AC 19 (natural armor)
HP 287 (23d12 + 138; bloodied 143)
Speed 40 ft., fly 40 ft., burrow 60 ft.
Proficiency +6; Maneuver DC 20
Saving Throws Str +12, Con +12, Int +8, Wis +8, Cha +7
Skills Athletics +12, Insight +8 (+1d6), Nature +12, Perception +8 (+1d6)
Damage Resistances damage from nonmagical weapons
Condition Immunities petrified
Senses darkvision 120 ft., tremorsense 90 ft., passive Perception 21
Languages Common, Draconic, Terran
Earth Glide. The dragon can burrow through nonmagical, unworked earth and stone without disturbing it.
False Appearance. While the dragon remains motionless within its linked area, it is indistinguishable from a natural rocky outcropping.
Legendary Resistance (3/Day). When the dragon fails a saving throw , it can choose to succeed instead. When it does, it becomes more like rock. Its movement is halved until the end of its next turn.
Essence Link. The essence dragon is spiritually linked to a specific area or landmark. The dragon gains no benefit from a long rest when more than 1 mile away from its linked area. If the dragon dies, the area it is linked to loses its vital essence until it forms a new essence dragon, which can take centuries. When a creature first enters an area that has lost its vital essence in this way, they gain a level of fatigue and a level of strife . This fatigue and strife can be removed only by completing a long rest outside the area.
Innate Spellcasting. The dragon’s spellcasting ability is Charisma (save DC 15). It can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components.
3/day each: locate animals or plants , spike growth , stone shape , wall of stone
ACTIONS
Multiattack. The dragon attacks once with its bite and twice with its slam. In place of its bite attack, it can use Rock Spire.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +12 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 28 (4d10 + 6) piercing damage. Instead of dealing piercing damage, the dragon can grapple the target (escape DC 20), and a Large or smaller creature grappled in this way is restrained . While grappling a creature, the dragon can’t bite another target.
Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +12 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 19 (3d8 + 6) bludgeoning damage.
Scouring Breath (Recharge 5–6). The dragon exhales scouring sand and stones in a 60-foot cone. Each creature in that area makes a DC 20 Dexterity saving throw , taking 56 (16d6) slashing damage on a failed save or half damage on a success. A creature that fails the save is also blinded until the end of its next turn.
Rock Spire. A permanent, 25-foot-tall, 5-foot-radius spire of rock magically rises from a point on the ground within 60 feet. A creature in the spire’s area when it appears makes a DC 19 Dexterity saving throw , taking 13 (3d8) piercing damage on a failure or half damage on a success. A creature that fails this saving throw by 10 or more is impaled at the top of the spire. A creature can use an action to make a DC 12 Strength check, freeing the impaled creature on a success. The impaled creature is also freed if the spire is destroyed. The spire is an object with AC 16, 30 hit points and immunity to poison and psychic damage.
LEGENDARY ACTIONS
The dragon can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature's turn. It regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn.
Shake the Foundation. The dragon causes the ground to roil, creating a permanent, 40-foot-radius area of difficult terrain centered on a point the dragon can see. If the dragon is bloodied , creatures in the area make a DC 20 Dexterity saving throw , falling prone on a failure.
Slam Attack (Costs 2 Actions). The dragon makes a slam attack.
Entomb (While Bloodied , Costs 3 Actions). The dragon targets a creature on the ground within 60 feet, forcing it to make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw . On a failure, the creature is magically entombed 5 feet under the earth. While entombed, the target is blinded , restrained , and can’t breathe. A creature can use an action to make a DC 15 Strength check, freeing an entombed creature on a success.
Combat
While individual dragons have their own personalities and tactics, most rely heavily on their breath weapons. They use them whenever they can, preferably from maximum distance and while flying above their enemies.
When fighting in the open, dragons often circle above their enemies as they wait for their breath weapons to recharge. They only close to melee if their enemies deal significant damage with ranged attacks, or if they can savage an enemy cut off from its allies. Once bloodied , dragons become more aggressive, attacking with bite and claws when their breath weapons aren’t available.
If a dragon is protecting its lair, it utilizes lair features, traps, allies, and architecture such as escape tunnels to keep up a hit-and-run fight, reappearing only when it has a fully-recharged breath weapon. If the dragon is forced into melee combat, it uses its bite and claws against a single foe. If it has legendary actions like Roar and Wing Attack, it uses them to disperse its other enemies.
If reduced to less than one-fourth its hit points while fighting in the open, a dragon flies away. However, it fights to the death to defend its lair, unless it can regain the upper hand through tricks or bargains.
Earth Dragon Lair Features
Choose or roll one or more of the following lair features:
1 The dragon’s domain is a desolate mountain peak, and reaching it is a grand undertaking in and of itself. Journeys to the dragon’s lair trigger twice as many exploration challenges as normal.
2 The walls of the dragon’s lair are jagged stone. Any time the dragon hits a creature within 5 feet of a wall with a slam attack, the creature takes an additional 5 (1d10) piercing damage.
3 The lair is volcanic. Whenever the dragon makes a bite attack against a creature it is grappling, it can dunk its captive in magma instead, dealing fire damage equal to the piercing damage dealt by the bite.
4 The ground in the lair is made of loose sand. The dragon’s burrow speed increases to 100 feet, and the dragon can use its Scouring Breath while only revealing its snout, retaining three-quarters cover.
Names
Drahirrus, Jargalant, Khaldun, Otgontenger, Slatescale, Tor
Legends and Lore
With an Arcana or Nature check, characters can learn the following:
DC 10 Though mortal, earth dragons are spiritually linked to a specific landmark, which they might guard for a hundred human lifetimes.
DC 15 Earth dragons burrow through natural stone like fish swim through the water. They exhale powerful blasts of scouring sand.
DC 20 The oldest earth dragons can command the earth to shudder and crack or rise up in towering spires.
Inexorably tied to monuments of rock and stone, earth dragons share the quiet patience and the harsh indifference of the land itself. Most earth dragons are slow to action, and even slower to anger. All things pass, and the rise and fall of civilizations are like the flowers, beautiful in their time but not to last. Only threats to their bonded lands are given consideration—but when roused to anger, earth dragons devastate their enemies like a landslide.
Slumbering Peaks. Earth dragons of jagged peaks grow sharp scales, while the scales of desert dragons look more like those of serpents. When still, earth dragons blend in perfectly with their environment. They might spend days or weeks slumbering between meals, leading many travelers to mistake them for natural stone outcroppings. Some dragons move so infrequently that they become landmarks, outdating maps on the rare occasions that they rise from their perches.
Mountain Kings. Except when defending their home, earth dragons are largely indifferent to other creatures. Rarely, earth dragons come to regard the little villages atop their mountains as intricate features of their land. In such cases, these settlements offer tribute (usually precious stones) to their draconic protector. Living sacrifices are sometimes offered, as well—usually beasts of burden, although more significant sacrifices must be made to appease the arrogant and wrathful earth dragons of volcanoes.
1 Dozing on a peak
2 Burrowing underground, hunting
3 Asleep for years, resembling a statue; awakens only if threatened
4 Raging and demanding tribute
1 Constant tremors
2 Footsteps leave no trace
3 Digging, or even attempting to set a tent peg, causes ominous tremors
4 The area is dotted with menhirs and obelisks
Earth dragons make their lairs on mountains, bare hills, and rocky deserts.
CR 3–4 earth dragon wyrmling
Treasure 6 jasper gemstones (50 gp each), 6 onyx gemstones (50 gp each), potion of healing , 3 1 sling stones
CR 5–10 young earth dragon ; earth dragon wyrmling with 2 walking statues (see animated objects ) or 1d4 + 1 sandlings (see scarecrow )
Treasure 500 gp, 2,000 sp, 3 garnet gemstones (100 gp each), sapphire gemstone (1,000 gp), patch of black sand (acts as 2 doses of dust of sneezing and choking ), figurine of wondrous power (marble elephant)
CR 11–16 young earth dragon with 1 or 2 ankhegs , awakened trees , or basilisks
Treasure 11 spinel and topaz gemstones (500 gp each), 13 carnelian and jasper gemstones (50 gp each), petrified dragon (a carved message indicates it will awaken one day), 2 potions of greater healing , eyes of minute seeing , luck blade
CR 17–22 adult earth dragon ; young earth dragon with 2 earth elementals or xorn
Treasure 8,000 gp, 6 sapphire and emerald gemstones (1,000 gp each), 9 jet gemstones (100 gp each), 6 carved busts (250 gp each), stone table marked with ancient treasure map, figurine of wondrous power (ivory goats), ring of free action
CR 23–30 ancient earth dragon; adult earth dragon with gorgon, hill giant, or stone giant
Treasure 20,000 gp, 4 diamonds (5,000 gp each), 6 opals (1,000 gp each), jacinth necklace (25,000 gp), 2 potions of supreme healing , stone of controlling earth elementals , rod of lordly might
CR 31+ ancient earth dragon with 1 or 2 giant earth elementals (see elemental ), medusas , stone giants , or stone guardians
Treasure 5,000 pp, 40,000 gp, 8 rubies (5,000 gp), 10 emeralds (1,000 gp each), free-standing door made of moonstone (bulky, worth 50,000 gp; may open one day), 3 potions of supreme healing , bronze horn of Valhalla , crystal ball , stone of controlling earth elementals
Dragons include red and gold dragons, which are huge reptilian fire-breathers that number among the world’s most dangerous monsters. This type includes white dragons , which breathe killing frost, as well as smaller reptilian creatures related to true dragons, such as pseudodragons .