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Archives of Nethys

Archives of Nethys

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Dragon, Resurrection

Source Monster Core 2 pg. 128
Resurrection dragons teeter between life and death. They have a mastery of vital energies, allowing them to restore life to the dead, and a mastery of void energies, to bestow death on others. They make use of their abilities to play with the lives of mortals, calling on spirits to aid them or reviving creatures they find important or interesting. The lair of a resurrection dragon is generally a barren place. While they still hoard wealth like other dragons, they do little to decorate their lairs and treasures are generally kept in dark niches, as if the dragon has little care for their possessions. Resurrection dragons tend to take tokens from those they resurrect or plan to resurrect, however, and these are kept particularly safe.

Members

Adult Resurrection Dragon (Creature 12), Ancient Resurrection Dragon (Creature 17), Resurrection Archdragon (Creature 23), Young Resurrection Dragon (Creature 8)

No Icon Alternate Abilities

Some resurrection dragons can control life and death in different ways. You can apply the following adjustments to a resurrection dragon of any age.

As a resurrection dragon heals themself, they can simultaneously weaken the living around them. To create a dragon with this ability, replace Draconic Momentum with the following.

Shred Souls (divine, void) [free-action] Trigger The resurrection dragon ends their turn; Requirements The dragon’s Soul Siphoning Breath recharged this turn; Effect Excess void energy spills out from the dragon in a 60-foot emanation. Each living creature in the area must succeed at a Fortitude save with a DC equal to the dragon’s Soul Siphoning Breath or gain weakness to void equal to the dragon’s resistance to spirit for 1 round (or 1 minute on a critical failure).

Resurrection dragons who focus their power into slaying as much of the living as possible can wreath their claws in void energy. To create a dragon with this ability, replace Draconic Frenzy with the following.

Harmful Claw [two-actions] (divine) The resurrection dragon channels a divine spell into their claw. They Cast a 1-action version of harm, but the effects of the spell don’t occur immediately. The dragon then makes a claw Strike. This counts as two attacks for the dragon’s multiple attack penalty. The attack is imbued with the spell’s effects according to the results of the Strike.
Critical Success The Strike deals double damage as normal, and the target must attempt a basic Fortitude save against the spell’s damage, but treats its result as one degree of success worse.
Success The Strike deals damage as normal, and the target attempts a basic Fortitude save against the spell’s damage.
Failure The Strike deals no damage, but the target must attempt a basic Fortitude save against the spell’s damage.
Critical Failure The Strike deals no damage, and the target is unaffected by the spell.

More necromancy-focused resurrection dragons enjoy creating permanent undead minions. To create a dragon with this ability, give the dragon the create undead ritual and replace Risen Commander with the following.

Deathless Servant (divine, unholy) When a resurrection dragon performs the create undead ritual, they can create any common undead and don’t require secondary casters. If the dragon creates a mindless undead creature whose level is at least 2 lower than themself, it automatically becomes the dragon’s minion—a deathless servant. This minion can’t be destroyed unless the dragon is slain; if reduced to 0 Hit Points, such a minion returns to full Hit Points 1d6 days later. A resurrection dragon can have only one deathless servant at a time.

Sidebar - Advice and Rules Resurrection Dragon Spellcasting

Resurrection dragon spellcasters tend to cast the following spells.

Young Resurrection Dragon

Divine Innate Spells DC 26, attack +18; 3rd final sacrifice, sudden blight, vampiric feast; 2nd heal, share life, spirit sense; 1st command, infuse vitality, grim tendrils; Cantrips (3rd) detect magic, guidance, haunting hymn, read aura, stabilize

Adult Resurrection Dragon

Divine Innate Spells DC 32, attack +24; As young resurrection dragon, plus 5th dispel magic, heal, invoke spirits; 4th harm, summon undead, talking corpse; Cantrips (5th) detect magic, guidance, haunting hymn, read aura, stabilize

Ancient Resurrection Dragon

Divine Innate Spells DC 38, attack +30; As adult resurrection dragon, plus 8th moment of renewal, raise dead, summon undead; 7th execute, harm, regenerate; 6th field of life, raise dead, summon undead; Cantrips (8th) detect magic, guidance, haunting hymn, read aura, stabilize

Resurrection Archdragon

Divine Prepared Spells DC 46, attack +38; As ancient resurrection dragon plus 10th revival; 9th massacre, wails of the damned; Cantrips (10th) detect magic, guidance, haunting hymn, read aura, stabilize

Sidebar - Related Creatures Revirescena and Esurek

Revirescena and Esurek are a rare mother-son pair of resurrection dragons located on the western coast of the Lake of Mists and Veils who maintain a close bond out of both affection and necessity. Born sickly, Esurek was unable to properly defend himself and eventually met his demise at the hand of a party of adventurers seeking wealth and glory. One of the adventurer’s weapons disrupted Esurek’s soul, forcing Revirescena to send her own soul to the Boneyard to pull her son’s soul back to his body, chaining their souls together in the process. Revirescena is unable to fully restore Esurek’s disrupted soul. She has become a doting, overprotective parent, seeking a way to return her son’s soul to normal but unable to leave her son’s side long enough to seek help.

Dragon

Related Groups Dragon, Adamantine, Dragon, Barrage, Dragon, Bog, Dragon, Brine, Dragon, Cinder, Dragon, Cloud, Dragon, Conspirator, Dragon, Coral, Dragon, Crystal, Dragon, Delight, Dragon, Despair, Dragon, Diabolic, Dragon, Empyreal, Dragon, Executor, Dragon, Forest, Dragon, Fortune, Dragon, Horned, Dragon, Magma, Dragon, Mirage, Dragon, Mocking, Dragon, Oath, Dragon, Omen, Dragon, Phase, Dragon, Requiem, Dragon, Rime, Dragon, Rune, Dragon, Sage, Dragon, Sea, Dragon, Sky, Dragon, Sovereign, Dragon, Stormcrown, Dragon, Time, Dragon, Umbral, Dragon, Underworld, Dragon, Vizier, Dragon, Vorpal, Dragon, Wailing, Dragon, Whisper, Dragon, Wish, Dragonet, Wyrmwraith
Dragons come in myriad forms, with many having magical abilities or connections to magic. Some dragons draw greater power from magic than others, allowing them to manifest abilities or alter their physiques with prolonged exposure to magic. These dragons become more powerful as they age and strengthen their connections with their magical origins. Scholars debate the classification of these dragons, with some preferring the name magical dragons and others using traditional dragons due to their connection to specific magical traditions. Regardless of their names, these dragons share a number of characteristics: their ability to tap into magical energies, intensified might and cunning as they grow older, and an inclination to hoard vast amounts of treasure and wealth.

Draconic Spellcasters

Each dragon features a sidebar on spellcasting dragons of that type. To make a dragon spellcaster, remove the dragon's Draconic Frenzy and Draconic Momentum abilities, and give them the spells outlined in their sidebar. You can swap out any number of these with other spells, provided you keep the same number of spells for each rank. You might also want to increase the dragon's Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma modifier by 1 or 2 to reflect their mastery of magic.

Sidebar - Additional Lore Draconic Groupings

The broader grouping of dragons is generally sorted into more granular categories, the first of which is based on the four magical traditions. Each dragon falls into one of these large categories, and dragons in a given category share a number of common traits.

Arcane Dragons: These dragons seem to have greater control over magic and their innate abilities. Many arcane dragons have mastery over a certain subset of magic, such as illusions or teleportation. Other arcane dragons have the ability to tap into or manipulate raw magical energies, regardless of their origins. Their bodies tend to be more slender than other dragons due to their reliance on magic for hunting. Their scales generally come in perfect patterns or very organized shapes.

Divine Dragons: While the name might suggest dragons directly related to deific entities, divine dragons instead derive their power from planes other than the mortal Universe. Similar to how a god grants power to a cleric, these dragons receive magical abilities and other influences from another plane. As such, divine dragons are among the most varied of dragons. These dragons generally take on an appearance similar to other native creatures of their influential planes, making it difficult for them to hide their planar connections.

Occult Dragons: At times alien and off-putting and other times alluring and mysterious, occult dragons derive their powers from the inexplicable and unknown. These dragons use magic that seems to exist within the crevices and shadows between other forms of magic. Whether it's due to this strange magical influence or something else, occult dragons are most likely to directly interact with other creatures. While generally sporting similar builds to other dragons, occult dragons make greater use of their wings as supplementary appendages, leaving their forward limbs free to use for other things. Their scales and plating generally feature strange shapes and patterns that are rarely seen in the natural world.

Primal Dragons: While all dragons are fierce and terrifying in their own way, primal dragons seem to embody the most bestial traits among dragons. These dragons derive their power from the magic of the natural world. While primal dragons aren't directly bound to serve nature, many of them choose to act as keepers of their habitats. Primal dragons are generally larger than other dragons and fall back on their instincts more often, making them particularly dangerous when threatened. Their scales typically have less elaborate shapes than other dragons, or will sometimes resemble natural terrain. Some dragons even grow natural features like small plants on their bodies.

Draconic Families: In addition to these classifications, dragons are sometimes grouped into families. These include the enigmatic esoteric dragons, the regal imperial dragons, the space-faring outer dragons, and the mighty skymetal dragons. Draconic families are sometimes made up of dragons with obvious physiological similarities, while other families seem to be made up of dragons of similar color, habitat, behavior, or other traits that make for vague connections. Often, families include dragons of varied magical traditions. As such, the members of a given family are sometimes the subject of debate and scholarly arguments.

Sidebar - Additional Lore Dragon Gods

The legends say that within the chaos at the birth of the existence were born two dragons, Apsu and Sarshallatu. Together, they had seven children. Each of these children represents and holds dominion over a different fundamental truth. Yluma, Turvu, Garhaazh, and Brixori each have a connection to arcane, divine, primal, and occult magic respectively. Gaasham is a dragon of creation, while Dahak is a dragon of destruction, though some have come to associate benevolence and wickedness respectively with these dragons. Finally, Otilaz is connected to death, the inevitable fate of most creatures, draconic or otherwise. More information on these gods is found in Pathfinder Lost Omens Draconic Codex.

Sidebar - Related Creatures Great Dragons

While other draconic creatures like drakes and linnorms exist, the magical connection of the dragons in these pages has earned them a distinct place among draconic classifications. While terms like high dragons, magical dragons, primordial dragons, source dragons, traditional dragons, and others have been used by scholars throughout time to classify these dragons, the most common term is great dragons. Most commoners are aware of the term great dragon, but less are aware of specific nuances between great dragons and their draconic cousins. As such, the term great dragon can often get thrown around whenever a somewhat draconic creature larger than a human makes an appearance.

Sidebar - Advice and Rules Shape-Changing Dragons

Though it's uncommon, some dragons can take humanoid forms. They gain the following ability:

Change Shape [one-action] (concentrate, polymorph); The dragon takes on the appearance of any Small or Medium humanoid. This doesn't change their Speed or attack and damage bonuses with their Strikes but might change the damage type their Strikes deal (typically to bludgeoning).