Time Dragon

Always N dragon

This dragon’s charcoal-gray scales lay close to its flesh and bear no ridges, giving the creature a smooth look. An hourglass-shaped mask of black scales surrounds its eyes and twelve unevenly spaced lines of black scales radiate back along its body, like tree rings. A spike in the shape of a typical gnomon extends from the back of its skull, effectively doubling the length of its head. Its triangular wings spread from their narrowest points at its back to give them the overall shape of an hourglass. Two spikes of different lengths protrude from the end of its tail, giving it two tips.

 Breath Weapons (Su): A time dragon has two types of breath weapon, a line of ravaging time and a cone of time expulsion. Creatures and objects within a line of ravaging time age 1 year per age category (no save); creatures take 1 point of Constitution damage and objects lose 1 point of hardness per age category of the dragon (Fortitude half). Creatures within a cone of time expulsion disappear and cannot act for 1 round per age category of the dragon (Will negates). These creatures are not under the effect of a time stop, they are thrown into the future a number or rounds and effectively do not exist until the timestream catches up with them.

Time Control (Su): A time dragon emerges from its egg with some level of natural control over the flow of time and its own place within the flow. From hatching, a time dragon can accelerate its actions relative to the actions of others. As a free action, a time dragon can will itself to move more quickly, enabling it to act as though affected by a haste spell for up to 5 rounds each day. The duration of the haste effect need not be consecutive rounds.

Time dragons are immune to slow effects.

Time Stop (Sp): As a standard action, a time dragon can cast time stop at will. The time dragon cannot remain completely removed from the timestream, however, and must wait 2d4 rounds between uses of this ability.

Draconic Surge (Ex): A very young or older time dragon can, once per day as a swift action, borrow time from the future. This allows the time dragon to take an extra standard or move action during its turn. An old or older time dragon can use this ability twice per day.

Time Mastery (Su): Thanks to its greater control over its connection (or lack thereof) to the flow of time, an adult or older time dragon operates continuously under the effects of a haste spell. A time dragon cannot suppress this ability, and if dispelled it automatically resumes at the start of the time dragon's next turn (this requires no action or conscious thought on the part of the time dragon).

This increased control also allows a time dragon of at least adult age to slip into and out of the timestream more effectively. it must wait only 1d4 rounds between uses of its time stop spell-like ability.

Slow Aura (Su): An ancient or older time dragon possesses godlike control over time but also a much lesser amount of control over the space around it. It can express this control by emanating a slow aura up to 10 feet per age category for up to 10 rounds each day. Choosing to emanate the slow aura is a free action that must be made every round the time dragon wishes to maintain it. The duration of the slow aura need not be consecutive rounds. Creatures are automatically affected as by the slow spell (no save) each round they begin their turn within the aura of the area.

Time Apotheosis (Ex): Once it lives long enough to become a great wyrm, a time dragon has such an intricate tie to the timestream that it can move backward and forward through time almost at will. This movement through time allows a great wyrm time dragon to wait only 1 round between uses of its time stop spell-like ability. In addition, a great wyrm time dragon becomes immune to any spell or effect with a duration greater than instantaneous cast on it by another creature, as well as effects that can affect it over time or that require the passage of time (such as dehydration, disease, poison, and starvation). It is not immune to its own noninstantaneous spells and effects.

Because a great wyrm time dragon can travel into possible futures, it rolls 2d20 on every d20 roll it makes, taking the better of the two results.

Lastly, a great wyrm time dragon can make forays into the past and into possible futures. Such forays require preparation, and cannot be performed within the timeframe of a combat.

Spell-Like Abilities: At will--time stop (wyrmling and older must wait 2d4 rounds, adult and older must wait 1d4 rounds, great wyrm must wait 1 round); 3/day--slow (juvenile or older)

Skills: All Knowledge skills and Speak Languages are class skill for time dragons.

Time dragons, also sometimes called chronology dragons, epoch dragons, or ageless dragons, rarely deign to interact with mortals--or even, for that matter, immortals.

Strategies and Tactics

Time dragons have better things to do than to engage in the potential dangers of combat. As such, they never hesitate to use every ability at their disposal to end a fight as quickly as possible or simply flee if overwhelmed. Note that most time dragons are as satisfied with incapacitating enemies as killing them. They make extensive use of their time stop ability to move around the battlefield and set up spells to hinder or kill their opponents. Generally, time dragons start with their most powerful spells, weakening any who survive with their ravaging time breath. Time dragons never willing fight to the death.

Ecology

Only disasters or other creatures can kill time dragons. The passage of time itself cannot. As such, they are the only truly immortal nondeific dragons. Because of their unique ties to the timestream, time dragons age randomly. Knowing the age category of a time dragon does not, therefore, give an accurate estimation of its age, as shown on the following chart. To use this chart, roll for each age category the dragon has to see how long it took for it to reach its current level of maturity (and to give you an idea of its actual age).

Time dragons younger than great wyrms can go months without eating, but doing so makes them lethargic. As dragons, they can eat anything and frequently do so, not bothering with hunting down living food.

Environment: Time dragons can and do live anywhere they find air to breathe. They prefer remote locations for their lairs, although as seminomadic creatures they rarely claim a place as a lair for more than a few years. Great wyrms often relocate their lairs to some distant point in time, such as before the rise of humanoids or after their fall.

Typical Physical Characteristics: A wyrmling time dragon's scales appear silvery white and lack black stripes or a black eye mask. As the time dragon approaches very young, its mask and stripes grow in and its scales darken. The black stripes gradually change as the time dragon ages, each moving back along the length of its body and reappearing again near its eye mask when the twelfth stripe runs off the tip of its tail.

Society

Time dragons have no society. They live apart from one another and other living creatures, preferring to spend the time they deign to socialize with deities and other powerful immortals, Roughly once a millennium, a group of four to ten time dragons comes together for the purpose of procreation. As soon as all the females in the group have been fertilized the dragons disband and, likely, never again see one another.

Treasure

Time dragons rarely put much effort into their hoards, abandoning and rebuilding them hundreds of times over the long course of years. A time dragon does jealously guard any piece in its hoard that measures time, from a mundane sundial to a mechanically wondrous waterclock.