Tiamat (Dungeons & Dragons)

Tiamat

Tiamat in the background with her human form in the foreground
Game background
Title(s)	The Chromatic Dragon, Creator of Evil Dragonkind, the Avaricious, the Dragon Queen
Home plane	Baator
Power level	Intermediate
Alignment	Lawful Evil
Portfolio	Evil dragons, evil reptiles, conquest, greed
Domains	Destruction, Dragon, Evil, Greed, Hatred, Law, Scalykind, Trickery, Tyranny
Design details

Tiamat is a supremely strong and a powerful 5-headed draconic goddess in the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. The name is taken from Tiamat, a goddess in ancient Mesopotamian mythology.

Tiamat is a queen and mother of evil dragons and a member of the default pantheon of D&D gods. Her symbol is a five-headed dragon. Tiamat was also named as one of the greatest villains in D&D history in Dragon #359, the magazine's final print issue.David M. Ewalt of Forbes calls Tiamat "the most fearsome dragon in D&D's history".

She was given the name Tiamat after the dragonlike Babylonian goddess of the salt waters.

The character was introduced to the game in its first supplement, Greyhawk (1975), by Gary Gygax and Rob Kuntz. In this book, she was only known as "the Dragon Queen" and "the Chromatic Dragon." She was described as she is now, but she did not yet have a personal name.

The character appears in the first edition Monster Manual (1977). In this book, the Chromatic Dragon was given the personal name Tiamat.

Tiamat, the Chromatic Dragon, Queen of Evil Dragonkind, is further described in Dragon #38 (1980).

Tiamat's role as ruler of Avernus, the first layer of the Nine Hells, is detailed in Ed Greenwood's article, "The Nine Hells Part I," in Dragon #75 (1983).

Tiamat's role in the outer planes is detailed in the first edition Manual of the Planes (1987).