The black dragon is a traditional monster in both
fantasy fiction and role-playing games.
Black dragons are one of the smaller species of dragons,
and they are usually no more cunning or intelligent than the
average man on the street. They tend to speak the common
tongues of the land with much fluency. Black dragons value
evil above all things, often going out of their way to
create mayhem even when there is no direct benefit to the
dragon. Some black dragons seem to take a peculiar sort of
pleasure at plucking creatures out of dangerous situations
such as quicksand, setting them free, and then tracking
them down and eating them a few minutes later.
Black dragons are hatched from eggs and they come out glossy with thin
scales, these scales become thick and dull as the dragon
ages. They have the ability to spit large amounts of acid
from birth. This ability becomes more and more powerful as
the dragon ages. Some older dragons gain the ability to
stagnate water, grow plants and summon insects. Essentially
they can create their own swamps given enough time.
Black dragons almost always make their homes in very damp
areas such as swamps and rainforests. They truly enjoy the hot insect
infested areas that most humans despise. These dragons swim
and breathe underwater naturally, and take great joy at
rising from the depths of the swamp to attack.
These dragons raise their young in pairs, but are
otherwise solitary. They incubate the eggs and raise
them to adulthood, but they are not very thorough or
enthusiastic about it. They will fight to protect their own
young, but they will flee and leave them to be slaughtered
if it appears that the adults are in any actual danger.
If at all possible black dragons will make their lairs in
damp insect filled caverns. These chambers will often have
large numbers of coins, and the
entrances will be well hidden, and will often be
underwater.
My monster nodes are usually based upon material in the
various AD&D rulebooks. But they are my own work, as I
often expand the information. In some cases I will blatantly
disagree with the source material. None of these nodes are
cut and paste. You are free to use my descriptions in any
material of your own (even commercial material), as long as
I am credited as the source.