Dragon Spells question

[Edgar Ripley]

If a creature has spells, such as a Dragon, are the spells that they gain fixed or are the spells listed in their stat block just examples.

To be specific, I'm building a Dragon for my players to fight. It's an adult Dragon, but I'm customizing it's feat and skill selection. It has spells as a 7th level sorcerer. If I want to give it, say, Slow instead of Dispel Magic, is that within the rules?

I realize that as DM I can simply apply Rule Zero but given the potential danger of this encounter I want to make sure that everything I do is technically legitimate so I don't accidentally screw my players over.

[blahpers]

Of course you can. It's no different than designing a sorcerer NPC of the same level as one in the Bestiary (or a module) but with different spells.

[Ravingdork]

You can absolutely do this without breaking any rules or resorting to GM fiat.

[Edgar Ripley]

Excellent! Thank you!

[Ravingdork]

You can also modify feats, skills, and gear to taste.

[DM_Blake]

To be more specific, the Dragon entry says that dragons cast spells as sorcerers. So treat them as any other NPC sorcerer and pick their spells as you see fit.

But this is not true of all monsters that have spells. Many of them have a set list of spells, often just a few spells, and no text that says they are (or cast like) any kind of spellcaster - for those monsters, changing the list would be an actual change to the monster, something you can still do, but which would be more of a "Rule Zero" kind of thing.

[Ravingdork]

Are you referring to Spell-like Abilities DM_Blake? That's a totally different beast from normal spells.

[DM_Blake]

Yeah, they're usually spell-like abilities, but I think I've seen sometimes when they're not specifically listed like that but the creature is still not a spellcaster. Maybe not. I can't think of one right now.

Clearly, changing SLAs would also be a "Rule Zero" change to the monster.

[Ravingdork]

Unless it's a drow noble.

[blahpers]

Also, in the case of Rule Zeroing a monster to have different SLAs (but not necessarily spells), a character who makes a sufficient knowledge check should get a heads up about it--or, at least, a heads up that, e.g., "Some pixies have different powers, such as winking in and out of existence or forcing their enemies into a deep slumber." The exact amount of information depends on the circumstance and the player's skill check.

[Mark Hoover]

blahpers wrote:

Also, in the case of Rule Zeroing a monster to have different SLAs (but not necessarily spells), a character who makes a sufficient knowledge check should get a heads up about it--or, at least, a heads up that, e.g., "Some pixies have different powers, such as winking in and out of existence or forcing their enemies into a deep slumber." The exact amount of information depends on the circumstance and the player's skill check.

I've used this statement to make now almost a dozen different tiny flying spellcaster types; faeries with water powers, fogs, stinky fey, necromantic types... Good Times!