Onyx / Deep Jungle Dragon

As you may have noticed, dear readers, we're back! After a creatively-draining couple months or rehearsals for my friend's student production of Steve Martin's "Wasp", I am once again free to pour my energy into bringing you drop-in elements for your d20 games. So without further ado, may I present the latest in our series of new True Dragons, the Onyx, or Deep Jungle Dragon!

-Adam

Onxy dragons, sometimes called Deep Jungle Dragons, hatch with glistening black scales flecked with tiny bright green and gray spots. As they mature their low, long bodies become very physically powerful. Their scales develop long thin spines and change to a lusterless matte black with vague splotches of gray and green. This coloration allows them to blend in with their jungle homes superbly.

Reclusive, secretive and unpredictable, Onyx dragons are very territorial. They can be very dangerous to any creatures they feel are invading their shaded jungles. Onyx dragons will stalk new arrivals and passers-through and observe them before deciding whether to let them pass or to eat them.

Type: Dragon (Fire)
Environment: Jungle 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 Rating: Wyrmling 3; very young 4; young 6; juvenile 8; young adult 11; adult 14; mature adult 16; old 18; very old 19; ancient 21; wyrm 23; great wyrm 25
Treasure: Triple standard
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral with Good tendencies
Advancement: Wyrmling 7-8 HD; very young 10-11 HD; young 13-14 HD; juvenile 16-17 HD; young adult 19-20 HD; adult 22-23 HD; mature adult 25-26 HD; old 28-29 HD; very old 31-32 HD; ancient 34-35 HD; wyrm 37-38 HD; great wyrm 40+ HD
Level Adjustment: Wyrmling +4; very young +4; young +5; others —


Combat
Once they decide to attack, onyx dragons will lay in ambush and attempt to split up, exhaust and frighten off groups of combatants.

Spell-Like Abilities
3/day - blur (very young or older); 3/day—invisibility (juvenile or older); 1/day—shadow conjuration (adult or older), shadow walk (old or older), hallucinatory terrain (ancient or older); greater shadow conjuration (great wyrm).

Breath weapon: a line of burning steam (heat damage, reflex save for half damage) or a steamy cone of fatigue (fort save or become fatigued).

Skills: hide, move silently, and sense motive are considered class skills for onyx dragons. In addition, onyx dragons receive a +8 racial bonus to hide checks when in shadowy or heavily foliaged areas.

Onyx Dragon Abilities by Age

Age	Speed	Initiative	AC	Special Abilities	Caster Level1	SR
Can also cast cleric spells and those from the Chaos, Luck and Plant domains as arcane spells.
Wyrmling	40 ft., burrow 20 ft., fly 100 ft. (average)	+1	17 (+1 dex, +1 size, +5 natural), touch 12, flat-footed 16	Immunity to fire	—	—
Very young	40 ft., burrow 20 ft., fly 150 ft. (poor)	+1	19 (+8 natural), touch 11, flat-footed 18	Blur	—	—
Young	40 ft., burrow 20 ft., fly 150 ft. (poor)	+1	22 (+11 natural), touch 11, flat-footed 21		—	—
Juvenile	40 ft., burrow 20 ft., fly 150 ft. (poor)	+1	24 (-1 size, +14 natural), touch 10, flat-footed 23	Invisibility	1st	—
Young adult	40 ft., burrow 20 ft., fly 150 ft. (poor)	+1	27 (-1 size, +17 natural), touch 10, flat-footed 26	DR 5/magic	3rd	19
Adult	40 ft., burrow 20 ft., fly 150 ft. (poor)	+1	29 (-2 size, +20 natural), touch 9, flat-footed 28	Shadow Conjuration	5th	21
Mature adult	40 ft., burrow 20 ft., fly 150 ft. (poor)	+1	32 (-2 size, +23 natural), touch 9, flat-footed 31	DR 10/magic	7th	22
Old	40 ft., burrow 20 ft., fly 150 ft. (poor)	+1	35 (-2 size, +26 natural), touch 9, flat-footed 34	Shadow Walk	9th	24
Very old	40 ft., burrow 20 ft., fly 150 ft. (poor)	+1	38 (-2 size, +29 natural), touch 9, flat-footed 37	DR 15/magic	11th	25
Ancient	40 ft., burrow 20 ft., fly 200 ft. (clumsy)	+1	39 (-4 size, +32 natural), touch 7, flat-footed 38	Hallucinatory Terrain	13th	27
Wyrm	40 ft., burrow 20 ft., fly 200 ft. (clumsy)	+1	42 (-4 size, +35 natural), touch 7, flat-footed 41	DR 20/magic	15th	29
Great wyrm	40 ft., burrow 20 ft., fly 200 ft. (clumsy)	+1	45 (-4 size, +38 natural), touch 7, flat-footed 44	Greater Shadow Conjuration	17th	31

Onyx Dragons by Age

Age	Size	Hit Dice (hp)	Str	Dex	Con	Int	Wis	Cha	Base Attack/ Grapple	Attack	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Breath Weapon (DC)	Frightful Presence DC
Wyrmling	S	6d12+6 (45)	13	12	13	10	11	10	+6/+3	+8	+6	+5	+5	2d6 (14)	—
Very young	M	9d12+18 (76)	15	12	15	10	11	10	+9/+11	+11	+8	+6	+6	4d6 (16)	—
Young	M	12d12+24 (102)	17	12	15	12	13	12	+12/+15	+15	+10	+8	+9	6d6 (18)	—
Juvenile	L	15d12+45 (142)	19	12	17	14	15	14	+15/+23	+18	+12	+9	+11	8d6 (20)	—
Young adult	L	18d12+72 (189)	23	12	19	14	15	14	+18/+28	+23	+15	+11	+13	10d6 (23)	21
Adult	H	21d12+105 (241)	27	12	21	16	17	16	+21/+37	+27	+17	+12	+15	12d6 (25)	23
Mature adult	H	24d12+120 (276)	29	12	21	16	17	16	+24/+41	+31	+19	+14	+17	14d6 (27)	25
Old	H	27d12+162 (337)	31	12	23	18	19	18	+27/+45	+35	+21	+15	+19	16d6 (29)	27
Very old	H	30d12+180 (375)	33	12	23	18	19	18	+30/+49	+39	+23	+17	+21	18d6 (31)	29
Ancient	G	33d12+231 (445)	35	12	25	20	21	20	+33/+57	+41	+25	+18	+23	20d6 (33)	31
Wyrm	G	36d12+288 (522)	37	12	27	20	21	20	+36/+61	+45	+28	+20	+25	22d6 (36)	33
Great wyrm	G	39d12+312 (565)	39	10	27	22	23	22	+39/+65	+49	+29	+21	+27	24d6 (37)	35

Root of All Evil

A hybrid of plant, corpse and demon grown in the soils of the abyss, these root-covered bipeds thrive on the roots of other plants. They often travel in subterranean caverns and deep forests, sucking the nutrients out in a matter of minutes of the natural roots through a series of hollow thorny spikes that they stick into their plant prey. They are also known to attack animals, especially when they have them outclassed.

Intelligent enough to comprehend many languages, these malign plants tend to contemptuously refuse to communicate with anything not evil and powerful enough to speak the dark speech.

The root of all evil is covered in many all-seeing eyes which gleam like rough gemstones.

To maintain the element of surprise or to escape battle, roots of all evil can burrow into the ground and merge with plants.

Root of All Evil CR 16
Undead plant
Chaotic Evil Huge plant
Init: +7 Senses: Blindsight 45 ft. Listen +1, Spot +6
Aura: Fatiguing Radiance 30 ft.
Languages: dark speech (something evil)

AC: 30 (+20 Natural, +2 Dex, -2 Size) touch 10, flatfooted 19
HP: 150 (HD 17d12)
Immune: Unholy
Fort: +18 Ref: +6 Will: +14
Weakness: Holy

MV: 20 ft., burrow 20 ft.
Attack: +17 vine 1d8+8, spells
Full Attack: 8 attacks with +15 vine 1d8+8
Attack Options: improved grab, swallow whole
Space / Reach: 20 ft. / 20 ft.
Base Attack: +16 Grapple: +27

Abilities Str 26 Dex 15 Con - Int 18 Wis 12 Cha 17
SQ: undead and plant traits
SA: improved grab, blood drain, meld into plant, Swallow Whole,
Feats: Improved Grapple, Combat Reflexes, Weapon Focus Vine, Sunder,
Skills: (160 points) +22 Hide, +22 Move Silently, +8 Search, +29 Spot, +21 Listen,

Possessions: Deep in the maw of the Root of all Evil is "something beyond your wildest dreams." A table of items held within the root is below. Their hundreds of eyes are actually gems, so they too count as treasure.

Meld into Plant (Su): This ability functions identically to the spell meld into stone except that it allows the Root of all Evil to merge with plants instead of stone. The plant melded with must be as large of larger than the Root of all Evil.

Improved Grab (Ex): Upon a successful melee attack, roots of all evil can attempt to start a grapple with their enemies. Upon a successful grapple, they will draw their victims in toward their gaping maws, where they swallow them whole.

Swallow Whole (Ex): Once swallowed by a root of all evil, characters begin taking 1d4 points of wisdom damage and 2d6+8 points of bludgeoning damage per round. A DC 21 Will save is required to avoid the wisdom damage.

Blood Drain (Ex): At the start of its round, any living creature caught in a grapple with a root of all evil will take 2d4 points of constitution damage.

Spell-like Abilities (Su): 3/day control plants (undead plants only), diminish plants

Blindsight (Ex): Roots of all evil can see all foes within 45 feet using it's many eyes, sound, scent, and vibration.

Fatiguing Radiance (Su): Any living creature within 30' of a root of all evil must succeed on a DC 21 fortitude save or become fatigued for as long as they remain in proximity to the undead plant and for 2d6 rounds after they leave it's aura. The Fortitude save is Charisma based.

Roots of all evil recieve a +8 racial bonus to Spot and Search checks due to their many eyes.

Undead and Plant Traits:

- Immunity to all mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, phantasms, patterns, and morale effects).
- Not subject to critical hits, nonlethal damage, ability drain, or energy drain.
- Immune to damage to its physical ability scores (Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution), as well as to fatigue and exhaustion effects.
- Immunity to poison, sleep effects, paralysis, polymorph, stunning, disease, and death effects.
- Immunity to any effect that requires a Fortitude save (unless the effect also works on objects or is harmless).
- Not at risk of death from massive damage, but when reduced to 0 hit points or less, it is immediately destroyed.