Green Dragon Going to War VS 15th level Party: Advice?

3 Things that'll help make that Dragon more 'annoying' to fight. Illusion, Illusion, Illusion. If they don't know what's real and what isn't they're going to (hopefully, for the enemy) waste mana/resources figuring it out. And, should they get to the "I disbelieve everything!" phase they're setting themselfs up for an ambush.

I like the "Make sure it's flying and Invisible at all times!" idea, just make sure to have some form of Illusionary dragon sitting where the PC's would expect it to be. Mabye even a programmed Illusion set to show the Dragon and it's Henchment (especially those the PC's have met) having some sort of meeting, ripe for that Suprise Attack the PC's are no doubt fond of.

Why doesn't this Dragon have a Cleric on-hand? Good grief, if anything were raising the amount of hell you imply this Green has been doing would surely attract the notice of an Evil God or some-such. Said Power would, I'd think, at the very least send a representative to 'show the colors', if not simply to make sure the fun keeps going.

I'd think it's quite likely that your Green got to it's current power level because it was 'on mission from God'. If you've added a 12th level (or higher?) Cleric to the mix of villans you've drastically expanded your posibilities.

Hatchling Dragon

Keep in mind that an "Old" dragon should not have 12 hours to prepare for this. It's had CENTURIES. All that the 12 hours should be used for is to make the last minute preparations that some of the pre-prepared defensive plans might require and to make minor alterations to compensate for specific info known about the PCs. Don't limit yourself to what can be done in just 12 hours.

I agree with the advice about harrassing the party to keep them from regaining spells, etc. Start when they're camping before getting to the lair. Try to have the lair set up with lots of tricks, traps, and defenders that will cause spells to be expended and damage to be taken. Try to suck up as much of their resources as possible before they get to the dragon IF they get that far. If they retreat to come back better prepared, keep up the harrassment. Don't strike really hard until their guard is at it's lowest. Preferable as they are retreating from the area to build up for another try at it. Then slaughter them.

A 9th level sorcerer can cast Animate Dead, right? Have lots of undead servitors around. Just think of all the stuff a dragon that powerful can kill and animate and of how much time it's had to build up undead defenders. Use them to wear the party down a bit.

If the dragon has killed a rival, put an illusion of the green over it's undead skeleton and attack with it. It will do real damage, which should cause a penalty to realize what it really is.

Put obstacles in the lair that can be navigated easily by a dragon, but not by human sized people. Perhaps these are not in important areas and the human sized servitors never come here. There should be lots of dead-end passages to confuse the party and take up resources and time.

Use illusions to cover traps further in, especially if you've been using the obstacles I mentioned above. Put them far enough along that hopefully any true-seeing type magic is long gone. Then, design them to look like the sort of obstacle mentioned above but with a trap. For instance, have a chasm a dragon could step across or fly across that PCs would have to fly or jump across. Those who do run smack dab into the spiked wall hanging in their way and covered by an illusion. The true way through is to step off the "cliff" into the chasm, which really has a path down and under the spiked wall that is also covered by the illusion.

Make sure there's at least one fake dragon. You want the party to FINALLY see the dragon and launch an all-out attack to kill it with their best stuff, only to find out it's just an illusion or something like that.

Give em hell.

Arrange for a room with something the PCs will try to area dispel. Have hidden bows held drawn by magic. When the dispel hits these the room is filled with a hail of arrows. Preferably the enemies have prot vs. arrows or are skeletons.

Wow. With all these animal half-dragon minions that B.A.D.D. wants dragons to have, the poor lizards won't have time for anything else but seducing the local forest animals.

I like the "Make sure it's flying and Invisible at all times!" idea, just make sure to have some form of Illusionary dragon sitting where the PC's would expect it to be.

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I like this! Good idea!

Wow. With all these animal half-dragon minions that B.A.D.D. wants dragons to have, the poor lizards won't have time for anything else but seducing the local forest animals.

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Heh. Well, dragons do know how to make the earth move, that's for sure.

*Adds Scarab's name to the list of B.A.D.D.-mouthers.*

Seriously, the Half-dragon template exists, so I don't see a reason why it shouldn't be used. Adventures in Dungeon magazine have already set the precedent for dragons having half-dragon cohorts and bodyguards.

On the other hand, I wouldn't make every creature serving the dragon a half-dragon. (Maybe I'd add the leader of the kobolds to the list, but that's it.) All the other minions should be undead and charmed creatures.

Having a cleric serving the dragon sounds like a great idea, and an evil druid might also be willing to help the dragon since they have similar interests. The cleric should have plenty of healing magic available, and the druid could add several dire animals to the fray.

Oh, if you decide to up the dragon's age (and I seriously recommend that you do this), make sure to have the dragon cast contingency on itself. I'm not sure what the contingent spell should be, though...any suggestions?

Let's keep the ideas coming!!!

::mumbles something about half-dragon trolls under protection from fire spells::

Protection from Fire is a must; Spell Immunity is nice too, if you have it.

Have the dragon lair underwater, with numerous Dispel Magic traps. Nothing like having your Water Breathing and Freedom of Movement spells removes as the dragon attacks.

Don't let the dragon melee with the PCs!

Illusion spells could be useful (Persistent Image, Mirage Arcana, Illusory Wall, Improved Invisibility, etc.); I don't think I would be able to resist Polymorph Other. Haste too!

The dragon has to assume that the party will be prepared for its breath weapon, so should have methods of a) dealing alternate types of damge; b) overcoming that protection (Dispel Magic, acid traps, etc.). Have an accomplice test their defenses with Melfs Acid Arrows or Acid Orbs -- wait until their protections are down before cutting loose with the big spells.

Use maneuverability and illusion to break up the party; if you can get one or more people alone, you have a chance at meleeing them. Walls of Force can help with this too, though a 15th level party should be able to neutralize them pretty fast.

I think the best defense, however, would be the lair itself. I would draw up a very extensive and very deadly complex, with lots of decoys as well as more serious traps. If you give the dragon Dimension Door, you can create a dead-end fake lair with a collapsing entrance; the dragon flies in, DDoors to the nearby real lair, then collapses the entrance when the party comes in. Loads of fun!

Well, does it have flyby attack? Grab? Haste & Expeditious retreat? Improved invisibility?
The half dragon giant (under invisibility) drops a few tons of rock on the party. (He can fly with up to a medium load, which should be a lot of with his mad strenghth and size increases.) This traps a couple of charachters under rock and may kill spellcasters. If silence has a long enough duration a few silence spells msy be cast on some of the rocks. (So much for spellcasting.)
The improved invisible, hasted, expeditious retreated dragon grabs whoever seems the most dangerous. It dives into the lake and sticks the spellcaster in a pool of acid while crushing it. There is no way any spells are getting cast because of the concentration checks (from acid & being grappled.)
The moment that charachter is carried off, the flying invisible sorc surrounds the party in a Wall of Fire Then the party has a couple of members burried in rock, is surrounded by flames, and one member is dead.
Then the dragon, giant and sorc attack.
If the party is too large, the dragom may carry off a few party members before the main attack.

I have a suggestion for what the dragon should put in its ring of counterspells:

Polymorph other.

I don't want to hear about any more wyrm worms.....

A dragon rogue?

Instead of increasing it's age, why not give the dragon 3-5 levels of rogue? That could definitely prove to be a fun encounter.

Add in some boots of elvenkind and make sure that the dragon has Improved Invisibility and Dimension Door. Then just set up the lair so that there are some Dispel Magic traps to periodically dispel the True Seeing and See Invisibility type magics. Or give it Deeper Darkness. The dragon's blindsight negates its need to see.

I don't know about you, but the thought of an invisible, 150' long dragon suddenly launching a sneak attack from the back of the party sort of makes my bowels quiver.