Dance Dragon (Creature, dragon)

Dragon (Air)

**Environment**: Any plains

**Organization**: Solitary, pair, or troop (2-5).

**Challenge Rating**: Wyrmling 3; very young 4; young 6; juvenile 8; young adult 11; adult 13; mature adult 15; old 16; very old 17; ancient 19; wyrm 20; great wyrm 23

**Treasure**: Standard

**Alignment**: Always Chaotic Good

*These rare dragons are known on only a few worlds. They seem to dance to music that only they can hear, although at times they can release it, sped up a hundred fold in a short burst of destructive energy through their breath weapon. They are highly agile for dragons, and even more so in their ability to evade attacks, as if their dance brings them intone with the multiverse.*

*These dragons seem, from my observations, highly friendly beasts. They actively seek the company of others, using their ability to shape shift to appear as beautiful, young, human maidens to elicit such companionship when required; or strapping, humanoid youths I would assume (my dealings were limited mostly to the female of the species).*

*My first encounter with such a dragon was while searching for the elusive Umbra Dragon, a search that is still unsuccessful at the moment, although I seem to have found some interesting clues. Unlike normal, the dragon was the one who approached me, intending to keep her draconic nature a secret. Of course with my expertise in the field of dragons it was not hard to see such telltale signs such as were in her accent and stride.*

*These dragons are nomads by nature, and on the world I found them well acquainted with the local gipsy folk, often accompanying their wagons. It is considered to be good luck to have one accompanying the wagons in humanoid guise, but the luck is marred if their identity is revealed. This also makes them more open to outsiders than on many worlds as the outsider may in fact be a lucky companion. Due to their nomadic nature they are less likely to keep hoards than moste dragons, and in fact show a preference for pieces of art, musical instruments, and magic items over gold and gems.*

*Physically they are sleak bodied creatures, with long, sinuous tails, necks and torsoes. Their scales are a bright gold in color, although their two pairs of wings, one set in front of the other, prevent mistaking them for the more common gold dragons. Their heads are slim and snake-like, but two long, bony, head-tails stretch back from above their eyes. These serve no practical purpose, although long head-tails are considered a sign of prowess and virility in males. Of further interest is their six toed claws, which give them a distinctive foot print.*

*Beyond these matters of superficial appearance, there are several more interesting qualities to these dragons. They are hard to catch, but have relatively soft scales even though they still harden against non-magical weapons and even against all weapons not sanctified to Order. They can dodge and weave as if with a supernatural grace or as if some presience guides them. This same combination of cosmic prescience and agility allows them to effectively evade many spells and most breath weapons of other dragons. In combat they are capable of devastating strafing attacks where they use their bite to the best of their ability to strike at as many foes as possible while they pass. They do, though, lack immunity to the breath weapons of other dance dragons, in fact lacking any resistance to such attacks and being fully vulnerable to sonic assault despite their own breath weapon being a sonic attack.*

*I return to my search for an umbra dragon now. Good luck with your own research.*

*--Zasper*

**Special Abilities**:

**Breath Weapon** (Su): A dance dragon's breath weapon is a line of concentrated music, the same music to which the dragon seems to be continuously dancing but sped up several hundred times and the pitch changed to create a destructive blast. All creatures in the line take the listed sonic damage, although a successful Fort save halves the damage.

**Battle Dancing** (Ex): A dance dragon adds its Charisma to its AC when not wearing armor or using a shield, as per the monk ability (they do not gain the level based bonus of a monk however). In addition they may also use Perform (Dance) in place of Concentration checks.

**Alternate Form** (Su): 3/day as a standard action a dance dragon may assume the form of a medium or smaller humanoid or fey. They may remain in this form indefinitely or until they chose to return to their natural form or assume a new form.

**Evasion** (Ex): A very young or older dance dragon gains Evasion as the rogue ability of the same name.

**Improved Evasion** (Ex): A juvenile or older dance dragon gains Improved Evasion as the rogue ability of the same name.

**Dancing Strafe** (Ex): As a full round action an adult or older dance dragon may move up to its speed (or fly speed) and make one bite, or melee, attack on each creature that passes through its bite reach, up to one attack per point of Dexterity bonus. No creature may be attacked more than once during a single dancing strafe.

**Spell Guard Dance** (Su): As a move action an old or older dance dragon may engage in its Spell Guard Dance which increases its Spell Resistance by 5 and gives it a +4 on all saves versus spells. This bonus lasts until the dragon moves more than 5-ft.

**Reflection Dance** (Su): When a great wyrm dance dragon enters into its spell guard dance it also changes its natural armor bonus to a deflection bonus and any ranged touch attack made against it that misses is reflected back at the source using the same attack bonus.

**Spellcasting**: A Dance dragon casts spells as a sorcerer of the listed level and may select from the sorcerer or bard spell lists.

**Skills**: Balance, Perform, and Tumble are class skills for dance dragons.