Help me enumerate the heads of Tiamat

I’m not sure where he heard of the beastie, but Chef Jr. (who loves to draw and whose favorite subject for drawing is dragons) has become very interested in Tiamat, also known to D&Ders as the Chromatic Dragon. Bless his heart, Chef Jr. wants to get his rendition of Tiamat right and asked me what the various head colors and breath weapons are. I think I’ve got it, but I wanted to ask someone to check me on some of the breath weapons. Here’s what I’ve got, in order from Tiamat’s own left to right:

Far left head: Black dragon, breath weapon - acid (?)
Near left head: Blue dragon, breath weapon - lightning/electricity
Center head: red dragon, breath weapon - fire
Near right head: Green dragon, breath weapon - poisonous chlorine gas
Far right head: White dragon, breath weapon - snow/ice/cold (?)

Can anyone tell me if I have these right? I promised Chef Jr. I’d find out the answer and I don’t want to let him down by handing him flawed information.

http://www.zaksrealm.net/Screencap_Gallery/Bones/tiamat.jpg

Screenshot from the old TV show. Not sure it’s canon with the D&D genre, can’t check against the old D&D literature because I don’t have much of it anymore. Couldn’t check it from work anyway.

This image http://guerra-eterna.iespana.es/guerra-eterna/colabora/tiamat.jpg seems to contradict it and it is of a model manufactured by Ral Partha(the official D&D figurine source).

As for the breath weapons, you’ve got them right. Check yourself for dragon info against this handy summary page.

Enjoy,
Steven

Hmmmm. The head order seems exactly reversed in the two images you supplied. Maybe the pic from the TV show is reversed? Hmph.

Looking at the 3rd edition “Deities and Demigods”, it would appear that the order of Tiamat’s heads are (from her left to right) red, blue, green, black and white. Other books may disagree on this, it’s not as though WOTC (or TSR) is very consistent with this sort of things.

The breath weapons of each head are as follows:

White: A cone of cold (70” long).
Black: A line of acid (5” high, 5” wide, 140” long).
Green: A cone of corrosive gas.
Blue: A line of lightning.
Red: A cone of fire.

Could be. It’s pretty easy to tell on the figurine though. Oh, and Tiamat has a stinger tail. The Spectral Dragons of Mystara were created in her image. Up to five heads(hey, they’re not perfect replicas, the mortals are just pale shadows) and a stinger tail. The page I just linked to has info on them, and by extension, her.

Doesn’t help with the order though :frowning: The order/type of Spectral Dragon heads is determined by the DM through a series of dice rolls. Still, the stinger tail is something he won’t want to miss.

Enjoy,
Steven

On Preview: Tom P., quick question, does the Deities and Demigods book have her listed with a stinger tail?

Yes, the stinger tail is still present, it does have a rather strong poison too. And I agree, he won’t want to miss that.

Maybe one of those versions is the rare left-handed Tiamat? :smiley:

Tiamat a southpaw? My world is crumbling…

Wouldn’t that be more like a southclaw? :stuck_out_tongue:

Given her alignment, maybe she changes the sequence randomly?

“Hmmm…Green is looking especially bilious today–maybe she’ll clash better with Red…”

That’s why Tiamat’s %In Lair is so high–she never goes out because it’s too much trouble to style her heads.

:smiley: