Glowing dragon

D glowing dragon (No tile)
Difficulty	20
Attacks	Breath 6d6 fire, Bite 3d8, Claw 1d4, Claw 1d4

D glowing dragon (No tile)
Difficulty	20
Attacks	Breath 6d6 fire, Bite 3d8, Claw 1d4, Claw 1d4
Base level	15
Base experience	535
Speed	9
Base AC	-1
Base MR	20
Alignment	-4 (chaotic)
Frequency (by normal means)	1 (Very rare)
Genocidable	Yes
Weight	4500
Nutritional value	1500
Size	Gigantic
Resistances	fire
Resistances conveyed	fire (100%)
A glowing dragon: can fly. has no hands. has a thick hide. can lay eggs. is carnivorous. is normally generated hostile. is nasty. is strong. likes gold. likes gems. can pick up magical items. can be seen through infravision.

This article is about the monster known as a gold dragon in DynaHack. For the monster in other variants, see gold dragon (disambiguation).

A glowing dragon, D, is a type of monster that appears in UnNetHack and DynaHack. In DynaHack, it is known as a gold dragon, D.

The glowing dragon is a type of dragon that has a random name, scale type and breath weapon associated with it at the start each game. As with other dragons, glowing dragons are strong, carnivorous, oviparous, thick-skinned, can see invisible, and are capable of flight - they will also seek out gold, gems and magical items to pick up.

Glowing dragons have a random breath weapon, a bite attack, and two claw attacks, and possesses a random resistance property:

• The default breath weapon associated with the glowing dragon is lava breath, which deals heavy fire damage and melts through walls instead of rebounding like other breath weapons, and creates a square of lava where the breath ray terminates.
• The default resistance property associated with glowing dragons is fire resistance.

Eating a glowing dragon corpse or tin confers the random intrinsic resistance associated with the glowing dragon in that game: the default property before randomization is fire resistance, and the glowing dragon may also be of a type that is poisonous to eat.

Generation

Randomly-generated glowing dragons are always created hostile. A baby glowing dragon can grow up into a glowing dragon.

Characters and monsters that polymorph while wearing glowing dragon scales or glowing dragon scale mail will turn into glowing dragons.

Glowing dragons may appear among the hostile D generated in throne rooms at dungeon levels 15 and below, and can also appear among the monsters randomly generated by looting a throne while confused and carrying gold (provided there is no chest on the level).

Glowing dragons have a ¹⁄₃ chance of dropping a set of uncursed +0 glowing dragon scales upon death unless disintegrated, and the chance is reduced to ¹⁄₂₀ if the dragon was revived - the default set of scales associated with the glowing dragon are stone dragon scales.

History

The glowing dragon's breath type, scales and resistances are randomized starting in UnNetHack 5.1.0.

Encyclopedia entry

In the West the dragon was the natural enemy of man. Although preferring to live in bleak and desolate regions, whenever it was seen among men it left in its wake a trail of destruction and disease. Yet any attempt to slay this beast was a perilous undertaking. For the dragon's assailant had to contend not only with clouds of sulphurous fumes pouring from its fire breathing nostrils, but also with the thrashings of its tail, the most deadly part of its serpent-like body.
                 [ Mythical Beasts by Deirdre Headon (The Leprechaun Library) ]

"One whom the dragons will speak with," he said, "that is a dragonlord, or at least that is the center of the matter. It's not a trick of mastering the dragons, as most people think. Dragons have no masters. The question is always the same, with a dragon: will he talk to you or will he eat you? If you can count upon his doing the former, and not doing the latter, why then you're a dragonlord."

[ The Tombs of Atuan, by Ursula K. Le Guin ]