Gem Dragon

Gem Dragons are a family of dragon in the multiverse of Dungeons & Dragons, and during the days of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons made up the oft-forgotten "third" of the great dragon families, alongside Metallic Dragons and Chromatic Dragons. Gem Dragons are defined predominantly by their allegiance to Neutrality, in comparison to the Goodly Metallics and the Evil Chromatics, and secondarily by their natural aptitude for Psionics.

In fact, TSR liked the idea of gem dragons so much that they made three different takes on the concept! All of which are collected here for your perusal.

Gem Dragons

Debuting in Dragon Magazine alongside their own racial patron, Sardior the Ruby Dragon, these are the Gem Dragons that everybody actually remembers. Their most defining racial traits, aside from their gemstone-colored hides, are their adherence to the Neutral swathe of alignments and their affinity for psionics. They were even added into the revised Council of Wyrms setting to give players a psychic dragon option.

Cementing their place as the "true" gem dragons, these dragons are the only breeds to receive updates from Advanced Dungeons & Dragons to Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition; they first showed up in the Monster Manual 2, and then as a web-enhancement for the Psionics Handbook. Sardior and a newly added sixth species, the Obisdian Dragon, would likewise appear only on WotC's website as part of the psionics article series "The Mind's Eye".

After WotC figured out the easest way to handle psionics is just flavor normal abilities and spellcasting instead of complicated gimmicks, Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition had rereleased Gem Dragons in fizban's treasury of Dragons along with a gem dragon subraces of the dragonborn. 5e are a lot more stranger of a dragon with as looking more Crystalline and having disconnected spines and horns hover allong its body.

Amethyst Dragon

Diplomatic and easy-going by nature, the purple-hued amethyst dragons favor the psionic disciplines of psychokinesis and psychometabolism, although they also possess skills in telepathy and metapsionics. Feeding on fish and gemstones, their breath weapon is a "faceted lozenge" of violet-hued energy, which functions more like a fireball or grenade launcher than the traditional draconic breath weapon. This kinetic glob is spat at a target point, whereupon it erupts in a powerful concussive force-blast that can knock creatures clean off their feet and blow down buildings like a bomb. Given their predominantly piscovorous diet, amethyst dragons favor the shores of isolated mountain lakes and pools, sometimes going so far as to dig out caves underwater to dwell - they have an instinctive ability to breathe water.

Although they much prefer to talk rather than fight, amethyst dragons are known for really disliking Red and White Dragons, and for regarding both Silver and Copper Dragons with some disdain.

In addition to its many psionic powers - a typical arsenal for an amethyst dragon consists of Detonate, Project Force, Telekinesis, Control Body, Inertial Barrier, Molecular Agiation, Complete Healing, Energy Containment, Metamorphosis, Cell Adjustment, Expansion, Reduction, Domination, Mind Link, Mind Wipe, Contact, ESP, Identity Penetration, Truthear, Empower, Psychic Surgery, Ultrablast, Magnify, Psionic Sense and Psionic Drain - an amethyst dragon always has a number of magical abilities as well. They can communicate with all creatures that have a spoken language, are immune to force and poison, and have access to various spell-like abilities as they age; Water Walking 6/day (Young), Neutralize Poison 6/day (Juvenile), Shape Change into a Reptile, Bird or Mammal, once per day for each (Adult), Otiluke's Resilient Sphere 3/day (Old), Reflecting Pool 1/day (Very Old) and Control Weather 1/day (Venerable).

5e lore presents them as the strongest of the gem dragons, armed with physics-manipulating powers in the form of a gravitational singularity as a breath weapon. Also, they can shoot exploding crystals, for some reason. They are characterized as scholars, with a focus on studying the nature of the planes of existence, cosmic forces like physics, good and evil, and distant worlds, although they are also willing to teach those who approach them and ask for their help. They despise the Far Realm and all its creations, like other 5e gem dragons, but make an exemption for flumphs.

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Crystal Dragon

2e

Easily distinguished by their lack of wings and spinal frill, the lizard-like crystal dragons are amongst the most friendly and gregarious of all the gem dragons, with their Chaotic Neutral tendencies fitting their intense curiosity about the world around them. Obviously, their psionics skill lies in the field of clairsentience, although they are amongst the weakest of the gem dragons. Born with glossy white scales, they turn increasingly translucent as the crystal dragon ages, which causes them to sparkle and glitter in any sort of light.

Needless to say, light is a pretty important theme in most of the crystal dragon's non-psionic abilities. Their breath weapon takes the form of a cone full of brilliantly glowing shards of razor-edged laser-light, which cuts, burns and potentially blinds their prey. Immune to both light-based attacks and cold environments, they can cast Charm Person at will from hatching, Color Spray 3/day as Juveniles, and Suggestion 3/day as Adults. Upon reaching the Very Old category, they can, once per day, pluck off a scale and make it function as per a Stone of Good Luck for 1 hour per age category, which they like to give as gifts to friendly visitors. Finally, Crystal Wyrms can cast Control Winds 3 times per day.

For living spaces, they love open spaces with good, unrestricted skies for stargazing at night, and these are best in places where it's cold most of the time. Crystal dragons just adore snow, and prefer to spend their days playing in the snow - doing everything from making snow-forts and snow sculptures to throwing snowballs at people - and their nights watching the stars.

Though extremely friendly, white dragons don't appreciate their tendency to hang around in a territory they already have problems guarding from silver dragons. Likewise, the fact that giants often like to enslave them means they are the one race that crystal dragons can truly be said to hate.

Crystal dragons are known to prefer minerals in the forms of gems and metal ore over any other food-stuff.

Oh and geology nerds, we already know that a gem is a type of crystal rather than the other way around. calm down.

The 5e redesign gives them a love for collecting astronomy lore and prophecy. Also, now they finally have wings.

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Emerald Dragon

2e

Known as the most paranoid of the gem dragons, emerald dragons use their innate affinity for telepathy and clairsentience to indulge their love of studying history without having to actually interact with other races, getting having divination and also shapeshifting in 5e to blend into the background extras. These scintillating green-scaled dragons favor lairing on extinct or rarely-active volcanoes, where they feed on lizards and giants - especially fire giants, whom they absolutely detest for some reason. Immune to sound-based attacks and with innate Flame Walking abilities, emerald dragons possess a medley of enchantment and fire-based spell-like abilities. Their breath weapon is a brain-scrambling sonic shriek (psychic damage in 5e).

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Obsidian Dragon

Not one of the original five breeds of Gem Dragons, Obsidian Dragons were invented in 3rd edition as part of the Mind's Eye article series on the WotC website. These Gem Dragons are the most intelligent of their family, but also the most vicious; extremely haughty, easily angered and with a sadistic streak that manifests in a love of "toying" with their prey before finishing it off, their mandated alignment is Neutral Evil.

An obsidian dragon has smooth black skin with razor edges where joints come together. When first hatched, their scales are gray, rough to touch, and well defined. As they get older, the scales darken, become smoother, and begin to blend together. They have only the one breath weapon; a cone of fire, but they wield an array of innate psionics centered around telepathy and pyrokinesis. They also have the innate ability to Plane Shift at will between the Material Plane and the Inner Planes, with great wyrms developing the ability to use the psionic power Genesis.

Most obsidian dragons prefer to make their lairs around volcanoes or in one of the mountains of coal found on the Elemental Plane of Fire. Most great wyrms, though, make use of the genesis power to create their own demiplane.

Sapphire Dragon

2e

Naturally adept in clairsentience, psychokinesis and psychoportation (favoring the latter) and militantly territorial, few have any real hopes of sneaking up on a sapphire dragon. Favoring subterranean regions, these dragons are sometimes mistaken for blue dragons by those who either forget where the Chromatics live or fail to notice the difference in horns (blues have a single nasal horn, sapphires have two curved horns on the sides of their heads, like blacks). Despite how fiercely they protect their turf, unless you're a known hostile (such as a drow, duergar, aboleth or illithid), the sapphire's typical approach is to convince you to leave first, then attack if you won't go.

The breath weapon of sapphire dragon's is a conical sonic blast which also triggers deep fear in anyone who survives exposure to it. They are themselves immune to fear and movement restricting spells and effects, and have spell-like abilities useful in their subterranean existence.

They consider giant spiders to be a delicacy.

They collect objects relating to military and strategy.

In 5e, they are the most militant of the gem dragons in their hatred of the Far Realm, actively patrolling against planar incursions and thwarting the plans of aberrations.

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Topaz Dragon

2e

Chaotic neutral Dragons so unfriendly, selfish, and highly erratic, the topaz dragons are perhaps the biggest jerks of the gem dragons, and certainly some of the least desirable to meet. Able to breathe water and immune to cold, their breath weapon is a ray that evaporates water, fatally desiccating living creatures caught in it. They also possess various spell-like abilities relating to manipulating water, which increase as they age. Native to oceanic coastlines, they have a peculiar enmity for bronze dragons and will attack them on sight, making them unique amongst the gem dragons in that regard.

In 5th edition, they are characterized by their belief that the old should make way for the new, and see themselves as appointed to clear away the rot. For this reason, they are some of the few non-Shadow Dragons with an affinity for necrotic energy. This belief further ties into their hoards, which usually focus on magic and lore relating to creation and destruction, especially the "create spontaneous matter" type spells. They also like to collect undead (image a bunch of zombies and ghosts in display cases). For the monetary bulk side of the hoard Topazes also like sea-themed objects plus Shiny and orangish treasures like bronze and gold, often setting up elaborate mirror displays to it look shinier and bigger, which are for no one's eyes as even the rare few that are best friends with a Topaz are never allowed into one's layer. They are great swimmers and their favorite food is calamari, which they harvest by catching giant squids, but at the same time, they actually hate water, so their behavior is somewhere between a cat trying to grab a fish and a grumpy old man.

They may be some of the most unfortunate creatures to get a 5e visual redesign yet, which saddled them with translucent wings (actually, that part's kind of cool) which are on upside down. Seriously, look at this shit; how the fuck is that wing supposed to work?

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Mystaran Gem Dragons

Whilst the well-known gem dragons made their debut in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition, Mystara had its own take on them from quite early on.

When they debuted in BECMI, the Mystaran Gem Dragons were... pretty throw-away. Aside from potentially having different alignments, they were literally just reskins of the standard Mystaran Dragons (Red, Black, Green, Blue, White, Gold) with the addendum that their breath weapon now carries a secondary effect. The original list consisted of the Crystal Dragon (faux-White), the Onyx Dragon (faux-Black), the Jade Dragon (faux-Green), the Sapphire Dragon (faux-Blue), the Ruby Dragon (faux-Red) and the Amber Dragon (faux-Gold), also known as the Brown Dragon.

Of these, the Crystal, Onyx, Jade and Ruby Dragons would be updated to Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition in the Mystara Monstrous Compendium Appendix. The Crystal dragon would be renamed the Crystalline Dragon for much the same reason the Sapphire Dragon was dropped; to avoid confusing them with the "true" gem dragons. Why the Mystaran Amber Dragon was dropped, who can say? All of the dragons retained their breath weapon in the BECMI to AD&D shift, aside from maybe some slight underlying mechanical tweaks due to the way those two games worked.

In BECMI, Mystaran Sapphire Dragons are Lawful aligned and can shoot Vaporization Beams; this is a Line type breath weapon that, in addition to zapping the foe with electrical damage like a blue dragon's lightning breath, also transmutes the victim into a cloud of still-conscious but invisible gas for 1 round per Hit Die of the dragon.

Also in BECMI, the Mystaran Amber Dragon is a Chaotic aligned dragon that possesses two combo breath weapons; the Ruby's Melting Fire breath, and the Jade's Miasma breath.

Finally, the Mystaran Immortals who take the role of the Dragon Gods are mostly named after gemstones; Pearl of the Chaotics, Opal of the Neutrals, and Diamond of the Lawfuls, all subservient to The Great One.

Crystalline Dragon

In BECMI, Crystalline Dragons are Lawful aligned and resemble White Dragons; their breath weapon is a Cone of Crystallization, which not only does cold damage but also transmutes objects to crystal in a similar manner to petrification.

In AD&D, Crystalline Dragons are noted to be very similar to Crystal Dragons, but are much more serious and orderly (Lawful Neutral alignment). They are distinguished by their different personalities, their larger stature and their unique breath weapon - the aforementioned Cone of Crystallization. They favor artic climates, especially glaciers; this is because their native diet is ore and gems, and because glaciers scrape up tons of rock and soil as they slowly crawl across continents, they often hide unique centuries-old veins of mineral rich strata in their depths. Crystalline Dragons thusly like to bore out lairs in the depths of glaciers so they can hunt these rarefied foodstuffs. Of course, crystallized adventurer equipment is also considered a particular taste treat.

At birth, crystalline dragons have white scales that are glossy and opaque, like packed snow. As they age, the scales acquire greater translucence, as if the once-snowy scales were transformed into gleaming glacial ice. Under faint light, the scales of a mature dragon luminesce softly. In bright light, venerable crystalline dragons shine so brilliantly that it pains others to look upon them.

Jade Dragon

In BECMI, these faux-Green Dragons are Neutral aligned, and in addition to being able to exhale a cloud of toxic miasmas; in addition to acting like a cloud chlorine gas, ala the Green Dragon's, the vapors are also full of a magical disease that can infect living creatures and anything they carry with a virulent rotting effect, causing them to swiftly decay into goo.

In AD&D, jade dragons are stated to be amongst the most conversational, least hostile of all the dragons to be found on Mystara. Still Neutral in alignment (now True Nuetral), they are supposedly indistinguishable to the common eye from a Green Dragon so long as you're at least 120 feet away - only an expert can tell that the jade is smaller, more heavyset, and possesses a shorter, thicker tail. Getting close-up reveals the translucent scales that shimmer and sparkle. Omniovorous, these forest-dwellers feed on both animals and plants, favoring bamboo and young saplings. Jade dragons pride themselves on being cultured, almost urbane creatures. They love to converse philosophically with creatures of all alignments, so as to show off their wisdom (which they, at least, seem to think is prodigious).

In collecting their hoards, jade dragons take a special interest in art objects. They may look favorably upon characters who offer them new artwork, or interesting pieces of information related to pieces that the dragons already possess. Even a hungry jade dragon will be tempted by these prizes.

Onyx Dragon

In BECMI, these pseudo-Black Dragons are Neutral Aligned and spit a line-shaped blast of corrosive darkness, which simultaneously inflicts acid damage like a Black Dragon's breath and also envelops the victim in a personally centered 15ft cloud of magical darkness.

In AD&D, onyx dragons could almost be considered a cross between black and white dragons. These swamp-dwelling beasts are almost impossible to distinguish from regular black dragons visually without bright light or close inspection to reveal the gem-like luster of their hides. But mentally? That's another story. Similarly to white dragons, onyx dragons are simple-minded, borderline bestial creatures - cunning when it comes to stalking and hunting prey, and smart enough to realize that adventurers may be more trouble than they're worth as food, but generally quite dumb... we're talking an average Intelligence score of 5 -7 here! Their hoards tend to be smaller than those of other dragons, although they certainly do like wealth, especially dark and lustrous gems. Onyx dragons aren't afraid of eating humanoids, but usually prey on the largest creatures their swampy, boggy homes have to offer, such as alligators, herons, manatees, moose, and so forth. Unlike both black and white dragons, onyx dragons are firmly True Neutral.

In a sense, you could say that these guys technically made it into 3e, since that's the edition that tried to add a sixth "black crystal" Gem Dragon in the form of the Obsidian Dragon to the psionic gem dragons.

Ruby Dragon

In BECMI, Ruby Dragons are Lawful-aligned pseudo-Reds whose breath weapon is a more powerful version of the Red's breath weapon; this "Melting Fire" basically does fire damage as per a Red Dragon, but also causes any objects being carried by the victim to start slowly dissolving as the magical flames linger and burn them to ashes.

In AD&D, they have the least expanded flavor of the Mystaran Gem Dragons; they crave gems above all else, which means they favor attacking dwarf communities. They are ravenous carnivores. They are all but indistinguishable from common Red Dragons, and they favor the same environments as Reds, although they are more willing to venture into higher altitude, colder climes, and deep underground.

Neutral Dragons

The last of the gem-based dragons to appear under TSR, the Neutral Dragons are perhaps better described as the "Lesser Gemstone Dragons", since they are strongly associated with the Neutral alignments, like "true" Gem Dragons, but they are non-psionic and are associated with semi-precious stones.

Amber Dragon

Denizens of the deep forest, amber dragons are "neutral" in the sense a force of nature is neutral; they just do what they like and don't give a shit about anyone else. Uniquely amongst dragons, they actually disdain material possessions, and so neither form hoards nor establish permanent lairs. Feeding on coniferous tree sap, they are territorial, but don't seek to actively protect nature as a driving goal. Still, they're apparently close enough to the balance for nature to reward them, given that all amber dragons can cast druidic spells. Their breath weapon is a conical gout of scalding hot tree sap, which rapidly solidifies into amber when exposed to cooler air.

Aside from being innate druidic casters, amber dragons also have the innate ability to magnetize people, can Shape Change like a 7th level druid 3/day, and Blink 1/day per 2 age categories.

Amber dragons have a distinctively "prow-like" triangular horn on their snouts; their teeth are too small to use for their primary food, or even to bite, so they gouge at trees with their horn and then lick up the sap that spills from the wounds. Their claws are particularly long and sharp, though, making formidable defensive tools.

This was the last of the Neutral Dragons to appear, debuting in the Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume 3.

Jacinth Dragon

Distinguished by their shimmering, flame-bright orange hides, jacinth dragons are amongst the rarest of all gem dragons, something not helped by their natural preference for isolationism. Amongst the smallest of the dragons, to the point it negatively impacts on their fearful aura, they are nonetheless very magically powerful - their innate spellcasting ability gives them the combined spells and caster level of both a wizard and a cleric. They can't shapeshift, but they can Blink, as per a 10th level caster, 6 times a day.

Their scintillating hides have a hypnotic effect, which means that if a jacinth launches a betrayal-based surprise attack, it gets a bonus to the Surprise roll equal to the number of rounds it spent in a peaceful encounter beforehand. Furthermore, on a sunny day, spending more than two rounds looking straight at a jacinth dragon forces a creature to save vs. spells or be blinded for 5d6 rounds. Add in the ability to essentially hypnotize people at will, with a cumulative 10% chance per round spent listening to a jacinth dragon talking that they will affect any listener as per a Suggestion spell, and these are amongst the nastiest diplomancers in the dragon family.

The jacinth's breath weapon is a conical blast of scalding hot air, so intense that it burns flesh and can set things on fire.

This was one of the original trio of Neutral Dragons, debuting in the Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume 1.

Jade Dragon

Described as an "oriental cousin" to the Emerald Dragon, jade dragons have the traditional "oriental dragon" body-structure - a wingless, four-limbed serpent with somewhat leonic facial features. Smaller and weaker than emerald dragons, and lacking their psionic powers, they possess the spellcasting ability of a multiclassed wizard/cleric and retain the deadly sonic shriek of their relatives. They can also hypnotize others simply by talking, much like the jacinth dragon, although with less aptitude. They also share the jacinth's inability to shapeshift without preparing spells in advance, and their ability to blink.

Living in deep forests, jade dragons favor jade and rare woods as the basis for their hoards. They strictly refuse to eat other sapient creatures, only consuming vegetation and animals, but are also quite antisocial.

This was one of the original trio of Neutral Dragons, debuting in the Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume 1.

Moonstone Dragon

The largest of the lesser gem dragons, moonstone dragons normally dwell in the Plane of Faerie and the Plane of Dreams, or at least on the Ethereal Plane, very rarely coming to the material world. Interested predominantly in the affairs of the fey over that of humans, they have access to both wizardly and priestly spells (something that seems to be a running theme for Neutral Dragons), although restricted in what they can wield. They can use wizardly enchantment/charm and illusion spells, alteration spells of dim light and shadow, and spells of dreams and dreaming, as well as priestly spells from the spheres of all, healing, necromancy (good only), and divination.

These mystical dragons have an aura of awe rather than the standard aura of fear, which causes victims who fall prey to simply stand there and watch the dragon in awe, with all memories fading after the dragon flees. Which is easy for them to do, as they can become ethereal at will, unless bound in chains forged from gold. Their breath weapon is a billowing conical cloud of light motes, which nullifies magic and forces the victims to sleep whilst dulling their memories of meeting the moonstone dragon. They're known to be capable of breaching the damage resistance of almost any creature, but are vulnerable to elemental attacks and burn from exposure to sunlight or artificial light in much the same way as a vampire.

Little is known of moonstone dragons, but they may spend much of their time in the Ethereal Plane, or perhaps in lunar regions. Their existence is connected somehow with faerie settings; some guard these lands. In the most remote woodlands, persons attending the celebrations of a faerie court under a full moon might, in the morning, half-remember a chance encounter with one. The dragons usually shun the material world, but may try to influence it indirectly through agents.

Humans have encountered moonstone dragons in their dreams. Apparently, these creatures can enter a dreamscape at will. There, they speak the dreamer’s language, and may offer guidance or advice on matters concerning faeries, shadow, lunar matters, healing, and the like.

Their hoards are reputed to lie in faerie mounds or in secret woodland caverns. These have no copper or gold, but an equal value of silver or platinum pieces. Small beads of pure mithral are found instead of gems.

Moonstone dragons are thought to subsist on moonbeams and faerie nectar. They are not carnivorous, nor do they often kill. Among the legends of moonstone dragons are the following: Their tears are drops of mithral, from which the elves fashion chain mail; when one dies, it vanishes in a shower of moonbeams; when one dies well, its heart turns into a lump of purest adamantite. Further, it is said, if the dragon slays a creature unjustly, it turns into a pillar of sand, and its spirit is utterly destroyed.

Debuting in the Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume 2, this was the second-last Neutral Dragon to debut.

Incredibly, after being forgotten for decades, Moonstone Dragons resurfaced in Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, in Fizban's Treasury of Dragons. Whilst WotC noted that they could be used as an example of the Archfey patron for a Warlock, they're also a fully fleshed out monster in the book as well and in fact there's a lot of easter eggs to their original lore, so somebody clearly liked these guys!

The new 5e moonstone dragon sports opalescent scales and ruffs of emerald-green fur running down their chins, chests, backs, and tails. They also sport a scythe-curved horn on the back of the skull that, combined with the curving spike on the tip of their nose, makes their head look a lot like an old cartoon silhoutte of a crescent moon. They're native to the Feywild, although they also enjoy exploring the Ethereal Plane and the Plane of Dreams, and their lairs often feature portals linking two or more of the Material, Ethereal, Faerie and Dream Planes. Like the Faerie Dragons they might be distantly related to, they are fundamentally gentle, curious creatures with a strong streak of playfulness and impetuousness. Youngsters are highly mischievous, and they can grow up to be pompous and ill-behaved, but the best of them become renowned as wise teachers and storytellers, often forming integral parts of Feywild communities or even mortal communities that reside near fey crossings. Especially because moonstone dragons like to project themselves either astrally or through dreams to inspire artists and poets, encourage great thinkers, spur on adventurers, and give guidance to those in need.

Like their old-school counterparts, these moonstone dragons prefer silver, platinum and mithral to gold and copper. However, they also have a very fey-like tendency to prefer more intangible or ephemeral treasures; a song sung from the heart, a lock of a loved one’s hair, or a painting of a favorite place. A story of happy times fondly remembered is more precious to a moonstone dragon than a sack of gold.

Pearl Dragon

The wingless sea-dwelling pearl dragon is a creature content with the simple life, seeking to avoid trouble and feed on fish whilst gathering its beloved pearls. Unusually for an oceanic dragon, it has no innate water-breathing ability, and instead simply has an enormous capacity for holding its breath - over an hour at a time. They are quasi-nomadic, moving on as they deplete pearl beds in their territory, but because of their need to meticulously take every single piece from one lair to the other, transferring lairs takes a pretty damn long time, as you might expect.

Aside from their ability to breathe clouds of steam, hypnotize others through speech like a jade dragon, and Blink six time per day, pearl dragons have no real innate magic, although like most of their lesser gem dragon kindred they have access to the spellcasting abilities of a multiclassed wizard/cleric.

This was one of the original trio of Neutral Dragons, debuting in the Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume 1.

Publication History

The "True" Gem Dragons debuted in Dragon Magazine #37, alongside Sardior. They subsequently appeared in the Monstrous Manual and Council of Wyrms for AD&D 2e, the Psionics Handbook for 3e, and on WotC's website for 3.5. After a tease in Unearthed Arcana, they were officially announced as migrating into 5th edition in Fizban's Treasury of Dragons in October 2021.

Mystaran Gem Dragons debuted in the Masters book, and subsequently reappeared in the Rules Cyclopedia, also for BECMI. They appeared for AD&D in the Mystara Monstrous Compendium Appendix.

Neutral Dragons were surprising additions. The Jacinth, Jade and Pearl dragons specifically debuted in issue #158 of Dragon Magazine, and subsequently made their way into the first volume of the Monstrous Compendium Annual. In comparison, the Moonstone Dragon and the Amber Dragon were invented solely for the subsequent MCAnnual volumes (#2 for the Moonstone, #3 for the Amber) by somebody who decided that the Neutral Dragons were interesting enough to deserve being a quintet in their own right.

AD&D 2e Official Statblocks

• Amethyst: http://www.mojobob.com/roleplay/monstrousmanual/d/drageame.html
• Crystal: http://www.mojobob.com/roleplay/monstrousmanual/d/dragecry.html
• Crystalline: http://www.mojobob.com/roleplay/monstrousmanual/d/dragmycr.html
• Emerald: http://www.mojobob.com/roleplay/monstrousmanual/d/drageeme.html
• Sapphire: http://www.mojobob.com/roleplay/monstrousmanual/d/dragesap.html
• Topaz: http://www.mojobob.com/roleplay/monstrousmanual/d/dragetop.html
• Amber: http://www.mojobob.com/roleplay/monstrousmanual/d/dragnamb.html
• Jacinth: http://www.mojobob.com/roleplay/monstrousmanual/d/dragnjac.html
• Jade: http://www.mojobob.com/roleplay/monstrousmanual/d/dragnjad.html
• Jade, Mystaran: http://www.mojobob.com/roleplay/monstrousmanual/d/dragmyja.html
• Moonstone: http://www.mojobob.com/roleplay/monstrousmanual/d/dragnmoo.html
• Onyx: http://www.mojobob.com/roleplay/monstrousmanual/d/dragmyon.html
• Pearl: http://www.mojobob.com/roleplay/monstrousmanual/d/dragnpea.html
• Ruby: http://www.mojobob.com/roleplay/monstrousmanual/d/dragmyru.html