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Book of Drakes: Put the Dragon Back In Your Dungeon

Book of Drakes: Put the Dragon Back In Your Dungeon

Crimson Drake Rampage by Hugo Solis
“Welcome, human, to my humble kobold bookshop! How may I serve you, O lord?”

“You wish to know about drakes? Woe is me! I have nothing about drakes. My wares are worthless! I shall set fire to my wretched excuse for a shop and hurl myself off the…what’s that? My cousin Jiro sent you?”

“Right. Follow me, then – make sure you duck when we go through the second doorway, and jump two feet straight up when we pass the barrel with the broken slat. I have just what you need: a book that contains all the secrets of our cousins in the dragon’s family tree…the legendary Book of Drakes itself!”

“Whoops. Did I say to jump two feet? I meant three. Ah well, I’m sure that’ll heal in no time.”

Nothing brings excitement to a game table like a slithering, hissing, glowing-eyed reptile crouched atop a pile of treasure. But if the PCs aren’t high-level enough to survive a face-to-face encounter with a dragon, adding dragons to an adventure can be a challenge.
No longer! With the Book of Drakes you can unleash the most iconic monster in fantasy roleplaying on your players today.
Drake Sketches by Hugo Solis
The Book of Drakes includes:

  • More than 20 ready-to-play drakes, including the crag drake, moon drake, and alehouse drake
  • Beautiful full-color illustrations by Hugo Solis
  • Draconic spells, familiars, feats and abilities
  • A system for building your own drakes for any party of any level, in any environment

Whether you’re adventuring in Open Design’s world of Midgard or your own home setting, drakes provide unique adversaries, unusual companions, and compelling NPCs. Get the Book of Drakes today and bring on the dragons!

To whet your appetite, here’s one of our favorites: the Glass Drake (plus a special deal).

Glass Drake

Glass Drake by Hugo SolisThis tiny creature glints in the light like a delicate figurine of blown glass given life. A sinister look on its face, the creature takes flight on transparent wings.

Glass Drake CR 6
XP 2,400
LE Tiny dragon
Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +11

Defense
AC
19, touch 16, flat-footed 15 (+3 Dex, +1 dodge, +3 natural, +2 size)
hp 66 (7d12+21)
Fort +8, Ref +8, Will +5
Immune acid, poison, magic paralysis and sleep, dragon traits, Resist electricity 10, fire 10; SR 17
Weaknesses vulnerable to the shatter spell

Offense
Speed
40 ft., fly 80 ft. (average)
Melee 2 claws +7 (1d2-2), bite +8 (1d3-2)
Space 2.5 ft.; Reach 2.5 ft. (5 ft. with bite)
Special Attacks blinding focus, breath weapon (30 ft. line, 4d4 damage plus 2 bleed, Ref DC 16 half, usable every 1d3)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 6th; concentration +7)
At will—flare (DC 11)
1/day—hypnotic pattern (DC 13), mirror image

Statistics
Str
7, Dex 17, Con 16, Int 11, Wis 10, Cha 12
Base Atk +7; CMB +8; CMD 17 (21 vs. trip)
Feats Alertness, Dodge, Flyby Attack, Weapon Focus (bite)
Skills Bluff +9, Diplomacy +9, Escape Artist +9, Fly +12, Knowledge (arcana) +7, Perception +11, Sense Motive +9, Spellcraft +7, Stealth +20
Languages Common, Draconic
SQ dynamic death, reform

Ecology
Environment
urban
Organization solitary, pair, collection (3-6)
Treasure standard

Special Abilities
Blinding Focus
(Su) As a full round action the glass drake can distort its body to refocus light into a blinding display. Sighted creatures within 10 ft. must succeed on a DC 16 Fortitude save or be blinded for 1 minute. Those succeeding on this save are instead dazzled for 1 round. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Breath Weapon (Su) A glass drake spits a line of shattered glass. These shards deal 4d4 piercing and slashing damage. In addition, creatures taking damage from the breath weapon also take 2 bleed damage. A DC 16 Reflex save halves this damage, including the bleed damage.
Dynamic Death (Su) When reduced below 0 hit points, a glass drake explodes in a 10-foot burst of shattered glass. Any creature within range takes 8d4 piercing and slashing damage and 2 bleed damage. A DC 16 Reflex save halves this damage, including the bleed damage.
Reform (Su) If a dead glass drake’s shattered remains stay within 10 ft. of each other, the drake reforms in 1d12 weeks. If even a handful of the shards are away from the rest, the creature will not reform. Each time a glass drake reforms in this manner it gains 1 negative level.

Despite their size and delicate look, glass drakes are durable and vicious creatures prone to manipulation and cruelty. They prefer to make their homes in cities of industry and education where they can sell their services and information to artisans and those studying arcane arts. These drakes play on the perception of their fragile nature so others underestimate them. They often twist other’s words or blackmail people into service.

Glass drakes live extremely long lives. If they live to an old age without ever having used their reform ability, their appearance begins to change. The creature’s scales lose their luster and become cloudy. Their features begin to sag and lose definition. When glass drakes are killed and their reform ability draws their body back together, it revives their body to a prime young physique. Because of this, glass drakes aggressively throw themselves into fights, especially in isolated areas or their home den where it is less likely to have their shattered remains disturbed. Some glass drakes enter into murder pacts with one another, where they take turns destroying each other and looking after the remains while the creature reforms. These pacts allow the drakes to slow the passing of time on their bodies and also create a bond of friendship between the two drakes.

Since the glass drake’s method of reproduction involves the mixing of shards from two different drakes, this bond usually grows to include an immature glass drake, which almost immediately joins its parents on forays for the glass providing this drake’s primary food source.

Glass drakes measure just over 18 inches from their sculpted snout to their thin tail, and weigh about 15 pounds. Glass drakes’ scales are extremely smooth and their hide twists the light to make the creature seem almost translucent. This is most prevalent in the glass drake’s wings and connective folds of skin. The creature’s teeth are as clear as the rest of its body. Glass drakes are material drakes.

Want to see more drakes, large and small? Pick up the Book of Drakes today. The PDF version is just $4.95 for a very limited time!

16 thoughts on “Book of Drakes: Put the Dragon Back In Your Dungeon”

  1. Open Design has done many dual-stat projects in the past, but honestly Book of Drakes has to be a success as a Pathfinder book before I’d consider a conversion.

    I guess that’s a “maybe”. :)

  2. So, Wolfgang, if Adam and I were to add more material for a “Book of Drakes Deluxe,” you’d consider making a hardback? :)

  3. Draco, good to know! We’ll see how it does in its current form, then make some kind of call.

    There are, of course, 4E-only projects like Logan Bonner’s Lost City adventure that have Pathfinder fans asking for a conversion, so… Can’t please everyone all the time.

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