preparing for an ancient black dragon

So, we are 5 heroes level 12, and it seems that next session or the one after we will be fighting a black dragon. I assume he's ancient although we've never seen him yet.
So, party is a Paladin oath of the crown, totem barbarian, land druid, assassin and me, a blade singer.
so I was thinking what do I need to prepare for a black dragon. I thought about synaptic static, it targets INT, no concentration and a nice debuff.
I want tasha to spam his legendary resistance, absorb elements for the breath weapon... any other ideas? in and out of the box?

wall of force for the minions? steel wind strike for no save fireball?

2 pounds of TUMs. Crush into 1/2 pound of mustard. Cover your face and hair with mixture. This will make your pc go down the stomach without giving the dragon tummy trouble.

Address the dragon as lord and bend the knee.

umm...if you're not under a time crunch...go hunt down several smaller black dragons and craft some acid-resistant armor, maybe?

(a little more seriously) Also, do what you can to draw it out of its lair.

Try to get it in a place where it can't fly, maybe. But figuring out a way to get everyone acid resistance is a smart way to start out.

spartanah said:

So, we are 5 heroes level 12, and it seems that next session or the one after we will be fighting a black dragon. I assume he's ancient although we've never seen him yet.
So, party is a Paladin oath of the crown, totem barbarian, land druid, assassin and me, a blade singer.
so I was thinking what do I need to prepare for a black dragon. I thought about synaptic static, it targets INT, no concentration and a nice debuff.
I want tasha to spam his legendary resistance, absorb elements for the breath weapon... any other ideas? in and out of the box?

wall of force for the minions? steel wind strike for no save fireball?

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I would start by talking with your allies. There is only one other full caster in the party, so if your goal is to spam the dragon's LR, you really want to coordinate on that plan--both of you need to hammer the dragon with save-or-lose spells every round. If you try to go it alone, the fight is likely to be over before you manage to chew through its LR. I suggest earthbind for the druid. For you, phantasmal force is ideal (targets the dragon's Int save, which is by far its weakest, and can reliably inflict blindness even if your DM takes a very narrow view of what it can do).Tasha's is a decent backup plan.

Edit: Just noticed the blindsight on the dragon. See what limits your DM puts on phantasmal force, e.g., if you create illusory chains, will the dragon be restrained, or will it continue to move freely and rationalize it as "the chains broke?" It's still the ideal spell if you can inflict a serious debuff, but if not, use Tasha's hideous laughter instead.

I'd say that is likely your best tactic if you expect the dragon to come at you solo. If you think it will have minions or allies, you might do better to sweep them off the field while your heavy hitters focus fire on the dragon itself. Fireball is always good for this. Synaptic static is nice if you can manage to tag the dragon with it - give it a nasty little debuff to cope with while also blasting its allies. Wall of force is spectacular but a little more risky. One blast of the breath weapon has a high chance to end your concentration. Even with absorb elements, a failed saving throw means a DC 17 Con save to hold onto the spell.

Other spells to have on tap:

• Absorb elements. I don't think I need to explain this one.
• Dimension door. Remember that this spell allows you to take 1 passenger. I can't stress enough how valuable that is when your heavy hitters are melee and you're facing a high-speed flying foe. Can also be used to grab a fallen ally and bug out if things start going south.
• Heroes' feast. Okay, this one isn't on your spell list, but it is on the druid's. The druid should absolutely prepare and cast it the night before the battle (if possible). Immunity to fear is pure gold when facing a dragon. The other buffs are gravy.
• Mass suggestion if you think the dragon will have minions. This spell is crazy-good at dealing with minions. "Your master is a treacherous beast that will devour you all, unless you help us destroy it now." Hey, notice something about the duration of mass suggestion? That's right... no concentration.
• Shield. Not all of the dragon's attacks are acid damage. Hopefully you'll be able to avoid being singled out in melee, but if it does happen, this spell will seriously save your bacon.

Also consider counterspell and dispel magic if you think the dragon might have spellcaster minions, or be a spellcaster itself. Passwall could help you set up an ambush. Protection from energy is good for obvious reasons, and you and the druid both have access to it, so you could buff the paladin and the barbarian before combat. (I suggest targeting the paladin and the barbarian, since you and the druid can protect yourselves with absorb elements, and the assassin has a high Dex save and Evasion.)

I ran a black dragon encounter recently. Here's how it went down. TL;DR not being able to target your foe sucks, water sucks.

All dragons are masters of hit-and-run combat because of their high fly speeds and devastating breath weapons. Black dragons are masters of stealth and have blindsight and live in swamps, so there's no reason for the dragon to ever come out of the murky water. He should pop up, blast at least 2 party members with Acid Breath, and then dive back under water while waiting for the breath weapon to recharge. The water could be so filled with silt and muck that darkvision won't penetrate it. While the dragon is underwater, he should rely on lair actions, and if he's a spellcasting dragon or has any magic items he can use, he should spend a few rounds buffing. (I'm a bastard so I had my black dragon cast greater invisibility on himself.) Hiding is an action, so if your DM is running things properly, everybody will know where the dragon is until his next turn, but he'll still have total concealment from the water. If possible, the dragon should also have some underwater terrain to go behind in order to get total cover.

If anyone does engage the dragon in melee underwater, that character is probably at a disadvantage on attacks for lacking a swim speed and not using lame weapons -- most PCs are just not prepared for underwater combat. Plus, that character will be taking the full brunt of the dragon's legendary actions. Divide-and-conquer is a great strategy, and a smart dragon (and they're all smart at that age) will voluntarily accept Opportunity Attacks in order to move away from melee combatants. It's much better to force your opponents to use Readied Actions to make single attacks than to have access to their full multi-attack routine. Black dragons don't have any particular skill at grappling, but they're pretty strong, and getting grappled and dragged around underwater is pretty brutal. A shrewd dragon will also have some underwater minions, preferably also grapplers or with swallow-whole (my dragon had a few pet "devil sharks," a Huge nasty shark from Tome of Beasts). Most PCs will try to stay on dry land, so a clever black dragon won't have much of it in his lair, and will shape the land to suit his hit-and-run defense style. (My dragon had all his treasure on a single island in the center of a cavern -- and the island was just small enough to fit within the radius of the darkness lair action, so everyone on it was blinded every other round.)

An older dragon has probably seen humanoid adventurers before and should have some idea that the paladin and barbarian are high-HP melee damage-dealers to be avoided. If your DM is as nasty as I am, the dragon will focus his Acid Breath on the squishy-looking members of the party first. The dragon's blindsight should neuter the assassin rogue. (Well, it's questionable whether a regular humanoid can hide from blindsight using the regular old Stealth skill. I'd discuss this with your DM before it comes up.) For the dragon, getting any of these squishy characters into the water for a right legendary thrashing may also be a good move, worth a fly-by grappling on a round when the breath weapon is unavailable, or a swim-by attack if the character has been pulled into the water by a lair action.

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...I'm wondering if this is perhaps more detail than you were looking for, and possibly spoilery. Anyway, here are some spells I'd recommend.

- If anyone in your group can cast control water, this will absolutely destroy the strategy I posted above. I think maybe the druid can prepare it?
- Water walk and water breathing can both be very helpful against a watery lair.
- Tasha's is actually a great spell here because if it works it can immobilize the dragon, allowing melee characters to dash over (using water walk) to issue the beat-down, and it's only 1st level.
- Faerie fire is another one that several characters could spam to neutralize the stealth aspect early-on. It's also 1st level, which is important because the dragon has VERY good saves, plus Legendary Resistance, so you don't want to burn your higher level spell slots until you've got a clear shot.
- Against a spellcasting dragon, I'd rate dispel magic more highly than counterspell because such a dragon is more likely to be using buffs and ongoing control spells than direct-damage or save-or-suck spells. However by 12th level you can probably afford to prepare both.
- I'm not sure how much healing spells your druid and paladin typically carry, but they should each have at least cure wounds for this fight. A single good damage roll on Acid Breath can really ruin someone's day.
- If you've been saving up any magic items for a rainy day, that day is today.

Hmm... just noticed the blindsight. So, phantasmal force might not be the best spell after all (though check to see what your DM will let you do with it). Tasha's is probably better. Editing my previous post.

monster manual page 87... a CR 21 dragon. and your only level 12? its a deadly encounter, even if you were lv 13.

passive 26, blindsight 60 and darkvision 120, you will not be sneaking up on it. and at 120', everyone has to make a DC 19 save vs fear. for low-wisdom characters, that means you need a 19 or 20, so just assume that most of your party will fail the save. that means they cant move closer, and have disadvantage to attack. so the dragon will decide who it will melee, and when (bite, claw, claw, right after the fear opener). int 16, so its smart enough to know to take out one enemy before moving to the next. its +15 to hit, so it should hit with 2 or 3 of its attacks each round, probably targeting someone easier to kill first. 19+9 bite, 15 claw, 15 claw, thats 58 per round, so i expect just from melee you will see one dead every 2 rounds. the tail and wings are legendary actions, so expect those to happen when someones turn ends in melee. the wing attack includes a 40' move, so expect that as a finisher to get to the next target.

your bigger problem may be the kobolds and lizardfolk who serve the dragon. if they join the fight, the already deadly encounter gets worse. so if there are any, kill them before facing the dragon, and rest up if you can.

do you have absorb elements on your spell list? its a useful lv1 reaction spell, giving you resistance until your next turn. you could use it on a bite or breath weapon attack on you, to take half damage from the acid. works great for the action economy.

overall, i would say that you are probably screwed. however, an adult black dragon is only huge, and CR14. a hard fight(even if its only a medium encounter), but winnable.

With a 12th-level druid in the party you have access to Heroes' Feast if you can afford the material component - and you absolutely should. If you have a good timescale as to when you'll be fighting the dragon, cast it the day before as an evening meal. That eliminates the dragon's fear aura as an issue, and the additional benefits are just icing on the cake.