Dray

The two generations of Dray standing side by side.

The Dray are an obscure race from the Dark Sun setting, created by Dregoth, a Sorcerer-King turned Lich who was pissed that this interrupted his attempt to turn into an Athasian Dragon and wanted to find a way to complete the process. They appeared in the Dark Sun Monstrous Compendium Appendix II: Terrors of Tyr and in City by the Silt Sea. They were also to appear in Dregoth Ascending, but TSR going under made this idea a flop, although Athas.org ultimately pieced the adventure together for 3.5.

There are two "generations" of dray, representing the first and second attempts that Dregoth made at engineering a new master race to replace humanity - long story short, although still a human supremacist, the Athasian Dragon transformation had convinced him that the true destiny of humanity was to turn into an entire race of dragons. Unfortunately, the process took two tries to get right, and so the first generation dray are all mutated in different, unstable ways. They do hold roughly to the template of the perfected 2nd generation dray - a 6-8ft tall, leanly muscular humanoid with a long neck, a draconic head with fangs, clawed digits, a whip-like tail and tough red scales, ultimately looking a lot like the heavily dragonified Sorcerer-King Nibenay, or a wingless version of Dregoth himself - but are prone to all manner of deformities, most notably patchwork spots of humanity (an arm that's human, human teeth instead of fangs, etc).

Ironically, the dray of both generations were actually playable, with stats given in City By The Silt Sea. In fact, although the 2nd generation dray were stated to average towards a Lawful Evil alignment, PC versions could be of any environment, and 1st generation dray were actually predominantly Neutral (good, evil, lawful, chaotic) (and, again, PCs could be any alignment they pleased), with their racial fluff noting they are very honorable and never forget it when they are helped.

It's also possible, in 2e, for human and half-elf characters to be subjected to the Dray Transformation ritual. The mechanics are sparse, such as how the stat and class adjustments must work, but this is what we do know: anyone subjected to this ritual will transform into a dray, with no saves allowed. Humans have a 90% chance to become a 2nd Gen Dray, and a 10% chance to become a 1st Gen Dray, whilst half-elves have a 75% chance of becoming 2nd Gen and a 25% chance of becoming a 1st Gen. Regardless of what form they take, the character must pass a System Shock test or die outright.

Now, it's not examined what would happen if you subjected a Mul or Half-Giant to the ritual, because Dregoth and his 2nd gen dray believe only humans are "pure" enough to be ascended into dray and half-elves can pass for human a lot of the time so they have a chance of "sneaking into" this particular "honor". But, theoretically, if a mul or half-giant was subjected to the ritual, they'd probably have the same odds as a half-elf, or maybe a 50/50 chance of either generation. Or muls might have the 50/50 odds, because dwarf magic resistance, and half-giants just might not be susceptible due to the pronounced magic used to create them in the first place.

Universal Dray Traits:

All dray have a natural immunity to heat and fire. They can tolerate temperatures that would incapacitate humans, and can make saving throws against heat- and fire-based attacks for half or no damage. They also need less water than the average human. An active dray needs ½ gallon of water per day, while an inactive one needs only ¼ gallon of water per day.

All dray have both two Claw attacks (1d6 + Str modifier damage) and one Bite attack (1d4 damage), although 2nd generation dray only resort to these when desperate.

All dray have a default Armor Class of 7.

All dray double the damage they suffer from Cold-based attacks and receive a -2 penalty to attack rolls when in areas of bright light.

Their alien appearance and cultural arrogance gives all dray an effective -3 Charisma penalty when interacting with other races.

1st Generation Dray Traits:

Ability Score Adjustments: +2 Strength, +2 Constitution, -2 Intelligence, -1 Wisdom

Ability Score Minimums: Strength 10, Dexterity 8, Constitution 8, Intelligence 5, Wisdom 5, Charisma 5

Ability Score Maximums: Strength 20, Dexterity 20, Constitution 20, Intelligence 17, Wisdom 17, Charisma 17

Racial Class Options & Level Limits: Cleric (Magma Element Only) 16, Fighter 14, Gladiator Unlimited, Psionicist 12, Ranger 14, Thief 12

Racial Thieving Skill Adjustments: Pick Pockets -10%, Open Locks -15%, Find/Remove Traps -5%, Move Silently +15%, Hide in Shadows +10%, Detect Noise +5%, Climb Walls -, Read Languages -5%

Infravision 30 feet

+1 to attack and damage rolls with dray natural weapons

2nd Generation Dray Traits:

Ability Score Adjustments: +1 Strength, +1 Constitution, +1 Intelligence, -1 Wisdom

Ability Score Minimums: Strength 10, Dexterity 8, Constitution 5, Intelligence 8, Wisdom 7, Charisma 7

Ability Score Maximums: Strength 20, Dexterity 20, Constitution 20, Intelligence 20, Wisdom 20, Charisma 20

Racial Class Options & Level Limits: Defiler Unlimited, Fighter 12, Gladiator 12, Psionicist Unlimited, Ranger 8, Templar 18, Thief 16

Racial Thieving Skill Adjustments: Pick Pockets -5%, Open Locks -5%, Find/Remove Traps -, Move Silently -, Hide in Shadows +5%, Detect Noise -, Climb Walls +10%, Read Languages -

Infravision 60 feet

+1 to attack rolls when wielding a dray-crafted weapon

1st Generation Mutations: All 1st gen dray have at least 1 mutation. They can either take a cosmetic mutation of some kind, or, if the DM wishes, make one roll on this table. Results with more nebulous ideas should still be flavored in some physical way - for example, lowered Dexterity might be due to the dray having pronounced spinal curvature, bony growths that impede joint rotation, stunted legs or other such forms of being bent and misshapen.

1: A random limb is human instead of dray; that limb's AC is 10 and, if it is an arm, it loses its associated claw attack.

2: The dray's scales are soft as human skin, raising its AC to 10.

3: Strength is reduced by 1d2 points.

4: Constitution is reduced by 1d2 points.

5: Dexterity is reduced by 1d2 points.

6: Intelligence is reduced by 1d2 points.

7: Wisdom is reduced by 1d2 points.

8: Charisma is reduced by 1d2 points.

9: The dray has no infravision

10: The dray's scales are tougher than normal, lowering its AC to 5.

11: The dray's mouth is filled with human teeth instead of the normal fangs, removing its bite attack.

12: The dray's claws are jagged and uneven, reducing its claw attack damage to 1d4.

13: The dray lacks a tail; although this is an unfortunate cosmetic deformity amongst its own kind, there are no stat penalties.

14: Strength is raised by 1d2 points.

15: Constitution is raised by 1d2 points.

16: Dexterity is raised by 1d2 points.

17: Intelligence is raised by 1d2 points.

18: Wisdom is raised by 1d2 points.

19: The dray's scales are uneven in both color and texture, with human flesh showing through the gaps. They are still dense enough to ward off blows, so the dray retains its natural AC of 7.

20: Roll twice more.

Third Edition

Dray, sadly, never made it into Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition, not even in the Athasian Monsters articles in Dungeon Magazine #110 and #111. Luckily for them, the fans came through in their Monster Manual netbook, Terrors of Athas, which even gave full PC writeups for both 1st and 2nd generation dray. Lorewise, they are unchanged from their 2e counterparts.

Ability Score Modifiers: +4 Str/+4 Con/-4 Int/-2 Wis/-2 Cha for 1st Generation Dray, +2 Str/+2 Con/+2 Int/-2 Wis for 2nd Generation Dray

Size: Medium

Speed: 30 feet

Low-Light Vision

Darkvision 60 feet

+3 Natural Armor bonus

Natural Weapons: 2 claws (1d4), Bite (1d6)

Special Qualities:

Immunity to Magical Sleep Effects and Paralysis Effects (Ex)

Less Water (Ex): Dray require only half the normal daily water requirement for their size category when active, and only quarter it when inactive.

Light Sensitivity: A dray in bright sunlight or the radius of a Daylight spell is Dazzled.

Fire Resistance 10

Automatic Languages: Giustenal. Bonus Languages: Common, Dwarven, Elven, Giant

Favored Class: Fighter (1st Gen) or Wizard (2nd Gen)

Level Adjustment: +1

Fourth Edition

Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition saw a big step up for the dray, in that they actually got mentioned in the core campaign setting book. They didn't get unique stats, though, as players were instead told to just use the Dragonborn stats for them, which was convenient, but not exactly the best fit lorewise.

They got slightly different lore in this edition, in that they were created by the Sorcerer-King Dregoth before he became Athas' only ever Dracolich; he banished most of them from his city-state of Giustenal for being "imperfect", and those few specimens who were allowed to stay and propagate were ultimately forced to flee into the wastes with their banished kinsfolk when the other Sorcerer-Kings showed up and annihilated Giustenal. They now survive as small, scattered tribes and family groups that roam the harsh wasteland, remembering little save that their creator turned on them and cast them away - they have no idea as a collective that Dregoth still survives as an undead Athasian Dragon, and they don't actively serve him. Most are ruthless mercenaries, and they often pursue the paths of the slave trader and/or Defiler, arguing that the former is repayment for the crueltly that the world has shown them and justifying the latter by the simple paradigm that only power matters.