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The life phases of a dragon in 5th edition D&D are:

  • Egg
  • Wyrmling
  • Young
  • Adult
  • Ancient

Given that a dragon lives for at the least 15-ish centuries, up to I think well over two thousand years, how long does each phase of their life last?

V2Blast
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David Hunsicker
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2 Answers2

53

Dragon Age Categories

  • Wyrmling (5 years or less)
  • Young (6-100 years)
  • Adult (101-800 years)
  • Ancient (801 years or more)

From 5e MM p.86

Samuel Kelley
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    As of this comment, the addition of the Greatwyrm has been made via Fizban's Treasury of Dragons. The age for Chromatic Greatwyrms is around 1200 years. It might be assumed that Gem and Metallic follow a similar aging path, though that is not specified. What IS specified is that all three types appear to merge their echoes across planes into one near-godlike form. – Carson Dec 28 '21 at 02:11
8

While Samuel Kelley's answer covers for 5e matertial, 3.5e breaks it down further:

Dragon min-max Human Comment
Wyrmling 0-5 0 - 2
Very Young 6-15 2 - 6
Young 16-25 6 - 10
Juvenile 26-50 10 - 15
Young Adult 50-100 15 - 20 Age that eggs may be produced
Adult 101-200 20 - 30
Mature Adult 201-400 30 - 40
Old 401-600 40 - 55
Very Old 601-800 55 - 70
Ancient 801-1000 70 - 80 Female egg laying usually ends
Wyrm 1001-1200 80 - 90
Great Wyrm 1201-4400 90+
  • It is noted in the Draconomicon that each dragon has a maximum age before the period of "Twilight" when rapid deterioration occurs. Whites die at the earliest around 2100 years while Gold dragons live to be the longest at about 4400 years (Dragonomicon: pages 10 - 15)
  • Most of this comes from the Dragonomicons (relating to age and approximate human equivalents) and their explanation of the twilight period, as well as the Monster Manuals
Someone_Evil
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user64800
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  • And to complete rubik's welcome: Take the [tour] if you haven't already and see the [help] or ask us here in the comments (use @ to ping someone) if you need more guidance. Good Luck and Happy Gaming! – Someone_Evil Jul 06 '20 at 22:19
  • Good info, just note that there has (so far) been no publication of Dragonomicon for 5e, so while this information can be taken as "D&D lore", it may not apply to 5e. – user-781943 Jul 07 '20 at 04:00