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So I've been running my group through Princes of the Apocalypse. The PCs have an item that glows in the presence of dragons.

In the Temple of the Crushing Wave, in one of the treasure hordes, there's a long sword that glows when it's near dragons (like 200ft. or something like that). So great, cool item, the elf ranger snaps it up and has been using it.

Last night they head into the Temple of the Eternal Flame, and at the end of the dungeon, there's a chimera…

Now the chimera has a dragon head, wings and tail. I'm wondering if that's enough to make the dragon-detecting magic activate? My gut feeling is that since the chimera isn't of type "dragon", then no it wouldn't glow.

Does the dragon detecting enchantment cause it to glow in the presence of a chimera?

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    \$\begingroup\$ If you're the DM, perhaps you could rule that it only starts to glow within 100ft instead of 200, or it doesn't glow as brightly? Assuming you're not strictly stucking to RAW that is. \$\endgroup\$
    – Jamie Brace
    Commented Oct 6, 2016 at 15:37

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When it says detects "dragon" it would be something with the type of "Dragon".

Chimera are not:

Large Monstrosity

Therefore by RAW it would not detect them. DM can override obviously given the "flavor" of the chimera as this would not break anything and depending on how you rule the origin of the thing in your games it might make sense.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ This is exactly what I assumed, I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't overlooking something. Since it's a "monstrosity" type and not a "dragon" type, then the sword will not glow. :) \$\endgroup\$
    – DMfiend
    Commented Oct 6, 2016 at 15:44
  • \$\begingroup\$ You might have it flicker once or twice - enough to keep the players from complaining "but it looks like a dragon!", but not enough to give any useful information. Apart from freaking them out, which is fun in and of itself. \$\endgroup\$
    – ArmanX
    Commented Oct 6, 2016 at 22:04

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