The Dungeons and the Dragons of Dungeons & Dragons: Wind Dragon Lairs

I can’t be held down friends. You thought I was going to keep it going on the chromatic spectrum for introducing a dragon, but here we go doing a pivot to elemental dragons enclosed in the wonderful Tome of Beasts. While I have a deep love for the chromatic dragons, I do find them a bit restrictive at times. Because they are so iconic and interesting, it feels wrong to step outside their prescribed niches. The additional types of dragons and drakes in the Tome of Beasts allow for not only a wider range in dragon types and D&D dragon lairs but built-in personalities running a much wider gamut. Let’s roll into the bullies of the sky: the wind dragons and wind dragon lairs.

Wind dragon lairs — building to the sky

If you have your Tome of Beasts handy, I suggest flipping over to page 142 if you’re not familiar with these flippant rulers of the clouds. Compared to our black dragon write-up, we’re going to have a tough time ahead of us. How do you make a dungeon for such a high flyer?

My idea was to take a mountain peak temple and have it blown up. The high mountain top made the temple close to the Elemental Plane of Air and during a particularly terrible magical incursion, the temple was shredded and the pieces caught in a perpetual wind storm and the storm surrounded in a heavy, mystical haze.

The party must climb the mountain protected by the servants of the wind dragon and once they reach the temple, they see the truth that the majority of the temple swirls above them in a mighty storm. Using perpetual vortices, the party can explore the spread ruins, battle foes and solve puzzles on magically moving platforms.

The obscuring fog and wind storms can be used to give a claustrophobic sense, despite the open air nature of the dungeon. This even allows the ambitious Dungeon Master to have the wind dragon show up periodically during the dungeon to harry, mock, or just generally make appearances to build tension for the final battle.

Once they get within the floating ruins, there can be a global effect of being in this magic turmoil. A small chance every round of combat that the ground below them shifts unexpectedly as the winds turn, maybe forcing the players to make checks or saving throws to avoid being knocked prone and if they’re too close to the edge, potentially being tossed over.

Followers of the wind

As with all dragons, you could throw kobolds at your party, but I already find too many excuses to use kobolds, so let’s find something underused. High mountain, an open air lair for the denizens…I never see the aarakocra as a foe and not only do I want to see that, I think they fit really well in this set piece. I understand that traditionally, aarakocra don’t really have the disposition to be servants, especially to something like a brutal, uncaring dragon. However, I really want to use them so let’s say this band of bird people has been under the thumb of the dragon for so many generations, they’ve lost their noble ways.

Now, they only know the life of servitude and when they are successful, they are handsomely rewarded. Having a dungeon of primarily flying opponents can pose an interesting challenge for the party, especially when these aarkocra summon elementals and barter the aid of mountain fey to repel these invaders. The Monster Manual has the invisible stalker and the basic air elemental but the Tome of Beasts you should already be using has quite a few weird little air and lightning centric fey. The wind dragon is a flighty creature and while it’s a dragon and covets wealth, I imagine it becomes tired of more common magic weapons and trinkets, bestowing them on the more powerful followers in return for groveling praise.

The rather claws-off nature of a wind dragon in respects to its servants can also open up to creature oddities just simply hanging around in the chaotic nature of the peak. A monster I added was a spark, from the Tome of Beasts. This creature simply mills about on the foggy cliff and when the party finds it, might attempt to inhabit a character’s body, especially if there is a Tempest cleric in the party. This can be a unique, albeit quick, scene of a character struggling to avoid being taken over and if it happens to succeed in taking the body, the players have an interesting challenge to overcome. I really love these seemingly inconsequential creatures that have no allegiance, but can create great scenes.

Lord of the Sky, Herald of Gales

Braggarts and ambivalent rulers, wind dragons make for interesting villains. Their air of superiority leads them to do evil acts but not for evil reasons. They don’t really care that their followers are hurt, their rage only rises because something that is theirs has been broken or stolen. They rarely care for lesser beings, instead treating them like possessions. This brutal nature but without malice can be jarring for players. Instead of this obvious foe with dripping fangs of vile hatred, they have a beautiful and majestic being that simply has little notice of the lives it considers lesser around it.

A wind dragon should be ultimate ruler of the skies. Nearly all dragons are capable of flight, but this one in particular has dominion. Making the party feel this at the table can be difficult. I like the idea of having the final scene against the wind dragon being on multiple floating islands made from the remnants of the temple, being held in perpetual whirlwind. The dragon is comfortable and calm, the players subjected to freezing cold winds pushing them around as they try to keep the fight going.

This area is the heart of the domain and infused with powerful magic from the Elemental Plane of Air. With this, the effect of gravity is weakened, allowing for players to jump from floating island to another and even hold position on vertical platforms. The wind and ruins swirl around the dragon as it darts through, blasting gales of powerful winds, breaking bones and knocking characters into deadly wind streams. Characters attempting to bring bows to bear quickly realize the futility as the torrents blow every bolt and arrow aside with ease. The wind dragon’s innate spellcasting allows it to throw bolts of powerful lightning and even summon storms of ice to shred its foes.

What do you think? Have you made or used any dragons outside of the monster manual? Are you excited to use the wind dragon or the lair it has taken as its own? Let me know in the comments below.

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