"Imagine Count Dracula and Puff the Magic Dragon had a kid and then immediately regretted it."
Unlike its bulkier, fire-belching cousins, the Vampire Dragon is a Medium-sized abomination, about as tall as a warhorse with wings, a cape, and terrible dental hygiene. Don’t let the smaller frame fool you: this thing is the supernatural equivalent of a pint-sized espresso shot, concentrated, jitter-inducing, and liable to ruin your evening.
BECMI Stats
Vampire Dragon (Medium)
Armour Class: -3 (scaly, smug, and overdressed)
Hit Dice: 7–9 (smaller than an adult dragon, but harder to get rid of than a door-to-door monk)
Move: 90’ (30’) / Fly 180’ (60’)
Attacks: 2 claws/1 bite
Damage: 1–8/1–8/1–12 plus blood drain
Special Abilities:
Blood Drain: Bite attack drains 2 levels. Victims go anaemic faster than a first-year wizard out of spell slots.
Breath Weapon: Cone of chilling night air, 40’ long, 20’ wide, 6d6 cold/necrotic damage. Comes with faint odour of mildew.
Charm Gaze: Save vs Spells or decide you’d really like to buy it dinner and offer your jugular.
Regeneration: Heals 2 hp/round unless exposed to sunlight, holy water, or garlic naan.
Treasure Type: G (half coins, half medical supplies).
Alignment: Chaotic (with theatre-kid energy).
5e Stats
Vampire Dragon (Medium)
AC: 18 (scales like armour, cape like armour class bonus)
HP: 127 (15d8+60, or just enough to annoy the entire party)
Speed: 30 ft., fly 60 ft. (hover, with panache)
STR 20, DEX 16, CON 18, INT 14, WIS 12, CHA 18
Traits
Shapechanger: Can turn into a giant bat or a pale noble in suspiciously good tailoring.
Regeneration: 10 hp at the start of its turn unless it’s in sunlight or standing next to a cleric shouting scripture.
Blood Drain (Bite): +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., 15 (2d10+4) piercing plus 14 (4d6) necrotic. Target’s max HP reduced equal to necrotic taken until long rest.
Breath Weapon (Recharge 5–6): 60 ft. cone of necrotic vapour. DC 15 Con save or 42 (12d6) necrotic damage. Smells like damp velvet.
Legendary Actions (because even Medium horrors want to feel important):
Dramatic Wing Flap: Creatures within 10 ft. must succeed on DC 15 Dex save or fall flat on their faces.
Hypnotic Glare: DC 15 Wis save or become charmed, convinced the dragon is their edgy new best friend.
Quick Sip: Makes a blood-drain bite attack because nobody told it moderation is a virtue.
Description
This isn’t the “big, scary end-boss dragon.” It’s the annoying middle-child dragon that stalks you from the shadows, flaps dramatically out of cupboards, and turns your adventuring party into juice boxes. It’s less about razing kingdoms and more about picking off stragglers, one anaemic adventurer at a time.
d8 Minions of the Medium Vampire Dragon
Goth Goblins
Wear black eyeliner that runs in the rain.
Constantly sigh about how “nobody understands the darkness.”
Attack with rusty daggers and unsolicited poetry.
Bats with Monocles
Tiny, squeaky, and disturbingly posh.
Attack adventurers with passive-aggressive remarks about their fashion sense.
Skeletal Halflings
Still cheerful despite being dead.
Carry spoons instead of weapons because they “weren’t issued proper gear.”
Thrall Rats
Just regular rats, but they hiss dramatically whenever the dragon makes eye contact.
They also spell rude words in rat-formations if left alone too long.
Zombie Accountants
Shuffle about carrying ledgers and muttering “audit… audit…”
Every 1d4 rounds, they demand you save vs. sleep (BECMI) or Wis DC 13 (5e) or collapse from sheer boredom.
Coffin Mimics
Disguised as the dragon’s travel caskets.
Open up, bite ankles, and refuse to let go.
Occasionally snore loudly, ruining stealth.
Nosferatoads
Evil amphibians with snaggle-fangs.
Leap onto victims’ faces and attempt to “drink” through the nose.
Croak ominously in minor key.
Vampire Kittens
Tiny, fluffy, and adorable, until they leap at jugulars.
Any PC must roll a saving throw to resist petting them (failure results in blood loss).
Usage Notes
The Vampire Dragon usually travels with 2–5 minions, rolled randomly.
If the party laughs at them, the dragon becomes offended and uses its Breath Weapon out of sheer spite.
Minions scatter dramatically if the dragon is slain… unless they’re the kittens, which just follow the party home.
Vampire Dragon Lair Actions
When in its lair (usually a crypt-castle that looks like it was designed by a goth teenager after one too many Edgar Allan Poe readings), the Vampire Dragon can take one of the following lair actions on initiative count 20 (losing ties):
Dramatic Fog Machine
The lair fills with thick mist. Visibility drops to 10 ft., and everyone coughs theatrically.
The dragon, naturally, sees perfectly and uses it as an excuse to make snide comments.
Swarm of Fashionably Late Bats
A cloud of bats with little bow ties bursts from the ceiling.
Each creature within 20 ft. must succeed on a DC 15 Dex save or be nipped for 2d4 piercing damage and look undignified.
Coffin Carousel
Sarcophagi in the lair spin and slide about like haunted dodgems.
PCs must succeed on a DC 14 Dex save or be smacked for 1d8 bludgeoning and knocked prone in the least heroic way possible.
Regional Effects of a Vampire Dragon’s Lair
The region within 1 mile of the Vampire Dragon’s lair becomes, in a word, gothic. Roll up your collar and get ready for the following:
Candle Flicker Syndrome: Every candle, torch, or lantern flame in the region flickers ominously. Even magical lights dim by 50%, which is rubbish if you’re trying to read.
Bat Congestion: The sky is perpetually full of bats. Local villagers complain about guano avalanches.
Anaemic Atmosphere: Humanoids sleeping within 1 mile wake up pale, cranky, and convinced they’ve had a “weird dream about capes.” They gain no benefit from a long rest unless they pass a DC 13 Con save.
Phantom Pipe Organ: At midnight, a ghostly pipe organ plays itself. The tunes are always in minor key and sound suspiciously like the dragon’s warm-up scales.
If the dragon dies, the effects fade after 1d10 days but the bats hang around because, frankly, they’ve nowhere better to be.
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