Firedrake

The firedrake, often called the Great Worm or King of Serpents, is a giant dragon without wings. It is a four-legged serpent over forty feet long (the appendix gives up to 35 feet) with strong limbs, sharp talons and ebony ridges circling its head and running down its back. Most are golden, though other colors have been seen.

Firedrakes are very intelligent, if not quite as clever as their distant cousins the Eastern dragons, and greed drives them. They seize burial mounds or other rich sites and stay there, leaving only to hunt or to seek more treasure. They allow no rivals, not even other dragons, and will never willingly give up a single coin. Chiron the Wise gave them only a passing, doubtful mention, repeating a tale that the worms haunting grave-mounds, the so-called Firedrakes of the North, are greedy men transformed by magic or an old curse. Such stories of magical origin are common, but learned opinion holds that firedrakes are a genuine intelligent reptile species, as far above other reptiles as humans are above lesser mammals.

It fights with huge fangs, tearing talons and a lashing tail, and breathes fire to half its own length (twice a day, 1-8 damage per level). Those that can speak (a quarter, by the appendix) command many languages and are skilled at persuasion, and a few have mastered mesmerism and can freeze a victim before striking (range 20 feet; a save vs WILL resists). Its belly is less well armored, so a bold fighter may land a lucky killing blow, and its arrogance makes it careless: it likes to play with victims, which can give them the chance to escape by cleverness or a sudden attack. Though few, they live in almost every kind of land, each needing a wide range to feed.