Editing Ferrous Dragon (section)

==Steel Dragon==
[[File:Steel dragon ddi.jpg|left|300px]]
The '''Steel Dragon''' has a rather complex history.

The ''very first'' Steel Dragon was a unique character appearing in 1st Edition in [[Dragon Magazine]] #62 alongside it's brother the [[Chromatic Dragon|Grey Dragon]]. Also known by the name Ahi, this lawful good dragon lives in a secluded floating castle high in the atmosphere. He has three breath weapons: poison cloud, scalding water vapor, or a cone that causes those affected to assume ''gaseous form''. Ahi himself is inherently gaseous, and appears as a shifting, dragon-shaped cloud.

Steel dragons as a species then showed up in 2nd Edition as a draconic breed unique to the setting of [[Greyhawk]]. This, combinined with their prominent presence in the City of Greyhawk, led to their alternative nickname of "Greyhawk Dragons". They made their debut in the Greyhawk Appendix for the Monstrous Compendium, and were subsequently reprinted in 1993's Monstrous Manual, albeit with a fancy new colored art piece.

The confusion stems from the fact that ''another'' Steel Dragon debuted in 2e as well; the [[Forgotten Realms]] Steel Dragon, in the original [[Draconomicon]]. Whilst their basic personalities (and thus fluff) were identical, save for an expansion on habitat/society lore, they differed in their abilities.

Oerthian steel dragons exhale a cloud of short-lived but lethally poisonous gas, whilst Faerunian ones breathe a stupefying gas instead. Faerunian dragons have tougher scales than their Oerthian counterparts ([[THAC0|AC is 2 points lower at all stages]]), and their magic resistance is superior; both dragons are flat-out immune to all [[Wizard]] spells of 1st to 4th level, but Faerunian steels have a 75% magic resistance on top of that. Finally, their spell-like abilities gained from the Young to Old stages of their lives are different:
* Greyhawk Dragons gain access to Cantrip 2/day, Friends 1/day, Charm Person 3/day, Suggestion 1/day, Enthrall 1/day
* Faerunian Steel Dragons gain access to Detect Lie 3/day, Charm Person 3/day, Suggestion 3/day, Antipathy/Sympathy 2/day, Imbue With Spell Ability 1/day

And for added insult, the Greyhawk Dragon casts these abilities as if they were 8th level, and the Faerunian Dragon casts them as if they were 11th level!

The fact that these dragons was so close did not go unacknowledged. The Draconomicon itself states that two races are "almost certainly related", but insists they're not the exact same breed. This was doubled down upon in issue #206 of [[Dragon Magazine]], where the [[Half-Dragon]] expansion portrayed Half-Greyhawk Dragon and Half-Steel Dragon as being two different things.

[[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition]] played with this idea. The Greyhawk Dragon made a 3.5 debut in the Creature Catalog IV article in Dragon #339; the Faerunian Steel Dragon would show up in ''Dragons of Faerun''. Their flavor text was almost identical, but with the setting specifics swapped out - the 3.5 Greyhawk dragon's fluff explicitly states that Steel Dragons are their descendants born from dragons that traveled off of Oerth. Both species now had the same breath weapon; a twofer that could be deployed as either a line of acid or as a cone of poisonous (Constitution damage) gas. However, Faerunian Steel dragons lack the Greyhawk Dragon's Minor Arcane Shield Trait, have the Alternate Form supernatural ability instead of the Greyhawk Dragon's Polymorph Self 5/day spell-like ability, and are true dragon spellcasters who can also cast [[cleric]]al spells, especially those of the Knowledge and Trickery [[Cleric Domain]]s.

The ''Dragons of Faerun'' version, like all other true dragons, was '''never printed with a PC stat block''', and was therefore '''no more suitable for use as a player character than any other true dragon'''. However, among players who didn't give a damn about the <strike>rules</strike> ''more what you'd call guidelines than actual rules'', and the DMs who enabled them, Faerunian Steel dragons became the favored breed of True Dragon to play due to their low starting ECL (4 racial hit dice and +2 level adjustment), arcane spellcasting, and ability to assume humanoid form, which, like Silver dragons, they spent as much time in as possible for the purpose of <strike>getting some hot interracial action</strike> infiltrating and studying humanoid society. White Dragons started at an even lower level (3 RHD and +2 LA), but were less popular due to being basically retarded (int score of 6 for a hatchling) and unable to assume humanoid form, and not getting any spells until ECL 17.

Finally, [[Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition]] came along and decided that this was a pointless headache. It formally made Steel Dragons a part of the Metallic Dragon family, and got rid of the setting specific versions.

Despite this long and spiralling path, the Steel Dragon's personality has remained remarkably consistent throughout the editions. Regardless of which version you look at, all steel dragons find humanoids ''fascinating''; they are the most "civilized" of the dragon breeds, using their ability to assume humanoid form to integrate neatly into humanoid societies. Whilst they still pursue the typical draconic pursuit of wealth, they also legitimately enjoy being part of their communities, and their draw to the position of scholars and sages is as much an excuse to learn more about the people with whom they live as it is to provide an outlet for draconic pride.

4th edition did make a slight change to this characterization when it added a certain chaotic tinge to the race; the 4e Steel Dragon is a huge believer in personal liberty, and cannot abide tyranny. This makes them surprisingly bitter enemies of some breeds of Metallics; the readiness with which Bronze and Gold Dragons will take absolute authority and justify it as "I know best" incenses the 4e version of Steel Dragons, who do their best to take these "benevolent tyrants" down a few pegs.

[[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition|5th Edition]] has decided to end the confusion once and for all by declaring that steel dragons do not exist. Rather, steel dragons (and [[Song Dragon|song dragons]]) are just convenient names applied by humans to any dragons that happen to live in close proximity to humans and spend lots of time transformed as humanoids, and no such unique species exists. This is, of course, what we call "a lame decision".  Even worse, the statement that steel dragons do not exist contradicts a previous 5th edition book.  A steel dragon makes an appearance in the module Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage, but it does not have its own stat block and the book tells you to use the silver dragon stat block with a few modifications.
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