Dragon Hatchling, Red Dragon

Small dragon, neutral

Armor Class 13
Hit Points 9 (2d6 + 2)
Speed 15 ft., fly 60 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
6 (-2)	15 (+2)	13 (+1)	10 (0)	12 (+1)	10 (+0)

Skills Perception +3
Senses blindsight 10 ft., darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 13
Languages understands Common and Draconic but can’t speak
Challenge 1/2 (100 XP)

SPECIAL TRAITS

• Magic Resistance. The dragon hatchling has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.

ACTIONS

• Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d6 + 2) piercing damage.
• Fire Breath (recharge 4-6). The dragon hatchling breathes fire in a 10-foot cone. Each creature in that area must make a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw, taking 10 (3d6) fire damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

ABOUT

Red dragon hatchlings are small four-legged wyrms with long tails and long necks. A pair of black batlike wings sprout from their shoulders, spanning from head to tail when folded. Their black claws and horns are razor sharp, and their catlike eyes glitter with a devious cunning. Each of their ruby-red scales is hard as stone, and a bite from their tiny jaws can already break bones with ease. Born from eggs warmed by volcanic lava and dragon’s fire, they radiate heat at all times, and take little notice of all but the most extreme temperatures. Hatchlings are typically raised by their mother or father for many years, until they have grown and learned what they need to know to strike out and claim their own territory. Abandoned hatchlings are therefore eager to learn. While they typically become savage loners they can, when found early and fed well, adopt surrogate parents whose strength they respect. They are, however, proud and fierce at the best of times, and can be difficult to manage, often inclined to treat their adoptive brood members as servants rather than equals.

Tiny Tyrants. From their very first year, red hatchlings are keenly intelligent, and soak in the world around them with sharp senses. They are remarkably quick to pick up whatever languages are spoken around them, and can usually communicate fluently within a few months of hatching. As such, they will be molded somewhat by the character of those who care for them while growing. Even so, chromatic dragons – especially reds – are proud and supremely confident, even arrogant, by nature.

Enamored with their own power and strength, they respect such strength in others, and disdain weakness. Though clever, red hatchlings tend to be overconfident for their size, and consider themselves greater than all other creatures. This attitude spurs them to take on whatever prey they can find until they learn their limits; limits they are slow to accept.

Such arrogance can lead hatchlings to catastrophe without proper guidance.

Fire and Fang. Red dragonfire is regarded with awe throughout the realms, and hatchlings are just discovering this budding power. Even the youngest hatchlings can unleash brief blasts of searing flame when threatened or hunting, but it taxes them much more than such conflagrations will in years to come.

Hatchlings are born with strong, fully-developed wings, and their flight is swift and agile. They revel in their flight, often weaving and diving playfully through the air. They use this agility to hunt small (or even large) game from the air, and to scout for gold, jewels, or other valuables, intuitively understanding that these objects aggrandize their possessor. They stash these valuables in hidden and jealously-guarded caches, and possess no qualms about stealing since they are naturally more deserving of all good things.