Io the Ninefold Dragon

Wrapping up the draconic deities is the creator of all dragonkind himself, Io. Much like Annam, he is said to be the creator of the universe, wherein other deities have built their own worlds and own races. He is an experimental deity, tweaking dracoform species and their environments in order to produce unique combinations. Despite his experimentality, he is not a particularly active deity, preferring watching to interfering.

Io (PDF Version)
(The Ninefold Dragon, Swallower of Shades, the Concordant Dragon, the Great Eternal Wheel, World-Shaper, the Sire of All Creation, Sire of Dragons, the Dragon King)
Greater Power of an Unknown Plane, N(All)

Portfolio:                 Creation, dragons and dracoform creatures, draconic harmony, survival of dracoform creatures
Aliases:                     Asgorath (Faerûn), Ub-Kalla (Dracons)
Domain Name:           Unknown
Superior:                   None
Allies:                       Aasterinian, Arcanic, Astilabor, Bahamut, Chronepsis, Elemtia, Garyx, Hlal, Kalzareinad (Dead), Kereska, Lendys, Nathair Sgiathach, Rais, Sardior, Tamara, Task, Tiamat, Zorquan
Foes:                           Faluzure
Symbol:                     Eight pointed star with central rising spoke or unadorned circle (Asgorath)
Wor. Align.:              Any

The greatest dragon of them all, forbearer of all other dragons, mortal and divine alike, is Io (EYE-oh), the Ninefold Dragon. He is the Concordant Dragon, encompassing good and evil, law and chaos, and transcends them all. He is the Great Eternal Wheel, having existed at the beginning of time itself, and will be the last to fade at time’s end. Io is the World-Shaper, said to have drawn forth the Shadow Void from the True Void, creating the substrate upon which all other powers have built. Finally, he is the Swallower of Shades, and having consumed the darkness brought the light of life to the multiverse.

Among dragons, no being is more revered than Io, and even priests of other dragon deities pay homage to the Ninefold Dragon. His mythology is rich and varied, with only one constant: In every case, Io is the original creator of all known existence. The most common draconic theology describes Io as existing alone in the True Void before time began, but in a single act of creation (and sometimes said to have been the only time he manifested himself) he brought forth the Shadow Void into existence. While this void had all the elements necessary for material creation, and indeed it is this void that is spoken of in the mythologies of the giants, the dwarves, and all other races, it lacked the vital spark that would lead to creation. In order to bring this forth, Io flew through the void swallowing shades and shadows, and in their absence light shown for the first time, and from this light sprang life, the true driver of creation. This life coalesced into the first of the creator deities, and each one set about building worlds, suns, and stars, as did the Ninefold Dragon himself. Io however, started with divine dragons, birthed of his flesh, blood, and breath, as well as immortal dragons who would sleep for eternity at the core of the worlds he shaped around them. On these worlds, he and his divine children created the mortal dragons and draconic creatures in their own images. One thread that often underlies, and is often unnoticed within, draconic mythology is a sense of experimentality on Io’s part; myths frequently portray him doing different things with the creation of each world and each draconic creature. In this way, the wildly divergent forms amongst the true dragon species and within the umbrella of all draconic creatures are explained, as are those dragons unique to specific worlds.

Not all myths follow this template, however, and some are considered downright heretical by most dragons. One tale speaks of Io as a female being, made all the more unusual by using his common alias Asgorath. This tale speaks of the first dragons being born from the mingling of her blood and the shards of a great crystal sun she destroyed with her breath. Out of jealousy and avarice, one of these first dragons, called simply the Renegade, used a shard of the crystal sun on himself to mimic her act of creation, and fled with his own spawn to ever-oppose the noble and virtuous first spawn of Asgorath. What makes this tale heretical in the eyes of many dragons is not the elements of creation, for indeed, many myths speak of dragons being spawned from Io’s blood; instead, it is the descriptions of the deities and dragons. In the tale, the use of a plural form of “breath” indicates a multiheaded form of Asgorath; this is also not particularly remarkable for some rare myths treat Io as a nine-headed and nine-tailed being. But this element, coupled with her spawn being described as red, and the Renegade’s spawn being described as the base shades of the earth’s metals strongly indicates the myth has merged Tiamat with Io and cast her in the role of creator, with Bahamut cast in the role of villain. Sages of the divine hold that this myth was held and perpetuated by a number of dragon-worshipping humanoids, and they claim the fact the myth was first discovered in an ancient tome suitable for use by humans is proof that this hypothesis is correct.

Io is concerned only with the welfare of dragons and dracoform creatures, and that extends to his relations with other deities. So long as other deities do not act against dragonkind as a whole, he has little interest in interacting with them and holds no known alliances or animosities. Some believe the lack of modern animosities is because Io utterly destroyed those who opposed him in the distant past, striking existential fear in other deities to this day, although who or what these deities were has been lost to history. His interactions with outside powers are brief and rarely direct, favoring instead to send his daughter Aasterinian as a messenger. This aloofness extends even to the rest of the draconic pantheon, for he interacts directly with them only slightly more often than he does with outside powers. Despite this, there appears to be little resistance to his rule among his children, with the sole exception of Faluzure. The hateful Night Dragon represents an existential threat to dragonkind through his desire to eliminate all life and replace it with a reign of undeath, but Io has taken no direct action against him. Some sages believe this is because Faluzure represents an integral, if minor, aspect of the dragon psyche, and Io deems him necessary to the future of his mortal children, while others believe the Night Dragon treads carefully, toeing the line until he has the power to cross it and face Io directly. Whatever the case, it seems Io is content to leave him be, although as always, his motives are inscrutable.

The experimentality Io displays is both biological and societal. Whether this is to develop the perfect dracoform creature, a hedged bet for the overall survival of some form of dragon, or just a love of diversity is, like most matters dealing with the Concordant Dragon, entirely unknown. There is ample evidence that he has formed multiple worlds specifically for dragons to inhabit, with both the Io’s Blood Isles and the world of Golot offered as proof. In addition, he has directly intervened to shape the societies of those worlds, having enabled the humans outside of Io’s Blood Isles to organize and learn the ways of dragonslaying in order to force the good, neutral, and evil dragons to unite as a single society, even if it is fractious. Some dragons on Golot even believe Io enabled the emperor Vulkaran’s conquest of that world in a similar situation, although the truth of this belief is unconfirmed. It is also believed that he created the dragon-centaurs known as dracons, manifesting as the great herd leader Ub-Kalla, along with an entirely separate pantheon of deities to guide them. What other unique creations he has scattered throughout the multiverse has motivated more than one explorer to set off into the unknown.

The Concordant Dragon takes few direct actions on the Prime Material Plane, except in the direst of circumstances for dragonkind. It is said he will only appear to save dragons as a whole, be it from the actions of other deities, mortals, or some great natural calamity. He occasionally sends his avatar to worlds with great sleeping dragons in the center in order to commune with their spiritual forms. The only other times he is believed to make an appearance is as a witness to events of tremendous historical import that may affect dragons, but not offer a specific danger. He is reticent with other manifestations and communications, and while still rare, they are much more common, although they tend to be reserved for his clergy and truly exceptional individual dragons.

Io’s Avatar (40-HD Great Wyrm Dragon, Wizard 40, Priest 40)
Io appears as a vast dragon of incredible size, with midnight blue scales edged with silver and dark purple. His eyes are contradictory in nature, seemingly glowing with the light of a thousand stars, while also being infinitely dark. He draws his spells from all schools and spheres.

AC −14; MV 30, Fl 120 (C), Sw 30, Jp 12; HP 383; THAC0 −9; #AT 3 + special
Dmg 3d8+12/3d8+12/12d8+12 (claw/claw/bite)
MR 95%; SZ G (800 feet—body 440 feet, tail 360 feet)
Str 24, Dex 24, Con 25, Int 25, Wis 25, Cha 25
Spells P: 17/16/16/15/15/14/12, W: 9/9/9/9/9/9/9/8/8
Saves PPDM 2; RSW 3; PP 4; BW 4; Sp 4

Special Att/Def: Io’s avatar has an alignment whenever he manifests, and this alignment dictates the breath weapon he is capable of using. If his avatar manifests with the alignments LG, NG, LN, or CE, his breath weapon is a cone of fire 135 feet long, 5 feet wide at his mouth, and 45 feet wide at the base. If he manifests with the alignments CG or CN, he breathes a cloud of blistering heat 75 feet long, 60 feet wide, and 30 feet high. If he manifests as LE or NE, he breathes a bolt of lightning 5 feet wide and 150 feet long. If his avatar manifests as true neutrality, he can use three different breath weapons: a cone of cold, a cloud of flame, or a lightning bolt, with the same dimensions as described above. Regardless of the form, his breath deals 24d20+24 points of damage, with a saving throw at a −6 penalty allowed for half damage.

When engaging in physical combat, Io swallows any Huge-sized or smaller creature whole with a successful bite attack on a roll of 10 or greater. Any swallowed creature is destroyed irrevocable along with any equipment it was carrying. Once per turn, he is able to summon a dragon of any species and age category to serve him for as long as he desires, although he may only have one dragon serving him at a time. He is able to instantaneously destroy any undead with a touch, although a saving throw versus death with a −6 penalty is allowed to avoid the effect for intelligent undead with 6 HD or more.

Io’s aura of dragon fear extends to a radius of 200 yards. Creatures up to 6 HD/levels who catch sight of him are automatically affected (as well as all noncarnivorous, nonaggressive creatures with fewer than 25 Hit Dice) and flee for 4d6 rounds. Trained war mounts of 4 HD or more, organized military units, and single creatures with more than 6 HD or levels do not automatically flee. Rather, they are entitled to a saving throw vs. petrification at a −6 penalty. If they fail this saving throw, they fight with a −2 penalty to attack and damage rolls. No one save another deity is automatically immune to her fear effect.

Io is immune to all spells below 7th level. He is immune to all forms of poison, paralysis, petrification, death magic, mind-affecting and controlling spells and psionics, and wishes that attempt to alter him directly (i.e. a limited wish couldn’t wish him back to his home plane or wish his wings crushed, but it could create a firestorm that would affect him). Io takes half damage from cold-, fire-, and electricity-based attacks, as well as all dragon breath weapons. He is immune to weapons of less than +4 enchantment.

Other Manifestations
The Concordant Dragon communicates directly to his priests when he wishes them to do something. Such communication is direct and short, and he tells them the bare minimum required to complete their mission, allowing them to handle it as they choose. When communicating with non-clergy (including even creatures that don’t worship him), he sends dreams and visions to communicate major directives, and sometimes draws forth a being’s astral form to fly with him on the Astral plane. These journeys are remembered as a wondrous and inspirational dream. Io’s symbol often appears in some hidden spot on the body of these beings if they aren’t dragons.

Io is served primarily by behir, chimerae, dracimera, dracolisks, dracons, dracosphinx, dragon-kin, dragon turtles, dragonnes, dragonnels, firedrakes, foulwings, gorynyches, half-dragons, ice lizards, mantidrakes, pseudodragons, scalamagdrions, sea wyrms, space drakes, tether beasts, thunderheads, white fangs, wyverns, and wyvern drakes. He never displays favor or disfavor through any sort of discoveries or symbolism, communicating such directly, and very rarely. He considers such things below him.

The Church
Clergy:                      Specialty priests
Clergy’s Align.:      Any
Turn Undead:           SP: Special
Cmnd. Undead:         SP: No

All priest-dragons and specialty priests of Io receive religion (draconic) as a bonus nonweapon proficiency.

On most worlds, Io’s clergy are treated with a surprising amount of suspicion. Dragons are well aware that the Concordant Dragon has little interest in the welfare of individual dragons, and has even caused great harm to dragons for inscrutable reasons that he reveals to no one, not even his priests. The dichotomy of that suspicion is the great respect dragons of all sorts give to Io’s priesthood; when they speak for the Ninefold Dragon, other wyrms listen. This is not to say they’ll obey, however; dragons are fiercely individualistic, and if a directive from Io goes against what they consider to be their personal best interests, many choose to ignore it. On just a small handful of worlds, however, Io’s clergy functions as a de facto governing body, having codified a set of rules of conduct that binds the various dragon populations into a single, although only rarely cohesive, whole. In such situations, they work closely with the clergies of the other deities, to both guide and advise the various factions that naturally arise.

Lone temples dedicate to the Concordant Dragon functionally don’t exist. His clergy does not build places of worship, believing that all of creation is Io’s temple. That’s not to say places of worship don’t exist, however; typically they are incorporated into another structure that functions as a non-religious meeting place of dragonkind. Such locations may indeed be maintained by a member of Io’s clergy. Depending on the dragon population, these locations may incorporate additional functions including educating young dragons or serving as a council or directing body of the dragon families in the area. Shrines are found in many dragon lairs, as well as the lairs of all members of Io’s clergy. They are simple alcoves with a representation of the Concordant Dragon’s symbol set above it, typically made of precious metals.

On most worlds, dragons do not form organized priesthoods, as there are too few of them, and they are far too individualistic. Only worlds with very dense dragon populations or very structured dragon cultures will develop hierarchical priesthoods, and the form they take are likely to be unique to those worlds, although an organized, hierarchical priesthood are always knows as the Custodians of Concordance. Specialty priests of Io are called onefold wyrms. Dragons from virtually any race that may become priests are drawn to his priesthood in roughly equal numbers, except for amethyst dragons, who are about twice as likely to join his clergy as any other breed, and intelligent undead dragons are never allowed to join the clergy. Any dracoform (half-dragons, pseudodragons, etc.) creature capable of becoming a cleric may also be drawn to his worship, but are not considered members of the clergy, and are not treated as equals by most dragon priests. There are also very rare cases of human cultures coming to worship the Concordant Dragon through direct divine inspiration, such as on the world of Io’s Blood Isles. Except in these cases, Io does not grant spells to such creatures on other worlds. Dracons also have a unique religious structure completely unlike the worship of Io anywhere else in the multiverse.

Dogma: As Io’s greatest creation, the fate of dragonkind is of paramount importance. Ensure the continued survival of these creatures, but always look for signs from the Ninefold Dragon, for only he knows the proper course to take. Obey him perfectly and never question his messages; even should his directives appear contradictory and harmful, know that the future is known to the Concordant Dragon. Good and evil, law and chaos, and all that exists in between are a part of the Ninefold Dragon, just as life and death and time itself are contained within him. All serve their purpose and advance his goals. All are part of the cycle laid down at the moment of creation. Recognize and observe this cycle, but make no unnatural interferences.

Day-to-Day Activities: Outside of the interests that concern all dragons, the clergy of Io is focused on the overall preservation of dragonkind and maintaining their balance with the natural forces of creation. They are uninterested in the fates of individual dragons, but work to expose and thwart outside dangers, at least in the absence of specific directives from Io. These directives can lead them to the destruction of specific dragons or cause them to assist a humanoid group in their attacks on a dragon, or they could be directed to stop a natural disaster or a humanoid mage’s magical research. Io’s directives are never clear, but the devout have no doubt in their mind that these actions are in the interest of dragonkind. As followers of Io can be of any alignment, the method used to carry out Io’s will typically reflects the dragon’s outlook. For example, a gold dragon may attempt to dissuade a Mage from his research or somehow strip him of his powers, while a red dragon is perfectly happy to destroy the Mage, his research, abode, and the nearby terrain, just to be sure.

Important Ceremonies/Holy Days: The priesthood of Io generally observes no major holy days. On most worlds, the faithful hold that all of Io’s significant events occurred before time could be measured. They feel that attempting to honor such singularly momentous events as the creation of existence, or even just a single world, are just crass displays of self-importance.

Major Centers of Worship: The most important holy places dedicated to Io are all part of larger complexes. One such temple is the High Halls of Draconic Might on Coliar in Realmspace, a meeting place between dragons and a temple dedicated to Io, Zorquan, and Chronepsis. More information can be found in the entry for Zorquan.

Similarly, the great Council Aerie located on All Clans Isle at the center of Io’s Blood Isles is a space dedicated to the communal rule of all dragonkind within the isles. Io himself directed the construction and establishment of the Council that rules and settles disputes among the many dragon clans, and is a site considered especially holy to the dragons. It is overseen by the Custodians of Concordance, a group of dragons who are considered to be of all clans and of none.

As an exception, there is a temple in Io’s honor in the Lady’s Ward of Sigil, far above the Outlands. This temple, known as the Creation of Concordance, is a vast, sprawling complex with nine large entrances, although these doors are sealed to all except dragons. More frequently used are doors designed for humanoid forms, which are used by the clergy of the temple, who are mostly half-dragons and a few polymorphed dragons. Only one of the smaller entrances is open to the public, whereas most of the temple is restricted to clergy and visiting dracoform creatures.

Affiliated Orders: None.

Priestly Vestments: The holy symbol used by the clergy is a simple metal ring made up of nine intertwined metal threads. Any none metals will do, and chromatic dragons often try to avoid metal types representing the metallic breeds if possible. Alternately, a single, thick ring of adamantite is used, although this is less common.

Adventuring Garb: None.

Specialty Priests (Onefold Wyrms)
Requirements:          Intelligence 16, Wisdom 16, Charisma 16
Prime Req.:                Wisdom, Charisma
Alignment:                Any
Weapons:                   Any, but normally a dragon’s natural weaponry
Armor:                       Any, but normally a dragon’s natural armor
Major Spheres:         All, astral, creation, divination, elemental, guardian, healing, necromantic, numbers, protection, summoning, thought, time, sun, weather
Minor Spheres:         Animal, charm, plant, travelers
Magical Items:         Same as dragons, clerics
Req. Profs:                Astrology
Bonus Profs:             Ancient history (draconic)

  • Onefold wyrms may be of any dragon species capable of becoming a priest.
  • Onefold wyrms are not allowed to multiclass.
  • Onefold wyrms are normally not allowed to turn undead. However, they are able to turn undead at their normal level if those undead are draconic or dracoform in nature.
  • Onefold wyrms can detect dracoforms at will, in a 120 yard radius. Upon employing this ability, they instantly know if there are any true dragons and related creatures within the area, although this ability does not identify type. This ability is not permanently active, and must be invoked in order to be used.
  • At the 2nd age category, onefold wyrms can cast charm dracoform (as the 2nd-level priest spell) once per day.
  • At the 3rd age category, onefold wyrms gain a +1 bonus to their Charisma when dealing with other dragons, half-dragons, and dracoforms (pseudodragons, dragon turtles, etc.). They gain an additional +1 bonus for every three age categories to a maximum bonus of +4 at the 12th age category, and Charisma cannot rise above 20 with this bonus.
  • At the 4th age category, onefold wyrms gain one special power from any species of dragon, other than immunities, of Juvenile age or younger. For example, a onefold wyrm can choose to gain the ice walking ability of a juvenile white dragon, or the once a day use of wall of fog that bronze dragons gain. Once chosen, the special ability can never be changed, nor can they choose abilities from dragon types they are unaware of (a terrestrial, prime material onefold wyrm cannot choose an ability from an adamantite or radiant dragon, for example).
  • At the 5th age category, onefold wyrms can cast command dragon once per day. This functions as the 6th-level priest spell command monster, but affects only true dragons and dracoform creatures.
  • At the 7th age category, onefold wyrms can shapechange (as a druid) into any dracoform shape of fewer Hit Dice once per day (reverting does not count as a change). For example a venerable white dragon can take the shape of a behir (12 HD) or an adult red dragon (17 HD), but could not take the form of a venerable red dragon (21 HD). While shapechanged, the onefold wyrm gains access to the normal attack modes, including breath weapons, of the form, but not the magical abilities. They do benefit from immunities and constant abilities gained at birth, such as waterbreathing. Changing forms does not restore any lost hit points, and the onefold wyrm gains the hit points and Hit Dice of the new form.
  • At the 9th age category, onefold wyrms gain an additional draconic breath weapon type not normal to their species. This breath weapon can be any sort that they have personally witnessed or experienced, and if a damaging type is selected, the damage dice are halved. For example, a very old white dragon onefold wyrm who gains access to a red dragon’s breath weapon deals 9d10+9 points of damage when using it. Use of this additional breath weapon counts towards the dragon’s normal usage limits for breath weapons.
  • At the 10th age category, onefold wyrms gain an additional special power from any dragon species of venerable age or younger. All of the restrictions described above still apply.
  • At the 12th age category, onefold wyrms gain complete immunity to all mortal draconic breath weapons. This includes the breath weapons of dracoform creatures such as behir, chimera, and mantidrakes, as well as attacks that serve a similar function such as a fang dragon’s draining attack. They do not gain immunity to breath weapons of non-dracoform creatures such as gorgons, nor do they gain immunity to non-breath attacks that cause the same type of damage, such as fire or acid.

Ionian Spells
2nd Level
Charm Dracoform (Pr 2; Enchantment/Charm)
Sphere:                    Charm
Range:                     80 yds.
Components:           V, S
Duration:                 Special
Casting Time:          5
Area of Effect:         1 dracoform creature
Saving Throw:        Neg.

This spell affects any single dracoform creature it is cast upon. The creature then regards the caster as a trusted friend and ally to be heeded and protected. The term dracoform includes true dragons (those that follow the age progressions and all attendant modifiers, including faerie dragons and tylors, but excluding rust dragons), drakes, and any creature related to true dragons, including dragon hybrids. Thus, it affects behir, chimerae, dracimera, dracolisks, dracons, draconians, dracosphinx, dragon-kin, dragon turtles, dragonnes, dragonnels, firedrakes, foulwings, gorynyches, half-dragons, ice lizards, mantidrakes, pseudodragons, scalamagdrions, sea wyrms, space drakes, tether beasts, thunderheads, white fangs, wyverns, and wyvern drakes. The caster cannot charm a creature with more Hit Dice than they themselves have.

The spell does not enable the caster to control the charmed creature as if it were an automaton, but any word or action of the caster is viewed in the most favorable way. Thus a charmed creature would not obey a suicide command, but might believe the caster if assured that the only chance to save the caster’s life is for the creature to hold back an onrushing red dragon for “just a minute or two” and if the charmed creature’s view of the situation suggests that this course of action still allows a reasonable chance of survival.

The subject’s attitudes and priorities are changed with respect to the caster, but basic personality and alignment are not. A request that a creature make itself defenseless, give up a valued item, or even use a charge from a valued item (especially against former associates or allies) might allow an immediate saving throw to see if the charm is thrown off. Likewise, a charmed creature does not necessarily reveal everything it knows or draw maps of entire areas. Any request may be refused, if such refusal is in character and does not directly harm the caster. The creature’s regard for the caster does not necessarily extend to the caster’s friends or allies. The creature does not react well to the charmer’s allies making suggestions such as, “Ask him this question…” nor does the charmed creature put up with verbal or physical abuse from the charmer’s associates, if this is out of character.

Note also that the spell does not empower the caster with linguistic capabilities beyond those he normally has. The duration of the spell is a function of the charmed creature’s Intelligence, and it is tied to the saving throw. The spell can be broken if a successful saving throw is rolled. This saving throw is checked on a periodic basis according to the creature’s intelligence, even if the caster has not overly strained the relationship.

If the caster harms, or attempts to harm, the charmed creature by some overt action, or if a dispel magic spell is successfully cast upon the charmed creature, the charm is broken automatically.

Intelligence Score                  Time Between Checks
       3 or less                                      3 months
4–6                                          2 months
7–9                                           1 month
10–12                                         3 weeks
13–14                                         2 weeks
15–16                                         1 week
17                                             3 days
18                                             2 days
19 or more                                       1 day

If the subject of the charm dracoform spell successfully rolls its saving throw vs. the spell, the effect is negated.

3rd Level
Pseudodragon (Pr 3; Conjuration/Summoning)
Sphere:                    Summoning
Range:                     30 yds.
Components:           V
Duration:                 1 rds + 1 rd./level
Casting Time:          6
Area of Effect:         Special
Saving Throw:        None

This spell is a draconic monster summoning spell that summons 2d4 pseudodragons within 1d4 rounds. The summoned pseudodragons are tiny replicas of the summoner; that is, a green dragon conjures green pseudodragons, a blue dragon summons blue ones, and so forth. The pseudodragons share the alignment of the dragon who cast the spell, and serve their summoner with complete loyalty. Otherwise, these pseudodragons conform to the abilities and characteristics of pseudodragons noted in the Monstrous Manual tome.

Once the pseudodragons arrive, they fight on the summoning dragon’s behalf until they are slain, until the dragon commands them to stop fighting, or until the spell’s duration expires. If all opponents are slain, the summoner must grant the pseudodragons a portion of the kill.

If no opponents are available, the dragon can assign the pseudodragons other tasks. In return, the dragon must give each pseudodragon a gem-stone (before aid is rendered) worth at least 50 gp. If no gems are forthcoming, the summoned dragons immediately return from whence they came. Similarly, the dragon must give each surviving pseudodragon a 50 gp gemstone after a battle with the dragon’s enemies. (If a dragon makes a habit of killing or refusing to pay the pseudodragons, the pseudodragons summoned by subsequent castings may refuse to assist or may simply refuse to answer the summons.)

4th Level
Summon Dracoform Creature (Pr 4; Conjuration/Summoning)
Sphere:                    Summoning
Range:                     1-mi. radius
Components:           V, S, M
Duration:                 Special
Casting Time:          6
Area of Effect:         Special
Saving Throw:        None

This spell is a specialized variation of the 4th-level priest spell animal summoning I. By means of this spell, the caster calls a number of dracoform creatures (such as dragons, chimerae, firedrakes, or wyverns), whose combined Hit Dice total 16 or less. If more than one species is available, the type with greater Hit Dice is summoned. Only creatures within a mile of the caster at the time of the casting will respond.

Unlike the animal summoning I spell, the caster can make only one call, and cannot choose what form of creature shows up, if any. The creatures summoned aid the caster by whatever means they possess, staying until the fight is over, a specific mission is finished, the caster is safe, they are sent away, and so on.

The material component for this spell is the priest’s holy symbol.

6 Responses to Io the Ninefold Dragon

  1. Barastir says:

    Hi, auldragon! Happy New Year! Nice entry, but I have a question about the onefold wyrm’s 9th level granted power: the text says that “Use of this additional breath weapon counts towards the dragon’s normal usage limits for breath weapons.” But as far as I know, this limit count exists in 1e, for in 2e the only limit is that the breath can be used once in three rounds, no? Even though some 2e sources (like “Draconomicon”, I think) kept mentioning this limit…

    Besides, where can I find info on the world of Golot?

    • AuldDragon says:

      First Edition limited dragon breath to three times per day, and many people still keep that rule in 2nd Edition. 2nd Edition allows breath weapons to be used every three rounds with no upper limit, but Council of Wyrms follows the 1st Ed rules (and 2nd Edition rules), with an optional rule to get more uses. I worded it that way to fall within whatever rules a DM uses.

      Golot has a very brief mention in the Spelljammer adventure “Under the Dark Fist.” Here’s the full description of Golot and its sphere:

      Golotspace
      The Golotians are humans with a culture not unlike that of Greyspace a few thousand years ago. The people are mystical and superstitious. Dragons and similar magical beasts rule the skies.

      Vulkaran has established an uneasy truce with the dragons of the planet, granting them freedom from his absolute rule over the system. The dragons administer the day-to-day operations of the society, like regional barons, while Vulkaran remains as overlord.

      Quite simply, he has a “reputation” among the dragons that keeps them at bay.

      Years ago, Vulkaran challenged the dragons to bring forth their greatest warrior if they wanted to end the deadly sky battles characteristic of Vuikaran’s invasion once and for all. Vulkaran defeated the red wyrm in single combat, right in front of the rest of the beasts.

      Ever since then, the dragons agree no one beast can take the Emperor, and no single dragon shows the leadership potential to gather the selfish dragon barons together. All the while, the people are made to suffer.

      Freeing this sphere from the clutch of evil involves more than just dealing with Vulkaran.

      I see Golot as a sort of merger of the Council of Wyrms rules and the Birthright realm rules.

  2. Barastir says:

    Another question: You’ve mentioned the “High Halls of Draconic Might” of Coliar and sais it was mentioned in Zorquan’s entry, but i didn’t find it there…

    • AuldDragon says:

      It was originally something I was going to include in Io’s entry, but while writing it up I felt it made more sense in Zorquan’s entry. I’ve updated Zorquan’s writeup with it now (thanks for asking, as I’d forgotten to do so even on my working copy).

  3. Barastir says:

    One more question: in a point, you say Io’s avatar is immune to “wishes that attempt to alter him directly”, and one example is “(i.e. a limited wish couldn’t wish him back to his home plane)”. This wish would not alter him, so you wanted to say “affect” instead of “alter”?

    • AuldDragon says:

      I did, thanks. I’ve fixed it in my working copy, but it’s a minor change so I’m not going to upload a new version.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *