Purple Dragon

The most cunning and curious of all the dragons, purple dragons love to lord their power over "lesser" creatures. Beliving themselves descended from Tiamat's elder sister purple dragons consider themselves superior to even other true dragons.

Due to the fact that purple dragons dwell in dark places they are often mistaken by an untrained eye for black dragons. Unlike black dragons however, purple dragons horns spiral as they age. The underbelly of the purple dragon is a similar color to its back. Additionally, because of its domain is the Underdark the wings of a purple dragon have over generations shrunk compared to other dragons.

The scales of a purple dragon wyrmling are mottled to help them blend in better but, as they age they get more shiny and glossy. Also, veins of eldritch energy begin to appear on the dragon.

Kings of the Underdark. Long ago the puple dragons migrated to the Underdark. Why? Sages have been debating since the dawn of civilization. The most commonly accepted reason is due to their hatred of Illithid. Whatever the reason, purple dragons are now near the top of the food chain in the Underdark.

Deadlist of Dragons. While its strength is formidable, the true danger of purple dragons is not their phyisical prowess, no it is their intellect and cunning. The cruel pragmatism that purple dragons practice leaves them less likely to underestimate dangers. This is compounded by a level of rationality and planning that most other dragons do not posses.

Arcane Curiosity. Purple dragons have a level of insatiable inborn curiosity of arcane magic. As such they tend to have spell scrolls, potions and other magic items as favored treasure for their hoard. Addtionally, when old enough to take humaniod form, a purple dragon will begin to experiment with making sorcerer offspring with nearby slaves.

Explorers and Imperialists. Knowledge is power thus, knowing and ruling the lairs surroundings is paramount. The definition of "surroundings" gets furthur afield as the dragon ages. An already existing city of drow or duergar is a particuularly valuable source of slaves and worship.

Nemeses of Psionics The one thing that a purple dragon cannot abide is psionics. The source of this hatred is unknown but, it means that Illithid are hunted with passion. Duergar slaves are not allowed to practice any inborn psionics until eventually "the filth is bred out". As such drow tend to be higher ranked slaves and lieutenants.

A Purple Dragon's Lair

A purple dragons lair tends to be in the Underdark near a drow or duergar city. The lair has many stalactites, stalagmites, and pits. Once the purple dragon gets old enough it tends to have large cities of slaves that have formed around them due to the ore the dragon produces.

Lair Actions

On initive count 20 (losing initive ties), the dragon takes a lair action to cause one of the following effects; the dragon can't use the same effect two rounds in a row:

Nearby rubble flies up and armors the dragon. The dragon gains resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage until initative count 20 of the next round or it dies.

A magical force pushes a creature within 120 feet of the dragon. The creature must make a DC 15 Strength saving throw or be pushed 30 feet in a straight line.

Part of the ground collapses below one creature the dragon can see within 120 feet of it creating a 30 foot deep pit. The creature must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or fall to the bottom of the pit.

Regional Effects

The region containg a legendary purple dragon's lair is warped by the dragon's magic, which creates one or more of the following effects:

The land within 6 miles of the dragon's lair is supernaturally dark and difficult to see through.

Within 1 mile of the dragon's lair it can sense when an arcane spell is cast.

Caves within 1 mile of the dragon's lair have more veins of magical ore.

If the dragon dies, these effects fade over the course of 1d10 days.