Epic Level Handbook

CHAPTER 5:MONSTERSGargantuan and smaller creatures for 30d10+24 pointsof damage. Opponents who do not make attacks ofopportunity against the devastation beetle can attempta Reflex save (DC 90) to halve the damage.Acid Cloud (Ex): A devastation beetle exudes a constantvapor that radiates outward in every direction for 60feet. This vapor deals 6d6 points of acid damage eachround to anyone caught in the cloud.DRAGON ADVANCEDLike dragons in the Monster Manual—and the new varietiespresented in this chapter—have twelve age categories,from wyrmling to great wyrm. The advancementrules in the Monster Manual allow dragonstheoretically infinite progression even beyond thestage of great wyrm. This book lets dragons improvemore than their Hit Dice as they progress to epic heightsof power.Age Category: A standard dragon (including all thedragons in the Monster Manual and Monster Compendium:Monsters of Faerûn) gains one “virtual age category” forevery 3 Hit Dice it gains beyond the great wyrm stage. A61-HD red dragon, with 21 more Hit Dice than a standardgreat wyrm, has gained seven virtual age categories,meaning its effective age category is nineteen. Abilitiesthat function once per day per age category or otherwiseuse the dragon’s age category as part of a calculation usethis adjusted number.Epic dragons (the force dragon and prismatic dragonpresented in this chapter) gainone age category per 5 Hit Dice beyond great wyrm.Size: One important element of dragon advancementis increasing size. The dragons that don’t reach Colossalsize by the great wyrm stage can never reach it accordingto the standard advancement rules. When advancing adragon, consider its basic size group: lesser (white, black,brass, and copper dragons), ordinary (green, blue, andbronze dragons), greater (silver, red, and gold), or epic(force and prismatic). A dragon that is Tiny as a wyrmlingis in the lesser group, a dragon that is Small as awyrmling and never reaches Colossal size is in the ordinarygroup, and a dragon that is Small to Large as awyrmling and reaches Colossal by the great wyrm stageis in the greater group.A lesser dragon becomes Colossal when it gains twoage categories (6 Hit Dice) beyond great wyrm. Itincreases to Colossal+ when it gains an additional fourage categories (12 HD). Thus, a white great wyrmreaches Colossal at 42 HD and Colossal+ at 54 HD, whilea bronze great wyrm becomes Colossal at 45 HD andColossal+ at 57 HD.An ordinary dragon becomes Colossal when it gainsone age category (3 Hit Dice) beyond great wyrm. Itincreases to Colossal+ when it gains an additional fourage categories (12 HD). Thus, a green great wyrmreaches Colossal size at 41 HD and Colossal+ size at 53HD, while a bronze dragon becomes Colossal at 42 HDand Colossal+ at 54 HD.A greater dragon becomes Colossal+ when it gainsfour age categories (12 HD) more than it needed to reach179