Red dragon

4e
3e
2e
1e

Red dragon

5e
4e
3e

5th Edition Statistics^[1]

Size

Wyrmling	Medium
Young	Large
Adult	Huge
Ancient	Gargantuan

Type

Dragon

Alignment

Chaotic evil

Challenge rating

Wyrmling	4
Young	10
Adult	17
Ancient	24

4th Edition Statistics

3rd Edition Statistics^[2]

Type

Dragon

Subtype(s)

Fire

Alignment

Always chaotic evil

Challenge rating

Wyrmling	4
Very young	5
Young	7
Juvenile	10
Youngadult	13
Adult	15
Mature adult	18
Old	20
Very old	21
Ancient	23
Wyrm	24
Great wyrm	26

General Information

Vision

Darkvision, Low-light vision^[2]

Homeland(s)

Warm mountains^[2]

Language(s)

Common, Draconic

Appearance

Skin color(s)

Red (scales)

Red dragons are covetous, evil creatures, interested only in their own well-being, vanity and the extension of their treasure hoards. They are supremely confident of their own abilities and are prone to making snap decisions without any forethought. The most powerful of the chromatic dragons, red dragons breathe a cone of fire.^[2] Red Dragons are the most fearsome and cruel of the chromatic dragons. They delight in ruin, death, and destruction.

Physical description

Red dragons are physically distinguished by their enormous size and wingspan. They have two large horns upon their heads, which point backwards toward their wings. They smell of smoke and sulfur.

Breath weapon

Red dragons expel a cone of fire.

Lairs

They make their homes in mountainous lairs. Many prefer to dwell in volcanoes, where the intense heat keeps others at bay.

Ecology

Red dragon anatomy - Ron Spencer — *A review of red dragon anatomy.*

Habitat

Red dragons love to make their lairs in deep, underground caves in mountainous regions, especially if there is volcanic activity. Almost all red dragons simply must have a high perch. The higher the better as they believe that their domain encompasses all that they can see.

Young red dragons, especially wyrmlings are easy prey for predators and hunters due to their bright, glossy scarlet scales so they tend to stay underground in the darkness until they feel that they can defend themselves properly.^[3]

Children

Mating is initiated by the female every century or so when she feels the urge to have children. She looks for the nearest red dragon with the most wealth and power. So of course the males never deny their advances. It is a sign of prestige among other males to be requested to mate. The male then abandons her while she hatches her eggs. She jealously guards those eggs, occasionally with an infertile female but rarely lays down her own life for her hatchlings. Once her young reach the young adult stage of development (usually even earlier than this) the mother's natural instincts overrule her maternal ones and she forces all of her young from her territory.

Personality

Red Dragons believe that they are the pinnacle of draconic nature and that all other species are impure. They value vengefulness, rapaciousness, avarice and ferocity above other traits and recognize these traits in themselves with pride. They are solitary creatures and care little for news of other types of dragons. They do however, look for news of other red dragons in their area.

If they believe their own achievements and possessions to be greater than these other red dragons then they stay in their caves, smugly congratulating themselves but if they learn that the achievements or possessions of the other red dragons are greater than their own they will fly into a vengeful rage, decimating the surrounding area until they believe that they have outdone their rivals. The dragon becomes much less cautious during this time and much more likely to underestimate their foes.

Unfortunately, red dragons can go to extreme lengths to ensure that every other red dragon in the area knows that they are inferior to the red dragon spreading the news. They will often burn down only half a village or let a single adventurer flee from a battle so that word of their power spreads throughout the region. Not only will this anger other red dragons but it is also like a shining beacon to adventurers & treasure hunters.

If a red dragon ever finds out that another red dragon has "lost it", either by getting badly wounded or if they are becoming senile in old age then local red dragons will descend on the lair, stripping it clean and usually killing the owner. They despise the thought of weakness in any red dragon and believe that if a red dragon cannot protect what it has, then it doesn't deserve to have it.

Reds are also highly territorial. Entering an area a red considers its domain is just asking to be attacked, especially if it is another dragon entering the area (even more so if it is a red dragon). Conflict is inevitable if this is the case and it is almost always to the death as neither would dare show weakness to the other. Thankfully, most other species are smart enough to flee if they realize the area belongs to a red dragon. Red dragons can get so territorial that in rare occasions they will adopt a protective yet patronizing attitude towards creatures they consider inferior that live within their self-imposed borders.

Red dragons hate silver dragons with a passion as their familiarity with the element of cold and other natural powers often make red dragons appear weak in battle with them. They also commonly come into conflict with copper dragons for territory rights, though copper dragons rarely win out against the more powerful red dragons in open conflict. Above all though, red dragons hate gold dragons. Red dragons may loudly proclaim that they would fight and defeat any gold dragon they come across but often find an excuse not to fight when that time eventually comes. Gold dragons are so similar to red dragons yet their natural moral differences are extreme.

Red dragons hate any authority other than their own. They never ask elders for advice, even if doing so would save their lives as to them, admitting they need something their elders have is the same as putting themselves under their authority.