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dragon flies, its lighter-shaded underbelly blends inwith clouds and sky from the vantage point of viewerson the ground.A gray dragon’s oversized mouth is a sea of fangs.Several of its fangs are long enough to prevent thedragon from completely closing its mouth. A collectionof fanglike horns protrude from the lower jaw.These horns allow the dragon to crack open the exteriorof a petrified victim and access the soft interior.Gray dragons smell strongly of sun-warmed stoneand faintly of long-dead carrion.Green DragonsFew dragons are as utterly reviled among humanoidsas green dragons, known also as forest dragons.Although green dragons might not be as powerfulor as destructive as some of their kin, they areinnately and instinctively deceptive. They lie as easilyas people speak, and they are good at it. They loveintrigue and prefer to achieve their goals throughguile and double-dealing over any other means. Anybrute can hunt, but it takes skill and intelligence totrick one’s prey into offering itself for dinner. Addingthis attitude to a green’s belligerent nature—to a greendragon, a weak creature is either prey or pawn, andnearly all creatures are weak—makes the creature aloathsome, conniving beast.Green dragons are among the chromatics mostlikely to interfere with nearby humanoid communities.Some greens terrorize their neighbors intoobedience. Others play and experiment with localpolitical and mercantile interests. A green dragonmight use bribes and intimidation to gain the cooperationof a few select members of a community andthen see how much authority it can obtain by proxybefore other humanoids discover its minions. Greensmight not have lofty goals for this sort of manipulation;they enjoy the process and the practice for itsown sake.Green dragons might negotiate peaceful coexistencewith their neighbors, as long as territories andresources do not overlap. Anyone entering into suchan arrangement, however, should do so with greatcare. Green dragons take devilish delight in findingloopholes in such agreements.Green dragons prefer sentient mammalian preyover any other kind. Because obtaining such prey canbe difficult, however, greens subsist mostly on woodlandcreatures, such as deer, bears, and wolves.Perhaps because their terrain often has a canopyof vegetation, green dragons fight equally well onwing and on land. When battling on or near theground, greens attack from the cover of trees or fromhidden contours of the earth. Woodland obstaclesimpede humanoid foes’ ranged attacks more thanthey impede green dragons’ area attacks.Green dragons frequently patrol their terrain,flying above the canopy and stalking through theunderbrush. They do this primarily to locate intrudersbut also to know every little feature of and changeto their territory. They learn every possible path,hiding place, and refuge. This preparation makesthem more effective hunters and offers them meansof retreat if any battles turn against them.Lairs and TerrainGreen dragons prefer areas of thick vegetation. Byfar, they prefer temperate and cold forests to steamyjungles and nonforested land. They particularlyfavor woods with large and imposing trees—the olderand more massive, the better. Greens might acceptsmaller woods as less desirable alternatives, as wellas jungles and overgrown bogs. When a green dragoncannot find any suitable forest or woodland, it mightsettle for an area of rolling hills or similar terrain,using slopes and valleys for cover and concealment inthe same way that its more fortunate cousins use thetrees of the forest.Green dragons prefer caves in forested hills andcliffsides for their lairs. Where they cannot find suchconvenient openings, they might topple the mightiestof trees into great heaps and make their homes in thehollows of these wooden hills. Some green dragonseven lair inside the trunks of the largest, fey-touchedtrees.Favored TreasureAlthough green dragons covet any treasure, theyparticularly like hand-crafted items ranging fromsculpture and artwork to ornate swords and magicarmor. They love to own anything into which someoneelse put a lot of work. Though a dragon mightnot force a crafter to create art, the wyrm takes satisfactionin ultimately benefiting from an artisan’screative labor.Green dragons also like to keep large supplies ofcoins and small gems at hand for suborning merchantsor members of local communities. Though as loath toCHROMATIC DRAGONS IN DETAILGREEN DRAGONS BY SIZEOverall Body Neck Tail Body Standing Maximum MinimumSize Length Length Length Length Width Height Wingspan Wingspan WeightMedium 16 ft. 5 ft. 6 ft. 5 ft. 3 ft. 5 ft. 24 ft. 12 ft. 320 lb.Large 31 ft. 10 ft. 11 ft. 10 ft. 5 ft. 9 ft. 36 ft. 18 ft. 2,500 lb.Huge 55 ft. 17 ft. 18 ft. 20 ft. 8 ft. 15 ft. 60 ft. 30 ft. 20,000 lb.Gargantuan 85 ft. 24 ft. 28 ft. 33 ft. 10 ft. 20 ft. 80 ft. 40 ft. 160,000 lb.CHAPTER 1 | Dragon Lore37