In Forgotten Realms, few things are as feared and iconic as the Dragon. There may be more powerful beings, but few of them are well-known. The Dragon is decent on land, a powerful flier, some even report them swimming. They have armored hides, energy breath weapons, are masters of their special environment, and the older ones are often skilled with magic.

What I'm looking for must fulfill three or more of the following qualifiers:

  • 10 to 20 times taller at the shoulder
  • able to teleport, fly in space, or traverse the Astral Plane
  • has a natural weapon that makes fire breath look as ineffectual as a bow and arrows
  • natural defenses that make dragonhide look as weak as squishy human flesh by comparison.

Does a creature exist in the Forgotten Realms, however rare or far apart its visits may be, that is a threat to the Dragons in the same way that Dragons are to humans?

To be clear, the idea is for it to be more than just a "bigger, stronger dragon" in a literal sense.

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    \$\begingroup\$ What living apex lifeforms are there other than dragons? may be of interest. \$\endgroup\$ – Hey I Can Chan Jul 20 '18 at 10:28
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    \$\begingroup\$ HICC, I'm not looking for something comparable to dragons, but something vastly beyond their scope in a similar way. I have now edited the question, hopefully making it less broad. \$\endgroup\$ – user102021 Jul 21 '18 at 6:45
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    \$\begingroup\$ @user102021 Thank you for clarifying a setting for us. :) \$\endgroup\$ – doppelgreener Jul 21 '18 at 11:49
  • \$\begingroup\$ I'm hesitant to post an answer since you seem to be looking for "not a dragon", but Radiant Dragons seem to possibly meet all of your qualifiers. \$\endgroup\$ – called2voyage Jul 25 '18 at 18:04
  • \$\begingroup\$ After further searching, it seems the consensus online is that the only thing at a higher threat level than the Radiant Dragon is the DM. \$\endgroup\$ – called2voyage Aug 2 '18 at 14:28

Tiamat and Bahamut

While the traditional enemies of the Dragons in most realms are the Giants, and those Giants actually won their wars, you're specifically asking for basically just a bigger, stronger version of a dragon that could kill dragons if they don't like what they're doing.

Both are larger than normal dragons, both are deities so far more difficult to kill than normal dragons for a dragon, and both have unique ways to use breath weapons that normal dragons can not.

Considering plenty of dragons have killed one-another, yet no dragon has yet managed to kill Bahamut or Tiamat (and not for lack of trying), one could say they're a Dragon-level threat to Dragons.

  • \$\begingroup\$ The giants claim that the war ended in a stalemate (see Giantcraft) \$\endgroup\$ – David Coffron Jul 21 '18 at 12:35
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    \$\begingroup\$ "A bigger dragon" wasn't really the objective of the question. After all, Dragons aren't just a bigger human. For a group of well-trained, well-armed humans to kill a dragon is doable, but is a feat of heroes. For a single human to kill a dragon is highly improbable. I'm looking for a creature (not any kind of dragon) that the greatest dragons would stand a chance against together. \$\endgroup\$ – user102021 Jul 21 '18 at 13:50
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    \$\begingroup\$ @user102021 That’s a detail that should be put in the question. \$\endgroup\$ – SevenSidedDie Jul 21 '18 at 15:44
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    \$\begingroup\$ @user102021 You didn't specify edition, but in both AD&D 2e and 3.5 if you think a single human killing a dragon is improbable you may want to take another look at builds for well designed 18th level characters (unless you think high level characters are improbable...but that's another topic). There are also examples in the novels of individuals killing or even subjugating dragons... \$\endgroup\$ – TimothyAWiseman Jul 21 '18 at 20:30
  • \$\begingroup\$ @TimothyAWiseman They are improbable. You know the kind of nonsense a person has to go through to get there? The single-digit health of a Wizard? The droves of undead, goblins, orcs, trolls... Fighting warlords and liches. That's all with a team, more often than not. A character getting to 18th level without help? Astronomically bad odds. \$\endgroup\$ – user102021 Jul 22 '18 at 2:46

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