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Can this party handle these dragons?
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<blockquote data-quote="Oofta" data-source="post: 7319077" data-attributes="member: 6801845"><p>It depends on so many factors it's hard to tell. Using my handy-dandy player equivalent level encounter guideline it comes up with 125% deadly (hard is up to 99%). So certainly just from the numbers you're risking character death if not straight out TPK. But even <em>that</em> is not horrifically deadly, it's something I would throw at a group depending on how effective I think they would be against the threat. A different group I'd practically guarantee that I'd kill everyone if they didn't have a chance to flee.</p><p></p><p>So ... it all depends. There was another thread (I won't go into details, but a wish was involved and it seemed that the DM made several mistakes) were 8th level characters that defeated an ancient red dragon.</p><p></p><p>My questions:</p><p>- Are they going to know about the fight ahead of time?</p><p>- Are they going to be doing anything else between long rests, or can they go nova?</p><p>- What's the ranged attack capability?</p><p>- Can they fly?</p><p>- Can they stop movement or otherwise immobilize?</p><p></p><p>From the dragon's side of things:</p><p>- Will the dragons be able to strafe and run like they should?</p><p>- How tactically minded are you? It's OK if you're not a tactical genius, not everyone is. But it does make a difference on difficulty levels.</p><p>- Will the dragons be able to divide and conquer by focusing on one or two individuals when they aren't breathing on the entire party?</p><p></p><p>Answer yes to the first list and I would add at least a couple of levels to the PCs and it becomes a hard fight, not deadly. Throw the dragons into an environment where they can't fly away and use hit and run tactics (dragons are proficient in stealth for a reason) and I'm not even sure it's hard.</p><p></p><p>But most important: what's the goal of the encounter? Running away should always be an option, and a great way to set up a recurring villain. I know some people think the PCs should always win, always be victorious. Others would disagree. If you just want them to have bragging rights put your thumb on the scale on the side of the PCs. If you want them to learn they can't win every fight, or want to set up a recurring dragon villain you can do that as well.</p><p></p><p>Can they survive? Depends on the group. Should they? Probably. Will they? Depends on the DM and encounter setup.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Oofta, post: 7319077, member: 6801845"] It depends on so many factors it's hard to tell. Using my handy-dandy player equivalent level encounter guideline it comes up with 125% deadly (hard is up to 99%). So certainly just from the numbers you're risking character death if not straight out TPK. But even [I]that[/I] is not horrifically deadly, it's something I would throw at a group depending on how effective I think they would be against the threat. A different group I'd practically guarantee that I'd kill everyone if they didn't have a chance to flee. So ... it all depends. There was another thread (I won't go into details, but a wish was involved and it seemed that the DM made several mistakes) were 8th level characters that defeated an ancient red dragon. My questions: - Are they going to know about the fight ahead of time? - Are they going to be doing anything else between long rests, or can they go nova? - What's the ranged attack capability? - Can they fly? - Can they stop movement or otherwise immobilize? From the dragon's side of things: - Will the dragons be able to strafe and run like they should? - How tactically minded are you? It's OK if you're not a tactical genius, not everyone is. But it does make a difference on difficulty levels. - Will the dragons be able to divide and conquer by focusing on one or two individuals when they aren't breathing on the entire party? Answer yes to the first list and I would add at least a couple of levels to the PCs and it becomes a hard fight, not deadly. Throw the dragons into an environment where they can't fly away and use hit and run tactics (dragons are proficient in stealth for a reason) and I'm not even sure it's hard. But most important: what's the goal of the encounter? Running away should always be an option, and a great way to set up a recurring villain. I know some people think the PCs should always win, always be victorious. Others would disagree. If you just want them to have bragging rights put your thumb on the scale on the side of the PCs. If you want them to learn they can't win every fight, or want to set up a recurring dragon villain you can do that as well. Can they survive? Depends on the group. Should they? Probably. Will they? Depends on the DM and encounter setup. [/QUOTE]
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