Dragons
Appearance
Dragons are large reptiles that grow to be thirty to fifty feet high and forty to eighty feet long. Most have wings and can fly. Dragon wings are not feathered; they are skin and scales stretched over bones. The wingspan of a dragon varies with age until it reached the maximum of thirty feet. All dragons have no hair, only scales, although the color varies. They have gold eyes. No dragon can speak; their mouths are not designed to handle speech, but many can communicate mentally. The exact shape of a dragon's head varies too. Dragons go through many stages of life from hatchling to ancient one. These stages are summarized belong.
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Abilities
Dragons, even young ones, are very strong and their tail is like a whip, agile and flexible. According to legends, dragons are smarter than men. This is not true; they are, however, very cunning. Dragon scales are hard and provide much protection and damage resistance to most attacks with swords and arrows. They have keen vision, hearing, and sense of smell.
Dragons learn to fly as soon as they are strong enough to do so. This happens around the age of ten. Acquiring their breath weapon is a sign that they have reached the adolescent stage of life. Most dragons breathe fire, but not all. Occasionally, a dragon will have some other breathe weapon, such as cold, poison, or acid.
All dragons have front and back claws and large fangs and teeth. Their methods of attack are varied. When flying, they can attack with their breath weapon or their claws but not both. When they are on the ground, they can attack with their claws and either their teeth or their breath weapon. They can attack with their tail at all times.
Dragons are carnivores. They love to eat meat of all kinds. They also love to chew fire rocks. The debris of this stone combines with their stomach fluids to produce fire. Dragons that do not breathe fire, do not chew these rocks and produce breath weapon using a different means, usually by secreting the poison or acid much the way snakes do.
Few dragons live in the wild any more because they are prized as mounts among mages. Those that do, live in remote areas, such as high mountain caves. All other dragons are kept in stables or pens where they are fed and groomed.
According to legends, dragons can wield magic. If this is so, the spells are innate abilities since dragons cannot recite spells the way humans or elves do. Legends also claim dragons are greedy and love gold, gems, and other treasure. Actually, they only seek gold and gems to form a bed for them to lie in as this is often more comfortable than the stone floor of a cave or the dirt floor of a stable.