D&D: One Week Later, WotC Gives Us the Whole Gold Dragon
Last week’s Gold Dragon tease was only the beginning. On D&D Beyond, WotC has shown off the full Gold Dragon stat block.
Last week we got a glimpse of the Ancient Gold Dragon in the 2025 Monster Manual. Well, yesterday, D&D Beyond revealed the whole stat block, complete with all of the changes, including Lair Actions and Legendary Actions.
The D&D Beyond team also breaks down what goes into a new monster stat block/entry in general, including information that isn’t in the stat block. This means info like treasure tables and gear that the monster might have and might use—all of which you’ll see in the new Monster Manual. But we get a taste of it right now.
What’s in a Stat Block Anyway?
In the D&D Beyond article, WotC walks us through just what you can expect from new monster entries in the 2025 Monster Manual. And to show it off, they use the full stat block of the ancient gold dragon, which we got a partial glimpse of last week. The red arrows highlight some of the differences you’ll find in the new stat block.
And in general, monster entries have more information. As we saw, initiative is listed out plainly and comes with two options, one that you can either roll or you can use a static initiative (which is basically the same as passive perception, start at 10 and go from there). Ability scores now have the full saving throw bonus listed next to the modifier. Some monsters will even have a gear section (though the ancient gold dragon does not).
WotC also mentions that at the start of each monster entry in the 2025 Monster Manual you’ll find information about the monsters’ habitat and treasure tables. The treasure is especially important, because many monsters can use the treasure they have.
But What Does That Gold Dragon Do?
Now that that’s out of the way, let’s look at the rest of the ancient gold dragon stat block, starting with its Spellcasting list. It casts spells at a fairly high level with a staggering saving throw DC of 24. On the list of spells we have a level 4 Guiding Bolt at will, Detect Magic, and Shapechange (though Shapechange doesn’t benefit the dragon with temporary hit points). And once per day it can cast Flame Strike, Zone of Truth, and Word of Recall.
Then there’s the Weakening Breath. Weakening Breath has been souped up from its 5E version. Creatures affected by it have disadvantage on Strength based attack rolls, saves, and skill checks, and do 1d10 less damage on every roll they make. Which can hamper the party pretty substantively, depending.
But those aren’t the only spells. The ancient gold dragon also has three different legendary actions—though here I must admit to being mildly disappointed. After the many times that the designers mentioned Dragons would still have lair actions, the result is kinda a nothing burger.
They don’t have lair actions. They just have an extra legendary action they can do in their lair. Which is fine. Maybe other dragons will have lair specific actions—but for now the ancient gold dragon has powerful legendary abilities, though weirdly enough, none of them follow up on the strength disadvantage that its weakening breath infers.
And that’s the full ancient gold dragon, what do you think?
