A Dragon Ally?

[SpydersWebbing]

Alright, I've got a conundrum here. My party, instead of killing the CR 21 blue dragon that was supposed to mop the floor with them, succeeded in the skill challenge before the fight and made friends with the dragon, who wants to follow them around. The dragon had been trapped in a dungeon for 700 years, and after being fed, absolutely loves the PCs.

They want to bring him into combat.

Should I let this happen? If I do, how do I adjust the combats to make them fun and interesting?

I know I made a mistake. I made for a chance of them making a dragon friend. But if there's one thing I've learned being a DM, is that you're not to be an Indian giver (giving things, only to take them back).

Thoughts?

 

[MarkB]

Just because he's a dragon doesn't mean he's adventurer-quality material. If he's been trapped for 700 years, he may not have seen a challenging fight in all that time.

Let him go into battle with them, but at the first successful hit against him, he whimpers and hides behind the party, only attacking enemies within reach. If ever he hits Bloodied status, he runs away forever.

 

[Yaezakura]

I'd say to keep in mind that dragons are incredibly intelligent, and chromatic dragons are evil and self-centered by nature. Even if the Blue is mildly appreciative, it's not going to follow the PCs around like some puppy. It would likely be with them only so long as the dragon saw the situation as beneficial, and would likely take the first chance it got to betray them (especially if said betrayal would lead to confiscation of incredible wealth in coin and magic items for the dragon's horde).

If you want the dragon to be a bit less than typical of its kind, simply have it leave as soon as it gets bored. The call of a comfortable lair and the desire to horde is too powerful for any dragon to resist indefinitely. Just have it fly off one day, only attacking the party if they decide to pursue it.

 

[Danceofmasks]

Turn on and TPK the party at the most inopportune moment.
What do they expect from a blue dragon?
After all, the largest concentration of wealth in the whole nation is probably on the PCs.

 

[Asmor]

Turn your problem into a problem for your PCs.

Huge, powerful dragon, trapped for 700 years... Probably doesn't know his own strength. I foresee lots of accidental trampling, knocking down barns with his tail, catching the PCs and innocents in his breath weapon, etc. Make it so that they have to find a way to get rid of him! And, if they don't handle it with some good tact, you'll even manage to salvage your dragon fight!

Incidentally, kudos to you for accepting a pretty radical and unexpected development and running with it. That's one of the marks of a good DM.

 

[dystmesis]

Stat the dragon up like a PC and add him to the party for experience point totals.

It helps if you've played Guild Wars to get your head around this crazy concept. See, in GW, the elementalist is the player class that's primarily based around blasting people with fireballs and stuff. The hydra, a monster in GW, also is primarily based around blasting people with fireballs. In fact, it uses the exact same skills as an elementalist. A GW hydra is just a tough elementalist that looks scary.

GW also does this for enemies, such as a lot of the bug enemies which shoot projectiles. They're all rangers and use 'bow' attacks even though they don't actually use a real bow.

Similarily, take the dragon, and find out what kind of powers you want him to have (strong melee powers? blasty powers?) and give him a class accordingly.

 

[Nikolai II]

I think it is already mentioned in the DMG. Just add the dragons XP value to the shopping pool when creating an encounter, and remove an equal value from the final reward. (I.e., you add monsters just because the dragon is there)

And you might want to encourage the dragon and the party to part ways - maybe they could use the dragon to guard home and hearth with? (Of course the dragon might start considering their spare money to be his own, but that is part of being a dragon

 

[MeMeMeMe]

Turn your problem into a problem for your PCs.

Huge, powerful dragon, trapped for 700 years... Probably doesn't know his own strength. I foresee lots of accidental trampling, knocking down barns with his tail, catching the PCs and innocents in his breath weapon, etc. Make it so that they have to find a way to get rid of him! And, if they don't handle it with some good tact, you'll even manage to salvage your dragon fight!

Incidentally, kudos to you for accepting a pretty radical and unexpected development and running with it. That's one of the marks of a good DM.

This. Have the dragon be over-protective of its new friends. During an audience with the powerful noble, the noble says something dismissive of one of the PCs, so the dragon eats him.
The dragon is still a dragon - maybe it catches sight of the local temples golden statues, and decides that would make a nice lair. Maybe it cleans it out and invites the PCs to be his guests, or gives them some of the treasure as a present.
I'd personally have this dragon running amok, but on the side of the players, and ruining their lives in the process.

 

[Danceofmasks]

Or simply claim everything.
'cos it's a dragon. The PCs are just ... not dragons.
So .. an even treasure split would be what, 95% dragon, 1% each PC. Right?

 

[MeMeMeMe]

Imagine if the cat from Red Dwarf was a dragon. "That's mine. That's mine. And that. Oh, that's mine, too!"