White Dragon

White dragons are one of several races of chromatic dragons in the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game. Their preference for cold environments coupled with their pure-white scales and freezing breath has also led to them being called "snow dragons". They are more animalistic than other dragons, though are still highly intelligent.

Description
White dragons have earned a reputation for being savage, ferocious brutes. However, this reputation is not entirely deserved; whites are just as intelligent as any of the other dragon races, but they choose to live simpler lifestyles and are not as strongly motivated by malevolent desires as their cousins. They do not seek power or dominion over lesser beings, but make no mistake; they are evil creatures that would just as soon kill a person as look at them. Relying on their instincts more than their intellect has led to the common misconception that white dragons are mindless animals, but this is merely their chosen way of life. They are known to be equally as selfish and spiteful as red dragons, holding bitter grudges against those who have slighted them.

Like all other chromatic dragons, whites look down upon other creatures as inferior. After all, any creature that can't save itself from becoming dinner deserves to be dinner. Whites have no preference for specific prey and will eat just about any creature they are capable of digesting, though they tend to freeze their food before consuming it.

Lairs and Terrain
White dragons prefer to make their lairs within frozen tundras or atop the highest, coldest peaks. They love the cold and will use their freezing breath to freeze tightly-packed snow into hard ice which they will carve and craft into suitable cave dwellings before lining the inner walls with the most dazzling treasures from their hoards.

Favoured Treasure
White dragons are drawn to brightly-hued gemstones and anything with a reflective surface. Silver, platinum, diamonds, or even simple mirrors. If a white dragon can see itself in an object, it will take it.

Life Cycle
White dragon eggs incubate for a period of roughly fourteen months, the first three and a half of which they spend within the female’s body. White dragons lay clutches of eight to ten eggs each, but only a quarter to a third of them survive until they hatch.

A white dragon’s wyrmling stage lasts for three or four years. The young stage lasts until the age of one hundred. An adult dragon becomes an elder at roughly 750 years, and an elder becomes ancient at about 1,700. White dragons have been known to live as much as 2,100 years.

A white dragon’s environmental diffusion results in an area of intense, biting cold. Frost covers the ground at all times, and liquids freeze after a few moments of exposure to the elements. The terrain becomes as slippery as ice, even if it does not appear frozen.

Physical Characteristics
White dragons are the smallest of the chromatics, albeit only slightly smaller than their black cousins. Their scales and limbs are heavy, making them seem ponderous, though in fact they move as swiftly and dexterously as other dragons. Ranging from true white to gray or ice-blue, white dragons’ scales serve as excellent camouflage in icy and snowy terrain.

The toes of white dragons are more widely spaced than those of other dragons, granting greater stability on uncertain footing. Claws are barbed and jagged, not to cause any extra damage in combat, but to aid the dragon in walking on ice.

Nictitating membranes protect the eyes from extremes of light while still allowing the dragon to see. These parchment-thin lids prevent snow blindness when a dragon looks over vast, gleaming expanses of its territory.

White dragons have a dry scent—more a lack of odour than a smell in its own right.

Abilities

 * Flight
 * Breath Weapon - White dragons breathe a ferocious cone of cold that will flash-freeze prey.
 * Icewalking - Since icy terrain is their natural environment, white dragons have developed barbed claws that allow them to walk on ice easily.
 * Freezing Fog - A white dragon can cast a frigid aura around itself to blind enemies and cause them to stumble as the fog freezes the ground.
 * Wall of Ice - Whites can manipulate the ice of their home terrain to create thick, frozen walls to protect themselves.