Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
My Dragon Killed a PC and lives to tell the tale!
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Cloudgatherer" data-source="post: 30434" data-attributes="member: 66"><p>Hm...lots of questions...</p><p></p><p><strong>My players, don't read this as it will spoil some of the mystery.</strong></p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p></p><p></p><p>1) Surprise round: The blue had a surprise round when he zapped the rogue with his lit breath.</p><p></p><p>2) Spell buffing: The party hid when it saw the blue. Not a great indicator of a powerful party requiring buffing spells.</p><p></p><p>3) Spells in combat: None. The dragon could either cast a 2nd level spell or make an attack. Given the dragon's attack routine, a 2nd level spell seemed silly.</p><p></p><p>4) Party knowledge: They were informed ahead of time of the breath weapon.</p><p></p><p>5) Cohorts: I don't see anything in the MM under "dragon society" about cohorts. In any event, this dragon is a recent immigrant to the mountains, and doesn't have any....yet.</p><p></p><p>6) Magic items: Honestly, the dragon doesn't have anything effective. He has a couple scrolls and money and that's about it (treasure generated randomly).</p><p></p><p>7) Coming back: The dragon still has this option open to him...since he saved his spells he can do just that! (but we stopped for the evening, so yes, the dragon can use his spells to heal and then come back to finish off the rest of them). </p><p></p><p>8) Horses: The horses already felt like running in the direction they were sent. Letting the horses run away was fine.</p><p></p><p>9) Spell like abilities: This blue only has sound imitation. Could have used it, but took a more direct approach in dealing with the party.</p><p></p><p>10) Burrowing: The terrain was more or less rock. The description text made it sound like the blue would only burrow through sand or a similar substance, so I did not use burrowing. I can also save this for the lair.</p><p></p><p>11) Waiting: The dragon was in a good position to blast the first target with his lit breath, so he waited for the party to react. He *almost* had the party hand over all their gold to him, without a fight. An intelligent tactic IMO, gaining several thousand gp for scaring away a few humans.</p><p></p><p>12) Dragon's feats: Hover, Flyby Attack, Power Attack, Cleave, Snatch, Improved Initiative. And since I know you'll ask, the blue isn't 4 size categories bigger than medium, so he could not use them all to their full effect. He did make use of power attack (and I should have used hover to get away, but did not remember).</p><p></p><p>13) Party damage: Did I mention there are 8 in the party? Most of the damage came from the dead ranger who has "dragons" as her favored enemy (first favored enemy). Second damage dealer was the party wizard, who was hasted during the battle (although more than half of his spells failed SR, so the dragon was not as concerned with him). The party also makes use of GMW, bull's strength, endurance, prayer, and a bard's song. The 5/+1 DR wasn't an issue, the party has magic weaponry or uses a GMW weapon (mostly GMW arrows). The two fighters also dealt damage as well as the rogue with a few arrows from a distance.</p><p></p><p>The dragon did kill the ranger and *severely* depleted the party's spells. He's still got options and knows who can do what in the next battle (I'm fairly confident the party will want a rematch). If the party had been a little better organized, they could have killed the dragon (or forced his retreat earlier) without suffering the casualty. It is a winnable encounter, only +2 EL higher than the party's.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Cloudgatherer, post: 30434, member: 66"] Hm...lots of questions... [b]My players, don't read this as it will spoil some of the mystery.[/b] . . . . . . . . . . 1) Surprise round: The blue had a surprise round when he zapped the rogue with his lit breath. 2) Spell buffing: The party hid when it saw the blue. Not a great indicator of a powerful party requiring buffing spells. 3) Spells in combat: None. The dragon could either cast a 2nd level spell or make an attack. Given the dragon's attack routine, a 2nd level spell seemed silly. 4) Party knowledge: They were informed ahead of time of the breath weapon. 5) Cohorts: I don't see anything in the MM under "dragon society" about cohorts. In any event, this dragon is a recent immigrant to the mountains, and doesn't have any....yet. 6) Magic items: Honestly, the dragon doesn't have anything effective. He has a couple scrolls and money and that's about it (treasure generated randomly). 7) Coming back: The dragon still has this option open to him...since he saved his spells he can do just that! (but we stopped for the evening, so yes, the dragon can use his spells to heal and then come back to finish off the rest of them). 8) Horses: The horses already felt like running in the direction they were sent. Letting the horses run away was fine. 9) Spell like abilities: This blue only has sound imitation. Could have used it, but took a more direct approach in dealing with the party. 10) Burrowing: The terrain was more or less rock. The description text made it sound like the blue would only burrow through sand or a similar substance, so I did not use burrowing. I can also save this for the lair. 11) Waiting: The dragon was in a good position to blast the first target with his lit breath, so he waited for the party to react. He *almost* had the party hand over all their gold to him, without a fight. An intelligent tactic IMO, gaining several thousand gp for scaring away a few humans. 12) Dragon's feats: Hover, Flyby Attack, Power Attack, Cleave, Snatch, Improved Initiative. And since I know you'll ask, the blue isn't 4 size categories bigger than medium, so he could not use them all to their full effect. He did make use of power attack (and I should have used hover to get away, but did not remember). 13) Party damage: Did I mention there are 8 in the party? Most of the damage came from the dead ranger who has "dragons" as her favored enemy (first favored enemy). Second damage dealer was the party wizard, who was hasted during the battle (although more than half of his spells failed SR, so the dragon was not as concerned with him). The party also makes use of GMW, bull's strength, endurance, prayer, and a bard's song. The 5/+1 DR wasn't an issue, the party has magic weaponry or uses a GMW weapon (mostly GMW arrows). The two fighters also dealt damage as well as the rogue with a few arrows from a distance. The dragon did kill the ranger and *severely* depleted the party's spells. He's still got options and knows who can do what in the next battle (I'm fairly confident the party will want a rematch). If the party had been a little better organized, they could have killed the dragon (or forced his retreat earlier) without suffering the casualty. It is a winnable encounter, only +2 EL higher than the party's. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
My Dragon Killed a PC and lives to tell the tale!
Top