D&D 5E CR 13 dragon beaten by level 7 party observations

[mflayermonk]

This sounds like an awesome fight and thanks for the report!

Lucky that dragon didn't have Spider Climb.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I was wondering, do the no longer have the Ice Walk ability?

 

[Joe Liker]

Don't forget that lifting weight/carrying capacity is for additional weight (not the creature's weight) and that calculation doubles for every increase in size class above medium. Since it is additional weight, their own weight is assumed as taken care of. Even a str 1 creature can lift its own weight.

Now, carrying their buddy on the other hand...

Ah, yes, I had forgotten about the doubling. Thanks! That actually meshes very nicely with the grappling rules, which are just fine as written.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

I was wondering, do the no longer have the Ice Walk ability?

They still have it.

 

[Plane Sailing]

In that case, even without room to fly I would have thought that the White Dragon could have spent a lot of time out of melee range of the PCs... maybe it was forgotten?

 

[DaveDash]

Why? This makes no sense. You're not trying to wrestle the dragon, you're trying to evade its grasp. Being smaller should make that easier, not harder.

Which is hardest to grab when it's trying to evade you: A medium-sized dog, a cat, or a mouse?

The attack roll is to grab you, the grapple check is to pin you.

Having a high dex = high AC = harder to hit in the first place.

I am comfortable with Athletics/Acrobatics not applying to grapple/shove checks at all. That levels the playing field between monsters and PCs.

 

[Zardnaar]

We had a 6 man level 8 party defeat a ancient blue dragon (CR16).

 

[pemerton]

Here is what I would do, as a dragon, if I found a party traveling out in the open and wanted to eat them. I would swoop by and hit them with my breathe to test them out. If they look like they are about dead, I'd probably land and finish them and enjoy my meal. If it looked like it damaged them but they were staying in a group and weren't doing too much damage to me with ranged attacks, I'd keep doing the same thing until they were dinner.

<snip>

Now that there is only one tough melee opponent left in the battle, and he is down to half hit points or so, I land in front of him and then let him do his worst

Out of curiosity - I understand how you (the dragon) can tell if people are dead or dying. But how do you tell if they are "damaged", or "down to half hit points or so"? What are the sensory cues for that?

 

[Dausuul]

The attack roll is to grab you, the grapple check is to pin you.

There is no attack roll. You declare an attempt to start a grapple. You roll Athletics, the target rolls Athletics/Acrobatics. If you roll higher, the target is now grappled. That's it.

 

[DaveDash]

There is no attack roll. You declare an attempt to start a grapple. You roll Athletics, the target rolls Athletics/Acrobatics. If you roll higher, the target is now grappled. That's it.

Yep, you are right.

Total brain fart moment.