Huge Dragon (Chromatic), Chaotic Evil
- AC
- 18
- Initiative
- +10 (20)
- HP
- 200 (16d12+96)
- Speed
- 40 ft., Burrow 30 ft., Fly 80 ft., Swim 40 ft.
| Score | Mod | Save | |
|---|---|---|---|
| STR | 22 | +6 | +6 |
| DEX | 10 | +0 | +5 |
| CON | 22 | +6 | +6 |
| INT | 8 | -1 | -1 |
| WIS | 12 | +1 | +6 |
| CHA | 12 | +1 | +1 |
Traits
Ice Walk. The dragon can move across and climb icy surfaces without needing to make an ability check. Additionally, Difficult Terrain composed of ice or snow doesn't cost it extra movement.
Legendary Resistance (3/Day, or 4/Day in Lair). If the dragon fails a saving throw, it can choose to succeed instead.
Actions
Multiattack. The dragon makes three Rend attacks.
Rend. Melee Attack Roll: +11, reach 10 ft. Hit: 13 (2d6+6) Slashing damage plus 4 (1d8) Cold damage.
Cold Breath (Recharge 5-6). Constitution Saving Throw: DC 19, each creature in a 60-foot Cone. Failure: 54 (12d8) Cold damage. Success: Half damage.
Legendary Actions
Adult White Dragon can take 3 Legendary Actions per round, regaining all uses at the start of its turn.
Freezing Burst. Constitution Saving Throw: DC 14, each creature in a 30-foot-radius Sphere centered on a point the dragon can see within 120 feet. Failure: 7 (2d6) Cold damage, and the target's Speed is 0 until the end of the target's next turn. Failure or Success: The dragon can't take this action again until the start of its next turn.
Frightful Presence. The dragon casts Fear, requiring no Material components and using Charisma as the spellcasting ability (spell save DC 14). The dragon can't take this action again until the start of its next turn.
Pounce. The dragon moves up to half its Speed, and it makes one Rend attack.
How to run Adult White Dragon
A white dragon as ally is a stretch, and you should name the stretch out loud. The cleanest version is a frost giant jarl who has chained the dragon to a lifelong oath, and the giant has loaned it to the party for one specific raid against a shared enemy. The dragon does not like this. It does not like the party. It will do the job because the geas compels it, and that resentment is the whole flavor of the scene.
In combat, the dragon does what it would do as an enemy, just pointed the other way. Cold Breath into the densest enemy cluster without looking to see whether anyone friendly is in the cone. Tell the party once that the dragon is going to breathe; if they don't move, they roll the save. After that it lands on whoever looks softest and Rends until the body stops moving. Don't let the dragon tactically coordinate. It is angry and stupid and the party is bossing it around.
The dragon will try to break the leash. If the party gives it any opening, withholding the agreed payment, insulting it, hesitating to release it, the dragon attacks them on the spot. The geas item is a story object the party should know exists, since players love a "what if the dragon gets free" timer. Once the agreed work is done, it leaves the way a hurricane leaves: noisily, with property damage.
Show the party the dragon's grudge book before they ever meet it. A list of names scratched into a glacier wall makes the loaner feel like a borrowed weapon, not a teammate.
An adult white dragon is the dumbest of the chromatics, and you should run that fact as a feature. It doesn't scheme, it doesn't bargain, and it doesn't conserve resources. It sees prey, it eats prey. The encounter design lever is the terrain. Put the fight on a glacier, in a frozen cavern, on a snowy ridge with crevasses, anywhere the Ice Walk trait turns difficult terrain into the dragon's personal hallway while the party slips and falls.
Open with Cold Breath if the recharge gods cooperate. 12d8 cold in a 60-foot cone, DC 19 Con save, average 54 on failure. Aim it through the cluster, not at the tank. Once it's spent, fly to 80 ft. and stay airborne, raining Rends with Pounce as the legendary action when you want to drop on a wounded target. Three Rends at +11 average 51 damage if all connect, plus the cold rider that the party's resistances probably don't cover. The white dragon does not multiclass into clever; it multiclasses into "bites the closest squishy."
Freezing Burst is your control tool. DC 14 isn't going to scare anyone past tier 2, but the Speed-0 rider on a failure pins a melee character out of reach for a round. Use it on whoever is trying to close with the dragon while it kites in the air. Frightful Presence is your panic button when the action economy is sliding against you, and Legendary Resistance (3 per day, 4 in lair) eats the party's first three save-or-suck spells. Spend them happily on Hold Monster, Banishment, Polymorph.
Whites flee when wounded but they flee with grudges. If the party hasn't put it below half by the time Cold Breath has come up twice, it burrows into the ice and is gone. It will hunt the party member who hurt it most, and it will not forget which one. Make a note of the name.
Stat block from the System Reference Document 5.2.1 © Wizards of the Coast LLC, used under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.