I can just picture a Black Dragon that wakes up to find itself surrounded by a bunch of hostiles and, confused and angry that it had been snuck up on, yells "WHAT?! ARE YOU DOING?! IN MY SWAMP?!"

"The easiest tell of a black dragon is, of course..." Me, looking right at the dragon: The color. It's not that hard, it's bla- "The horns."

The idea of people prospering, and being generally happy, angers the Black dragon and it rejoices in the suffering of others. The Black dragon, the original Hater.

My stepdad used to play D&D a looot back in the day, and he still has the original Advanced D&D Players Handbook, Dungeon Masters Guide, Monster Manual and Fiend Folio. Those things were like heroin to 12-year-old me. But I digress. This video reminded me of a story he told me about a campaign he and his college buddies once did, and almost everything you mentioned in this video was something that happened in that campaign. PC’s (LG Paladin and Cleric, LN Wizard, CG Bard, Barbarian and Rogue) were approached by a representative of a local baron, who’d heard of their previous exploits and wanted to hire them for a job: For the past 10 years, the baron’s lands were being attacked almost constantly by Lizardfolk from the neighboring marshlands, even though they had actually traded with and allowed safe passage for the baron’s people for decades previously. Additionally, the marshes had gradually become brackish, all the trees had withered and died and the whole marsh gave off a foul stench. The Baron was worried that if this continued, his people would either all be slain by the Lizardfolk or die from disease and starvation, because the marsh was actually expanding out into the surrounding lands and ruining all the farmland. PC’s agree to investigate, found one Lizardman with serious injuries staggering out of the marsh, Cleric heals him (after Rogue shot the poor guy in the arm due to itchy trigger finger) and Lizardman becomes Lizardbro. Lizardbro explains things. 10 years back, a Black Dragon came to their lands and attacked their tribes; tribes all united to try and fight it off, but once the full Lizardfolk army was gathered to storm its lair, it just mentally dominated them all while they were in the same general area and basically set itself up as their new god...a new god that wanted them to go kill the humans and also occasionally feed it their females and children because FOR TEH EVULZ. And it would sometimes un-dominate them juuust long enough for them all to realize what they’d done and feel utter anguish & despair. Because again FOR TEH EVULZ. Lizardbro was un-dominated so the BD could “savor his delicious agony” while the BD ate Lizardbro’s mate in front of him. Lizardbro RAGED and tried to kill BD/save his bae, but got rekt. Hard. Then dumped in pool to “pickle”. BD didn’t realize Lizardbro was just comatose tho, so LB was able to escape after managing to not die and wake up. Then limped out of the marsh, praying to Lizardfolk’s old gods to prove they still cared about his people by delivering him some way to get revenge and free the tribes. PC’s all get mighty pissed and agree to help (Barbarian even swore a blood oath with Lizardbro that they would “feast on the monster’s foul heart or feast with the Gods”), and after 6 more sessions, they’ve finally almost defeated the BD. Wizard, Cleric and Bard are all comatose from wounds, Rogue is practically crippled and Barbarian, Paladin and Lizardbro are all on their last legs, but the BD is in even worse shape...or so it seems. Lizardbro and Barbarian charge in to finish it off, but it’s been faking it and pimp-slaps Barbarian into a rock head-first before mauling Lizardbro. And then begins gloating at the Paladin for being such a foolish do-gooder, evil evil evil, I’m such a dick, blah blah. Now, Paladin follows a homebrewed god. This god is what you get if you gave Ares the motivations, attitude, mannerisms and voice of Optimus Prime. Basically a god of “strong exist to protect those who can’t protect themselves” with “honorable combat” thrown in as well. Paladin has been following this god for the past 20 years. He was originally a mercenary and kind of a bastard, party’s Cleric beat 14 kinds of shit out of him for attempting to “have his way with” a peasant girl, then Cleric carried him back to local monastery and nursed him back to health while gradually getting him to convert. By present day, Paladin has basically devoted the rest of his life to fighting all injustice and wickedness to make amends for the things he did in his merc days. He lives to aid those in need, and has done so for almost half the time he’s been alive, as it’s the only way he believes he might redeem himself in the eyes of his God. And this Black Dragon, the most revoltingly sadistic *thing* he’s ever seen, is now monologing at him. After preying on those weaker than itself, ruining hundreds of lives for its own sick amusement, almost killing Paladin’s friends and allies of several in-game years (including his bro4life the Cleric), this thing has THE FUCKING NERVE to insult Paladin’s beliefs to his face. Paladin attempts to call in a favor from his God: critical success. His god gives him such a massive power boost that he pretty much solos the BD; he shatters 2 of its legs and cracks some ribs with his warhammer, BD attempts to escape by flying away, and Paladin straight-up THROWS warhammer. Again, critical success: the big hunk of solid steel impacts the BD’s wing at the “elbow” joint, breaking it and sending it crashing to the ground. And at this point, the BD does a complete 180: it starts begging the Paladin to spare him, sizzling drops of acid tears running down its face as it realizes just how bad it’s fucked up. Paladin ignores this, calmly goes and collects hammer, then finally comes back over to the crippled dragon. With his God’s divine light shining from his eyes and his God’s voice booming from his mouth, he finally addresses the BD in a damn near perfect Optimus Prime impression: “YOU, WHO ARE WITHOUT MERCY, NOW PLEAD FOR IT? I THOUGHT YOU WERE MADE OF STERNER STUFF.” Then he drives the pick-end of his warhammer clean through the BD’s eye and into its brain, killing it. My stepdad’s old D&D books might have led me to being interested in the game, but that story was what truly made me ask for the 3.5 rulebooks for my 15th birthday. So much win.

Black Dragons: The literal Grinch of dragons...

Black dragon = emo shrek

Dragons are my favorite part of D&D lore. They’re just so uniquely fascinating and I don’t know why. I’d love to see a series on the major dragon types. Maybe next do White Dragons (they’re unique).

i played a black half-dragon who would eat goblin pickles. her teammates weren't incredibly impressed.

I’m hearing this and I keep thinking “Papa Nurgle has found a new toy he’s going to *LOVE* !”

I still wonder why black dragons don't have poison resistance/immunity if they prefer to live in such toxic places.

Another great D&D lore vid. I just cant get enough of those.

Weirdly enough, I read a book series of these dragons and I never knew they were part of D&D until now.

a Black Dragon dominated Yuan-Ti stronghold came to my mind. I bet players might hate it.

"Everything that makes a dragon tick." My take away from that sentence: Dragon ticks. Hmmm. Man, can you imagine? I'm getting the heebie-jeebies just imagining a blood-sucking parasite that can feed on a dragon. Of course my mother has lyme disease, plus it just turned Summer by this point so I'm overly concerned about the little bastards to the point where I douse myself in DEET every time I go outside. But still, can you imagine what a dragon tick would look like?

I've literally never heard the term "skull dragons"

Oh my goodness, I just recently found this channel and it is a GOLD MINE of lore. I adore this kind of thing, thanks so much for putting this all together, I'll be more then happy to subscribe! Looking forward to more!

Keep this series on dragons going, it's doing wonders for my campaign. How to place them on the world and their wants and desires. Much appreciated!

I came across a question on D&D Beoyond forums: What is the value of dragon scales in the forgotten realms? I feel like this question would be appropriate for this series.

Our bard has a “Pseudodragon” familiar that is actually a newborn Black Dragon that was raised to be super friendly

Between you, Jorphdan, and AJpickett, you are my favorite D&D loremaster, MrRhexx. Absolutely love your videos, and it's easy to tell you love this lore, too. Keep on doing what you do my friend!

Please do the whole series, the chromatic and metallic

I hate it when people make swamps out as places where evil lives when in reality it serves as a area of decomposition and can be summed up as natures digestive track

So if I tame a Black Dragon, I'm basically saying "I'm super badass"

I'd love to hear about the red dragon as well. Love your content.

oh crap i just realized something...I'm playing a campaign with my new 3rd sorcerer were currently fighting through a warzone against hoards of Lizard folk and Yuan-ti, sadly our adventure was cut short because of time but we left off over hearing them saying "the general is coming" I have a bad feeling we're about to encounter a black dragon.

My 5e dragonic sorereror, Taka, is a child of a black dragon. He was abandoned when he was young and it left a mental scar on him. He now seeks to gain power to rival that of a dragon so he can face his mother and demand to know why she abandoned him and if she respects him.

Do you think you would have enough content to do a dragon identification or dragon hunting guide?

Im a simple man, i see DnD Dragon lore, i like and sub

Love the lore dad

So we were fighting a black dragon And my friend accidentally summoned a red dragon and green dragon We befriended the green dragon somehow

Odd, I would think that Green Dragons would be more controlling of Lizard Folk than Black Dragons. Just due to the fact that Green Dragons are more manipulating than Black Dragons. Also, maybe a color thing.

something tells me Namira would love this kind of dragon as a pet

A slight correction. To pickle something is to stop the growth if bacteria thus preserving the food. When one leaves a dead corpse in dirty swamp water crawling with bacteria, but possibly lacking oxygen the black dragon is most likely fermenting its food first. Like making sour krout. But with a dead corpse then a cabbage.

Please continue this series. This was great

Imagine trading a coin of a civilization that was destroyrd by a black dragon. They would be so overjoyed

This was great! You and AJ Pickett are my two favorite D&D KZfaqrs! AJ Pickett's dragon series is awesome! And I'm loving your dragon series too! I very much look forward to seeing the new one! :)

The best kind of Dragons.

Excellent! MrRhexx Monster Master

Black dragons will always be my favorite type of dragon. Cool in literally every way. Such badasses.

My d&d dragon is named Bob. He eats cheese puffs and human flesh.

Dragon of colour* Come on dude, it's 2019.

Thanks for posting! I’ve been building up a sort of BBEG figure who is a rogue black dragon (actually 2 brothers working the same persona) for our Xen’drik campaign. I love their trait/role-play element of reptile control. Makes for a powerful force for the party to grapple with.

When your dming new players and One happens to fall in acid, make them break an egg to freak them out

I love this kind of detailed lore vid, it greatly expands my knowledge and immersion of dnd

Definitely keep the dragon lore coming.

My dragonborn has a black dragon ancestry for a reason

One of the reasons I love dnd dragons is how different they each are from color defining breath weapon to each of them have a unique look

Love the video, Black dragons are my 2nd favourite, purple being my 1st. Really looking forward to a green dragon video, it will help me with some backstory fluff and hopefully help me decide which dragon to pick. Currently swinging between green & black.

Finally - more D&D dragon lore!

You say Black Dragons can control reptiles including lizard men. What about the Dragonborn?

I have no idea how you manged to get all this lore on Black Dragons, but that was an incredible video.

I love these D&D lore videos! Keep em coming!

When ever I DM a dragon encounter I always come back to these videos to brush up!

Black Dragon: *Heed my voice, and do as I command* My corn snake: . . . . . . . ?

This one could use a touch-up to compare to your newer videos about what isn't told to us about dragons.

My group and I are going in to the Felwood swamp this Friday. My DM's favorite monster is dragons, specifically black. Thanks for preparing me. Lol

This will be very useful for my black dragon D&D character.

Really excited to see where this dragon series goes! If possible, could you eventually cover the epic dragons like the prismatic and force ones once this series is over?

Why in gods name is anybody disliking this... it's a niche video... doesn't seem worth your time if you didn't like it...

Really loving your vids. It’s been reviving my love of DnD!

SPOILER for Hoard of the Dragon Queen *-* *-* *-* *-* *-* *-* *-* *-* There are three black dragon eggs in the first part of Hoard of the Dragon Queen. They are kept moist in that humid cave by the cultists/Kobolds. And die If you break them open. The fact, that they should be submerged in acid is... Interesting.

Given how alignment in Dnd isn't a mandatory thing to stick to anymore, I wonder if someone has or would try to take the Paarthurnax route for a chromatic dragon. Where they were once evil but overcame their insticts somehow to be good. The same could be applied in reverse for metalic dragons. Since they are usually on the spectrum of good what if one willingly became evil? It would be a cool subversion I think.

I love these soo so much! Can't wait for your video on Blue dragons

As always, love your DnD videos, and I think I wrot you this in other video some time ago but YOU MrRhexx made me start playing DnD and now I made a cool group and we use to play regularly. So yeah, tank you and I hope to see more videos like these. Great Job.

Love the dragon lore. Please cover all the different types.

Black Dragons: Nurgle's rude pets. wait, wrong section of the multiverse.

The position of the horns in 1e and 2e makes perfect sense and has counter-parts in the real world (say a triceratops). The position of the horns of a black dragon in later editions is ridiculous, as it would prevent the dragon from feeding on any sort of larger prey.

Just got a bunch of special art cards of chromatic dragons in the MTG's DnD set and now building a dragon deck. Thought I'd brush up on my lore again to get me hyped for it

Let this video be a reminder of how impossibly miraculous it is for Onyxia to exist. Not unsurprisingly, it cost a LOT of time, in-game money, and other things for the player. For context of who I’m talking about, watch this. It comes in 3 parts. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/rN95pJmSsdXdZ5s.html

Great video. Definitely explains why Green Dragons are able to share territory with Black dragons without dispute. Very useful information.

Please continue doing this videos everything that u ever talked here in the lore , I planned to introduce on my D&D campaign

That little fact about the lizardfolk will make my game neat. One of my players is a lizardfolk and the big bad is an ancient black draogn

I love the story of a black dragon raised by a high level adventurer and became a good dragon paladin of a good aligned war god

i love alignment flips so there's a lawful good ancient black dragon in my current campaign who runs a taxi service, his backstory is that he was essentially raised by a guy who ran into his egg one day and decided to make a friend rather than an omelet and raised him the correct way, his dad is dead by now i mean he is an ancient dragon but he still misses him.

Oddly enough, Pathfinder's black dragons seem to have four horns, two small horns in the same manner as D&D ones and two larger more "conventional" horns.

Is their cientific name _edgelord draconicus_ ?

Hi MrRhexx, only just found your videos and have been working my way through the playlist. What a fantastic job you have done with these, love the detail you go into and the obscure pieces of information you have gathered. Thank you for such wonderfull information sir.

Definitely my favorite dragons for sure

Thank you for the video. This was great for the campaign I'm working on. Now I know about Black Dragons.

Take a sip every time he says "Dragon"

Absolutely incredible videos. The best on dragons there is. Thank you for doing these

I'll bet you anything that Black Dragons are better known as … wait for it … Black Dragons.

Wonderful job once again Rhexx!

A fun campaign could be to slay a Black Dragon and Green Dragon power couple.

Cool video. Helped me prep a dragon encounter for my campaign. Thanks!

Black Dragons: The grumpy old men of the dragon kingdom.

your videos are great i enjoy all of them so much! keep it up! more DND :D

in the lore for the Vast Swamp there is a specific clan of Lizardfolk that hunted black dragons for generations. They did eventually get took over by a black dragon but after a great battle.

My party and I encountered a young black dragon, he was hanging out in a swamp near the village of our lizardfolk party member. The Yuan ti were enslaving them and we were trying to figure out a way to deal with them. Fortunately for us our DM decided that this black dragon was fairly amicable, and our lizardfolk ally offered his village as followers of the dragon if he’d help us save them. After a test of our strength he actually agreed and we started a fight against a bunch of Yuan ti with black dragon air strikes. This all seemed like a pretty great situation to me until I watched this video and realized that we basically just changed their master to something even stronger than what we was initially dealing with.

Great vids guy! Loving all the lore!!

As a newbie to D&D? This vid explained why a black dragon we badly wounded actually bugged out by the time we came back to it's lair. Gods it's out there hunting my party now D:

I just realized that I had a 1ST ED DnD book. I've never played and can't remember where it came from, but I've had it since I was a kid. Nobody I know plays the game either.

Black dragons, the original creators of fermented food.

We need a full Dragon Lore playlist

in my friends 3.5/pathfinder homebrew (where alignment is mostly passive ) my character is a Black dragon Geomancer who is very atypical( though he chugs poisons and acids like any normal person chugs beer) and really really hates being the related to the current king of chromatics.

So...black dragons are basically the Gollums of dragon kind?

Now that seems like the kind of dragons that would want to become a dracolich.

The horns whould block the piriferal vision of the dragon. Potential blind spot.

i love the videos you make , please keep the good content

love your content! keep up the great work!