The Clockwork War Dragon: A 5E Killing Machine

[Griffon Lore Games]

The terrible clockwork war dragon is part flat-black scaly flesh, part clockwork, in the shape of a dragon, designed as a killing machine from days long past. Think D&D 5E PCs are too tough to kill? Think again. Click here for a legendary monster to challenge your expert players.

 

[Stalker0]

Looking over the creature, a few notes:

1) Is that the force beams are not specific on how many darts are created. Is it intended to be every creature within 120 ft?
2) As far as I know 5e monsters almost never get stun immunity (even normal golems and constructs). Now if your including that to make the creature extra deadly by all means, but if your doing because its a construct, you may wish to reconsider that.

3) Looking at the base stats, I am actually seeing a CR 15 for this creature.

Defense: CR 13. We start with a CR 8 at the baseline, but when you add in Magic Resistance, 4 good saves, and Shadow Stealth (which is the closest approximation to your bonus action ability I can find)....that bumps it up to CR 13.

Offensive: CR 17. Assuming the creature uses its breath on round 1 (whose damage is doubled since it hits multiple creatures), and then its bite/claw routine on round 2 + 3. We then also assume that its using its Tail Launch on every legendary action (aka 13 dmg x 3 per round). That gives us an average over 3 rounds of 107 dmg/rd...which is CR 17. You could argue that your DC 17 saving throw could lower this by 1 to CR 16...but I would argue that the +10 to attack is a bigger factor in the overall damage....so I would recommend increasing the saving throw if your not going to change the damage.

So before I try to account for any of the instant death powers...we are already 3 CR higher than your projection....which may be why the creature was particularly deadly in your playtesting.


I like the concept for a monster that the party knows is coming. It requires a different tactic....either an alpha strike option....or a strong focus on healing to ensure no party member gets in the danger zone. Those are always great to shake up tactics, so I think its a cool monster, just needs some review on its stats and what CR you ultimately want to set for it.

 

[Quartz]

This would make a good guardian for a treasure trove - just remove the fluff about the creators being lost. Maybe it responds to the owner of its command ring? (Note: you need the command words as well as the ring!)

 

[Griffon Lore Games]

This would make a good guardian for a treasure trove - just remove the fluff about the creators being lost. Maybe it responds to the owner of its command ring? (Note: you need the command words as well as the ring!)

Absolutely!

Just give it some wisdom, and it would make an excellent guardian.

It's a war machine in lore, but you can change its name to the Clockwork Guardian Dragon. Or bump up its stealth and make it the Clockwork Assassin Dragon.

 

[Griffon Lore Games]

Looking over the creature, a few notes:

1) Is that the force beams are not specific on how many darts are created. Is it intended to be every creature within 120 ft?

You bring up a lot of good points and questions.

Edit: the eyebeam is supposed to be one attack on one creature. I fixed the description, thanks.

RE: CR: In general, the 5E CR system has issues. This monster is from the young red dragon template, which is an official CR 10 monster. I added 1 for the added damage as legendary actions and 1 for the added rogue ability + construct immunities. I almost added 1 for the magic resistance but decided to see what would happen in playtesting.

One group had people unconscious but unexpectedly, no deaths (despite a crit when someone was unconscious). This was an Average Party Level 8. My dice were on fire, but the players clued in and started healing proactively rather than when someone went to 0. It was HEAL EVERY OTHER ROUND PANIC. Heh. They even drank potions of healing.

In an advanced group (five expert players at APL 7), this is where the death occurred. There would have been more if I got in a recharge. But despite six rolls, I never did. The two playtests' combination leads me to believe it can be run straight up as a Deadly, APL +4 encounter, or an epic Deadly encounter for six players even as low as APL 6.

RE: Stun: My players expect that clockwork or constructs are immune to stun, but that's easy enough to remove.

Thanks for the feedback! This monster should not be used on novice players or if the campaign is a narrative or story-teller style. It's more of "this is a grim game, and this is a grim solo monster."

 

[dave2008]

RE: CR: In general, the 5E CR system has issues. This monster is from the young red dragon template, which is an official CR 10 monster. I added 1 for the added damage as legendary actions and 1 for the added rogue ability + construct immunities. I almost added 1 for the magic resistance but decided to see what would happen in playtesting.

Actually, the CR system works fairly well if you use every part of it, and I agree with @Stalker0, your CR is a but off and should be higher per the guidelines.

Regardless, it is an interesting monster - thank you for sharing

 

[Stalker0]

This monster is from the young red dragon template, which is an official CR 10 monster. I added 1 for the added damage as legendary actions

I agree with you that the CR system is not flawless by any stretch. That said, adding in the legendary actions takes the damage from 68 to 107, that's a 57% damage increase....and is certainly worth a bit more than a +1 CR if you think the young adult dragon is a decent CR 10.

I guess I'm struggling to understand what you are going for with the creature. Are you trying to use unique mechanics (aka the kill on unconscious) to add some unique deadliness above the baseline.... or are you going for "the standard CR 12 creature is weak, and I think CR 12's should have straight up more raw unfettered power".

 

[Flamestrike]

As a construct it should be immune to Poison damage, and the Poisoned condition.

All constructs have this immunity.

Also, why is it immune to Paralyzed, Grappled, Restrained and Stunned? Those immunities have no explanation.

Also a DC17 Dexterity (Acrobatics) Saving throw vs the Breath weapon? A SC 17 Strength (Athletics) Save vs Knockdown?

Wut?

Also you've left out the words 'magical' when describing its abilities. The eye beams in particular should mention 'magic' in there somewhere to clarify they dont work in a AMF etc.

Also, it has an insta-kill ability. It shouldn't.