Dungeons & Dragons has given fans a sneak peak of two hideous and grotesque dragons that will appear in an upcoming sourcebook. This week, Wizards of the Coast released a new issue of Dragon+, its digital magazine dedicated to Dungeons & Dragons. The magazine contains an early look at Fizban’s Treasury of Dragon, an upcoming sourcebook that provides new statblocks and lore for dragons and dragon-related creatures. The early look provided some new details about two monsters that will appear in Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons, both of which are terrifying in different ways.
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The first monster previewed in Dragon+ is the elder brain dragon, a creature created when a mind flayer hive’s elder brain latches onto a dragon and takes control of it. In the magazine, project lead James Wyatt explained how the creature was created and previewed some of its awful abilities. “Typically, an elder brain lives at the centre of a mind flayer community, immobile in a pool,” Wyatt said. “Rather than implanting a tadpole into a dragon, the elder brain forms a sac on the dragon’s back and covers it with a membrane and tentacles, transforming it into a hideous aberration. It also extends its tentacles into the dragon’s brain to take control of its body.”
Wyatt noted that the elder brain dragon is terrifying as it grants mobility to a creature that is usually immobile. According to Wyatt, the creature has a fly speed of 80 feet and can hover using its psychic levitation. What’s more, the creature’s breath weapon becomes decidedly more dangerous. “The elder brain also takes over the dragon’s breath weapon mechanism and spews a stream of brine filled with tadpoles, to begin performing ceremorphosis as it transforms the humanoids around it,” Wyatt said. “Characters continue taking psychic damage even when infested with a tadpole, stabilizing if they’re reduced to zero hit points but remaining unconscious, until they transform into a mind flayer.”
Wyatt also noted that the elder brain dragon has the ability to grapple with its tentacles and can break the concentration of a spellcaster using a legendary action if the dragon has the spellcaster in its tentacles.
The other monster previewed by Dragon+ is the eyedrake, a new kind of beholder-kin. The eyedrake is created when a beholder becomes obsessed with a dragon. The creature is a weird combination of dragon and beholder, with wings made up of eyestalks and a fake mouth that contains a large central eye. The eyedrake’s core ability combines the unique abilities of a dragon and a beholder. “[The eyedrake’s] mouth is perpetually open, showing a large central eye that emits a breath-like wave of antimagic energy,” Wyatt explained to Dragon+. “It really is the breath weapon of a dragon with an antimagic cone of a beholder—two great tastes that taste great together.”
Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons will be released on October 17th.
