Remember, all of these ideas for the dragon apply 8 times as such for the PCs. If the dragon is looking for the ranger to fry, disguise him, and give bows to more people. The party can get a lot of protection from elements, too. And since the wizard was blowing a lot of ineffective spells on the dragon, which could have buffed the party, the dragon could be in for an even tougher fight. If the ranger has haste and prot. elements, and another semi-tank has the same thing, and a polearm, the dragon is gonna have trouble closing. Basically, the party will win unless the dragon can close with the ranger and stay closed with him. Since the ranger can partial run each turn with haste, and still make a full attack, the dragon can only make std. attacks each round. By the time he get sout of bow range, he might very well be dead.
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My Dragon Killed a PC and lives to tell the tale!
- Thread starter Cloudgatherer
- Start date
Would the dragon associate the laughing sound that came from under the ledge (the point of this discussion is moot if the big blue has x-ray vision from equipment) with an unknown arch-villain plaguing the party? Unless the arch-villain actually makes himself known to the dragon, I don't think the dragon will get the connection between a strange spellcasting human and the rest of the "humans" (the party with its humanoids...don't know the specifics).
Cloudgatherer
First Post
Yeah, it was fairly obvious to the dragon. An illusion (AFAIK), doesn't show up on a dragon's blindsight, and even not speaking common, can understand the tone the Dark Wizard took with the party. Plus, the dragon only heard the arch-villain, he never saw him.
Wulf Ratbane
Adventurer
The Snatch feat isn't really very useful for a dragon. I never take it anymore, the dragon just has to be enormous to be able to pick up a PC.
Large-and-in-Charge can be downright deadly-- use your reach to keep pushing the fighters out of melee range.
For dragons that can cast, I am a big fan of Extend Spell. It enables a dragon to take a little longer dealing with the party from a distance.
Take a look at Monte's Book of Eldritch Might. Some really nasty long-duration 2nd level spells in there-- the various elemental Mark spells.
If I were this dragon I'd cast entropic shield and stay at a distance. So far he's seen two opponents to really worry about: the ranger, and the mage. Connect those two dots over and over with his breath weapon, from a safe distance. Take out their most potent ranged attackers.
As far as minions go, I adore Lawful Evil dragons, because they'll naturally have an organized band of lawful evil underlings. Goblins or hobgoblins, perhaps? You may even be able to work this into your ongoing storyline with the evil mage. Goblin or hobgoblin cavalry, mounting repeated strikes on the party as they try to rest, to keep them from regaining their spells. Just ride by, attack for a few rounds and wake them all up, and retreat. A hellish night for spellcasters trying to rest.
Take the gloves off and just punish the party. Make this an enemy to remember!
Wulf
Large-and-in-Charge can be downright deadly-- use your reach to keep pushing the fighters out of melee range.
For dragons that can cast, I am a big fan of Extend Spell. It enables a dragon to take a little longer dealing with the party from a distance.
Take a look at Monte's Book of Eldritch Might. Some really nasty long-duration 2nd level spells in there-- the various elemental Mark spells.
If I were this dragon I'd cast entropic shield and stay at a distance. So far he's seen two opponents to really worry about: the ranger, and the mage. Connect those two dots over and over with his breath weapon, from a safe distance. Take out their most potent ranged attackers.
As far as minions go, I adore Lawful Evil dragons, because they'll naturally have an organized band of lawful evil underlings. Goblins or hobgoblins, perhaps? You may even be able to work this into your ongoing storyline with the evil mage. Goblin or hobgoblin cavalry, mounting repeated strikes on the party as they try to rest, to keep them from regaining their spells. Just ride by, attack for a few rounds and wake them all up, and retreat. A hellish night for spellcasters trying to rest.
Take the gloves off and just punish the party. Make this an enemy to remember!
Wulf
I congratulate you on a well-roleplayed dragon.
I think this dragon would now be /very/ wary of humanoids; having just met some who easily could have killed him, I can't see how he would let himself get into another situation like that. Thus, his biggest priority should be to devise tactics which prevent the humans from laying the smack down on him.
I'm sure he also noticed that his breath weapon didn't bother them much. I assume the dragon knows enough of magic to surmise that they are using protection spells. If that is true, I would have the dragon use hit and run tactics to eat away at the group's protections before closing in for the kill. Nighttime passes over their camp would work particularly well (hard to spot a dragon 100' up).
I know you've already given him his spells, but I would give him Invisibility, which would let him really kick the crap out of the party. Turn Invisible, approach, let loose breath weapon, fly away. (It's not cowardice, it's stalking.)
If you really want to be mean, have it dig a fake lair (using its burrowing, shouldn't take long) between whatever path the party is using and the actual lair. Wait for the party to go in, then fill it up. The party can probably Teleport out, but the dragon doesn't know that, and it should give the PCs a good scare!
I haven't formally joined, but I'm definitely a member of B.A.D.D: in my campaign, a green dragon has a treaty with all the neighboring kingdoms. Anyone passing through the dragon's land must formally acknowledge the dragon's right to rulership, and nothing can be attacked (unless it attacks first, of course). The treaty is centuries old and incredibly complex, making infractions common: and of course, for each infraction the dragon receives compensation. The PCs made the mistake of casting Animal Friendship on an animal in the dragon's territory, which resulted in a most distressing visit to their camp in the middle of the night.
I think this dragon would now be /very/ wary of humanoids; having just met some who easily could have killed him, I can't see how he would let himself get into another situation like that. Thus, his biggest priority should be to devise tactics which prevent the humans from laying the smack down on him.
I'm sure he also noticed that his breath weapon didn't bother them much. I assume the dragon knows enough of magic to surmise that they are using protection spells. If that is true, I would have the dragon use hit and run tactics to eat away at the group's protections before closing in for the kill. Nighttime passes over their camp would work particularly well (hard to spot a dragon 100' up).
I know you've already given him his spells, but I would give him Invisibility, which would let him really kick the crap out of the party. Turn Invisible, approach, let loose breath weapon, fly away. (It's not cowardice, it's stalking.)
If you really want to be mean, have it dig a fake lair (using its burrowing, shouldn't take long) between whatever path the party is using and the actual lair. Wait for the party to go in, then fill it up. The party can probably Teleport out, but the dragon doesn't know that, and it should give the PCs a good scare!
I haven't formally joined, but I'm definitely a member of B.A.D.D: in my campaign, a green dragon has a treaty with all the neighboring kingdoms. Anyone passing through the dragon's land must formally acknowledge the dragon's right to rulership, and nothing can be attacked (unless it attacks first, of course). The treaty is centuries old and incredibly complex, making infractions common: and of course, for each infraction the dragon receives compensation. The PCs made the mistake of casting Animal Friendship on an animal in the dragon's territory, which resulted in a most distressing visit to their camp in the middle of the night.
James McMurray
First Post
Wulf: Snatch is VERY useful for dragons, even large ones. The ability to start a grapple as if you had improved grab is not limited by size. The only parts that are size-dependent are the squeeze and the "terrier with a rat" maneuver. Assuming the dragon is strong enough (and I don't know why it wouldn't be) it can easily grab someone and fly off with them using snatch.
Galfridus: I wouldn't suggest changing the dragon's spells to include invisibility if it doesn't already have it. That's tanatmount to DM cheating in my book. The fake collapsing lair is a good idea though.
Galfridus: I wouldn't suggest changing the dragon's spells to include invisibility if it doesn't already have it. That's tanatmount to DM cheating in my book. The fake collapsing lair is a good idea though.
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