Deep Dive - The Chimera
The Chimera is one of those creatures you think Gygax would have thought up in his basement while he was creating other disturbing creatures such as the Owlbear and Xorn, but you’d be wrong. The Chimera has a history reaching all the way back to Greek mythology, as it’s the offspring of the massive serpent Typhon and Echidna, a half-woman, half-snake creature. The Chimera was originally a beast depicted as a lion, with the head of a goat, and on its hindquarters was its tail with a snakehead. The creature was quite gruesome, and it would be foolhardy to attempt to attack it, as it had three mouths, razor-sharp claws, and, oh yeah… could breathe fire.
Across the world, there are a large variety of creatures that fall under the Chimera category. In the Iliad (c. 1194–1184 BC), the Chimera is described as a monster represented with a lion's head, a goat's body, and a serpent's tail. In Japanese mythology, the creature is known as a Nue, which combined a tiger, monkey, snake, and dog. The Chinese Pi Yau was a terrifying creature that combined a lion and a snake, and is sporting antlers for good measure.
In Dungeons & Dragons, a Chimera is the combination of the goat, lion, and dragon. It has the wings of a dragon attached to the lion's body, with the hindquarters and rear legs of a goat, with the heads of all three. The dragon head can turn you into an extra crispy adventurer by breathing fire, the goat will gore you with its horns, and the lion will tear at you with its massive jaws filled with razor-sharp teeth.
But maybe it hasn't always been so vicious, maybe they were once nice and just wanted to be loved. Probably not.
OD&D - Chimera
No. Appearing: 1-4
Armor Class: 4
Move: 12/18
Hit Dice: 9
% in Lair: 50%
No. of Attacks: 2 claws/3 heads
Damage/Attack: 1-3/claw; GOAT HEAD - 1-4/horn; LION HEAD - 2-8/bite; DRAGON HEAD - 3-12/bite** (unless using breath weapon, 3HD)
Treasure: Type F
Dungeons & Dragons Supplement II: Blackmoor, 1975 TSR Inc.
The Chimera appears in the White Box Set - Book 2: Monsters & Treasures (1973) and we can only imagine that it is a monster that all efficiency-focused adventurers would love to fight as you get to fight three creatures at once. The Chimera is described as the combination of the deadliest parts of the goat, lion, and dragon. It combines the powerful forebody of a lion, the powerful hind legs of a goat, and dragon wings, giving it the ability to fly! It has the heads of all three creatures, of course, each of which has its own threat that your mighty adventurers will have to deal with.
If you are an adventurer wanting three heads to stuff on your wall but don’t feel like spanning the globe for three separate monsters, you might think the Chimera is the perfect creature to hunt down. Unfortunately, that isn’t quite the case, especially as you might end up having to fight 4 of them at a single time… which is great for your wall with 12 snarling heads on it, but not so great for your health. In OD&D, before any supplements have gotten a chance to come out, a monster can make a number of attacks equal to the number of Hit Die they have… which means a Chimera can make 9 attacks. That’s a lot of damage against a single creature, nevermind that a dragon head could simply decide to breathe fire instead of biting you. If the dragon head does decide to spit hot fire at you, those around you are also in danger as it hits everyone within 50 feet.
It’s not until Supplement 1 - Greyhawk (1975) that the number of attacks is cleared up, along with a handful of other rules for this system. In this supplement, optional rules are provided where instead of relying on the number of Hit Die to determine the number of attacks a creature gets, each creature gets a more involved stat block and our Chimera gets 2 claws and 3 bite attacks. It can still replace a dragon head attack with its breath weapon, and frankly, if you aren’t running away from this creature, you are far braver than us.
Basic D&D - Chimera
Armor Class: 4
Hit Dice: 9**
Move: 120’ (40’), Flying 180’ (60’)
Attacks: 2 claws/3 heads + breath
Damage: 1-3/1-3/2-8/1-10/3-12 + 3-18
No. Appearing: 1-2 (1-4)
Save As: Fighter: 9
Morale: 9
Treasure Type: F
Alignment: Chaotic
XP Value: 2,300
BECMI Expert Set 2, 1983 TSR Inc.
The Chimera appears in the Holmes Box Set (1974), the Moldvay/Cook Expert Rules (1981), and the BECMI Expert Rules (1983). The Chimera’s physical description remains true to the previous edition, with the BECMI edition adding the dragon tail to the body. There is no mention of a tail attack, so at least you don’t have to worry about that while you focus on the three heads trying to bite and gore you to death.
Our three-headed monster's biggest change comes when exploring the damage it can inflict on your poor character. The Chimera gets 5 attacks, it first uses its lion legs to make two claw attacks, it then follows that up with goring you with goat horns, a horrible chomp from a lion, and then the dragon head gets to decide if it is going to bite or breath fire. It has a 50% chance of breathing fire each round, though it can only use this ability three times a day. The fire breath attack is the most painful of all the Chimera’s attack, though it is capped at 3d6 damage, unlike true dragons who deal an amount of damage equal to their number of Hit Die. While you may think hiding behind the fighter will save you from being attacked, the fire breath has a range of 50 feet, so don’t think you’re safe when you are hiding in the back.
BECMI is the first version to give us Chimera art, and while it isn’t going to win any awards, it’s still pretty good. We can see the three heads, a fearsome dragon with weird wing flaps on its head, a male lion with a large mane, and a rather sullen-looking goat with large horns. While the Chimera from Greek mythology is always depicted as a lioness, we’ll give them a pass seeing as how Greek mythology didn’t include dragons but rather a sneak head for a tail. The other interesting thing about the art is that we can see what type of goat breed we are being forced to fight to the death with. Not all goats have horns, and not all horned goats have horns suitable for goring a creature. For example, the bezoar ibex goat has sharp horns shaped like a scimitar that curls inward towards the back of its head, making it very difficult for them to gore someone. A typical mountain goat has horns that stick up with a slight curve, perfect for goring a poor adventurer, while a girgentana goat has horns that curl into a circle, which is great to bludgeon you to death, but not so much for goring you. When your DM throws a Chimera on the table, make sure to ask what breed of goat makes up the horrifying creature before you, it might not be goring you but smashing and breaking your bones.
Let’s say you do get into a fight with a Chimera, just how dangerous is this creature? If you can defeat it, you gain 2,300 XP but how much is that really? Well, that means the Chimera is as powerful as a cyclops, if that isn’t dangerous enough for you, it is also as powerful as a cloud giant or a purple worm, and stronger than a hydra, tyrannosaurus rex, and most vampires. The Chimera is no joke in this edition and is a frightening foe to face, but if you do defeat one, there is a very slim chance, about 10 to 30%, that their lair might have thousands of silver, electrum, gold, platinum, gems, jewelry, and any magic item except weapons. It’s not a great chance to find wealth beyond your wildest dreams, and frankly, you are better off just fighting a white dragon, which has a similar challenge level and you have a far greater chance of finding vast sums of treasure.
In the module X11 - Saga of the Shadow Lord (1986), an evil wraith lord has created an Undead Chimera. It’s no longer a living beast but an undead creature and it no longer breathes fire but now a cone of cold, and not the spell. If a cleric attempts to turn undead on the Undead Chimera, it is the equivalent of a vampire and will scurry away from the cleric if it is successfully turned.
AD&D - Chimera
Frequency: Rare
No. Appearing: 1-4
Armor Class: 6/5/2
Move: 9”/18”
Hit Dice: 9
% in Lair: 40%
Treasure Type: F
No. of Attacks: 6
Damage/Attack: 1-3/1-3/1-4/1-4/2-8/3-12
Special Attacks: Breath weapon
Special Defenses: Nil
Magic Resistance: Standard
Intelligence: Semi-
Alignment: Chaotic evil
Size: L (4’ at shoulder)
Psionic Ability: Nil
Monster Manual, 1977 TSR Inc.
Appearing in the Monster Manual (1977), our child-safe, family-approved Chimera is shown more love than before. The basics remain the same, but a bit more detail is added, letting us know it has the hindquarters of a huge goat with black fur, which matches its pretty amber eyes and yellow horn. The front half of the body is that of a lion, sporting yellow fur and a beautiful dark brown mane the moves up the lion's neck. The dragon wings affixed to the body are that of a dragon and dark brown. The dragon head has orange scales with black eyes and a dark mouth that can unleash roaring flames in a 50-foot cone. Still terrifying and we can’t believe anyone would willingly fight one.
Our Chimera is getting closer to its original roots where it once had 9 attacks, though we are still a bit away as it is just 6 attacks. While it doesn’t specify what part of the Chimera is actually attacking us, we can probably guess that it’s the lion’s claws, a few bites from the lion and goat, a good headbutt/gore from the goat, and to top it all off with a powerful dragon bite at the end. Interestingly, there is no information in this edition about the dragon having to change its mind when making a bite attack or using its breath weapon, so based on the stat block, 50% of the time the Chimera could also throw a breath weapon on top of their 6 attacks. And, there is no limit to the number of times the Chimera can breathe fire, making this creature even more dangerous.
Even more confusing about this creature is that it has 3 different armor class values, 6 / 5 / 2. As a reminder, the lower the number, the better the armor class! It’s a bit difficult to tell what exactly it’s supposed to mean by that, but you can assume a few things. Three creatures make up the Chimera, and there are three values for the armor class. It could be assumed that depending on where you are stabbing this creature, you are going to have a harder or easier time of it and so our opinion, based on the next version of the Chimera we are going to talk about, is that the dragon portions have a 2 AC, the lion has a 5 AC, and the goat portions have a 6 AC.
Monster Manual 2, 1983 TSR Inc.
We spilled the beans already, there is another Chimera in this edition! The Monster Manual 2 (1983) gives us the Gorgimera, the result of a gorgon and Chimera having lust in their hearts for one another. These creatures are, thankfully, sterile, so only the romantic rendezvous of these two creatures can result in this frightening creature. The Gorgimera replaces the portions of the goat on it for the gorgon, meaning it now has the hindquarters of a gorgon and the head of a gorgon trying to bash and gore you to death. The gorgon parts boast a metallic blue color, with red-rimmed blues eyes, and those baby blue eyes can see into the Astral and Ethereal planes, so that’s one less place you can hide.
While DM’s might hate this creature as much as the Chimera since there is a bunch of information they have to keep track of when you fight one. The armor class is thankfully simplified a bit, with the lion's head and body parts the only ones with a 5 AC and the remaining of the creature having a 2 AC. The Gorgimera ‘only’ has 5 melee attacks, as it can slash you with its claws, bite with its lion head, bite with the dragon head, and headbutt you with its gorgon head.
While we wish we could say it isn’t all bad if you want to take down a Gorgimera, we’d be lying and we can’t do that to you. The barest bit of good news we can provide is that now it can only use its dragon’s breath weapon twice per day. But that’s because the gorgon head gets its own breath attack. The gorgon can breathe a petrifying breath twice a day, doing so in a 30 foot long and 10-foot wide cone. It does not cause damage, but failing your petrification save results in you turning to stone. While you may have always wanted a statue in your honor, we doubt you wanted to be the actual statue.
If you decide that you are good and you didn’t want a gorgon, lion, and dragon head mount in your new inn, and try to run away from the Gorgimera, it will automatically use one of its breath weapons against you. In addition to that, it can simply just fly above you and blast you with its breath weapons and then swoop in to swipe and eat you while you run away. On top of all of that, it’ll also be insulting you as the Chimera and Gorgimera both speak a limited form of the red dragon language, so you have a linguistics lesson to look forward to as it devours you.
Dragon #94, February 1985 TSR Inc.
In Dragon #94 (February 1985) we get a chance to learn more about this fascinating creature in The Ecology of the Chimera by Ed Greenwood. It’s shorter than the other Ecology of articles we’ve seen in the past, but it’s packed full of all sorts of information. The source of the Chimera’s ecology is Alaphondar, a Sage Most Learned of the Royal Court of King Cormyr, in his book De Naturis Rerum (About the Things of Nature). We don’t know about you, but to us, that fancy title screams pompous jerk.
Focusing on the Chimera, it is revealed that the creature is not the sharpest tool in the shed, and it turns out the lion's head is the one in charge. Which, while we would have voted for the dragon head, at least it wasn’t the goat head. We knew from the stat block that the Chimera still had its flying ability, but according to Alaphondar, it’s an even crappier flyer than we thought. Our royal court wizard talks about how the Chimera uses its wings primarily to gain the high ground, which as we all know, means you’ve won the battle before it begins, and then tries to pounce on a creature and ignore its wings for the rest of the fight.
This article can also provide a bit more complexity for a willing DM as Ed Greenwood talks about breaking up the Hit Die piecemeal and giving them to different pieces of the Chimera. With a total of 9 Hit Die, it distributes them with 2 to the dragon head, 2 to the lion head, the goat head only gets 1, the wings get a single Hit Die to share, and the body gets the remaining 3. This is important because that means you can target heads and destroy them. If you destroy the lion head, then the dragon head becomes in charge, and if you kill the dragon and lion head, the goat is in charge and the Chimera goes out in a frenzied blood bath unable to stop itself until everything around it is destroyed. If it somehow survives losing two heads and can kill whatever did that, it’ll fly off to a cave and spend a few months in quiet contemplation as it regrows new heads to replace the dead ones.
The article also gives us a new Chimera type creature, the Thessalmera. This creature is the result of a Chimera and a thessalhydra mating. In case you were wondering what a thessalhydra was, it is a huge lizard-like creature with a giant mouth and pincer tail with an additional 8 snake heads attached to the main head. The main head can do up to 20 points of damage, each snake head up to 6, the tail can grapple you and do damage, and to top it off, it can spit acid. So when we add that to a Chimera, the fun really begins. The Thessalmera is all lizard body, and it keeps the pincer tail of its thessalhydra. It loses the goat head but gains six to eight snakelike heads to go along with the dragon and lion heads. All this together means that the Thesselmera can make a total of 11 attacks on you as well as using its breath weapon… and 8 of those attacks can inject acidic venom into its target. It's probably best to just run away at this point, even if you somehow survive killing the Thessalmera, it won’t be worth the pain.
2e - Chimera
Climate/Terrain: Any temperate to tropical
Frequency: Rare
Organization: Solitary or pride
Activity Cycle: Any
Diet: Omnivore
Intelligence: Semi (2-4)
Treasure: F
Alignment: Chaotic evil
No. Appearing: 1-4
Armor Class: 6/5/2
Movement: 9, Fl 18 (E)
Hit Dice: 9
THAC0: 11
No. of Attacks: 6
Damage/Attack: 1-3/1-3/1-4/1-4/ 2-8 (2d4)/3-12 (3d4)
Special Attacks: Breath weapon
Special Defenses: Nil
Magic Resistance: Nil
Size: L (5’ tall at the shoulder)
Morale: Elite (13-14)
XP Value: 5,000
Monstrous Compendium Volume 1, 1989 TSR Inc.
We find our favorite multi-headed monster appearing in the Monstrous Compendium Volume 1 (1989) and is later reprinted in the Monstrous Manual (1993). The Gorgimera appears also appears alongside the Chimera, and it’s just as frightening as before. The description of the Chimera’s body and heads remains the same. All in all, the lore for the Chimera never really gets deep in this edition, and when the interesting question of exactly how these creatures came to be, the books simply state it’s better if you don’t know.
While the Chimera still attacks in the same ways, with its six attacks per round, it does clarify that if the dragon head decides to breathe fire, it replaces the dragon’s bite attack, though it's still pretty vague about which of the damage rolls is the dragon’s bite. In addition to that minor change, it also clarifies that if you decide to attack the Chimera from the flank, you are attacking the dragon’s AC of 2, from the rear is the goat’s AC of 6, and the front, where all the heads are, is the lion’s AC of 5.
Monstrous Manual, 1993 TSR Inc.
Turning our focus on to the lore, Chimeras, not surprisingly, require a lot of food. Ask anyone with kids, and they’ll tell you three mouths is a lot to feed. Once it stakes out its territory, it will hunt most anything within it, for the lion and dragon heads desire a flesh driven diet. It can survive on plant life alone, and the goat spends its time eating the toughest vegetation it can find, munching away happily as the other two heads keep an eye out for halfling appetizers. This being the case, a Chimera’s territory can be up to 20 square miles and it rarely appreciates visitors. Being at the top of the food chain, the Chimera will dine on whatever it pleases, especially enjoying the flesh from travelers unfortunate enough to wander into its lands. Once it kills those foolish enough to stumble across it, its dragon genetics kick in, and it gathers up all the dead’s treasure to hoard away, usually, in a comfy cave it calls home and then curls up on it for a well-deserved nap.
Before we move on to the next batch of Chimera lore, the Gorgimera does show up in both and it is still the more powerful of the two Chimeras. To put it into some perspective, the Chimera is as powerful as a dao genie or an aboleth, while a Gorgimera is as powerful as a couatl or death knight. Compared to later editions, that’s a pretty big difference in many of those monsters but you can at least infer that the Gorgimera is not something you want to mess with. It still has its petrifying breath it can breathe twice per day and it replaces the poor goat in place of a fearsome gorgon. Interestingly, the Gorgimera is still an omnivore like the Chimera, which means that the gorgon head is eating all the vegetables for the body, while the other two continue just feeding on meat.
The Chimera gets featured in Elminister’s Ecologies (1994), which features nine books by several different authors writing about the plants, animals, creatures, and cultures in the Eastern Heartlands of the Forgotten Realms campaign setting. Elminster, also known as the Sage of Shadowdale, penned the first book, a general study of everything in the region. Oddly enough, the excerpt from his book is all about rabbits. Why rabbits? We have no idea. The other eight authors focused on specific regions within the Heartlands. The Chimeras of Cormanthor see the entire region as its oyster, wandering randomly throughout the lands, feasting on whatever may come their way. There is a particularly mean type of Chimera, identified by its red lips, which is the result of a Chimera spending too much time sitting atop elm trees. While up there, their lips get sunburned, and eating causes them agonizing pain. This, in turn, makes them foul-tempered beast, driven to attack anything, including dragons, as a way to purge themselves of the rage they feel for forgetting sunblock. It’s really weird and we honestly have no idea how that piece of lore made the cut to be included in the book.
The Chimeras that reside in the Stonelands and Goblin Marches are an unhappy lot, as the three heads of the creature are constantly at war with one another. It is also stated that while the creature rarely produces offspring, the creatures are not an endangered species, as these Chimeras seem unaffected by age, living only until a hearty adventurer and friends kill the foul beast. When an offspring is produced, it isn’t always just a regular old Chimera. This new horror has an entire body made up of scales and dumps the goat head in return for a second, lightning-breathing dragon head. They don’t live very long as they are crazier than a pack of berzerkers and will attack just about anything on sight. The last mention of the Chimera refers to those who live in the mountain ranges of Thunder Peaks and Storm Horns. They are tame compared to the Eastern Heartland brethren, as these Chimeras are quite content to live in deep caverns within the mountains, roaming out for food when needed, which means that whenever they do see the sky, the dragon head pleads with the other heads to soar through the sky and use its dragon wings finally.
Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume 3, 1996 TSR Inc.
Our beloved Thessalmera returns in the Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume 3 (1996), and not much changes for it. It has a scaled lizard-like body, a pincer-clawed tail with six to eight snakeheads, a lion’s head on one shoulder, and a red dragon head on the other shoulder. They are often found in swamps or jungles and can endure extreme elements with little issue. They like to live close to settlements where it can feed on livestock and humanoids, as human flesh is their favorite… which isn’t too surprising. Apparently, human flesh is just the best based on all the other monsters we’ve done in the past.
Cult of the Dragon, 1998 WotC
Our last Chimera is a bit of a weirdo and is found in the Cult of the Dragon (1998) and is what happens when an evil dragon becomes lustful for a Chimera… for some reason. The Dracimera is the result of that foul consummation and has two heads on its front, that of a dragon with a lion’s mane and a dragon head with two goat horns, and at its tail is a dragon head and neck that resembles the same coloring as its parent dragon. Dragon cults often have many of these foul creatures and use them as guard-dragons or used as shock troopers when they attack a settlement. Since the Dracimera is so rare, very few of them exist in the wild, though if they do stumble across a Chimera, once per decade they are willing to mate and the result will be a single Dracimera ready to rip and tear their way through the world once they get old enough to devour all creatures.
3e/3.5e - Chimera
Large Magical Beast
Hit Dice: 9d10+27 (76 hp)
Initiative: +1
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares), fly 50 ft. (poor)
Armor Class: 19 (–1 size, +1 Dex, +9 natural), touch 10, flat-footed 18
Base Attack/Grapple: +9/+17
Attack: Bite +12 melee (2d6+4)
Full Attack: Bite +12 melee (2d6+4) and bite +12 melee (1d8+4) and gore +12 melee (1d8+4) and 2 claws +10 melee (1d6+2)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Breath Weapon
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, scent
Saves: Fort +9, Ref +7, Will +6
Abilities: Str 19, Dex 13, Con 17, Int 4, Wis 13, Cha 10
Skills: Hide +1*, Listen +9, Spot +9
Feats: Alertness, Hover, Iron Will, Multiattack
Climate/Terrain: Temperate hills
Organization: Solitary, pride (3–5), or flight (6–13)
Challenge Rating: 7
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Always chaotic evil
Advancement: 10–13 HD (Large); 14–27 HD (Huge)
Level Adjustment: +2 (cohort)
Monster Manual, 2000 WotC
The Chimera shows up in the Monster Manual (2000/2003), and while there is sparse information about our beloved Chimera, what changes are there are fairly radical. Before we get to the big reveal, let’s talk about the Chimera basics. It bites and claws and gores like all its previous incarnations. DM’s of the world rejoiced as the Chimera’s AC is simplified to the single number 19. They love to attack from above, as the high ground always leads to victory. That, plus they still cannot fly worth a crap, so pouncing on an unsuspecting creature is the best use of its tiny little dragon wings. Now, they speak the language of all dragons, draconic, but prefer to be the strong and silent type unless they run into a foe tougher than them and wish to beg for mercy.
Monster Manual 2, 2002 WotC
So that big change we were talking about has to do with the Chimera’s dragon head. While we all love our red dragon, we are no longer limited to just one color or one breath weapon type. The five chromatic dragons; black, blue, red, green, and white, are all options now, each with their own breath weapon to screw up an adventurer’s day. The breath weapon range is equivalent to that of a small dragon, which, while not great, it’s still better than a tiny dragon. This provides a few different ways of running a pride of Chimeras and even could have a gaggle of them all attack a party each with a different colored dragon head.
Dungeonscape, 2007 WotC
If you’ve ever looked at the Chimera and thought to yourself that the lion is doing nothing in the three-way relationship, well we are excited for you. In the Monster Manual II (2002), there is a Chimeric Creature template so you can make a three-headed creature of your very own, though you must have a goat head and a chromatic dragon head. Of all the creatures, we would’ve thought the goat would’ve gotten the boot seeing as how we had the Gorgimera that replaced the goat portion of the Chimera. In the lion’s place, you can put any animal, beast, or vermin; and the example that the book decided to use was an ankheg… in case you ever wanted a massive bug sandwiched between a goat and dragon. Once you’ve selected what creature you want to be in your Chimera sandwich, the Chimera gains all of the normal attacks of the chosen creature, even if it is something like spitting acid or being a freaking ant. You still retain the right to choose whichever dragon head you want, so if ice is your thing, it’s a white dragon on your creation. We still can’t get over that the Chimeric example was with an ankheg as it makes an insanely unattractive creature that spits and drools acid, along with being able to exhale a cone of cold from its dragon head. Of course, our first choice for a Chimeric creature would be an owlbear, unfortunately, that isn’t allowed because Dungeons & Dragons hates fun.
Dungeon #112, Jully 2004 WotC
The Chimera makes a few more appearances in various other books and magazines. A Chimera guards the Fount of Dorl Tavyani in the adventure Vanity, found in Dungeon Magazine #93 (July/August 2002). In the Dungeon Magazine #112 (July 2004) Maure Castle Redux adventure, a massive Advanced Maurid Chimera wanders the fourth level of the castle. Maurids are the magical manifestations of the Maurid spellcasters, and this Chimera is no joke. It is completely grey in color and the only way to permanently destroy it is to destroy a powerful crystal that gives it its life force and increased strength and abilities. In the campaign setting Dungeonscape (2007), we are introduced to the Dungeonbred Blue Chimera. Dungeonbred is a monster template that can be applied to any animal, beast, or vermin that decreases their size, but gives them greater survivability inside of a dungeon. As a dungeon bred, the Chimera is a medium creature and was created with one thing in mind - long term survival in a dungeon setting.
4e - Chimera
Level 15 Elite Brute
Large natural magical beast / XP 2,400
Initiative +10 / Senses Perception +14; all-around vision, darkvision
HP 366; Bloodied 183; see also bloodied breath
AC 27; Fortitude 29, Reflex 23, Will 24
Resist 10 fire
Saving Throw +2
Speed 6, fly 1- (clumsy), overland flight 15
Action Points 1
Lion’s Bite (standard; at-will) +18 vs. AC; 2d8 + 7 damage.
Ram’s Charge (standard; at-will) The chimera makes a charge attack; +19 vs. AC; 1d10 + 11 damage, and the target is pushed 1 square or knocked prone.
Triple Threat (standard; at-will) The chimera makes the following three melee attacks, each one against a different target: Lion’s Bite +18 vs. AC; 2d8 + 7 damage. Dragon’s Bite +18 vs. AC; 3d6 + 7 damage. Ram’s Gore +18 vs. AC; 1d10 + 7 damage, and the target is knocked prone.
Dragon Breath (standard; encounter) ✦ Fire Close blast 5; +16 vs. Reflex; 2d6 + 3 damage, and ongoing 10 fire damage (save ends)
Bloodied Breath (free, when first bloodied; encounter) The chimera recharges and uses dragon breath.
Alignment Unaligned / Languages Common, Draconic
Str 24 (+14) | Dex 17 (+10) | Wis 14 (+9) | Con 23 (+13) | Int 5 (+4) | Cha 17 (+10)
Monster Manual, 2008 WotC
The 4th edition Monster Manual (2008) brings us a single Chimera, disappointing since most creatures in this edition get two or three additional variants. It feels like the Chimera would be a perfect creature to create all sorts of terrifying monsters, but alas, we only have the basic Chimera. On a positive note, the Chimera art in 4e is probably some of the best we’ve seen, and we aren’t just only talking about the Chimera art.
Unfortunately for the Chimera, there isn’t a huge amount of information to dig up on these creatures, but let’s start with the basics. The Chimera will lead off an attack with its ram charge, slamming into an opponent, and probably breaking a few bones with its goat horns. Once that is taken care of, the Chimera gets all three heads into the act by employing its Triple Threat ability. Not surprisingly given the name, this tactic allows the Chimera to bite and gore you and your friends with all three heads, though only one head per friend as the Chimera is incapable of targeting the same creature twice in a single attack. Of course, our multiheaded monster also has its breath weapon available, and its primary option is the traditional fire breath.
Unfortunately, and we really are using that word a lot for this edition, the Chimera only gets this breath attack once per encounter unless it gets bloodied, knocked to half of its health, then it gets to use its breath weapon again. The Chimera typically has a red dragon head, so it breathes fire with its breath weapon, but it can be any chromatic dragon color, and thus gains those resistances and breath weapon damage type that is appropriate to the color.
These Chimeras love their treasure, as they adorn their lairs with not only the bones of their vanquished foes but the treasure that they were carrying. Chimeras are still loners but occasionally group up to fight larger foes. They might be trained as pets for more intelligent and powerful creatures since the Chimera is still dumb as a box of rocks, but they are quite aggressive and we can only imagine don’t make great family-friendly pets.
5e - Chimera
Large monstrosity, chaotic evil
Armor Class 14 (natural armor)
Hit Points 114 (12d10+48)
Speed 30 ft., fly 60 ft.
STR 19 (+4) | DEX 11 (+0) | CON 19 (+4 ) | INT 3 (-4) | WIS 14 (+2) | CHA 10 (+0)
Skills Perception +8
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 18
Languages understands Draconic but can’t speak.
Challenge 6 (2,300 XP)
Multiattack. The chimera makes three attacks: one with its bite, one with its horns, and one with its claws. When its fire breath is available, it can use the breath in place of its bite or horns.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) piercing damage.
Horns. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (1d12 + 4) bludgeoning damage.
Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) slashing damage.
Fire Breath (Recharge 5-6). The dragon head exhales fire in a 15-foot cone. Each creature in that area must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw, taking 31 (7d8) fire damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
Monster Manual, 2014 Chimera
Our final edition and we arrive with hope that the Chimera found in the Monster Manual (2014) will be a powerful creature, full of rich lore and interesting information. While the lore doesn’t exactly set the world on fire, the creature holds up well compared to the previous editions. While it no longer has its 5 or 6 or 7 attacks it once had, three attacks are nothing to turn your nose up, and the fact you can swap out one of the attacks for a cone of fire is pretty good in our books.
Instead of saying no one knows and waving their hands about all mysterious like in the past editions, this one actually provides a bit of a creation story, though it’s rather flimsy and trite. Demogorgon, summoned to the Material Plane by mere mortals, saw the creatures of the world, decided they were boring and made the Chimera. It then got defeated and cast back to hell, but we got to keep the Chimera. We don’t know about you guys, but it seems like every time there could be an interesting creation myth for a creature, 5th edition just falls back on the old “demons made them” story, just look at the gnolls for another example!
The Chimera’s physical appearance remains the same in this edition, but Demogorgon also combined each creature's worst traits into his monstrous pet. It is the combination of a stubborn jerk of the goat, a territorial predator of the lion, and an egotistical and greedy hoarder of the dragon. Its arrogance drives the Chimera to defend its 10 square mile territory with a cunning that all draconic creatures have, though the fact its territory has shrunk from 25 miles to 10 miles is rather depressing for it. It loves to torture weaker creatures, toying with them before ending their misery, while it sees stronger creatures as a challenge, and will attempt to humiliate and torment such creatures before they kill them. This serves as a warning to other powerful creatures nearby and even as a challenge to perytons, wyverns, and even dragons.
Mythic Odysseys of Theros, 2020 WotC
The Chimera finally gets another stat block in the Mythic Odysseys of Theros (2020) settings book with the Theran Chimera. It is a more powerful Chimera that is highly customizable by rolling a handful of tables to determine its body composition, head attacks, breath weapons, and its tail attack. It also gains some strong spell resistance where some spells might be redirected at the spellcaster or have no effect on it at all. While it’s great that you have so many options for building a Chimera, we can’t help but feel that a template would’ve been a better way of creating your own unique Chimera like back in 3rd edition.
Our favorite three-headed terror of the skies is a horrifying creature with a lion head, dragon head, and, for whatever reason, a goat head. While the classic Chimera is fun, we hold a special place in our hearts for the Gorgimera and the Dracimera. We will have to eventually channel our inner 3rd edition and homebrew one of our own Chimera, and this time with owlbears because we believe in fun!
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