Hoards and Dragon Sleep (CWS)

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Dragons have magical, biological, and psychological ties to their treasure hoards. The properties of the precious metals, gems, and magical items help dragons shed one age level and grow into the next one. To understand this, one must examine the physical nature of dragons. 
Unlike other living creatures, dragons do not grow slowly through their young years and stop when they reach maturity. Instead, dragons maintain a particular size throughout each age category. Then, when the time comes to advance to the next category, they undergo a massive growth spurt. This cycle of growth, stability, and renewed growth continues throughout each dragon's long life, until they reach their maximum size in their great wyrm stage. 
For example, a juvenile emerald dragon has a body length of 29 feet, with a tail that stretches 24 feet from root to tip. This dragon stays this same size for about 25 years. Then, when it reaches the age of 51 and the other necessary factors of experience and hoard are in place, its body undergoes a transformation. Its wings expand, its body and tail grow larger, its scales harden and take on more definition, and its mental capacities become more formidable. Now the dragon is a young adult, with a 40-foot-long body and a 32-foot-long tail. It will remain this size until its next growth spurt, some SO years in the future. 
To facilitate these massive and sudden growth spurts, dragons need three things. First, the appropriate number of years must pass before their bodies are ready to grow and change. Second, their minds and bodies must be exercised through life experiences, represented in game terms by experience points. Finally, dragons need to gather treasure hoards equal in gold-piece value to the experience points they have gained. At the appropriate time, these three things combine to provide the energy necessary to accomplish a rapid period of growth. 
This event, which every dragon will experience eleven times over the course of its natural life, is called the shedding. Literally and figuratively, a dragon sheds its previous age, mindset, and skin, emerging into its new age with a new body, an improved mind, and the increased skills and abilities of its new age level. 
While the shedding and its accompanying period of growth happen quite rapidly, they do not occur instantaneously. A dragon ready to advance 
to the next age must enter its lair, lie down among its hoard, and enter a comalike state called dragon sleep. Dragon sleep lasts for a period of months equal to the age level to which the dragon is advancing. For example, a dragon shedding its adult level to become a mature adult will sleep with its hoard for seven months, during which time many changes occur. (Mature adult is the seventh age category listed for dragons; see TABLE 1 9.) 
In dragon sleep, the dragon grows larger and stronger. It sheds its previous age like a snake sheds skin, leaving behind a sheath of scales. A portion of this sheath goes to a dragon's vassals. By tradition, the scales are fashioned into armor and shields for use by the dragon's most favored servants. The rest is balled up and buried beneath the hoard, where it helps enhance the connection between dragon and treasure. Over time, the sheath transforms into a precious metal or gem of the appropriate type, equal in value to its age level x 1,000 gold pieces. For example, a gold dragon's shed sheath of scales turns into real gold, an amethyst dragon's into amethysts, and a red dragon's into rubies. A ruby formed from a juvenile red dragon's shedding would be worth 4,000 gp. 
In dragon sleep, a dragon gains an intimate knowledge of its hoard. With each passing period of dragon sleep, it learns more and more about every coin, chalice, and glittering ring. A hatchling starts with a base chance of 40% to recognize missing items. This chance increases by 5% with each new age level achieved. The connection formed between dragon and hoard allows a dragon to know when something is missing, to recall specific details about favorite treasures, and to subliminally listen to sounds in its lair even when the dragon is away. This last ability, called lair clairaudience, is described under "Special Abilities" in Chapter 1\vo. 
Dragon sleep is the most vulnerable period in a dragon's life. For this reason, dragons maintain secret lairs whose locations they guard from even their closest friends and family. Dragons depend on their lair's seclusion, whatever traps and wards they have devised, and the extreme loyalty of a few trusted kindred or vassals to keep them safe while their body undergoes changes. Once a dragon enters dragon sleep, it cannot be awakened until the process has run its course. 
==Bonded and Accumulating Hoard==
bonded hoard is the treasure a dragon has used to gain levels, while the accumulating hoard is that treasure a dragon is collecting but has not yet used in dragon sleep. If a dragon loses even a single piece of its bonded hoard, major problems occur. First, a dragon cannot advance beyond its current level without an intact bonded hoard. Second, for each portion of a bonded hoard that is missing from a dragon's lair, a dragon begins to lose power and abilities, starting with those gained for advancing to its current level. 
With the loss of a portion of its bonded hoard, a dragon loses one ability per period of time, as outlined on TABLE 20: BONDED  HOARD TIMETABLE. Which ability it loses each time is determined randomly  by using  TABLE 21: ABILITY LOSSES. Though rare, a dragon could die if its bonded hoard is not recovered or replaced. If any single category of abilities are totally wiped out because of the hoard loss, the dragon loses the will to live and dies. For example, if its hit points or saving throws are reduced to zero, if all of its innate abilities disappear, or if all of its spell slots are lost, the dragon dies. 
 Table 20: Bonded Hoard Timetable
% Hoard Lost	One Ability Lost Every—*
1-20% 	Year
21-40% 	11 months
41-60% 	10 months
61-70% 	9 months
71-80% 	8 months
81-90% 	7 months
91-100% 	6 months
: * Roll once on TABLE 21 at the start of every specified time period.
 Table 21: Ability Losses
1dl00 Roll	Ability Lost
1-20 	THAC0 reduced by 1 level
21-40 	Armor Class worsens by 1
41-50 	4 hit points lost
51-65 	Saving throws reduced by 1 level
66-75 	One innate ability lost
76-100 	Highest spell level lost
Abilities lost due to the reduction in bonded hoard can be regained in two ways. First, a dragon can recover the stolen items. Second, a dragon can replace the missing items with treasure of equal value. A dragon cannot advance to the next age level until it recovers or replaces its previously bonded hoard. 
Recovering stolen items requires a dragon to engage in a bit of investigation, unless it knows exactly who did the stealing. The dragon's own connection to the missing item can be used to locate it, provided the dragon is close to its present location and makes its recognition roll (base 35% chance, plus 5% per level). Once the item is recovered and returned to the bonded hoard in the dragon's hidden lair, all lost abilities return immediately. 
Replacing items in a bonded hoard requires more work on the part of the dragon. It must again enter dragon sleep with the replaced hoard for the full amount of time necessary to achieve its current level. In dragon sleep, all lost abilities return as the new items meld with the previously bonded treasure. This severs the connection with the stolen treasure.