Gold Dragon Wyrmling

A gold dragon wyrmling is a child with two breath weapons and a moral compass. CR 3, 60 HP, AC 17, Lawful Good, Charisma 16, Draconic-speaking, and impressionable. The whole point of putting one on the party's side is the relationship. It is not a pet, it is a junior NPC with opinions, and the players will get attached the moment it cracks a joke in Draconic. Decide before the session whose voice it copies. Most wyrmlings have picked up a parent's mannerisms but in a high-pitched register, which is funny for thirty seconds and load-bearing for the rest of the campaign.

In combat, lead with positioning. Fly 60 ft. plus Amphibious means the wyrmling can get above any non-flying enemy in a round and stay there. Once it has line, the priority is Fire Breath: DC 13 Dex save, 4d10 fire in a 15-foot cone. Then Multiattack with two Rend at +6 for 1d10+4 each. Save Weakening Breath for the round when the party's tank is in trouble, since a single use forces an enemy to disadvantage Strength tests and subtract 2 from damage rolls for up to a minute. That is the wyrmling's actual gift to the party: tax the boss, then claw away.

The wyrmling does not understand grey morality. It will refuse to attack surrendering enemies, will object to looting corpses, and will ask the paladin uncomfortable questions about the rogue's evening hobbies. Don't make this annoying. Make it earnest. The wyrmling is asking the questions a younger player at the table might ask, and the answers the party gives become the campaign's actual moral spine.

Stat blocks tell you the breath weapon recharges. Storytelling tells you the wyrmling will be insufferably proud the first time it lands a Weakening Breath. Let the player to its left high-five it.

A hostile gold dragon wyrmling is a heartbreak scenario. Its parent is dead or missing, a cult has bound it to a relic, or it has been raised in captivity by something that taught it the wrong people are evil. Sell the setup before the fight. Players who roll initiative against a Lawful Good child without a moment of hesitation are players who will not feel anything when it drops, and the encounter is wasted.

Once the fight starts, the wyrmling fights smart for its CR. Open with Fire Breath if the party is clustered (DC 13 Dex, 4d10 fire, 15-foot cone), then climb to 60 ft. and use the fly speed to stay out of melee. Multiattack at +6 for two 1d10+4 Rend hits is enough to drop a level 3 wizard in two rounds, but the wyrmling will not commit to melee against a pair of armored fighters. It strafes, breathes when recharge comes up, and uses Weakening Breath on whoever is hitting it hardest to neuter their next round.

The wyrmling will accept a parley. It is Lawful Good even when corrupted, and a sincere appeal from a paladin or cleric of a related deity should grant a Wisdom save against the influence holding it. DC 13 is fine. On a success, the dragon stops fighting, sits down, and tells the party who put it up to this. That conversation is the actual encounter. The fight was the door.

If you have to kill the wyrmling, give it a final line in Draconic that the party translates after the session. The translation should make at least one player visibly upset. That is the entire reason this fight exists.