The Time Dragon is variant of Epic Dragon, being overall the most powerful dragon in Dungeons & Dragons short of deities. At their peak, the Time Dragon shows mastery over controlling the timestream itself, being able to stop time at will and can travel forwards or backwards at time.[1]
Their connection with time also affects their aging process, with them not aging linearly like other creatures and instead age randomly. Furthermore, their bodies are not affected by the passage of time, making them effectively immortal, although they do still require the basic resources of any living species such as food and air.[1]
Appearance[]
Time Dragons are distinct for their slim body and scales, which lack the rigidness of other dragons that gives the Time Dragon a smooth look. They have a singular horn protruding from the top of their head that makes its head appear larger, and their eyes are surrounded by a collection of black scales that make the shape of an hourglass, referenced to look like a mask. The originating point of its triangular wings on its back is said to have a similar appearance. The end of their tail ends in two spikes, which each have different lengths.[1]
Time Dragon wyrmlings possess silvery white scales and lack the black stripes and eye mask of their aged peers. As the dragon ages, the black stripes appear and then transition around the dragon, moving back along the length of the body. When the twelfth stripe trails off their tail, it reappears again near the eye mask.[1]
Habits[]
Diet[]
As an Epic Dragon, it can eat relatively anything and generally does not go through the effort to hunt down living prey. Time Dragons younger than a Great Wyrm are also capable of going without food for several months, although this leaves them lethargic.[1]
Combat[]
A Time Dragon typically does not wish to engage in combat. When they have to, they do not hesitate to use their most powerful abilities to end a fight as quickly as possible or simply flee if overwhelmed. Most do not care whether their opponent is merely incapacitated whether then killed. It will never willingly fight to the death. [1]
In combat, Time Dragons frequently use their time stop ability to travel across the battlefield and prepare spells. After using their most powerful abilities, they finish any opponent still standing with a Ravaging Time Breath.[1]
Society[]
Time Dragons are solitary, preferring to interact only with deities and immortals. When it comes to procreation, Time Dragons will once a millennium show up in groups of four to ten for this purpose. Once all of the female dragons are fertilized, they will all immediately disband and are likely to never see each other again.[1]
Lairs and Terrain[]
Time Dragons are capable of living anywhere that has air to breathe and food to eat, preferring remote locations. They typically only stay at one location for a few years at a time before moving on.[1]
Treasure[]
Time Dragons collect various treasure, and are adamant protectors of any treasure it has that is related to time. Due to their seminomadic nature, they will often collect large treasure hoards over several years and then abandon them, only to rebuild them again.[1]
Powers and Abilities[]
Even at birth, a Time Dragon possesses a natural control over time, innately knowing the ability to stop time and being able to accelerate its own time at will. As they get older, their control over time gets stronger, being able to burrow time from the future, be able to accelerate their own time passively, and emulate an aura that slows downs time around them. At their peak, they can move forwards and backwards in time, being able to go into possible futures and make forays from the past, although this requires several minutes of physical and mental preparation, with the the farther a Time Dragon goes backwards or further in time taking appropriately more so.[1]
A Time Dragon has two breath weapons, a line of ravaging time and a cone of time repulsion. The breath of ravaging time directly is a beam of immense light that damages the victim's Constitution score and any items hardness. The breath of time repulsion on the other hand sends the afflicted into the future, effectively erasing them from the timestream until time itself can catch up to them.[1]
Akin to other dragons, the Time Dragon is capable of learning sorcerer spells.
Trivia[]
- At a Challenge Rating of 90, the Great Wyrm Time Dragon has the highest CR out of any creature in the entirety of the Dungeons and Dragons series, with its CR being triple that of the Tarrasque in Fifth Edition.