Shadow Dragon
	Dragon (Negative Energy)
	Climate/Terrain: Non-arctic/ruins, subterranean, and 
 		plane of Shadow
	Organization: Wyrmling, very young, young, juvenile, 
 		and young adult: solitary or clutch (2-5); adult, mature 
 		adult, old, very old, ancient, wyrm, or great wyrm: 
 		solitary, pair, or family (1-2 and 2-5 offspring)
	Challenge Level: Wyrmling 4; very young 6; young 8; 
 		juvenile 10; young adult 13; adult 15; mature adult 18 
  		old 20; very old 21; ancient 23; wyrm 24; great wyrm 26
	Treasure: Double standard
	Alignment: Always chaotic evil
	Advancement: Wyrmling 5-6 HD (Tiny), very young 8-9 
HD (Small), young 11-12 HD (Medium), juvenile 14-15
(Medium), young adult 17-18 HD (Large), adult 20-21
(Large), mature adult 23-24 HD (Large), old 26-27 HD 
(Huge), very old 29-30 HD (Huge), ancient 32-33 HD 
(Huge), wyrm 35-36 HD (Huge), great wyrm 38 HD 
(Gargantuan) 

Shadow Dragons are sly and devious.  They are instinctively cunning and are not prone to taking risks.  At all ages, a shadow dragon’s scales and body are translucent, so that when viewed from a distance it appears to be a mass of shadows.  
	Shadow dragons hate both bright light and total darkness, preferring variegated lighting with patches of diffuse light and deep, inky shadows.  On the Prime Material plane, their lairs are always places that provide shadowy light for most of the day.  They prefer ancient ruins, where they can hide underground when the sun is bright and still find shadows above ground during dawn and twilight.  In the plane of Shadow, they live in dense thickets of trees and brambles fortified castles, or labyrinthine caves.  In either plane, they prefer to locate their lairs near colonies of other creatures that can alert them to potential foes or victims.  The dragons seldom actually cooperate with these allies, however, though the dragons commonly prey on them. 
	Shadow dragons love dark-colored, opaque gems, and especially prize black stones.  They also collect magical items that produce shadows or darkness.  They use these items to turn areas filled with total darkness or light into masses of shadows.
	Shadow dragons eat almost anything.  Their favorite food is rotting carrion, though they often kill for sport.  Slain victims are left to decay until they become suitably foul.  These dragons are equally fond of frost-killed, waterlogged, or salt poisoned plants.

Combat
Shadow dragons prefer to attack from hiding, usually employing invisibility or hiding in shadows.  They use illusion spells to confuse and misdirect foes.  Older dragons are especially fond of their nondetection spell-like ability.
 	Breath Weapon (Su):  A shadow dragon has one type of breath weapon, a cone of weakening negative energy gas.  Creatures caught in the cloud of blackness are blinded for one round and gain ¾ of their level in temporary negative levels; a successful Fortitude saving throw reduces this to ½ their level in temporary negative levels.  The negative levels persist for a variable number of turns, shown on the table below.  Negative plane protection spells prevent this. 	
	A character who is reduced to 0 or fewer levels dies.  
 	Negative Energy Subtype (Ex):   Immunity to energy drain or ability damage, double damage from positive energy except on a successful save.  
	Create Shadows (Sp): The dragon can use this ability three times per day.  It creates a mass of leaping shadows with a radius of 300 feet, duration one hour.  All magical [and normal] light and darkness sources are negated for as long as they remain in the radius.  Creatures able to hide in shadows can do so in these magical shadows even if under direct observation.  Shadow dragons and other creatures from the plane of Shadow can move and attack normally while hiding in these shadows, effectively giving them improved invisibility.  A successful dispel magic spell banishes the shadows.)
	Skills:  Shadow dragons get the Jump skill and the Hide skill for free at 1 rank per Hit Dice.   
	Spell-Like Abilities: 3/day—mirror image, 2/day—dimension door, 3/day—nondetection, 1/day—shadow walk 

Alternate Breath Weapon Options (these are more in line with 3rd edition monster formatting)
Option 1
 	Breath Weapon (Su):  A shadow dragon has one type of breath weapon, a cone of weakening negative energy gas.  Creatures caught in the cloud of blackness are blinded for one round and gain negative levels depending on the age category of the dragon as shown on the table below.  A successful Fortitude saving throw reduces this to half as many negative levels.  The negative levels persist for 1d6 rounds plus 1 round per age category of the dragon.  Negative plane protection spells prevent this. 	
	A character who is reduced to 0 or fewer levels dies.  
Option 2
 	Breath Weapon (Su):  A shadow dragon has one type of breath weapon, a cone of weakening negative energy gas.  Creatures caught in the cloud of blackness are blinded for one round and gain negative levels equal to the age category of the dragon.  A successful Fortitude saving throw reduces this to half as many negative levels.  The negative levels persist for 1d6 rounds plus 1 round per age category of the dragon.  Negative plane protection spells prevent this. 	
	A character who is reduced to 0 or fewer levels dies.  

SHADOW DRAGON BY AGE
																																							Attack	Fort		Ref		Will		Breath					Fear
Age							Size		Hit Dice (hp)				AC													Bonus		Save		Save		Save		Weapon (DC)	 DC		SR
Wyrmling				  T			4d12+4 (30)					17 (+2 size, +5 natural)			+6			 +5			 +4			  +4			1d4+1 (13)		  –  	    13	
Very Young			  S			7d12+7 (52)					19 (+1 size, +8 natural)			+9			 +6			 +5			  +5			1d4+2 (14)		  –  	    15	
Young						 M			10d12+20 (85)			21 (+11 natural)						  +12			 +9			 +7			  +8			2d4+1 (17)		  –  	    17 Juvenile					 M			13d12+26 (110)		24 (+14 natural)						  +16 	  	+10		 +8			  +9			2d4+2 (18)		  –  	    19	
Young Adult		 L			16d12+48 (152)		26 (-1 size, +17 natural)		  +19		  	+13  		+10		 +12			3d4+1 (21)		  20  	    20	
Adult						 L			19d12+76 (199)		29 (-1 size, +20 natural)		  +24		  	+15		+11		 +13			3d4+2 (23)		  21 	    22	
Mature Adult		 L			22d12+110 (253)		32 (-1 size, +23 natural)		  +28		  	+16	   +13		 +16			4d4+1 (26)		  24 	    24	
Old							 H			25d12+125 (287)		34 (-2 size, +26 natural)		  +33	 	  	+18		+14		 +17			4d4+2 (27)		  25 	    26
Very Old				 H			28d12+168 (350)		37 (-2 size, +29 natural)		  +36		  	+19		+16		 +20			5d4+1 (30)		  28 	    27	
Ancient				 	 H			31d12+186 (387)		41 (-2 size, +33 natural)		  +40		  	+22		+17		 +21			5d4+2 (31)		  29 	    29	
Wyrm						 H			34d12+238 (459)		43 (-2 size, +35 natural)		  +44		  	+25		+19		 +24			6d4+1 (34)		  32	    30	
Great Wyrm			 G			37d12+296 (536)		44 (-4 size, +38 natural)		  +48		  	+28		+20		 +25			6d4+2 (36)		  33 	    32	

SHADOW DRAGON ABILITIES BY AGE

Age							Speed															Str		Dex		Con		Int		Wis		Cha		Special Abilities					Caster Level*
Wyrmling				60 ft., fly 100 ft. (average)				 11		 10			 13			 14		  11		  10		Negative Energy Subtype				–	
Very Young			60 ft., fly 100 ft. (average)				 13		 10			 13			 16		  11		  10			--																	–	
Young						60 ft., fly 150 ft. (poor)						 15		 10			 15			 16	 	  13		  12			--																	–	
Juvenile					60 ft., fly 150 ft. (poor)						 17		 10			 15			 17		  13		  12		Mirror Image											1st		
Young Adult		60 ft., fly 150 ft. (poor)						 19		 10			 17			 17		  15		  14		Damage reduction 5/+1					3rd		
Adult						60 ft., fly 150 ft. (poor)						 23		 10			 19			 20		  15		  14		Dimension Door									5th	
Mature Adult		60 ft., fly 150 ft. (poor)						 27		 10			 21			 20		  17		  16		Damage reduction 10/+1					7th	
Old							60 ft., fly 150 ft. (poor)						 29		 10			 21			 24		  17		  16		Nondetection											9th	
Very Old				60 ft., fly 150 ft. (poor)						 31		 10			 23			 26		  19		  18		Damage reduction 15/+2					11th	
Ancient					60 ft., fly 150 ft. (poor)						 33		 10			 23			 28		  19		  18		Shadow Walk											13th
Wyrm						60 ft., fly 150 ft. (poor)						 35		 10			 25			 30		  21		  20		Damage reduction 20/+3					15th
Great Wyrm			60 ft., fly 200 ft. (clumsy)				 37		 10			 27			 32		  21		  20		Create Shadows										17th
*Can also cast cleric spells and those from the Chaos, Death, and Evil domains as arcane spells.