SARDIOR!
SARDIOR, THE RUBY DRAGON
Colossal Dragon
Hit Dice: 51d12+663 (994 hp)
Initiative: +4 (Improved Initiative)
Speed: 50 ft, fly 200 ft (poor)
AC: 52 (-8 size, +60 natural)
Attacks: Bite +61 melee, 2 claws +56 melee
Damage: Bite 5d8+20, claw 1d10+10
Face/Reach: 15 ft by 50 ft/15 ft
Special Attacks: Breath weapons, frightful presence, spells, psionics
Special Qualities: Scent, damage reduction 25/+4, immunities, see invisibility, keen senses, water breathing, SR 30, PR 30
Saves: Fort +40, Ref +27, Will +37
Abilities: Str 51, Dex 10, Con 37, Int 32, Wis 31, Cha 32
Skills: Alchemy +44, Animal Empathy +44, Appraise +58, Bluff +58, Concentration +64, Diplomacy +48, Disguise +38, Escape Artist +37, Gather Information +48, Heal +37, Intimidate +58, Knowledge (arcana) +38, Knowledge (dragonkind) +38, Knowledge (history) +38, Knowledge (the planes) +38, Knowledge (religion) +38, Listen +57, Scry +58, Search +58, Sense Motive +57, Spellcraft +58, Spot +57, Wilderness Lore +37
Feats: 13 Alertness, Blind-Fight, Combat Casting, Expertise, Fly-By Attack, Hover, Improved Critical (bite), Improved Disarm, Improved Initiative, Maximize Power (psionic), Power Attack, Snatch, Wingover
Challenge Rating: 25 (uh huh, right)
Alignment: Always neutral
Breath Weapons (Su): Sardior has two breath weapons which he can employ twice per day each. The first one is a cone of keening sonic energy. In addition to making a Reflex saving throw against sonic damage, creatures must succeed at a Fortituded save or be deafened for 4d6 rounds.
His other breath weapon is a cone of brilliant light. Targets who fail their saving throw against the damage are also blinded for 3d4 rounds. All saving throws against these breath weapons are at DC 47.
Frightful Presence (Ex): Sardior can unsettle foes with his mere presence. The power takes effect automatically whenever Sardior attacks, charges, or flies overhead. Creatures within a radius of 460 feet are subject to the effect if they have 50 or fewer Hit Dice.
An affected creature can resist the effects by making a Will save (DC 45). A successful saving throw makes a creature immune to Sardior’s frightful presence for one day. Creatures with 4 Hit Dice or fewer become panicked for 4d6 rounds if they fail their saving throws. Creatures with 5 or more Hit Dice become shaken for 4d6 rounds if they fail their saving throws. Gem dragons (as well as both Tiamat and Bahamut) ignore the effect of Sardior’s frightful presence.
Spells: Sardior is a 20th-level sorcerer and a 20th-level druid. In his natural form, Sardior can cast his spells with but a word.
Psionics: Instead of spell-like abilities, Sardior is a 20th-level psion with access to all psionic attack/defense forms and powers. He can use one psionic power per round.
Immunities (Ex): Sardior is immune to acid, cold, electricity, fire, poison, sleep, and paralysis effects. He ignores the effects of spells and spell-like abilities of 5th level or lower, just as if the spellcaster had failed to overcome Sardior’s spell resistance.
See Invisibility (Ex): Sardior has the extraordinary ability to see invisible creatures. This works like the see invisibility spell with a range of 1,600 feet. This ability is always active.
Keen Senses (Ex): Sardior sees four times as well as a human in low light conditions and twice as well in normal light. He also has darkvision to a range of 1,600 feet.
Water Breathing (Ex): This ability allows Sardior to breathe underwater indefinitely. He can freely use his breath weapons, spells, psionics, and other abilities while submerged.
Possessions:
Sardior, the Ruby Dragon, is the supreme lord of gem dragons, and a contemporary to both Bahamut and Tiamat. He appears as an enormous ruddy dragon with scales similar to other gem dragons. His features are handsome and graceful, displaying a friendliness and openness that comes from his soul. He is also known as the Prince of Neutral Dragons.
Sardior dwells in a magical castle that roams the skies above the Outlands, though he often likes to bring it to the Material Plane and hide it in the shadow of the earth. From there it looks like a reddish star, making unusual patterns in the night sky. Sardior is known for loving nothing more than good conversation and getting a chance to exercise his unparalleled storytelling abilities.
Sardior has a court of five thanes, one for each type of gem dragon. Each of these mighty thanes is a huge, ancient great wyrm. Sardior and his thanes are typically homebodies, but he will occasionally venture out with some of them, and even more rarely one or more of them will roam without him. These thanes are Hrodel (a female Crystal), Tithonnas (male Topaz), Smargad (male Emerald), Charisma (female Sapphire), and Aleithilthos (male Amethyst). The thanes are all 20th level psions and each have access to two different modes of psionic attack and defense. Each one also has psionic powers which it can use at will, as follows: Hrodel (empathy and invisibility); Tithonnas (clairaudience/clairvoyance, sensitivity to psychic impressions); Smargad (domination, suggestion, teleport); Charisma (body adjustment, detect thoughts, suspend life, etherealness); Aleithilthos (aura sight, energy conversion, object reading, dimension slide).
Sardior and the gem dragons first appeared in Dragon Magazine #37 (1980, Arthur W. Collins).
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Original text from Dragon 37:
SARDIOR, THE RUBY DRAGON
Finally, we come to the Ruby Dragon. This is not a breed of dragon, but a unique individual. Sardior the Ruby Dragon is the Prince of Neutral Dragons. He dwells in a magical castle that roams the night sky, high up in the atmosphere. He keeps his castle moving so that it is always in earth’s shadow. Often, when Sardior’s castle is sighted, sages think they are seeing a reddish star making unusual conjunctions with other stars in the night sky.
Sardior keeps a court of 5 thanes, one each of the various breeds of neutral dragons. Their names are: Hrodel (a female Crystal dragon), psionic disciplines of Empathy and Invisibility; Tithonnas (male Topaz dragon), disciplines of Clairaudience, Clairvoyance, and Sensitivity to Psychic Impressions; Smargad (male Emerald dragon), disciplines of Domination, Hypnosis, and Teleportation; Charsima (female Sapphire dragon), disciplines of Cell Adjustment, ESP, Suspend Animation, and Etherealness; and Aleithilithos (male Amethyst dragon), disciplines of Detection of Good/Evil, Detection of Magic, Object Reading, Energy Control, and Dimension Walk. Occasionally (10%), one of these dragons will roam the earth without Sardior and the other thanes. If encountered, the thane may reward beings that find favor with it, usually in the form of gems, but sometimes in the granting of a boon.
All of Sardior’s thanes are huge, ancient dragons. It must be remembered, of course, that Sardior and company are a stay-at-home lot, not given much to interfering with others’ businesses. All the Neutral dragons honor Sardior, but being what they are, his sovereignty does not much affect their daily lives of treasure-mongering. All are agreed. however, that Sardior is the most brilliant conversationalist and raconteur of all dragons.
Sardior has two breath weapons which he can employ twice per day each: a shriek (like an Amethyst dragon) or a dazzling cloud (like a Crystal dragon). He has a ruddy appearance, but his handsome features and general grace ensure that only a very inexperienced dragon-hunter would mistake him for a red dragon.
