Bronze dragon

Legacy canon content This article contains information of uncertain canon status due to changes made in Monster Core. Metallic dragons will not appear in Remastered canon works. Additional context might be available at Meta:Bronze dragon.

Bronze dragon

(Creature)

2E1E

Common

LG

Amphibious

Dragon

Water

Level

Varies by age

Alignment

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Source: Bestiary, pg(s). 119–121

Type

Dragon
(water)

CR

5–21 (by age category)

Environment

Temperate coastlines

Alignment

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Source: Bestiary, pg(s). 106–108

Ⅰ

Ⅱ

Bronze dragons are one of the most common types of metallic dragon and often join mortals on quests. Many are scholarly collectors of knowledge known for their aloofness, stoicism, research of esoteric knowledge, and preservationist tendencies.

Appearance

Bronze dragons lack the horns and bony growths common to other draconic species. Instead, a pair of large, fanlike frills grow behind their jaws, and further membranes cover the rest of their bodies. Bronze dragons often have webbed toes and rudder-like fins growing from their tail. They also have the smallest wing-to-body ratio among true dragons and consequently must exert the most energy during flight.

Habitat

Bronze dragons dislike extremes of climate and prefer to live in temperate areas. They usually live in hilly regions and near large bodies of water, whether the ocean or large lakes, where they can wield their inherent mastery over water.

Ecology

Bronze dragons are highly adapted for aquatic life. Their stout bodies and numerous fins make them efficient swimmers, and they possess a primitive set of gills protected by their large facial frills. Their fins serve a secondary purpose on land, where they help keep the dragons cool by helping to disperse heat from the blood circulating within them.

Bronze dragons subsist primarily on seafood, favoring fish, clams, and crabs as sustenance, although they also eat fruits, tubers, and tree nuts. They have highly efficient metabolisms, and a single day's haul of fish can, when properly preserved, sustain a bronze dragon for a year.

Society and culture

Bronze dragons are the least sociable of the metallics, and often remain in isolation for years or decades before returning to society. These social forays are often done for the purpose of acquiring fresh reading material, as bronzes are also voracious readers.

They are also given to scholarly pursuits, and tend to be particularly attracted to mathematics and history. Most bronze dragons assemble large libraries of books and other sources of knowledge over their lives. Since they also prefer to lair near water, this creates an inherent risk when storing and transporting their acquisitions, and consequently bronzes typically store their possessions in waterproof containers, in dry chambers away from standing water, or on shelves above the waterline.

On occasion, more socially minded bronze dragons live in humanoid societies, typically within libraries, temples, or other places of learning. Others pursue lives of contemplation and asceticism instead of becoming scholars; these dragons often inhabit monasteries where they become teachers, guardians, or advisors, but rarely ascend to full leadership.

Bronze dragons' patient natures make them ideal guardians, and humanoids and other dragons often employ them in this capacity. Those seeking a bronze dragon's services as a guardian typically repay them with interesting books for the dragon to read while fulfilling their duty, although bronze dragons occasionally take up protective duties out of a sense of moral duty. Bronze dragons are highly protective of the items they guard and do anything short of sacrificing their own lives to ensure their safety.

In addition to the love of currency and precious metals common to all dragons, bronze dragons are strongly attracted to beautiful objects of natural, and especially marine, origin, and often collect large quantities of scrimshaw, pearls, items with mother-of-pearl or abalone shell inlays, seashells, coral, strangely shaped driftwood, and rocks with water-worn holes. On occasion, they may also collect such things as pressed flowers or pinned insects. They also tend to value items that aid them in gathering and recording information, such as crystal balls and animated quills.

Bronze dragons usually gravitate towards divination magic, which suits both their hunger for knowledge and their traditional role as guardians, and are often skilled seers and diviners.

On Golarion

Bronze dragons live in most parts of Golarion apart from diabolic Cheliax and undead-rife Geb. They are particularly common in Taldor, home to the largest population of bronze dragons in the Inner Sea region, likely in part because the Royal Proclamation of the Draconic Banking issued in 1941 AR allows bronze dragons to set up banking operations in the cities of Cassomir, Maheto, Oppara, and Zimar without having to pay taxes.

In Qadira bronze dragons are most common across the Alavah Peninsula, and some believe that the Sisters of Bronze, who guard the city of Ushumgal, are in fact a group of bronze dragons in disguise.

Numerous monasteries in Tian Xia and Jalmeray are home to monastically minded bronzes. This practice is rarer in Avistan, but the Vythded Monastery in Lastwall and the Palace of Virtue in Molthune both house bronze dragon monks.

Bronze dragons, followed by a large minority of green dragons, compose a majority of Bryemirites, a peculiar tradition named after Bryemir, a dragon of unknown kind that announced 2,000 years ago that dragonkind must calculate the "perfect number" to prevent an unknown but supposedly terrible calamity. The Bryemirites subsequently devoted themselves to trying to determine what this number would be, and although detractors consider theirs to be wasted effort, their research has led to considerable advances in the field of mathematics.

Notable bronze dragons

See also: Category:Bronze dragon/Inhabitants

• Sonthonax, a renowned abolitionist who as of 4709 AR laired in Andoran
• Spravilvost, who as of 4709 AR worked in disguise as a human bodyguard in Molthune
• Tiruvinn, a reclusive dragon who lairs on the Lost Coast of Varisia and is the namesake of the Rusty Dragon inn in Sandpoint

References

Paizo ceased the use of metallic dragons with the publication of Monster Core, as part of the Pathfinder Second Edition Remaster Project. When mentioned in Monster Core and subsequent publications, existing metallic dragons might be retroactively changed to new or equivalent types of non-metallic dragons.

For additional as-yet unincorporated sources about this subject, see the Meta page.