# Who is Ashardalon?



## victorysaber (Mar 10, 2007)

I know he is a very powerful red dragon.

I know his tongue is a planar touchstone, a volcano in one of the planes.

I know he ruled part of the Prime Material once, that he fought the druidic Church of the Elements but had his heart destroyed by their leader, the druid Dydd.

I know he used a powerful balor, Ammet, as a replacement heart.

I know he invaded the Bastion of Unborn Souls in order to achieve immortality.

What other lore is there about Ashardalon?


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## Campbell (Mar 10, 2007)

That sounds like a pretty complete listing of all the lore on Ashardalon as far as I can tell. If I'm not mistaken, Ashardalon was a unique creation of Bruce Cordell's for the Bastion of Broken Souls, and references to him have since appeared in the Planar Handbook and the Draconomicon.

Edit: Ashardalon might have appeared in other adventures in WotC's first adventure path. I'm not aware of any references, prior to Bastion of Broken Souls or afterwards because Bastion of Broken Souls was the only module in the series that I bought.


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## HeavenShallBurn (Mar 10, 2007)

I think I saw the name in an older 2e source I no longer have but think it was just a name in passing.  Its been a long time since I got rid of my 2e stuff in the mid-nineties.


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## Campbell (Mar 10, 2007)

After some checking, it seems Ashardalon appears as a vestige in Dragon Magic. I'm not sure if it simply reiterates what is already known about the wyrm, or adds more details.


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## Corsair (Mar 10, 2007)

Ashardalon is mentioned in the Sunless Citadel I believe.


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## Darth Shoju (Mar 10, 2007)

Isn't he also mentioned in _Heart of Nightfang Spire_?


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## MacMathan (Mar 10, 2007)

Also mentioned in the Standing Stone as I remember


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## RichGreen (Mar 10, 2007)

Darth Shoju said:
			
		

> Isn't he also mentioned in _Heart of Nightfang Spire_?




Can you tell me where? He's definitely mentioned in The Sunless Citadel and both he and Dydd are part of the backstory to The Standing Stone. I've run both of these adventures in my long-running Freeport game which is due to end with Bastion (and my colossal red dragon mini!) so I'm quite keen on tracking down all these little bits of lore.

What does it say in Dragon Magic about him as a vestige?

Cheers


Richard


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## Matrix Sorcica (Mar 10, 2007)

He's mentioned in Heart of Nightfang Spire. At the intro and the end of the adventure. 

Spoiler below (highlight to see):
In fact, the heart of Nightfang Spire is _his_ heart.


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## Sejs (Mar 10, 2007)

Think "draconic Keyser Soze".


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## Vorput (Mar 10, 2007)

Sejs said:
			
		

> Think "draconic Keyser Soze".




well, that had me laughing for a good long minute


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## IcyCool (Mar 12, 2007)

I believe the Draconomicon has a Prestige class named after him "Disciple of Ashardalon".


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## kenobi65 (Mar 12, 2007)

*I* am Ashardalon!

No, wait...I am *Spartacus*!  Agador Spartacus!


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## Remathilis (Mar 12, 2007)

You're all correct. 

SPOILERS FOLLOW!




The original D&D adventure Path (Sunless Citadel -> Bastion of Broken Souls) introduced Asharadon to us. He was a powerful Red Dragon who had his own cult of devoted followers. He was opposed by a powerful Druid named Dydd who, in an epic battle, wounded Asharadon's heart but perished in the process. Asharadon knew he was dying so, so bound a demon (a balor named Ammet) to him to keep him alive. Thus, he became a half-fiendish Red Dragon and began to look for new ways to achieve immortality...

He or his cult has appeared in a variety of places in 3e since then. Including.

* A sample Intelligent magical dagger in the DMG 3.5 (the tooth of Asharadon)
* As a planar touchstone site in Planar Handbook
* As a vestige in Dragon Magic
* As a Prestige class in Draconomicon (Disciple of Asharadon, who gain fiendish qualities and seek immortality)

His name and cult appears in the _Sunless Citadel_ and _Heart of the Nightfang Spire_. Info on Dydd appears in _The Standing Stone._ Asharadon's stats (as well as more info on him and on Dydd) appear in _Bastion of Broken Souls._

His head priest is Guthias, a staked vampire from which the Guthias tree grows (out of the wooden stake). After the tree is defeated, Guthias is freed and becomes the main villain in the Nightfang Spire (not sure most people caught that reference.)


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## BrickBronze_E-Genasi (Sep 3, 2010)

is there any 3.5 stats for ashardalon?


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## Matrix Sorcica (Sep 3, 2010)

BrickBronze_E-Genasi said:


> is there any 3.5 stats for ashardalon?



Nope, only for 3.0 and 4E.


SPOILERS follow!!





But really, it should be easy enough. Just take a Great Wyrm Red Dragon and apply the half-fiend template, add regeneration 20 as long as he's in the sould stream (IIRC) and you're done (from memory, de did have slightly more than average hp)


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## frankthedm (Sep 3, 2010)

Matrix Sorcica said:


> Spoiler
> 
> 
> 
> But really, it should be easy enough. Just take a Great Wyrm Red Dragon and apply the half-fiend template, add regeneration 20 as long as he's in the sould stream (IIRC) and you're done (from memory, de did have slightly more than average hp)



The big thing is one of the spell like abilities becomes auto kill to just about any PC because 3.5 Blasphemy is easy to break with caster level boosts or using monster HD for caster level.

http://www.enworld.org/forum/d-d-le...rding-bastion-broken-souls-spoiler-alert.html


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## coyote6 (Sep 4, 2010)

Yeah, I decided to cap _blasphemy_ at CL20 for any villains that are fighting non-epic PCs; otherwise, it's not much fun, IMO. 

_Standing Stone_ also foreshadows another villain from _Bastion_, the Cathezar.


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## doctorhook (Sep 4, 2010)

I don't think anyone mentioned it yet, but IIRC the Bastion of Broken Souls also appeared in Magic of Incarnum. Maybe there's still more Ashardalon lore in that book...


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## Runestar (Sep 5, 2010)

frankthedm said:


> The big thing is one of the spell like abilities becomes auto kill to just about any PC because 3.5 Blasphemy is easy to break with caster level boosts or using monster HD for caster level.




Blasphemy is also possible to counter, given sufficient prior knowledge. So in the end, it would do jack squat, because you would have your party be immune to its effects precisely to avoid a TPK. 

Though apart from the SLAs, I feel the half-fiend template doesn't really merit a +3cr increase to the red dragon, since many of its benefits are made redundant. That and you want his special abilities to emphasis his dragon powers (and hurling horrid wilting just doesn't fit). 

I feel he should be redesigned from the base up. Xorvintaal and ravenous templates anyone?


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## Dragonwriter (Sep 6, 2010)

RichGreen said:


> What does it say in Dragon Magic about him as a vestige?




This, pretty much:



victorysaber said:


> I know he is a very powerful red dragon.
> 
> I know his tongue is a planar touchstone, a volcano in one of the planes.
> 
> ...




The Vestige only retold the story of Ashardalon.

As for Magic of Incarnum, the Bastion of Souls was mentioned as a Planar Touchstone, but that's all.


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## Aegeri (Sep 6, 2010)

He has a write up in the 4E Draconomicon as well as stats. He's actually pretty good for his stats considering the time he was published.


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## Matrix Sorcica (Sep 6, 2010)

Runestar said:


> Though apart from the SLAs, I feel the half-fiend template doesn't really merit a +3cr increase to the red dragon, since many of its benefits are made redundant. That and you want his special abilities to emphasis his dragon powers (and hurling horrid wilting just doesn't fit).



On the other hand, it changes his type from dragon to outsider, which probably will screw some of the party's preparations.

It screwed the adventure design for certain, since the +5 especially-useful-against-dragons sword found just before the encounter with Ashardalon is worth jack st (on the other hand, it will help against Ammet, but I'm pretty certain that is not what was intended). In fact, the whole module has numerous design mistakes that goes directly against the 3.0 rules.
Ah, WotC adventure design.


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## Runestar (Sep 6, 2010)

How would you even know the sword is a dragon-slaying sword? And maybe that's exactly why it was found in the hoard, because Asharldalon knows it is not that useful against him.


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## BrickBronze_E-Genasi (Oct 25, 2010)

what 3.0 book is Ashadalon in?


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## Nebten (Oct 25, 2010)

doctorhook said:


> I don't think anyone mentioned it yet, but IIRC the *Bastion of Broken Souls* also appeared in *Magic of Incarnum*. Maybe there's still more Ashardalon lore in that book...




There ya go


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## the Jester (Oct 25, 2010)

If I'm not mistaken, a forthcoming WotC boardgame also places Ashardalon in Dragon Mountain.


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## juboke (Oct 26, 2010)

the Jester said:


> If I'm not mistaken, a forthcoming WotC boardgame also places Ashardalon in Dragon Mountain.




Wrath of Ashardalon


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## Nebten (Oct 26, 2010)

the Jester said:


> If I'm not mistaken, a forthcoming WotC boardgame also places Ashardalon in Dragon Mountain.




Infyrana isn't going to like that (the orginal Great Red Wyrm in the _Dragon Mountain _box campaign)


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