Dragon, Oriental (Lung), General Information

Oriental dragons, especially of adult age and older, tend to be solitary creatures. When multiple dragons are encountered, they are usually a mated pair and young. Mated pairs are never found together when older than mature adults, and their offspring are always young adults or younger. To determine the age of the offspring, roll 1d6: 1 = egg, 2 = hatchling, 3 = very young, 4 = young, 5 = juvenile, 6 = young adult.

The Celestial Bureaucracy: Most oriental dragons are officials in the Celestial Bureaucracy, a governing body of powerful spirits headed by the Celestial Emperor. Each subspecies of oriental dragon is charged by the Celestial Bureaucracy to direct a particular governmental function; Chiang lung, for instance, are charged with guarding rivers and lakes and dispensing rain.

Every year, the oriental dragon officers journey to the Celestial Palace to file their reports of the previous year's activities and events. Rewards and punishments are distributed based on the evaluation of the repords. A corrupt or inefficient dragon may be removed and replaced by a new appointee; an industrious dragon may be promoted to a position of higher responsibility.

Hit Die and Combat Modifiers: Oriental dragons' Hit Dice and combat modifiers vary according to age category. Consult the individual dragon entries for their base Hit Die information and the table below for the modifiers. An oriental dragon saves as a fighter equal in level to the dragon's Hit Dice. Its combat modifier applies to both attack and damage rolls for each physical attack; it does not apply to breath weapon or other special attacks. (For example, a li lung has 13 Hit Dice as a base. A very young li lung subtracts 4 dice, which gives it a total of 9 Hit Dice. It saves as a 9th-level fighter and has a +1 bonus applied to its physical attacks.)

Oriental Dragons' Attacks and Defenses: Like other dragons, oriental dragons have a claw/claw/bite attack. Though claws can attack creatures to the dragons' front and sides, only certain oriental dragons have necks long enough to enable them to attack opponents to their sides as well as to their front. Young adult and older oriental dragons able to fly can attempt snatch attacks like or her dragons (including a 50% chance that the snatched vitims's arms are pinned, automatic claw damage each round if the victim is squeezed, and a transfer to the dragon's mouth if an attack roll is successful, which then inflicts automatic bite damage each round). As indicated in the individual listings, only certain oriental dragons can attack with kicks, wing buffets, or tail slaps.

An oriental dragon's Armor Class improves as it ages, as does its ability to resist magic. Old and older oriental dragons are immune to normal missiles because of their tough hides. As with other dragons, the skin of an oriental dragon can be made into dragon armor that grants its wearer an Armor Class of 4 worse than the Armor Class of the dragon it was taken from (though the Armor Class can be no worse than 8).

Like other dragons, young adult and older oriental dragons radiate an aura that may cause opponents to panic. Humans and demihumans with fewer than 1 Hit Die and non-aggressive creatures with fewer Hit Dice than the dragon automatically flee in panic for 4d6 minutes at the sight of the dragon. Other opponents may be panicked and forced to fight with a -2 penalty to both their attack and damage rolls if they are within the radius of an oriental dragon's fear aura and fail their saving throws vs. petrification. Victims adjust their saving throws by the modifier indicated on the following table; the table also lists the fear aura radius for each oriental dragon age category.

Diving oriental dragons can strike with their claws with a +1 bonus to the attack roll. When engaging other flying opponents, oriental dragons can either claw or bite, but not both.

Certain subspecies have the ability of scaly command that gives them control over varying numbers of scaly creatures with animal intelligence or less (primarily reptiles and fishes) living in the water within a half-mile radius. This control lasts for 2d6 turns and cannot be dispelled. No saving throws are allowed. Creatures under the scaly command cannot fall under the control of another. Additionaliy, scaly creatures will never voluntarily attack an oriental dragon with the caly command ability.

Other subspecies have the ability to surround themselves in an aura of water fire whenever they are under or touching water. Water fire appears as ghostly, flickering multi-colored flames and causes a variable amount of damage to anyone who touches it. All oriental dragons are themselves immune to water fire. It may be dispelled by the creator at any time; otherwise, it disappears for 2d6 turns if contacted by real or magical fire, and cannot be recreated until the end of that period.

Special Abilities:

Oriental dragons do not have the spellcasting abilities of other dragons, and not all of them have breath weapons. They do, however, have several special abilities of their own. All, for instance, have continual ESP (as the spell) at a range in feet equal to five times their age level. Oriental dragons do not require sleep. All can become invisible and visible at will, though they always become visible when attacking. All except yu lung can polymorph into human form and back at will.

Oriental dragons can detect invisible objects and creatures (including those hidden in darkness or fog) within a ten-foot radius per age category. They also have a natural clairaudience ability with respect to their lairs; the range is 20 feet per age category. The dragon must concentrate on a specific section of its lair or the surrounding area to use this ability.

Most oriental dragons can fly because of the powers of a magical gem or pearl that is imbedded within the brain. This object functions only for the dragon and cannot be extracted so as to confer flight on any other creature.