The Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen campaign for Dungeons & Dragons is pitting players against the might of the dragonarmies, and these include creatures known as death dragons. A regular dragon is bad enough, as its breath weapon can be strong enough to take out at an adventuring party, but a death dragon's breath has a horrifying additional effect. The fans of Game of Thrones might know what to expect when facing a death dragon in battle, as it has the power to turn the dead against the living.
The Shadow of the Dragon Queen campaign features the long-awaited return of the Dragonlance setting to DnD. Dragonlance is set in the world of Krynn, which differs from the other core DnD campaign settings in a number of ways. Shadow of the Dragon Queen is set in an era when the dragons and the gods have been gone for so long that the population suspects that they never existed. When the goddess Takhisis (Dragonlance's version of Tiamat) returns to Krynn, she brings the chromatic dragons back with her. A new video on the official Dungeons & Dragons YouTube channel has revealed information about another kind of dragon that players will be facing in the campaign.
Dragonlance: Shadow Of The Dragon Queen Features Death Dragons
DnD has featured many varieties of undead dragons over the years, ranging from the dragon skeleton to the terrifying dracolich, which ranks highly among DnD's most powerful dragons. The death dragons were created by Lord Soth, who discovers a flame from the Cataclysm (the apocalyptic flaming mountain that struck Krynn) and took it to a temple of Takhisis, which he uses to transform the bodies of chromatic and metallic dragons alike into death dragons. The death dragons look like skeletal dragons that have a magical core that burns with a purple flame, and they are shown wearing metal armor in their artwork. Death dragons have all the same terrifying capabilities as a regular dragon, with a twist that is especially dangerous in Shadow of the Dragon Queen.
DnD's Death Dragons Are Like The White Walkers From Game Of Thrones
Shadow of the Dragon Queen is part of a Dragonlance DnD campaign and board game combo, as it's being released alongside a game called Dragonlance: Warriors of Krynn. Shadow of the Dragon Queen involves a war against the invading dragonarmies, which is where Warriors of Krynn comes in, as it's used to act out mass battles. It's not required to own both products, as Shadow of the Dragon Queen has scenarios in place to act out the important story beats of the battle, while Warriors of Krynn can be played as a standalone board game, as it requires no knowledge of DnD rules or Dragonlance's lore to enjoy.
The fact that death dragons will be present in Warriors of Krynn is one of the scariest things about them, as it's like bringing Game of Thrones' White Walkers into DnD. A death dragon's breath attack is infused with necromancy, which means that if it kills someone, then they rise as an undead. The players will be aiding the Alliance in Warriors of Krynn, who are outnumbered, low on morale, and facing dragons after only just finding out that they really exist. The direct intervention of the players is required in Warriors of Krynn, otherwise, the dragonarmies will be victorious. If the dragonarmies have death dragons on their side, then they can not only kill Alliance soldiers but turn them into monsters.
The Alliance is also woefully unprepared for dealing with the undead. Dragonlance lacked clerics for a long time, due to the gods disappearing from the world and taking divine magic with them. Any cleric players in Shadow of the Dragon Queen will be among a handful of clerics that exist in the world, and they will be very low-level. In other DnD settings, there would be plenty of clerics available in an army and their Turn Undead class feature would be incredibly useful (moreso than in most actual DnD games), but Krynn is lacking clerics, so it will be up to regular soldiers to fight their undead former allies.
The Person Riding A Death Dragon Is Even More Dangerous Than They Are
The death dragons are to be feared, but one of their riders is even more fearsome than they are. The creator of the death dragons is Lord Soth, one of DnD's most iconic villains. In the DnD 5e Monster Manual, there are some monster listings that detail famous and powerful examples of the creature type. For vampires, there is Count Strahd von Zarovich from Curse of Strahd, for demiliches, there is Acerack from Tomb of Annihilation, and for death knights, there is Lord Soth from Shadow of the Dragon Queen.
In life, Lord Soth was once a proud member of the Knights of Solamnia, yet he fell from grace and was transformed into a death knight. When Takhisis returned to Krynn, Lord Soth ed her forces, hoping to get revenge on his homeland. Lord Soth was a major part of the Dragonlance novels, and outside of Raistlin Majere, is probably the most famous Dragonlance character, having even been the focus of the Death Knights of Krynn PC game. Shadow of the Dragon Queen has taken the opportunity to use him as a villain as it roughly fits with the timeline of the setting.
It's unclear if the players will actually have the chance to fight Lord Soth head-on, as Shadow of the Dragon Queen is a level 1-11 game. The average Death Knight in the Monster Manual is a Challenge Rating 17 creature, making it one of the strongest monsters in the book, and Lord Soth is a special example of one. He's also riding on top of a death dragon, which already presents a challenge to the players, especially with its necromancy breath. The developers of the Shadow of the Dragon Queen Dungeons & Dragons campaign have said that Dragonlance has harder battles than normal, and that statement is easy to believe.
Source: Dungeons & Dragons/YouTube
