D&D Creature Feature: Pseudodragons

In an interview I once watched with Jeremy Crawford, one of 5e’s lead designers, he mentioned that some ridiculously high percentage of players of D&D they polled in play testing had never actually encountered a dragon during a session of play. Initially, it seemed absurd, I mean, without Dragons you are just playing “Dungeons” and that is a WHOLE other game… and only fun for the Master… but we digress. With the release of the first dedicated adventure module for the revised rules coming out this month, Dragon Delves, D&D are taking steps to try to ensure that the titular creatures are front and centre for the new/not new 5.24 rules edition. I think this is a good move and I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy… but you know, Australia doesn’t actually exist and it takes a while for even magical books to find their way here… so I’ll have to hug my copy of Fizban’s until then. 

I think one of the reasons a lot of players have never met a dragon is that D&D Beyond stats tell us most games are played at low levels. With the terrible lizards being usually typecast by DMs as big bad boss fight material, they often get overlooked in the early stages of a new adventure, and let’s face it… How many campaigns that are started actually make it all the way to the end, where the super cool winged breath weapon of doom beast boss is waiting? Using low CR drakes like the Pseudodragon is one way to get them into your story much earlier.

These tiniest members of the Draconic family are often associated with being Familiars to good-aligned arcane spell casters. Highly intelligent and fickle, some would say it is more likely that the pseudodragon regards the wizard as its familiar and that they are the boss. I mean, it makes sense, their wizard servant feeds them, finds them shiny treats, and one would imagine cleans up their magical poop sooooo WHOSE THE MASTER NOW HOOMAN?! Not to be confused with their chaotic-good butterfly-winged fey cousins, the Faerie Dragons, these neutral-good guys usually look like, ironically, little red dragons with a poisonous barb on their tails who hang around only as long as it suits them and the gifts keep flowing.

The may be good, but they still are very protective of their tiny hordes!

While on the topic of them being familiars, just a reminder, you can’t actually get a Pseudodragon by using the “Find Familiar” spell, unless you are a Pact of the Chain warlock, and if I were a Pseudodragon, I’d have some real consent issues with THAT particular feature… but yeah, moving on. To acquire one, you’d need to find and then persuade one of the little critters that joining with you is in its best interests. In fact, in the 2025 monster manual, there is even a cool “Motivation Table” you can roll on to see exactly what it is going to take to convince the dragon to sign up to the highest tier of your fantasy Patreon… or, you to theirs as the case may be!

This could be a fun side quest, but it comes with two big risks. Firstly, a familiar gained in this way is not under your command like a summoned one is. Treat it mean and it won’t be keen to hang around. Pseudodragons are intelligent creatures with a score of 10 after all.  (Argh... consent issues sorted). They will have their own goals and personalities, which is great for role play compared to the less intelligent and unquestionably obedient beasts the spell summon version creates. PDs can’t speak, but you’ll enjoy ‘feeling’ what they sense with limited telepathy within 100ft, making them great partners in crime… I mean adventuring.  Secondly, if a summoned familiar dies… no sweat! You just recast, and they come bouncing back. They are spirits in animal form and basically immortal. A found­ familiar dies… and it’s done for short of magical revival.

Sadly, however, the best reason for seeking out a Pseudodragon in the 2014 rules now no longer applies in the new ones. But if you ARE staying with the 2014 version, get one now. Because it comes with one of the most OP familiar abilities you can get… Magic Resistance. While that may be of limited use to a tiny CR1/4 dragon, if they are within 10ft of you, YOU get to share that magic resistance. Normally a trait reserved as an Epic Boon Feat, High-level Abjuration wizards and fringe  playable species, this makes hunting down a PD familiar very rewarding… and you could always ask your benevolent 2024 rules DM to use this optional OP rule….please (hahahahha. No.)  Yeah, good luck with that.

"No Seeps, I am not spending ANOTHER diamond to revive your suicidal pet again."

Right, you’ve encountered this tiny buddy Drake and won it over to your cause. This is not meant to be a rules dive on Familiars, but at my table, at least, adding a ‘Familiar’ in this way is not the same as using the spell. We highlighted the main disadvantage of a squishy end to your new buddy being a big negative, but that comes with the tradeoff that they can attack. I treat ‘found’ familiars more as “bonded pets”. They are their own creature, but with a special relationship to the caster with whom they have partnered. The player can give them directions, track them, and roll their dice, but ultimately, they have their own initiative and are an NPC creature controlled by the DM. Depending on how a player treats their found familiar will depend on when I, as a DM, step in to suggest perhaps that no… Minirex doesn’t want to fly into the face of the Fire Giant and Go for the eyes Rex! Go for the eyes! because it has a healthy sense of self-preservation, and you have been feeding it nothing but Goodberries for the past month (if at all).

However, once in combat, the 2024 Pseudo is now much more effective… well, relatively for a CR1/4 creature that is. A 60ft fly speed is proper quick, and both HP, 7 to 10 and AC, 13 to 14, have been boosted, improving survivability. They are sneaky little buggers with +4 to stealth, and as has been a common theme in the 2025 MM, lost the “Keen Senses” ability in favour of a boost to Perception from +3 to +5, or 15 Passive, to simplify the stat block a little. Here is another often overlooked feature, especially for the magically vision-impaired. Pseudodragons have BOTH 60ft of Darkvision AND 10ft of Blindsight… which they can telepathically communicate to their masters as a bonus action… meaning Hoorah for Halflings, Dragonborn and Humans, you’ve just had permanent darkvision cast on you with a healthy dose of being able to target invisible creatures as your portable echo-location beacon zips around the battlefield relaying the unseen world your stupid sun adjusted eyes can’t fathom.

While not built for combat, should your PD feel brave and rush to your aid in battle, they are also now a LOT more capable than in 2014. Starting with Multiattack doubling their bityness. It’s only 1d4+2 piercing, but at least they get two chomps at the kobold now. Much more interesting is the Sting from the tail attack. No multi on this one, but whereas in 2014 it only did 1d4+2 damage with a DC11 Con Save to avoid the Poisoned condition (with a chance of Unconscious on a bad fail), the 2025 Sting is now a DC12 Suck and See attack that does nothing on a successful CON save, but 2d4 poison damage and Poisons the creature for an hour, AND knocks them unconscious until they are awoken… for an HOUR. That genuinely has a lot of utility and is the final reason why Pseudodragons are super cool and you should annoy your DM by trying to add one to the party at any opportunity.

When you do manage to bribe … I mean, convince both the DM and Pseudodragon to have it join you, you are going to need a cool as paper Mini for the little winged lizard, which luckily you can get for free by heading over to my Patreon and jumping on the free membership tier. I am still new to that platform and getting things sorted out, but for folks keen to flick me a few coppers a month, you’ll also gain access to more paper minis, spell cards, DM tools and monthly discounts on full products from the ZG back catalogue at Zalgariath.com. I hope to see you there as it grows and evolves.