Frightful presence

Frightful presence was a term used to refer to a special ability that was inherent to dragons and the majority of dragonkind.
==Effects==
Frightful presence was the ability of dragons to strike fear in those who saw them, regardless of the bravery of an individual. It was an ability that dragons developed after reaching the young adult age. 
===Biological and Magical Factors===
Some people who experienced the feeling of dread provoked by a dragon commented that it was a "supernatural fear", but most sages believed that the fear was not magical in nature. Instead, they posited that dragons were just fearsome creatures that inspired great fear in anyone who saw them just by any action that could be interpreted as aggressive.
However, directly above their cerebral cortex, dragons had an miniature extra lobe that had a direct synaptic connection to their optic nerves and that accumulated magical energy from the blood that flowed through the brain. Sages who studied draconic biology believed this lobe was responsible for the ability to instill supernatural fear, as the accumulated magical energy was released through the eyes when dragons used their frightful presence. This gave origin to the legends that spoke of a dragon's "hypnotic gaze." It was also observed that dragons needed to rest for a moment to recharge the magical energy in the lobe before using this ability again.
The lobe in the brains of metallic dragons had the property of "crossing between forms," allowing metallic dragons to use their frightful presence even when shapechanged.
==Dragonfear==
Dragonfear, also known as dragon fear, was a special ability developed by dragonborn that allowed them to induce in other beings the same kind of fear dragons provoked with their frightful presence. 
Dragonfear was usually developed by those dragonborn who didn't develop a breath weapon, but a few dragonborn were able to develop both abilities, the breath weapon and the dragonfear. However, these individuals were unable to use those abilities at the same time. Once they used one of these abilities, they needed to rest before using either of them again.
===Culture===
Dragonborn who developed dragonfear were usually shunned by their clans and families, not only because of the unnatural fear they induced in others, but also because dragonborn were very proud of their dragon breath, and the inability to develop one was seen as a sign that their bloodlines were weakening, marking those dragonborn with dragonfear to be undesirables in their society.
Hence, individuals who developed dragonfear usually lived in solitude and avoided relations with other dragonborn.
==Appendix==
===See Also===
* Dragon breath
===Reference===
Category:Creature special abilities