and vastly prefer it to ponder and research the secret of the world than to spend time squabbling over piles of gold. Once they learn to take on humanoid form, they tend to try and blend in with other societies, gravitating towards large cities with great libraries or centers of learning. They prefer to disguise themselves as long-lived species, such as Elves or plante-touched humans, as it makes it easier to hide their own longlivity. Instead of raiding and stealing, they usually finance their lives by working as enchanters, or doing quiet and boring work like becoming scribes or clerks. A few of them are known to greatly enjoy such monotonous and simple work and find it a relaxing diversion while leaving them with ample time to ponder other things. Sometimes, either by their own desire or due to catching the eye of their superiors through diligent work, they can reach high ranking positions as magistrates or even ministers, with their employers not always being aware of their true nature.
When their magical powers reach a certain point, many Parchment Dragons begin to show the same proclivities as most mages and start to build themselves remote and secluded hideouts to conduct their research in. As their needs for skilled and able help in their work increases, they often begin to desire offspring that they hope to use as their helpers, or they take one promising members of others species as apprentices. Sometimes these outposts thus begin to grow into entire magical orders in their own right, with the oldest Parchment Dragon and often some of his offspring serving as the leadership and other humanoid spellcasters learning and working under them. Due to the even tempers of the Parchment Dragons, these orders rarely indulge in the cruelty and excesses that others descend to, and are often well regarded by wider society. An easy tell to see if an order is secretly led by Parchment Dragons is if you can find multiple Parchment Dragon Wyrmlings bound as familiars among the more powerful members of the order.
Habitat
As they keep no large hoards of monetary wealth, most younger parchment dragons tend to live in cities, usually in more affluent districts. This is not a result of hedonism or arrogance, but of simple necessity, as the Parchment Dragons still need ample room to store their own book collections, workrooms for both research and enchanting, and they greatly prefer to live in homes that can accommodate their true forms. Thus, their homes tend to be sparsely furnished with wide, open areas, and large doors, while the windows tend to be shuttered most of the time so that the neighbors can't see them walking around in their true form. For all but the youngest Parchment Dragons, beds are impractical, so they prefer luxurious piles of pillows to sleep on.
Older Parchment Dragons instead begin to set up secluded outposts, often in the middle of inhospitable wilderness, mountain ranges or other hard to reach places. Their city homes are either abandoned or become largely a front for whatever life they wish to maintain among humanoid society, while they use teleportation or other means to travel to their true homes. These outposts are hard to distigiush from similar structres errected by other spellcasters, but they too share the wide, open floors and high ceilings that are needed to accomodate the dragons size. The most common defenders of such places are constructs, bound elementals and the apprentices of the dragon, if he has any. Less common are bound outsiders and undead creatures, while enslaved creatures such as Kobolds are nearly unheard of.
Reproduction
For most Parchment Dragons, reproduction is a topic that they address late in their lives. They have no great desire to sire offspring and will usually only do so in a calculated effort to use their young as servants or for some other purposes. Thus, the first problem of many Parchment Dragons is to find a potential mate that is willing to give up their right to the clutch. Sometimes this is solved by the pair mating again after the first clutch is laid, with one clutch going to each party, while other times the dragons haggle and barter about other services or payments. A few rare dragons that have established themselves in some position of power, usually leading an oder of spellcasters, will mate very regularly, using their offspring as bargaining tools and giving them out as familiars to favored spellcasters.
A clutch usually only consists of 1 to 4 eggs, tends to hatch after about six months, and is exclusively brought up by one parent. Parchment Dragons have few parental feelings for their offspring, some are even known to experiment on their own eggs or to use them as raw materials for arcane works, and once hatched, the wyrmling tends to be treated more as a subordinate than a child. None the less, the parent will protect, feed and educate its offspring for the first few years of its life, expecting this favour to be repaid later by a period of servitude before the young dragon is permitted to make its own way.
This phase of servitude usually lasts until the younger dragon reaches the Adult age category, but usually they are permitted to leave the parents lair and establish their own homes once they become Juvelines. They will still be expected to regularly perform tasks for their parent, but at this point this usually takes the form of aquiring rare materials, arcane knowledge or other things, leaving them much freedom to pursue their own interests.
Combat
Due to their nature, Parchment Dragons try to avoid fights as much as possible, preferring to solve their conflicts by words or bartering instead of violence, but they will readily defend their homes and possessions and not shy away from killing someone who attacks them. Since they are physically weaker than almost all other dragons, they rarely fight in close combat, preferring to either throw spells while flying or using other means to evade attacks while casting. There is however a great difference between encountering one in a humanoid disguise in the street and encountering him in his own home or hideout.
When accosted in public, they usually will try to end a conflict as quickly as possible to preserve their public identity, either by using overwhelming force to subdue their opponent or by fleeing as fast as possible. In their own homes or lairs though, they instead use as much force as necessary, ordering their servitors and other defenders to encircle and trap attackers. Generally, they prefer to subdue instead of kill their attackers, so that they can use mind-spells to learn more about why they were targeted. Often they will then modify the memories of their attackers and release them, leaving them no memory of the dragon or whatever they wanted from him, but less scrupolous Parchment Dragons are also known to intruders as test subjects in their experiments.
Trivia
Due to being rather secretive and reclusive, Parchment Dragons are not that well known to the wider public. Since they neither tend to go on the occasional rampage like chromatic dragons, or set out to become known as wise teachers like many metallic dragons, there are few legends and tales about their exploits and more often than not, the stories that do come into being have trouble to decide if they are about a Parchment Dragon or just an archmage taking on the guise of a dragon.
Especially among wizards though, they are well known and sought after, as they have a reputation for fair dealings and a willingness to share the knowledge they amassed for the right price. Others wish to slay them to learn the hundreds of spells the oldest of their kind have written on their bodies, being unwilling to bargain for what they think they can take by force. For most, a Parchment Dragon is an obsucre legend, which suits them rather well, as it makes it much easier to hide among humanoid society.
Mechanics
Default Alignment: Lawful Neutral
| Age Category | Age in Years | CR | Size | Speed | Hit Dice | Natural Armor | Breath Weapon | Str | Dex | Con | Int | Wis | Chr | Attacks | Special Abilities | Feats | Caster Level |
|---|
| 1 Wyrmling | 0–5 | 3 | Tiny | 40 ft., Fly 100 ft. (average) | 3 | 2 | 15 ft., 2d6 | 9 | 14 | 11 | 14 | 13 | 12 | 1x Bite 1d4, 2x Claw 1d3 | Breathweapon, Sense Magic | Iron Will, Improved Initiative | - |
| 2 Very young | 6–15 | 5 | Small | 150 ft. (average) | 5 | 4 | 20 ft., 4d6 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 16 | 15 | 14 | 1x Bite 1d6, 2x Claw 1d4 | Spellscales | Scribe Scroll | 1st |
| 3 Young | 16–25 | 7 | Medium | 150 ft. (average) | 7 | 6 | 30 ft., 6d6 | 13 | 12 | 13 | 16 | 15 | 14 | 1x Bite 1d8, 2x Claw 1d6, 2x Wings 1d4 | Change Shape | Spell Penetration | 2nd |
| 4 Juvenile | 26–50 | 9 | Medium | 150 ft. (average) | 9 | 8 | 30 ft., 8d6 | 14 | 12 | 14 | 18 | 17 | 16 | 1x Bite 1d8, 2x Claw 1d6, 2x Wings 1d4 | Binding Contract | Bouncing Spell | 4th |
| 5 Young adult | 51–100 | 11 | Large | 200 ft. (poor) | 11 | 10 | 40 ft., 10d6 | 15 | 10 | 14 | 18 | 17 | 16 | 1x Bite 2d6, 2x Claw 1d8, 2x Wings 1d6, 1x Tail Slap 1d8 | SR 11 + CR | Craft Wondrous Item | 6th |
| 6 Adult | 101–200 | 12 | Large | 200 ft. (poor) | 13 | 12 | 40 ft., 12d6 | 16 | 10 | 15 | 20 | 19 | 18 | 1x Bite 2d6, 2x Claw 1d8, 2x Wings 1d6, 1x Tail Slap 1d8 | Frightful Presence (30ft x Age Category) | Empower Spell | 8th |
| 7 Mature adult | 201–400 | 13 | Large | 200 ft. (poor) | 15 | 14 | 40 ft., 14d6 | 17 | 10 | 15 | 20 | 19 | 18 | 1x Bite 2d6, 2x Claw 1d8, 2x Wings 1d6, 1x Tail Slap 1d8 | Versatile Metamagic | Craft Magic Arms and Armor | 10th |
| 8 Old | 401–600 | 15 | Huge | 200 ft. (poor) | 17 | 16 | 50 ft., 16d6 | 18 | 8 | 16 | 22 | 21 | 20 | 1x Bite 2d8, 2x Claw 2d6, 2x Wings 1d8, 1x Tail Slap 2d6, 1x Crush 2d8 | DR 5 / Magic | Bouncing Spell | 12th |
| 9 Very old | 601–800 | 16 | Huge | 200 ft. (poor) | 19 | 18 | 50 ft., 18d6 | 19 | 8 | 16 | 22 | 21 | 20 | 1x Bite 2d8, 2x Claw 2d6, 2x Wings 1d8, 1x Tail Slap 2d6, 1x Crush 2d8 | Versatile Metamagic II | Craft Construct | 14th |
| 10 Ancient | 801–1,000 | 17 | Huge | 200 ft. (poor) | 21 | 20 | 50 ft., 20d6 | 20 | 8 | 17 | 24 | 23 | 22 | 1x Bite 2d8, 2x Claw 2d6, 2x Wings 1d8, 1x Tail Slap 2d6, 1x Crush 2d8 | DR 10 / Magic | Maximize Spell | 16th |
| 11 Wyrm | 1,001–1,200 | 18 | Huge | 200 ft. (poor) | 23 | 22 | 50 ft., 22d6 | 21 | 6 | 17 | 24 | 23 | 22 | 1x Bite 2d8, 2x Claw 2d6, 2x Wings 1d8, 1x Tail Slap 2d6, 1x Crush 2d8 | Versatile Metamagic III | Persistent Spell | 18th |
| 12 Great wyrm | 1,201+ | 20 | Gargantuan | 250 ft. (clumsy) | 25 | 24 | 60 ft., 24d6 | 22 | 6 | 18 | 26 | 25 | 24 | 1x Bite 4d6, 2x Claw 2d8, 2x Wings 2d6, 1x Tail Slap 2d8, 1x Crush 4d6, 1x Tail Swipe 2d6 | Powerful Metamagic, DR 15 / Magic | Intensified Spell | 20th |
Breathweapon
A Parchment Dragons breath weapon is a cone of caustic ink that deals Acid damage. Any creature hit by this breath weapon must pass a DC 10 + half the dragons HD + his CON modifier Reflex save or be blinded for 1d4 rounds. When used underwater, the breatweapon leaves behind an dark cloud that obstructs vision like the spell Fog Cloud in all affected square and which disperses on it's own in 1d4 rounds. The ink is useless for writing, as it would just dissolve parchment that it comes in contact with, but can be used to make etchings in harder materials or be processed by a skilled alchemist to create a less volatile form that his highly prized by enchanters.
Sense Magic (Su)
As a result of their attunement to the arcane, Parchment Dragons are very sensitive to magical auras. A Parchment Dragon can detect magic auras as per the spell
Detect Magic, and also replicate the effects of Greater Detect Magic by concentrating for one minute.
Spellscales
As he ages and unlocks his magic, a Parchment Dragon learns to use his ink to scribe arcane formulas on his own scales as if they were a spellbook, unlike other dragon who learn their powers instinctively. A Parchment Dragon casts spells like an Arcanist, using Intelligence as his casting attribute, and can switch his spells known after resting. Once they unlock the ability to create Wondrous Items, they can further infuse their scale with arcane reagents to turn them into Pages of Spell Knowledge, which allows them to treat the spell as known without counting towards their limits for spells known. A Parchment Dragon can also imbue other powers into his scales, enchanting them as if they were slotless items.
When a spellscale is destroyed, the Parchment Dragon immediately loses access to that spell, even if it is one of it's known spells. To do so, the attacker must attempt a Sunder Combat Maneuver. The scale has a Hardness equal to the dragons Natural Armor and 5 hitpoints per age category of the dragon. An upgraded Spellscale increases it's hardness by 2 and it's hitpoints by 10 per level of the spell written on it.
A spellscale that is removed from the dragon is treated as a scroll of that spell, while an upgraded scale is treated as a Page of Spell Knowledge. Scales with other effects also continue to function, but they are often too unwieldy for a humanoid to carry around and many opt to have a skilled enchanter to use them a material to create new items with similar effects.
Change Shape (Su)
A Young or older Parchment Dragon can assume any
humanoid form three times per day as
polymorph.
Binding Contract (Su)
Once per day, a Juveline or older Parchment Dragon can take one of it's scales to create an arcane contract. Once willingly signed in blood by all parties that are to be bound by it, the contract enforces the terms of the agreement as per the spell Geas. The effect can not be broken until the physical contract has been destroyed and the contract counts as a part of all signatories bodies for the purpose of other spells, except for spells that can be used to restore the dead. Many Parchment Dragons use this ability to bind their servants and hide away the contracts to scry them whenever they deem it necessary.
Versatile Metamagic (Su)
By careful study of magic and their own nature, older Parchment Dragons begin to learn ways to augment their spells as needed. When deciding upon his Spells Known for the day, a Mature Adult or older Parchment Dragon can select one Metamagic Feat he does not know, but fulfills the prerequisites for, as a bonus feat. He can pick one additional Feat at the age categories Very Old and Wyrm.
Powerful Metamagic (Su)
Having learned the deepest secrets of magic, a Great Wyrm Parchment Dragon has learned to empower his spells beyond what lesser mages are capable of. Any spell altered by Metamagic Feats that the dragon casts is threatened as a spell of its new level for all purposes, as if it has been Heightened to that level.
Draconic Familiar
A mage with at least 9th level can take a Parchment Dragon Wyrmling as a Draconic Familiar.
