Skeletal Dragons

[JamesIntrocaso]

So on my blog I'm creating and converting a bunch of new undead for 5e, since there's a CR gap (no undead of CR 6 - 12) and I need LOTS for my game. Next up is skeletal dragons! Let me know what you think of their flavor and mechanics!

You can find the post here: https://worldbuilderblog.me/2017/02/09/skeletal-dragons/

[Nimlouth]

Amazing! I wanted dragons in my current campaign but also wanted to keep the undead-lich theme... i'm glad i found this haha...

I'll give them a playtest or two and then let you know how it plays out. They look good right from the start tho.

[JamesIntrocaso]

Amazing! I wanted dragons in my current campaign but also wanted to keep the undead-lich theme... i'm glad i found this haha...

I'll give them a playtest or two and then let you know how it plays out. They look good right from the start tho.

Awesome! I can't wait to hear what you think!

[MrStabby]

Well dragons are cool, undead are cool - undead dragons sound awesome.

Concept-wise, these may depend on your world as to whether they are appropriate or not. Are dragons special in your campaign? These are still dragons. Ignoring the CR for a minute an adult skeletal dragon represents the remains of a very, very powerful creature who was likely to have been of great historical significance. If dragons are rare, then maybe this would be selling them short as a lower CR creature than they had been, just in terms of their magnificence within a setting.

In terms of detail they are pretty similar to most dragons at the small end but lacking lair actions legendary actions and legendary saves at the top end. Relatively speaking, these guys are a pushover unless they are in a bit of a crowd.

Flying seems... ok? Odd? As a skeleton you are basically saying their lift is magical, it might be nice to emphasise their magic nature somehow? Or make them flightless.

Defensively they have a bundle of HP and OK AC but compared to a true dragon they seem pretty tame due to lower saves. Wisdom kind of matters as a party might bring along a cleric so good to see that represented. Resistances are nice; the vulnerability to bludgeoning is less likely to be an issue on a flying creature but a lot of whirlwind effects will do bludgeoning type damage.

Senses are pretty standard dragon senses.

Whilst I think that they are maybe a little below their CR (in practice rather then by calculation) defensively, their offence has not taken a hit. Sure they don't have legendary saves and no legendary actions but the standard dragon MO of flying about and using breath weapon attacks is still strong (again relative to the lower CR). This makes them a bit of a glass cannon. The presence of two breath weapons is interesting and adds some options to the creature.


All in all it's good, but it feels like just a touch of a wasted opportunity. There is a dragon corpse - given it's former glory it seems anticlimactic for it to be "just" a skeleton. It's like fighting through a load of undead guards to get to the undead king and finding the undead king is just another skeleton. It isn't wrong and it does make sense - I have just an ill defined sense that it isn't as epic as it's surroundings are likely to make it seem like it should be.

Even as a skeleton it doesn't feel unique, it feels like it's nature hasn't changed that much. There is not much added for it's undeadness, it kind of feels like it will play just like a weak dragon (which might be fine and intended).

From a practical perspective in running a game you probably want to scale the size of the horde to the CR, a dragon of the size of the skeleton would be likely to have a bigger horde so you kind of have to play around within the story to make these match up. Not an insurmountable problem though.

I think it is close to being great though; I just think it needs another ability of note, to set it apart from something like a Roc. The breath weapon does this, but might not get used that often.


I have used a mummified dragon before which was fun. A dragon emperor entombed and mummified by his subjects. The focus there was on the mummy for many of the abilities. The flying, the size, and the physical form were there to bring out the dragon. The blasphemous word, spellcasting and other similar activities were there to emphasise the mummy aspect of the creature. I think it had its breath attack replaces with a curse AoE, but I can't remember.

[JamesIntrocaso]

Well dragons are cool, undead are cool - undead dragons sound awesome.

Concept-wise, these may depend on your world as to whether they are appropriate or not. Are dragons special in your campaign? These are still dragons. Ignoring the CR for a minute an adult skeletal dragon represents the remains of a very, very powerful creature who was likely to have been of great historical significance. If dragons are rare, then maybe this would be selling them short as a lower CR creature than they had been, just in terms of their magnificence within a setting.

In terms of detail they are pretty similar to most dragons at the small end but lacking lair actions legendary actions and legendary saves at the top end. Relatively speaking, these guys are a pushover unless they are in a bit of a crowd.

Flying seems... ok? Odd? As a skeleton you are basically saying their lift is magical, it might be nice to emphasise their magic nature somehow? Or make them flightless.

Defensively they have a bundle of HP and OK AC but compared to a true dragon they seem pretty tame due to lower saves. Wisdom kind of matters as a party might bring along a cleric so good to see that represented. Resistances are nice; the vulnerability to bludgeoning is less likely to be an issue on a flying creature but a lot of whirlwind effects will do bludgeoning type damage.

Senses are pretty standard dragon senses.

Whilst I think that they are maybe a little below their CR (in practice rather then by calculation) defensively, their offence has not taken a hit. Sure they don't have legendary saves and no legendary actions but the standard dragon MO of flying about and using breath weapon attacks is still strong (again relative to the lower CR). This makes them a bit of a glass cannon. The presence of two breath weapons is interesting and adds some options to the creature.


All in all it's good, but it feels like just a touch of a wasted opportunity. There is a dragon corpse - given it's former glory it seems anticlimactic for it to be "just" a skeleton. It's like fighting through a load of undead guards to get to the undead king and finding the undead king is just another skeleton. It isn't wrong and it does make sense - I have just an ill defined sense that it isn't as epic as it's surroundings are likely to make it seem like it should be.

Even as a skeleton it doesn't feel unique, it feels like it's nature hasn't changed that much. There is not much added for it's undeadness, it kind of feels like it will play just like a weak dragon (which might be fine and intended).

From a practical perspective in running a game you probably want to scale the size of the horde to the CR, a dragon of the size of the skeleton would be likely to have a bigger horde so you kind of have to play around within the story to make these match up. Not an insurmountable problem though.

I think it is close to being great though; I just think it needs another ability of note, to set it apart from something like a Roc. The breath weapon does this, but might not get used that often.


I have used a mummified dragon before which was fun. A dragon emperor entombed and mummified by his subjects. The focus there was on the mummy for many of the abilities. The flying, the size, and the physical form were there to bring out the dragon. The blasphemous word, spellcasting and other similar activities were there to emphasise the mummy aspect of the creature. I think it had its breath attack replaces with a curse AoE, but I can't remember.

Once again thank you so much!

[Doorhandle]

Concept-wise, these may depend on your world as to whether they are appropriate or not. Are dragons special in your campaign? These are still dragons. Ignoring the CR for a minute an adult skeletal dragon represents the remains of a very, very powerful creature who was likely to have been of great historical significance. If dragons are rare, then maybe this would be selling them short as a lower CR creature than they had been, just in terms of their magnificence within a setting.

I kinda like the idea that they are weak(relatively) mockeries of dragons, and thus the very first one was created as an insult to a necromancer's draconic rival. The magic equivalent to putting it's head on a pole. Living dragons would despise these mockeries and work to smash them where they find them.

It could even lead to plot hooks, such as a dragon asking to have one of it's reanimated relatives put down, or asking the party to attack one deep into a cavern it can't fit into.