The mercury dragon is a traditional monster in both
fantasy fiction and role-playing games.
Mercury dragons are a small and nimble species of
dragons. They are very intelligent, but are also tend to
make decisions on the spur of the moment and change their
mind with astonishing frequency. They can rarely speak any
of the languages of men, but they can usually speak one or
more dragon languages, but in all cases they speak so
rapidly that some people will have trouble understanding
them.
Mercury dragons are hatched from eggs and they come out a dull silver in
color, as the dragon ages the scales get brighter and
brighter until the dragon possesses a mirror finish. They
have the ability to open their mouths and emit a beam of
yellow light that is hot enough to cook flesh and to set
anything flammable on fire. Most mercury dragons have also
mastered a technique of blinding opponents by reflecting
concentrated light into their eyes from their wings. Older
mercury dragons usually gain considerable spellcasting
abilities, along with the ability to transform into other
creatures.
Mercury dragons do not really have a favored habitat and
may be found anywhere that there is a large enough cave to
house one. Their lairs will invariably have dozens of traps
protecting it, as these dragons are loners and do not ally
with other creatures.
Mercury dragons are terribly irresponsible about mating.
Males and females alike tend to sleep with anyone they can,
sometimes even polymorphing so they can mate with other
species. However they have a strong parental instinct and
they will pair off and raise their hatchlings as couples.
Of course their natural promiscuity insures that
most male dragons are actually raising hatchlings that are
not theirs. As parents they mean well, but their random
nature often means that their young get a less than
stellar upbringing. However they make up
for this with a fierce protective streak and they will
fight to the death to protect their young, even unhatched
ones.
Mercury dragons can eat anything but they really like to
eat metal and metal ores. It is speculated that their
preference for eating metals is the reason
why their flesh is poisonous and cannot be eaten
as food by other creatures.
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.