Executor Dragon (Ancient, Spellcaster)
Level 18Attacks
Abilities
Once an executor dragon reaches adulthood, they are expected to sanctify as either holy or unholy; they gain the corresponding trait and weakness 15 to the opposing sanctification.
60 feet. The divine majesty of an ancient executor dragon can't be denied. A creature that enters or begins their turn in the aura must attempt a DC 37 will save. Regardless of the result of the saving throw, the creature is temporarily immune to this dragon's aura of authority for 1 minute. Critical Success The creature is unaffected. Success The creature is Stupefied 1 for 1 minute. Failure The creature is Stupefied 2 for 1 minute. Critical Failure The creature is Stupefied 3 for 10 minutes.
Trigger The dragon is critically hit by an attack Effect Raw divine power flashes through the executor dragon harming anyone who dares strike it so brazenly. The creature who dealt the triggering attack takes 7d8 spirit damage with a DC 37 will save.
The dragon takes on the appearance of any Small or Medium humanoid. This doesn't change its Speed or attack and damage bonuses with its Strikes, but might change the damage type its Strikes deal (typically to bludgeoning). The monster changes its shape indefinitely. It can use this action again to return to its natural shape or adopt a new shape. Unless otherwise noted, a monster cannot use Change Shape to appear as a specific individual. Using Change Shape counts as creating a disguise for the Impersonate use of Deception. The monster's transformation automatically defeats Perception DCs to determine whether the creature is a member of the ancestry or creature type into which it transformed, and it gains a +4 status bonus to its Deception DC to prevent others from seeing through its disguise. Change Shape abilities specify what shapes the monster can adopt. The monster doesn't gain any special abilities of the new shape, only its physical form. For example, in each shape, it replaces its normal Speeds and Strikes, and might potentially change its senses or size. Any changes are listed in its stat block.
Description
Legends state the first executor dragons formed from the rage-filled screams of Sarenrae during her struggle against the Rough Beast. In the face of an enemy even she had no hope of redeeming, the ever-compassionate Dawnflower allowed her divine fury to escape from her lips as she struck down the primordial god, and from this act of anathema, the first executor dragons were given form. Since that moment, executor dragons represent the full wrath of the gods. Divine in nature, executor dragons typically appear to punish those who have strayed so far from the path of their deity's edicts as to begin embracing the anathema. Due to their potent nature as weapons of the divine, executor dragons are generally drawn to target not a single misbehaving follower, but entire villages, cities, or towns that have turned their backs on their gods. Many of the gods prefer not to use executor dragons as part of their punishment of mortal transgressors, and instead keep them reserved for the days of apocalyptic battles.
Though many believe executor dragons are spawned from divine magic, they are fully biological creatures. Compelled by faith and devotion and disgusted by hypocrisy and base cruelty, executor dragons tend to live near human settlements, but rarely within them. They form small familial groups when young, but grow more independent as they age, seeking to claim territory uninhabited by other dragons. Their chosen lairs tend to be locations secreted away, either in the ruins of mountaintop monasteries or in the cavernous depths beneath abandoned places of worship. For the few executor dragons that live actively among non-draconic peoples, even fewer do so in their natural forms. They are sometimes found living disguised as traveling lay priests who bring healing and alms for the needy, choristers singing hymnals, wandering monastic scholars who ask challenging and conflicted questions about faith, or quiet church custodians who protect and beautify their chosen houses of worship. It's said that one or more executor dragons might have even taken up the defense of Kenebres after its near destruction at the hands of the Khorramzadeh, Storm King of the Worldwound.